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My Beloved Ramadan – A Photo Gallery

My Beloved Ramadan – A Photo Gallery

Last updated on: June 24, 2016 at 5:23 pm by Guest Contributor

My Beloved Ramadan – A Photo Gallery 2016-06-24T17:23:07-04:00 Guest Contributor

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This is Day 19 of the #30Days30Writers 2016 Ramadan series. Please click through to see the entire gallery of beautiful Ramadan photos.

By Sadaf Syed

I am afraid my heart will explode.

When I feel distress, I whisper to God throughout the day; I supplicate directly to Him in the middle of the night; my eyes well up out of worry for the future of our children, but my heart begins to feel lighter.

We regularly see posts of death, hatred and violence gone viral, sadly with time our hearts become numbed to this kind of ugly and repeated behavior.

Life used to be so peaceful before social media. I don’t know whom to blame. Who is responsible of all the hysteria? Is it the hypocrisy of the media, the politics, capitalism or groups like ISIL? Who is hijacking our religion?

THIS is our time. THIS is our blessed month of Ramadan. I often find myself repeating in my head, Violence has no religion. Religion is not the problem. Islam is perfect. Its the people that make the mistakes. Enough is enough.

Muhammad Ali once said, “We all have the same God, we just serve him differently. Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water. So do religions have different names, and they all contain truth, expressed in different ways forms and times. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew. When you believe in God, you should believe that all people are part of one family. If you love God, you can’t love only some of his children.”

As we approach the last ten days of Ramadan, I have altered my list of prayers, sadly as tragedies continue to occur. But a single tear caused by the remembrance of Allah brings a comfort to my heart that nothing in the world can match.

This is the month where every part of our body yearns for His Eternal love, His Mercy and His Forgiveness. Daily we have our meetings with Allah through prayers and we ask Him for strength, compassion, forgiveness, straight A’s or to lose weight before Eid. We pray for anything that our heart may desire. Ramadan is our way of recharging our spiritual battery, praying that the daily struggles do not weaken our inner core to the point where we let a layer of negativity take over our fragile hearts. Ramadan is a month when we want to work on our heart and spirituality to be healthy. When affliction occurs, we don’t turn our cheek the other way because THAT is the time when we need Him the most.

I was recently reminded by a teacher that our heart and brain works together. Brain works first then body follows. So, if the heart is dark then the heart won’t communicate with the brain, and it will follow blindly. If you put Allah first then He will give you only goodness. And, that is what we are working on this holy month, to be reflective of yourself and improve yourself rather than judging others.

Come join me into tasting the sweetness of Ramadan. Click through this photo gallery, as I share with you a peek into my Ramadan life — for most Muslims these rituals are practiced year round not only for this month. That’s how peaceful the teachings of Islam are.

Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest. ~ Surah Ar-Ra’d (13:28)

What you seek is seeking you. ~ Rumi

Yesterday I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I want to change myself. ~ Rumi

*Photo essay by Photojournalist, Sadaf Syed for #30writer30days

*All photos were taken with iPhone

*Photo Credit: © Sadaf Syed

30 Days 30 Writers (2016)

Previous Post

June 23, 2016

In a Ramadan of Loss, I have My Eye on the Prize: The Afterlife

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June 25, 2016 Get To Know Your Neighbor: A Ramadan (and Beyond) Video

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