Perpetuating the spirit of self-discipline
AS WE contemplate the celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr and bid farewell to the month of Ramadaan, we reflect on the objectives of the fast completed. Fasting in Islam is a mode of enhancing self-discipline, an opportunity for regulating attitude and conduct to develop a better self that focuses on the larger purpose of existence.
Before we can enhance the power of self-discipline, we must first take an honest and critical look at the excuses we use to justify our indiscipline and misbehaviour.
Once we begin to consciously recognise the excuses we use to justify the repeated errors in our lives, we can focus our efforts towards addressing the real issues that hold us back. Self-discipline develops through controlling our emotions, actions, words, and ultimately determines the direction of our personal lives.
The first step to gaining self-control is identifying the areas in our lives that need more control. The fast of Ramadaan obligates us to take a closer look at our habits, the character traits we possess, the opinions we hold and the attitudes we display.
This demands that we develop the capacity to interrogate our actions and reactions; motivating us to respond to daily realities in a most positive manner… if someone is rude, if someone is impatient, if someone is unkind; I will not respond in a like manner. I will carefully choose and guard my words, being certain that I do not spread gossip, slander or malign anyone in any way. I will find ways to alleviate the burden of another and make life more pleasant wherever I can.
Fasting in Ramadaan mandates a month-long dawn till dusk abstention from food, drink and intimacy, and this requires a tremendous amount of patient perseverance. Among the major concerns of contemporary ethicists has been the decrease in people’s inclination to patient perseverance in post-modern society.
In an instantaneous world, a world of microwave dinners, instant coffee, live global television and worldwide Internet; we have become accustomed to immediacy and quick results.
We have come to regard waiting as incidental to life rather than occupying a place at the core of daily human experience. In the world of “want”, the operative word becomes “now” and we, unwisely, do not believe that there should really be any waiting at all. In such a world, patient perseverance is not considered as priority. There is a dire need to reintegrate the virtue of patience into our daily lives. For many of us, unfortunately, patience is often a quality more admired than desired.
In bidding farewell to Ramadaan, it behoves each person who has fasted to do a critical self-evaluation and honestly reflect on what has been achieved through the month. What benefits were derived, which behaviours were adjusted, what good practices were adopted, which bad habits have been relinquished? How have the prayers and fasting of Ramadaan impacted on the body, the heart, the mind and the soul. A Blessed Eid to all, Eid Mubarak! ●Sa’dullah Khan is chief execuitve officer at Islamia College.