Dear BIS Family,
“The best day on which the sun rises is Friday; on it Adam was created, on it he entered Heaven, and on it he was taken out of [Heaven].” [Hadith narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim]
This is the first Friday in Ramadan, which makes it even more special among Fridays.
Every night of Ramadan a caller calls out, يَا باغيَ الخَيرِ هَلُمَّ، ويا باغيَ الشَّرِّ أقْصِرْ, O seeker of good, come! O seeker of evil desist! (a reliable hadith from Tirmidhī, Nasāʾī, Aḥmad). Some versions add that Allah sets some people free from Hellfire every night.
So, not only are the devils chained, but we have an angelic summons to do good deeds and refrain from sins. The above hadith specifically mentions the night, which is prime time for worship, especially during Ramadan. If you didn’t realize this last night (which was the night of Jumuʿah), there is still tonight and other nights (inShāAllāh) on which you can exert yourself in extra prayer (qiyām, tarāwīḥ, tahajjud), and duʿā for yourself, your family, the world, and especially the suffering people in Palestine.
Every individual needs to have their own routine of worship, between them and their Creator, especially in the nights of Ramadan, but during the day, especially the best day (Friday), we should be looking for opportunities for good deeds. The pious early Muslims are sometimes described as “monks by night, knights by day.”
A hadith describes an ideal chivalrous knight: “One of the best of lives is that of a man who clutches the reins of his horse in God’s path; whenever he hears a frightening sound, or a call for help, he flies on horseback [to help].” [Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim]
Please seize the moment, on this blessed day, to give charity. There are many good causes, first and foremost providing food and other humanitarian assistance to the suffering civilians of Gaza and elsewhere, which is no doubt an immediate and urgent need. I hope you will also find something to spare to donate to the Boston Islamic Seminary (BIS), one of the institutions working with long-term Muslim needs in mind. BIS’s main focus is to train Muslim leaders in the West who are both grounded in Islamic scholarship and relevant to the broader society. To donate to BIS, click here.
May Allah accept our worship and good deeds.
Sincerely,
