As we pass by the Half Time mid-way point of Ramadhan, some of us may feel sad – either because of the dread that this blessed month is soon coming to an end, or that perhaps the feeling of guilt or regret in our personal performance of righteous deeds which we might feel have not quite lived to what we had aspired or hoped to achieve.
But Alhamdulillah ala kulli hal, we should remain optimistic and hopeful about the remaining half of this blessed month, as the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said,
وَلِلَّهِ عُتَقَاءُ مِنَ النَّارِ وَذَلِكَ فِي كُلِّ لَيْلَةٍ
"And Allah frees some of his selected slaves from the Hellfire - and that happens on EVERY NIGHT (in Ramadhan)" (Narrated by ibn Majah and at-Tirmidzi who graded it hasan)
The meaning of this hadith, is that there are people who were initially destined for the Hellfire due to their deeds; but because of their acts of righteousness and taqwa, every night Allah will select a specific group of His slaves, and out of His Mercy, will save this selected group of people and instead enter them into Paradise.
Now, none of us know the current state of our deeds or our ending – and who knows that perhaps, because of our efforts, we may be amongst this select group.
The key to note in this hadith is that the Prophet emphasized that this happens EVERY night. The hadith which states that “the first 10 days is Mercy, next ten days is Forgiveness, and final ten days is freedom from Hellfire” is not authentic.
The gates of Mercy, Blessings and Forgiveness of Allah happens are open throughout the entirety of Ramadhan, so it could very well be that these last few days might be days that we earn these privileges.
Plus - we should also bear in mind that the final 10 nights is also coming soon - not only are these the best 10 nights of the year, but as an added bonus to that, also contains the one night called Laylatul-Qadar, which is better than a thousand months!
And if we look to the sunnah of the Prophet, even he himself ﷺ would ramp up his efforts, waking up his family to spend his nights in worship.
If that was the case with him – one who was forgiven all his sins and promised Paradise – what more of us who have no guarantees whatsoever?
We should be even more desperate to deliver our best and bring our A-Game to these remaining few days.
If you feel regret or guilt of the shortcoming of your deeds – whether it be in your prayers, supplications, Qur’an, charity or others, then start now, or improve upon the base foundation you’ve trained yourself from the start. Don’t use your guilt as an excuse to burnout.
So don't be sad - If anything, we should be more enthusiastic to increase in our righteous deeds. 😁
And if you ARE still sad, then use that sadness to push yourselves to deliver your best until the end – because perhaps in sha Allah – the BEST is still yet to come for us!
Let us continue to motivate those around us.
May Allah grant us the best of His Mercy and Blessings this Ramadhan and make us remain steadfast untill the end. #RamadhanTillTheEnd
أبو معاوية
-AM.FAL-
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