In race with time; aim for the best…

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In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate; blessings and peace be upon Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.

Reflection
"Do not spy one another,
nor let any of you backbite others..." (Hujurat 49: 12)
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'Marhaban ahlan wa sahlan ya shahra Ramadan'. Perhaps I’m not late in offering greetings and welcoming Ramadan, the holiest month of the year but as readers are reading this piece, we are already in the second (middle) phase of Ramadan, where the first phase (first 10 days) is ‘rahmat’ (mercy), then ‘maghfirat’ (forgiveness) and its end ‘nijaat’ (salvation or emancipation from fire).

Time is flying very fast; as I am writing this article, it is already the 10^th Ramadan. The question is what I done during the last 10 days…yes I’m racing with time every day, but perhaps I’am always the one who lost the race. And what about you dear readers…are you satisfied with the things that had done during the first phase of Ramadan? The first ten days had gone…nobody knew whether it was our last!

Well, what does Allah SWT The Almighty says about time? Allah SWT had warned us about time in Surah Al-Asr (The Time): 1. By Al-'Asr (the time). 2. Verily! Man is in loss, 3. Except those who believe (in Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth (i.e. order one another to perform all kinds of good deeds (Al-Ma'ruf)which Allah has ordained, and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds (Al-Munkar) which Allah has forbidden), and recommend one another to patience (for the sufferings, harms, and injuries which one may encounter in Allah's Cause during preaching His religion of Islamic Monotheism or Jihad, etc.)

Then what does Allah SWT says about the purpose of Him created us (mankind)? In Surah Adh-Dhariyat (51), 'ayahs' (verses) 56 and 57 He says: "And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. I do not want from them any provision, nor do I want them to feed Me."

Yes 'our mission' in this world is to worship Allah. 'Subhanallah' (Glory to God) how is our days spend during this Ramadan? Each of us is given 24 hours a day; let's us now evaluate on what we had done during this Ramadan. Minus the obligatory deeds such as fasting during the day of Ramadan and performing our five times obligatory prayers (which must be perform by all Muslims), ask ourselves what other good work recommended by the Prophet s.a.w. had he done?

Ramadan is associated with the Qur’an and one being generous; then evaluates our ‘relationship’ with deeds such as reading and learning the Qur’an and giving charity. If a ‘busy’ person complains he has no time to even flip the pages of the Qur’an, then there are pious people who could complete reading (khatam) the whole Qur’an in a day, once in every three days or a week or at least once during Ramadan.

And during 'this Euro football mad season', a fanatic football fan would perhaps spend 1/3 of his night given by The Almighty with his or her ‘eat and sleep way of life’ in front of the idiot box (TV). Perhaps he/she is too busily engrossed in his interest that he/she has no time to perform his obligations to Allah SWT such as performing his ‘subuh’ (dawn) prayers whats more the ‘sunat’ (recommended) ones such as ‘solat tahajud’.

If we wasted our nights from gaining Allah’s pleasure, then how is our day being spend? From observations, during Ramadan, people spend a lot of time at 'Pasar Ramadan', 'Bazar Ramadan' and so on. Them there are those who ‘go all out’ to promote activities regarding food such cooking programmes, even on TV they had many of such stuff; the irony of it Ramadan is one month we teaches our ‘nafs’ on worldly desires including food.

Make full use the opportunity of this Ramadan to gain Allah’s pleasure because who knows it is our last.

A hadith narrated by Ibn Abbas: Allah’s Apostle s.a.w. said: “Take benefit of ‘five’ before ‘five’: your youth before your old age, you health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free-time before your preoccupation and your life before you’re your death.” 

Make full use of the opportunities given by Allah the Almighty, not to waste them. We should appreciate what we have especially the ‘five’ mention in the hadith - youth, health, wealth, free-time, and life. Now we are in Ramadan which in it is the obligation of 'siyam' (puasa in Malay or fasting) with the main aim is to increase our 'takwa' (piety) to Him. 

Our time especially during this Ramadan could be better spent working to improve ourselves in the religion and seeking the Mercy of Allah and seeking His pardon for our own errors and mistakes. Remember our time left is too short; Allah SWT could call for us at anytime…we are racing with time, are we ready to meet our Lord?

On life too, scholars reminded us to aim for the best in the Hereafter, thus we must work very very hard when performing Allah’s orders and refraining from things He had forbidden. For example in our du’a (supplication), we ask for the highest ranks in the Garden (Syurga Firdaus).

One example of such du’a is: “O Allah! I ask You the best of the request for the best in my supplication, for the best success and the best reward. Strengthened me, make heavier my balance of good, confirm my faith, elevate my rank, accept my worship, and forgive my mistakes, and I ask of You for good beginnings, good endings, the totally of goodness, from the first to the last, from within and from without, and I ask You the highest rank in the Garden (Firdaus).