Three reasons why you should enact your Ramadan goals now!

Bismillah!

Are you excited about Ramadan being around the corner! May Allah give us Ramadan Aameen!

I know there are a LOT of webinars, blogs, and videos on preparing for Ramadan and I am really glad about it because it shows that we value Ramadan. When you expect an important guest, do you just wait for them without any sort of preparation? Of course not, you would probably clean the home, order more expensive food items or just buy more groceries in general. You would probably cook one of your best dishes, you would wash and change the bed sheets and prepare their room, you might even buy some flowers to welcome them. Maa shaa Allah. Our beautiful guest Ramadan deserves no less! Let’s welcome it with beautiful ibadah, beautiful acts of worship. Indeed, the month of Sha’ban is a month Rasulullah Salallahu Alayhi wa salaam doesn’t want us to neglect:

Usamah ibn Zayd reported: I said, “O Messenger of Allah, I do not see you fasting any month as much as you fast during Sha’ban.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “It is a month people neglect between the months of Rajab and Ramadan. It is a month in which the deeds are raised to the Lord of the worlds and I like for my deeds to be raised while I am fasting.”

Source: Sunan al-Nasā’ī 2357

Grade: Hasan (fair) according to Al-Albani

In our membership club, we just completed the challenge of March which was to prepare for Ramadan. We had a 7 day challenge resulting in us having clear goals for Ramadan. Alhamdulillah! The final task, the task for day 7 was to start enacting our ideal Ramadan day now. Here are three reasons I want to share with you as to why you too should be thinking of enacting to some extent your ideal Ramadan day Al AN (now):

Reason#1

Setting up a sincere intention in the hope that the full reward of a day in Ramadan is granted if we return to Allah before Ramadan.

(4:100) “And whosoever leaves his home as an emigrant unto Allah and His Messenger, and death overtakes him, his reward is then surely, incumbent upon Allah. “

Ibn Kathir explains this ayah saying that it means, whoever starts emigrating and dies on the way, he will acquire the reward of those who emigrate for Allah. The Two Sahihs, along with the Musnad and Sunan compilers, recorded that `Umar bin Al-Khattab said that the Messenger of Allah, Salallahu Alayhi wa salaam, said:

The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions, and every person will be rewarded according to what he has intended. So, whoever emigrated to Allah and His Messenger, then his emigration is for Allah and His Messenger. And whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration is for what he emigrated for.)

This Hadith is general, it applies to Hijrah as well as every other deed. Thus, reason number 1 is to confirm our intentions since tomorrow is not guaranteed. If it is decreed that we will go back to Allah before Ramadan but on that day, we got up and prepared for Ramadan by reading more Qur’an, fasting, freeing up our schedule, requesting days off for the last ten days, meal prepping, giving sadaqah etc…, we hope that these deeds are accepted as deeds of Ramadan. Aameen.

Reason#2:

Building Ramadan habits before Ramadan so our body is less shocked by the change. I learned this the hard way, years ago when I was a regular coffee drinker and didn’t change my habits right before Ramadan. It was a brutal awakening literally! So if you plan to read 5 pages of Qur’an a day, start figuring out when you will do it and start reading before Ramadan. This will also help you see potential obstacles to your goal and allow you to readjust things before Ramadan. You can also fast or reduce your food intake during the day now so your body adjusts in time for Ramadan. These are just examples to get you thinking. 🙂 What else can you think of? Brainstorm and use these next two weeks to implement and readjust.

Reason#3

Increasing in worship now before the shayateen are chained is also a beautiful way to protect ourselves from their attacks. If you increase your reading of Qur’an, your fasting, your adhkar, guess who will be pushed away?! Yep you guessed right! Shayton can not stand the dhikr of Allah, so dhikr away dear sis! Plus remember that our deeds of the year are being presented to Allah as per the above hadith.

This tip is also to be applied right after Ramadan, during the month of Shawwal because the Shayateen are released and we know they won’t just ignore us right! Alhamdulillah the Sunnah helps us there to with the fast of Shawwal.

Talking about dhikr, this Ramadan in the membership club, I will in shaa Allah teach the morning and evening adhkar daily starting on April 13th. If you want to join us, click on the picture below to be on the waiting list in shaa Allah. Those on the waiting list will be the first informed about the open enrollment and will be given a special bonus in shaa Allah.

Go ahead and do some good by sharing this post with anyone you think might benefit. 🤩 May Allah accept from you and from me. Aameen.

Binta Umm Yahya is the owner of Al An 4 U Online Coaching which is an online platform for Qur’an lessons, Islamic studies and Lifecoaching for Muslimas and women interested in Islam. She has been teaching Qur’an for over 7 years now and is an ongoing student of Qur’an with her husband imam Ahmed Abu Suhailah. She loves reciting, teaching and reflecting on the Qur’an. She is a Certified Master Lifecoach and a NLP Practitioner who absolutely enjoys coaching her sisters in faith to help them gain clarity, focus and understanding of their religion so they live their best life and connect to their Maker. Whenever she is not teaching or coaching, you can find her staring at the sky, reading or journaling with a big cup of tea. 🙂