اسلام عليكم
I pray this blog finds you well and in the best of health. This is my first ever post and I‘d really appreciate all the support from you guys.
I pray you all had the most beautiful Ramadan and Eid, because I surely did. As we all know, this Ramadan just wasn’t the same previous years for many reasons, but the biggest being no mosques open to go and pray. Despite such circumstances, I’m sure we can all say it was still so special in its own way. I think it’s safe to say that this Ramadan has brought each and everyone of us closer to Allah based on our spirituality.
No work. No commuting. No school. No fast pace life.
We were all a tad anxious as to how this year was going to be, but now looking back, how could we have had such thoughts, when Allah was given us the opportunity experience yet another month of Ramadan, the month of his mercy, which shows he was never going to leave us alone.
Having said that, I wanted to shine a light on just some of the lessons we need to take from the previous month. 1. The first and foremost is that Allah is most definitely not confined to a time or space. The mosques may have been closed but it clearly didn’t stop us from praying and turning to him; and so a lesson to be learnt is that at all times, in all spaces, all situations, Allah deserves and needs to be worshiped. Allah isn’t confined to a masjid or just the month of Ramadan. In times of prosperity and adversity, turn to him. Having Ramadan in lockdown has allowed us to seclude ourselves, take a break from the toxic society, and truly pray and turn to Allah, improving our connection with him.
Something else to be taken from this is that
2. The best things happen in it‘ikaaf (seclusion). Prophet Muhammad (saw) received revelation in seclusion In the cave of Hera.
Lesson: every so often, take some time out of your week, sit in it’ikaaf, pray and turn to Allah. He loves it. Our religion is so easy that when one stands for Salaah, he can even make the intention of nafl it’ikaaf for the duration of standing and praying.
It’ikaaf virtue: three trenches shall be dug between the person, and the fire of jahannam; the size of one trench is the distance between the heavens and the earth. Subhan’Allah, insane!
I really hope this is something we can all start adding into our routines; but first and foremost, myself. Also, a lot of mosques had lessons over zoom, bayaans streamed on certain sites, and although teaching in such a manner is not ideal,according to the prophet, lessons still continued, teaching us that
3. Gaining Islamic knowledge is not just confined to going to a mosque because you’re forced by your parents. Having the love, and increasing in deeny knowledge is an all time thing, until your last breathe, under any circumstance. A lot of people are surprised when I tell them I still go to mosque, but it’s one thing I won’t let go of.
Guys, it’s imperative that we attempt to keep a close connection with some sort of Islamic institute or else you’ll slowly but surely start drifting away, and I speak from experience. Theres a Hadith to the nearest meaning which says ‘a believers thirst for knowledge is never quenched. He continues to hear and learn until he enters paradise‘. Those who go out and walk in the path of Allah to seek knowledge, the angels spread their wings beneath him, and Allah makes the path to Jannah easy for him. So beautiful.
A final lesson to take from this is that
4. Family are always first no matter what. I’m talking immediate family. Allah may have taken away commual Iftar, seeing those in the masjid, meeting and doing iftar with friends, in order for us to reconnect with our family and close ones. Don’t take family for granted, it’s the biggest support system you’ll ever need in your life, who will always want the best for you and give the best advice. You may have had your whole family with you this year, but come next year we dont know who will be around. We can see for ourselves how people lost loves ones just one day before Ramadan. When life is normal, we often forget the beauty of iftar with family. We get so busy making plans with friends, going out after taraweeh, but we don’t appreciate that our family are more important than any of that. Maybe just maybe Allah wanted us to ponder over such things this year.
Allah has designed our households in such a special way, that he knows we‘re all compatible with each other, and can tolerate each other. Had there been someone else instead, the family wouldn’t work. We should try and appreciate these small things in life.
Remember, a strong family unit means a united ummah. Shaytan gets happy when families break apart and arguments happen. Who do we want to make happy? Shaytan or Allah.
Done!
I’m sure there were a lot more lessons we could’ve taken from this Ramadan but these were just a few crucial ones.
Jazaka’Allah for reading, don’t forget to leave a like and comment. Check out my Instagram if you haven’t already; @_nusyb
Lots of love xx
Beautiful words.