A Different Shahru Ramadhan & Blessed Eid

"If the servant was to the worth of Ramadhan, he would wish that Ramadhan lasted the whole year."
 - Prophet Muhammad (SAW) (Bihar al-Anwar; p. 346; no. 12)

This Shahru Ramadhan undoubtedly was the most different Shahru Ramadhan I've ever had. I was looking forward to the fasts and the many opportunities this month was going to present. However, some things just weren't meant to be.

To sum it up very quickly, I had gotten sick quite a few times over the month; this caused me to miss 19 fasts in the blessed month. I missed the first 10 while recovering from a horrible case of the stomach flu causing me to get dehydrated (which is a story for a different day); so I needed to get healthy first. Then I caught a bit of a cold after a few days of fasting; I missed 3 fasts due to this to be able to take medicine and have the cold go. After that, my body seemed to have not healed completely as I got extremely lightheaded and my energy level dipped; I missed 6 fasts to recover from that properly. And throughout the month to recover, I had to play it safe from a health perspective to recover properly. So I wasn't able to do too many additional prayers or duas. However whatever was in my ability, I did do. I read and shared a hadith each night. I listened/read and shared a Shahru Ramadhan dua each day (which gave me an interesting idea for next year if I have the chance, God willing). I listened to as many lectures as possible; I did aamals of Laylatul Qadr (and alhamdulillah, also got a chance to lead a tasbih on of the nights). I got to jointly sponsor an iftaar (breaking of the fast) with other youths in the community. I got to give whatever little charity I was able to give. I got to recite Surah Yaseen (the 36th chapter from the Holy Quran) and give the adhan (the call to prayer). And my favourite part was co-facilitating a discussion on SMART Goals for the youths of the community while celebrating my birthday during the blessed month (July 13th).


I always pray that I don't get sick during Shahru Ramadhan so I can complete the fasts. And so, this had me baffled for a while as to why I got sick so much during this blessed month. Was it a form of punishment? Possibly. But I remembered that this is the month of mercy and that I was one of the guests of the Almighty in this grand banquet. And I also remembered the blessings of such a trial, which is summed in these two hadiths:
"The wrongdoings of a sick person shed away from him like the shedding of leaves from a tree."

 - Prophet Muhammad (SAW) (al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib; v. 4; p.293; no. 56)

and

“When a believer becomes sick, Allah reveals unto the angel on his left [shoulder], ‘Do not write a sin for my servant as long as he is in My confinement and My grasp, and He reveals unto the angel on his right [shoulder], 'Write for My servant what you were writing for him in merits when he was healthy.”

 - Imam Musa al-Kadhim (AS) (Al-Kafi; v. 3; p. 114; no. 7)

 So (God-willing) either my sins were shed from my body and forgiven (which would make sense since this was the month of forgiveness); or whatever potential sins I were to commit weren't written while whatever acts I had the intention of doing were still written and I would get the reward (which would also make sense sense since this was the month of mercy as well). Hopefully, both of those happened. This is all just a possibility though; only the Almighty knows if this is true (Allahu Aalam).

But the biggest potential blessing I can see out of this is that my Shahru Ramadhan will continue after the blessed month has ended as I'll have to make up about two-thirds of the fasts I would have normally just done in the month. So (God-willing) not only would I have gotten rewards for having an intention, but the opportunity for the rewards and blessings can carry on after the month as well. And this will hopefully help me towards cutting out certain habits and building other good ones. The challenge will be greater with Shaitan back on the prowl and also being 'on my own', but it will make it that much more worth it.
Now while I do see the silver lining, I still pray that next year I don't get sick during the blessed month if I'm given the opportunity; and instead, I can continue the habits after the month if I have the chance (God-willing).

The one thing I always miss from Shahru Ramadhan is the unity: being able to pray together with brothers from the community; eating dinner with them; conversing & socializing with them; and building bonds with them. But thankfully this aspect from Shahru Ramadhan continued after the month on Eid Day in two ways  and God-willing will continue.

The first way is self-explanatory: Eid Day means going for Eid prayers; the centre being packed with everybody praying & standing side-by-side in unity; listening to the beautiful lecture from the Imam (Sheikh Jaffer H. Jaffer); and embracing all the brothers with wishes. After that, its a time for families to get together. All my sisters, brother-in-laws, and nieces/nephew were all over so everything was almost complete. Right now there just remains one missing piece, and (God-willing) next year that piece will complete the picture).

The second way was the fact that it was the day of Jumaah (Friday): This continued the unity factor with Jumaah Salaat (Friday Prayer) as it gave another opportunity to pray side-by-side in unison with brothers from the community; and it also gave another trip to the centre where another couple of sermons were heard from Sheikh Jaffer.

But the biggest thing for me ties into both those points, which meant the most for me. I got to go to Jumaah Salaat with all 3 of my brother-in-laws for the very first time. I can't express how much that meant to me because it meant a lot of different things on different levels. But undoubtedly, it was truly a blessing from the Almighty that He showered on me.

So that's how differently Shahru Ramadhan went for me & closed out; being given the opportunity in a different way than usual to continue Shahru Ramadhan after the month and having it start off right with a blessed Eid Day. And InshaAllah (God-willing) it continues for the remainder of the year.