Imam – Writer – Thinker :: Fostering Community & Islamic Literacy
al-Salāmu ’alaykum everyone. In Shā’Allāh I pray everyone had a rewarding Ramadan. May Allāh accept all of your deeds and works.
Here’s a full playlist of all the Ramadan lectures from this year (1441AH/2020CE). May Allāh bless us to see another.
For the final episode in our four-part series, I reflect on a month of fasting, ritual, and community, and the road that lies ahead.
In this week’s reflection we discuss challenges to faith, what is the basis of Reality, and how to make the most of what we’re given in this life.
عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ اغْتَنِمْ خَمْسًا قَبْلَ خَمْسٍ شَبَابَكَ قَبْلَ هَرَمِكَ وَصِحَّتَكَ قَبْلَ سَقَمِكَ وَغِنَاكَ قَبْلَ فَقْرِكَ وَفَرَاغَكَ قَبْلَ شُغُلِكَ وَحَيَاتَكَ قَبْلَ مَوْتِكَ
Narrated `Abdullah bin `Abbas, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,
“Take advantage of five things before another five are taken from you: [1] youth before old age; [2] health before sickness; [3] wealth before poverty; [4] free time before becoming busy; and [5] life before death”.
The Dunya can be like a radioactive zone: harsh, chaffing. But if we’re rooted in truth as well as dignified modalities of manhood and womanhood, we can get through this life intact, God willing, to enjoy the fruits of The Next.
The month of Ramadan is full of many blessings and insights. I had a young Muslim come to me feeling distraught over sins he made and how he felt God no longer listened to his pleas. I gave him one short passage in the 7th chapter to contemplate: “God even answered Iblis’ (Satan’s) du’a (supplication), so why would He not answer yours?”
To this the young man’s eyes welled up with tears and laughed, saying “there’s hope!” Ma sha’Allah. Ramadan Mubarak.
قالَ فَاهبِط مِنها فَما يَكونُ لَكَ أَن تَتَكَبَّرَ فيها فَاخرُج إِنَّكَ مِنَ الصّاغِرينَ
قالَ أَنظِرني إِلىٰ يَومِ يُبعَثونَ
قالَ إِنَّكَ مِنَ المُنظَرينَ
“…’Get down and away from here!’, God ordered. ‘This is no place for you to be arrogant. Get out of here, for you’re the least of all creatures’. ‘Give me time!’, Iblis cried out. ‘Give me time until the day when they’re all resurrected’. ‘You shall have your time,’ God answered’.” Qur’an 7: 13-15