All perfect praise be to Allah The Almighty and may blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, companions and allies. Thereafter:
These are not three, four or five cowards. Rather, they are much more because any Muslim who follows this path is a coward.
They may defend themselves saying that they are powerful and strong because they enjoy their physical health.
This is apparently true if the confrontation is between them and their peers among the children of Aadam.
However, in spite of this power, it is true that they are cowards and defeatists before hidden powers represented by the inclinations of the self and the whispers of Satan.
The description of cowardice is constant in their lives but emerges so clearly in the blessed month of Ramadan…
These cowards are:
1- Those who do not observe fast in Ramadan without an excuse or a Sharee’ah concession:
They are healthy and strong but defeated by the power of the evil enjoining self and of the desires of hunger and thirst. Since they lack the power of deterrent faith, they eat and drink.
2- A man who has sexual intercourse with his wife during the day in Ramadan:
The same applies to a woman who allows her husband to have intercourse with her during the day in Ramadan. Both of them are cowards as the power of their faith declined before their strong sexual desires.
If he had been a real believer, he would have remembered that he is engaging in an act of obedience to Allah The Almighty and a private act of worship. The woman should have done the same. Moreover, it is impermissible for her to obey him as the Prophet said: "No creature may be obeyed in whatever constitutes disobedience to The Creator." [Saheeh as narrated by Ash-Shawkaani]
3- Those who sleep:
This is not absolute because every Muslim sleeps and we should sleep because it is one of the necessities of life but those intended here are:
a- Those who sleep after Suhoor:
They go to bed when only a few moments are left before dawn. They were deceived by devils, submitted to sleep and comfort, missed the Fajr prayer and incurred clear loss.
b- Those who sleep most of the day:
They miss the Thuhr and ‘Asr prayers and have already missed Fajr. Then, they wake up to have Iftaar. They may be tempted by the pleasure of food so they only perform the Maghrib prayer when the red twilight is about to disappear for the time of Ishaaʼ to start. These cowards were defeated by the power of the self and its desire for food and drink and neglected obeying Allah The Almighty. They did not perform prayers on time but delayed them. If only they had remembered the verses in which Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {So woe to those who pray [But] who are heedless of their prayer.} [Quran 107:4-5] Heedlessness here refers to delaying it after its specified time.
c- Those who engage in amusement in the nights of Ramadan:
I would like to specify the hours of divine blessings in the last third of the night. They preferred to have fun with different means of entertainment and forgot the verses in which Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, the hours of the night are more effective for concurrence [of heart and tongue] and more suitable for words} [Quran 73:6] and (what means): {And from [part of] the night, pray with it as additional [worship] for you; it is expected that your Lord will resurrect you to a praised station.} [Quran 17:79]
Many families exchange invitations for Suhoor and come at late hours. Men gather to speak, play and entertain while women are in the kitchen preparing Suhoor, talking about the goods and models each of them saw in the market and new recipes for delicious meals and desserts.
All this happens while night prayers are established in the mosques, the Book of Allah The Almighty is recited, angels are surrounding the worshippers standing in prayer from every side and mercy is descending over them. If one of them gives advice saying: "Let us go to the Masjid (i.e. mosque) and pray as much as we can", most of them will surprise him by replying: "Sit down, it is a Sunnah and it is enough that we perform the obligations." They surrendered to the inclinations of the evil enjoining self. They were tempted by desire, amusement, physical comfort and rest. They sacrificed the great reward of the Most Merciful and The Ever Merciful Lord Who Says in His Book to Clarify the reward of those who are devoutly obedient (what means): {And no soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort for eyes as reward for what they used to do.} [Quran 32:17]
d- Visiting of markets during the nights of Ramadan:
These were granted healthy bodies and affluent sustenance but were deceived and cowered before the desire of their souls to roam in shops and view the latest merchandise. They may be deceived by true and false discounts.
A woman may be deceived by what her friend saw in such and such a shop on a certain street. Her friend is honest and experienced because she goes to the markets on a daily basis. Her husband is so sweet for he never disagrees with her opinions and never disobeys her orders. He is a polite man. He does not like to go with her and accompany her to the shops because it is crowded with women. She goes alone and they agree on a specific time when he comes and picks her up. She is extremely self confident. No seller can ever deceive her because she has a long history of experience with markets and knows how to distinguish between good and bad goods. She never pays two, five or ten-thousand Riyals except for the appropriate commodity or dress because she appreciates her husband's efforts in earning money and to avoid extravagance.
She is very skillful and cunning. She commits the seller to accept that she may return the commodity or exchange it for the better if necessary and even if this means that she has to go to the markets frequently and on many nights. There is no problem in seeking the opinion of her friend who is more active than her because she goes to the market in the morning and evening.
Some of them do not make their husbands suffer going to the market as the driver does the job. Her husband stays at home with the children to help them study out of keenness on their success and future.
Upon the return of these families to their homes, they need rest after their exhausting day so they go to bed. Each of them hears a call from Satan: "The night is long so stay asleep" after he ties three knots at the back of the head of each of them as mentioned in the honored Hadeeth. Thus, they only wake up by the time of Dhuha or Thuhr. There is no power or strength save in Allah The Most High and The Great.
Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: "Satan ties three knots at the back of the head of any of you if he is asleep. On every knot he reads and exhales the following words, 'The night is long so stay asleep.' When one wakes up and remembers Allah, one knot is undone. When one performs ablution, the second knot is undone. When one prays, the third knot is undone and one gets up energetic with a good heart in the morning. Otherwise, one gets up lazy and with a mischievous heart." [Al-Bukhari]
e- Those who are negligent in their work and employees who are late for their shifts (i.e. working hours):
I believe that I reveal no secret and wrong and detract no one if I say that the work productivity of many fasting Muslims decreases in the month of Ramadan. It is as if fasting afflicted them with a great deal of laziness. This is a fatal mistake and an unjustified accusation. Fasting is innocent of this claim. This is proven by the fact that many of the great achievements in the history of our righteous predecessors and those who followed them took place in the blessed month of Ramadan. This signifies the truthfulness of creed, courage, power, activity and patience. The most important among these deeds are:
1- The Battle of Badr.
2- The Conquest of Makkah.
3- The Battle of Sagrajas (Az-Zallaaqah)
4- The Battle of ‘Ain Jaaloot
5- The Conquest of Al-Andalus.
Therefore, it is crystal clear that negligence in performing work constitutes cowardice and defeat before the artificial love of rest and comfort that is urged by the evil enjoining soul.
How bad is the scene when a supervisor enters to find that an employee has folded his arms to his shoulders, placed them on the desk and made them a pillow for his head to sleep on and wake up when the shift ends, justifying his deed saying that he is fasting!
Such an employee who is late to his shift under the pretext that he is fasting has forgotten that delaying the time of starting a shift in Ramadan to be at ten o'clock does not allow room for any excuses. This is a great blessing that is missed by many people in other countries.
Nevertheless, if we conduct a questionnaire among the people of truthfulness and honesty from the fair fasting people, we will find them saying that fasting increases the clarity of the mind and strengthens one's determination to work. It is a source of moral power and physical activity which originate from fearing Allah The Almighty. This is referred to in the verse in which Allah The Exalted Says (what means): {O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous (i.e. so that you fear Allah).} [Quran 2:183]
In conclusion, we seek refuge with Allah The Almighty and The Exalted from cowardice, miserliness, incapacity, laziness, being burdened with debt and overpowered by men. All Praise be to Allah The Lord of the Worlds.