Self-Evaluation in Ramadan
June 13, 2016, New York City
During this meeting, we discussed Self-Evaluation in Ramadan. We
were contemplating a hadith by Prophet Muhammad which states, “Anyone
who fasts and engages in self-evaluation in Ramadan will find heaven.”
The practice of fasting is widely followed in the Muslim community,
but the practice of self-evaluation has been forgotten. Self-evaluation is the spiritual component of
Ramadan and it is something in which the Prophet engaged on a daily basis. Regular self-evaluation helps us realize at
the intellectual level that God and everything He said to us are things that
really touch our lives and aren’t ideas that stay outside of us because we are
busy and need to go to work and this is not the same time as when Prophet
Muhammad lived. If we think about it, we
will realize that we can live our lives without once contemplating why we are
doing what we are doing and that we are doing it because our family has been
doing it for decades.
Self-evaluation helps us identify aspects of our lives that
we would like to make better and then ask God to help us make them better. There
are four aspects of our lives that are important to most people: Spiritual growth, personal relationships,
health, financial freedom, and professional success. We want to see ourselves change for the better
every day and when we feel that we are stagnating, it causes frustration. Making sure that our prayer (salat) is
personally meaningful to us by first making sure we understand the words we are
saying and then by contemplating ideas behind those words we are saying regularly
in the prayer should help us make our prayer more meaningful and in time, we
should see the change in ourselves. We
need to make sure that when we fast we attempt to realize that it is a method of
self-discipline and among many of its facet, one important one includes proving
to ourselves that we are not subject to our bodies cravings but that we can and
will do what is required of us in order to help God guide us where we want to
go. Our satisfaction in life also
depends on the health of our personal relationships. Criticizing or blaming the
other person for an unhappy relationship will not make it better, but finding
out positive ways by which important relationships will become better is what
will, in time, make them better. It goes
without saying that we can’t do much of anything unless we are healthy. A good number of us lives in the world today
where we can find healthy food and facilities for exercising. Deciding on a healthy habit and keeping it is
the way to achieve our goal of remaining healthy and avoiding diseases of our
ancestors. Poor financial situation is
one of the main reasons for unhappiness for a good number of people. Making plans for saving a portion of our
income and giving away a portion of our income to worthy causes are the ways of
increasing our wealth. Finally, many people are unhappy with their
jobs so finding ways to change our profession or make certain adjustments if a total
change is not needed, can only come through thinking about, that is, evaluating
what we can do to make this change or adjustment take place. Setting up a plan with a career counselor as
to the steps to follow to change our profession or make whatever adjustments
may be necessary is one concrete way to see a positive change in this respect.
Overall, none of the above is possible without our first taking
the time to think through what is making us unhappy and then attempt to see
what we can actually do about it. This is
one of the purposes of fasting: Self-evaluation
to understand where we have been and where we are going so that, in time, when
we ask ourselves (before we are asked by God), we can say to ourselves that we
didn’t waste a life given to us for a particular purpose. That purpose is what we are getting at when
we engage in the practice of self-evaluation.
Some of the ideas that came to mind to those who were
present during this class include a notion that with self-evaluation comes
planning – what is it that we want to see happen? The aspect of thanking God is extremely
important. All Prophet’s duas
(supplications) start with giving thanks to God. Prophet also said that saying thanks to God
is the best prayer. Person who lives in
a state of gratitude is in a stream of benevolence. God clearly said that if we are thankful, He
will give us more. A person becomes what he or she thinks about most of the time. If our thoughts constantly revolve around
what is going on at present, we become trapped in it. The present is constantly
becoming a thing of the past so we should focus on what we want to see a week from
now. Dua means that we are unhappy about
certain aspect of our life and that we are thinking about our lives, so we
formulate an idea in our minds about what we want. What is very important is that we need to realize
what we are thinking of. If we think
about what is bothering us all day long and spend 2 minutes on dua, that isn’t going
to help us. We may pray for certain
things but it is good to think through what we are asking in order to try to
understand why we feel certain way. In
thinking about future, it is much better to utilize writing because it forces
our minds to concentrate and think with specificity. Being healthy was a huge part of Prophet’s
religious practice. “Fast, so you shall be healthy,”
is also what he said.
Summary
by Alma Subasic
