CORNERS

MARYAM SERIES : Chapter 9

It was last juma'ah of Ramadaan, after Salah  and reciting Quran ( specifically Surah Al kahf) ,Madiha ,Maryam and Hannaan were standing in the hall as they waited for Yusuf to set the timer on his Instant (Polaroid) camera to take their family picture. It was a family ritual that they followed every last juma'ah of Ramadaan ,to click a family photo both as a reminder and inspiration for next Ramadaan. The reminder in the sense that if someone felt left behind in ibadah and connecting with AR RAHMAN SWT at the end of this Ramadaan then the photo could stands as a reminder to work hard in the next Ramadaan ..and as an inspiration as if in this Ramadaan someone was able to form deep connectivity with AR RAHMAN SWT  then photo stood as a motivation to work hard the same way in the next Ramadaan.

After the photo was clicked, they all sat on the sofa looking at the picture when Maryam said while pouting ," Ramadaan is already coming to an end ,I wish it would have stayed longer so that I could do more ibadah and earn more rewards. " Giving her a side hug, Madiha said ," We all feel like that baby! " Seeing this Hannaan came to her mother and said ," Mamma! I too feel the same ". Saying this he stretched his arms asking for a hug from his mother, making Madiha giggle at his cuteness as she hugged him along with Maryam. Yusuf clicked an another picture of his lovely family and showing it to them he said, " You know Ramadaan is much more about earning more rewards".Maryam and Hannaan looked up from the photo having their curiosity incited at their father' s statement. Both Madiha and Yusuf beamed at each other seeing their children's eagerness to know about Islam.

" Along with providing an opportunity to earn more rewards and attain forgiveness ,ALLAH SWT made Ramadaan a kind of a training period for us so that we could be well equipped to fight and defeat our biggest enemies : shayatiin & rise out as good believers..And this training is not like the training of the world because unlike the later, where we have to pay the money to get ourselves trained ..Ramadaan is a training where ALLAH SWT instead rewards us for just making efforts..i.e you might not be the best trained candidate to turn out at the end of Ramadaan but ALLAH SWT will reward you even you were not the best but just average ordinary but to HIM who has no need of our worship ,our average ordinary effort is also special. "

"He notices every effort of ours but these efforts are not meant to be limited in this month only. Like.. we take training so that we can practise it in our daily lives. ALLAH SWT gave us Ramadaan so we can train ourselves & continue to practise it even after Ramadaan .The purpose of Ramadaan will vanish away if we don't continue to practise what we have learned in this month...it's like you took computer training but after training you didn't practise it & eventually whatever you have learned will just be a blur ..you will remember something but not much to make use of it in the real world .Similarly if we stop making efforts to come closer to ALLAH SWT after Ramadaan then whatever we have learned and the connectivity we discovered will become a blur just not enough to battle shayatiin's incessant attacks on us."

"Remember this..we as a believer are like plants ...just as plants need consistent and regular supply of water ,sunlight and carbon dioxide to grow ,we as a believer need consistent and regular supply of ALLAH ' s remembrance ,good deeds  and taqwa to grow as a good believer. Our roots of imaan cannot support us if the supply of all these necessities are limited to a month rather it will dry up. But ALLAH SWT is merciful and kind...he makes the dead land come to life .,so HE again offers the blessing of Ramadaan so that this time HIS believer can learn .But we continue to fail to understand Ramadaan as a month is more than just about earning rewards ,and that we are servants of not Ramadaan & our ibadah and eagerness to do good deeds should not be an exclusive feature of this month only but rather our ibadah and good deeds should be for ALLAH SWT , WHO is our RAB for all rest of the months.. not just this blessed month.

Thus we must not think that Ramadaan is  ending we must slacken up and lose hold of our weapons of Salah ,Quran and gratitude but rather hold it tight because this is where the test of our training will begin when shaitaan will attack us with more fervour and more intensity and if we continue to practise what we have learnt in our training even after Ramadaan then we have achieved the real ' falah'(success). Maryam and Hannaan were awestruck at their father's words while Madiha beamed at Yusuf ,her eyes full of admiration. When Yusuf spoke to Madiha while wiggling his eyebrows, " So Mads ,feeling proud of me? Madiha huffed at him, listening him calling the name she hated the most .She stood up and said ," Well I was and was also going to praise you but now no.. you just lost the once in a life opportunity of listening a full paragraph of praise of yourself by your Begum" .Saying this she turned to walk away hiding her grin as she heard Yusuf calling out to her and apologising.While Maryam and Hannaan grinned looking at their parents .

Ramadaan can be tough but ALLAH SWT made it so to make us realize that if we can go on without water and food and still pray and remember HIM more than normal days then how easy it will be to pray and be grateful to HIM when we are drinking and eating . Also experiencing Ramadaan is like tasting pure honey ...a taste beyond words, so when we have tasted this pure honey, any artificial honey that the worldly life lures us to taste will be instantly recognised ,that's our CREATOR's way of keeping us close to HIM even though it is we who need HIM to be close to us. That's our AR RAHMAN SWT's love and care, that gives us blessing of Ramadaan not just to earn more rewards but to train us to fight our enemy and to keep us closer to HIM. So lets be servants of AR RAHMAAN SWT instead of Ramadaan and let's this Ramadaan be a prologue to our story of falling in love with AR RAHMAN SWT🌿🌼🌿

Bismillah.

And just like that we have come to the last juma'ah of Ramadaan. May AR RAHMAN SWT accept our worship and make us among those who are forgiven and become beloved of HIS...❤️
ALLAHUMMA Aameen 🌿

Do remember me and ummah in your precious duas

Faqat Abd e AR RAHMAN
Sadaf

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu