Post-Ramadan Advice
5 / 6
How to Try Your Best with Balance
The month of Ramadan pushed us to be the best versions of ourselves, but it's difficult to maintain that effort throughout the entire year. Thankfully, this isn't what Allah (swt) expects from us. Islam is meant to be easy, and Allah (swt) wants us to put forward our best effort. How can we try our best throughout the year without burning out?
Sh. Abdullah Oduro guides us through a balanced approach to trying our best in our relationship with our Creator.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. Congratulations, you have completed the month of Ramadan. The Prophet ﷺ congratulates us all in regards to our actions. But this month of Ramadan, we should firstly look at it as a catalyst for a new beginning. One particular habit that you have obtained in this beautiful month. Whether avoiding an evil deed or performing a good deed. Trying to be the best version of yourself. And that's what's most important. And that's what I ultimately want to leave you with. Is to make sure that you are continuously trying to be your best. The Prophet ﷺ said an authentic hadith in Bukhari. He said, The Prophet ﷺ, he said, Verily, this religion is a religion of ease. And there will be no one that puts rigor upon themselves except that they will be overpowered. Now the Prophet ﷺ here is saying that this is a religion of ease. How is that the case? Because someone may have said in the first week of Ramadan, very difficult. But then what about the last week? The majority of us that last week, it became a commonplace. It was something normal. It wasn't a strenuous in the first day. And we've heard this in our masajid. But if we were to really dig deep and to see that subhanAllah, Allah has created us to be individuals of resilience. Spiritually, even physically. That you're able to go to this rigor. No eating, no drinking and no enjoyment with the opposite gender of your spouse. And realizing that subhanAllah, anything is possible by the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when even speaking about the hajj, excuse me, the Ramadan. One, the completion of the actual time frame. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
Allah wants for you ease and doesn't want for you hardship. So if we just think about that, the names and attributes of Allah, being that He is Al-Aleem, Al-Hakeem and all these beautiful names. He wants for you ease. Meaning that anything He legislates for you, He does it because He knows it's the best for your soul. To replenish, refine and enrich the soul. But He gives this legislation for you to be the best version of yourself. Wanting for you ease and not wanting to make it difficult upon you. Although we may perceive it as difficult. First week of Ramadan. But realizing that it was ultimately easy last week of Ramadan. Then the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam continues. And no one will be followed, will make this religion a rigor. Except that it will be difficult upon them. You know, some of us the first week of Ramadan, you know, we say, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. And someone may say, you're not being realistic. You say, no, inshallah. The spirit is great. The spirit is great. But there is a point to where you know, OK, I may not be able to handle all of that. But I'm going to try my best. That's what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants for you is to try your best and to know more about yourself. To know your level. You know, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he said in a beautiful hadith. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said in a portion of hadith. He said, whatever I prohibited you from, then avoid it. But whatever I have ordered you to do, do as much of it as you can. So really realizing that this deen of Islam, it's easy if one understands the beautiful names and attributes of Allah and wants to come closer to him.
And really internalizes the fact that everything that has been legislated for me to do. I know Allah wants better for me sometimes than I even want for myself. We realize that subhanAllah, just me practicing this, I can receive much reward psychologically, physically and spiritually. So when the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is saying that no one will make this deen a rigor except that it will overpower him. Think of your personal situation, the beginning of Ramadan, how you wanted to do your best. This is great. But also knowing yourself in the process, what you can handle being gradual. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam continues on. And he says after that, Sadaad means bullseye or to hit the point, hit the mark. But here's some of the scholars mentioned, To make sure that you're taking the middle course, you're not going too far and you're not negligent. If you can pray taraweeh at night instead of watching television, you went up and you pray taraweeh. If you got up in your house, you know, you tried your best, but there was always an opportunity. There's no ceilings. You're able to go to the masjid. You're able to internalize every verse, every rakat and try to ponder even the lecture in between the taraweeh. You're thinking about what's being recited. You may not understand the Arabic, but at least you go there to be with the angels in the masjid, to be with the Muslims, to see the smiles, to get the smiles. You're remembering the hadith when you smile. It is like charity. You walk in the masjid, you get 25 to 27 blessings. You're with the jemaah when you say ameen, the angels say ameen, you'll be forgiven for your sins. There's so many spiritual opportunities from your actions. So when the Prophet ﷺ is saying, it is for you to take the middle course, not being too negligent and not going over the bounds, being too rigorous on yourself.
