Ramadan… How to Begin?
Among the
positives is to appear with a pleasant look and a good outward conduct before
people. Yet this conduct must be accompanied by an inner transformation.
When Ramadan
arrives, we strive to beautify the outward—and that is commendable—but what is
even more required is striving to reform the inner self. This is the essence of
fasting in Ramadan: you live long hours of hunger and thirst, restraining every
desire in order to feel for others—not to show others that you are enduring
hardship like them.
Wisdom says:
whoever feels his own pain is alive; but whoever feels the pain of others is
truly human. All acts of worship in Islam flow within this collective spirit:
the Muslim is one among Muslims, distinguished from them only by Taqwa. The
rich and the poor stand in one row in prayer, circle together in one tawaf
during Hajj, and abstain from food and drink equally in Ramadan.
If prayer
breaks the arrogance of the ego—its tendency to rise above people—by gathering
you among them in worship, and breaks its pride in race or lineage when all
crowd together in tawaf, then fasting breaks the indifference of the wealthy
toward the condition of the poor.
Ramadan and the “To-Stop List”
One of the
greatest practical shortcomings when the blessed month begins is that we focus
on drafting positive plans—what we should do—while constantly neglecting the
biggest obstacle within ourselves: what must be abandoned and removed before
Ramadan. For it is the true barrier to carrying out good intentions. The self
has not rid itself of its flaws, and so they accompany it in Ramadan, before it
and after it, without any real change.
A practical
example was presented by the American James Collins, a specialist in business
management and corporate sustainability and growth. His example is striking
when applied to the flaws of the soul and how to eliminate them before
embarking on positive action.
Collins says he
spent five years with his research team answering one question: why were there
companies that were merely good, then became great within a few years? In other
words, some companies were once good in sales, achieved solid profit margins, and
had a presence among competitors. Then a new leader arrived and, in a short
time, transformed them into great companies—great in profits, goals, and
impact.
The difficult
question was: are there practical steps we can extract from all these
successful models? Is there a common denominator among them? Is there a magic
formula that made the difference?
After five
years of research, the answer became an inspiring book titled Good to Great.
What concerns us here is the first step every great leader took upon assuming
leadership.
Collins
explains that the research team expected the first step to be crafting a
strategic plan, a transitional roadmap, brainstorming sessions, hiring global
consultants, or acquiring competitors.
All of these
were expected. But what actually happened was entirely different. The
surprising and inspiring first step was that these leaders did not begin with
“What should we do now?” Rather, they began with the opposite: “What should we
stop doing?”—what we may call a “to-stop list.”
When I
explained this concept to a group of senior business leaders in Riyadh during a
marketing evening, I clarified that it simply meant identifying which products
or activities should cease because they do not achieve financial or strategic
goals. Identify the products that consume effort and time while yielding weak
returns. First define them, then abandon them, and finally place them in the
wastebasket.
Collins
concludes that two weeks later came the shock: there were indeed products that
should have been discontinued years earlier. After eliminating them, the
company became more focused, and more time was invested in more meaningful
projects.
The question
remains for us as Muslims preparing for Ramadan: what in your life must you
stop and neglect? What habits do you leave during Ramadan only to resume
afterward—though they hinder you throughout the year?
The greatest
message Ramadan sends is that you are capable of doing what once seemed
impossible, that you are capable of rising above desires. If you can do this
during the days of Ramadan for thirty days, you are capable of doing it in
other months as well. The witness against or for you is your own determination.
Before delving
deeply into the worship of this noble month, let us hold a profound “session of
neglect” within ourselves—eliminating every obstacle that blocks positive
change. At that moment, you will feel a renewed momentum in Ramadan and beyond.
Ramadan and the Illusion of Superficial Change
A man bought an
old wall clock, but his young son noticed that it did not function properly:
sometimes it ran fast, sometimes slow.
The son asked,
“Why don’t we adjust its hands to show the correct time?” The father replied,
“My son, the flaw is not in the hands you see; the flaw is in the engine you do
not see. No matter how much we adjust the hands from the outside, the error
will return, because the root is faulty and unstable.”
Reforming the
inner self is the greatest victory we achieve in our lives. We spend our years
trying to beautify the “hands”—our outward behaviors—before people, while the
true problem lies in the heart, which is the focus of the Most Merciful’s gaze.
When the heart is upright, the outward naturally follows without strain.
The heart is
the king, and the limbs are its soldiers. If the king is corrupt, his soldiers
are corrupt; if he is upright, they are upright.
One of our
greatest mistakes is the illusion of superficial change without inner
transformation. Whoever seeks to change the reality of his life must begin by
changing his way of thinking and his deep convictions. True change is not a
single disciplined appearance, but a sound core that produces discipline
naturally.
How beautiful
is what the Companion Zayd ibn Thabit mentioned about the Prophet’s profound
understanding of life and his making this world a station of happiness leading
to the Hereafter. Zayd said that when the Messenger of Allah (peace
be upon him) spoke to them about worldly matters, he spoke of them
with them; and when he mentioned food, he mentioned it with them. Thus in his
noble hadith, he made the breaking of the fast half of the believer’s joy,
without diminishing it: “For the fasting person there are two joys: a joy when he
breaks his fast, and a joy when he meets his Lord.” (At-Tirmidhi)
Read Also:
-
Impact of Ramadan on Behavior
-
Ramadan: A Shield Against Vices
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