Farewell to Ramadan

THE LAST day of the blessed month of Ramadan has finally come. Say farewell to the month of the Holy Quran, farewell to the month of piety, farewell to the month of nightly prayers. Say it with swollen eyes because no one knows who will live to see the holy month again to seek Allah’s mercy and forgiveness.

Ramadan is the month righteousness and generosity, the month of forgiveness and liberation from Hell. It is all but gone now and nothing remains of it but a few moments. Yesterday, we were congratulating each other on the arrival of the month; today we are consoling one another over its departure and invoking Allah to accept all our acts of worship.

The fortunate Muslim during this month was the one who was able to perfect his acts of worship with sincerity and self-examination and end it with sincere repentance.

What fasters will miss most is the Iftar moment, especially because it is that moment alone when the sense of Taqwa, which is the soul of fasting, comes to the fore in all its glory and freshness. It is Taqwa alone which acts as a deterrent to eating or drinking anything before the call of Maghreb prayer even though the best of food and drinks are all displayed on a table right before the fasters. The feeling that Allah is watching them pervades all over, which is the climax of the ritual of fasting.

Remember, the intent and effect of fasting is to acquire Taqwa. Presence of Taqwa helps protect from committing sins and overcome the passions of flesh. In Islamic terminology, Taqwa refers to a state of consciousness where one constantly feels the presence of his Creator, obeys His commands to attain His pleasure, and avoids disobedience to Him, not only out of His fear but also for the love of Him.

Normally, a guest does not stay long with his host. After dropping by for a while and completing his purpose or courtesy call, he shall finally say goodbye and depart. When he will return is something that cannot be determined exactly by the host since he does not possess the will of his visitor, nor does he has any control and authority over him. Such visitor could return at his appointed time but may not find the same host for he could have left for the destination from which he will never return at all.

This is how Ramadan manifests itself to the Muslim Ummah so that when it leaves and departs in a few days from now, none of us has the assurance of receiving it again next year simply because none of us knows his fate – whether he will be still around, or will already have joined his Creator – by the time Ramadan returns again next year.

This blessing and virtue-filled guest of the believers has only come and stayed with us for a while to bring us a chance to purify and cleanse ourselves of wrongdoing and misdeeds and lay before us the opportunity to invest for the next world for which all living creatures are inevitably bound.

A person who has been indifferent since the beginning of this month and who only pays little attention to the essence and greatness of Ramadan can still rise up and toil on any act of worship he willingly chooses so as not to be totally deprived of the immense reward lying in wait for him in the life after death.

Lucky is the one who is able to grab the Laylatul-Qadar (Night of Power), a single night which could only be found in the last ten days of Ramadan from 20th until 30th — which is better and superior to one thousand months of worship. Allah said: “We have indeed revealed this message in the Night of Power. And what will explain to thee what the night of power is? The Night of Power is better than a thousand months. There come down the Angels and the spirit by Allah’s permission on every errand: Peace! This until the rise of morning (Quran 97:1-5).

It has been suggested that the Night of Power could be on 23rd, 25th, or 27th. The reason why Allah did not make known on which night this virtuous night falls is so that His servants will strive hard to seek and seize that particular night by performing various acts of worship.

At the end of this blessed month we say “O Allah, forgive me. My Lord, I could have done more but I did not, so forgive me. My Lord, excuse my shortcomings and blemishes, You are indeed oft -Forgiving and You love forgiveness, so forgive me.”

Istighfaar, or seeking forgiveness, at the end of every good deed, not just bad deeds, is the way of the righteous. We need forgiveness to patch the holes we created in our fasting due to our faults and mistakes, or at least for falling short on fulfilling the full rights of hospitality to the guest.

— Special to Khaleej Times