Ramadhan Series: Are we that many times better?

Photo by Umar Mita

Ramadhan is a special month for Muslims, especially for those who understand the sweetness of the month. How many Ramadhan have we gone through? Are we improving? Do we love the Quran more? Is our relationship with Allah stronger? It is important for us to go through every Ramadhan with a success.

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To know whether we have achieved that success, we evaluate ourselves whether we've become a better Muslim or not as we go through Ramadhan. As Allah mentioned in the Quran in Surah Al-Baqarah (2) : 183 Allah SWT  prescribed fasting upon us so that we may become among the Muttaqun. If by the end Ramadhan we've become closer to Allah then it's an indicator of success walhamdulillah., because as we get closer to Allah we also becoming closer to achieve the level of a Muttaqun.

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Let us take this opportunity for us to improve ourselves. As we all know in Ramadhan, as narrated by Abu Huraira r.a  in a Hadith Qudsi, “When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained.”. Allah SWT has created a conducive environment for us to improve ourselves. But we have to remember that this improvement is  not only in Ramadhan. Rather, we must continue for the rest of the year. We must not become a Syaitaan-Based Muslim whereby we're a better Muslim only when the syaitaan is not around. When Ramadhan ends, Syaitaan is back and we fall back into our normal routine. That would be an Epic Fail and that clearly shows that we have lost the whole point of Ramadhan. 

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Bear in mind that fasting is not just about restraining ourselves from hunger and thirst, it's more than that. Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, “Whoever does not give up forged speech and evil actions, Allah is not in need of his leaving his food and drink (i.e. Allah will not accept his fasting.)”. We take this opportunity to lift up our iman to another level so that when Ramadhan ends, we can sustain our Iman, but that doesn't mean we should shut ourselves from the world and get into a cave and seclude for the rest of the year. Ramadhan is not the month of inaction. It’s the month of action.

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Reported by Ibn Maajah Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that “It may be that a fasting person gets nothing from his fast except hunger & thirst". So let us not waste our Ramadhan, make it count! It has already been 15 days of fasting. Let us take moment to ask ourselves, where are we now? Are we moving along with Ramadhan? Are we 15 days better since Ramadhan started? Or are we stuck at day 1? Or even worse, is our iman deteriorating? If that is what is happening to us, then Ramadhan would be waste, our life would be a waste.

So in this Ramadhan Series I just want us to think, where are we?