Ramadan is a blessed month. A noble season in which good deeds are multiplied and committing sins is more serious than in any other month.
This month is a great opportunity for increasing our good deeds, our worship and obedience towards Allah.
For the sincere believer every month is an opportunity for worship. His whole life is spent in the obedience of Allah but in Ramadan he is more focused on his good deeds and turns to Allah even more.
Time passes quickly
It feels as if only a few months ago we bade Ramadan farewell and here we are welcoming it again.
Anyhow, we should be thankful for having this season of Ibadah and barakah in our lives again.
Here are a few steps we could use to excel this Ramadan
Before Ramadan
- Repentance – Start this Ramadan with a clean heart. Make sure you turn to Allah sincerely and ask for forgiveness from past sins. This will help you start Ramadan in a state of nearness to Allah and help in staying away from any further sins. Asking for forgiveness and crying before Allah makes the heart soft. Scholars say that a soft heart is the beginning to all goodness. It absorbs goodness easily while the stone hard heart ( even if it is the month of Ramadan) does not benefit from any goodness.
- Make up missed fasts- If there are any missed fasts try to make up for them before Ramadan.
- Planning- Plan out the entire Ramadan. Plan how each day will be spent. Planning and writing down your tasks solidifies it. Once your plan is in place your life becomes easy. Plan your day around the five daily prayers and Qiyamul layl.
- Practise- Start working on the things you plan to do in Ramadan from today. This will help you in knowing the short comings and you can fix them now. So that once you enter Ramadan you know what to do and what to avoid.
- Eliminate time wasters – Every moment of Ramadan is precious. So try to finish all the tasks that will in any way take up your time during Ramadan. This could be from wrapping up your Eid shopping to finishing the deep cleaning of the house. Just see what could be done before Ramadan and get it out of the way.
During Ramadan
Things to do apart from the norm of fasting and qiyamul layl etc.
- Moon Sighting- Sighting the moon on the first night of the month is a Sunnah. Just as we are excited to see the moon on the night of Eid we should similarly try our best to sight the moon of Ramadan (and for all other months as well)
- Fast with the right intention- Ramadan is the month of fasting . Let’s not go to extremes and neither make it a month of dieting and nor a month of feasting. Try to be moderate and fast for the sake of seeking the pleasure of Allah.
- Dua- Make a lot of dua in Ramadan. Allah is closer than our jugular vein. Make dua for yourself, for your parents and the Ummah at large. We are usually in a high state of imaan during Ramadan ask Allah to continue it after Ramadan.
- Try to Attain Taqwa- The main goal of Ramadan is to attain taqwa. So work really hard on it.
- Make things easier for others – Make life easy for your family members , your domestic help and all those who are under you. This does not need to be a lot, just the simple acts of kindness such as not being horribly angry with your wife for missing one dish for Iftaar would do the trick. At the same time make things easier for yourself as well by tacking care of yourself by staying away from physical and mental stress.
- Do more - Go out of your way and do as many good deeds as possible. The Prophet(Peace be upon him) was very generous but he would become even more generous during Ramadan.
Remember slow but steady. Don’t exert yourself all out on the first day. Slowly keep going in such manner that you are able to do all your ibadah till the last day of Ramadan and further.
May Allah make this Ramadan a blessing for us and a means for us getting our sins forgiven.
