بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Ramadhan is coming! MashaAllah. That time of the year where you feel most calm and peaceful (for me at least 🙂 ). Do you feel it? I always feel this kind of serene and calmness during Ramadhan, like my heart is not as anxious and busy about mundane things.
It’s probably because there are no Shaytans and everyone is busy running their own “marathons” of ibadahs to reap the full reward in this holy month.
Every time a Ramadhan comes around, everyone would be making dua and wishing they would insyaAllah be able to meet this year’s Ramadhan. We don’t know when we’re going to die right? So, it’s good that we constantly ask from Allah SWT that He allows us to be able to experience this next coming Ramadhan insyaAllah.
Here are some easy ways for you to start preparing for your Ramadhan Marathon. I heard Syeikh Umar Suleiman said in a recent video on Ramadhan that Ramadhan is a marathon, it is not a sprint. Most of us treat it like a sprint instead of a marathon.
We do as many ibadahs as we can in the first week of Ramadhan – ie. Tarawih, Quran-reading, Quran contemplation, charity, the whole thing. But towards the second, third and fourth week of Ramadhan, our energy and ibadah suddenly declines and everything takes a dip.
So, how do we prevent this from happening? In other words, how do we win this Ramadhan Marathon at a slow and steady pace but still finish with a bang in sha Allah? 🙂
These tips can help insyaAllah. 🙂
1. Set your intention
If you know me, I almost want to start every article with intention because it is super important. Without setting the right intention, our ibadah becomes void and we lose focus. You can just set your intention in your heart. Tell yourself :”This Ramadhan, I want to do as many ibadahs as I can consistently and steadily for You ya Allah, please help me and give me strength.”
2. Make a do-able (personalized) ibadah plan
Creating this ibadah plan is for you to have an overview of what you want to do daily and weekly during Ramadhan. Have a daily, weekly and monthly calendar laid out for you to slot in your Ramadhan activities – when you’re going to read the Quran, which charity to donate to, where to pray Tarawih etc. This includes your menstruation days, you can put in the activities you want to do on those days.
Set goals that you are comfortable reaching throughout the month. Ie, read a page of the Quran a day, donate 1$ a day at the masjid, pray Tarawih at a nearby mosque etc.
Your ibadah is between you and Allah alone. So, there’s no reason to feel guilty for doing too little or not enough. Allah knows you’re trying, and that’s all that matters. Okay, love 🙂
3. Learn about Ramadhan
No matter how much you already know about Ramadhan, there WILL be new things that you can learn because knowledge is endless. 🙂 So, grab a book on your shelf or get on youtube and listen to the latest topics on Ramadhan.
4. Make a dua list specifically for Ramadhan
There are specific duas and events you should look out for about Ramadhan, ie. to get LaylatulQadr and to have all your sins forgiven by Allah etc. Make a list of the duas you want to achieve during Ramadhan. And of course, you can make the duas from now so that you can get them in Ramadhan in sha Allah. 🙂
5. Make a dua list for every aspect of your life
There are several major aspects of life – your spirituality, mental, health, character, social, love relationship, career and family etc. Get clear on what you want to achieve in all these aspects of your life.
Write them down and make dua abundantly during Ramadan because that’s the month of blessing. You don’t want to miss out on your dua being answered because that is the time Allah pours down His entire Mercy and love to us all. 🙂
6. Practice fasting
Apart from finishing your qadha fasting or replacement fasting, try fasting on Mondays and Thursdays to get your engine running before Ramadhan.
“The Prophet used to try to fast on Mondays and Thursdays.” – [Tirmidhi]
7. Prepare your home and schedule
Since Ramadhan is not the ideal time for you to have a cleaning spree on your house, do it before Ramadhan. Prepare a conducive home and clean space (if you haven’t already), for you to fully concentrate on your ibadah and worship during Ramadhan.
This includes preparing your home with the extra Ramadhan items like dates and sajadahs maybe. 🙂
Speaking of cleaning, you can clean your schedule too. Maybe you go to the gym on certain days, how are you going to change it for Ramadhan? Look at your current schedule and see how you might change or ‘clean’ certain things on your calendar to have a more fruitful Ramadhan in sha Allah.
8. Prepare for Eid
Before covid-19, the week before Eid in Malaysia is the time where people swarm the malls to get their Eid outfits and other home preparations for Eid. My family is also the victim of this because we didn’t plan ahead and prepare everything BEFORE Ramadhan. So, since we can’t avoid NOT preparing for Eid celebrations, we had to do it in Ramadan.
Instead of looking for LailatailulQadr (The Night of Power), we were looking for Eid outfits. I know, sad right? 🙁
This year will definitely be different because we are still in quarantine anyway. But let’s set the intention to prepare Eid properly before Ramadhan so that we won’t have to use up our precious Ramadhan time to prepare for it in sha Allah. 🙂
Conclusion
I am still struggling with that Ramadhan dip myself. The first week of Ramadhan would usually be the peak of my ibadah victories, going into my second week, 10% of the momentum from the first week has already left the building.
This year, let’s treat Ramadhan like a real marathon. We go slow but we go steady. I want to get LailatulQadr in sha Allah. May we all have our duas answered and may we all find LailatulQadr insyaAllah. Ameen.
Any good from this article is from Allah and any evil is from the shaytaan and me. May Allah forgive our shortcomings in practicing His deen.
Wa billahi tawfeeq wa hidayah
(All successes come from Allah and His guidance).
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