Lessons from Eid

By: Asma Shums,
As all of us have come together to celebate Eid-Ul-Fitr, we can spend our time expressing gratitude towards Allah having given us the opportunity to worship. We can use this time to reflect on the past
month and appreciate the habits that served us well. The month of Ramadan has instilled many lessons in us including a deep spirit of service to our brothers and sisters and focusing on compassion towards humanity. We spent time reflecting on how our actions have consequences to others and being mindful of our words as they can often be fueled by emotions and have lasting effects on our brothers and sisters. We took the time to improve ourselves spiritually and morally. The fasts helped us connect with the struggles of the less fortunate and the entire month of Ramadan was focused on being empathetic towards the pained in society and use the powers of the privilege for the greater good.
The month of Ramadan signifies a new beginning as we create a stronger force with our brothers and sisters and Allah. There are many lessons we can take forward as we celebrate the end of this pious month.
1. Practice Gratitude
The evenings during the month of Ramadan are spent praying to Allah for the benefit and peace of our loved ones, seeking forgiveness for our sins, and safety for our family. During Eid, we celebrate the month of Ramadan and often return to our old ways. Most of us look forward to Ramadan due to the peace we feel during the holy month.               The moments of silence and prayer filled with gratitude and well wishes are the foundation of habits that bring peace. It’s a lesson that we must continue these things
beyond the holy month and as part of our days to create a life that is positive.
2. Detach from Worldly Comforts
During the month of Ramadan, our focus is shifted from worldly comforts and pleasures to servicing humanity and Allah. The nature of our current society is focused entirely on money, material items, and overconsumption of all things. This creates a cycle of dissatisfaction and lack of contentment in life that follows us everywhere we go. As a response, we end up buying more, eating more, and focusing on how to be better in all ways from our neighbour. Detaching from the worldly comforts and materials is a
quick road to achieving true happiness and peace in this life. The only focus on others we must have been to make sure that they have enough. The holy month of Ramadan helps instill this is in us but many of us fail to practise it for the remaining months.
3. Practice Spirituality
Many of us spend the month of Ramadan fasting and focusing on praying and develop a foundation for having a stronger connection to God. Our days can consist of any number of variables but has one constant which is reflecting on our blessings, forgiveness for our shortcomings, and requesting goodwishes from Allah. We make it a habit to pray and spend time with prayers, meditation, and peaceful moments of conversations with Allah that help us create a strong connection with our values and reinforces our blueprint to being a human in our society. Keeping the practice of spirituality can only result in positive impact in our daily life beyond the month of Ramadan.
4. Give Back to the Community
The month of Ramadan is a blessing to the pained and vulnerable members of our community. All of us join together to pool resources, funds, items, and services to people who need it most. We learn  sacrifice our pleasures to fulfil the needs of others. Most of us restrict charity to this month and go back to our old ways soon. The month of Ramadan teaches us to think of others first and then ourselves and we must take some effort to continue this practise beyond the holy month. The pleasure in giving  something to someone in need is far greater than engaging in excess for us. Our actions have a ripple
effect where the person we helped will be able to help another in need.
Reflections
“Prepare yourself for Eid
Wear new clothes of kindness, and never wear off
Scent yourself with the perfume of love, and spread it everywhere
Keep the sweet on the tongue and distribute it by heart to everyone
Open Your Arms wide, hug everyone tight,
Ego, anger, superiority, free your soul with these all
to friends, to relatives, to strangers, gift beautiful feelings to all”
Quoted by: Mohammed Zaki Ansari, Gift Of Love
Email: asmashums@gmail.com