In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful'The number of months in the sight of Allah is twelve (in a year)- so ordained by Him the day He created the heavens and the earth, of them four are sacred, that is the straight usage.' (Q9: 36)BRETHREN, once again the month of Ramadan is less than two full weeks from today. Going by the calendar at my disposal, today is the 16th day of Sha'aban, 1433 A.H. Another one reads 17th today.All the same, traditionally, the month of Sha'aban is deemed a holy month because it precedes the holy month of fasting, the month of Ramadan. While it is good to fast some days in this month, it should be borne in mind that such an exercise is essentially for those who are able and capable. Therefore, if one fears that after fasting in Sha'aban, he will lose strength or freshness for the fasts of Ramadan he should not fast in Sha'aban.This is because fasting in Ramadan is obligatory while fasting in other days of the lunar calendar is optional. Our leader, may the peace and blessings of Allah be on his soul, in an hadith reported by Abu Hurayrah, says: 'Do not fast after the first half of the month of Sha'ban is gone.' In another tradition, he is reported to have said as follows: 'Do not precede the month of Ramadan with one or two fasts.'Brethren, if it consensual that today is the 16th day of the month of Sha'aban, 1433 years after the migration of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, (upon him the choicest blessings and mercies of Allah) from Makkah to Madinah, it means, therefore, that the month of Ramadan would begin 13 or 14 days from now depending on the sighting of the moon and the location of each Muslim community across the world. Since the month of Ramadan is not an ordinary one, it is important that we prepare adequately for it.In other words, the month of Ramadan is a month of spiritual examination and training. Human experience has taught us that the better the preparation of a student the more the likelihood of his success in the examination. But let us begin this sermon by talking about how not to prepare for the month of Ramadan.Twelve hours to the first day in Ramadan, there is usually a bedlam in some markets across the major cities of this country. This is often caused by the sudden realisation, by the Muslim faithful, that the first supererogatory prayer (tarawih) would be held that same night and that the early morning meal (sahur) would be due for the following day.Thus, Muslim women and men would now head to the markets in order to buy the food items with which their families would begin the month of fasting. On such days like this, traders in the market usually hike the prices of foodstuffs. A cup of rice, which hitherto used to sell for, for example, N50, would now be sold for N100.My brethren in faith would then be punished by the shylock traders for their lack of planning. He would go back home with anger running through his veins having been unable to buy the items his wife had given to him; she would be afraid to go back home since her husband would not believe the story that the lorry load of naira that she took to the market was only able to procure such items that she could put inside her purse.The Muslim's home front would then become that of strife; the peace, which Ramadan should radiate, would then take flight in order to be replaced by strife. This is the very antithesis of the preparation a Muslim can undertake ahead of Ramadan. Let there be a Shura (family consultation) between the husband and wife (or wives) as the case may be days before the onset of Ramadan.The second condition that Muslims may find themselves in and which would amount to a wrong preparation for Ramadan is for them to have an obligation to Allah or to their fellow creature since last Ramadan till this year and for them to refuse to discharge the obligation. For example, a sister of mine, who missed some days during the month of Ramadan last year due to the onset of her menstrual cycle and that brother of mine, who fell sick and had to abandon fasting would be observing this year's Ramadan as sinners and oppressors. They are sinners in the sight of their Creator, they are oppressors of their own souls.Brethren, let us discharge all our obligations, the spiritual, the social, the economic, the cultural and even the political before this year's Ramadan begins. Not to do this would mean we have failed to prepare well for the Ramadan; we are going to the examination hall with 'forbidden documents and materials:' we want to sit for the second year examinations while we still have some outstanding courses for the first year. A student who engages in the latter would most likely not be allowed to sit for the examinations, at worst she would not graduate from the university.A wrong way to prepare for Ramadan is to have unresolved disputes with your fellow Muslims brethren. Since Ramadan is first of all a spiritual exercise before being communal or social and since the locale of the spiritual is the human soul, the heart, and since anger, animosity, envy, hatred and all ill-feelings are diseases which assail the heart, corrupt it and render it unsuitable for spiritual re-awakening, it then becomes highly important that we empty our hearts of all these 'spiritual viruses.'Settle all existing disputes and issues with your fellow human beings- Muslims, Christians, and the Other before the onset of Ramadan. Remember that you cannot supplicate to Allah during Ramadan and expect your supplications to be granted while you unjustly sit on the rights of your neighbour, your subordinates in your office, your wife, your husband and even your children. 'Return the trusts to their owners'' that is the injunction in the Qur'an. Not to do this is to prepare wrongly for the coming Ramadan.One way by which a Muslim could prepare inappropriately for Ramadan is to leave a threat to his health unattended to. Since Ramadan is a month of action, it is incumbent on every mature Muslim, who knows and believes that fasting is obligatory on him to seek every lawful means by which she would be in the best state of health before the onset of Ramadan. A Muslim, who knows he is at the risk of contracting ulcer, would be doing wrong preparation for Ramadan by engaging in supererogatory fasting before Ramadan.Brethren, it is implicit in what we have mentioned so far the positive ways by which we can prepare for the coming Ramadan. Let us prepare for the coming Ramadan by asking Allah to forgive us and to forgive our leaders in this country. Our leader is reported to have said, 'whoever seeks forgiveness for believing men and believing woman, Allah will write for him a good deed for each believing man and believing woman.
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