Ramdan 2013: What I learned: part 2

Bismillaah

Its day 12 of Ramadan and this is what I learned

  Nafs

 With shaytan bieng out of the picture, you get a nice, clear-cut image of who you really are. All the things that would have kept your nafs happy is gone. No food, no drink, no entertainment. All the things your nafs hates is there. Difficulty. Nafs doesn't like difficulty. It wants relaxation. It doesn't like to be controlled. It wants to control. All the set times to eat and not to eat. You don't like that. The night standing in prayer, you'd rather be asleep! 
   

This month of Ramadan is a kind of spiritual training. Where we must bear with all the difficulty so that our nafs can be well equipped and ready for when the creature comes out to really mess us up. In the month Ramadan you find out your selfish, really selfish. You find out that your anxious, in fear of losing this, or someone taking that from you. You find out some pretty nasty characteristics of yourself that you have to fix.

Exposure

   All of these luxurious where a barrier. They divert us from who we really are. The eating, drinking, and enjoyment really blinded us. And now all those things that hid us and covered us are gone. And we are exposed. Naked. We can see ourselves in the mirror quite clearly. We see who is behind that mask of contentment. We were quiet when we got what we want. But when it is prevented from us, our character is put to test. 

Distracting Desires

Also all of these enjoyments diverted us from the greatness of Allah. You see, we always focused on us. What goes inside of us. The food, drink, and other stuff. But now all those entries are closed off. We must focus on what goes on outside of us. The sky Allah built, the land that stretches, all these signs of Allah that once didn't mean anything to us because we were chasing after what would give us pleasure. The vast majority of us forgot about Allah because our desires diverted us.
   

Taqwa

But now you must put  aside those desires to acquire a sense of awareness, and awareness of Allah. The fasting moves you from being creatures of pleasure, to creatures of spirit. We give, give, give in this month, at least we should. We give our time, at night to pray, we give our food to the miskeen. We focus on others and put ourselves aside. 

Seclusion

Were basically taken to the next level. Nothing will satisfy us except Allah's good pleasure. We arent satisfied with the normal conversations we'd have with our family. Now we need time alone, to think, to reflect, to be with Allah, to pray, to make dua. Some peace and quite to contemplate, now that is enjoyment for you. Useless conversation just wont do it anymore. You need to spend time alone.

Qur'an

 You have to make it a priority this month or nothing will work for you. Try to finish the reading during that month. Memorizing Qur'an after fajr or maghrib is the best time to. Reading Qur'an at night is incomparable to any other time of the day. You can feel whats going on in the recitation and it hits you so hard that you wonder, "Am I one those who forgot about the meeting with Allah?" There is nothing like reading Quran in this month. Its the one of the most beautiful feelings you may ever feel.

I learned that this month gives you better things to look forward to. It gives you the hope of meeting Allah and seeing his Noble Face and being in the gardens of Jannatul Firdaws for eternity.