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Ramadhan 2012

Image credit here.

It is only a few more days until we reach the end of the holiest month in Islam.

It is time for retrospection.

Praise be to Allah the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful for allowing us to draw breath until this very second. To be able to breathe, to be able to live, is sometimes a ni'mah that many of us take for granted; for it is through His will and His pleasure alone that we remain on this Earth. Even that is only for the briefest time, before we return to Him, and await Judgement.

Judgement. Where our eternal fates will be decided. Where there is only eternal bliss.. or eternal damnation.

No middle ground.

What will we be able to do in the Supreme Court of our Lord? Who or what will defend us against all the sins that speak out against us, each lengthening the Sirat Al-Mustaqeem, making it further to cross, and ever so much easier to fall into Jahannam. Who?

And the answer is our deeds, on this Earth, for the briefest time that we draw breath. That will be all we have to balance all the sins that we have committed.

But Allah has given us a way in which we can tear away from Al-Jaheem's vice.

He gave us Ramadhan.

Ramadhan where the gates of Hell are closed, and the gates of Heaven are open.

Ramadhan where each good deed is amplified many times over, so much so that if a person were to know how much of Allah's Reward he gets, he would never stop his prayers, for fear of losing even a second's worth of amal.

It is the month where we cleanse our bodies through fasting, and cleanse our souls through prayer, supplication, and recitation of Quran. In a Friday sermon I recently attended, one lesson stood out for me. It was that for the believer, there would be three bonuses of Ramadhan. The first ten days Allah would rain his Rahmah (blessings). The second He would bless us with Maghfirah (forgiveness). And the third he would deny us Hellfire, and bestow upon us His eternal reward... Paradise.

The question is - have we done enough to do that this Ramadhan? Have we made enough prayer and du'a? Have we cleansed ourselves enough, or was the hunger and thirst all for naught? Have we read enough Quran? Have we TRULY made full use of our time this Ramadhan?

And the final question... Will we livelong enough to see the next Ramadhan?...

I share these thoughts with my brothers and sisters in Islam, with the hope that it will prompt us to push ourselves just that little more, so that one day, we may see each other in the Gardens of Paradise.

May Allah find us worthy.

Comments

Cat-from-Sydney said…
Uncle D,
Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri (in advance) to you and yours. Maaflah tak hantar kad raya sebab tak tahu alamat.....hehehe.... Eid in winter....sejuk tu. takpe, makan rendang bebiri yang pedas mesti boleh warm up. har har har *evil laughs*
Cat & Angie,

Salam Aidilfitri to you and family too! Rendang bebiri tai bole kalahkan rendang dating kat kampung.. sigh..

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