Welcome Ramadhan with Joy!

1: Introduction

One of the unique characteristics of Islam is its involvement of human emotion in each and every act of worship. Not only does this help a person immerse himself completely, it also elevates the act of ritual into an act of submission when done sincerely.

In fact, the renowned scholar, Ibn Rajab al Hanbali writes in his book The Key to Paradise, "Is religion anything but love and hate?"

The scholars of the past while describing the heart of a believer give the analogy of a bird. They say that a believer's heart is like a bird whose
Head - is love of Allah and
Wings- hope and fear of Allah

From this we can deduce that feelings are indeed a gift from Allah. Imagine how bland life would be without these myriad feelings.

So, now since Allah has given these emotions to us as a gift, it is incumbent on us to use it in a way He is pleased, because that is the manifestation of true gratitude.

In this work, we will be focusing primarily on the feeling of joy also known as الفرح in Arabic.

Why?

Because we want to welcome Ramadhan with joy. Now, in order to do so correctly, let's dive into the meaning of joy.

The meaning of joy (الفرح) is a delight that hits the heart when you hear, see or feel something.

Magnification has a direct correlation to our heart. Whatever we magnify in our heart influences the things in which we feel joy. So, when Allah is magnified in our heart, everything related to Him gives us joy. It is this that makes a believer accept Allah's commands and decrees with a soul filled with happiness.

Imaan increases and decreases, so does the feelings in our heart. While the lowest level of acceptance is associated with patience, the highest one is characterized by Joy.

It is said that the feelings of imaan range into the following 4 stages--

Patience-->Shukr-->Contentment/Satisfaction-->Joy!

To better understand this, let's look into an example of four mothers whose children are sick-
1. The first mother stays patient hoping for the reward from Allah.
2. While the second one is not only patient, but also goes a step forward by expressing gratitude to Allah that He saved her child from a disease which could've been far worse.
3. The third one, on the other hand, is patient, grateful as well as content and pleased with the decree of Allah. She believes with all her heart that this test contains a hidden goodness which is necessary for her overall wellbeing at the moment.
4. The fourth and final one is that of joy. A real life example for this would be that of the British author, Na'ima B Robert.
When her husband of seventeen years died, she was found prostrating on ground to Allah in gratitude. People who witnessed it were shocked; however, when she was asked the reason behind this seemingly absurd behaviour, Na'ima simply replied that she was happy Allah had given her this gift of a wonderful husband for seventeen long years. Allah could've taken him early but He didn't. Hence, the prostration out of gratitude.

Subhaan Allah.