Day 28 – Consistency After Ramadan: Where Real Faith Is Built

The true measure of growth isn’t what happens during Ramadan—it’s the consistency you maintain after it ends. In this episode, Imam Safraz Bacchus explores how Ramadan serves as a spiritual training ground, preparing you not for a moment, but for a lifestyle of steady, intentional faith. Through powerful insights and analogies, he reveals why small, consistent actions—like daily Qur’an, simple acts of charity, and self-discipline—create lasting transformation long after the month is over. This conversation is a practical and inspiring guide to turning spiritual highs into lifelong habits, showing that real change isn’t built on intensity, but on consistency after Ramadan.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Peace and love be with you all, and welcome to another episode of Ramadan podcast. And I hope everyone is enjoying the blessed month of Ramadan and that you are also enjoying the conversations that we are having with our guests. I want to thank you all for supporting our podcast and somehow engaging in listening to the podcast and sharing it. Kindly subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And remember one thing that this platform is to educate, inspire, and to somehow share in a time when the world is somehow divided, and there is so much social ills, there's so much issues people are facing. And I think this is a great platform for us to have discussions, looking beyond someone's religion, looking beyond someone's ethnicity, looking beyond all of the artificial barriers that people place in front of us with intent to divide. And, you know, I want to take a moment and speak to you all about something that is quite important. And while this is related in this context to the Blessed Month of Ramadan, that there are guidelines. These are guidelines that I will share with you that will be beneficial for everyone despite their religious conviction and despite who you are. And the subject of discussion is about consistency. Let me begin with a question, right? And I'll say that why is it that during Ramadan we feel so close to God? And this is for our Muslim brothers and sisters who have been observing Ramadan. The Quran flows from our tongues and we recite the Quran regularly. Our hearts become quite softened during the blessed month of Ramadan. And our tears come easily as we lift our hands in supplication and dua. As we postrate, we have a different feeling in the blessed month of Ramadan. And I'll say that Ramadan has a very unique energy. And many of you experience that energy. And we wake up before dawn, we control our desires, we give charity, we exhort all of our efforts. We stand in prayer in the night while people are asleep. And for a moment, what happens is that life feels spiritually aligned. It feels like our lives have changed, and that there is an elevation in our spirituality. But as Ramadan begins to fade, many of us quietly wonder, right? We wonder, will this feeling stay with me? Will I still experience this feeling, right? Or will life return to its old patterns? Would I, you know, go back to my old ways and abandon everything that I used to do in the blessed month of Ramadan? Because the truth is this that Ramadan is not meant to be a temporary spiritual experience. It's not meant to be temporary, that we experience this height of our spirituality for a period of time and then after Ramadan we abandon it. I'll say that Ramadan is meant to teach us something quite important, and that is consistency. And the Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of the Almighty be with him. He mentioned quite profoundly that the most beloved act in the sight of God are those that are consistent. The act that God loves is the ones that are consistent, even though those actions may be small. And this is found in the compilation of Imam Bukhari and also Imam Muslim. So think about that, reflect, take a moment and ponder upon what I have just shared with you. God does not say the biggest deeds, but rather we are told that He loves the most consistent deeds, those that you do consistently, continuously. And this is the secret that transforms lives, not in intensity. And this can be applied to many aspects of our lives. Forget about Ramadan, that we start something and then we are not consistent with it. We try it out for a period of time, we try it out for uh a week, we exert our energy and our effort to do it within that time frame, and then after that week, we forget about that act. So I'll say that it's vital and important for us to understand that this is a secret that transformed lives with consistency, not for us to be uh harsh on ourselves and try to do multiple things with a short time span, not bursts of inspiration, but consistency. And here is it the first lesson that I want to share with all of you, right? This lesson is that Ramadan was training was about training the soul. And imagine an athlete preparing for a competition, preparing for, let me say, the Olympics. And before the competition, they enter a training camp. And as they enter into this training camp, before that time, everything changes, their diet changes as an athlete. They um the sleep pattern changes as an athlete, their discipline increases, they push their limits. Why is this? This is simply because training prepares them for real performance. This training, where there is some level of consistency and change, prepares them for real life performance. Because training prepares them for that, and Ramadan is our spiritual training camp, and I'll say we fast, we try to control our anger, we guard our speech. And as we guard our speech, we increase our prayers, we we reconnect back with the book of God and recite the Quran. It was meant to train us, right? It was meant to train us for the rest of the year. And God, He says, and worship your Lord until Satinity comes to you. And this is uh chapter 15, verse 99. God Almighty did not say worship him only during Ramadan, but he said that this journey continues after the end of Ramadan. The journey continues, it's a it's it's a continuous path in which you will be walking. Ramadan actually trains the soul, brothers and sisters. Remember that. And consistency actually sustains it. So it's important for us as we as we discuss consistency to understand that Ramadan was a training ground for our soul, and as we think about that, as we ponder upon that, we ought to be consistent with taking that which we have learned in Ramadan, that training camp or the training ground and carry it with us and walk with it. Now, the other thing that I want to share, and I want you to think about it, would be that faith is built in small daily actions. Small daily actions can be able to build something, build your faith. And one of the biggest misconceptions that we have is uh in personal growth is that transformation comes from big moments. If you want to be transformed, transform and find transformation in your life that it has to do with big moments in your life. We don't want uh and Azir, I share this with you. Like, you know, I I talk with many people, individuals, and you know, they aspire to become wealthy financially, and they want this big thing to happen. So they spend all of their money. They spend all of their money basically on the lottery ticket and doing the big things hoping that the magic will happen. Um, one out of a million basically will probably win. I don't know the stats, but I'm saying that they will take their dollar or the last five dollars and buy lottery ticket because they want to be with big and they don't want to be consistent in saving and be wise in terms of their saving. So transformation happens, does not come with big moments, but real transformation happens quietly. It happens quietly, and it happens through small daily actions. And we must be cognizant of this, must be aware of this. And imagine a small drop of water, right? Small drop of water falling on a rock. It's falling on that rock, one drop seen meaningless, you know, no benefit.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

