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Ramadan teaches us that our faith is not a one-off, it is a way of life and covers everything we do. If we allow the Qur’an to be our path, then God will never allow us to get forsaken.
Let us take the lesson of piety/righteousness (taqwa) from Ramadan. When we have righteousness, we have everything. This is living a life of God-consciousness; knowing that God is always watching and listening. We begin to ponder over all our thoughts and actions. This is a beautiful characteristic because it leads us to living lives that are most pleasing to God and when we do so, God, in return, gives us inner peace.
Righteousness and piety is in our heart but reveals itself in the way we live and even in the way we dress and speak. We experience the work that we and others have put forward in this blessed month; God has shown us the capacity we have for virtuosity. Take some of that motivation and keep it handy. The more we further ourselves from our Creator, the more isolated we will be. The nearer we are to our Creator, the more fulfilled we will feel. When we live a life to come closer and closer to God, that is a true victory!
When we are conscious of the privileges provided by God in the very special month of Ramadan, we all long to return for another blessed Ramadan. However, we do not know whether we still have a longer life to meet in the next Ramadan as life and death are absolutely in God’s command. We may not even be well enough to fast the next Ramadan so we implore God to grant us good health so that we follow through to the next Ramadan with a renewed and improved performance.
Let us start by bringing small changes into the lives of others by venturing to help them. This will help us as well, so that every new day is a reason to rejoice.
Capital is defined as “wealth in the form of money or other assets owned by a person or organization or available or contributed for a particular purpose such as starting a company or investing.”
This got me thinking about spiritual capital, the only capital that is going to matter in the Hereafter.
How do we accumulate spiritual capital? How do we transfer worldly materials into spiritual capital? How do we take the money that we have in our bank accounts and convert it into spiritual wealth?
Luckily, God has given us tools to accumulate as much spiritual capital as possible, starting with time. The Contact Prayers (Salat) are a means of dividing our time, to become aware of the different times of our day, and not waste them. Each Contact Prayer (Salat) is named relative to its time, e.g., Dawn Prayer, Noon Prayer, etc. The Zakat charity is also time dependant. We must give Zakat “on the day of harvest” (6:141). Fasting Ramadan is 30 days long, also time dependant. Time is a tool we can use to our advantage and thus God gives us the means of converting time into spiritual capital.
Another tool we are given in this world is money. Money is a means of making a living, buying the necessities, and carrying on in our daily lives. However, this money will not give us access to Heaven: [3:91] Those who disbelieve and die as disbelievers, an earthful of gold will not be accepted from any of them, even if such a ransom were possible. They have incurred painful retribution; they will have no helpers.
We must find a way of converting worldly money into “spiritual money” to be deposited into our Hereafter “retirement accounts”, as Dr. Khalifa put it.
Charity! Charity is the way!
And what a wonderful thing it is! In fact the word Zakat, means “to purify,” and what can be better than purifying ourselves to get ready for the Hereafter?!
When we give money to the poor, we are converting our worldly bank accounts into Hereafter spiritual bank accounts. By spending our worldly money in the way God specifies, i.e., charity, we are GAINING “spiritual money” to grow our souls, thus, increasing our spiritual capital for the Hereafter. What a wonderful thing charity is. This idea helped me view money as a tool to be used in the world to work towards my Hereafter, not a possession to be cherished. Yes, money is a blessing, but what good is it if we only spend it on ourselves in this fleeting world, without thinking of our eternal life?
Those are the two tools I wanted to discuss by God’s Grace, time and money. However, God has given us plenty of other tools that we can use in glorifying Him, such as our voices to recite the Quran, our bodies to do our salat, our clothes to be modest, our family to remind us of God, etc. Can you think of any more?
May GOD allow us to use every single day, every single blessing, and every single tool towards worshipping Him alone, and thus developing a successful and wealthy soul.
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It’s important for us to remember that God is in full control of all things. If things go our way, then we can be thankful. If things don’t go our way, we still need to know that it was because of God’s will. Everything happens for a reason.
[64:11] Nothing happens to you except in accordance with GOD's will.
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