My Ramadhan Takeaway

Today as I sat in the mosque after the morning prayers, I got into the zone. I am more of a lecturer than a writer and therefor suffer from a permanent writers-block but not today.

As we draw closer to the end of Ramadhan and reminisce on prayers in the wee hours of the night and going through long hours of the day without food and water, I fail not, to see the funny side of Ramadhan. I am always tickled by the red eyes from lack of sleep, cracked lips from thirst and pale faces I believe from hunger and lack of sleep. The physical body is humbled and the spirit is prepared to accept the sublime message of its Creator.

For a non-Muslim this might seem extreme. To what end one might ask? One of the Muslim scholars; ibn al Qayyim says the objective behind fasting is to restrain the soul from its desires and to prevent it from things which are beloved to it. The core purpose is to control the soul’s strength, so that it can be prepared to attain what is found in fasting from success and joy of the soul”.

Fasting has an amazing effect in preserving one’s outer limbs and inner capacities as well as protecting the soul from being overtaken by destructive components which can ruin and destroy it. Despite the extremity, fasting is actually embraced by many. After about seven days, the body gets used to fasting and incredulously finds vitality. This reminds me of the words of Ibrahim ibn Ad-ham one of the Muslim sages may Allah have mercy on him as reported by Ibn Asakir, he said: “If kings and their sons knew what we experience of spiritual pleasure and happiness, they would fight us for it with their swords.”

Ramadhan has taught me some vital lessons which I hope will remain with me until my last breath. First and foremost is Allah is a God of love for human beings and provides continuous guidance to all human beings. He, The Almighty, did not create and leave human beings without guidance. Notwithstanding revealing scriptures and sending messengers and prophets He has set seasons wherein we are reminded of our sole purpose: to worship Him. Ramadhan is indeed a blessing and not a curse, those who fast, intimately know this fact and wish it was longer than a month. But God being ar-Rahman The Merciful, knows us better, our weakness would not allow us to do more than a month.

In Ramadhan we relearn the value of time. ”When one understands the value of time, the resource and the wealth of time, one runs away from the crowd and distractions” It is amazing how in Ramadhan we prioritize acts of worship over distractions that are our lot in other than Ramadhan. Only in Ramadhan do I see people capitalizing on time; not a minute is wasted. Stephen Covey aptly captures this lesson when he says: “things that matter most should never be at the mercy of things that matter least”.

Time and tide wait for none. Allah’s mercy in this season if not utilized is a sure sign of lose. In Ramadhan we learn there are numerous issues and needs competing for our time. Time is the currency of life. Ramadhan is a number of days as mentioned in the Qurán and so are our lives. There will come a time where whatever number of years we have lived they will seem like a number of days. Yesterday we were welcoming the month, today we are preparing to bid farewell to the month, tomorrow it will be a bygone. The lesson here is to not just seize opportunities but to create them and harness them to the fullest potential. People who know the value of time are always doing something valuable with their time.

As we are occupied with the rat race that is our life to feed the material body we usually forget to nourish the spirit. Ramadhan creates the environment to give the body just enough nourishment and continuously feed the soul to near satisfaction. This is why we yearn for more, more night prayers, more fasts and increased recitation of the Holy book. Interestingly, after Ramadhan we celebrate and forget what made us feel what we felt. It is reported that Einstein said: “insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result” to paraphrase, insanity is to know the road to spiritual pleasure and inner happiness and pursue a different route or worse do nothing and expect to achieve spiritual pleasure and inner peace.

Life satisfaction then does not come from material things. The most developed countries have higher suicides than the less developed countries. Allah asks in the Qur’an: “So where are you going?”. This question is paused to those whom have been called to the truth but then turn literally or figuratively away. In our case, we are being asked where are you going after intimately knowing the truth. Abu al A’tahiya says: “you seek success but follow not its path, verily you will never see a ship sailing on dry land”.

Ramadhan teaches us the true meaning of love, there is no love without sacrifice. As human beings we express our love to those whom we love through service. Parents work day and night to provide for their children. Children in turn repay this debt remembering how their parents sacrificed their ambitions, dreams and life for their comfort. The essence of love is sacrifice. Because we love our Lord for all the bounties and graces, we sacrifice our food, drink and sexual pleasure from dawn to dusk to purify ourselves and draw closer to Him.

Lastly, among the lessons I have learnt this Ramadhan is to shed excess baggage. Ramadhan teaches us that we eat more than our body requires. While Ramadhan is not about shedding excess weight but sins, we have learned that our body functions perfectly alright with smaller portions than what we are used to. Of greater importance though is appreciating that excesses are detrimental to our wellbeing. Not just in food but, also in talking, sleeping and socializing. Work and life balance is what we need. What I mean in work-life balance here is balance between material life and spiritual life without this balance, we can be reduced to an animal state where we only live to eat, drink and satisfy our base desires. We would be worse though, because we have a more developed brain than animals.                          

So, shed what does not benefit you in the hereafter. Although you cannot rise to the rank of angles but aspire to be a better human being. Eid mubaarak to you and your family.