After Ramadan

Photo by Harraz               

by Fateen Seifullah

As salaam alaykum

Ramadan is over, farewell old friend.  We pray to meet you again next year.  It has been said, that when Ramadan visits it is like when old friends or family members come to visit. We are excited about there presence, but generally by the end of the visit we are happy for them to leave.  Don’t get me wrong, it is not as though we are ungrateful, nor do we hate Ramadan, but rather we are  people with certain appetites and passions, some natural and normal, while others un-natural and abnormal.   Ramadan is the month that provides us with an excellent opportunity to put those passions in check.  We learn to check our appetite, to control it, to delay it, and in some instances we have even given up indefinitely those character killers.  Character killers such as excessive talking and laughing; social ills like gossip, etc.  Now that Ramadan is over, what will we do?  Will we go back to our lust and desires?

During Ramadan we were very conscious of our treatment of our fellowmen, our brothers and sisters in Islam. We were careful not to hurt them, to harm their feelings, careful not to slander or hurt them.   Allah reminds us in a portion of the Quran in sura 16:92, “And be not like a woman who breaks into untwisted strands the yard which she has spun after it has become strong.”  This verse is specific in its address to those who make an oath and break it; however there is an important and relevant reminder and principle found in this verse.  This verse addresses the irrational behavior of someone who spends all day spinning yarn, making it strong, only to unwind it in the evening.  The same principle applies to people who fast the entire month of Ramadan, carefully avoiding the haram, only to return to haram behavior after Ramadan.  That attitude, that behavior is no different than the woman who labors all day making something strong, only to weaken it in the evening with her own hands.  This is exactly what most of us do, fasting, eating small portions (some of us), avoiding the haram like it is the plague, only to return to it at the conclusion of Ramadan.  How often has this happened to you?  What have you really gained from Ramadan?  Maybe we lost some weight, which will be regained if our eating habits go back to the same undisciplined life-style.  This year should be different, but we have to start now.  We should begin by completing the six days of Shawwal, and we preserve it by fasting Mondays and Thursday, by remaining consistent in our reading of Quran, and last but not least by making as many prayers in the Masjid as we can.

May Allah make it easy for us.

 

Fateen Seifullah is the Imam of Masjid as-Sabur, he can be reached at VegasMasjid@aol.com

Edited by Aiza Malik

Comments

[Moncler Rockar]

He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs.