Farewell to Ramadhan, but let’s rejoice bounties of Eid
We are in the last week of Ramadhan and Eid is knocking the door to let us pass through its gates of grace and blessings. But before we conclude the holy month, let us spare a moment to reflect its bounties. No doubt there were some challenges but overall most us continue with our day-today activities in peace knowing that nothing really bad can happen as long as we believe in the mercy of God.
It has not been just a month of fasting but an opportunity to renew our faith and in that we may have faced a few occasional challenges. It may have been “human versus faith” when self-centredness clashed with divine sanctity.
As we went to stay in touch with the flow of mercifulness, some may have been plotting to go against the tide of goodness oblivion to the blessings of Ramadhan, perhaps out of revenge or spite.
However, as they say, “God acts in a mysterious way” and His will never let us down if we act in good faith. Or for those who observed the divinity of fasting and really believing in it. During the forthcoming Eid, we may go on to recall how Ramadhan has been a sanctuary of emotions while at the same time a defender of justice.
In the same breath of argument, Ramadhan, as it ends, may reveal that no problem is an inescapable prison. There were opening routes of reprieve for those we stayed in the beam of faith.
Certainly, we may look back on the eve of Eid, to realise that Ramadhan was an impregnable fortress of mercy that protected our good intentions against the evil that lurked in the dark corners of faithlessness.
We triumphed these “evil acts” not by fighting them but staying right on course of our deep beliefs in God. And if we did all that then the Eid holidays will shine through to light up the way beyond.
For those in the right frame of mind, Eid is not just a day of celebration but a divine pedestal where winners would stand proud knowing they passed with honours the tests of the holy month of Ramadhan. They would know, too, that they went through a conglomerate of goodness through a series of acts of devotion.
Having said that, those who would experience a touch of guilt on the day of Eid would also know then they had not really allowed themselves to fall on the path of mercy.
In these last three days before the curtain of Ramadhan falls, we can see the rush to the shopping malls to prepare for the Eid. It is all in good faith provided we deliver enough good deeds to show our gratitude to God. In a well-worded sermon in the weekend at a mosque in Muscat, the Imam questioned how we measure “goodness on a scale of virtue” to know what we did was enough during the month of Ramadhan.
Fasting was not enough, he said, but a mandatory prerequisite for a series of steps that follow it. He went on to say “it is like filling water on a bucket that has a hole in the bottom “that would never last reach its destination”. What he meant to say is that the journey of Ramadhan towards Eid would never find its target if we do not consider each other even in the smallest ways.
I am not sure how many members of the congregation were really listening to him. The body language around me in that spacious hall was not encouraging. Nevertheless, as we all look forward for the bounties of Eid, our hopes and prayers that the auspicious day will be an extension of blessings for all of us, no matter where we are or what we do.
Eid is not just a day of celebration but a divine pedestal where winners would stand proud knowing they passed with honours the tests of the holy month of Ramadhan