Keep The Memories of Ramdhan Alive
The blessed month of Ramadan with its beautiful days and fragrant nights have past. It was indeed the month that was adorned with the Qur'an, taqwa, patience, jihad, mercy, forgiveness and freedom from hellfire…
After experiencing this great bounty of Allah, there are many questions and numerous thoughts that ought to come to 
the heart of a sincere believer.
With a few days of the month of Shawwaal having already past the most important thing is that we need to ask ourselves: Have we already returned to our old ways?
There is statment of Ka’ab Radiyallahu Anhu that should send shivers down our spines. He said: “Whoever fast the month of Ramadhan, whilst making a resolution that he will never return to sin after Ramadhan, this person will enter Jannah without having to account for his deeds and without reckoning. In contrast to that, whoever fast the month of Ramadhan, whilst the thoughts of retuning to sin linger on his mind, then this persons fast will be rejected.”
In this statement of Ka’ab Radiyallahu Anhu there are great glad tidings for those who made a change in their lives and abandoned sin in Ramadhan and after Ramdhan. There is also a grave warning for those whom after experiencing Ramdhan have returned to their old bad habits. The warning is that their entire month of Ramadhan with all the acts of worship may be rejected. May Allah save us.
If we return to our old habits after Ramdhan, we will be destroying our good deeds that we worked so hard for. It does not behove a person of intellect to destroy something they worked so hard for.
Allah Ta’ala gives us an example in the noble Quraan:
وَلا تَكُونُوا كَالَّتِي نَقَضَتْ غَزْلَهَا مِنْ بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ أَنْكَاثًا Be not like one who has sewn and then destroyed it...
Ibn-e-Khatheer Rahimullah states that in this verse reference is made to a mentally challenged lady from Makkah who would spend the entire lady sewing an item. Thenat the end of the day she would destroy it herself. Shreding it thread by thread.
Or like the person who earns a fortune trading throughout the day, then when the night comes, he throws away all that he has earned, tearing up each note. What would people say about such a person?
This is the condition of one who returns to sinning and evildoing after Ramadan and leaves the obedience of Allah and righteous actions. So after we were favoured with the blessing of obedience and enjoyment of communicating with Allah we returned to the blaze of sins and evil actions. How evil are the people who know Allah only in Ramadan!
If the fasting in Ramadan has ended, then there remains voluntary fasting, such as fasting six days in Shawwal, on Mondays and Thursdays, the three days in the middle of the month, the days of `Aashoora and `Arafat, and others.
If standing in prayer at night during Ramadan has ended, then there remains voluntary the Tahajud Salaah throughout the year. {{"They used to sleep but little of the night."}} (Quran, 51:17)
If the charity in Ramadan and Saqatul-fitr have ended, then there is the obligatory Zakat, and also there are many other open doors to charity.
Reading of the Qur'an and contemplating it is not only for Ramadan, rather it is for all times.
Righteous actions are for all times and all places, so we need to continue striving for the sake of Allah and keeping the memories of Ramadhan alive with us. We should not be like those, who have the Ramadhan calendar stuck on the fridge door, and a bold black permanent marker is brought at every Iftar, and we draw across that day a thick bold line in such a way that we make certain that day must not return. Therefore, I hope that we do not scratch Ramadhan out of our minds in such a way, that we should not even talk about it again.