Ramadan is a month of endless blessing and benefits. This month gives us a chance to attain a high standard of taqwa, and the cultivation of good habits. In this month we try to live by the highest values and moral conscience. We should not miss this month for the rejuvenation of our moral character.
Before moving forward we must define the principals of morality for a Muslim.
- How we as individuals ensure that we are honest, just, and compassionate.
- How we interact with and contribute to society, as asset or liability.
- How conscious we are of our accountability to Allah.
Character and reputation
Character is the essence of your being, and it is inner reflection and reality. Reputation is what you lead people to believe about you on the other hand character is your reality. In the Islamic term, we can say that reputation is what people know about you while the character is what Allah knows about you.
Allah Subhan Wa Taala will also test the person base of his character. So Islam is deeply concerned with the character of Muslims. Ramadan plays an important role in building the character of Muslims. In the next coming lines, we will learn how we can use this holy month of Ramadan for making our character strong.
Changing bad habits
The Roman poet Naso Ovid rightly said,
” habits eventually become the character “.
It was the English writer, Shakespeare, who said;
” First we make our habits, then our habits make us ”
It is said by a famous philosopher Aristotle that
“You are what you repeatedly do “.
Through repetitions, our responses are conditioned into Habits. All of our habits were once our conscious acts which get deep-rooted in our minds and turns into our habits. SO we need to go the opposite of bad habits and start doing good things which later be habituated in us.
Though it is difficult in beginning but with time, effort and perseverance we can adopt good habits to stay lifelong with us. For example, smoking is one of the most common habits which is usually started when young people try smoking in the company of friends just for the sake of fun.
With the time smoking becomes their habit and they find it hard to live without smoking. It’s very hard for a smoker to leave this habit but if they try moving against this habit it is not impossible to leave this habit. If a smoker cuts off the number of cigarettes he smokes daily he will be able to live without them after time.
There are many bad habits which are deep-rooted in us and we think it is very difficult for us to get rid of them. But Ramadan is the holy month of blessings, which gives us the opportunity to leave bad habits and get involved in righteous deeds. As Ramadan is Fasting month so a Muslim avoids many bad habits during fast.
So, Fasting 30 consecutive days means avoiding bad habits for 30 consecutive days, which is quite a good period to get rid of bad habits. There are many bad habits that can be left in this holy month of Ramadan such as lying, backbiting, smoking, quarreling, etc.
Virtues and vice
Cicero, said “consuetudo consuetudine vincitur” ( habit is overcome/ conquered by habit.)
As discussed in the previous paragraph we should get rid of bad habits in Ramadan by avoiding them as much as possible. Ramadan also gives us a chance to adopt new habits which good. As Ramadan is a whole month so it gives us a considerable amount of time to get used to new good habits by practicing them.
As we know that bad habits are easy to get in but difficult to get out, good habits require quite an effort to get into. As Muslims, we are obliged to develop virtuous character, and nurture our good qualities, control our emotions. Ramadan is the best month to practice good habits like compassion and generosity.
