So here we are again, Ramadan is over, the spiritual high we got from the blessed month with the fasting, the increased recitation of the Qur'aan, the frequent dhikr of Allah, the abundant salutations upon the prophet (peace & blessings of Allah be upon him), late night ‘ibaadah, etc. now for most will begin to spiral down after the celebration of Eid ul Fitr.
Is it now time to go back to our normal routine?
There are those of us that welcome the end of Ramadan whilst others are sad to see it go. Some that were counting down the days left, whilst others were looking back at the days gone and wishing they could have them back. Whatever the case may be, our efforts are now turned towards the celebration of Eid.
What are we celebrating at Eid?
The festival of Eid, is a celebration for having completed one of the pillars of Islam, fasting in the month of Ramadan and also a celebration of what we have gained from the blessed month.
The prophet (peace & blessings be upon him) is reported to have said:
“It (Ramadan) is the month, whose beginning is mercy, its middle forgiveness and its end emancipation from the fire (of hell)”
With a little effort throughout Ramadan, we can achieve the immense Mercy and forgiveness of Allah and be saved from the hell fire. Eid is truly a great celebration for those that exerted themselves throughout Ramadan and a joyous occasion of hope, that they may have left the month as new borns; a fresh start, having had all their previous sins forgiven.
But it’s also something a little more than that. Allah says:
'The month of Ramadhan is that in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for mankind & clear proofs of guidance & criterion. So whoever sights the month, let him fast; and whoever is ill or on a journey, then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease & does not intend for you hardship & wants for you to complete the period & to glorify Allah for that to which He has guided you; so perhaps you may be grateful.'Al Qur'aan - Surah 2 Ayah 185
It is also a celebration of being blessed with the greatest gift that we can achieve in this world and that is to be amongst the believers. So if the beginning of Ramadan is about mercy, its middle forgiveness and its end freedom from the hellfire, then surely Eid is a time of thankfulness and gratitude to Allah. Eid is an occasion that Allah wants us to glorify Him and to remember His favour upon us, in that He guided us towards Islam; we've been given direction with the Qur’an and Sunnah and we are amongst the most blessed and most fortunate people in the world as we know our Creator.
Eid should be a time of praising and thanking Allah for guiding us towards Him and to contemplate on the amazing gift of Islam. Indeed without Allah in our lives, our lives would be empty. A purposeless existence. He, Subhaanahu wa ta'aala penetrated our hearts with His noor which was when our hearts were truly brought to life. Alhamdulillah. Guidance to Allah truly is a great gift and if it’s not appreciated and nurtured and worked on it can easily slip away. Let Eid also be a time of supplication to Allah to remain guided.
An amazing dua from the Qur’aan we should all try and learn is:
‘Rabbana la tuzig quloobanaa ba’da iz hadaytanaa wa hab lanaa milla dunka rahmah. Innaka antal wahab.’
‘Our Lord, let not our hearts deviate after You have guided us and grant us from Yourself mercy. Indeed, You are the Most Giving.’
Al Qur'aan - Surah 3 Ayah 8
Through our ‘ibaadah, fulfilling our obligations towards Allah and carrying out voluntary acts of worship, we should leave Ramadan having attained a closeness to God. If we leave Ramadan feeling no greater love towards our Creator, not having increased our consciousness of our Lord, not having shed any tears for our sins and do not re-established a connection and friendship with Allah, then we have not truly benefited from the blessed month of Ramadan at all.
It is often said that in order to understand if we have really benefited from Ramadan and if we have attained Allah’s acceptance of our ‘ibaadah, we have to reflect on our life after Ramadhan.
What has Ramadan left behind?
So as we are aware the primary objective of Ramadhan is to increase our levels of taqwa or God consciousness as Allah mentions:
‘O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may become righteous. (attain taqwa)’
Al Qur'aan - Surah 2 Ayah 183
Through the pangs of hunger, the prayers, recitation of the Qur’aan etc. in Ramadan we are able to remain focused on Allah. We are able to keep to the forefront of our minds our duties and responsibilities towards God and therefore push ourselves in fulfilling our religious obligations.
The blessings of the month bring about and aid us in developing this mind-set of carrying out our religious duties and maintaining good etiquette and behaviour towards others, and if anyone was to step out of line our response to them or our thoughts to ourselves would be, ‘It’s Ramadan or I’m fasting’ and therefore we would remain patient and act in accordance to the principles of Islam.
We would exercise this consciousness of how we respond to and interact with others and our whole mentality is that of obedience to Allah and being not only conscious of that but also cautious in our approach towards our religion and others.
Now that Ramadan has coming to a close, has this consciousness of Allah truly been instilled within us or is it something that will disappear with the month?