One drop.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

But thousands of drops one after the other, after the other. What do you think is gonna happen? Over time, you can carve deep grooves into the stone. If you're one drop and you look for an impact, nothing happens. But one drop, two drops, three drops, four drops, multiple droplets, right? What's gonna happen? You will see a transformation of that stone, and this is quite powerful. And your daily habits shape your destiny, and you should actually know that that it shapes your destiny, a few pages of reading, whether it's the Quran or any other book, you know, each day would broaden broaden your horizon in terms of learning. Two extra uh units of prayer in the evening will somehow, and if you're consistent in it, consistent in it, it will change your day. Two extra rakats of prayer, moment of of gratitude, a small charity, and you're consistent in that. A small charity, a kind word, and you're consistent in that. These actions may seem small, but Allah multiplies them. God Almighty multiplies the reward. And God Almighty He says, Allow me to quote the Quranic scripture where we are told, whoever does a weight uh of good will see it. You will actually uh see the benefit of your small input, and in the sight of the divine, not in his insignificant. Because you know why consistency gives power uh to small actions. The other thing that I want to mention as well, as we talk about consistency, would be that don't chase motivation, build discipline, right? Motivation feels amazing, something amazing, right? Some days you feel inspired, and we fail to understand that motivation is temporary. Some days you feel that your faith feels very strong, and other days it feels quite distant. So you're seeing a fluctuation, you're seeing a change. One day you're here, the other day that you're there. But when you have discipline, it's different. And remember, if you worship God depends on motivation, it will disappear when motivation fades. So when you do something, whether it's worshiping, whether it's doing any act, based on motivation, when that motivation fades, what happens? It disappears. So discipline is what matters. Discipline means that you continue even when you don't feel like it. And I just want to, you know, share with you so that you understand. You know, I have been doing pre-recording recordings of these podcast series, and I have the guests. And yesterday I actually got a cold, not feeling well. Literally, I have a jacket on right now, and I'm actually sick. I have the fever, and basically, you know, uh, I'm feeling a little bit chilled. Not in the best of health because of the change of weather. But I said to myself, I continue 27, 26 days of recording, and if I don't do this record today, then tomorrow we will not have a recording. That means that there will be a lapse. And if I don't do it today, tomorrow probably I'll feel lazy and I don't want to do it. And despite this, I sit here and I'm having this conversation with you because I know the importance and I believe in consistency and I know that consistency does help. I'm a very consistent person. And I could say to you that when you are consistent, that you you will see changes in your life, you will flourish. As time goes by, you will see transformation in your life, you will see the fruits of your actions, you will see the produce of what you have planted. So be consistent. And you know, I'll I'll say that even sometimes you don't feel like to do it, what it requires of us to be disciplined. And discipline means that you continue even when basically you don't have the energy to do it. And companions, may the peace and blessings of God be with him. You know, I I'll say that they understood this, they comprehended this. They were not people of emotional faith, they're not people who were emotionally driven and their faith was driven emotionally. There were people who were steady in their faith, form in their faith.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

They live they live in a particular way.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Their lives, I'll say, were not built around routine worship, daily prayers, daily remembrance, daily charity, daily service, faith. All of it was a lifestyle. It was a lifestyle. So remember that. Let whatever you do, let it be consistent, let it let be disciplined and let it be integrated in your lifestyle. The fourth important thing that I want to mention as we discuss uh consistency would be that the real test begins after Ramadan. That's where the real test begins, right? Anyone could worship during Ramadan. You can worship during Ramadan, right? The environment supports you, the environment is there, it it it it it somehow supports you, it encourages you, it sends a positive vibe. You know, masjid, everyone is praying, you know, masjid, everyone is smiling, you have that positive vibe in the masjid. But remember that the real test begins after Ramadan. And scholars uh they they used to say these words that the reward of a good deed is another deed after it. You do a good deed, follow it up with a good deed. So if Ramadan changes your habits, then it's a sign of acceptance from the divine. If it changes your habits. Maybe you pray it every night in Ramadan after Ramadan, keep two rakat. Maybe you give charity and after Ramadan, try to give something small, once a week, once a month, be in a habit of giving charity.

unknown 18:45

Right?

