Ramadan 2021: My Takeaway From the Holy Month
You know how time flies; only yesterday was the start of the most important month in the life of a Muslim. It was around then I published my first article on supporting your Muslim colleagues through the Holy Month. Well, guys here we are. I remember signing out at the end of that article with: “ we’re only here for a good time and not a long time” turns out I was right, wasn’t I? It is important to point out that the month seemed to go by because we have good health. That is a blessing I’m grateful for.
Imagine going 30 days in a hospital ward and you can easily see it as the longest month ever. Trust me, I spent the last eleven days of one Ramadan in a hospital before and Eid could not have come any sooner. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the Muslims around the world, and a very good friend of mine who will not be having a very happy Eid because they are dealing with loss in the family. May the Almighty be there for you even more than I will be every step of the way.
On that note, Eid Mubarak!
It's that time of the year again, guys. The kaftans are leaving the tailor’s shops and the henna artists are busy at work on our beautiful sisters’ hands. This is when I wish I had a girlfriend to bill me for henna, hair and abaya. Trust me, I’ll gladly fund it. I’m advertising for the position, by the way, if you know any Muslim ladies that may be available lol.
But then, Eid should not be only about catching up on all the meals we missed during the month, even if that’s what I plan to do. It should be a day to reflect on our performance during the Holy Month and see how much we changed our lives, and more importantly, resolving to sustain the momentum for the rest of the year. So, let me tell you what I learned from this year’s Ramadan. It’s a lesson that sustained me through the nights of the month and I’m choosing to hold on to this lesson for the year.
As is widely said, Life is a marathon and not a sprint. I have not seen any marathon where the finish line is visible at the beginning of the race, have you? What propels you to the finish is your belief and the resilience in your mind to see the race through. During Ramadan, Muslims spend the nights in prayer. These prayers consist of thirteen units in total (eleven for some) excluding the mandatory night prayer.
Imagine going through thirteen units of prayer every single night. You’re bound to get tired someday. I remember one of these nights when I was tired. I had commuted so far from home to enjoy my prayers in a conducive mosque on the Island. Man, I just told myself: just pray the next two. So, at the end of every set (usually two units) I kept saying: just the next two.
That was how I completed the entire night of prayer. I’m proud to say that except on occasions when I got to the mosque late, I prayed every unit of prayer every night. Praise be to Allah. This year was one of those years that everything fell into place and I was able to enjoy the beauty of standing the night in prayer. These are the nights that never die.
In case you haven’t noticed the lesson yet, let me spell it out for you: Life is best lived in bits. Imagine if God, The Most Merciful, made us pray all thirteen units in one stretch. What option would we have? In His infinite wisdom, he gave us the leeway to pray them in sets of two. Throwing in one bonus unit at the end like an exclamation point. He could as well have told us to pray in units of four, but His messenger (peace be upon him) advised us that the voluntary prayers are best offered in sets of two.
This was what got me through the long nights of prayer and how I plan to get through the rest of my life. Hopefully, I give you an update on how it turns out before the next Ramadan, God willing. So this is the plan: live one week at a time. Just get through this week. I’m not going to worry about what is going to happen one year from today, or six months from now. Let’s just get through this week.
Ultimately, if we commit to doing the rights things consistently week in week out, those long term goals will eventually fall into place and because we weren’t too focused on the result but the process, we just might live fuller, less worrying lives than we are accustomed to.
So, on this note, I wish you and your loved ones a blessed Eid celebration. May the Blessings of the Almighty never depart from our homes all the days of our lives. Can I get an Amen?
