Ramadan Aftermath [Part 1 of 2]

Guest-post by Nahyan Chowdhury

It is said that “it takes 21 days to build a habit” but so many people keep saying they weren’t able to maintain much after Ramadan.

With Ramadan being 30 days that should guarantee fantastic new habits in our lives such as more Quran, longer prayers, less distractions. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

The problem obviously is not with Ramadan itself, but our approach to Ramadan.

In this two-part article, we’ll first focus on understanding the problem and then explore solutions.

There are 2 areas of Ramadan that are misunderstood or even unknown to many Muslims.

1 – Habits (as mentioned earlier)

2 – Momentum

Habits

Here’s the thing: habits (the ones you want) usually don’t build themselves automatically, they have to be built.

With what I call “Habit Building and Habit Busting” the key matter to understand is that it all sparks from one single point – the point of decision/initiation. For you and I, there was once a time you didn’t know how to walk, until you tried it for the first time and practiced it to the point it became habitual.

Example : Salah – busting “skip salah” habit and building “establish it” habit

• You made a decision to take salah seriously.
• You prayed the first salah with that goal in mind.
• There were some slips along the way, so mixed with persistence the salah became (somewhat) established in your life  [[if not, then follow this process]].

“First you make your habits, then your habits make you.”

You’d probably agree that it’s hard before it gets easy. With habits in general, the hardest part of it is the initial stage because your mind and body is being taken out of its comfort zone. And like Sh.Muhammad Alshareef talked about in his Heart Wheel Journal and Ramadan Ilminar, the beginning of Ramadan is when the body is making that shift into “fasting mode.”

I want to share with you what some people in my network said about their post-Ramadan experience. See if you relate to these.

Sabine, France – “I've caught Ramadan's perfume and I don't want to let it go…

I've made a plan starting with the “habits” I managed to take during Ramadan (like reading the Quran, praying, fasting, etc). The most difficult thing today is to wake up and pray at night (it was much easier during Ramadan…so I am working on that).”

Wais, Calgary – “I think this Ramadan was one of my best …. After Ramadan, however, things did not feel the same…I think I heard in a lecture about the post-Ramadan state about how the Sahabah always remembered Ramadan throughout the whole year. Six months after Ramadan they prayed to Allah to accept their ‘ibadah and du’as and the next six months they prayed to Allah to give them the opportunity to witness another Ramadan. That helped me continue some of the duas I wrote and continually think about Ramadan.”

Nobera, Toronto – “Post-Ramadan is better then pre-Ramadan… It's harder to have a set schedule for Qur’an, there's lesser patience for long salaat and more time for distractions…Nonetheless, effort is put into keeping some new habits that were formed in Ramadan.”

Anonymous – “Man it feels [horrible], it went downhill…big-time!”

Thirty days is more than sufficient to build positive habits so a missing piece of that puzzle is understanding…

Momentum

I went to visit Sh.Waleed Abdul-Hakeem (IlmPath and AlKauthar instructor), it happened to be while he was preparing his Jum’a khutbah (before Ramadan). So I ask him what he’s planning to speak about, so he says “how the Prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wasalaam) would fast in Sha’ban and build momentum for Ramadan.”

I thought, “cool, I was thinking about the same thing…let me see where else this momentum concept applies.”

Momentum is like the on-ramp & off-ramp to a highway. It sets you up to either accelerate or slow down so you flow right in with the other cars.

Amazing Lesson – Ramadan is cushioned in between two momentum makers.

They’re the months of Sha’ban and Shawwal (before and after Ramadan).

Sha’ban – This was the month the Prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wasalaam) would fast more in than any other month. He built momentum going into Ramadan; so his body already adjusted to ‘fasting mode’ and his mind is prepared to go ‘in the zone’ during the next month.

Shawwal – The Muslim has fasted for 1 full month, so to continue that Ramadan momentum there are the 6 fasts of Shawwal (hadith below).

The positive habits and extra ‘ibadah (worship) is connected to the fasting in Ramadan, so bringing the fasting (connector and catalyst of extra worship) to regular life also pulls with it those positive habits and extra ‘ibadah.

——–

6 Fasts of Shawwal – “Whoever fasts Ramadan, then follows it with six days of (fasting in) Shawwaal, it will be as if he/she fasted for an entire year” (Saheeh Muslim, no. 1984)

Note: Shawwal ends Oct/19 so if you haven’t started, you are kind of late for this time, but 5 fasts are better than 6!

——–

In summary, in this article we looked into:

• Habits – they need to be built. The building process is hard before it gets easy.
• Few perspectives and experiences of people after Ramadan
• Momentum – how momentum works like the on-ramp & off-ramp to a highway and that Ramadan is cushioned by two momentum makers with the months of Sha’ban and Shawwal

——–

Part 2 will cover:

1. How to start building those Ramadan habits, even now…
2. My Habit Building Formula
3. A hadith about habits?

——–

I’m looking forward to all your successes,

Br. Nahyan