A Review:
My overriding sense is this, I'm not perfect, I've done some real soul searching, I've questioned everything about me. I've questioned my faith, and related it to me. No one else. How does my faith work for me? What will I win, what will I lose? What is my frame of mind? Who am I? What am I about? How has living my life affected me? Is it positive is it negative? Who knows what the future brings!? Just be real to myself because charlatans exist everywhere... they don't differentiate between faith, colour, caste, gender, or preferences!
So far: Ramadan has turned out to be a great way to give myself a service. In everyday life as a non-practising muslim I had no restrictions. I could eat, drink anything I wanted. I could get up and go anywhere I wanted, with whomever I chose. There was absolutely nothing or no one to tell me otherwise.
Ramadan has been cleansing me spiritually and physically. It's been a regulator. My life revolves around Ramadan. When I eat, when I pray, when I sleep, controlling my thoughts and yearnings, controlling what I view and how I view it, resisting temptation, avoiding temptation, being around family, in particular with my nephews, praying alongside them, taking guidance from them, being open with them and asking for help or clarification, not getting angry or aggressive. Being at peace with myself , my life, my situation, accepting my faults by acknowledgment, looking to improve upon myself by dealing with my faults and not ignoring them. Being humble and honest in my assessment of myself. Not letting the shortcomings of others bother me so much. We all have an account that will need to be paid.
Is there anything negative in that which I wrote. Is there anything that is not beneficial to me, my family or my community.
My nephew mentioned a conversation by an esteemed imam and an atheist:
The imam said to the atheist, so you believe that once you die that's it, nothing more will happen? What if you're wrong? You know when you leave your house and on some days it's overcast and it looks like rain so you take an umbrella or a jacket just in case. What if you practised Islam just in case. If you're right, you've not lost out, if your wrong, you're in for a downpour and a half.
I've used artistic license to convey the message. It's not verbatim.
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