بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
“In the name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”
1. MAKE AN INTENTION TO CHANGE OUR LIFE
Make a sincere intention to change. Make a list of good deeds you are going to start doing & a list of sins you are going to leave. If you don’t make it to Ramadhan or you fall sick (Allah forbid), you will still get the reward for having the intention. SubhanAllah! How kind is our lord. May we all reach Ramadhan with Khair & Aafiyah Insha’Allah & so we can act upon what we have intended & multiply our reward.
2. MAKE A LIST OF SINS YOU ARE GOING TO AVOID
“There are people who fast and get nothing from their fast except hunger” -Ibn Majah
The purpose of fasting is not only giving up food & drink, rather Allah ﷻ has commanded us to fast so that we may attain piety (taqwa). Hence real fasting means refraining from sin. This is the fasting of the heart, not just the fasting of the body. Go through your day & list the things that would be classed as a sin & make intention to refrain from them not only in Ramadhan but after Ramadhan too. Try to work on them from now so you are already in the habit of abstaining from them. Along with making sincere efforts, make lots of du’aa to Allah ﷻ to help & guide you. May Allah ﷻ make our fasts worthy of great reward. Aameen
3. PLAN YOUR MEALS
Plan your meals & schedule how much time you are going to spend in the kitchen daily. Try to make small preparations a few weeks ahead that will make a big difference & allow you to spend less time in the kitchen.
A few things that you can do:
- Prepare any meals / savouries/ marinate some meat depending on how it works in your house, that you can freeze & pull out as needed.
- Wash & freeze your meat for the whole month, this will save you time in the kitchen & the hassle of shopping.
- Try to do as much extra shopping that you can, again saving you time & trips to the stores.
- Make your chapattis & freeze them- A big time saver!
- Plan & simplify your meals. An easy way of doing this is to plan your meals for the first two weeks & then follow this menu again for the last two weeks.
- Prepare essential ingredients before Ramadhan such as ginger garlic paste, garlic paste & green chillies, pizza sauce, homemade marinade, chutneys etc
4. MAKE DU’AA SINCERELY
Make du’aa Allah allows us to witness Ramadhan. The Prophet used to make the following du’aa when the month of Rajab would commence:
اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ لَنَا فِي رَجَبٍ وَ شَعْبَانَ وَ بَلِّغْنَا رَمَضَانَ
“Allahumma barik lana fi Rajabin wa Sha’bana wa ballighna Ramadan”
O Allah! Make the months of Rajab and Sha’ban blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadan.
Do not underestimate the power of du’aa & do not over estimate your capabilities. You may have had a sincere intention but maybe, you did not ask Allah ﷻ to help you achieve it. If that’s the case, you will eventually end up giving up on it. Remember, that without the will, mercy & help of Allah ﷻ , you cannot be successful. Ask Him to help you, to make you steadfast & to help you attain His pleasure. Ask for His guidance, for the ones who are truly guided are the ones guided by Allah ﷻ.
5. REPENT SINCERELY AND CONTINUOUSLY
Don’t wait until Ramadhan to repent. Repent now and ask Allah ﷻ to forgive your sins, so that you go into Ramadan with no sins.
There are 3 conditions for the validity of tawbah (repentance): 1) Leaving the sin. 2) Regretting committing the sin. 3) Making a firm intention not to commit the sin again.
After tawbah (repentance), if one happens to commit the same sin again, he should do tawbah again. As long as he does tawbah sincerely every time with the above conditions, Allah ﷻ will forgive him Insha’Allah
Istighfaar (asking Allah ﷻ for forgiveness) has many virtues. It doesn’t only remove the sins of a believer, but it is also a beautiful & POWERFUL DUA. Istighfaar brings upon ALLAH’S ﷻ MERCY, resulting in the ACCEPTANCE OF DUAS, barakah & increase in SUSTENANCE & CHILDREN.
There was once a scholar & every time someone came to him with a problem, whether it was struggling to conceive, finding a partner or being in need of job etc, he would always prescribe them with istighfaar, as Allah’s ﷻ mercy removes our problems & istighfaar brings upon this mercy of Allah ﷻ.
