Ihsaan Magazine May 2020 Issue - Living your best Life | страница 25

Ramadan in 2020 count if it
is to be our last? How do we
maximise these last ten days
and night? The following
are some points for us to
consider.
Know Ramadan
Ramadan brings with it,
an abundance of blessings,
virtues and opportunities.
We must remind ourselves of
these – the special blessings
of Ramadan – the multiplied
rewards, the forgiveness
of sins, the acceptance of
dua, and so many others.
Refreshing our knowledge
of the amazing opportunity
that is Ramadan will fuel our
desire to want to succeed in
this blessed month.
Ramadan 2019 Self Audit
It is commonly said that
the definition of insanity
is doing the same thing
repeatedly and yet expecting
a different result. Therefore,
if we are to embark upon
our last Ramadan that we
will ever see, then we must
identify areas in which
we can improve on from
previous Ramadans. This
means looking back at our
last Ramadan and identifying
aspects which worked for
us. Maybe we found an
appropriate time to read
Qur’an, perhaps iftar at home
was more meaningful, maybe
we found efficient means
of giving charity. Similarly,
we have to identify areas
that were obstacles for us
during the month and see
how we can overcome these
obstacles in this, our possible
last Ramadan. This simple
exercise will equip us with
an improved approach to the
best time of the year.
The Snowball Effect
Think of a snowball rolling
down a hill. It starts as a baby
snowball and quickly gains
size and momentum. By the
time it reaches lower down
the hill, it is massive and has
tremendous potential. Let us
face it – we all enter Ramadan
being spiritually flabby. It’s
ok to admit that. Let’s try to
pick up momentum by doing
more, establishing regularity
and consistency, so that in
these last ten days and nights,
these small habits would have
grown into a fixed routine.
These beneficial acts will
become easy, natural and
fluent in our days and nights
and will reap tremendous
benefit for us, insha Allah!
Setting Goals
If we do not know where
we are going, any road
will take us there. This is
a statement I learnt from
one of my teachers and has
always remained with me.
If we do not have a plan for
achieving something, then we
will likely never achieve that
thing. Similarly, if this may
be our last Ramadan, then
we should take a moment
and really think of what
we want to achieve. If we
neglect to do this, we may end
the month feeling satisfied
with whatever we did, never
knowing that we could have
done more.
The goal for Ramadan is
defined for us in Surah al
Baqarah (2:183) – Taqwaa.
How do we achieve this
Taqwa, though, is what I
am referring to. So all of
our goals should lead back
to the attainment of Taqwa,
and they should be specific,
measurable and realistic.
Some examples are: Reading
the entire Qur’an (or some
specified amount), praying all
my prayer on time, watching
a video series on Tafseer, etc.
These specific, tangible goals
can help us to focus and work
harder towards achieving the
overall goal of Taqwa.
The next three points
revolve around an overall
reminder for us all. You see,
in Ramadan, we strive to
do as many acts of worship
that we can do. We put in
tremendous effort into the
number of units of prayer
we perform, the number of
pages of Qur’an we recite, the
number of times we make
dhikr, etc. However, equally
as important to us should
be quality of the worship
we perform and not just the
quantity that we focus on by
default.
Therefore, the following
three points are some
recommendations to help us
to improve the overall quality
of three actions, which
we perform frequently in
Ramadan – Salaah (prayer),
Reading Qur’an and Dua
(Supplication).
High-Quality Prayer
Allah SWT says in Surah
Hajj, “O you who have
believed! Bow down, and
prostrate yourselves, and
worship your Lord and
do good that you may be
successful.” (22:77). Notice
that the success isn’t
guaranteed, demonstrated by