Tagheyyur.

Ibn Rajab writes (in verse form): ♦ ‘O you who were not content to sin just in Rajab; But disobeyed your Lord, even in Sha‘ban. The fasting month has come now to shade you, Turn it not into a month of sinfulness too. Recite the Qur’an and glorify God, diligently; For it is the month of glorification and Qur’an. Deny bodily appetites, seeking salvation through it; For soon bodies shall be consumed by the Fire. How many you knew who fasted previously: From among family, neighbours and brothers. Death obliterated them, leaving you to live on; How close are the the living to those who are dead. You take pride in your  ‘ Id clothes, cut to fit; Yet the morrow they will be your burial shrouds! Until when will man dwell in his place of dwelling? Knowing his ultimate abode is the grave.’ 1 ≈ 1.  Lata’if al-Ma‘arif  (Riyadh: Dar Ibn Khuzaymah, 2007), 351-2.

  The following piece was first published on this blog, on 28th August, 2012. It  has been edited and republished at  www.islamicate.co.uk  and reposted here with kind permission. There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self,’ said Aldous Huxley, the English novelist best known for his dystopian novel,  Brave New World. In his exploration of the dilemmas confronting modern man – the rise of capitalism, the dehumanising demands of technology and progress and the cult of self-worship and instant gratification – Huxley hits on many truisms in his chilling forecasts to the modern world. This month will see Muslims the world over observe the fasts of Ramadan. Ramadan, essentially, is the month in which believers are required to buckle down more consciously and improve their own ‘corner of the universe.’ The month is marked by heightened religious observance and also a keener sense of social cohesion, a...