Farewell Ramadhan

This month which was with us for twenty-nine or thirty days, is now about to leave us. It is time for us to go back and see how this guest treated us. Imagine you have guests for a month. Soon after they are gone you go home and go to the room where your guest was staying in, and you feel their absence, their empty space. You remember the wonderful time you had with them during their stay. You remember the good times, their kindness. There are people, who we never get bored with no matter how long they stay with us as they are gentle and good company. When the time finishes, the guest leaves us, because they have a limited time – they cannot stay forever. The same goes for Ramadan. We soon realise how quickly the month of Ramadan has finished.

We are saying goodbye to the month of Ramadan – the one whose departure is very heart-breaking., and this is bothering us. It puts us in deep grief, makes us lonely, we will miss the month of Ramadan. But of course we will always remain in debt to the month of Ramadan, and we feel protective towards the honour and dignity of the month.

We are compensated for the loss of Ramadan with the festivity of Eid. We are granted a way to fill the cavity which is created by the departure of the month of Ramadan in our lives. When our dear guest wants to leave, we escort them but with eyes filled with tears we see them go and disappear. This guest however has left us a letter and some gifts, so we read the letter and examine the gifts with pleasure and happiness. We enjoy the gifts as it helps us to forget just for a while that our guest is not with us anymore but our guest knows about our pain after his departure. This is the example of the month of Ramadan.

Once Hasan Al-Basari passed by a group of people who made mockery of Ramadan. He then said: “Indeed, Allah has created the month of Ramadan as a racetrack for his servants where they compete with one another in worshiping Him. A group has advanced ahead and won while other groups have lagged behind and failed to win. What is more astonishing is one who laughs and makes fun in the day. Those who have come ahead are the winners and those who have mocked are the losers. ”

Lucky is the one who is able to grab the Laylatul-Qadar (Night of Power), a single night which could only be found in the last ten days of Ramadan from 20th until 30th – which is better and superior to one thousand months of worship. Allah said: “We have indeed revealed this message in the Night of Power. And what will explain to thee what the night of power is? The Night of Power is better than a thousand months. There come down the Angels and the spirit by Allah’s permission on every errand: Peace! This until the rise of morning (Qur’an 97:1-5).

It has been suggested that the Night of Power could be on 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th or 29th. The reason why Allah, the almighty, did not make known on which night this virtuous night falls, is so that His servants will strive hard to seek and seize that particular night by performing various acts of worships starting on the night of 21st especially like in acts of ibadah such as tahajjud, recitation of the Qur’an and many more in the middle of the night.