SPEAKER_00 18:45

After Ramadan, you know, inculcate habits of giving and sharing. You try to suppress the evil inclinations of yourself, you try to distance yourself from certain habits and certain uh practices. Be consistent in that. Be consistent in that and understand that consistency matter matters more than intensity, and Allah, God Almighty, He loves continuity. So the other thing that I want to mention as well, that is quite profound, that consistency illuminates the heart, it brightens up the heart, causes the heart to shine. And God Almighty He says in the Quran, Allahu no rasama wat. God is the light of the heavens and the earth. When a person is consistent in worship, what happens is that the prayer softens the heart. Quran illuminates the heart, brightens up the heart. The dhikr and the remembrance of God causes your heart to attain tranquil and purify your heart. And slowly something beautiful happens in this process. Something quite beautiful happens in this process. And what it is, right? Your perspectives start to change, and that is where that should be your point that you want to reach. That when you look at things and you see it differently. You know, I used to do this and it's not right. I can see improvement. Wow. So you come to realization your perspective of things change, and as you grow older, perspective change. You know, there are individuals that start off doing things at a very young age, and they get into something, whether they get into a relationship, whether they get into something that they like, and then as they grow older, their personality changed, their thought process changed their vision of about life changes. And after a period of time, they realize they don't want to be in a relationship, they don't want to participate in this anymore, they will not do this as a major, but rather they will change because they see things differently. And that can be a good thing. That can be a good thing in this context when we start to internalize who we are and try our best and our utmost in our best to have that awareness and to notice that change.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

That change that is occurring in your life. So I'll say

SPEAKER_00 22:00

That when we think of consistency, when you're consistent, your life becomes connected to the divine, and um consistency allows the light of Ramadan to stay stable, alive in your heart. This is what it allows, this is what it does. And then I want to also mention that consistency builds a life of impact. When we are consistent, your life will be, you know, it will have an impact. You will be a radiant light. And I'll say it applies, it applies um to every area of life. Not when it comes to our spirituality alone, but strong families are built through consistent love.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

And also, communities are built through consistent service. In addition to this, leaders image through consistence dedication. You become a better leader when you're consistent in doing things, right? Great impact rarely comes from a one moment. Rarely that happens. And therefore, you know, I'll say that a leader who shows up in the community and whose small action repeats itself over time will create a very powerful change. And I'll end by saying this, right? I share this with you. There's a special type of bamboo tree, right? And that bamboo tree, I'll say when it's planted, sometimes something unusual happens. What happens is that for the first year nothing appears above the ground. The farmer waters the soil. Still nothing. The second year, that's the same thing. The second year passes, the third year passes, still nothing. The fourth year passes, still nothing. Imagine you plant something, you plant it, you water it one year, two year, three years, and the fourth year is nothing as well. You might want to give up, you might want to say what's going on here. You question yourself, you question your actions, you question the time that you're taking in pouring the water, in carrying the water, fetching the water, pouring it. You question yourself. But many people would give up. But a farmer continues watering the soil every day, he waters the soil. Then in the 50 years, something incredible happens, something amazing happens. And what's that? The bamboo tree suddenly grows 90 feet in just a few weeks. It grows. How many feet? In just a few weeks. I think that is so powerful. The bamboo tree suddenly grows 90 feet. But the growth did not happen in a few weeks. Beneath that very service, it was, you know, there was something happening. And I want to see every moment of remembrance, every small consistent deed, you may not see immediate results, but beneath the surface, your soul is growing. Your soul is growing. Your root is strengthening, and one day the transformation becomes visible. Listeners, brothers and sisters in faith, brothers and sisters in humanity, I'll say that Ramadan is coming to an end. But the journal the journey of faith continues. Do not measure success by how intense Ramadan was. Measure your success by what continues after it. Start small, stay steady, be consistent, because the Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be with him, says, the most beloved beloved day to Allah are those that are consistent, even though they are small. Consistency, it actually turns moment of inspiration into a lifetime of transformation. May God Almighty bless us all. And I hope and pray that you know these few minutes that we shared with you would have instilled something to change your perspective and your understanding of the intent of Ramadan. And maybe that you will consider to take the values that you have learned, the lessons that you have learned, small portion, and practice it out of Ramadan.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

Do not abandon that which you have learned in Ramadan. After Ramadan comes and go.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

After Ramadan departs, do not abandon the lessons and the principles that you adhere to and you live by. I love you guys so much, and I want to thank you all so much for your support to this podcast. I have started this podcast at the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan, and with the intent to inspire, to inspire, and with intent to guide, and intent to elevate, the intent to discuss matters that are relevant in our contemporary time, to share aspects of spirituality, and to discuss matters with people that may be different than us as Muslims, and to have meaningful discussions. I want to thank all of you. Kindly subscribe to our YouTube channel, um Safras Bacchus Life Institute on YouTube. Kindly subscribe and also kindly follow on Spotify.