أتاكم شهر رمضان شهر مبارك فرض الله عليكم صيامه تفتح فيه أبواب الجنة وتغلق فيه أبواب الجحيم وتغل فيه مردة الشياطين وفيه ليلة هي خير من ألف شهر من حرم خيرها فقد حرم
(حم ن هب) عن أبي هريرة.)
On the authority of Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger ofAllah (Peace and blessings upon him) said whilst giving glad tidings to his companions,
“The month of Ramadan has come to you, a blessed month;
Allah has obligated you to fast in it, in it the gates of paradise have been
opened and the gates of hell have been closed, and in it the Shayaateen have
been shackled; in it is a night better than one thousand months (Lailatul-qadr), One who is deprived of her good is truly deprived.
This hadeeth was transmitted by Ahmad 2/230, al-Nasai 4/129 and al-Bayhakyi in the “Shu’ab al-Iman” 3600.
Sheikh al-Albani called the hadith authentic. See “Sahih al-jami ‘as-sagir” 55, “Mishkat al-masabih” 1962.
Grade: صحيح
Notes
Congratulating each other at the commencement of Ramadan
Commenting on this hadeeth, Ibn Rajab Al Hanbali said:
“Some scholars have said ‘This hadeeth is a fundamental evidence for [the
permissibility of] people greeting each other with [the commencement] of Ramadan…So how can a believer not be given glad tidings when the doors of paradise have been opened? How can the sinner not be given glad tidings upon the closing of the gates of Hell? How can an intelligent person not be given the glad tidings of a time in which the Shayaateen are shackled…?” [3][3] [Ibn rajab, lataaif al ma’aarif P.281]
Several contemporary scholars have commented on the issue, such as Shaikh Abdul Aziz Ibn Baz. When asked about congratulating one another at the commencement of Ramadan he said, “[It is] Good”. Similarly when Shaikh Muhammad ibn Saalih Al Uthaimeen was asked about it he said it was, “Very good”.
The great scholar of tafseer, Muhammad Al Ameen Al Shinqeeti, commented that because he does not know of any established precedent for this type of greeting, that sticking to what has been narrated would be best, but if one was to congratulate you on the commencement of Ramadan then there is no harm in replying to him out of “returning the greeting with better then it” and because “All supplication is good and blessed, yet one should not adhere to a specific phrase or greeting”. [12]
[12] [Al Muqbil, Hukm Al Tahni’ah bi dukhool Ramadan]
Khadeeja