The Journey Has Just Begun
EsinIslam
Ramadan
Ramadan Explorer
Various Scholars
The Journey Has Just Begun
By Dr. Hazem Said
In the name of Allah, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy. All praise,
thanks and gratitude are due to the Lord of the Worlds, the One, the Ever
Living, the Most Generous, the Most Loving, the Creator, the Evolver, the
Shaper of beauty. There are no god but He, the Lord of the heavens and the
earth and what is in between, our Lord and the Lord of everything and our
King. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him) is His messenger.
My beloved brothers and sisters in Humanity and in Islam, may Allah accept our
righteous deeds from all of us. May He accept our fasting; may He accept our
standing in prayers; may He accept our Du`aa'; may He accept our charity; may
He accept all our good deeds and may He, theMost Forgiving, who loves to
forgive, forgives our shortcomings and our mistakes.
In this day of `Eid, many of us thinks that we reached the end of our Ramadan
journey. Not at all, my friends! The Journey has Just Begun. Our Journey has
just begun and will continue with us until the next Ramadan, may Allah extend
our life until we reach next Ramadan.
The month of Ramadan is like the preseason camp for a football team or the
prelaunch work for a new store or the development time for a new product. The
football season only starts after the camp is over. The store opens after the
prelaunch work and the product goes to market after the development time is
over.
Our Journey has just begun.
This year, our theme was the month of Love. Through the fasting, prayers,
charity, helping the needy, cooking food for our friends and families and
sometimes for people that we do not even know, we tried to revive in our
hearts the love for Allah, the love for our families, the love for humanity
and the love of our environment.
Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), reported that Prophet Muhammad (peace
and blessings be upon him said:
« ثَلاَثٌ مَنْ كُنَّ فِيهِ وَجَدَ حَلاَوَةَ الإِيمَانِ مَنْ كَانَ اللَّهُ
وَرَسُولُهُ أَحَبَّ إِلَيْهِ مِمَّا سِوَاهُمَا، وَمَنْ أَحَبَّ عَبْدًا لاَ
يُحِبُّهُ إِلاَّ لِلَّهِ، وَمَنْ يَكْرَهُ أَنْ يَعُودَ فِي الْكُفْرِ بَعْدَ
إِذْ أَنْقَذَهُ اللَّهُ، كَمَا يَكْرَهُ أَنْ يُلْقَى فِي النَّارِ »
Traduction: «A person will taste the sweetness of faith if they have three
qualities: To love God and His Messenger more than he loves anything else, to
love a person for no reason but to please God, and to hate to return to
disbelief after God had saved them from it as they hate to be thrown in the
fire» (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).
Believing in Allah has a sweet taste that is experienced by those who clean
their hearts from anything but love. Our love for Allah supersedes our love
for even ourselves. This is the reason that we prevented ourselves from what
we love and enjoy during the 16-hour days that we had this year. This is
evidence that deep in our hearts, we have love for Allah. We tried to revive
it and it is definitely revived to a degree.
Anas also reported that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)
said:
«من سره أن يبسط له في رزقه، وأن ينسأ له في أثره، فليصل رحمه»
Traduction: «Whoever likes Allah to extend his provision and to extend his
life, let him connect his family ties» (Al-Bukhari).
Our families are our most important social network. Our love for our families
should be deep in our hearts, even if we feel that our families do not
reciprocate or do not show us back. Connecting with them, asking about them,
ensuring that we have connected strong ties with all our family members,
returns back to us with extension of our provision and our life.
Abu Hurairah(may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that Prophet
Muhammad(peace and blessingsbe upon him him) said:
«لا تَدخُلونَ الجنَّةَ حتَّى تُؤمِنوا . ولا تؤمِنوا حتَّى تَحابُّوا . أوَلا
أدلُّكُم علَى شيءٍ إذا فعلتُموهُ تحابَبتُم ؟ أفشُوا السَّلامَ بينَكُم»
Traduction: « By Allah, you will not enter Paradise until you believe and you
will not believe until you love one another. Shall I guide you to something to
do to that will make you love one another? Spread the greetings of peace (salam)
among yourselves» (Muslim).
This Ramadan, we have been experiencing many different events throughout the
world that reflect hatred from one group towards others. Shooting, killing,
disputes, harassment and many other acts of bullying at small and large scales
reflect lack of love towards one another. Loving one another is evidence of
our belief. Our belief is not validated until we have in our heart such love
and seeking to spread peace among ourselves is the key to open the door of
love.
Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and
blessings be upon him) said,
«إِنْ قَامَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَفِي يَدِ أَحَدِكُمْ فَسِيلَةٌ، فَإِنِ اسْتَطَاعَ
أَنْ لاَ تَقُومَ حَتَّى يَغْرِسَهَا فَلْيَغْرِسْهَا.»
Traduction: «If the Hour (the day of Resurrection) is about to be established
and one of you was holding a palm shoot, let him take advantage of even one
second before the Hour is established to plant it»
This hadith is very deep in meaning as it reflects a level of altruism that is
difficult to even comprehend. Not only we should love our environment and take
steps to sacrifice to keep it healthy and alive, but we should do that even if
we realize that there is a possibility that the environment is about to change
and our effort may be altered. If this is all what we can do, then we should
do it.
The love we learned this Ramadan is a different type of love. It is love based
on putting something else ahead of our own self. With this love, we prepare
ourselves to start a journey back in life. Outside the camp of Ramadan and as
we depart it with its strict rules and schedule to go back to our different
lives with its own rules and its own schedules, we are going back with
something different.
As we leave the camp of Ramadan, we observe around us a world that is in dire
need to what we experienced together: Love. Our community, our nation and the
world is in need for new ideas to bring love and peace to everyone.
I was reading a book called Where Good Ideas Come From? It accompanied me
throughout the summer and every time I finish a chapter, I say to myself,
there is no more things to learn. However, once I open a new chapter, I
realize that good ideas do not just come in random to anyone anywhere. Good
ideas need environments that nurture them and grow them, environments that do
not block or limit new ideas, that encourages experimentation, that opens new
branches of possibility, that invites and encourages everyone to explore the
edges.
In those environments are people exploring what is around them and bringing
knowledge and experience across different domains. People who develophunches
and write them down to think and act upon; people who appreciate the
connection with one another and the diversity of experiences and background
that everyone brings.
As I read through the different chapters and look at our community here, I
realize that each one of us and collectively as a community, we are utilizing
very little of our full potential. Through believing in ourselves as
individuals and as a group, by connecting with one another across cultures and
disciplines and by exploring the edges of our relationship, we form fertile
ground for new ideas that instill love and spread peace. Ones that would
increase confidence in faith and belief and that will bring people together to
focus on building a better future.
Armed with love to everything around us and with the foundation provided to us
by the Qur'an and the examples of the messengers of Allah, we owe it to our
nation and community to seek new ideas and find opportunities to make a
difference and offer solutions. We owe it to ourselves, to change our
conditions to the better. We owe it to ourselves to take a step further
outside our comfort zone, to try new things, to connect with new people, to
learn new cultures, to expand our horizons and to offer our nation a better
path forward.
Let us leave this Ramadan with determination:
To carry in our heart nothing but love towards everyone
To have the will and the courage to face our limitations and push our
boundaries
To have an intention to make a difference in ourselves first and in those
around us
Through love, courage and determination, we can make a difference.
Source: onislam.net
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