Let our piety and good deeds continue
By Amanulla Vadakkangara

These days the Muslims all over the world are preparing to bid farewell to Ramadan, the blessed month of sanctity, piety, humility and reverential simplicity. This is a high time to turn back to the countless blessings of our Creator Almighty Allah and to feel the greatness and magnificent beauty of Islam. We must praise Him for He enabled us to observe fasting in its true sense and correct perspective and after all kept us real Muslims.

We were busy with increasing good deeds and inculcating into ourselves all good habits which bring us close to Him. Our tongues were always filled with slogans of remembrance of Allah and it kept us away from saying all words hatred and ill feelings. As we have noted in our earlier discussions this month was full of prayers, works of charities and other acts of worships as a part of a systematic training for teaching us self­discipline, self control and total submission to the will of Allah, keeping away from all ways and means of greed, selfishness, anger, laziness, jealousy, wickedness, crookedness, false thinking, etc.

Allah expects us to live in the shade of these virtues of Ramadan throughout the year so that we will be able to defeat the passions, desires and animalism within ourselves with the acquired piety and increased worship. It is our duty to continue our efforts to proceed in earning favours of Allah and His rewards by ways of sincere acts of submission and 'Ibadat' without throwing away out spiritual earnings of this sacred month. Our life after Ramadan should testify the good effect of fasting.

If the rest of the months of our year are strictly controlled by the influence of fasting and this effect is reflected in our deeds, words and dealings, there is a good news that we have nothing to worry and Allah will give the offered reward. We must not spoil these great things after Ramadan but we should try to make our forthcoming days also filled with Dhikr, (remembrance of Allah) supplications, reciting, learning, memorising and teaching the Holy Qur'an.

A believer cannot rejoice over the departure of this month knowing that one might not live until the next Ramadan. Really the hearts of believers miss the blessed month and ache over its departure. This is the state of those who have benefited from fasting. But those who wasted the virtues of these days and nights are indeed losers as the Prophet (peace be upon him) explained: "Let the nose of that person be smeared with dust who has the opportunity to witness to the month of Ramadan and it finishes without securing Allah's pardon for himself."

Ramadan was an intensive spiritual training course on how to become more obedient to Allah the exalted. Let us pray Allah to bestow His mercy on us to keep up the spiritual and mental decorum following the Prophet's exemplary life and teachings. May Allah the Almighty accept our prayers, fasting, acts of kindness and all sincere deeds and give us due rewards.

Allah has strongly warned us not to deviate from the straight path after realising the importance of Iman (Faith) and practising it for a while. "And be not like a woman who breaks into untwisted strands, the yarn which she has spun after it has become strong." (Al-Qur'an - Sura 'Al­Nahl')

We must try our level best not to belong to the category of the woman mentioned here and do not become like the one who, once Ramadan is finished, goes back to his old habits and to the ways of folly. Allah has also advised us to pray constantly not to convert our hearts after filling them with Iman:

"And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord: and none will grasp the message except men of understanding. Our Lord (they say) 'Let not our hearts deviate now after Thou has guided us. But grant us mercy from Thine own presence. For Thou art the Grantor of bounties without measure.'" (Al-Qur'an - Al­i­Imran: 8).

Those who are blessed with knowledge will never refuse to pray to Allah. The more they know the more they realise how little they know of all the depths of truth in the spiritual world. But they have Faith. The glimpses of truth they get they wish to hold onto them fast in their hearts and they pray to God to preserve them from deviating even from what light they have got. They are sure of their eventual return to God, when all doubts will be solved.

So Allah asks us to worship Him till death, as it is clearly presented in the Sura Al Hajr 'And worship your Lord until there comes unto you the Hour that is certain (death)."

Allah's instructions in Sura Al­i­Imran are highly relevant here. Allah says "O ye who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared and die not except in a state of Islam and hold fast, all together to the Rope of Allah and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude Allah's favour on you; for you were once enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, ye became brethren; and ye were on the brink of the Pit of Fire, and He save you from it. Thus doth Allah make His Signs clear to you: that ye may be guided. (Al-Qur'an - Al­i­Imran 102­103).

These verses mainly underline three things. First, it stresses the significance of piety in the life of a believer. It is indubitable that acquiring this quality and moulding the human character on the basis of 'Taqwa' is the ultimate goal of all forms of worships ordained by Allah. Secondly, it sheds light to the necessity of maintaining Muslim unity and co­operation for the healthy existence of the society.

The word rope (cable) is purposely used here because it simultaneously establishes a strong bond between man and God and joins all believers together. To take a firm hold on this cable means that the believers should attach profound importance to their divine way of life (religion), this should always be the centre of their concerns, since Islam is a complete, comprehensive, universal and divine way of life prescribed by the Creator. So believers should continuously strive to establish it and the common desire to serve it should make them co­operate with each other.

As and when the believers turn their attention away from the fundamental teachings of this divine code of conduct and lose sight of establishing its hegemony in life they begin to concern themselves with matters of secondary importance. This in turn will nullify their prestige status in the society as it happened to the communities before Mohammad (pbuh).

