Ibn Uthaymin
Jalasat Ramadaniyya lil-Uthaymin
- Author died
- 1421 AH
- Editions
- Jalasat Ramadaniyya lil-Uthaymin
Jalasat Ramadaniyya (Ramadan Sessions) is a collection of transcripts of lessons, lectures, and question-and-answer gatherings delivered during the month of Ramadan by the Saudi scholar Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin (d. 1421 AH / 2001 CE) . The gatherings address Islamic exhortation, legal rulings concerning fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, reflections on devotional texts, and answers to inquiries on contemporary and practical matters .
Background and Setting
The sessions were held across several years during Ramadan—including 1410 AH, 1411 AH, 1412 AH, and 1415 AH—at the Grand Mosque in the city of Unaizah in Saudi Arabia . Ibn Uthaymin conducted these gatherings in the evenings and nights of the month, concluding the series toward the middle or late third of Ramadan prior to the final ten nights of intensive night vigils (tahajjud) .
Structure and Content
Each gathering typically opens with an introductory address or lecture by Ibn Uthaymin on a specific theme, followed by an interactive session in which he answers religious, legal, and social questions presented by the audience .
The material spans several core subjects:
- Exhortation and Virtues of Ramadan: Encouragement to seize the month for acts of obedience, reciting the Quran, performing prayers, eating the pre-dawn meal (suhur), and observing proper intentions when breaking the fast (iftar) .
- Jurisprudence of Fasting and Retreat: Detailed discussions of the legal development and conditions of fasting, the conditions required for an invalidator (mufsid) of fasting to take effect—namely knowledge versus ignorance, remembrance versus forgetfulness, and deliberate intent versus coercion—as well as the rulings on expiation, exemptions for the sick, cupping, menstruation, post-natal bleeding, and spiritual retreat in the mosque (i'tikaf) .
- Zakat and Charity: The status of zakat as the third pillar of Islam, warnings against withholding it out of greed, the categories of wealth subject to zakat (gold, silver, debts, commercial trade goods, livestock, and produce of the earth), and the eight eligible recipient categories specified in the Quran, as well as the rulings of zakat al-fitr .
- Reflections on Texts and History: Linguistic and devotional commentaries on commonly recited texts whose meanings may be overlooked, such as Surat al-Fatiha, the tashahhud, and supplications in the qunut prayer . The sessions also examine historical milestones that took place in Ramadan, including the Battle of Badr and the Conquest of Mecca .
- Legal Inquiries: Fatwas addressing a wide spectrum of practical matters, including prayer in congregation, tarawih practices, financial transactions, family matters, and medical situations during worship .
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