Middle of Ramadan? Time to do the shuffle
When you start doing some exercise to increase your health and fitness, you initially see gains. If you keep doing the same exercise only, your body adjusts, and you don’t see those same early gains.
That analogy reminds me of the middle of Ramadan. We usually start the month full of excitement, with a plan and raring to go. We map out our day, how many rakahs of taraweeh, how much Qur’an we plan to read and study, time for dua, time for learning, time for dawah.
After the first 10 days, we are now established in our new routine. We become used to the rhythm of our day. The fasting days can then become casual and we plateau. Sometimes, we might even slack and regress – doing less than we did at the beginning of the month. Now is the time for the shuffle.
Remember that Ramadan will end
Remember that Allah (swt) grants rewards uniquely in this month and some gifts are exclusive to this blessed month. And none of us is guaranteed another Ramadan. Remember Allah (swt) frees many from the fire in this month.
It was narrated from Jabir that the Messenger of Allah (alayhi salam) said: “At every breaking of the fast Allah has people whom He frees (from the Fire), and that happens every night.” [Ibn Majah]
إِنَّ لِلَّهِ عِنْدَ كُلِّ فِطْرٍ عُتَقَاءَ وَذَلِكَ فِي كُلِّ لَيْلَةٍ
Shouldn’t we increase our dua for that? Remember the reward of doing the fard is multiplied so shouldn’t we increase in fulfilling our duties to our families, our communities and calling for the establishment of the Khilafah system so the Qur’an’s guidance is implemented in the Muslim world?
Time to do the shuffle.
Remember that exercise analogy I started with? As your body got used to you repeating the same exercise, to continue to see gains in your fitness level, you need to change the routine. Add intensity, repetition, variation, whatever. Just do the shuffle.
Same with Ramadan. Vary your daily activity, vary the dua, vary the tafseer you are reading, get involved in some new dawah project. Do the shuffle.
May Allah (swt) enable us to continue to strive in the middle of the month and race towards His Pleasure, Forgiveness, and Mercy when we approach the end of this blessed month.
Taji Mustafa