sent by Zaahied Sallie

Allah

A RUDDER FOR LIFE

Life is hard. When we live unintentionally, it becomes harder still. A life resigned to the trade winds scatters us like feathers: directionless and disoriented. We may gather with other feathers, but a flightless-feathered tribe is no place to hang out.

Intentional living obviates the danger that surrounds us in the world. One where objects become personified and people become dehumanised. It’s a type of idolatry: people animate inanimate objects and become disanimated themselves. And like inanimate objects, they, too, become dumb, deaf and blind [2:18]. This condition is what Ramadan seeks to free us from.

Ramadan offers the best rudder for navigation: taqwa, and we can gain it through abstinence, which fasting entrains [2:183].

Taqwa. Origin: Arabic, to be cognizant of God and have a high state of heart. From waqā, yaqī, wiqāya, to safeguard, shield, shelter, to prevent or obviate the danger. Moving from a state of heedlessness to consciousness and, hence, an intentional human being.

The Prophet (s)

RAMADAN FOR CHANGE

Ramadan is an extraordinary month. It can slow down life to a pace necessary for quietude and deep reflection.

Muhammad’s perennial tafakkur, or thoughts on inequality and injustice every Ramadan, sparked a revolution that forever changed the course of human history.

During one such meditation, Islam was born with its Book of Wisdom and the command to read its preeminent injunction. Its pages of pure Divine Speech direct us countlessly to reflect, contemplate and question. It is determined to make thinkers of us, men and women, who profoundly deliberate and are not given to careless considerations.

So, how can we perform a thorough societal analysis and look at its major components—religion, morality, economics, security, education, subsistence, equality, communal welfare, and societal obligation—then turn to the Prophet’s example and allow his (s) life to inform ours?

From what we’ve discussed thus far, we have, in effect, gained the model for rendering change:

1. Retreat to a tranquil state.
2. Analysis through deep and honest reflection.
3. Sincerely seeking truth, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding through consultation, reading, research, and study.
4. Taking the best position based on the findings of an enquiry.
5. Aligning with that position.
6. Remain resolute with the position unless presented with a more accurate one.
7. Spread the word to combat societal ills.

Ramadan was the impetus for Muhammad (s) to step away from daily human intercourse and seek the Transcendent. God chose to respond to Muhammad (s) and, through him, us. He (s) became a Prophet, accepted guidance, and shaped a new world.

We have not been the best heirs of the Book and prophetic legacy. But every Ramadan, we can shift towards both and aspire to shape the world slightly closer to the one he left us.

Reorientation

A wise friend once alluded that feeling less than for being overweight indicates a more serious crisis.

He was a professional trainer, owned an upmarket gym, and trained some of the most successful sportsmen, sportswomen, and sports teams in South Africa and the world.

“If the issue was only a case of excess weight, we could efficiently implement and execute a fitness and diet plan,” he said.

But most battling the kilos also find themselves weighted down spiritually and psychologically, devoid of the will to unhinge themselves. It soon becomes painfully apparent and discernable that the behaviours leading to excess are attempts at resolving a problem which does not manifest itself openly. The excess, often visible in our lives and thankfully so, are symptoms alerting us that our internal system driving our consumption is faulty.

So, which program drives you? And if it does not resolve you, why continue allowing it to inform your behaviour?

Fourteen hundred years ago, in the grandest unveiling the Universe will ever witness, God entrusted the Quran, the ultimate system for life, to Muhammad (s). God anointed it the Night of Power and set it within the sacred month of Ramadan. The system has the most powerful and perfect narration chain: God, Gabriel (as), and the Prophet (s).

For 23 years, the revelation unfolded, and upon its completion, the verses of God transformed Arabia and resonated across the globe.

Maybe during this Ramadan, we will permit its perfect verses to reorient us, too.

Ramadan Karim to you and your family

Until next week, InshaAllah

Zaahied Sallie

Author of The Beloved Prophet – An Illustrated Biography in Rhyme

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