The month of Ramadan is Shahrul Mubarak; the month of blessing.
Ramadan opens the doors to immense reward.
The gates of Jannah are wide open, and the gates of hell are shut, and the devils that whisper in your ear for 11 months of the year are locked away for this golden month.
This is your chance to maximize your deeds, your connection to Allah, and to undo the bad habits you gained over the year.
Here are 6 simple ways you can make the most of this blessed month.
Don’t Feast, But Feed!
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“He who gives food for a fasting person to break his fast, he will receive the same reward as him, without nothing being reduced from the fasting person’s reward.”
[Jami’ al Tirmidhi]
Ramadan is a month of feeding, not the month of food.
People seem to waste Ramadan in dinner parties rather than worshiping Allah and feeding the people in need.
If there are only two things you can focus on this Ramadan. Let it be the Quran and feeding others.
“When Ramadan came, al-Zuhri used to say, ‘There is only reciting the Qur’an and feeding others.’”
– Ibn Rajab ِal Hanbali
Work on Your Manners
Rasulullah ﷺ said:
“Whoever does not abandon falsehood in word and action, then Allah has no need that he should leave his food and drink.”
[Sahih Bukhari]
Ramadan is training you for life all year long by forbidding what’s halal like eating, drinking, and sexual relations while fasting.
On top of that, you are depriving yourself from sleep in the night for the sake of worship!
When you can withhold yourself from the most base urges every human experiences, then what’s stopping you from holding back from everything else?
Smoking, drinking, anger, bad language, missing salah etc.
Ramadan proves to you what you have always been capable of doing; holding back.
So let this month be your training ground to work on your bad habits.
Ramadan is not limited to putting a pause on bad habits but about breaking them permanently.
Increase Your Charity
Ramadan is the month of giving and mercy, and in it Allah blesses the believers with forgiveness and saves them from Hellfire. Therefore, whoever is merciful and giving in Ramadan, Allah will be even more Merciful and Giving, and will bestow upon him countless bounties and blessings.
Ibn `Abbas said:
“The Prophet ﷺ was the most charitable amongst the people, and he used to be more so in the month of Ramadan when Jibreel used to meet him on every night of Ramadan till the end of the month.”
[Sahih Bukhari]
Observe The Night Prayer
Praying Qiyam al Layl (The Night Prayer) will make your Ramadan unforgettable.
Make an effort to catch Taraweeh as frequently as you can, and if you are a mother unable to attend the masjid, then don’t miss out on praying your Qiyam at home when the kids are asleep.
Maximize your benefit from prayer and make it your priority.
The night prayer in Ramadan has a special consideration different from any other time of the year, as the Prophet ﷺ told us:
“Whoever prayed at night in it (the month of Ramadan) out of sincere Faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven.”
[Sahih Bukhari]
Increase Your Dua
“When My worshipers ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the supplication of the suppliant when he calls to Me; therefore, let them respond to Me and let them believe in Me, in order that they will be righteous.” [Quran, 2:186]
This ayah was mentioned in between the verses talking about fasting to show us the importance of dua. Make dua for this life and the hereafter.
Allah will answer your dua, either in this life by giving you what you asked Him or by protecting you from a calamity or great harm that could have happened to you, or Allah will keep it as a reward in the hereafter for your patience.
It was narrated from Abu Sa’id that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“There is no Muslim who does not offer any dua in which there is no sin or severing of family ties but Allah will give him one of three things in return: either He will answer his dua sooner, or He will store it up for him in the Hereafter, or He will divert an equivalent evil away from him because of it.”
The Companions said:
“We will make a lot of dua.”
He ﷺ said:
“Allah is more generous.”
[Narrated by Imam Ahmad]
Repent, Repent, Repent!
The Messenger of Allah, ﷺ, said:
“May he be humbled, who enters the month of Ramadan, and it passes before he is forgiven.”
[Sunan al Tirmidhi]
Why? Because when someone knows how vast Allah’s mercy is in Ramadan above all months, and yet they still refuse to seek that mercy, then what can you expect of them for the rest of the year?
What greater humiliation could there be?
Ramadan is a chance to reset, it’s a spiritual station for renewal and redemption for the rest of the year.
Don’t fall back into bad habits and lesser ibadah.
Continue doing the good deeds to the best of your ability even after Ramadan.
“O you who has fulfilled and completed [the blessed month of] Ramadan in the best of manner, should not change [unless for the better] thereafter in the month of Shawwal.”
– Ibn al Jawzi
