Nafsiya Reflections: We are Only Human

Welcome to another episode of Nafsiyah Reflections - We are only Human

We are in the last days of Ramadan... We may have not obtained to everything that was on our “Ramadan checklist”. That’s okay... We may have wanted to do so much more, that we hadn’t challenged ourselves enough this Ramadan, compared to what we envisioned in the first place. We may have been distracted with schools, our kids, dinners, gatherings, housework and so on. I am absolutely not saying it’s OK to be lazy or that it’s okay to slack off. May Allah (swt) forgive our sins! I am not saying that at all, if we want to earn His Rida, pleasure of Allah (swt), we must keep doing deeds to move us closer to Him (swt). What I am saying is that we may have set out a plan that didn’t go as well as we had hoped, we wanted to do more, achieve more, to feel stronger in our Emaan. And... it may have not gone so well; it happens at times. This is our last chance to make it up.

See our beloved teacher, Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him said, from what he has related from his Lord:

« إنَّ اللَّهَ كَتَبَ الْحَسَنَاتِ وَالسَّيِّئَاتِ، ثُمَّ بَيَّنَ ذَلِكَ، فَمَنْ هَمَّ بِحَسَنَةٍ فَلَمْ يَعْمَلْهَا كَتَبَهَا اللَّهُ عِنْدَهُ حَسَنَةً كَامِلَةً، وَإِنْ هَمَّ بِهَا فَعَمِلَهَا كَتَبَهَا اللَّهُ عِنْدَهُ عَشْرَ حَسَنَاتٍ إلَى سَبْعِمِائَةِ ضِعْفٍ إلَى أَضْعَافٍ كَثِيرَةٍ، وَإِنْ هَمَّ بِسَيِّئَةٍ فَلَمْ يَعْمَلْهَا كَتَبَهَا اللَّهُ عِنْدَهُ حَسَنَةً كَامِلَةً، وَإِنْ هَمَّ بِهَا فَعَمِلَهَا كَتَبَهَا اللَّهُ سَيِّئَةً وَاحِدَةً »

Verily Allah ta’ala has written down the good deeds and the evil deeds, and then explained it [by saying]: “Whosoever intended to perform a good deed, but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended to perform it and then did perform it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds up to seven hundred times, up to many times multiplied. And if he intended to perform an evil deed, but did not do it, then Allah writes it down with Himself as a complete good deed. And if he intended it [i.e., the evil deed] and then performed it, then Allah writes it down as one evil deed.” [Al-Bukhari] [Muslim].

Imagine that during Ramadan and Layalt ul Qadr! Allah swt said in Surah Al Qadr, Ayah three,

(لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ)                      

"The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months."

A thousand months! Let me repeat that a thousand months! That is about 30,416 days! 30,416 deeds in one night! Not a whole day, but one night!

(وَاللَّهُ يُضَاعِفُ لِمَن يَشَاءُ ۗ)

"And Allah multiplies [His reward] for whom He wills." [Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 261]

The month of Ramadan is sadly almost over. The last inning. The last few days to work for the pleasure of Allah, even more! To push ourselves! To set intentions. To do as the prophet peace and blessings did on these last ten days, I’tikaf, to set time to worship Allah, to spend time in the masjid, to read Quran, pray taraweeh, to give charity, to lend a helping hand or to forgive and to let go of grudges. The messenger of Allah peace and blessings be upon him would devote himself more (in the worship of Allah) in the last ten nights of Ramadan than he strove in earlier part of the month.

Aisha (ra) reported,

« كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِذَا دَخَلَ الْعَشْرُ شَدَّ مِئْزَرَهُ، وَأَحْيَا لَيْلَهُ، وَأَيْقَظَ أَهْلَهُ‏ »

With the start of the last ten days of Ramadan, the Prophet (saw) used to tighten his waist belt (i.e. work hard) and used to pray all the night, and used to keep his family awake for the prayers.

Ramadan is almost over, let us not forget what we want to focus on as we leave Ramadan. Progression, to not stand still, to evolve rather than repeat. We keep moving and not give up, till our last breath. For on the day of judgment we will see the meaning of all the time we took out for Allah (swt). We will be thankful for every morning, every night, every letter we read in the Quran, every moment we helped someone, every time we went to the masjid even though it felt really good on the couch, or got up for Qiyam al Layl leaving the comfort of our beds, every time we suppressed our anger, and my personal favorite, every deed we did that may have moved us closer to the re-establishment of the Khilafah (caliphate) in which the barakah, blessings, after that is all in our Mizhan, scale. Bithunillah ta’ala!

Yes, we are only Human, but I believe, I know, we InshAllah being true believers in Allah (swt) have resilient, outstanding capabilities in us! We just need to keep pushing ourselves.

Ramadan Mubarak!

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