There’s a story about a man rowing his boat.

We for You | Daily Reflection | by Abu Hamdan

He sees another boat coming straight towards him.
He starts shouting: “Stop! Change direction! Don’t come this way!”

The boat keeps coming.
He gets angry. Ready to confront the person inside.

They collide.

He stands up… and realises the boat was empty.

No one was there.

And suddenly… all the anger disappears.

Same collision.
But no one to blame.

I’ve seen many *Muslims in Ramadan fasting all day*… then Maghrib time comes and there’s road rage. Snapping at wives. Getting irritated with children.

SubhanAllah.

We stay hungry for Allah…
but we can’t stay calm for Allah?

Sometimes the problem isn’t the traffic.
Or the delay.
Or the tone.

Sometimes it’s the story we create in our head.

How many times in life do we react before we even know the full picture?

Someone says something.
Someone delays replying.
Someone behaves differently.

We assume intention.
We assume disrespect.
We assume it’s personal.

But sometimes… it’s just an “empty boat”.

Not everything is an attack.
Not everything is deliberate.
Ramadan doesn’t create anger.
It exposes what was already there.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

*“When one of you is fasting, let him not behave ignorantly or shout…” (Bukhari & Muslim)*

Maybe part of taqwa is treating every irritation like an “empty boat”.

Pause.
Don’t assume intention.
Don’t react before thinking.

If fasting doesn’t soften our reactions, then we’re just staying hungry.

May Allah give us control over our anger before our anger controls us. Ameen