Consider the following:
Allah said: وَالضُّحَى / “I swear by the morning brightness”
(Al-Qur’an, 93:1)
Allah said: وَاللَّيْلِ / “I swear by the night”
(Al-Qur’an, 93:2)
Allah said: وَالْفَجْرِ / “I swear by dawn”
(Al-Qur’an, 89:1)
Allah said: وَالْعَصْرِ / “I swear by time”
(Al-Qur’an, 103:1)
Allah, being The Greatest, only takes oaths upon the greatest of matters, and the fact that time is one of them in so many passages of the Qur’an speaks volumes in of itself.
It’s around this time during Ramadan each year that we’ll hear: “Ramadan’s almost over! It’s bidding us farewell already.”
Not only is it a valid observation, but one that is increasing in validity each year as the blessing of time constantly decreases, just as Prophet Mohammad PBUH prophesized would happen towards the end of times.
Al-Hasan Al-Basri said:
يا ابنَ آدم إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ أَيَّامٌ، فَإِذا ذَهَبَ يَومٌ ذَهَبَ بَعْضُكَ
“O human being, you are made up of days, and so when a day leaves you, part of you has left you!”
Hours, minutes, and seconds, that’s what you are, and so each day of Ramadan that ends demarcates the ending of a part of you.
In this regard, I share two bits of advice that may be of practical use moving forward:
(1) Create a clearly defined set of goals
Not just for what remains of Ramadan, but for the rest of your life. You see, when we aspire to get married, we *do* get married, and when we aspire for work, we *do* find work, and so on. The reasons why we get things done is because of the clarity of the objective; we know exactly where we want to be in how many years and how we shall go about doing it. As for the “I’m going to try my best” approach, this – by itself – isn’t effective.
Our commitment to Islam mustn’t be to a lower standard. Write down your Ramadan + life-based Islamic goals.
(2) Create a sense of urgency
Diamonds only become diamonds when coal is subjected to pressure. Pressure makes diamonds, and so apply pressure upon yourself to compete for Jannah with the many competitors out there, a pressure to save yourself from the hellfire, a pressure to be accepted by Allah and to be happy on the Day of judgement.
In reality, it is not Ramadan that is bidding us farewell, but we are the ones who are bidding it farewell. When Ramadan departs, it shall return many times over and will be witnessed by countless people. However, when we depart from this world, we shall never be returned.
We ask Allah to accept from us what we’ve done so far, to forgive the countless shortcomings, to allow us to live until the end of this Ramadan, and bless us with many more such opportunities where our appreciation of time is even greater.
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