Adjusting

4 Ramadhan 1434

22.07
On a day when the fast seemed quite straightforward, almost routine, I'm thinking of what The Holy Qur'an tells us with regard to fasting in Al Baqarah: Allah desires for you ease; He desires not hardship for you; and (He desires)that you should complete the period, and that you should magnify Allah for having guided you, and that peradventure you may be thankful. (This from Pickthall's translation, my choice of version for this month's reading. Beguilingly old-fashioned - that peradventure is nicely typical.) And what I'm thinking is just how strangely true those words are - 'strangely' in the sense that on the surface they are so counter-intuitive and yet every Ramadhan the same magic works.

This year the magic seems to have arrived early - but I'm expecting useful hiccups along the way. The point of all this is that it should be difficult, but not a hardship. We need to learn to welcome, to embrace difficulties. They teach proportion, gratitude, generosity.