POST RAMADAN & THE NIGHT BEFORE EID UL FITR Many of us are just Ramadan Muslims: Many of us both

are unfortunately just Ramadan Muslims. We become devoted to our faith for just one month of the year and the rest of the year we spend chasing our desires with our only or main concern being the worldly and materialistic life. Why do we desire a life that is so temporary and can end at any second? Just for this one month we reach to our top shelves and blow off the dust from our Qur'an and get the prayer mats out from within our cupboards. MashaAllah we become so much more practicing during this blessed month than any other time of the year. We fast, we stand in the night for Taraweeh prayer and even do good deeds that we have not done or even thought of doing outside of Ramadan. We sit and spend more time with our families. We recite the Quran al Kareem; do the Dhikr of Allah (subhanahu wa taala) and visit the Masjid so much more than at any other time of the year. We feel a wonderful sense of peace and satisfaction in our hearts because we feel a deeper sense of awareness of Allah (subhanahu wa taala) during this blessed month than we do throughout the year. The night before the day of Eid: The night before the day of Eid, shaytaan gets released from the chains and shackles and runs to see what state we are in after this blessed month. He does not like what he sees. So straight away he gets to work trying to undo the good habits we have acquired throughout this blessed month. Then we see that during the night before Eid, our sisters and brothers return to old habits and return to our old company. Narrated by Ibn Umar (RadhiAllahu Anhu): "Whoever imitates a group, then he is from amongst them" (Abu Dawud, Mishkat) Back to old habits: That very same night before Eid the Masaajids are empty! The Isha prayer is abandoned! We see many of our brothers and sisters blasting music from their cars busying themselves preparing for Eid day and in doing so abandon the prayer which is the purpose of our creation! We begged of Allah to forgive us and we go back to our evils that very night before Eid? Instead of thanking Allah (subhanahu wa taala) on the night before Eid we ridicule and mock by going back to the evils we begged of him for forgiveness for! This month was a chance for us to redeem ourselves and to change our state but rather than go forward and get closer to Allah (subhanahu wa taala) Page 1 of 3

and bring our faith into every aspect of our lives we go backwards again and back into old and evil habits. We are Muslim just by name but not by action. Many of us fast and pray during this blessed month only because we have to or others are doing it and not solely for the pleasure of Allah or to get closer to him. What a sad state of affairs! Only 3% of our day on praying: If we calculate how long it would take to pray 5 times a day then you could sum it up to around 40 minutes a day. Now there are 1440 minutes in a day and 40 minutes out of 1440 of our day is ONLY 3% of a day and we still can't manage that? Many of us spend that much time eating, excreting or in front of a mirror and we can't even spend it praying and fulfilling the very purpose of our creation? The men of Allah (subhanahu wa taala) or Awliya practice Ramadan everyday of their lives even after the month has finished for an ordinary muslim. Let us not abandon the Qur'an: Our connection to RasoolAllah (Sallalahu Alayhi WaSalam) is the beloved Quran al Kareem which was revealed directly to them. The Quran will intercede on your behalf so use it to your benefit. We should recite from the Qur'an everyday even if it is a few ayaat. We should read and try to understand the message of the Qur'an and contemplate and ponder over it and try to implement it into our daily lives as that is the purpose of the Qur'an, for it to be used as our daily guide and not to gather dust on the top shelf. We should establish a close connection with the best and most favorite place of Allah which is the Masjid and the gatherings of Dhikr. Chaand Raat in Islam? Beware of the novelty concept of Chaand Raat, a misleading attempt to associate entertainment, melas, shopping festivals etc with what is in essence one of the most important nights of the Islamic calendar. According to hadith sharif the true name for the the night is Lailatul Jaiza which translates as the Night of Reward. The night has been awarded the same level of rank as Laylatul Qadr, Shab e Baraat, Shab e Meraj and the night before Eid Ul Adha. It has been the practice of the Prophet (Sallalahu Alayhi WaSalam) that the beloved would spend the night before Eid Ul Fitr in prayer rather than sleep. The Prophet (Sallalahu Alayhi WaSalam) stated: Whoever stands up (in worship) in the nights preceding the two Eids expecting rewards from his Lord, his heart will not die when the other hearts will die. (Ibn Majah) Page 2 of 3

To benefit from this opportunity, one should perform as much worship in this night as he can with Nafl ibaadat and the remembrance of Allah (subhanahu wa taala). May Allah (subhanahu wa taala) enable us to carry the positive changes we made during Ramadan throughout the rest of the year. Ameen

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