by Ml Imran Khamissa
Nearly everyone in this age of modern technology has at some stage worked with a P.C. We have used it to draft documents, amend these documents, copied and pasted onto documents, used the ‘undo’ icon, edited documents, just to mention a few of the time saving operations that we find on this device.
After opening a document that we have worked upon previously and made the necessary changes and improvements a little box appears on the screen asking the question: Do you want to save the changes you have made to this document? You are then given the option of selecting the YES tab or the NO tab. Selecting the YES tab will give you the desired results while selecting the NO tab literally takes you back to square one. All the effort made in editing, improving and shaping the document becomes an exercise in futility.
Don’t we all find ourselves in a similar predicament when the blessed month of Ramadaan passes us? Just think of your book of deeds like a document on your P.C. During the month of Ramadaan we have done amongst other things the following:
- Increased our ibaadah and acts of charity
- Taken control of our feelings and emotion
- Responded with compassion and sensitivity to the needs of others
- Multiplied our good deeds
At the same time we have spent many hours on the Musallah begging for Allah’s forgiveness for our sins, errors and transgressions.
The vital question that needs to be asked is: Do we want to save the changes that we have made in the month of Ramadaan?
Are we going to press the YES tab or the No tab? Pressing the YES tab will leave us with a new, improved version. A version of heightened spirituality, a version of righteousness, a version that is pleasing to our Creator. Pressing the NO tab will take us back to square one; back to our old habits before Ramadaan, back to the life of sin and immorality, back to a life of heedlessness and back to a life subjecting ourselves to the wrath of the Almighty.
How do we improve on this document; the document of our lives, the document of our deeds, the document that we are going to present to Allah the Almighty on the Day of Reckoning.
Here are some hints:
- Copy and Paste from the life of our illustrious master Muhammad (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam).
- Use the ‘undo’ icon by making taubah immediately after any transgression as the Hadith states “The one who repents from sin is like one who has committed no sin at all.“
- There may not be a need to do a “spell check” but there is certainly a need to do a “sincerity check” and a “shari’ah check” Are we complying?
- There may be files and folders that we want to keep while there could be some others we would not even want others to know exist. Many of us begged Allah to “delete” our sins and dark deeds. We cried before Allah, shed tears of remorse and vowed not to commit those sins in future. Going back to the sins that we have asked Allah’s forgiveness for would be like making a visit to the “recycle bin”.
- What about viruses? P.C. users are also very wary about e-mails they receive and the sites that they visit, fearing the admission of a virus that may pollute their system and cause it to malfunction. Why do we then subject our minds and thoughts to immoral sites and dens of vice which would pollute our moral system and cause us to malfunction? What anti-virus software have we installed to ward off the variety of fitnahs that confront us every day?
Fortunate is the person who has saved the changes. Even more unfortunate is the person who has made no changes as he /she has nothing to save.
Jamiatul Ulama (KZN)
Council of Muslim Theologians
223 Alpine Road, Overport
Durban, South Africa
Source: https://jamiat.org.za/save-the-changes/