Ramadan 1432 Reflection

I felt so blessed during Ramadan. I particularly loved breaking fast with my family and for some unknown reasons, I generally felt more at peace. You know when you occasional suffer from bouts of sadness and anxiety? Well, those feelings were noticeably absent during Ramadan. It's just one of the many Ramadan blessings that Allah showers on His servants.

Sometimes, I used to dread going to school and assumed the demeanour of someone whose cat had just died. We're 3/4 into the academic year and enthusiasm was running low. But during Ramadan,  I noticed that I smiled more and had more spring in my step :)

The month also nudged us into a reflective and introspective mode. When we had so much food on the table during iftar and our refrigerators were stuffed with leftover food, our thoughts inevitably turned to our less fortunate brothers and sisters in Somalia, Libya and Syria. We coasted through Ramadan while they had to face famine, civil war and violent government crackdowns.

At the end of the day, (to quote my friend Najib) Ramadan was an intensive training session. Now it's time to put the effect of the training into practice.

Oh, before I sign off, I would like to share this email from ProductiveMuslim. They sent daily emails to subscribers urging people to be productive during Ramadan. Here's one of my favourites:

Today, I want you to think of the ONE good deed that you promise yourself to continue doing after Ramadan.
Which one will it be?
Will it be praying tahajjud every night from now on?
Will it be fasting every Monday and Thursday or at least 3 days of the month each month?
Will it be praying in the mosque for every single salah?
Will it be reading one juz’ of Quran each day?
Will it be continually giving charity at least once a week?
What will it be for you?
Remember, “the most beloved of actions to Allah are the most consistent ones even if they are few” [Bukhari]
These good deeds should be a part and parcel of your life well after Ramadan – so pick one and write it down and after Ramadan, check yourself to ensure you consistently perform this good deed.

  X X X

By the end of Ramadan, it felt as if you had undergone a gastric-bypass surgery. The volume of your stomach seems reduced and you have an altered physiological and physical response to food.

At the beginning of Ramadan, you tended to stuff yourself during iftar but as the days passed by, you tended to eat less and less. You realised that, actually, our bodies need very little food to subsist and all those gorging we used to indulge in was due to greed rather than hunger.

Hopefully, whatever benefits we gained after 1 month of fasting will not be offset/undone by 1 month of over-indulging.

Further, I hope that by the end of Ramadan, our nafs (insatiable desires) also went through a similar reduction in volume.