Ramadan blog - week four

Dilly Hussain

“Autumn cold and farewell BoS...”

Nevertheless, this did not stop me from fasting and observing the concluding days of Ramadan!  

I officially left BoS on Friday and if it weren’t for the sheer thirst from a sore throat and chesty cough, I may possibly had shed a tear...don’t know why I just admitted that!

Mr Lowe, the editorial and advertising team wished me the best of luck for the future to which I’m unsure of from a journalistic perspective, but my full gratitude is due to BoS who took me on as a work experience placement back in July 2009.

Sunday night was one of the nights which could have been Layla tul Qadr (Night of Power) when the first revelation of the Quran was sent to Prophet Muhammad from God via the Archangel Gabriel.

I woke up at midday on Sunday and began worshiping at the mosque after opening my fast at a community ifthaar in Luton. I attended numerous lectures given by Imams on contemporary issues, engaged with the Muslim youth of Bedford and continued to worship until sunrise, finally hitting the sack at 6am Monday morning!

During that 18 hour day, many thoughts and feelings overtook me which don’t usually affect me throughout the rest of the year.

So I began questioning myself – is it because Ramadan is coming to an end and I fear that I may return to certain habits and ways? Or is it because this month had previously been an emotional trip which usually dies out after the celebration of Eid?  

As mentioned in my earlier blog entries, I vowed to myself that Ramadan 2010 would be a year of sincere change and improvements.

What have I done this month (or not done) which may change after Eid? So after speaking to the most humble and loving person in my life, my Mum, she gave me the inspiration that “a real man of honour is the one that sticks to his covenant with his Lord.”

I mean am I that enslaved to my whims and desires that ‘IT’ becomes the sole navigator of my actions? Surely this can’t be the case if I perfectly abstained from what was asked of me in this month, why would I then return to it?

This brought me to the conclusion that ALL humans, regardless of creed, race, ethnicity, gender or nationality have certain instincts innate to them- procreation, survival and revering instincts.

The human race is limited and needy therefore we are made up of these three instincts which most of the time spearhead the decisions we make. Therefore it would be irrational to think that myself or any other human on this earth can attain perfection.

However, what we can do is be honest and sincere when attempting to better ourselves. It was on this point my thoughts rested with when dosing off to sleep on Monday.

Eid ul Fitr (Islamic holy day marking the end of Ramadan) will either be on Thursday or Friday depending on the sighting of the moon so stay tuned on my concluding blog entries – ‘Lessons from Ramadan’ and ‘Eid day’.