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Fatwa CenterMultiplication of reward in Ramadhaan
Question
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu, dear Shaykh.
I wanted to know; if in Ramadan, one undergoes multiple hardships, will he have more reward given that this takes place in Ramadan? All of a sudden, I have been dealing with some oppression, health problems, job problems, education (college) problems, money problems (getting cheated in business; the college hid fees from me that I didn't know about), etc. I am not complaining about these hardships; praise be to Allah, the Exalted, Who has strengthened my soul and made it able to deal with all this in Ramadan. It just all happened all at once, and it has been extremely difficult for me to do the voluntary acts which I wanted to perform at the beginning of Ramadan. I have missed some days of Taraweeh (voluntary night prayer performed in congregation in the masjid during Ramadan) for example, and I was unable to sleep last night, due to strep throat apparently. Anyway, I do not want to talk about the hardships themselves; I just wanted to know, given that I am dealing with them in Ramadan, will they lead to much more reward for my patience even though I am neglecting some Sunnahs, like the Taraweeh, due to the amount of stress which I am dealing with?
May Allah reward you. Wassalaam.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Multiplication of the reward of hardship in Ramadhaan and other blessed seasons is not unlikely for the one who is patient with it, as it is known that the reward for worship is much greater in blessed times. Ramadhaan is a month in which rewards are multiplied, ranks are elevated, supplications are answered, sins are erased, and grave misdeeds are pardoned, and Allah releases people from Hellfire every day in it.
Shaykh Ibn Baaz 
wrote, "Religious texts indicate that the rewards are multiplied in the blessed times, like Ramadhaan and the first ten days of Thul-Hijjah, and the blessed places like the Sacred Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah..." [Majmooʻ Fataawa Ibn Baaz]
Patience is one of the best and most rewardable acts of worship. Allah, the Exalted, says (what means):
- {And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient, Who, when disaster strikes them, say, "Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return."} [Quran 2:155-156]
- {Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account.} [Quran 39:10]
The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "How wonderful is the case of the believer; there is good for him in everything, and this applies only to the believer. If prosperity attends him, he expresses gratitude to Allah, and that is good for him; and if adversity befalls him, he endures it patiently and that is good for him." [Muslim and others]
He, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, also said, "If a Muslim is pricked by a thorn or any harm greater than that, he is raised one rank by it and one of his sins is erased." [Muslim]
The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, called Ramadhaan "the month of patience", as narrated in the hadeeth cited in Musnad Ahmad and other hadeeth books. Al-Munthiri underlined that the hadeeth's reporters were approved by Al-Bukhaari and the reports narrated by them are cited in Saheeh Al-Bukhaari.
We hope that you will earn the rewards of the good deeds you used to perform or intended to perform in Ramadhaan but were prevented from performing due to illness or mental distress. The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "When a slave of Allah suffers from illness or sets on a journey, he is credited with the equal of whatever good works he used to do when he was healthy or at home." [Al-Bukhaari and others]
Al-Haafith Ibn Hajar commented on the hadeeth, saying, "This applies to whoever used to carry out an act of worship but was prevented from performing it while his intention was to perform it if it were not for the obstruction." [Fat-h Al-Baari]
The reward that the person gets in this situation is not just for the act of worship or Sunnah that he missed; rather, it is for enduring the hardship that befell him and prevented him from carrying out the acts of worship that he used to perform or intended to perform.
Allah knows best.
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