A friend was coming to visit. I knew of this a couple of weeks before he arrived. I got everything ready for him. I bought extra food, and made accommodations that would please him. I informed everyone I knew of his impending arrival. The day was known and we went out to greet our guest. We looked for his sign in the western sky. His arrival would be elusive and we would have to look hard. We saw his sign in the Heavens, and we Glorified Allah (SWT) that he had arrived. We greeted our guest with Salam and took him into our homes and hearts.
Some of the hosts did not honor our guests, however. They continued with their foul ways. They saw our guest as one who deprived them of food and drink and other passions. So they tried to curtail them until the night long, thinking no one knew what they were doing, and then slept during the day while our guest was in need of their attention. Woe unto them! Others accepted our guest with open hearts and catered to our guest’s every demand. They prayed in his presence, and offered charities to those less fortunate. They patiently attended to his requests by day and did not dishonor him at night. However, sometimes they did things that would offend our guest and our Lord. May the Lord forgive them all.
Then there were others who went way beyond what our guest wanted. They tried to please Allah (SWT) by doing more than what was required. They made additional prayers at night, and gave more to those who were in need, hoping to make them of those who were not needy. They tried to bring joy to children who had nothing. They fed those who honored our guest, with the intent of pleasing their Lord and the Lord of our guest. Night and Day they attended the demands of our guest, as defined by our Lord. May our Lord accept their efforts.
Our guest was now ready to leave. We knew his departure was near, but he did not give us a clear indication of when that would exactly be. We made efforts to finish the Quran while our guest was still present.
To some his departure is secretly looked forward to, as they will be able to return to lawless behavior to satisfy their passions, passions they sometimes could not control even in the presence of our guest.
Others feel his departure, and for sometime afterwards, they will continue to obey our Lord and control themselves in his absence. Alas, the passions of gluttony and greed and selfishness return. Only the arrival of the guest’s return the following year will put a temporary stop again.
And then there are those who sense the departure of our guest well before he leaves and they become sad. They do not want the guest to leave because of the great status our guest has with Allah (SWT). But time moves on. They try harder to honor the guest in the last few days and nights before he leaves. They pray that they will be alive to see and honor the guest in the coming year.
The day arrives. We send our guest off by completing the Quran and making supplication to Allah (SWT), in the hope that our guest will act as an intercessor for us to the Almighty. And although everyone acknowledges our guest’s departure, there will be bickering as to when he actually leaves. Yet our guest will leave as silently as he came, making his departure know by two points pointing up into the heavens.
Those tired of our guest cannot wait for him to leave, that they may party the whole day after he leaves. Those who honored our guest patiently will rejoice at being good hosts to our guest and will moderately celebrate the day he leaves. Those who cried at his departure will also be happy because they were able to host such an honored guest, but keep their merriment balanced in the manner the guest had instilled in them.
Say your final Salam to the guest before he leaves. He cannot hear your greetings once he is gone. Reflect on what our guest has given us the previous month. Ponder on what it really meant to honor our guest. Make an effort to continually practice what our guest taught us and to stay away from the kind of behavior our guest trained us to avoid. If you feel that you did not fully honor our guest this year, then pray with great intent to Allah (SWT) to give you another chance to honor our guest in the coming year.
By Youssef Ismail
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..obviously rakahy jaa rahay hain..
.usskey baad i asked u..warna how else would i be asking if ur talkin abt ramadhan or not…