RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR ACTS OF IBADAH
AS-SALAM ALAYKUM DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS!
Alhamdullilah Rabbil Alamin, all praise, adoration and gratitude is due to Allah azza wa jal that has made us of those who will witness this holy month. May Allah azza wa’jal in His Infinite Mercy accept all our acts of Ibadah that we send forth in this month, May He forgive us all our sins, the first and the last, past and present, the major and minor sins (Aameen). May He count us amongst those who will witness the end of this beautiful month and benefit from His Mercy, Forgiveness and Blessings.
Ramadan as we all know it is a month of Siyam; fasting 29 or 30 days for the sake of Allah but this holy month is more than just abstaining from food and drinks, it’s so much more than we are let on to believe growing up. I know you hear this a lot from everywhere that fix up your Deen this holy month, get closer to Allah, abstain from food and drink, do this and do that. We’ve all of this information coming at us in our masjid, on social media, literally everywhere, and I’m sure you’ve had the thought that in sha Allah I’ll do this and do that in Ramadan. I must say Masha Allah, to even make the resolve to be closer to your Lord in the holy month, May Allah make it easy for us all. But then, Is that just it? I know you might think it’s too early to be talking about keeping up deeds after Ramadan, but can you truly ascertain you would continue these acts you plan to embark on beyond the holy month?
Everyone wants to attain the Love of Allah, His Pleasure, His Guidance and ultimately, His Paradise both during and after Ramadan. This goes beyond lip service and not putting in the work.
As Allah says in the ayah below that ‘remember me and I’ll remember you….’
The verse tells us about the Promise of Allah azza wa’jal, that if you were to seek your Lord and go to Him, He will turn to you and the love and closeness you want to achieve will be at your feet. But You’ve to put in the work, you’ve to seek to be as close to Him as you want and We’ve been told numerous times that the way to go to Allah is through our acts of Ibadah. Now to these acts of Ibadah, have you ever reflected on the type of relationship you want to have with them. As the holy month rolls by, you’ve made the intention to embark on these acts. Because Walahi, it’s easy to engage in these acts because the Holy Month and our communities are built in such a way to facilitate it during this period but a week, two or even a month after Ramadan, where do these acts go, where does the commitment lie, because at this point Shaytan is unchained, he makes it easy to come up with excuses in your head to make you feel better that you’re not embarking in these acts of Ibadah and makes you settle for the bare minimum which is observing your salah and reciting your Quran every now and then, barely giving sadaqah, telling yourself nawafil is not a fard, Subhanallah, but when a sound relationship has been developed it makes it easier to fight the whispers.
Embarking in various acts of Ibadah in the holy month is easy trust me, everyone wants to make the most of it, everyone is seeking forgiveness and Allah’s favour but does this have to end with Ramadan? I am sure a lot of people make the intention to continue with these acts of Ibadah even after Ramadan but have you thought on how to go about it. To be able continue on this path I’ve garnered that it starts from building a solid relationship with these acts of Ibadah, a relationship that ultimately translates into a Relationship with Allah azza wa’jal.
Building a relationship with your Quran, building a relationship with your Tahajjud, building a relationship with your sadaqah, building a relationship with your nawafil, building a relationship with your salah, and this goes beyond just observing salah but being present in the salah, having khushoo as you stand before your Lord, not just briskly going through it and standing up as soon as you’re done. It goes deeper than just doing it but actually doing it because your heart yearns and craves for it. It’s like any relationship humans have, you build and nurture it, it’s stepwise, it’s stage by stage, laying down the solid foundation and building on it and watering it as you consistently go back to it doing it for the sake of Allah subhana wa ta’ala alone.
As I stated earlier, the Holy Month and our communities have already provided us with an environment to start working on it, to build that foundation and start up a relationship with our acts of Ibadah.
Just like how if you don’t observe your salah, you won’t be able to focus or sleep at night because your mind is constantly there, having these relationship with your other acts of Ibadah gives you this type of feeling and reminder and just like how you don’t want to lose your salah, you would never want to lose your other acts of Ibadah.
The hacks that I’ve worked with to developing this level of relationship are very simple and if one was to start in this holy month with the intention of having a deep meaningful connection/ relationship because we’ve all decided to embark on them already, keeping up with it after the blessed month departs from us becomes easier in sha Allah.
