Bismillah: In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful
Ramadan is almost like New Year: clearly not because we are feasting and frolicking, but because we are preparing
ourselves for the year ahead until the next Ramadan. It’s a time of inner reflection, deep contemplation and vigorous
devotion.
More than ever we prioritize our worldly obligations, and set aside distractions
and diversions as much as we can. The less we are bombarded with unnecessary things, the more we are able to feel the Ramadan
spirit, which can too easily pass us by in our heedlessness. We battle our forgetful and hedonistic nature and focus
on our mission in life, which is both to know Allah–the unimaginable treasure Who wishes to be known–and
to become His representatives on Earth.
Allah has given us a special chance to see how much our own soul is inclined
towards wrong habits without any other prompting.
According to Islamic teachings, the external forces of evil that normally
incite us towards wrong, or devils, are locked away for the entire month of Ramadan, leaving us to face our own ego. Once
we contemplate and realize our flaws, we know where to begin or carry on our lifelong journey of purifying ourselves on the
straight path. While we learn to restrain our ego, we also fortify our shield to combat Satan, our apparent enemy, when he
is released. According to a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): “Fasting is a shield against Satan.”
Many of us, tasting Ramadan’s spirit, are motivated to make firm,
personal resolutions to gain forgiveness for past sins and errors, to profit now in this holy month, and to prepare for the
future. You realize you could have been doing more during the year: do it now. You want to do something this year: start it
now. Practice it. Maintain it.
Suddenly we see our personal struggles become one universal struggle. Muslims
all over the world are working on themselves, trying to be the best they can be, to make the world the best it can be. Sharing
our struggles to protect and cleanse our selves, hearts and minds, we reach out to each other, trying to be better neighbours,
better friends, better people, better citizens. We make provisions for the less fortunate and for each other’s iftaar
(breaking of fast), and we gather at night to pray side by side. The bonds of community become firmer and the spirit of Ramadan
is shared.
As a further gift and motivation from God the Most Generous, Ramadan
contains innumerable blessings for us, to the extent that “the most pitiable and unfortunate one is he who is deprived
of Allah’s mercy in this month.” Ramadan is so filled with opportunity that, for instance, if even one fast is
missed (without a valid excuse), we will not be able to recoup that day even by fasting for the rest of our lives.
Now, the period of the last ten days and nights of Ramadan, offers the
most opportunity for us. Most significantly is The Night of Power, the night “better than 1000 months”,
when all the angels, lead by Gabriel, descend to Earth on our behalf.
Despite the struggles of Ramadan, it is not hard to understand why so many
Muslims feel a stirring pain when the time of the sighting of the moon approaches and the celebration of Eid arrives. Even
the most unenthusiastic and reluctant faster, if he were to know the full greatness of Ramadan, “would wish every day
were Ramadan.”
By M.K.V.
(Courtesy of the Standard-Freeholder, October 14, 2006)
