Change

Peace be upon you brothers and sisters for wherever we are right now, may Allah bless our souls InsyaAllah. As everyone acknowledge, the month of blessing, Ramadhan is approaching us less than in a week ! How time flies right ? Ask ourself how the last Ramadhan has changed us internally ?

Brothers and sisters, each of us must accept that we can only change ourselves.  We can’t control anyone else’s feelings or actions. We cannot make anyone love us, treat us better, respect us even when we deserve it, accept us even when we are right, befriend us even when we are sweet, or believe in us even when we’re true. But we can make ourselves love others for the sake of Allah, treat them better, respect them even though they're younger than us, befriend and treat them better no matter how bad they treat you, and always have faith in others.Yeap, it seems a little bit unfair from our point of view, but hey, life isn't always the way we want it to be.

“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” (Quran 13:11)

Since Ramadhan is just around the corner, we should grab this opportunity to change ourselves as a whole. Some people might find that it is impossible for one to change after been practising his/her lifestyle for almost 20 years now, but dear brothers and sisters, let us open our hearts reading the Quran as Allah has mentioned tremendous number of people whom He changed their heart from knowing nothing about Islam into being one of the best Muslims recorded in the Quran. Lets always inspire ourselves to be a better Muslim. If we can't change wholly in a month, make sure we keep up with the ibadah and all the good deeds throughout the years and be patient while practising them.

"It is they who receive the blessings of their Lord and [His] mercy, and it is they who are the [rightly] guided." (2:157)

It is related by Abu Hurairah (RAA) that the Apostle of God (sallallaho alaihi wa sallam) said “When the month of Ramadhan comes, the Gates of Heaven are thrown open and the Gates of Hell are shut, and the devils are put behind bars” In another report, the “Gates of Mercy” are mentioned in place of the “Gates of Heaven”. [Bukhari and Muslim]

Done with the intentions, set our environment into an islamic atmosphere. Ask our housemates to perform the prayers together, recite the Quran and correcting each others, join the usrah, involve ourselves with islamic talks and may Allah benefits us to the upmost, insyaAllah.

And this should be the best part about Ramadhan ! When the Gates of Heaven are opened for  24 hours and the Gates of Hell are sealed tightly, and the syaitoons are chained by Allah at no cost ! What more could we asked for ? Allah has sufficiently provide us the best month without the presence of syaitoon. So that we know whenever we are lazy to perform any extra good deeds, its not the syaitoon, it comes from us. So thats where exactly we should be focusing to change ourselves. Force ourselves to perform good deeds and insyaAllah in time we will get use to the practise and continue it whole-heartedly.  And remember to always seek du'a for ourselves and our brothers and sisters who are unfortunate, and ask Allah for forgiveness and bring us closer each day to Jannah, InsyaAllah.

“Certainly those who observe patience will be given their reward in full without measure.” [39:10]

Wallahualam. 

Editted by: Nurul Atikah
Bureau of Publicity And Sport
International Medical University (IMU)