By Abdullahi Jamaa
And here begins my Ramadan story, a narrative that highlights my forlorn relationship with the noble month of fasting. It begins with my childhood days between the years eight to ten, when fasting was more of an infantile play, just abstaining from food and water.
From those times until today I probably completed more than thirty fasting seasons, but I can only account for a couple of these. The rest were a mere ritual, like the overwhelming majority of Muslims I held the wrong end of the stick.
Year in year out, Ramadan came and went without meaningful achievements because I lacked the spiritual ability and rapidity of worship to seize the opportunity of fasting in a way that conforms to its fundamental purpose- achieving a score of Taqwa.
Thirty days of what was supposed to be a spiritual game changer only went up in smoke. This is unquestionably a homogeneous deficit for majority of Muslims who continue to treat Ramadan with a callous attitude.
The palatable season of worship in most of my previous encounters with Ramadan, remained uncultivated, missing its refinement and subsequent harvest. Like an unploughed ground the resultant annual yield was so poor, completing my fasting journey with parched and bare lips and with nothing to take home.
The balance sheet of my Ibadah was not tallying, an enlarged gap of under performance summarised my loss making spiritual business. It was indeed a failure from my part to seize the offer of Ramadan, a favourable period for profit-making.
With the guidance of Allah (the Most High) I started taking stock of my spiritual life, especially during the noble month of fasting. It dawned on me that Ramadan is a like a precious commodity, very rare to find yet full of rewards to miss.
In Ramadan I saw honourable believers, spiritual merchants and righteous Muslims who venerate a lot in fasting. Sadly, they are very few, a handful of them in any Masjid. They are the daring minority who have understood the true secret of Ramadan by the grace of Allah (the Most High). The rest of us are squandering a golden opportunity, paying no attention to the greatness it offers, often losing sight of the big picture.
The best way to compensate for our spiritual failures is to dedicate the little time and opportunities we get in doing righteous deeds. I am nursing a brimming hope that Insha’Allah this Ramadan will herald a new spiritual synergy, a fresh experience of fasting with spanking new daily goals and targets.
Ramadan presents an annual quintessential escape from spiritual negligence to marinate in the splendour of extraordinary moments of worship. It is a boost to the fading nature of our monotonous life.
Having fallen short of my previous Ramadan goals, I am more eager to chart a novel pathway to redeem myself. I know from the back of my mind that Ramadan comes with that rare chance to grasp and seize. That chance that all of us have been waiting for.
