To the truthful and sincere carriers of the Dawah...
To all Muslims everywhere on this earth...
Peace be upon you and the Mercy and Blessings of Allah...
Allah (swt) says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
"O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous." (Quran 2:183)
And He (swt) says:
فَمَنْ شَهِدَ مِنْكُمُ الشَّهْرَ فَلْيَصُمْهُ
"So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it." (Quran 2:185)
And the Messenger of Allah (saw) said, as reported by Bukhari from Abu Hurairah (ra):
صُومُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ وَأَفْطِرُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ، فَإِنْ غُبِّيَ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَكْمِلُوا عِدَّةَ شَعْبَانَ ثَلاَثِينَ
"Fast at its sighting and break your fast at its sighting. If it is obscured from you, then complete the number of Sha'ban as thirty." (Narrated by Bukhari)
And Muslim narrated from Abu Hurairah (ra) that the Prophet (saw) said:
صُومُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ وَأَفْطِرُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ، فَإِنْ غُمِّيَ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَكْمِلُوا الْعَدَدَ
"Fast at its sighting and break your fast at its sighting. If it is obscured from you, then complete the number [of days]." (Narrated by Muslim)
After tracking the crescent of the blessed month of Ramadan tonight, the night of Tuesday, the legal (shari'i) sighting of the crescent moon has not been confirmed. Therefore, tomorrow, Tuesday, is the completion of the month of Sha'ban, Allah willing. The day after tomorrow, Wednesday, will be the first day of the blessed month of Ramadan for the year 1434 AH, corresponding to July 10, 2013 CE.
We ask Allah (swt) to accept from the Muslims their fasting and their night prayers, and that Allah (swt) forgives us all for our past sins, as the Prophet (saw) said in the hadith reported by Bukhari and Muslim from Abu Hurairah:
مَنْ صَامَ رَمَضَانَ، إِيمَانًا وَاحْتِسَابًا، غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِهِ
"Whoever fasts Ramadan out of faith and seeking reward, his previous sins will be forgiven."
And in another narration from Abu Hurairah (ra), the Messenger of Allah (saw) said:
مَنْ قَامَ رَمَضَانَ إِيمَانًا وَاحْتِسَابًا، غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِهِ
"Whoever stands [in prayer] during Ramadan out of faith and seeking reward, his previous sins will be forgiven."
Dear Noble Brothers,
Allah (swt) ordained the fasting of the month of Ramadan in the month of Sha'ban in the second year of the Hijra. It is a month in which Allah revealed the Quran:
شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ هُدًى لِلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَاتٍ مِنَ الْهُدَى وَالْفُرْقَانِ
"The month of Ramadan [is that] in which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion." (Quran 2:185)
It is also a month in which Allah honored the Ummah with victory and clear conquest. The Great Battle of Badr took place on the 17th of Ramadan, where the polytheists of Makkah suffered a massive defeat. Then there were other decisive battles in this noble month, starting from the Conquest of Makkah on the 20th of Ramadan in the 8th year of Hijra, to the Battle of Al-Buwaib (near the current city of Kufa), which was the Yarmouk of Persia, where the Muslims were victorious under the leadership of Al-Muthanna on the 14th of Ramadan in the year 31 AH. Then the Conquest of Amorium under the leadership of Al-Mu'tasim on the 17th of Ramadan in the year 223 AH, and the Battle of Ain Jalut where the Muslims defeated the Tatars on the 25th of Ramadan in the year 658 AH, among other victories in this blessed month.
Thus, fasting has been coupled with the Noble Quran, which falsehood cannot approach from before it or from behind it. Fasting has been coupled with conquest and victory. Fasting has been coupled with Jihad. Fasting has been coupled with the implementation of Allah's laws. Every person of insight knows that the laws of Allah (swt) are inseparable from one another, whether they pertain to worship, Jihad, transactions, ethics and behavior, or penal codes and criminal laws. All of them come from the same niche. Whoever contemplates the verses of the Noble Book will find this clearly evident, and it is apparent here in the verses of fasting and what precedes and follows them. Here is the clarification:
Allah (swt) revealed the verses of fasting in Surah Al-Baqarah—the second part, in the second quarter of it—which begins with His saying:
لَيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَنْ تُوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ وَلَكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالْكِتَابِ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ...
"Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets..." (Quran 2:177)
Until His saying:
أُولَئِكَ لَهُمْ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا كَسَبُوا وَاللَّهُ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ
"Those will have a share of what they have earned, and Allah is swift in account." (Quran 2:202)
By contemplating these verses, it becomes clear that they include the rulings of righteousness and faith, Qisas (retribution), wills, the verses of fasting, supplication, rulers and the consumption of wealth unjustly, then fighting in the way of Allah and Hajj. Thus, the laws of Allah were intertwined; there is no difference between one ruling and another, nor between one obligation and another. The One who clarified the acts of worship is the same One (swt) who clarified transactions, punishments, politics, and Jihad, and clarified ethics, food, clothing, and others. They are equal in strength in terms of implementation and commitment. An obligation in worship is like an obligation in transactions, just as it is in punishments, and like the obligation of the bay'ah (pledge of allegiance) to the Khalifah, Jihad, and all other rulings. It is not permissible to separate them in any case, for Islam is an indivisible whole, and the call to it is one: to implement it in the state, life, and society. Therefore, whoever separates the verses of Allah and calls for the separation of religion from life, or the separation of religion from politics, has committed a great sin and a major crime that leads its perpetrator to disgrace in this world and painful punishment in the Hereafter.
In conclusion, Allah (swt) mentioned supplication (dua) between the five verses of fasting in Surah Al-Baqarah, saying:
وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُوا لِي وَلْيُؤْمِنُوا بِي لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْشُدُونَ
"And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided." (Quran 2:186)
The insertion of one thing between two inseparable things is evidence of the greatness of that which was inserted. Allah (swt) commanded fasting, then commanded supplication, then completed the verses of fasting to emphasize the status of supplication. So increase your supplications in Ramadan, for the Messenger of Allah (saw) says in the noble hadith reported by Ahmad from Abu Hurairah:
ثَلَاثَةٌ لَا تُرَدُّ دَعْوَتُهُمْ: الْإِمَامُ الْعَادِلُ، وَالصَّائِمُ حَتَّى يُفْطِرَ، وَدَعْوَةُ الْمَظْلُومِ تُحْمَلُ عَلَى الْغَمَامِ، وَتُفْتَحُ لَهَا أَبْوَابُ السَّمَاوَاتِ، وَيَقُولُ الرَّبُّ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ: وَعِزَّتِي لَأَنْصُرَنَّكَ وَلَوْ بَعْدَ حِينٍ
"There are three whose supplication is not rejected: the just Imam, the fasting person until he breaks his fast, and the supplication of the oppressed which is carried above the clouds, for which the gates of heaven are opened, and the Lord, Mighty and Sublime, says: 'By My Might, I will surely grant you victory, even if it is after a while.'"
Mentioning supplication between the verses of fasting is an indication of the encouragement for it in the month of fasting, a clarification of its merit, and glad tidings of it being answered, for Allah is Near and Responding.
Finally, just as we must be keen on fasting so that Allah may be pleased with us and forgive our past sins, we must also be keen on working to resume the Islamic way of life by establishing the Rightly Guided Khilafah. This is so we may be among the successful in this world by implementing the laws of Allah, seeking shade under the banner of the Messenger of Allah (saw), the banner of al-Uqab, the banner of La ilaha illa Allah Muhammad Rasul Allah. We also hope to be among the successful in the Hereafter by His permission, seeking shade under His shade on the day when there is no shade but His. We ask Him (swt) to accept from us our fasting and prayers in this noble month, whose beginning is mercy, its middle is forgiveness, and its end is salvation from the Fire. We pray that the next Ramadan does not come upon us except that the Rightly Guided Khilafah upon the method of the Prophethood has shaded us and honored us, and the Ummah has returned through it to being the best Ummah brought forth for mankind:
كُنْتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ
"You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah." (Quran 3:110)
And that the Khalifah among us be as the Messenger (saw) said:
إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ، يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ، وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ...
"The Imam is but a shield, behind whom you fight and by whom you are protected..." (Narrated by Muslim from Abu Hurairah)
May the Khalifah have eliminated the tyrants in the land of Ash-Sham and saved the Muslims there—the elderly, women, and children—from the filth of the tyrants and oppressors. We shall be behind him to remove every tyrant from the land of Islam and implement the rules of Islam therein, so that the trials (fitan) in Egypt and elsewhere, resulting from the non-implementation of Allah's laws, may vanish. Then he shall lead us to liberate Palestine, all of Palestine, from the filth of the Jewish state, so that Al-Quds, the place of the Night Journey and Ascension of the Messenger of Allah (saw), returns dear and noble through Islam and the soldiers of Islam. We shall fight behind him as well to liberate Kashmir and the rest of the occupied Muslim lands from the colonialist disbelievers, so that not a single inch of the land of Islam remains except that it is shaded by the banner of Islam.
وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ * بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ يَنْصُرُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ
"And on that day the believers will rejoice * in the victory of Allah. He gives victory to whom He wills, and He is the Exalted in Might, the Merciful." (Quran 30:4-5)
Peace be upon you and the Mercy and Blessings of Allah
Your Brother, Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
Amir of Hizb ut Tahrir