Ramadan
This blessed month is like no other to excel in good deeds as your rewards are multiplied.
What is Ramadan?
Ramadan is one of the most important months in the Islamic calendar as it is the month of sawm (fasting), which brings Muslims closer to their faith and, with that, Allah (SWT). It is the ninth month in the lunar calendar and, as per the message of the Holy Qur’an, all able Muslims should observe the fast throughout Ramadan.
This means that Muslims, between sunrise and sunset, will abstain from food and drink – as well as swearing, impure thoughts and sexual activity. This is a time for reflection and contemplation, as well as a time for giving which is why Muslims are obliged to pay Zakat ul-Fitr (Fitrana) during Ramadan before the Eid prayers begin.
As the Islamic calendar goes by the sighting of the moon, Ramadan will fall roughly 10 days earlier each year in the Gregorian calendar and, thus, there is no exact time and date. When Ramadan falls during the summer months, this often means that Muslims will be fasting for between 18 and 20 hours a day (depending on their location), while the years that Ramadan falls in the winter months means a considerably shorter fasting period.
What is Fidyah?
Fidyah is a compulsory charitable donation that must be made if you are unable to fast during Ramadan.
Even if you are unable to fast, Allah (SWT) allows you to participate in the Ramadan reward by donating Fidya to the poor. Fidya is required of anyone who is unable to fast due to a valid medical reason. Paying Fidyah allows you to alleviate a fasting person’s hunger by providing Suhoor and Iftar meals, allowing you to achieve more this Ramadan.
If you have to pay Fidyah, try to donate enough money to feed a poor person two full meals for each day of fasting missed. Feeding someone in need in this way both alleviates hunger and fulfils a religious obligation. It means you can do more for those in need during Ramadan.
Your Fidyah donation can make a significant difference in the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people, those whose hunger never ends.
You can provide an Iftar meal to a fasting person by fulfilling this duty for just £3 per day or £90 per month.
What is Zakat?
Zakat is the amount of money that every adult, mentally stable, free, and financially able Muslim, male and female, has to pay to support specific categories of people. This category of people is defined in surah at-Taubah (9) verse 60: “The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarers; a duty imposed by Allah. Allah is knower, Wise.” (The Holy Qur’an 9:60).
The obligatory nature of Zakat is firmly established in the Qur’an, the Sunnah (or hadith), and the consensus of the companions and the Muslim scholars. Allah states in Surah at-Taubah verses 34-35: “O ye who believe! there are indeed many among the priests and anchorites, who in Falsehood devour the substance of men and hinder (them) from the way of Allah”.
Zakat is obligatory when a certain amount of money, called the nisab is reached or exceeded. Zakat is not obligatory if the amount owned is less than this nisab.
Global Helping Hands uses zakat to help some of the world’s poorest and most destitute communities. Your donations bring joy to these people and bring hope that one day they will be able to give rather than receive zakat.
What is Kaffarah?
Kaffarah is a religious obligation to help those in need, Kaffara occurs when a Muslim intentionally misses or breaks a fast. Adult Muslims must fast for 60 days to atone for a broken fast. If you can’t fast for 60 days, you must feed one person once a day for two months.
You must pay Kaffarah as compensation if you intentionally miss any fasts during the divinely directed month of Ramadan. Instead of abstaining from eating or drinking for a day, pay your Kaffarah with Global Helping Hands so that your dedication to Islam can now feed sixty people.
Kaffarah is a general term that literally translates to “what is paid to redress an imbalance or to compensate for commissioning a sinful act, i.e. a kind of punishment or penalty” in Arabic.
Kaffarah can be paid for a variety of sins, but during Ramadan, it is a payment made when a Muslim fails to do what he or she should do for their faith in a deliberate and completely avoidable way.
Every able Muslim must abstain from food and drink between the hours of sunrise and sunset during the holy month of Ramadan. The celebration of Eid ul-Fitr brings this to a close.
What is Fitrana/ Zakat Al-Fitr?
“The Messenger of Allah (saw) prescribed the Zakat al-Fitr as a purification of the fasting person from empty and obscene talk and as food for the poor. If anyone pays it before the prayer (of Eid), it will be accepted as Zakat. If anyone pays it after the prayer, that will be a Sadaqah like other Sadaqahs”. [Abu Dawud]
At the end of Ramadan, Zakat al-Fitr is a kind of charity given to the impoverished.
Zakat al-Fitr is required of every member of a household, including children and the elderly, and must be paid before Eid.
The worth of one meal is the amount of Zakat al-Fitr, which must be received by the person in need prior to the Eid prayer. As a result, we encourage making a donation as soon as possible during Ramadan.