Tips for self-appraisal in Ramadan

Also published in Daily Trust

Ramadan represents an annual opportunity for a Muslim to review his relationship with Allah the Almighty over the past years and how the relationship is likely to be or remain over what remains of his lifetime. After all, his ultimate destiny in the hereafter where he is inevitably going notwithstanding the amount of fun he enjoys or hardship he endures in this world is determined by the condition of his relationship with Allah before his death.

Though this self-review exercise should be continuously conducted all the time especially in view of the enormous temptations and distracting challenges of life that tempt or distract a Muslim from thinking about his relationship with Allah the Almighty, yet it is particularly imperative during the month of Ramadan when the sheer amount of Allah’s Mercy made much more effortlessly accessible outweighs the actual needs of the faithful. Nonetheless, it takes a strong will, sincerity of intention, total submissiveness to Allah the Almighty and adherence to the Prophetic guidance in performing the Ramadan worship rituals for one to stand a chance of earning it.

For a Muslim to review and assess the extent of the strength or otherwise of his relationship with Allah the Almighty, he needs to identify the right yardsticks against which he shall conduct the review, which necessarily include acknowledging the fact that his relationship with Allah is that of a helplessly and perpetually dependent slave (i.e. he), and the One and Only Creator, Lord and Sustainer of the whole creation. Though everybody claims to acknowledge this, yet Allah’s criterion of determining the sincerity or otherwise of individuals is what actually matters in this regard.

Belief in the doctrine of Tauheed, which is the most crucial aspect of the criterion and indeed on which all the other aspects depend is obviously the most crucial aspect of this criterion, hence it should be the first element to be reviewed in the process of this self-review exercise. This is because it represents the Oneness of Allah the Almighty, His Exclusive and Perfect Attributes, besides it is the first condition for Allah’s acceptance of all worship rites in the first place.

Incidentally, one may wonder why being already a Muslim and perhaps a descendant of Muslim ancestors for that matter, he is still expected to always examine and ensure the intactness of his belief in the doctrine of Tauheed, however it is important to note that Tauheed is simply too crucial to be taken for granted by anyone no matter who were his ancestors and indeed no matter how knowledgeable or presumably pious he is.

This is by the way the reason why despite its simplicity, Satan and his human agents are particularly hell-bent on deluding and confusing the believers to ensure that they fail to maintain its intactness and instead cling to some beliefs or practices that undermine and potentially vitiate it altogether.

Anyway, a Muslim should also ensure that whatever worship rite he performs is based on either the holy Qur’an or the authentic Sunnah and indeed the way he performs it complies with the Prophetic guidance, according to the perception of the earlier Muslim generations e.g. the Companions who witnessed the era of the revelation and imitated the Prophet in practicing Islamic religion accordingly.

Of course, this self-review process should necessarily include a renewed commitment to perform the particularly obligatory worship rites while always avoiding the particularly prohibited acts, the accomplishment of which automatically inspires one to imbibe the attitude of performing non-obligatory worship rites while avoiding other negative habits and acts even if they are not necessarily clearly prohibited. 

Obviously, this self-review exercise requires at least a basic standard of Islamic religious knowledge to accomplish. Unfortunately however and though the process of acquiring knowledge of any kind is nowadays relatively much easier, many professing Muslims including the educated would rather remain naive and gullible even in extremely critical religious matters as highlighted above. This is despite the fact that, they are so easy to learn, contrary to the assumption that it takes an Islamic scholar to know them.

Ironically, the educated who must have gladly endured a lot to acquire academic excellence and achieve high professional statuses are largely who resort to various silly excuses to justify their failure or rather reluctance to learn the fundamentals of their religion from their right sources.

This is why I have always argued that, even if some categories of Muslims do actually have valid excuses to justify their failure to acquire some basic knowledge of Islam, a western educated Muslim for instance who has mastered English language communication skills for example yet is unable read and understand the Qur’an in its original form has no valid excuse whatsoever. His ignorance is therefore unjustifiable because it is not borne out of his inability to learn, it is instead because he finds it not worthy enough to invest his time and effort for it, period.

After all, he knows so many past and present western philosophers and opinion leaders who he is eager to quote at any given opportunity, yet apart from the extremely few Prophetic Hadeeths he had memorized in “makarantar Islamiyyar dare” when he was a child, he perhaps does not know anything about the Prophet, Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him and his pious companions let alone the subsequent generations of Muslim scholars, philosophers, jurists, scientists and their rich intellectual legacies.

A Muslim can pursue and achieve any academic and/or professional success he wants, and can engage in any productive endeavour he likes, yet he should always ensure that he does not pursue or achieve it at the expense of his relationship with Allah the Almighty.