Reflection, Renewal and Respite

As we venture through the first week of Ramadhan, I am struck by how quickly time has flown by once again. It feels like only yesterday that we started and finished Ramadhan in the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, and sadly had to endure celebrating Eid without the usual family or friends.

But perhaps with a little less ceremony than normal, we have welcomed this beautiful month of spiritual uplift and reflection. In a year that has seen so much of both turmoil and loss, as well as steadfastness and courage, it seems only fitting that having been forced to slow down for twelve months, that we slowly try to embrace the positives we have found along the way as we cautiously step out of a full lockdown.

Ramadhan is a spiritual month, characterised by physical fasting of food and water, and increasing acts of prayer and devotion as we try to become the people we should be, all year round. I have often thought that the physical aspects of fasting are the easiest parts of this month. To stop yourself from physically doing something is fairly straightforward.

The much more difficult elements are the spiritual and mental. I find myself trying to undo the damage of poor mental discipline established in the rest of the year, during Ramadhan. Emphasizing things like forgiveness, mercy, kindness, honesty and self-discipline are key, and these are ideals much more difficult to observe than physical fasting - or at least, in my opinion. As a general rule, I try to practice these at all times but to err is human and from time to time, I’m not able to adhere to being the best version of myself. You may find yourself thinking an unkind thought about someone or making a comment you later regret. Ramdhan is a key time of year to free the mind and inculcate positive mental habits - elements of this can be seen in modern day practices like mindfulness; but for me, Ramadhan is a far more holistic and all-encompassing set of practices than just one or the other.

The third element is of course the traditionally spiritual. Everything from increased prayer to nights spent reading and reflecting upon the Qur’an, to learning about Islamic history and everything in between, whatever way you decide to increase your devotional practice, this is the month to be richly rewarded for it. I have set myself “Ramadhan Resolutions” this year which include:

• actually finishing a full recitation of the whole Qur’an (I always mean to do this but never seem to achieve it);

• ensuring I complete all of my obligatory prayers on time every day;

• getting into a routine of doing at least some optional prayers every day, even if it is only a few;

• attending virtual circles to increase my knowledge of Islam; (I have a slight obsession with the supernatural so my way into this is to learn more about the jinn and the prophethood of Sulaiman a.s.)

I would love to hear about your goals for Ramadhan this year; leave a comment below with your thoughts!

2020: A Year of Change

We made it folks. It’s 2021 and Donald J. Trump is no longer President of the United States.

It feels like I’ve been waiting a long time to say those words and so much has changed since I last posted to this site. The world feels changed, and today at least, a more positive place than it was a scant two days ago.

Covid-19

Since I last wrote, the world has tried to get to grips with a global pandemic in the form of Covid-19, and which, as I write this post, is an ongoing, seemingly never-ending battle. Or at least that’s how it feels to me here in the UK. From one lockdown to the next, we have careened from one government announcement to another, being told everything non-essential was closed, then open, then closed, then open and now closed again. How long this may continue, we have yet to find out. The impact of Covid-19 made 2020 a very strange year, not least because I spent a large majority of it furloughed from my workplace in a state of limbo, neither required to work nor unemployed.

Time feels to have passed in a haze, with my strongest memory of working in the garden throughout the summer to plant and harvest as many fruits and vegetables as possible. Growing everything from spinach to strawberries, green beans to tomatoes, and even planting a mango tree, the summer felt idyllic and never-ending in a way that I haven’t experienced since the long-lost summer days of my childhood. Being able to take the time to dig into the soil, to plant seeds and watch tiny shoots begin to germinate left me with a sense of gratitude and purpose which I hope to carry forward with me into this year. I am not one to feel guilt in taking time for myself anyhow, but the enforced break from many of the daily realities of life left me feeling very content as I relaxed into my summer hobby as a gardener.

But as all good things are wont to do, this too came to an end towards the end of the year when my last full-time job was made redundant leaving me unemployed for the first time since graduating from university.

Whilst I was experiencing this for the first time, my father also experienced a first having contracted Covid-19 pretty badly for a couple of weeks in November which were very ‘touch and go’ for us as a family. Having said that, my mother absolutely refused to hospitalise him (and thankfully, he was never quite so bad so as to require admission), but she instead insisted in the way of desi mothers everywhere, in giving him daily totkas to aid recovery.

These consisted of drinking turmeric laced whole milk twice a day (to act as an anti-inflammatory and lift anything “sitting” on the chest), a teaspoon of black seed oil twice a day (fellow Muslims will know what I mean), and plenty of vapour inhaling courtesy of either Vicks vapor-rub in boiling hot water, or a couple of drops of Olbas oil or eucalyptus oil for the same purpose. Interspersed throughout was praying. A lot of praying. Thankfully, a couple of weeks later, it was all a distant memory and he had recovered.

U.S. Presidential Election

Shortly after this, the 24-hour news cycles began reporting on early voting in the 2020 U.S. Presidential election gearing up to the big day itself. As so many of us non-Americans are aware, the U.S. Presidential race has a global impact and political news junkie that I am, I found myself glued to wall-to-wall election coverage in late November. American politics is infinitely far more exciting than anything in Britain but I’ll come back to Brexit in a moment.

Having lived through the turbulent turmoil of having a former reality-TV “star” as President, I think I speak for much of the world when I say we waited with bated breath to see the results of this election. There are many words to describe the horror of the Trump presidency but I believe many more words to come - the state of New York appears to be gearing up towards potentially bringing criminal charges against members of The Trump Organization, with creditors, most noteably Deutsche Bank, refusing to do business with Trump potentially looking to recover hundreds of millions in $US it says it is owed.

I find the relationship between politics and the law fascinating and eagerly anticipate any legal proceedings that shed light on Trump’s actions and behaviour.

On a more positive note the new U.S. President, Joe Biden and his Vice-President Kamala Harris, have been gifted a Democratic Congress to work with a Democratic White House, and one can only hope that the most diverse Presidential cabinet in U.S. history is able to live up to the hopes and dreams pinned to it. And at least we can now say that a female from an ethnic minority has finally taken the role of Vice-President! Best of luck to both of them.

Brexit

I have nothing to say here other than Brexit happened, food shortages have started happening in some parts of the U.K. and that I still think Brexit was the wrong decision for us but here we are. As with so many things in Boris Johnson’s premiership, Brexit too, was a case of lastminute dot com and it shows.

2021

I am hopeful for 2021. The disturbance of 2020 has come to a close and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Vaccines against Covid-19 are being rolled out and more are being developed. The government’s vaccination plan leaves much to be desired but it’s a start.

On a personal note, I have pivoted my attention entirely to a few projects which have been in the works, on and off, for a few years. Having enforced free time has meant finally getting on with developing these further and a soft launch is intended in February for the first project, with a further two in the pipeline later in the year should the first prove to be successful.

A focus on health and well-being is the goal for this year. If 2020 taught me anything, it is that time is fleeting and to grab hold whilst you can. That is exactly what I plan to do and a focus on both physical and mental health and well-being is at the top of the list. Having implemented some changes to my lifestyle at the end of last year, 2021 will be the year that these changes finally take off insha’Allah.

I do hope 2020 was not too hard on you and I wish you all the happiest year ahead.