Ramadhan Boot Camp

Assalamualaikum,

"Ramadhan is a training camp of sorts for us Muslims, to make us a better person."

This is something I mentioned in my previous post, and now I would like to elaborate on this statement if I may.

Last Friday just before Friday prayers, I was listening to a short tazkirah by an ustaz whom I really enjoy listening to. And one of the things he mentioned, was how people do not understand the true meaning of Ramadhan.

Sure during Ramadhan many people go to the masjid/surau for terawih, many people act nice and polite, hold their tongue when they feel angry, recite the Quran more frequently, everyone becomes better Muslims basically. Which is good y'know. But that's not exactly how Ramadhan is supposed to affect us. An analogy might explain my point.

When we charge our handphone, laptop, MP3 player, or any electronic device, the batteries will all charge, until they become fully charged, or in other words, they become "complete" or they are considered to be at their optimal performance. Now, regardless of what item it is, or what brand it is, whatever the specifications it possesses, when it is charging, we would expect the batteries of all electronic items to reach full capacity, and stay there as long as it is charged. What we want to see, is how long the batteries will remain charged after unplugging them before needing another recharge. So the ustaz said that Ramadhan is somewhat of a "recharging" period for Muslims. A period where we would expect everyone to be on their best behaviour. But what we want to see, and what we should see is Muslims being on their best behaviour even after Ramadhan has left.

When we go away to a motivational camp, to a leadership seminar or something similar, we are expected to practice what we learn throughout the camp for the rest of our lives. Not to just learn during the camp and forget everything after the camp is over. Same thing goes for Ramadhan. We are expected to better ourselves during Ramadhan, and remain that way for the rest of the year. And when the next Ramadhan comes, we should improve ourselves even more. And so on for the coming years. Just imagine, if we really did do that, in just 5 years, we would be 5 times a better Muslim. As opposed to bettering ourselves during Ramadhan, and after which we return to our old selves. We would always be going up 1 level, and coming back down to our original level every year. So we wouldn't really be improving every year, would we?

We should not go to the masjid/surau only during Ramadhan. And even in Ramadhan, not only for terawih. We should go throughout the year, and for every prayer that we can, not just the night prayers. We should recite the Quran on a daily basis everyday, not just in Ramadhan. We should guard our language throughout the year, not only in Ramadhan. I think you get my point now don't you?

Now, we can't be expected to be perfect, that's understandable. But there's nothing wrong in trying to be perfect. Right? Even if we somehow, alhamdulillah manage to be 90% the perfect Muslim, that's not too bad, is it?

Act like every month is Ramadhan. Just think how much reward we could gain from Allah by living our lives like that.

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