Thirdly, it urges us to learn lessons from the history and to be grateful to Allah for his countless bounties to us. Because Allah had made all these facilities for us and shown much of favours for a predesigned purpose. See Allah denotes to this in the following verse:

"Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong: They are the ones to attain felicity."

This points out the true nature of an Ideal Muslim community, which is happy, untroubled by conflicts or doubts, sure of itself, strong, united and prosperous. Since it invites people to everything what is good, enjoins the right and forbids the wrong. This paves the way for the building up of a strong foundation of a typical Islamic Society.

At the same time when we fail to rise up to the mark inculcating the desired qualities and fail to perform our duties in the proper way, here is a reminding cannon from Allah "Be not like those who are divided amongst themselves and fall into disputations after receiving clear signs, for them is a dreadful penalty."

So we must keep on praying Allah for steadfastness in our belief and practise it with full spirit. Abdullah Yusuf Ali writes regarding prayer: "Prayer is the heart of religion and faith, but how shall we pray? What words shall convey, the yearnings of our miserable ignorant hearts to the knower of all? Is it worthy of Him or of our spiritual nature to ask for vanities, or even for such physical needs, as our daily bread? The inspired one taught us a prayer that sums up our faith, our hope and our aspiration in things that matter. We think in devotion of God's name and His . We praise Him for His creation and cherishing care, we call to mind the realities, seen and unseen; we offer Him worship and ask for His guidance; and we know the straight from the crooked path, by the light of His grace that illumines the righteous." (The Holy Qur'an Translation of A Yusuf Ali P 13).

Allah has drawn the clear picture of the admired servants of Him in Sura Al Furqan, where He says: "Those who say our Lord! Avert from us the wrath of Hell, for its wrath indeed an affliction grievous." This is a prayer of humility: such a person relies not on any good works, which he may have done but on the grace and mercy of God and he shows a lively sense of the Day of Judgment, when every action will weigh for or against a soul.

The Prophet (pbuh) has explained this aspect in a different way. He teaches us that whatever acts of worships we do they will not be enough to our admittance to the paradise since it won't be equivalent to a single blessing of Allah on us. But we can enter paradise only with the mercy and grace of Allah.

It comes in a hadith of the meaning: A man who has done regular prayer and all other obligatory works which Allah asked him to do will be presented before Allah on the Day of Judgment. After evaluating acts of kindness he had done for the sake of Allah and the worships he consistently followed Allah will say to the angels: Put him in paradise out of my mercy. Then the man will be wondered and he will request Allah to admit him in the paradise on the basis of his deeds. Then Allah will convince him about the meagreness of his deeds. Allah will order the angels to put the whole deeds of this man in one side of the balance and on the other side put one single blessing which Allah gave to him. Angels will put an eye on the other side. When they weigh the single blessing of Allah, the eye weighed more and he was convinced that compared to the blessings of Allah on him his deeds are very little and not enough to enable him to paradise, he requests O My Lord! The most compassionate and the Merciful admit me into the Paradise out your mercy and Allah will admit him into the paradise.

If this is the condition of a believer who sacrificed everything for the cause of Allah executing all commands in full spirit and performing all obligatory responsibilities in full strength where are we? What will be our condition? We must therefore be more cautious and spend maximum time in prayers and good deeds.

But no soul need be in despair because of its sin: God's forgiveness and Mercy are unbounded. Turn to God in repentance. Allah says in Sura Al Zumr: "Say O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of God: for God forgives all sins; for He is oft forgiving, most merciful. Turn ye to your Lord (in repentance) and bow to His will before the penalty comes on you: After that ye shall not be helped." (Al-Qur'an - Al Zumr ­ 53­54).

Allah the Almighty likes His Servants turning to Him for everything. He hates them turning to anybody else for anything.

We pray to Allah to bless our heart with a praying spirit and include us in those who worship Him throughout their life and finally would enter the paradise because it is on the wish and will of Allah everything happens.

Fasting is a supreme spiritual exercise when the month of Ramadan is over we need not wait for the next Ramadan to come to fast. There are several sunna (navafil/voluntary) fastings recommended by the Prophet (pbuh). We can keep in touch with exciting experience of fasting by observing fast on such occasions. The first type Navafil fast comes just after Ramadan. That is the six days of Shawwal after the day of Eid.

The Prophet (pbuh) has said: He who observes the fast of Ramadan and then follows it with six days of Shawwal, it would be as if he fasted perpetually. The Prophet explained this with another Hadith: Every good of man is offered tenfold increase as Allah assures "Whoever brings a good deed shall have ten items the like to his credit, and whoever brings an evil deed shall have only the recommence of the like and they will not be wronged." (Al-Qur'an 6:160)

Thus fasting for 30 days of Ramadan comes to three hundred days. Fasting for six days in shawwal brings a reward of sixty days and those who fast these entitles for the reward of fasting the whole year. What will happen if Ramadan comes only 29 days would not raise a question because these are not mere mathematical calculations rather some symbolic encouragements.

May Allah include us amongst those He loves and who loves Him sincerely.