Rulling on those who stands Ramadan with eemaan and ihtisaab

“Whoever stands Ramadan with eemaan and ihtisaab, his previous sins will be forgiven”: Sharh al-Nawawi

Imam Muslim records that Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

مَنْ قَامَ رَمَضَانَ إِيمَانًا وَاحْتِسَابًا غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِهِ

Whoever stands Ramadan [i.e. in optional night prayers] with eemaan and iḥtisaab, his previous sins will be forgiven.

[Saheeh Muslim #759]

Imam al-Nawawi, in his commentary on this hadeeth, wrote:

قوله – صلى الله عليه وسلم – : ( من قام رمضان إيمانا واحتسابا ) معنى ( إيمانا ) تصديقا بأنه حق مقتصد فضيلته ، ومعنى ( احتسابا ) أن يريد الله تعالى وحده لا يقصد رؤية الناس ، ولا غير ذلك مما يخالف الإخلاص . ) .

His (ﷺ) statement, “Whoever stands Ramadan with eemaan and iḥtisaab“. ‘With eemaan‘ means believing that it is true and intending its blessings, and ‘with iḥtisaab‘ means that one desires Allah the Exalted alone and does not intend being seen by the people nor anything else which contradicts ikhlaaṣ (sincerity).

والمراد بقيام رمضان صلاة التراويح ، واتفق العلماء على استحبابها ، واختلفوا في أن الأفضل صلاتها منفردا في بيته أم في جماعة في المسجد ؟ فقال الشافعي وجمهور أصحابه وأبو حنيفة وأحمد وبعض المالكية وغيرهم : الأفضل صلاتها جماعة كما فعله عمر بن الخطاب والصحابة – رضي الله عنهم – واستمر عمل المسلمين عليه لأنه من الشعائر الظاهرة فأشبه صلاة العيد . وقال مالك وأبو يوسف وبعض الشافعية وغيرهم : الأفضل فرادى في البيت لقوله – صلى الله عليه وسلم – : ( أفضل الصلاة صلاة المرء في بيته إلا المكتوبة

And the meaning of ‘standing Ramadan‘ is the ṣalaat al-Taraaweeḥ, and the ‘ulamaa‘ have agreed on the desirability of its performance, but they have differed concerning whether it is more virtuous to pray individually in one’s home or communally in the masjid. Al-Shaafi’ and the majority of the scholars of his madhhab, Abu Haneefah, Ahmad [ibn Hanbal], some of the Maalikis and others say that it is is more virtuous to pray communally, as ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab and the sahaabah did – raadiAllaahu ‘anhum – and the Muslims continued to do that because it is one of the visible rituals and as such it resembles the ṣalaat al-‘Eid. And Maalik, Abu Yusuf, some of the Shaafi’is and others say that it is more virtuous [to pray the voluntary night prayers of Ramadan] individually in one’s home according to the Prophet’s statement (ﷺ), “The best prayer is one’s prayer in his home, except for the obligatory prayers.“

قوله – صلى الله عليه وسلم – : ( غفر له ما تقدم من ذنبه ) المعروف عند الفقهاء أن هذا مختص بغفران الصغائر دون الكبائر قال بعضهم : ويجوز أن يخفف من الكبائر ما لم يصادف صغيرة .

His (ﷺ) statement, “his previous sins will be forgiven” – it is well-known among the fuqahaa’ that this is specific to the forgiveness of the minor sins to the exclusion of the major sins. Some of them said, “It is possible that it lightens some of the major sins if no minor sins are found.”

[Sharḥ al-Nawawi ‘alaa Muslim #759]

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