The messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, recounted the Words of his Lord:

(( Abu Huraira narrated: The messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, “Allah, Almighty, said, ‘All the deeds of Adam’s sons (people) are for them, except fasting which is for Me, and I will give the reward for it.’ Fasting is a shield (or protection from the fire and from committing sins). If one of you is fasting, he should avoid sexual relation with his wife and quarrelling, and if somebody should fight or quarrel with him, he should say, ‘I am fasting.’ By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, the unpleasant smell coming out from the mouth of a fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk. There are two pleasures for the fasting person, one at the time of breaking his fast, and the other at the time when he will meet his Lord; then he will be pleased because of his fasting.” ))

[Agreed upon]

 Dear brother, there must be an introduction for the previous hadith. The acts of worshipare divided into two parts, ritual worships and transactional worships; for example, if a father has ordered his son to brush his teeth, it’s obvious that he has wanted the benifit of his son by making him maintaining his teeth throughout his life, the same thing when the father orders his son to eat slowly, and to wash his hands before eating, as a person may shake hands with a sick man, or he may hold his shoes with his hand; so, the Prophet (PBUH) said:

((To get the blessing of food, you should perform the ablution before and after it.))

 Scholars have pointed that the meaning of ablution in this case is the washing of mouth and hands, where the mouth is open all the day, which makes it susceptible to dust and smoke; also you might catch shoes with your hand, or you might shake hands with a sick person; so, it’s a wonderful and logical speech that you will get the benefits of food when you wash your mouth and hands before and after eating.
 Allah has ordered us to be honest in the transactional worships because they are beneficial to us. Allah has ordered us to be faithful, when one is honest and chaste, he becomes respectable, while the one who has a scandal, would not be respectable. Even in the societies that don’t have moral values, in which the adultery is permitted; as we saw, the British Minister of Defense was deposed from his post immediately after he had a scandal of having a sexual affair, although in those countries, adultery is permitted, but according to the laws of instinct, adultery is aggression and betrayal.

 A year ago, I think, two senior Israeli leaders, one had a financial scandal, and the other ha a sexual scandal, therefore, the son does not need a strong will to implement thousands of his father’s orders, which are, in fact, for his benefit ; and so is the transactional worship which asks us to be honest.

 Allah has ordered us to document our transactions, and to write bonds to avoid resorting to the judiciary, where, billions have been lost as a result of disobedience to legislation. When you register the contract in the court, your partner will become restricted, but if don’t, the devil might tempt him to seize all the company under the pretext that you did not work, then he gives you some money and separates you from the company; so, if there is a contract or debt, you should register it. Allah, The Greatest, says:

﴾ O you who believe! When you contract a debt for a fixed period, write it down. (282) ﴿

[Al-Baqarah]

 In Islam, there are almost five hundred thousand items that are transactional devotional orders, for example, if it’s lunch time, and the son was very hungry, but his father told him not to eat, this order has no meaning at all, and there no benefit would return to the son if he implement it; but if he obeys his father’s order, this means that he is so polite with his father and that he absolutely trusts him, so this is not a matter of benefit to the son but we call this a devotional order.

 In Ramadan, Allah has ordered us not to drink water during the fasting period, even if we were thirsty, the weather was hot, and the water was available. He has ordered us not to eat the permissible food, even if we were hungry and the refrigerator was full. Allah has ordered us not to have sexual relation with our wives during the fasting period. These orders are devotional

((All the deeds of Adam’s sons (people) are for them, except fasting which is for Me, and I will give the reward for it.))

 Fasting is the worship of sincerity. Imagine that there’s no fasting in the Islamic religion, but our government has issued a decree which forces all citizens to fast for their health, you find that no one would try to drink in the road because the police may prevent him, but if one has entered his bathroom in which there is a tap of cold water, could the law prevent him from drinking? In this case, one person per thousand may fast.
 But the Creator of universes is He Who has ordered us to fast, therefore, even if man was too thirsty, the weather is very hot, and he’s standing near the tap of cold water, he would never put a drop of water in his mouth.
 To refrain from staring at the forbidden women is a worship of sincerity, and so is fasting, and for a wisdom that Allah has wanted, in each country, most of the laws match withthe divine laws; theft is forbidden in theearthly laws, and in the divine laws, if there is a strict Director, who has a tight control, would their employees refrain from theft because they’re afraid of the Director, or because they’re afraid of the punishment of Allah? We do not know, because the law forbids theft, and the divine law forbids it too, but there is no law around the world that prevents you from looking at the women except the noble Quran, therefore when you stop looking at the forbidden women, you confirm your sincerity through this worship.