First and foremost, seeking Allah’s Nasr (help) and Guidance. As a Muslim, before embarking on absolutely anything, putting Your Rabb first is the most essential. Allah SWT is the means to get anything done and not the end. He should always always be your first line of contact. Asking Him to facilitate this affair and grant you ease in it is so paramount because the shaytan has already sworn to lead mankind astray, so keeping on top of one’s acts of Ibadah cannot be done by you but by the Help of Allah azza wa’jal. To buttress this, I would like to share a peculiar du’a made by the Prophet’s companion, Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud narrated below;
“Ya Allah, bless me with Iman that never diminishes, bless me with Your Barakah that never ceases and bless me with the companionship of the Prophet SAW in Al-Jannah”.
This du’a resonates deeply within me as each line carries a great weight whenever I ponder on it. In respect to this point, the first line of this du’a tells us something, which is that the ability to being a devout Muslim, to being a person of the Deen is only by the Help of Allah, only He can make you grounded on the path to Him and only He can turn your heart to Him. Therefore, as the days of the holy month roll by, seek for Allah’s Help and Guidance, go to your Lord like a child, tell Him you want to have a beautiful relationship with your Quran, tahajjud, sadaqah and so on. Tell Allah that you want all of this to be a part of you and to be a way of life for you. You can also incorporate this above du’a into your daily du’as.
Second is Dedicating/Allocating Time to these acts of Ibadah. As I said earlier, the sense of Ramadan has already put us in a particular state that has made us move about our schedule to accommodate reciting the Quran, waking up for tahajjud, incorporating more nawafil into our day, spending extra time on our mats supplicating to Allah after every salah. If we have not done this, then it’s important because as narrated in several hadiths as shown below, there is forgiveness and reward in performing various acts of ibadah in this month.
One key to achieving this is setting realistic standards and times for this acts of Ibadah. In this holy month, a lot of us have planned to devote all our time to these acts but as Ramadan comes to an end and we fall back into our routine, realistically it becomes harder to follow in that degree, so the best way to go about this is picking favourable time(s) amidst everything you do day in and out to devote yourself to your Lord doing these acts of Ibadah, it’s as easy as picking a day of the week to always give sadaqah or convenient time(s) to engage in Qiyam everyday. Incorporating this into your day to day activities sets you up nicely, your body starts to yearn for it automatically.
Third thing to do is setting Realistic Goals with Allah as the bone of contention. You’re doing this for the sake of Allah, not for anyone, not to be seen or praised by anyone, you’re not following anyone’s standards, you’re not trying to out do anyone. You’re doing this for Your Lord, Your Rabb, you’re seeking His Pleasure and Love. Also, having sincerity with your act of Ibadah is important. You’ve to be sincere with you’re doing and why you’re doing it. It’s for the sake of Allah then don’t mix it up with anything.
Focusing on the last part of this hadith, in doing good deeds you should endeavour to go at your pace, you know what you can achieve initially, then you grow from there. For example, let’s take embarking on tilawwat consistently, let’s say you want to spend an hour of day reciting, you start with a completing a few pages. Then you become more proficient, it sits well with you and then you finish one juz in an hour. Walahi it’s that easy and all you’ve to do is set realistic goals you can be consistent with.
The last but not the least is Accountability. You’ve to learn to call yourself out when you’re falling short and also pat yourself with Alhamdullilah when you’re doing wonderful, you have to be your own true critic. You need to shove yourself when you feel it’s hard and shaytan is doing all he can to pull you down even more. The feeling and thought will pop in your head that you’re falling short but it now comes to you acting on it to fix up or continuously make excuses to suit your heart that’s constantly yearning for this Ibadah, this peace and calm. The natural state for the heart of man is when it’s at peace and calm with its Lord, the feeling is indescribable until you actually feel it, the heart that has known this will continuously seek it out when it starts to lack it, and going into Ramadan, our hearts soften and it attains this level of peace and calm, and it will definitely yearn for it as Ramadan leaves. Therefore you’ve to be accountable to yourself for your acts of Ibadah that brings you closer to Allah.
May Allah in His Infinite Mercy make this steps beneficial to us no matter how little. (Aameen)
As the days of the holy month roll by and we expend ourselves on the path to our Lord with our various acts of Ibadah, I pray this solidifies into a deep relationship and helps us attain the level of Love we want to have for Allah and closeness we want to attain. (Aameen)
JazakaAllah Khayr
Until next time in sha Allah
Maa’Salaam.
