Welcome to the fourth edition of Heavenly Call on the occasion of the blessed fasting month of Ramadhan.

Before we start our daily programme here is the special supplication for the 4^th day of Ramadhan:

“O Allah, give me this day the strength to carry out Your commands; give me to taste therein the sweetness of Your remembrance; inspire me therein to give thanks for Your munificence, and protect me in it with Your protection and covering (of  faults); O keenest of observers!”

Islam calls for social unity, and this unity begins from home, so that a sound and healthy society is built, in order to serve as guides and models for others. The holy Quran says in this regard in ayah 6 of Surah Tahrim:

“O you who have faith! Save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are [assigned] angels, severe and mighty, who do not disobey whatever Allah has commanded them, and carry out what they are commanded.”

The father, as head of the family, plays a key role in consolidating the foundations of belief, by imparting the proper and sound education to the children, and serving as a role-model himself by practicing in daily life the teachings of the holy Qur’an. It is natural for the children to look towards the father for guidance, and a pious father plays an exemplary role, along with the mother whose love, affection, ensuring a peaceful atmosphere at home, fulfills the commandment of God in the holy Qur’an “save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is peoples and stones.”

It is obvious that those who lead a wayward life, themselves violating God’s commandments and leaving the children to become ill-mannered and without faith, are those who are destined for a terrible end on the Day of Judgment, if they do not repent, reform and rectify their behaviour, because a morally-loose family results in the building of a vicious society, where crimes prevail and where people are oppressed.

It is said that our mortal life in this transient world seals our fate in afterlife, as the English adage goes, “As you sow, so shall you reap”.

Unfortunately the decadent culture of the ungodly West is corrupting societies. The glamour and dazzle, as well as the sensuous life-style of the blindly materialistic people, who have forgotten about the fate of mankind, has led to disintegration of families and spread of crimes and vices. The only remedy in this regard is revival of the values of Islam, and as Muslims, we have responsibility to propagate and preach the Words of God, in order to save fellow humans from the self-destructive path some seem to have chosen. Our exemplary behaviour is effective in not just strengthening the foundations of the family unit, but helps build a sound and healthy society, if family members and friends are showed the correct way. The holy Qur’an in ayah 22 of Surah Mujadelah, says in this regard:

“You will not find a people believing in Allah and the Last Day endearing those who oppose Allah and His Prophet even though they were their own parents, or children, or brothers, or kinsfolk. [For] such, He has written faith into their hearts and strengthened them with a spirit from Him. He will admit them into gardens with streams running in them, to remain in them [forever], Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. They are Allah’s confederates. Look! The confederates of Allah are indeed felicitous!”

It is thus clear from this ayah that only the most devoted and dedicated gain access to and it is called the status of satisfaction, as is evident from the end of the ayah.

FK/AS/SS