6. GET THE HOUSE DEEP CLEANED
Get the house deep cleaned & do anything extra that you need to do before Ramadhan, so that in Ramadhan you have less to do. This will free up your time for extra prayers, recitation of the Quraan, listening to the tafseer (explanation of the Quran) etc.
The fasts are long & can make you feel tired. Try not to overwork yourself in Ramadhan. Take it easy so you can spend your energy & time in ibadaah (worship).
A clean, fresh environment will also mentally motivate you to be productive.
A little tip that our teachers always encouraged us to do was to recite Astagfaar whilst cleaning. Remove the dirt of our sins & heart whilst we remove the dirt from our homes. SubhanAllah love this concept.
7. PLAN HOW MUCH QURAAN YOU ARE GOING TO RECITE/STUDY.
The special connection that the holy Quran has with Ramadhan, is that the first revelation of the Quran was in the month of Ramadhan. Therefore, we too should make an extra effort to connect with the Quran. This can be done in the following ways.
1) Plan how much Quraan you are going to recite:
•Set a realistic goal.
•Try to atleast complete 1 Quran throughout the month.
•Deduct your Menstruation days & plan how much you will need to recite daily so you are not rushing near the end or, praying too much at the beginning & feeling lazy towards the end of the month.
2) If you do not not know how to recite the Quraan, listen to the Quraan & make some time to attend tajweed classes.
3) Attend tafseer classes at your local masjid/madrassah or listen to the tafseer of a reliable scholar online.
Reward for reciting one letter of the Quran = 10 rewards
Reward for reciting one letter of the Quran in Ramadhan= 10 x 70 = 700! SubhanAllah!.
8. FORGIVENESS
Ask forgiveness from those whom you have wronged. Especially from those whom you have spoken bad about, as this is usually taken very lightly. Many times we do not even class it as a sin. You do not have to go into details of what you have said, as this will make matters worse, just ask for general, sincere forgiveness.
Don’t forget to ask forgiveness from the people in our very own homes whom we are not on taking terms with. Remember Allah ﷻ will not forgive us for wronging others untill they forgive us.
Be sincere in asking for forgiveness, don’t just send a FORWARD MESSAGE to your whole contact list. This is meaningless. You know whom you have wronged, send them a sincere, personal message or give them a call. Don’t leave it till Ramadhan & then call everyone up as soon as Ramadhan is announced. Be considerate & don’t waste people’s & your own time by spending hours on the phone in the first few blessed hours of Ramadhan. Most importantly, go into Ramadhan with a clean heart. Forgive those who ask you for forgiveness & those who don’t. Do it for the peace of your mind & for the sake of Allah ﷻ.
9. EXTRA IBAADAH
Plan what extra ibadaah you are going to do. Little but constant is the key. You may want to add on nafl salaah, certain adhkaars, attending fiqh or tafseer classes etc to your list along with recitation of the Quraan. Now is the perfect time to work out your qadha salaah & get them ticked off or atleast start to pray them. Ibadaah does not only mean to pray all day. Doing everything Allah has commanded us to do & refraining from everything He has told us not to do is ibadaah. Refraining from sins is also an ibadaah.
10. TAKE OUT SOME MONEY TO SPEND IN CHARITY
Ramadhan is the time many calculate & give their zakah as the reward in Ramadhan is increased. Just like fasting purifies our soul & cleanses our body, Zakah purifies the wealth. Zakah should be given on the same date every lunar year & is compulsory on every mature male & female who owns any assets (money, gold, silver, stock / merchandise) equivalent to or more than the Nisaab. Try to learn about the rulings regarding zakah.
Zakah calculator can be found on the following website: https://wellwishers.org.uk/tools /zakah-calculator.
Also put some money aside to spend in sadaqah daily as the great scholar Hadhrat Shakyh Muhammad Saleem Dhorat has said: “During every night of Ramadhan, spend £1 in charity, if it happens to be Laylatul Qadr, you will receive the reward of spending £1 every day for 83 years. SubhanAllah!
Tayyibah Tree 