The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Imaan (faith) wears out in the heart of you just as a dress wears out. So ask Allah to renew Imaan in your hearts.
Ramadan is a time when we all try our best to renew our faith and increase in doing good deeds. Typically we follow it up by losing that enthusiasm straight after Eid! Nevertheless, we have proved to ourselves that we can be better Muslims for a month, so we have no excuse to slip back into our old habits as many of us do.
Let us take a few examples: we pray all five compulsory prayers and the optional Taraweeh prayers too, and we find the Masjid seems closer! How can we then say we have no time to pray just the five compulsory prayers after Ramadan? We give in charity freely hoping for the reward in Ramadan, then we become stingy for the other eleven months? We read the Qur’an for a month and then we leave it to collect dust on the bookshelf. We become well-behaved during Ramadan, giving up smoking, girlfriends, boyfriends, swearing etc, but as soon as Ramadan is over we give up trying to remain on the good we have been on for the previous month, instead we choose to listen to the whispers of shaitan. Did we really take a lesson from Ramadan?
“O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed upon you as it was for those before you so that you may become God-fearing (have Taqwa).” Al-Qur’an 2:183
When we have this true fear of Allah then we can avoid sinning and do good deeds.
“Indeed those who have Taqwa, when an evil thought comes to them from Satan, they remember (Allah), and they see aright.” Al Qur’an 7:201
We should try to read the Qur’an with the translation in a language we understand throughout the year, our guide from the Master of the Universe. We should make the prayer the cornerstone of our lives, waiting in eager anticipation for the arrival of the next prayer and a meeting with our Lord. We should try and attend the Masjid as regularly as possible, making it an integral part of our daily routines.
Our purse strings should stay loose for the sake of Allah all the months of the year, as a means of purifying ones wealth, alleviating the pain of the suffering and achieving closeness to Allah. And we should strive to do righteous deeds in every passing hour and day knowing that Allah is ever watching. We should encourage our youngsters and relatives to do likewise. We know that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “Whoever guides to a good deed will get the reward similar to the one who performs it.” [Muslim]
What this means is that if you were to teach someone to pray, you would get the reward of every prayer that person performs without the person you taught losing anything! The same applies to all other good deeds as well. Remember this also works in the reverse, so those who introduce people to vice and evil deeds will carry their sin and the sin of all those they introduced to the sinful act.
It is never too late to change our ways for the better. We just have to turn back completely to Our Lord with sincerity and commitment to His Book and the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet (pbuh).
“Say, O my servants who have transgressed against their own souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, for Allah forgives all sins, for He is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.” Al Qur’an 39:53
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