“Ramadan is the month in which was sent down the Quran as a guide to mankind, also clear signs for guidance and judgment between right and wrong.”

 

“So everyone of you who is present at his home during that month should spend it in fasting. But if anyone is ill or on a journey the prescribed period shall be made up by days later. Allah intends every facility for you. He does not want to put you to difficulties. He wants you to complete the prescribed period and to glorify Him in that He has guided you, and perchance ye shall be grateful.”   Quran 2:185

 

With the name Allah, The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer

 

Dear Community of Believers, As-Salaam-Alaikum, Ramadan Mubarak
The month of Ramadan has arrived and it is a great help to bring us into a concentrated effort to please Allah, as He (Allah) says, fasting is for Me.  The one who fasts this month with sincere intent, finds Allah turning toward him or her and assisting them.

 

The one who fasts is loved so by Allah that it is said that the breath of the fasting person is like fine perfume before Allah.  Allah has prescribed fasting in the month of Ramadan for our benefit. One who fasts during the month responds to Allah’s instructions in the Quran, and in so doing becomes more obedient and finds that the pleasure of Allah grows more and more as the dominant factor in one’s life.

 

Ramadan is a month that gives us an opportunity to improve upon our total life in terms of nurturing the best human sensitivities. Too many put the head of human concerns under the interest of self-promoting ideas. The fast is a very strong medicine for this problem in society.

 

What our starving souls are missing comes in the healing blessings of this month of fasting. Many of us are starving for a sense of order in our lives, and order is a product of prolonged discipline. Our fast of 29 or 30 days is a discipline to restrain unchecked appetites or passions, and it greatly increases in us an appreciation for order and direction in our individual, family and community lives.  The human concern, the family concerns, the community concerns must be kept alive and this month is a strong medicine.  The fast will make us aware of the collective need and for those who are aware, it will improve that awareness and bring more of us to work for the common good, for the common well-being.

 

Ramadan is a time for deep reflection and for concentrated devotion in prayers, in the reading of Quran, and in the remembrance of Allah for all of His graces and bounties that He has created and opened to humanity.  Thus, our fast must not be merely an exercise in willpower; it should be also an exercise fueled by thankfulness, by love of Allah, and love of His Messenger (pbuh),  by faith, by an acceptance of one’s own dependency in creation.

 

This is the month in which Muslims find themselves with a heightened sense of appreciation for the goodness of Allah and for the goodness that He has provided through our close relations and also through non-relatives with whom we have had an association.

 

We all should feel the need to express thanks or gratitude, no matter what our circumstances are, no matter what situation we may find ourselves in; no one is too poor or too miserable to be thankful for something they have received or have been given.

 

As you are moved to give more during this blessed month, please remember to support the needs, maintenance, operations, and initiatives of The Nation’s Mosque, Masjid Muhammad.  Some of these include:

• Expansion Project:  Beautification, Upgrading, Expanding the building and services
• Youth Weekend Program: Includes a leadership track for teenagers in the program
  • Our goal is to reopen our full time school and early childhood program
• Kibar Senior’s Center:  Includes an activities and nutrition site for the aging
  • Transportation
  • Financial and Computer Literacy
  • Health Information and Programs
  • Nutrition Counseling and Nutrition Education
  • Safety and Environmental awareness
  • Legal and Estate Planning
  • and More
• Interfaith Engagement:  Bringing faith communities together locally, nationally, and globally
• Civic Engagement (Advocating for jobs, for empowering the poor, and for more affordable housing)
• Weekly Iftars and General Population Feeding
• Senior, Affordable & Veterans housing

 

• Social Services and Counseling

 

• SHARE Program:  Providing groceries/food baskets for low to no cost to seniors and families in need

 

• Adult Islamic Education Classes

• Job Training Skills (IT, Computer, Software, etc)

• Boys and Cub Scout Programs

 

 

We give great thanks to Allah for the gift of the Quran and for the gift of the Messenger to whom that Quran was revealed (PBUH). It is only with the guidance of Allah that we are able to resist our own fires and resist being made ashes — ashes without life, ashes without form, order or stability.

 

Allah Most High says in Quran as instruction to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): “Say, if you do love Allah follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. For Allah is oft-forgiving, most merciful.”

 

We pray that during this month of Ramadan our appreciation and our love of Allah and his Messenger will grow bigger, and that we will come to love each other with more sincere love.

 

Each year we enter the fast, we realize an improved atmosphere in the masjid and also wherever we go in the company of believers. We look forward to a successful, dignified and blessed experience. We wish everyone who is participating, the blessing of Ramadan, and a blessed and joyful Eid.