ALL Muslims should strive to make best use of the remaining days of Ramadan, imams and khateebs at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah urged about three million worshipers gathered for the Friday noon prayers. Braving scorching sun, worshipers thronged the Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque, as well as their courtyards and adjacent streets to attend the last Friday prayers of Ramadan. The expanded huge Grand Mosque complex, which can accommodate over 1.5 million at a time, overflowed with the faithful as hundreds of thousands of Umrah pilgrims from within the Kingdom and abroad flocked to perform the rituals in the annual peak Umrah season. In an unparalleled air of spirituality, the faithful performed Umrah and engaged in supplications, seeking the blessings of and forgiveness from Almighty Allah. In his sermon at the Grand Mosque, Sheikh Saleh Al-Talib urged believers to maintain the true spirit of Ramadan by continuing to control the appetite of our bodies and overcome the evil of our souls. "Ramadan is a testing month. Experiencing temporary deprivation is designed to enhance our appreciation of the abundance and blessings with which the vast majority of us live our lives," he said. "We still have some days to make the best use of this blessed month," he said. As we exit Ramadan, Sheikh Al-Talib said, we find ourselves vulnerable to the very same struggles that plagued us before Ramadan: being overwhelmingly immersed in this world, and becoming completely oblivious of the Hereafter. The materialistic and hedonistic approach to life once again comes to haunt us and distract us from the real purpose of life and our ultimate destination. We should be on our guard and not get carried away by our evil desires, he said. "After being liberated from becoming slaves to our own desires, after regularly frequenting the mosques for congregational prayers, after reciting the Holy Qur'an for a whole month with great zeal, after enthusiastically offering the Tarawih prayers, the Tahajjud prayers, and other supererogatory (nawafil) prayers, after spending in the way of Allah, and after doing other acts of devotion and charity, let us not allow the fruits of Ramadan to be lost. Now that Ramadan will be gone, why turn our backs on our Creator and Sustainer," Sheikh Al-Talib said. Due importance, he said, should also be given to payment of Zakat Al-Fitr before Eid prayer as ordained by Almighty Allah. "It is wajiba (compulsory) for those who can pay," he said. "It purifies the fasting." [caption id="attachment_66318" align="alignright" width="300"] Braving scorcing sun, millions of worshipers thronged the Grand Mosque in Makkah hours before the Friday noon prayers. — SPA [/caption]In his sermon at the Prophet's Mosque, Sheikh Ali Abdurrahman Al-Hudhaifi dwelt on the merits of the Holy Qur'an and described it as a great mercy and blessing on mankind. He said one of the greatest injustices is belittling the rights of others and not giving them their due in word or deed. "Moral injustice is greater than the financial one," he said. All government authorities had made elaborate arrangements for a smooth flow of worshipers in both the holy cities. Faithfuls in their thousands converged on the mosques hours before the the prayer time to be in comfort and ease.
