Ramadan: A Month of Rectification & Reform

Alhamdullilah Ramadan is around the corner, May Allah make us of those that take true advantage of Ramadan and give justice to it. Ameen. The Prophet (saw) would congratulate the Muslims at the approach of this joyous and merciful month, in order to make them aware of its magnificence and great opportunities it contained. Ramadan is a month Mercy and forgiveness. And the Prophet has cursed those who don’t take advantage of it. On one instance the Prophet (saw) said “Be his nose cut off in humiliation if a man sees the month of Ramadan but fails to have his sins forgiven.” Millions of Muslims each year prepare themselves for Ramadan mentally, physically, and spiritually. Lets ask ourselves are we of those that truly take advantage of Ramadan and prepare for it? Being 22 it’s sad to admit that looking back at my past Ramadan’s, I honestly haven’t taken full advantage of any of them. I pray Allah will forgive me for my shortcomings and inshallah this Ramadan will be different for us all. Let’s honestly ask ourselves how many more Ramadan’s do we have to go through to change our pathetic state? We need to change now and we need to change for good. We need to reform and rectify our sinful state, and hold account ourselves, before we are accounted of on the DOJ. Best way of changing ourselves is by sincerely transforming ourselves in these next 30 or so days that will come. Below are some pointers for us all including myself in taking full advantage of RAMADAN .

1) Preparing ahead of time for Ramadan:
The sahabas would prepare for Ramadan 6 months before its coming, can you imagine 6 WHOLE MONTHS. We still have time before RAMADAN to welcome it, there is about 3.5 weeks left. We can’t expect to jump into Ramadan the day of and give up every bad habit and illicit acts. We can’t do a 180 degree turn the first day of Ramadan even though it sounds so good. We need to build ourselves into that mind set slowly. I would advice making a list of bad habits one does and slowly try eradicating them before Ramadan starts. Like if one listens to music when they drive, they can listen to Quran on the way to their destination, and then music on the way back, and then slowly build a habit of listening to the Quran both ways. Step by step, piecewise is the best way of eradicating these bad habits. If one watches TV 5 hours a day, try reducing it 30 minutes a day, and by the time Ramadan comes you will be well prepared. Eradicating these bad habits or unnecessary habits will help us to optimize and utilize Ramadan to the best of our abilities. We will have more time to pray and read Quran and contemplate more during Ramadan, as opposed to struggling to give up our bad habits during Ramadan and falling into them constantly during Ramadan. Also, Sunnah fasts of Shaaban (the month we are in) help to prepare for Ramadan and help to make the transition into the holy month a smooth one.

2)Taking Advantage of Ramadan:
This is the ultimate month, where the gates of hell are closed and the gates of heaven are open. Prayers are accepted, shaytan is locked up and Mercy is flowing and pouring from the Heavens. And in it is the night which is worth more than 1000 months. During Ramadan we need to keep ourselves in check and reflect on our life. Ramadan is more than a glamorous, conventional and commercialized holiday that we have made now days. We need to revive the spirit of Ramadan. All we do is decorate our homes, our masajids, our neighborhoods, our streets etc. but we forget to decorate our souls, our insides and our hearts. How ironic is it that in a month were we are taught to rectify and reform ourselves, right before it and after it when the moon sightings occur it turns into moon fighting’s. Let’s sincerely give justice to this beautiful month. Some ways to reap befits are.

o Doing Excessive good deeds– Doing as many good deeds as possible. Praying all obligatory salah’s, Reading Quran as much as we can, Making dua’, Memorizing Quran, praying Tarweh, doing itikaaf etc.
oGiving up our Evil and bad habits– Refraining from backbiting, watching tv, listening to music, fighting, swearing, etc.
o Eating less– Many of us celebrate Ramadan with endless buffets of food and lavish iftar parties and nightly celebrations that go till morning. The whole point of us fasting is to gain discipline and taqwa, not to pig out every iftaar, and certainly not to advertise what we have eaten during tarweh. It’s like a belch competition ever time we go to Tarweh, who every can belch the loudest wins the prize. This defeats the whole purpose of Ramadan and certainly the night prayer. Instead we can eat limited iftaars and if needs be donate excess food.
o Donating– GIVE GIVE GIVE as much as you can, whether its money, food, or clothing. But most importantly LETS GIVE OURSELVES 2 ALLAH.

3) Continuing The Change After Ramadan:
We all do it and I most certainly am guilty of this, we all leave everything we learned and acquired and gained in the month of Ramadan and don’t carry it over after it ends. We need to understand Ramadan is there for us as a battery hub to charge us spiritually the rest of the year till next Ramadan. We can’t leave all the good deeds we did and all the bad habits we gave up in Ramadan and go back to being our regular selves soon as it ends. It’s absurd, illogical, irrational and plain old STUPID. Its example is as follows, lets suppose there is a farmer who works hard fertilizing his piece of land, he plants his seeds, gives them the proper amount of water and care, wards of the pesticides and other harmful agents. He works months and months nurturing, cultivating and taking care of his land. Then after the crops and fruits grow lets say he were to burn the whole crops down. Is there any logic in that? How stupid and ignorant would that be? That’s the state we have sunk to; we build ourselves up in Ramadan just so we can fall right after getting out of it. We water and cultivate our hearts, we plant the seeds of Islam, pray and read the Quran and do excess amount of good deeds, we even give up our bad deeds. Then soon as Ramadan leaves we are back to our old selves before it started, we burn down and destroy everything we have learned and acquired. We all are guilty of this to some extent and we need to help ourselves not to fall into this trap. Best way to avoid that is to prepare before Ramadan, and to perform righteous acts we did during Ramadan after Ramadan.

Sorry for making this too long, but inshallah I pray we all including myself can take these tips and pointers and make this Ramadan very special, who knows if we’ll live till the next one, or even this one. Inshallah we all can change for the better permanently . Ameen.

“ This month of Ramadan has approached you, a blessed month in which Allah has made fasting an obligation, opened wide gates of Paradise, locked up the gates of Fire, and chained the demons, and in it there is a night better than one thousand months, so whosoever is deprived of its good, is truly deprived”( Ahmad)