 Let’s have another example, if a person is sitting in thr dark in his house and on the opposite balcony there is a women wearing indecent clothes, no one can see him, and if anyone saw him there is no law that prevents him from looking at her; so, if he prevents himself from looking at her, he would confirm his sincerity to Allah, Almighty. Did you get the meaning of the hadith:

((All the deeds of Adam’s sons (people) are for them, except fasting which is for Me, and I will give the reward for it.))

 By the way, dear brother, we have an annual opportunity.All our faults and sins could be forgiven and erased in this month.
 Imagine a person who owes more than twenty million, and because he couldn’t pay, his house, car, and shop have been seized; furthermore, he is threatened to go jail. Suddenly, he was told that if he did a specific thing for thirty days, he would be exempt from the debt. The same thing happens with the sinful person in Ramadan.

((Abu Huraira narrated that the messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:“Whoever observes fast during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven.”))

[Agreed upon]

 And whoever establishes prayers during the nights of Ramadan faithfully, out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards (not for showing off), all his past sins will be forgiven.
We havethe opportunity of fasting and establishing prayers during the nights; therefore, it’s better to prepare for this month, that if there are thorny issues, to be resolved either before or after Ramadan, do not let any complicated issue to bother you in Ramadan, because it’s the month of worshipping, returning to the way of Allah, and having a new start with Allah

 Dear brother, in Ramadan, man is able to reach the highest level on his way to Allah, but unfortunately, it is painful that in our communities in Damascus Ramadan is a social occasion, that you have many feasts, and so many kinds of food, so when the person eats, he goes down, and becomes unable to perform “Al-Taraweeh” prayer in the mosque, so he performs only eight rak’as at home with a brief reading of the Quran, then he stays awake till one o’clock in the morning, after that he sleeps until after sunrise, and he loses the prayers of night and dawn; most people understand Ramadan like this.

 Isn’t it possible to cancel all the meetings and feasts in Ramadan? Is this social custom a sacred duty? You can hold feasts after Ramadan, make Ramadan a month of sincere worship, it means that a person have a light meal according to his mood, he performs “Al-Magrib” prayer with his family, then he goes to the mosque, prays diligently, listens to a complete chapter of the Noble Quran, listens to a small religious lesson, then he comes back home, sleeps early, wakes up an hour before dawn to reauthor the Quran, and pray.

 Glory be to Allah, all the programs are in honor of this month, and all the exceptions, so we should be away from all this, we are believers, it means that we can lleave every bad thing in Ramadan, and after Ramadan, of course; we have to get used to pray in the mosque, to meet with brother, and to read the Quran; all these deeds are worship; but frankly, we deal with Ramadan as a social occasion, which makes us further from Allah.
 In addition, the body needs maintenance, sometimes, factories shut down for maintenance; and so are you, programmed to do maintenance in the month of Ramadan through reducing the amount of food.
 I hope that Ramadan would come with a new uprising, a religious uprising; to keep away from the archaic traditions, the absurd meetings, and staying up late watching TV series; these are not the ethics of Muslims. I ask Allah, Almighty, that Muslims apply this hadith:

((All the deeds of Adam’s sons (people) are for them, except fasting which is for Me, and I will give the reward for it.))

 Brother, frankly, Ramadan is meaningless for non-straight people, it’s like dog’s fasting, just hunger, thirst, gossip, backbiting, watching TV series, joking, lying, and mixing between men and women in the feasts. Some people say Ramadan is nice this year, what does this mean? It is meaningless, the daytime is short, so if you have a big sohour you don’t feel hungry, and the weather is not hot so we don’t feel thirsty, this is what they mean by Ramadan is nice
 I think that the biggest enemy of the religion is the customs and traditions; whileRamadan is full control, over the eyes, the tongue, the ear, doing righteous deeds, spending money in charity, recitatingthe Qur'an, performing night prayers, in order that this month erases the guilts of the last eleven months, and opens a new page with Allah, but if man performsthe true fasting, he would come out of his sins, as the day he was born.