Ramadan the Month of Cooperation, Solidarity and Friendship

The month of Ramadan is a period which nourishes a person's spirituality increases the social cohesion of communities. Ramadan is not only the best moment to become a good servant, but it is the best moment to become a good person, a good neighbor, a good friend and a good relative. Ramadan is the moment to be someone for the ones who have no one, to love an orphan, to lend a helping hand to the needy, to understand the famished, to make the crying smile again. If nothing else, during this month, we should visit the ones we normally do not, we should reach out to ones we never ask about, and we should hold the hands of the ones waiting for help in silence. We can come closer to them with the alms, zakat and at the very least with our smiles. The Prophet said in this regard “Protect your selves from Hell even if with half a date (of sadaqah i.e. charity). If you do not have even that, then (protect yourselves) with a lovely word.” (Muslim, Zakat, 68). 

The Prophet would be more generous in this month,  he would try to do more good  (hasanat) and favor, he considered that charity has much great value in this month. (Tirmidhi, Zakat, 28) He states that the sadaqah al-fitr of this month is the most valuable charity (Tirmidhi, Zakat, 28), he urged us to give it before 'Eid. (Bukhari, Zakat, 70) Sadaqah al-Fitr is a charity given for oneself and for the children which expresses one's gratitude to Allah for keeping him/her and the ones under his/her guardianship alive. One can give the sadaqah al-fitr when the month of Ramadan begins, and giving it before the 'Eid prayer is mustahab (recommended). The blessings of this month reflect in our lives in many ways: Muslims worship day and night, their bodies are purified by fasting, their goods are cleansed by zakat and alms, and in particular the charity given to the needy before 'Eid to express gratitude for the month of Ramadan. While there is no specified time for Muslims to fulfill the obligation of zakat, believers who want to benefit from Ramadan's virtue have made it a practice to give their zakat to the needy in this month, thereby reaping the benefit much more of Ramadan materially and spiritually.

Ramadan isn't just a month in which individually we fast, pray, ask for forgiveness, remember Allah, supplicate and perform other individual acts of worship. With zakat, sadaqah and charity given by heart, Ramadan is a time of solidarity so reach the pinnacle of generosity. Ramadan is only Ramadan when goodness is shared with everyone without distinction, no matter who is. Only then can we truly experience the peace, blessing, mercy, and spirituality of Ramadan. Only then does Ramadan become a month in which we live the faith, worship, goodness, solidarity and cooperation to the fullest, it becomes a month that nourishes and repairs our souls, it becomes a blessed month to remember. 

In fact, thanks to this month, by remembering the forgotten and pleasing the neglected, we return to our selves, our souls and our consciousnesses, and confront with our inner selves. We fix our own shortcomings, not the shortcomings of others, and we remember our own souls. When the moon changes from a crescent to a full moon, it is actually we who complete ourselves.