As I continue to move through my latter life, I realise that I am surrounded by a lot of chaos and discord. This is playing out in the wider world and sometimes it feels even uncomfortably close to home.
Whilst I can’t always take pre-emptive action against it, my coping strategy is to remain quiet and bide my time and ask Allah to keep me patient. I need to ride the tide and hope to stay afloat and not become submerged in the cacophony of the events surrounding me.
In this blessed month of Ramadan, this strategy becomes even more pertinent. Because, for sure, this is a precious time to reflect and guard myself against succumbing to deviation at all levels. Although I don’t – and can’t – claim to have reached perfection at all, I strive to not fall onto that slippery slope of doom. I see things around me that trouble me and yet have to remind myself that the least I can do is not to become embroiled or influenced by them. I take comfort that just being conscious of this state is something to acknowledge.
I do lament that I live in a time where shamelessness is beautified and resistance to that is considered anachronistic. This is when I remember the prophetic saying or hadith where we are reminded that there will come a time when holding onto one’s faith is like holding onto hot coals. It seems we are already here.
I am exhausted. It pains me to see blatant examples of religious sedition. Not that I am above making mistakes and am immune to fallacious behaviour. However, I feel that findng companions in life that will help uplift me is something becoming more rare.
Ramadan, for me, is about stripping back and throwing out the many excesses of life that I have fallen in to. It is about realigning my faith. It is about wanting to learn the lessons of this month and hoping to carry them through the rest of the year. Insha’Allah, I hope those hot coals, if placed in my hand, will be pieces that I can hold and not flinch at.
It’s a scary world that my children will inherit and I pray they are always part of a solution and not the problem. Ameen.
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