Heart-to-Heart

Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam

We are meeting at a highly auspicious moment, blessed by God – the night of 29th Ramdhan in much of the Subcontinent and the night of 30th in many parts of the Muslim world. These are the most precious moments of the holy month, and possibly the Night of Power (Lailat-al-Qadr) in the Subcontinent.

We have been asked by our beloved prophet (PBUH) to find the great night in which a night’s prayer and supplications are worth about 85 years of the same. We have been asked to try to seek it in the nights with odd numbers of the last ashra (10 days) of the month (21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 29th). For most of us, it could be this night. For the rest it could be the night before Eid, which has its own blessings from Allah. We must strive in the way of Allah in the time left up to Eid. We must ensure these precious moments are not lost in frivolity.

Within the next 24 to 48 hours it will be time to rejoice, to thank Allah for our having been chosen to be alive in these blessed moments, for having bestowed on us the taufiq to fast and pray and stay away from everything forbidden by Islam in the days of Ramdhan. At the end of it comes Eid (which, in Arabic, means joy), the time to rejoice. This is also the time to reap a rich harvest of our deeds in the form of Allah’s pleasure, which is the most precious treasure coveted by a Muslim.

Allah has shown the reward for every good deed, all acts of faith and piety, including the prayers and supplications during Ramdhan (which is 70 times greater than in the rest of the year), but He has not disclosed the reward for this month’s fasting, which is mandatory. The reward is understood to be Allah’s pleasure, which will bring us a clean, moral and satisfying life and a Hereafter that will bring us such good things that our eyes had never seen, our ears never heard, our minds could never imagine.

With the Eid prayers this cycle of Ramdhan, with all its blessings, ends to come only next year, which many of us will never see. Remember, for many of us it is going to be our lives’ last Ramdhan. Do not allow a single moment to pass without Allah’s remembrance. By the time Eid prayers, followed by the mandatory khutba ends, Allah will confer his approval on us (Insha Allah) and we will return home, satisfied and thankful to Him.

We will return home with the commitment and pledge to live the rest of our lives in prayers to Allah and service to His Creation, living clean lives dedicated to Islam. We will keep this spirit for the rest 11 months till we welcome the month again with great enthusiasm and thankfulness. But, remember, all of us may not see the next Ramdhan. So, make the most of what is left of it.

With this, I take leave of you. As I may not meet you in the next few weeks, accept my Eid Mubarak a few hours in advance. Wassalam.

P.S: Please try to pay fitrah (in Indian value, Rs. 50 each person) before heading for the Eidgah for the Eid prayers. That is the preferred way of paying fitrah.