Ramadan means many things. Ask anyone randomly, and naturally, most responses would have something to do with giving up food and drink during this month. Words like abstinence and self-restraint. Expressions which speak of the act of physical denial. The second tier of responses would take on the form of what would constitute achieving a sterile equilibrium of the mind–something like the cliché ‘speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil’ (thinking of which, was there ever a sequence to these three?).
I’m not sure if anybody talks about endurance.
The third ashara of Ramadan begins, and with it comes the countdown to the end of the month. While this is a time to pray for maghfirah, having asked for mercy and forgiveness in the days gone past, the final days may tend to become a time when you might start feeling time to be a drag. Actually, there is a rather strange dichotomy in the last few days, because on the other hand, there is that fleeting sense of ephemera which creeps in as Ramadan just flies past during this time, and before you realize, it is Eid.
This year, Ramadan completes three years.
Three years of building up a new life, re-learning, forgetting, learning, then forgetting again, and then learning some more again. If anything, it is endurance which would have seen me through this time.
Endurance might be my greatest takeaway from this month.