What Next After Ramadan!!!

What next After Ramadan?

Alhamdulillah Alladhi bi ni'matihi wa fadlihi tatimmus salihat (All praise be to Allaah through Whose Boon and Favor virtue sees completion and nobility sees culmination).

Fasting in the month of Ramadan is a vehicle that drives us to the destination of Taqwa...I hope we have arrived safely at that destination now that Ramadan has bade us farewell.

Just as we rigidly and happily practiced on the rituals of Ramadan (regular Qura'nic recitation, promptness in the observance of Salat, lowering of our gazes, regular charity, feeding of the poor, patience, forgiveness), we need not to stagnant we have to carry on even at the sighting of the crescent of Shawwal.

The Lord of Ramadan is with absolute certainty the Lord of Shawwal nay the Lord of all the months. 

Just as we seek for the pleasure of Allaah in Ramdan to admit us to Paradise and to distance us from Hell so also are we expected to do even after Ramadan.

Don't let your Tahajjud fall asleep after Ramadan only to wake up in the next Ramadan which perhaps we might not live to see.

As-Sibaq (racing towards good deed) is the ultimate challenge in the life of a believer. Challenge your soul to make each new second better than the previous one.

In Q57:21 and other places also Allaah has asked us to outrace one another in good deeds and in seeking for the forgiveness of our Lord.

I leave you with this thought-provoking hadith of Rasulullaah (Pbuh).

On the strength of Abdullah bin Amr bin Al'As (RA), Rasulullaah (Pbuh) said: "O Abdullah! Do not be like so-and-so. He used to get up at night for optional prayer (Tahajjud) but abandoned it later." Bukhari and Muslim have it.

Oh brothers and sisters in Islam, don't be like so-and-so, who used to be mindful of his duties to Allaah during Ramadan and then abandoned it at the crescent of Shawwal.

May Allaah grab us by our foreheads and steer us to His obedience.