6 Days of Shawwal- Day Six

Day Six: The importance of Muslim friends and community.

During the last ten days of Ramadan, I spent a lot of time at the Masjid. Some people were there for itikaf, and some came nightly to perform tahajjud. I saw a community of women, encouraging and supporting each other. These women, who otherwise might not perform all these extra acts of worship alone, had their friends to keep them accountable. They came together and were guides to one another. They encouraged each other to do adhkar, pray tahajjud nightly, read their Quran, even perform itikaf. I stayed with these women for some nights and I was so amazed by the impact that they made on one another.

How many of us are surrounded by this kind of support? Do we have friends that will help us be better Muslims? Do we have friends that will encourage us to worship and serve Allah more?  There is power in numbers. We need to increase the number of good Muslim friends we have. Integrate ourselves in groups of people who will motivate us to be better. No man is an island and we definitely need support, especially now.

This sort of Muslim kinship is one of the things I will miss most about Ramadan. Ramadan brings us all together in a way that is not seen throughout the rest of the year. There is a camaraderie, a love and connection  that strengthens during Ramadan. Its a "we are all in this together" phenomenon. We draw closer together, we have iftar together, we stay at the masjid together. I will miss it. But as I mentioned in the last post, it might be any of our duties to try to maintain this brotherhood post Ramadan. We need to pull this brotherhood into the rest of the year. We need each other. And we need to realize that now.