Thursday, July 19, 2012

Ramadan Diary - Introduction

The ascendency of spiritual celebration could never be more enjoyable than the month of Ramadan. A month long prayers coupled with joy and feelings of getting closer to Allah is something that every Muslim looks forward to enjoy once in a year. The eternal pleasure of knowing, understanding, feeling of Allah and His endless presence can be well realized in Ramadan, in fact subject to our total surrender to Him. If there any prayers with lots of celebration, it is Ramadan, because one can enjoy his or her prayers as much as they wants. I am writing about the spiritual celebration that liberates the mind and body from worldly matters and smooth the path of self purification in attaining multiple rewards from Allah. Exerting the control on mind and body with a sole objective of achieving peace with Allah, the Creator of universe could never be explained with words of any languages. It is more of a personal relationship and closely confined to our hearts only. In Ramadan the mankind achieves the highest level in prayers aimed for Allah’s pleasure in both here and after life. The reward for the prayers on the ‘night of power’, the lailathul kadhr is equal to one thousand nights. What else we need? It must be realized, felt, experienced and enjoyed in solitary confinement, especially at mid-night prayers.


Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) said, "When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained" [Bukhari]. Now it is the requisite of Muslims to open our gates of ambition to attain heaven by totally surrendering ourselves to Allah. And it is the necessity of Muslims to shut the devils out our heart and minds once for all. This exercise of broadening our path to heaven by totally eradicating the devils out of our lives could be easily achieved in Ramadan because of our total surrender to Him. Ramadan brings happiness to every Muslim irrespective of their status. It is a month of sharing in which Allah increases the sharing with His creatures; men and women shares whatever they can with their known and unknowns. It is a period where there are no strangers and all are universal brothers and sisters. The joy of sharing the breakfast, especially in two holy mosques in Makkah and Madiah is a treat to eyes and minds and a living proof of universal brotherhood among Muslims.

We are fortunate enough to welcome yet another Ramadan in our life. Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) often prayed to Allah, when he nears Ramadan month, to grand the opportunity of living in yet another month of Ramadan. While we would enter into Ramadan shortly, I would like take this opportunity to reflect the rational and emotional part of our life, prayers, especially the application level and sustainability of good deeds. While Ramadan treasure is unlimited, I would prefer to analyze how much we benefits from our Creator’s unlimited bounty. Precisely, my analysis is in two categories a) application of knowledge (principles, guidance and instructions of Allah) and b) sustaining them beyond Ramadan.

Celebration of prayers shall be meaningful if it is followed with application and sustainability of good deeds throughout our life. Confining all those good deeds in Ramadan only or cherishing it once in a year is nothing but a sign of weakness in our faith (Eman). My analysis is directly relevant to the practical conflicts and challenges that we face in our contemporary life and the necessity of preserving and increasing the faith. I am not offering any extraordinary techniques to handle the conflicts and challenges and not necessary too. The simple technique that is given to us by Allah is nothing but to strengthening of our ‘faith’ in Allah. Faith in Allah is always take us forward when knowledge and experience stops or fails, because faith is the basic connectivity between Allah and us and it should never be tampered with, instead it must be strengthened. The strength of our faith determines the strength of our password to login to the domain of Allah’s heaven.

My analysis is based on simple reflections of Ramadan in connection with our daily life, habits, attitudes, approaches and inner consequences. I would share it under different topics with my perspective and understanding which is not necessarily an academic view under religious interpretations. Knowledge is after all to share with others and therefore I am.

(To be continued)

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