Improving our Iman and Dealing with the World.

I feel like the small efforts I have been making regarding my faith are starting to pay off, although this is nothing to be complacent about, I just feel a difference from some weeks ago. Of course a big part of the reason for this is that it’s the blessed month of Ramadan and you always find yourself doing a bit better in matters of faith.

Now and again when I am de-motivated or feeling a little down, I do an exercise where I list ten reasons to be grateful for today. I did this, this morning because I was feeling down that I couldn’t do as much ibadah (worship) in the last day or two and the upcoming day or so because of work and the silly amount of time spent in the kitchen. Something that made me think was number ten on my list for today:

10 Things to Be Grateful For Today
1. I am able to fast
2. I have my health after a horrible period of illness
3. I am going to enjoy iftar tonight at my friends house
4. I am trying hard to get the children into a better routine
5. Hubby has agreed to get an imam to come home for the kids
6. I am in a position to get lots of work done today (and have taken tomorrow off)
7. I am in a position to get lots of writing done today
8. My husband listens to my concerns and tries to help
9. I think I am losing a small amount of weight (or that may be wishful thinking)
10. I think my iman has improved some and I am dealing with things better

I realised that in the last few days, despite being busy and tired, I have been dealing with things that life throws at me somewhat better. When people have been annoying me, I am less likely to feel slighted or take it personally. When I start thinking about how much time I am spending in the evening in the kitchen and about having to wake at 3am to make breakfast for everyone, I feel less and less resentful and focus more on the reward I will get from Allah (SWT) for taking care of my family insh’Allah.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that I am behaving perfectly. My husband still had to put up with my silent sulking in the car this morning (when I realised I had tried to catch up on my sleep and the rest of the family have sat up in the early hours of the morning yakking without me). However, I can still feel a difference. I let things go, I don’t let things get to me or assume they are anything to do with me. If they are still annoying me, then I find it so much easier to tell myself to keep quiet and have patience for the sake of pleasing Allah (SWT).

The point of this is not to bang my own drum, an improvement for me isn’t actually a big improvement for anyone else considering how poor I felt my practise of my faith had become. What I realised today was that the difference an improvement in your iman makes to the way you deal with life: your relationships, your everyday work and dealing with the setbacks that you come across. Of course every improvement we make should be for the sake of Allah (SWT) only or it is worthless, but it’s a nice thought that the dividends of our efforts to improve our iman and work harder at being good Muslim’s can be felt in other parts of our lives insh’Allah.