Virtues of Ramadan

Every year, a month arrives that is unlike any other. Hearts soften, mosques fill, and even people who have drifted far from worship feel drawn back to Allah. That month is Ramadan — and its special place is not a matter of custom or culture. It is declared in the Quran itself and described by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in hadith preserved in the most authentic collections.

What exactly makes Ramadan so virtuous? The answer lies in a small number of clear, powerful texts. Allah tells us that Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed. The Prophet ﷺ tells us that when Ramadan begins, the gates of heaven are opened, the gates of Hell are closed, and the devils are chained. And he tells us that whoever fasts this month with sincere faith, hoping for Allah’s reward, will have all his past sins forgiven.

This article walks through those texts one by one, exactly as they are recorded, so that you can welcome Ramadan knowing precisely what Allah and His Messenger ﷺ have said about it.

1. The Month in Which the Quran Was Revealed

Ramadan’s honour begins with the greatest event that ever touched this month: the descent of the Quran. Allah says:

“The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Qur’ān was revealed as guidance for mankind, and as clear signs that show the right way and distinguish between right and wrong.” (Quran 2:185)

Everything else about Ramadan flows from this. The fast, the night prayers, the extra charity and recitation — all of it is a response to the gift of guidance that came down in this month. The verse describes the Quran with three beautiful qualities: it is guidance for mankind, it contains clear signs that show the right way, and it is the criterion that distinguishes between right and wrong.

This is why Ramadan has always been, above everything else, the month of the Quran. The believer who wants to honour Ramadan in the way it deserves will give the Quran a larger place in his days and nights — reading it, listening to it, and letting its guidance shape his conduct. The month and the Book belong together, because Allah Himself joined them in a single verse.

The verse continues by connecting this honour directly to the fast:

“So those of you who witness the month must fast in it.” (Quran 2:185)

Fasting is therefore not an optional extra attached to Ramadan. It is the very act Allah prescribed for the month in which His Book was revealed — the body’s way of answering the heart’s gratitude for guidance.

2. When Ramadan Arrives, the Gates of Heaven Are Opened

The Prophet ﷺ described what happens in the unseen world the moment Ramadan begins. Abu Huraira narrated that Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said:

“When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1899 — Sahih)

Consider what this single sentence announces. The gates of heaven are opened — the way to Allah’s mercy and acceptance stands wide. The gates of Hell are closed — the doors of punishment are shut for this month. And the devils, who spend the year whispering, tempting and distracting, are chained.

This is why so many people find worship easier in Ramadan than at any other time. The environment of the whole month has changed. The obstacles are restrained, the doors of good are open, and the believer feels a pull toward prayer, fasting and charity that he struggles to find in other months. That pull is not imaginary; it is exactly what the Prophet ﷺ described.

The wise believer treats this as an opportunity that must not be wasted. A month in which heaven’s gates are open and the devils are chained is a month in which no one should say, “I will begin next year.” Begin now, while the gates stand open.

3. The Gates of Mercy: The Same Glad Tidings in Sahih Muslim

Sahih Muslim records the same teaching with its own wording, adding a beautiful detail. Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger ﷺ as saying:

“When there comes the month of Ramadan, the gates of mercy are opened, and the gates of Hell are locked and the devils are chained,” (Sahih Muslim 1079a — Sahih)

Here the opened gates are named the gates of mercy. Ramadan is, before anything else, a month of mercy — mercy that descends on those who fast, on those who pray, on those who give, and on those who simply turn back to Allah after a year of heedlessness.

The two narrations together give the complete picture:

“the gates of the heaven are opened” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1899 — Sahih)

“the gates of mercy are opened, and the gates of Hell are locked and the devils are chained,” (Sahih Muslim 1079a — Sahih)

Notice, too, what the chaining of the devils teaches us about ourselves. When the whispers are restrained and a person still sins, he learns that the battle is also with his own habits and desires — and Ramadan becomes a month of honest self-knowledge as well as worship. The training of the fast, repeated day after day, weakens those habits while the devils are held back, so that the believer emerges from the month stronger than he entered it.

4. Fasting Ramadan with Faith: All Past Sins Forgiven

If the opened gates describe Ramadan’s atmosphere, the next hadith describes its greatest prize. Abu Huraira narrated that Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said:

“Whoever observes fasts during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 38 — Sahih)

Read the conditions carefully, because the promise hangs on them. The forgiveness is for the one who fasts “out of sincere faith” — believing in Allah and in the truth of what He has promised — “and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards” — fasting for Allah’s sake, seeking His reward, not merely following the crowd, dieting, or keeping up appearances.

A fast done in this spirit is not an empty ritual of hunger and thirst. It is an act of faith from the first moment of abstinence to the last, and its reward is nothing less than the wiping away of all past sins. A whole year — indeed, a whole life — of mistakes, presented to Allah in one month of sincere fasting, and forgiven.

This is why the believers of every generation have received Ramadan the way a bankrupt man receives news of a cancelled debt. Whatever you carried into this month, you do not have to carry it out — if you fast its days with faith and hope in Allah.

Let the words settle in your heart once more:

“then all his past sins will be forgiven.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 38 — Sahih)

5. Allah Intends Ease for You, Not Hardship

Some people hear about a month of fasting and think only of difficulty. The Quran answers them in the very same verse that prescribes the fast. After commanding the fast, Allah immediately makes an exception for those who cannot fast, and explains His intention behind the law:

“But the one who is sick, or is on a journey (should fast) as much from other days (as he missed). Allah intends (to provide) ease for you and does not intend (to create) hardship for you.” (Quran 2:185)

The sick person and the traveller do not lose Ramadan. They simply make up the missed days at another time, when they are able. The door of the month’s reward is not slammed shut in the face of the one who has a genuine excuse; it is held open for him on other days.

And the principle behind the exception is stated openly: Allah intends ease for you and does not intend hardship for you. The fast was never prescribed to crush the believer. It was prescribed by the Lord who knows his weakness, who built concessions into the very verse of obligation, and whose purpose is the worshipper’s good — in this world and the next.

So approach Ramadan neither with dread nor with carelessness. Approach it as a gift from a Merciful Lord: demanding enough to transform you, gentle enough that no genuine excuse leaves you outside its blessings.

6. Completing the Number, Proclaiming the Takbir, Being Grateful

The verse of Ramadan ends by describing the spirit in which the month should be completed:

“All this is so that you may complete the number (of fasts as prescribed) and proclaim the Takbīr of Allah for having guided you, and (so) that you may be grateful.” (Quran 2:185)

Three closing notes sound here. First, completion: the believer counts the month’s days carefully, making up what he missed, until the full number of fasts stands complete before Allah. Second, the Takbir — proclaiming “Allahu Akbar”, Allah is the Greatest — in gratitude for guidance. And third, gratitude itself: the natural end of Ramadan is a thankful heart.

This is a beautiful summary of the month’s purpose. Ramadan is not finished when the last fast ends; it is finished when the servant looks back at the guidance Allah gave him — the Quran revealed in this very month — and thanks Him for it, proclaiming His greatness. The fasting, the opened gates, the chained devils and the forgiven sins all lead to this: a grateful servant who knows his Lord better than he did thirty days before.

7. Entering Ramadan the Way These Texts Invite Us To

These four texts are not only information about Ramadan; together they form an invitation, and it is worth pausing to hear it as a whole before the month begins.

The Quran verse teaches us to meet Ramadan as the month of the Book. The Quran was revealed in it as guidance for mankind, so the believer plans his Ramadan around the Quran — a portion read every day, verses pondered every night — rather than letting the month pass as a mere change in meal times. The fast that Allah joined to this month in the same verse is the body’s share in honouring the guidance the heart received.

The two hadiths about the gates teach us to meet Ramadan with hope. Heaven’s gates and the gates of mercy stand open, Hell’s gates are locked, and the devils are chained. A person who has failed all year is not told that the doors are closed to him; he is told the opposite. Ramadan is the season in which returning to Allah is made easier than at any other time, and the believer enters it expecting mercy, not fearing rejection.

The hadith of forgiveness teaches us how to fast: with sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards. That one phrase transforms the month. Hunger borne with faith is worship; thirst borne while hoping for Allah’s reward is worship. The same outward fast, done heedlessly, is a diet — done in this spirit, it erases the sins of a lifetime.

And the end of the verse teaches us how to leave Ramadan: having completed the number, proclaiming Allah’s greatness for His guidance, and being grateful. Keep these four anchors — the Quran, hope, faith-filled fasting, and gratitude — and the virtues of Ramadan stop being ideas in an article and become the lived experience of your month.

8. Going Deeper: The Fast, the Nights, and the Month’s Practices

The texts above are the foundations of Ramadan’s virtue, but the month has many doors, and DeenHub Global has a guide for each of them.

To explore what the fast itself earns — its shield from the Fire, its special gate in Paradise, and the reward Allah kept for Himself — read our article on the virtues of fasting. To understand the place of Ramadan among all the fasts of the year, see the types of fasting in the Sunnah.

For the nights of the month, our guide to Taraweeh prayer explains the night prayer of Ramadan, and our article on Laylatul Qadr covers the blessed night hidden in its last ten days. And to begin and end each fast the way the Prophet ﷺ did, keep our collection of suhoor and iftar duas close at hand.

Each of these is a separate door into the same month. Ramadan rewards the one who enters through as many of them as he can — fasting its days with faith, filling its nights with prayer, and crowning it all with gratitude.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What does the Quran say about the month of Ramadan? Allah says that Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed as guidance for mankind, and He commands those who witness the month to fast in it: “The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Qur’ān was revealed as guidance for mankind, and as clear signs that show the right way and distinguish between right and wrong. So those of you who witness the month must fast in it.” (Quran 2:185)

Q2: What happens when Ramadan begins, according to the hadith? The Prophet ﷺ said: “When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1899 — Sahih) Sahih Muslim adds that the opened gates are the gates of mercy: “When there comes the month of Ramadan, the gates of mercy are opened, and the gates of Hell are locked and the devils are chained,” (Sahih Muslim 1079a — Sahih)

Q3: Are all past sins really forgiven for fasting Ramadan? Yes — for the one who fasts the way the hadith describes. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever observes fasts during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 38 — Sahih) The two keys are sincere faith and hoping for Allah’s reward — fasting for His sake, not merely out of habit.

Q4: What if I am sick or travelling during Ramadan? The Quran itself gives the concession: “But the one who is sick, or is on a journey (should fast) as much from other days (as he missed).” (Quran 2:185) You make up the missed days later, and Allah explains why: “Allah intends (to provide) ease for you and does not intend (to create) hardship for you.” (Quran 2:185)

Q5: How should a believer finish Ramadan? The verse that prescribes the fast ends with three aims: “so that you may complete the number (of fasts as prescribed) and proclaim the Takbīr of Allah for having guided you, and (so) that you may be grateful.” (Quran 2:185) Complete your fasts, proclaim Allah’s greatness for His guidance, and finish the month with a grateful heart.