What Now after Ramadan?
Now that Ramadan has come to an end; and now that the spiritual energy and barakah we’ve been surfing on for the past month is subsiding, there is always that conundrum of letting ourselves spiritually unravel and allowing our material concerns to eclipse our spiritual ones.
And whilst we are not expected to be in fifth gear (or overdrive, even) as so many people were during Ramadan, our striving should still continue and our greater focus should still be al-tahabbub ila’Llah bi ma yarda – ‘seeking to become beloved to Allah by doing what pleases Him.’
It would be truly tragic if we only made it a point to strive to draw closer to Allah only in Ramadan, and to then abandon this commitment once the month was over. It was once said to the reknowned pietist, Bishr al-Hafi, that there are some people who only strive and devote themselves to Allah’s obedience and worship just in Ramadan. So he said: بِئْسَ الْقَوْمِ لا يَعْرِفُوْنَ للهَ حَقّاً إِلاَّ فِي شَهْرِ رَمَضَان – “What a wretched folk, who don’t really know Allah except in the month of Ramadan!”1
That said, here are a few suggestions to help keep the Ramadan spirit alive and well, and to answer the question, “What now after Ramadan?”:
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1 – Remember that the reward of fasting; that is to say, the rewards of denying ourselves certain worldly delights only for the sake of Allah, does not stop with Ramadan. No, the greatest reward for those who fast is yet to come – as we learn from the following hadith: لِلصَّائِمِ فَرْحَتَانِ يَفْرَحُهُمَا: إِذَا أَفْطَرَ فَرِحَ بِفِطْرِهِ، وإِذَا لَقِيَ رَبَّهُ فَرِحَ بِصَوْمِهِ. – ‘For the fasting person there are two joys: a joy when breaking the fast, and a joy when meet their Lord due to having fasted.’2 And it is for this Meeting; this Tryst, that lovers yearn and seekers seek.
2 – Realise that pursuing the path of becoming beloved to Allah begins by fulfilling the obligatory deeds, or fara’id. One hadith qudsi states that Allah says: وَمَا تَقَرَّبَ إِلَيَّ عَبْدِي بِشَيْءٍ أَحَبَّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا افْتَرَضْتُ عَلَيْهِ – ‘My servant doesn’t draw closer to Me with anything more beloved to Me than the obligatory duties I have enjoined on him.’3 Obligations aren’t limited to just the acts of worship such as prayer, fasting or pilgrimage. They also include: fulfilling promises, pledges or contracts; doing justice and being fair; not cheating or defrauding people; and fulfilling the rights and responsibilities we owe others.
3 – Ramadan teaches us the importance of sacred time. It teaches us that we can – with some effort, planning and tawfiq – make our lives revolve around Allah; and that where there’s a will (a desire to seek God), there’s always a way. The Qur’an tells us that key to this is mujahadah – “spiritual striving”: وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا – Those Who strive in Us, We shall guide them to Our ways. [29:69] One hadith states: الْمُجَاهِدُ مَنْ جَاهَدَ نَفْسَهُ فِي طَاعَةِ اللهِ – ‘The warrior in Allah’s path is he who strives against his ego/lower soul in obedience to Allah.’4
4 – A core part of this struggle is to reinstate the neglected practice of zuhd, of “worldly detachment”. One hadith states: ازْهَدْ فِي الدُّنْيَا يُحِبَّكَ اللَّهُ – “Detach yourself from the world and Allah will love you.”5 This detachment has degrees or levels, the first of which is working to eliminate the haram from our lives – haram not just in terms of what we eat and drink, but in terms of what we see and hear; what we wear and say; how we earn and spend; and the way we behave and interact with others. It states in one hadith: اِتَّقِ الْمَحَارِمَ تَكُنْ أَعْبَدَ النَّاسِ – ‘Guard against the forbidden and you will be the most devout of people.’6
5 – An excellent way to help keep the Ramadan spirit ticking along is by: keeping the six recommended fasts of Shawwal. One hadith has this to say: مَنْ صَامَ رَمَضَانَ ثُمَّ أَتْبَعَهُ سِتًّا مِنْ شَوَّالٍ كَانَ كَصِيَامِ الدَّهْرِ – ‘Whoever fasts Ramadan, then follows it up with fasting six days in Shawwal, it shall be as if he has fasted the whole year.’7
6 – Let’s end with what Ibn al-Jawzi said about the types of Ramadan fasts, which serves as our final lesson: الصَّوْمُ ثَلاثَةٌ: صَوْمُ الرُّوحِ وَهُو قِصَرُ الْأَمَلِ، وَصَوْمُ الْعَقْل وَهُو مُخالفَةُ الهَوى، وَصَوْمُ الْجَوارِح وُهُو الإمْساكُ عَن الطَّعام وَالشَّراب وَالْجِماع – ‘Fasting is of three types: the fast of the soul, which is not to have prolonged hopes [about the world]; the fast of the intellect, which is to oppose one’s false desires; and the fast of the limbs, which is to refrain from food, drink and sexual intimacy.’8 So whilst the last type of fast, fasting of the stomach, is usually limited to Ramadan (except for those given the grace to perform optional fasts), the fasting of the soul, and of the intellect as it reigns in our false or forbidden desires, is the greater lesson we take away from the blessed month, and the fasting we must continue with throughout the rest of the days of our life.
May Allah make us of those who are successful and whose deeds meet with His approval and pleasure.
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1. Cited in Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Lata’if al-Ma‘arif (Riyadh: Dar Ibn Khuzaymah, 2007), 496.
2. Al-Bukhari, no.1805; Muslim, no.1151.
3. Al-Bukhari, no.6502.
4. Ahmad, Musnad, no.23958; al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, no.1671, not including the words: ‘… in obedience to Allah.’ Ibn Taymiyyah declared its chain to be jayyid, or excellent, in Majmu‘ Fatawa (Riyadh: Dar ‘Alam al-Kutub, 1991), 7:7.
5. Ibn Majah, Sunan, no.4102. After analysis, it was graded sahih in al-Albani, Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islami, 1985), no.944.
6. Al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, no.2305. it was declared as hasan in al-Albani, Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah, no.930.
7. Muslim, no.2614.
8. Bustan al-Wa‘idhin (Egypt: Dar al-Rayyan, 1984), 316-17.
