Ramadan 2013: the courage to have a dream and change your life

Ramadan begins this week: a month of physical restraint, community togetherness and spiritual immersion.

This process of reflection I’m documenting here is being echoed by Muslims everywhere at this time (and some who are not Muslim too.) The physical challenge goes hand in hand with the spiritual challenge: what will Ramadan bring me? More importantly, what will I take away from Ramadan?

It was with this in the back of my mind, that I came across a story yesterday of Imraan Adam who suffers from cerebral palsy, but who has fasted since the age of ten. He needs care to do everything, including feeding himself. This year, his local council were no longer willing to pay for the two extra hours of care he would have required to support the fasting timetable.  I was very moved by this, understanding how meaningful Ramadan is to Muslims, and posted the story on Facebook and Twitter. The story was picked up by Frederic Kanoute who, incredibly, has offered to pay for the care from his foundation. It’s an awesome story, and I’m humbled by Kanoute’s contribution.

I took inspiration from Imraan Adam: he had a dream of what he wanted to achieve, and he was courageous enough to articulate it, and hope – expect possibly – that his dream would be realised. I believe it was the firmness of his dream that led to its fulfillment, after all, with true intent in our hearts, our prayers reach the Divine, and the universe always bows to the Will.

I wondered for myself: what is my dream? Can I be brave enough to articulate it, and put in place the request and actions that can realise it?

This Ramadan, the challenge is to be courageous enough to have a dream, to put it into words, and to reach Eid having taken the first steps towards it. There is no better month than Ramadan to do this: the month of radical change. All the usual constraints are already dispensed with, the barriers whether physical, spiritual or mental are dissolved. All that is left is to fill the void with a vivid picture of what we want, when all other wants of food, time and worldliness have been expunged.

What is my dream, this Ramadan? I ask myself this question, and I begin this year’s Ramadan journey.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post