It’s okay to be a Ramadan Muslim.
Ramadan was always a month of firsts for me.
The first time I prayed 5 times a day was during Ramadan.
The first time I got up for Fajr.
The first time I wore an abaya.
The first time I wore a hijab out of the house.
The first time I went to the mosque for Maghrib.
The first time I really felt a connection with my Lord.
Ramadan is the month where I and many others experience the sweetness and the gems of Islam. It’s the month that shows us our true self and what we are capable of.
@ZarmeenKhan_ “Ramadan is not a temporary increase of religious practice, it is a glimpse of what you are capable of doing everyday.”
— Heraa Hashmi (@caveheraa) May 28, 2017
The number of times I’ve heard the term Ramadan Muslim, or part-time hijabi as if to say ‘hey missy, you’re not quite making the cut, you can’t sit with us’. It’s destructive terminology and simply just demeans the person’s efforts.
I wore a scarf to campus today and I received an endless amount of sarcastic remarks, “oh, NOW you want to be holy?”
— zar(mean) (@ZarmeenKhan_) 26 May 2017
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Never Belittle Small Deeds – Whatever Good You Do Allah Knows It
We are all striving and some of us just have a bit more to work on than others, at least at a superficial level. If you see someone at the mosque not quite sure how to pray, or her hair is poking out of her hijab with her makeup on fleek or you think her jeans are a little too tight or her top rides up every time she goes into sujood, have patience and sincerity. Help her out because I can tell you the most soul destroying feeling is coming to the mosque in what you think is your most modest outfit and your best efforts for someone else to ridicule you in a matter of seconds.
“I love Ramadan because that kid who never prays, prays.
That girl who never covers, covers.
That guy who never fasts, fasts.
Even if it’s just for a month, at least these ‘types’ of people tasted the ‘sweetness of faith’ just for one month.
And perhaps months later down in life, if their life ever becomes bitter, they will refer back to Ramadan and yearn for that same ‘sweetness’ they sampled just that one month.
You call them ‘Only Ramadan Muslims’ but I call them ‘Muslims who may only need Ramadan to change.'”
At a time where Muslim men and women are forever being ridiculed and portrayed negatively, the last thing we need is for our own community to ridicule each other. Think twice and question if you are correcting her to fuel your own ego or to genuinely help her out. The way you advise someone can make the difference between her seeing the mosque as a support system or just a place where she is forever pulling her top down or fidgeting to keep her hijab in place.
Everyone is on their own personal spiritual journey. This Ramadan might be the first Ramadan that someone feels they can truly change, help them along with their journey.
