With Allah’s grace we have another Ramadhan to experience the bounties of Allah.
This opportunity of doing good and increasing our reward in this month was best understood and valued by our great predecessors.
We find that they all increased their efforts, exemplified in the following practices of Shaykh Khalil Ahmad Saharanpori in Ramadan. If he could worship Allah at his old age in this manner than we can all raise our game inshaAllah. His daily routine would include:
Night worship
Reading 1 ¼ Juz of the Quran in his Nafl Salah after Maghrib for approxiamately 1 hour 30 minutes.
Shaykh wouldn’t waste time after iftaar, instead turning to Allah in the way beloved to Him(SWT) through Salah. The amount he would recite in optional prayers before Isha and Taraweeh is equivalent to what a Haafiz would read in taraweeh.
After the Salah he would spend 30mins break for food and other necessities
In the UK this meal is not necessary due to the short summer nights.
Thereafter he would pray Taraweeh for 2-3 hours
The objective of Taraweeh is to act upon the hadeeth of the Prophet (May Allah bless him) :
“Whoever stands for prayer in Ramadhan with Imaan and hoping for reward then his all his past and future sins will be forgiven”, hence the objective isn’t to hit a particular khatm target or number of rakats by disregarding the quality of the Salah rather meet the targets with devotion and quality worship in order to attain the promised rewards.
He would sleep for 2-3 hours depending on the duration of the night
Sleep at night is key to enjoying a good productive day even if the duration is less. Wherever possible worshippers must try to get some sleep after taraweeh salah.
He would stand up again for Tahajjud Salah until 30 minutes before Fajr starts
Tahajjud is often neglected by those who pray taraweeh. The rule of night prayer is the more time spent in prayer is the more reward there is. All efforts should be made to at least read 2-4 rakats of Tahajjud.
Then have suhoor
The sunnah for suhoor is to delay it to the latest part of the night. Consuming dates in suhoor is also a sunnah.
Fajr
After suhoor to Fajr jama’ah he would recite Quran or read duas
This is the best time to recite the Quran as Allah says “Establish Quranic recitation of Fajr –dawn , indeed the Quranic recitation of Fajr is witnessed”. (Surah Israa)
Morning
After Fajr Salah he would remain in contemplation until Shurooq (when the sun rise fully)
Waiting for Ishraq prayer was the general practice of the Prophet (May Allah bless him).
Thereafter pray Ishraq nafl prayer
Anas Ibn Malik (radiyallahu ‘anhu) reports that Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:
‘Whoever prays his Fajr salah in congregation, and then remains seated remembering Allah until after sunrise, and then he prayers two rakats of salah (Ishraq), will receive the reward of one complete Haj and one complete ‘Umrah’. (Jami Tirmidhi)
He would write his famous commentary of Abu Dawood – Badhlul Majhood and read letters and reply to them as he was a spiritual guide for many thousands. This would continue until mid day.
Shyakh was a great hadeeth scholar of his time and wrote one of the best and comprehensive commentaries of Abu Dawood.
Rest until Zuhr Salah
This would be Qaylula (early afternoon nap) which is very refreshing and known as siesta in some communities.
In the afternoon, he used to recite Quran between Zuhr and Asr Salah
From Asr to maghrib he used to do tasbeeh, dhikr and attend to peoples questions.
Conclusion
Shaykh didn’t waste time even in his old age. We must look up to our pious and emulate them in all good.
Ramadhan is a month where we need to discipline ourselves
