A Sustainable Ramadan-Ramadan Life Long

By: Shaista Khurshid, Calgary Alberta

Our friend, Ramadan, is the 9th month of the Hijri calendar, and he visits us only once a year. We welcome this month wholeheartedly and try our best to make the best of this month. We fast, we pray, we make daily duas, try to increase our charities, listen to Islamic lectures, and devoutly attend tarawih (nightly prayers). This is Alhamdulillah a beautiful month, when it comes to religiosity and adhering to the do’s and don't of Islam.

Ramadan is the blessed month when Allah chose to send down his final message, The Quran. The Quran was chosen to be revealed in a blessed night called lailatul-qadar, a blessed night which is better than a thousand months. A thousand months roughly translates into eighty three years. According to tradition, if one gets one-night of this bliss, he or she might be forgiven for life. Let’s face it, how many of us are going to live 10-12 years past eighty three. Don’t forget that in our natural life, our younger years, our age of innocence, is not judged towards our book of deeds.

We are so motivated and active in Ramadan, but the question arises, what about the next eleven months. Don’t get me wrong, many Muslims fast three days a month or twice a week; and some of us randomly fast when we feel like it. But, what about absenteeism from extra activities we adhere to during Ramadan? We limit social media, gossip, unneeded activities, and random parties etc. Some of them are harmful or a waste of our time or other people’s time.

Do we think about these activities after Ramadan?

Ramadan is no wonder a blessed month. But our deeds are judged and written in the next eleven months too. So even if we are fully forgiven in Ramadan, the charge sheet starts to fill up right after it passes. Especially when Shaitan is free. And I wonder how many of us will be able to get the blessings of the next Ramadan or if we will be gone by the next one. We do not know when our last day will be.

The other concern is that even if we have been fully forgiven and we spend the best Ramadan ever, every deed that involves another person or people might still be hanging in the middle and not yet been resolved. Do we think about that hanging sword over us? And in my experience, people are usually less forgiving. Resolving those might not be an easy route to take.

Would it be possible for us to organize Ramadan in the way to catch maximum blessings, but to also pick some substantial habits which we can carry along with us through the next eleven months. The deeds in Ramadan are easier because we only have to fight our nafs or other people's nafs. The hurdle of the pesky Shaitan whispering is taken care of. After Ramadan, we have to fight many battles at once, and it can be a recipe for disaster. But if we practice enough during Ramadan with all our sincere hearts and depth of our souls, and pray for steadfastness, maybe it will not be difficult to continue being righteous all year after all.

If we are to be sustainable, Ramadan needs our full attention. So, we know who we are, what our strengths and weaknesses, we can try each Ramadan to strengthen and elongate our convictions each Ramadan. So, when we face the enmity of Shaitan our will power and support from Allah is there to help us.

Let’s start focusing on it for the next Ramadan. It is a few months away. Make a list of people's dos and don’ts, your strengths and weaknesses, where we incline towards and what we ignore. You will know what areas there are to work on and what areas are just fine enough to leave as is. And remember Allah is Most Merciful. It is effort that counts. We will slip, we will fall, and we will stand, and we will continue InShaAllah.