Keeping Ramadan alive the rest of the year (II)

Why not, at home, have your own “mini-Tarawih”? You can either read what you have already memorized, or you can read from the Qur’an itself. If you continue this throughout the year, it is quite possible to finish reading the entire Qur’an many times over. This is an excellent way to keep the feeling and […]

Why not, at home, have your own “mini-Tarawih”? You can either read what you have already memorized, or you can read from the Qur’an itself. If you continue this throughout the year, it is quite possible to finish reading the entire Qur’an many times over. This is an excellent way to keep the feeling and spirit of Ramadan alive.
Charity
Ramadan is also the month of charity. It was said that the Prophet, already the most generous of men, was even more generous during the month of Ramadan. Along with teaching the believer discipline and spiritual focus, the fast of Ramadan is a potent reminder that there are millions of people around the world who must forgo food and drink involuntarily, out of sheer poverty. As a result, Muslims are frequently motivated to give to the poor during Ramadan, and the reward for an act of charity-already substantial-is multiplied many times over in the month of Ramadan. Muslims often discharge their obligatory annual alms tax, the Zakah, during this month.
Yet that does not mean we should be stingy and miserly throughout the rest of the year. We should continue to be generous even when it is not Ramadan, perhaps devoting a little bit of what we earn to help the poor. You could even open a donor-directed fund or a charitable gift fund at a brokerage firm and invest your donations so you could give more. If you want to be even more ambitious, you can start your own charitable endowment, an essential aspect of the classical Islamic tradition that has unfortunately gone by the wayside in modern times. “Haven’t Seen You Since Last Ramadan…”
Another beautiful aspect of Ramadan is the frequent invitation to people’s homes for iftar meals after sunset. Many times, it is an opportunity to see friends (and maybe even family) they do not normally get a chance to see during the rest of the year. Well, the same theme applies: if you can do it during Ramadan, you can do it at any other time as well. Why not keep up the contacts made during Ramadan throughout the rest of the year? Let it not be another year when you say to a friend, “Wow! I haven’t seen you since last Ramadan!”
For Muslims, the month of Ramadan is the most wonderful time of the year. The benefits and beauties of this month are boundless -I always feel a tinge of sadness when Ramadan is over.
Yet we can keep the spirit of the month alive and well throughout the rest of the year. For that is the whole purpose of the fast, isn’t it- to be conscious of God.
Hassaballa is a physician and writer based in Chicago. www.drhassaballa.com.