Ten Days. Ten Days. Ten Days
By the end of the first ten days of
fasting you are deflating the balloon down to its natural shape; you
will have a glimpse into your true personality. You are deflating
the fluff out of your personality, and revealing the true face
hidden behind the mask. Maybe you are angry. Maybe you are
exhausted. Maybe you are easily irritated. Maybe you find yourself
being suspicious of people. Maybe you are really sensitive. You will
find Muslims getting into all kinds of very nasty fights in this
period, not realizing what is happening in their personalities;
their personalities are getting exposed. When you reach the end of
that first ten days, introspect deeply to see how you feel and how
you feel about things. Look at how you look at your near ones
(family and friends). Look at how you look at yourself. Look at how
you look at your relationship with God. Look at the mirror, for this
special period is a mercy that you do not often get in your year.
By the end of the second ten days of fasting, you will have a sense
of control over certain aspects of your personality, where you will
have a strength that you did not have 3 weeks prior. Now, look at
those issues you faced at the end of the first ten days, and figure
out how to purify them out of your system or at least control them.
That is, of course, if you have been honest with yourself. If you
are being honest with yourself, you are witnessing a transformation
within yourself. The first thing you seek in this period is the
basic foundation of your relationship with God: you turn to Him.
Tawba. Wash away the darkness in your previous choices; start by
seeking His forgiveness.
By the end of the third ten days, you will have a great sense of
control, and perhaps even a sense of exhilaration. You have
developed a shield around your Iman. That shield is what we call
Taqwa. The gates of paradise are open to you, and you should seek of
its treasures. Aim high. You can obtain a palace of 70,000 rooms,
with each room containing 70,000 doors to 70,000 additional rooms.
But, why satisfy yourself with even 70,000 of those palaces when you
can have wings? Why satisfy yourself with wings when you can be in
His company and in the company of those with Him. Aim high. Seek all
of these things, not just from the Hereafter, but also from the Here
and Now.
Thus, in this month, seek the company of the best of your friends
and family, for that company will help strengthen you. Do not be
disrespectful to the spiritual leeches in your environment, being
those people who seem to suck away any consciousness of God within
you as they play in this temporary world. Keep those people at a
distance, and instead occupy yourself with the best of people. You
know who the leeches are and you know who the gems are. If there are
no Muslims around you, then make company from the best of your
friends, and make company with the books and stories of the best of
past generations.
In this month, seek the company of the best of words: the Qur’an.
Look to the Qur’an to see what Allah is saying to you, by way of
what He said to those before you, may the peace and blessings of
Allah be upon them.And, then as soon as Ramadan ends you will get
thrown to the barking dogs. The world will return to its normal
cycle, and most of the world around you is little more than the bark
of a dog. Your instinct will be to respond in the ways you responded
before. But, you now know you can control those “flaws,” though many
people may forget and may return exactly to what they were before,
as though Ramadan is a sort of break. But, you know you can control
those “flaws,” so control them.
Your target then, for the next 11 months after Ramadan is to dig to
the next layer within you, because those flaws you observed within
you are hiding deeper flaws, that may get exposed in the following
Ramadan. And, the deeper we get within that delicate cave that is
our heart, we see two things. The light within seems to continue,
but we also discover traits we never realized we had. And it can be
scary because today you may discover anger, but next year, you may
discover hatred, and the year after that you may discover envy, and
the year after that, you may discover deep, deep fear. And, you face
those newly exposed traits (and more) in the next Ramadans.The more
preparation you do in between Ramadans, the better your next Ramadan
will be. “Preparation” here is action, as opposed to emotionally
motivating yourself, for action is like building a house with bricks
while emotional motivation is a flame that something that fizzles
and fades. |