Does our faith increase by itself?
It is easily accepted by the masses that in order to achieve success in the world and in secular education for example, it requires time and effort and on average we will spend 16 years on educating ourselves in order to have a good standing in society. It is expected however that our faith, and our certainty of belief in it, will just appear over night. That our imaan and the practise of Islam requires no effort and will grow by itself over time.
Is it not the case that we have stayed up all night reading and memorising books of science, maths, English etc. but never spent the whole night in reading and memorising the Qur’an?
Is it not true that we have stayed up all night talking to our friends & family but have never spent the whole night talking to Allah?
Is it not also true that we are happy to spend three or four years studying secular education at university, but reluctant to attend a weekly or even a monthly Islamic circle?
‘The spirit of Ramadhan is the birth of consciousness of our duties and responsibilities to Allah & His creation’
Our consciousness of our duties and responsibilities to Allah and His creation is given birth during Ramadan, but then like a child, requires nurture in order for it to develop and move forward. It's important that we do not become complacent as Muslims, and therefore adopt practises and implement certain actions into our lives in order to continue growing in our faith.
Ramadan is the training ground and the stepping stone for us to instil certain deeds, values and etiquettes into our lives and increase our servitude to Allah and His creation. Eating is one of mans innate desires, and through Ramadan God is showing us that if we can give up food, which is a fundamental and basic need and desire in order to live, and give it up only for the sake of Allah, then what is it that we can't do for Allah? Everything else after that should come easy.
So what do we do after Ramadan?
We should see a continuation of the good acts that we carried out in the month and let it not be that our good deeds are only confined to Ramadan.
In our dealings and interactions with others in situations where we have to endure patience, in Ramadan we remind ourselves that we are fasting, let it be that during the rest of the year we remind ourselves that we are Muslims, as we should keep in mind that it is not only due to Ramadan or fasting that we endure patience with others, maintain good character and etiquettes, and perform good deeds but rather it is simply due to being those who submit themselves to God.
We should try our very best to maintain our prayers after Ramadan, remain attached to the Qur’an by reciting frequently and pondering upon its meaning, serve our family, friends and the community, and enrol into some kind of Islamic circle where we are continuously learning about Islam and spending time with like minded people. It is important that we remain consistent in doing good deeds, even if it’s something small, let’s make it regular.
The prophet (peace be upon him) said:
‘The most beloved actions to Allah are those performed consistently, even if they are few.’(Bukhari)
The best advice is that of Allah and His messenger (peace be upon him). We are all at different stages on our journey towards Allah, some move at a faster pace than others, however the most important thing is that we are moving forward and not remaining stagnant or worse still, going backwards.
Our main focus and goal in life should be to please our Creator through our thoughts, words and actions. There are so many things that we can do in order to try and better our relationship with Allah, however we have many flaws and weaknesses and can often fail to achieve the obligations that Allah has set for us.
If we can initially at least take on board one bit of advice that the prophet (peace be upon him) once gave, inshaa' Allah we will be successful.
Abdullah ibn Busr reported that a man said:
“O Messenger of Allah, the laws of Islam are too much for me. Tell me something I can cling to.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
“Your tongue should remain moist with the remembrance of Allah.”
(At-Tirmidhi)
SubhaaAllah. May Allah shower our beautiful nabi SalAllahu ‘alayhi wa salam with an abundance of blessings.
Very few words, but with profound meaning and impact in one’s life. If we can maintain just one thing in our lives, then let it be that Allah remains on our tongues and that we talk about Him often. We speak about His Greatness, share His Love and Compassion with others; spend our time in praising Him; seeking His forgiveness and thanking Him.
‘Through Allah remaining constant on our tongues, it will lead to Allah becoming a firm fixture in our hearts, and when He has truly entered into our hearts, we will see this manifest in our actions.’
The prophet Muhammad (peace & blessings be upon him) said that Allah said:
“I am with My servant when he remembers Me. When he remembers Me in privacy then I remember him likewise. When he remembers Me in a gathering then I remember him in a nobler gathering (i.e. a gathering of angels).”
(Bukhari)
May Allah give us all the ability to continue our good deeds after Ramadan.
May Allah make us amongst those that have achieved His closeness and love.
May Allah enable to us remember Him often and thank Him in abundance.
I ask Allah , Al-Ghaffar - The All Forgiving, for His Mercy & Compassion and ask Him to forgive me for anything that I may have said that was incorrect. Anything praiseworthy in this article was from Allah alone, and any shortcomings were that of my own.
'Verily never will Allah change the condition of people until they change the condition themselves.'
The Holy Qur'aan - Surah 13 Verse 11
Attique Qamar