Ramadan Advice: Living in the Present?

To live in the present is a mercy from Allah. The mercy of living in the present is sometimes lost to those who live between the past and the future , ignoring the present altogether. These are the people who immerse themselves living between regret of the past that they can no longer change and worrying about a future, they are uncertain of, that they cannot control or that they would live to see. How many relationships we know are destroyed because people focus on past mistakes that can no longer be changed? Often times the perpetrator of a mistake drowns themselves in guilt; overwhelmed by a sin from their past. When they can no longer come up for air or find a way out of their misery, shaytan traps them within the walls of depression; causes them to lose their health and sadly, sometimes life itself. It is because they have not only trapped themselves in the prison of guilt, but they believe that they should feel this way because they made a mistake and/or committed a sin. However, this is NOT what Allah SWT wants from us. Guilt can be positive. Positive guilt means that we feel sincere remorse for committing a sin and then we seek Allah's forgiveness for it, fully expecting that Allah will forgive us. We learn specific lessons that led to it and try to implement changes in our life that will help us avoid it in the future. Even better, is when we are able to eventually work to assist others from falling into the same trap or at the very least try to do some good deeds because we know that "good deeds replace bad deeds". Guilt can also be a double-edged sword and can cause us to become trapped by shaytan who will use it to destroy us, our relationships with others and most importantly, our relationship with Allah. We must evaluate our relationship with Allah SWT if, despite knowing He is our Creator, Lord, Master, the One in Whose Hands lies control of all things, the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful, WE continue to punish ourselves...other times, we continue to face people who continue to punish us, those who forget that they too have committed sins, and just as they want Allah's forgiveness, they too should forgive others and leave them to mend their hearts and relationship with Allah. Sometimes in situations where the hurt is too much, perhaps we need to create space and allow the other person the peace to re-develop their relationship with Allah. Today let us remember the beautiful ahadith related by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) "O Son (& daughter) of Adam, as long as you supplicate to Me and have hope in me I will pardon you in spite of what you have done, and I do not care. O Son (& daughter) of Adam, if your sins were so numerous as to reach the lofty regions of the sky, then you asked My forgiveness, I would forgive you, and I do not care. O Son (& daughter) of Adam, if you were to meet Me with enough sins to fill the earth, then met Me, not associating anything with Me (in worship), I shall greet you with its equivalent in forgiveness.'" Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi. And Ahmad and Al-Darimi transmitted it from Abu Dharr Let us remember that God ALONE is our Judge and that He is so merciful- more than a mother to her newborn baby. It is a fact that we will make mistakes- what defines us, is seeking forgiveness, sincerely repenting and learning the lesson that was intended for us to grow in our relationship with Allah. The problems with sins, is not necessarily the sin itself but the fact that committing them creates a barrier between us and Allah. So let us work to eradicate those barriers and to know and understand, when mistakes happen remember to Turn to Allah, Your Lord is there for you even when no one else is, Your Lord, is waiting for your repentance so turn to Him, He loves you and will never abandon you, He is most merciful, so when your head touches the ground, feel encompassed by His Love and Mercy and know that His capacity for mercy and forgiveness is limitless. Today brothers and sisters, let us be merciful to others who have hurt us and let us enjoy the mercy of learning from the past whilst living in the present. Living in the present is where we CAN try our best to make a positive difference to ourselves. Jeewan Chanicka