Realisation

And I have sought You for my wish, and directed my need to You, and I depend on You for my rescue, and I assign my pleading to You by praying to You, doing this while knowing that I am not worthy of Your listening to me nor do I have a right on You to pardon me, but I do so because I trust in Your generosity, and I submit to Your true promise (to answer our prayers) and I take refuge through believing in Your unity, and through my certainty of knowledge about You, that indeed I have no other god or lord but You, only You! ~ Dua Abu Hamza Thumali

 As the holy days and nights of Shahr Ramadhan draw to a close, one cannot help but wonder at how fast time flies. Does all time fly this fast, or is it windows of opportunity that tend to move faster than other time spans? The month of Ramadhan has been described as a divine invitation from the Almighty, a time when the bounties and blessings are freely available to anyone who seeks them. Seeking divine favour has also been eased in this period, when a daily schedule and routine has been set for us by the radiant household, the ahlulbayt (as) with detailed supplications and devotions in the most eloquent soul touching words. All this as a way of making it easy for us to develop our relationship with our Maker.

The Holy Prophet (pbuh) has also taught us that this month contains three special classes of blessings that we have an opportunity to reap from. The first third of the month is considered the days and nights of mercy, when all people are fresh in their spiritual vigour and zeal, and have ample opportunity to develop their relationship with Allah (swt). Having established this close bond which we may have lost over the year owing to being too held up in our worldly occupations, we have by now undergone a lot of reflection upon our deeds and misdeeds, and realised that the barrier between us and Allah (swt) is indeed our errant ways, and the glaring evil of our sins stands out openly. The tears flow freely, and we feel ready to confess our ways to Him (swt) knowing He is full of mercy, and only He can forgive our sins, both hidden and apparent, those we know of and those which we do not know of, those we commit in secret, and those we commit openly, those we remember... and those we have forgotten.

The second third of the month is thus a time when the believer should focus a great deal on seeking repentance for his ways. Each times he raises his hands in supplication, he should remember that so many who had raised their hands in the previous years/days are now no longer eligible to seek this favour. They have gone to meet their maker with whatever they may have reaped in the previous season, and the days after it. The supplicant should realise how fast the first third has slipped away, with no certainty on his part of what he gained in that time, or what he lost.

In the last third of the month, we are recommended to truly and actively seek Allah's freeing us from hell. Our deeds have written our sentence to hell, a self made disaster from which we have no escape, except by turning back to Him (swt). At this time, how beautiful it is to remember those who have been given the right of interceding on our behalf, the blessed ahlulbayt (as). We may often parrot the words of the duas and supplications we read without stopping to ponder upon those through whom we seek release from the burden of our sins. In one of the recommended amaals for the nights of laylatul qadr, we seek intercession through Allah (swt), then through the Prophet (pbuh) and his holy household. 

We must however look at this matter from a practical point of view. Intercession means to ask on behalf of another. For example, some times when children want something from their parent which they find difficult to ask, they will send the one whom they know the parent is especially fond of, and will thus find it hard to turn away their request. However, picture a scenario where the rest of the children always keep away from the child who the parent especially loves, constantly bully him, keep him out of their daily activities. With what face are they able to ask that child to go and ask for something on their behalf from the parent? 

The same example can be applied when we seek intercession through the ahlulbayt (as). If in our daily lives we are aloof from them in words, deeds, thoughts, how do we then seek intercession through them? Intercession through them is most beautiful when it comes from one who has made a point of knowing them, and knowing why they hold this special position of being able to intercede on our behalf. When one asks for shafa'ah through RasulAllah (pbuh), he has known that the Prophet is the prophet of Mercy, of the most beautiful conduct, the softest kindest heart, and the most excellent devotion. When one seeks intercession through Imam Ali (as), he must know how Imam Ali (as) cares for the people of this world, how just and wise he was, how compassionate he was to the creatures of Allah. Knowing this will enable the supplicant to truly appreciate the one through whom he is seeking intercession, and the One to whom he addresses his need(s). Truly, the Master of such a just servant can only be a Just Master, the master of such a kind, compassionate servant can only be a kind, compassionate Master. When one seeks intercession through lady Zahra (as), they must understand the position of one who has been oppressed and has had injustices committed against her (madhlooma) before Allah, and that there is no barrier between the prayer of a madhloom/madhloomah and Allah (swt).

Similarly, when seeking intercession through Hadhrat Abul Fadhl al 'Abbas ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, they must understand why it is that he is the baabul hawaaij (the door through which needs/requests are met/fulfilled). This position was achieved by Hadhrat Abbas not only because of his love and devotion to the ahlulbayt (as), but also because of his recognition of the Imam of his time (Imam Husayn (as) ) and being fully loyal to him. This loyalty stemmed from the recognition and acknowledgment of the divinely given right of Imam al Hasanayn (as), and that is why, when the time came, he did not need to be reminded or asked, he knew his duty, to its full extent, and would not even take a drop of water before the Imam of his time had been quenched!

We must thus realise that if we want our supplications to be met in this season of abundance in divine blessings and pardon, we must realise the One from whom we are asking and His Mercy and Justice, and we must also realise our frailty in the face of smallest tribulations, our weakness against our open enemy (the shaytan). We need to realise that if we were to count of the justice of Allah (swt), then there is little chance of our salvation, and thus, while acknowledging His limitless justice, we must rely on His overflowing Mercy and favour, as only that can save us from the consequences of our ways.

A recent reminder I recently heard about the rights to parents: Among the rights to a parent (if one is to truly respect them and accord them the position Allah has given them over you) is that when giving them something, be it a gift, a contribution to household expenses, giving them change from the grocers etc, you must never make them be in the position of the receiving hand, even if you are the one giving! I.e. keep your hand in the position of the recipient/the lower hand, and not that of the giver/the upper hand. Another anecdote I have also come across is of one youth who had an old and partially deaf father. Once, his father was calling him, and was not hearing his responding to his call. The youth kept responding, but could not bring himself to raise his voice above that of his father (who was shouting). How many times do we think of such minute details which can have such a negative impact on our lives? Are we all not aware of the loss of divine favour that occurs each time we cause our parents a twinge of sadness, or cause them to feel lower than us, even for the twinkling of an eye.

Realisation of the number of sins we commit, and their abundance in our "accounts" will lead us to realisation of the need for urgency in seeking repentance, and changing our ways. Shahr Ramadhan is a time when our lives must be different from our daily lives, and the time after the month should also be different from our lives before the month. How is it that we can discipline ourselves to do right for a season, and then immediately the month is over, drop the extra spirituality and devotion like we were holding onto a hot coal we could not wait to get rid of! We need to realise that we cannot keep crying each year: 'Ya Abul Fadhl al Abbas!' yet we derive no lessons from him, or his devotion and service to the Imam of his time. What is our relationship with the Imam or our time? Is he simply a means of debate with others, where we gather facts to "prove" his existence, right, position etc to others, but have not in any way acknowledged his presence through our deeds. As is often said: 

"Our sins strike him like arrows!"

We have been given the divine blessing of having and knowing of the existence of the Imam of our time (may Allah hasten his reappearance) but we make no point of knowing him, except for lip service when we wish to address our needs through him..

May Allah make us amongst those who reap fully the divine bounties of this month, and forgive us and grant us the blessings of what is left of this month, and be Merciful to us in spite of those which we have already missed out on.