Suddenly, life changed last Sunday…

The daily Ramadan routine came to an abrupt end on the day of Eid, as a new important event took place… Rather than rushing to the masjid at night to attend the taraweeh prayer, Muslims here in the UK and around the world headed to the masjid early that morning for the Eid prayer.

I heard about a large Eid prayer taking place nearby in Birmingham, possibly the biggest Eid prayer in Europe, but decided not to go.

Is it really wise for 100,000 Muslims to gather for Eid in the current climate of Islamophobia which prevails in the UK?

I don’t think so, as all it can lead to is an increase in hostility towards Muslims.

In any case, I decided to attend the Eid prayer at our small local masjid, and ended up praying Eid twice.

Why twice?

Well, as I arrived early for the 10.00 a.m. Eid prayer, and as I entered the masjid a brother outside who stood with a stand of free gifts for children told me “quick, they are in the second raq’ah.”

It was not my plan to pray with the 9:00 a.m. congregation, but in any case, I joined the prayer on-time and when the prayer ended I waited till 10:00 a.m. to catch the following Eid prayer from the start.

So I ended up listening to different Eid speeches, two in Urdu which I didn’t understand, plus one in Arabic and one in English, and joined the Eid takbir, which always brings a sense of joy and happiness for having completed the month of fast.

As it started to rain outside in the middle of an excellent speech in English, the Imam made a lot of du’a.

May Allah (SWT) accept our Ramadan and our du’a. Ameen

But what is next?

Faith After Ramadan

There is a lot to do and catch up with after Ramadan for most of us.

And somehow life looks and feels different after Ramadan.

Somehow, a sense of calmness and serenity now prevails compared to what it was five weeks ago.

I remind myself to try to maintain the serenity of Ramadan and do a better effort to keep a higher level of taqwa and closeness to Allah (SWT) compared to last year.

But one thing I noticed at the masjid was that even on the day of Eid not many people were smiling. Why do we as Muslims not smile enough, as our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, used to smile?

He told us that smiling at your fellow Muslim is an act of charity, so why don’t we follow this Sunnah?

And after Ramadan, as I wrote down my new list of resolutions, I included the daily adhkar, in the morning and evening, as they are very powerful means in increasing the level of faith, as we remember Allah (SWT) at these special times of the day and night, as the verse of Surah Ar-Ra’d comes to mind.

Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured. (13:28)

Life After Ramadan

As we say farewell to the best month of the year, we all need to do our best in the next eleven months to make our families and communities more organized and better managed. We need more shura and consultation in our collective decisions. We also need to treat others with more kindness and compassion.

And presenting Islam to others by following the example of our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in his refined manners is the best form of da’wah.

A speaker recently suggested that if all Muslims in the UK focused on following the example of the Prophet of Islam in his honesty, non-Muslims would want to do business with Muslims just because they trusted they would never cheat them.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all did that, and became known as the UK’s most honest faith community?

So, a lot to do in the coming months as we put into practice the theory and guidelines we learned during Ramadan.

May Allah (SWT) make it a blessed year ahead for all, with abundant peace and serenity.

Ameen.

Are you ready this year to go from theory to practice?