The last ten days of the month of Ramadan or how to practice the quest for excellence

The last 10 days of the month of Ramadan represented for the Prophet and his Companions a privileged opportunity to devote themselves entirely to the worship of God, to repent, to get closer to Him, and to implore Him so that He makes their wishes come true. dearest aspirations.

This worship also represents a highly recommended prophetic practice, sunna mouakkada.

In our societies, where it is not easy to completely retreat from one's environment, by isolating oneself in one of the mosques which opens its doors day and night during this blessed period, it is important to ask ourselves how not to miss out on such adoration which would allow the being to refocus on the essential, by making a break with the world around him.

This break, even if it does not take place by rigorously committing oneself to a retreat in a specific place, can take place internally.

Moreover, the deep meaning ofIrtikaf is to seek to detach one's heart and mind from any other concern than God and to continually orient one's entire being towards the direction of the Qibla. The intention and firm will to extricate ourselves from a physical, visual, sound environment, which constantly assail our inner being and our senses, is a way of achieving the objectives of retirement, even if circumstances prevent us from 'being physically in a mosque.

Let us remember that one of the principles on which Islamic jurisprudence is based consists of striving to achieve something, as much as possible, even if it is impossible to achieve it entirely.

The Messenger of God, evoking the categories of people who will have the privilege of being under the shadow of God on the day of judgment, cited the person whose heart is attached to mosques. He spoke of the heart and not of the body which, depending on circumstances (illness, travel, professional activity, family obligations, etc.) may be forced to be separated from places of worship. He also clarified that the whole land was for every Muslim, and this represents a privilege granted to his community alone, a place of prayer.

Building, internally and symbolically, a place of retreat means living it fully, if the entire being seeks to detach itself during this period from all futile concerns, from everything that prevents the heart and mind from make a real break with the surrounding world.

Certainly the Prophet, as our mother Aïcha teaches us, redoubled his efforts during the last decade of this blessed month, particularly because it includes the Night of Destiny or value, in which God decrees for each soul, for the coming year, its hope, its subsistence, etc. (surah 44, verse 4).

But in reality, he always lived in this state of closeness to God, in the continuous search for His approval, whether during or outside this month. It relates that the Messenger of God, during the night, did not pray more than eleven units of prayers, whether during the month of Ramadan or outside it.

This break, which is an aspiration which must inhabit the mind of every Muslim, is, in reality, a means of practicing being our life long in this state of retreat from an environment which monopolizes us, which occupies our mind. The rupture, among God's elect, starting with his Messengers, is a permanent state.

DGod orders the Prophet to bind himself to a continuous presence, to never break this state of presence to Him (surah 18, verse 24) which is the only way to live a true inner peace, synonymous with confident surrender to God in all thing.

God gratified and elected the People of the Cave, who lived more than 300 years removed from the world, preserving them from a society hostile to the faith they carried. This very physical retreat was, however, first and foremost an action of the heart wishing to live in intimacy with the Supreme Being.

This is how God made their highest aspirations come true by rewarding them with this permanent presence of the heart (surah 18, verse 14). This is the deep meaning of the Arabic term Ribat.

Seeking to experience this communion of the heart consists, in short, of following in the footsteps of our predecessors and the last ten days of Ramadan are a time conducive to the exercise of the ego, to a discipline to which it is not necessarily accustomed during the year. This period represents an ideal moment to practice living this permanent quest for excellence, which timelessly characterizes those chosen by God.