After that, he says, and this is beautiful because it shows that we are human beings and we are different levels. And there may be a time, you know, at Isha, your iman was higher than that, than it was at Fajr. In the middle of the night is where there was an epiphany. You had a closeness to Allah ﷻ like none other. The Prophet ﷺ saying qaribu, this is an imperative verb, at least come close to the mark. From qarib, to come close to the mark, which is saying, do your best to be your best. This is very important for all of us. Then after that, he says, and congratulate yourself. Have good thoughts. Congratulate others. Have good thoughts about Allah ﷻ. So when leaving this month of Ramadan, those habits, those moments that you had, try to recall them in the middle of the night by yourself. Reading the Quran and you read a certain verse and you had a flashback of a particular situation in your life. And it made you shed tears. It made you ask for forgiveness. It made you text a certain person that you had bad blood with and was not on good terms with. The Prophet ﷺ is saying, have good thoughts about Allah. Whatever you're doing, you're trying your best. Have good thoughts, inshallah, that you will receive the reward for your qaribu or your sadidu. For you coming close, trying your best or you trying to hit the mark by not going too far and not being negligent. Then the Prophet ﷺ says, even after that, The Prophet ﷺ, he said, after coming close or trying your best, after hitting the mark or trying to come close to that, congratulate yourself. Have good thoughts or be congratulatory. Then he says, Then he even gives you, when do you do that in a time frame, an action plan somewhere?
He says, and seek help in worship and doing these things that you're trying to do. Whether it's at the beginning of the day, the end of the day or a portion of the night. SubhanAllah, the Prophet ﷺ is saying, seek help with these time frames of the day to do this worship. So when you look at that, subhanAllah, you think to yourself, OK, after Ramadan, what's my game plan? I would say one form of advice that I would give all of you is to make sure that you have time with yourself to read a hadith as such. You have time with yourself to do self review, whether it's before you go to sleep, whether it's, you know, in your car, before you walk in the home, whether you have to go to a certain place from after leaving work, before you go home, have that habit of having your alone time with yourself, with Allah ﷻ. Primarily that alone time is the salah. Making sure that you have undivided attention about your attention in life, undivided attention concerning your actions in your life, where you've gone wrong, where you didn't avoid something, where you did something great. That alone time is so important. And that alone time is when Allah ﷻ chose to call the Prophet ﷺ. He used to, for lack of better words, meditate in the cave of Hira. Spend time alone. And it's even narrated by Aisha that he would take supplies with him. When she was narrating it, mentioning this, and then he would come back to the house, get some supplies from Khadija and go back to the cave to spend time with himself. That's when Allah chose to send the revelation. So brothers and sisters, remember, this month of Ramadan is not seasonal in regards to our closeness to Allah. Rather, one particular action, make sure that it's consistent to the next Ramadan, moving on to another action.
But with that action, make sure you strive to be your best. And if you prayed at home, that's still you trying your best. But make sure if you have the opportunity to pray at the masjid, there's an opportunity to be even better. And upon that attempt, if you made that correct attempt, or if you didn't even reach it, be happy and have good thoughts about Allah and know that there's another opportunity to be better. And always have good thoughts about yourself, about Allah ﷻ, and about others. May Allah ﷻ make these following days, months, 11 months, days of barakah, days of you striving to be better, and days of you spending time alone with yourself and with Allah, to ponder over the blessings that He's given you. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. May Allah ﷻ bless you all. BarakAllahu feekum.
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
50 items
9 items
