How do i know my Ramadan is accepted?

Question

During Ramadan, i prayed a lot to Allah to forgive my bad deeds and accept the good ones. Now it is Eid al fitr and i masturbated, :(, i know it was very dumb of me but i know personally that i have changed and that i worship allah a lot more than i would but i am still commiting some of the sins such as masturbating but i do not swear anymore, so does this mean my ramadan has been accepted or not accepted because i feel like crying right now ?why did i masturbate :(

Answer 1

This does not mean anything like this that your ramazan is accepted or not, no one knows but Allah.

You must keep praying as you did in ramazan and ask allah for forgiveness and acceptance of ramazan prayers.

There is a hadees:

كل بنى آدم خطاء ، وخير الخطائين التوابون
Every son of adam makes mistakes, and best of them are repenters(who do taubah).

So, make astagfaar and there is nothing severe, you must relax a bit. Its good you are worried about your sins and you are worried about acceptance of your deeds. And you should be. Just keep praying, do astagfaar daily and remaining bad habits will also leave you inshallah.

Allah knows best

Answer 2

Any good deed a Muslim is doing he should be doing it hoping Allah may accept it, and if Allah accepted it then this deed would have been done in a correct or perfect manner.

One necessary condition is that one is righteous and fear Allah as he said:

..."Indeed, Allah only accepts from the righteous [who fear Him]. 5:27

And we are asked to

..."To worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of devotion then you must consider that He is looking at you." (Sahih al-Bukhari)

Some of the signs of acceptance of a good deed are (according this article in Arabic):

• not to turn back to a sin. If you hated a sin and hated turning to it than you should be aware that your expiation has been accepted if you remember it and felt guilty or ashamed than you should know that your repentance has been accepted.
• doing more and more good deeds. al-Hassan al-Basri said:

  إن من جزاء الحسنة الحسنة بعدها، ومن عقوبة السيئة السيئةُ بعدها، فإذا قبل الله العبد فإنه يوفقه إلى الطاعة، ويصرفه عن المعصية
  - - - My own translation take it carefully - - -
  "the reward of a good deed is the good deed which follows it. And the punishment of a bad deed is the bad deed which follows it. So if Allah accepted the worship of a slave he will help him to follow his orders and to keep away from his prohibitions."

• keep doing a good deed and never stop doing it-> continuance.

And from a fatwa (Arabic) asking the same question:

It's not easy or possible for the slave to know whether Allah has accepted a special worship as stated in the sahih hadith, but Allah is all forgiving and may donate graciously to whom HE will. Imam an-Nawawi said in his comment of Sahih Muslim of this hadith: (my own translation take it carefully)

مذهب أهل السنة أن الله تعالى لا يجب عليه شيء، بل العالم ملكه والدنيا والآخرة في سلطانه يفعل فيهما ما يشاء، فلو عذب المطيعين والصالحين وأدخلهم النار كان عدلاً منه، وقوله تعالى: وَتِلْكَ الْجَنَّةُ الَّتِي أُورِثْتُمُوهَا بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ [الزخرف:72]

The madhab of ahlu-as-Sunnah for Allah exalted be HE is that HE isn't asked to anything, but the world/universe is HIS (possession) and this life and the hereafter is HIS and he does what ever HE wants (in them), so if he punished those who obey him and the good people and let them enter the hell-fire this would be a justice applied by him, As he said (43:72)
"And that is Paradise which you are made to inherit for what you used to do."

This means that good deeds may be a reason for entering paradise but they don't guarantee for the slave anything, so only Allah's guidance towards good deeds, HIS hidaya (guidance) to devotion and HIS acceptance are only a kind of Mercy and donation of Allah. SO if the slave is doing good and is following good deeds and obeying with devotion, he should be thankful and praise Allah for being guided by HIM and ask HIM for help and continuance.

May Allah guide us and accept our good deeds even if we don't deserve it!

And Allah knows best!