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Dancing
on Tables of Sahur
Strangely,
during the month of Ramadan, night clubs and some restaurants
compete with one another to offer their best entertainment that
includes song and dance shows, to people who go to take their sahur
(predawn meals).
What
is even more strange is that those who spend the whole day of
Ramadan worshiping Allah go at night to take their meals in such
places. The question is, why do those people insist on going to such
places and thus incur Allah’s anger instead of being thankful for
the blessings He bestows in the holy month of Ramadan?
Besides,
the wisdom of fasting is to feel grateful for Allah’s blessings,
so why those people tend to incur His wrath?
Normally,
one thanks a person who does one a favor. Accordingly, isn’t it of
more value to show gratitude to Allah?
Allah
privileged Muslims with the grace bestowed while they offered the
fast throughout the day, so why do people turn the good deeds they
offer all day to wrong doings at the end of the day?
Why
do people get dazzled by the different sorts of food offered to them
on the dance floor tables, and completely forget the poor and needy
people who die out of hunger?
Isn’t
it unbecoming for people to be preoccupied with praising dancers
instead of supplicating and glorifying Allah and offering acts of
worship?
Let
those people ask each specialist in his field.
For
Allah’s sake, how could virtues and vice meet in one place?
How
could people offer fast all day, yet, go to have Ramadan sahur while
watching dancers at night?
If
supplication is accepted in Ramadan, why do people waste it and
bring upon themselves Allah’s anger?
Why
do people waste the reward Allah bestows at the moment of breaking
the fast for vain moments of pleasure?
Trivial
pretexts:
Why
do people claim that they only go to places of entertainment at
night while offering the fast during the day - though they know that
Allah is the same they worship by day and at night?
Why
do those people have no sense of the gravity of their acts to the
extent that others no longer try to rectify them?
Why
do those people think that their deeds are not considered to be
wrong, even if they tried to make them accepted by other people?
Why
do those people view that the wrong done by them is minor, while
they are aware that persistence on doing wrong is a major sin? If
those people believe that they should take their sahur in
order to please Allah, then why do they go to have them in forbidden
places?
People
fasting all day but having their sahur in night clubs and
restaurants presenting dancing programs show no respect to the
nobility of the sahur as they do to the iftar (meal to
break the fast)
The
sahur is as valuable as the iftar, for they are both
observed for Allah’s sake and are a sunnah of Allah’s Messenger
(peace and blessings be upon him). Further, both meals are taken for
a noble cause and help people become more Allah-fearing.
Anas
ibn Malik reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon
him) said: “Take sahur, as there is a blessing in it.”
(narrated by Al-Bukhari)
Imam
Ahmad narrated that Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri reported that Allah’s
Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Sahur is
a blessing even if it is taken only by a drink of water, Allah and
His angels shower their blessings on those who take their sahur.”
How
could angels ask Allah to shower His blessing on those who have
their sahur in places of loathsome entertainment? And how
could those meals be blessed?
A
non-profitable comparison
Surely
those who go to have their sahur in places where there is
unacceptable entertainment will be losers if compared to those who
attend gatherings specified by Allah’s Messenger (peace and
blessings be upon him). Abu Hurayrah narrated that Allah’s
Messenger said: “Allah has mobile (squads) of angels, who have no
other work (to attend to but) to follow the assemblies of dhikr (remembrance
of Allah) and when they find such assemblies in which there is dhikr
(of Allah) they sit in them and some of them surround the others
with their wings till the space between them and the sky of the
world is fully covered, and when they disperse (after the assembly
of dhikr is adjourned) they go upward to the heaven and
Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, asks them although He is best
informed about them: ‘Where have you come from?’ They say: ‘We
come from Your servants upon the earth who had been glorifying You
(reciting Subhan Allah), uttering Your greatness (saying Allahu
Akbar), uttering Your Oneness (la ilaha illa Allah), and
praising You (uttering al-hamdu lillah) and begging of
You.’ He would say: ‘What do they beg of Me?’ They would say:
‘They beg of You the Paradise of Yours.’ He (God) would say:
‘Have they seen My Paradise?’ They would say: ‘No, our
Lord.’ He would say: ‘(What would it be then) if they were to
see My Paradise?’ They (the angels) would say: ‘They seek Your
protection.’ He (the Lord) would say: ‘Against what do they seek
protection of Mine?’ They (the angels) would say: ‘Our Lord,
from the Hell-Fire.’ He (the Lord) would say: ‘Have they seen My
Fire?’ They would say: ‘No.’ He (the Lord) would say: ‘What
it would be if they were to see My Fire?’ They would say: ‘They
beg of Thee forgiveness.’ He would say: ‘I grant pardon to them,
and confer upon them what they ask for and grant them protection
against which they seek protection.’ They (the angels) would again
say: ‘Our Lord, there is one among them such-and-such simple
servant who happened to pass by (that assembly) and sat there along
with them (who had been participating in that assembly)’. He (the
Lord) would say: ‘I also grant him pardon, for they are a people
the seat-fellows of whom are in no way unfortunate.’”
If
this is the condition of those whom Allah’s Messenger talked about
and whom Allah asked the angels about, then what will be the
condition of those who have their sahur in dance halls? And
which party will attain Allah’s pleasure?
Should
we equate both kinds of people with each other?
Are
the people who spend their money on belly-dancers in equal footing
to those who give their money in charity and get awarded by Allah?
Are
the people who waste their time similar to those who make use of
every moment to please Allah?
Actually,
the sahur should not be a means of wasting money and showing
off; rather, it is an act done to please Allah and is a deed of the
Prophet to be copied. Consequently, that sunnah should be respected
and preserved. Because we are all Muslims and brethren in the same
religion, we advise you to turn to Allah in repentance and show more
respect to the sahur.
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