Light Upon Light

#20 Ramadan Ashiana Style

It was such a lively atmosphere and it continued throughout the week as the whole house was cleaned and dusted and polished to welcome Ramadan. Instead of calling me to her room, Dadi started giving the lessons to the whole family after Maghrib to prepare us for the month ahead.

So we were all seated in the hall after Maghrib, young and old alike, anticipating Dadi's beautiful words. The last few days she had talked to us about how we should observe our fasts, and the bounties and blessings of Ramadan. She had gotten us all amped up for the next month. I couldn't wait to start fasting and work on some of my major flaws.

"Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuhu." Dadi said as she sat down on her chair.

"Wa alaikumasalaam warahmatullahi wa barakatuhu," everyone chorused.

I was seated comfortably next to Dad and Samir. It was the 29th of Sha'ban and everyone anticipated the sighting of the moon. If it would be sighted then the men would go to the Masjid for Taraweeh and the women would pray in congregation in the prayer room. Even the ayahs sat in attendance around the courtyard to listen to Dadi speak.

After making dua'a for all of us and seeking Allah's guidance, Dadi posed a question to us all.

"Why is Ramadan important?"

"Hmm... because we fast?" I quipped.

"Okay but we also observe nafl fasts throughout the year. What makes Ramadan so special?" Dadi questioned again.

"Because the Qur'an was revealed in it," Samir stated.

Dadi smiled, "Indeed. Ramadan is special because Allah's greatest act of love for mankind, the Qur'an was revealed in it. Ramadan is a time for us to celebrate the Qur'an, to ponder upon it, to strive to understand the gems of wisdom contained in it."

There was a chorus of 'Subhan Allah'.

"The Qur'an is the instruction manual to our life. It is the code of conduct which we should follow, it is the answer to every question mankind could possibly have. One of the parables of the Qur'an is an ocean. When we take a dive in the ocean we see a lot of its mysteries that are concealed deep within, we are amazed by the genius and wisdom of the Creator. And when we come out of the ocean there would only be droplets of that amazing ocean left on our body. Similarly every time we take a dive into the Qur'an we only come back with but droplets of its wisdom. And each time we get different droplets. Even if we spend a lifetime trying to study it we would still manage to take away so little."

Dadi paused for effect and you could almost hear everyone breathing because thats how immersed we all were in our thoughts. For me it felt like a magic spell would be broken if anybody made a sound. The enormity of Dadi's words had silenced us all. The beauty of what she had said left me speechless, the wisdom behind it was amazing.

By Allah, it is no wonder I find myself so changed over the course of such a small time. Dadi's words have such inspirational qualities that it would be hard to not acknowledge them. And she probably knew it too. All she had had asked me when I first came was to listen to what she had to tell me and I was free to do as I pleased. Barak Allah, she is gifted with the ability to inspire hope and love for the  deen in people's hearts.

"Ramadan is the time for us to recite the Qur'an as much as possible, and also to internalize what it means as well. It is the time for us to memorize as much of it as possible. It is the time to learn to live by the Qur'an and carry the lessons learnt forward to the next eleven months. Make the Qur'an your companion wherever you go. Listen to good recitations and tafsirs. Repeat over and over again. In doing so you are always being in conversation with Allah for the Qur'an is the speech of Allah."