Ramadan is coming inshAllah!

Two months to go till Ramadan inshAllah! 
Allahumma barik lana fi Rajab wa Sha’ban wa ballighna Ramadan.
“O Allah! Make the months of Rajab and Sha’ban blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadan.” [Narrated by at-Tabarani and Ahmad]

Interesting talk on Ramadan

MashAllah an interesting talk by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan

One of the best reminders: What if this is my last Ramadan

MashAllah once again another great reminder from Shaykh Tawfique Chowdhury. Please do listen inshAllah and keep us in your duas. Ramadan Kareem!

Last ten 10 days of Ramadan 2011

Please do watch the video below to keep yourself motivated to do as much as possible during the last ten days insha-Allah. Please keep me in your duas. May Allah swt grant us with the vision of Laylatul Qadr, the night of power and many more baraka-filled Ramadan in our life, ameen, ameen, ameen! It's so sad to see not that many days left till Ramadan leaves us :-(

Only 2 more days Insha-Allah

Source

Subhanallah only 2 more days left until we witness the great month of Ramadan insha-Allah. Couple of my relatives, friends have already left us within the last year to meet Allah SWT. We are indeed the lucky one to Insha-Allah witness another Ramadan in our life. Allah SWT has blessed us with so much, alhamdulillah. I want to show my gratitude through doing a lot of good deeds in Ramadan Insha-Allah!

I have been quite busy with the magazine work but I am glad that finally we have managed to re-launch the magazine today, Alhamdulillah :-) May Allah SWT accept the magazine as a sadaqah Jaariyah (ongoing charity) from us, Ameen! Now I hope to have a long break from all the magazine stuff Insha-Allah. I hope to focus more on my relationship with my Rabb Allah SWT. Imam Ibn Qayim (RA) said , "The month of Ramadan to the other months is like Yusuf to his brothers. So, just like Yusuf was the most beloved son to Ya'qub, Ramadan is likewise the most beloved month to Allah." This is the month of Qur'an. Allah SWT reveealed the Qur'an in Ramadan. I hope to also focus on the Quran and study the meaning and the tafseer ( Explanation) Insha-Allah. As a mother of three young kids, praying twenty rakat of taraweeh can be quite difficlut, given I am already struggling with my night prayer :-( But I am thinking about the quality of my worship rather than the quantity Insha-Allah. I will try to do whatever I am capable of insha-Allah. One of my weaknesses is spending so much time on-line. Facebook and blogging are the main temptations for me :-( I hope to reduce my time online insha-Allah.

So in a nutshell, during Ramadan I will try to spend more time on my salah (prayer), reciting and studying the Qur'an, doing lots of zikr , attending sisters' halaqa ( gathering), spending more quality time with my 3 & a half years old son Imran, 2 years old Ayesha and my baby Yusuf and yobo :-) insha-Allah. Sometimes I feel guilty that I spend quite a lot of time working for the magazine and not spending quality time with my family. So I am hoping that this Ramadan I will try my best to be a better wife, a better mother for my children!  I am also hoping to organise some iftar gathering for family and friends insha-Allah and I am also  thinking of trying to finish some of the books I have been planning to read for ages! My sister TK was asking me whether I would like to compete with her to memorize the surah Yaseen during Ramadan. Sounds like a good idea mashallah. Insha-Allah I hope I can do that :-) I hope and make dua to Allah SWT that He makes everything easy for us and bless us with a very productive and unforgettable Ramadan , Ameen, Ameen, Ameen!

Towards an outstanding Ramadan Insha-Allah

Mashallah last year for the first time I saw this beautiful talk by Shaykh Muhammad Al-Shareef. He is truly an amazing life coach mashallah. Whenever I listen to his talk, I feel very motivated, alhamdulillah. May Allah swt reward him with the best, ameen ! I watched it today again to get me into Ramadan mode Insha-Allah. He gives some tips about how to make it an unforgettable Ramadan. He talks about having a good intention and making lots of duas. At the end he explains briefly an imam's daily routine in Ramadan. Most of the time he is busy reviewing the Qur'an as he needs to lead the taraweeh salah at night. You must watch the video insha-Allah. May Allah swt bless us all with an outstanding & forgettable Ramadan, Ameen!

Virtues of Ramadan

Ramadan is approaching us very soon insha-Allah . Only 12/11 days left! Our prophet Muhammad ( peace be upon him) has hardly cursed anyone as he was so merciful even towards the people who tried to harm him. However,  he ( peace and blessing be upon him) did cursed the people who are fortunate enough to witness Ramadan in their life but don't make any effort to get their sins forgiven and gain closer to Allah swt!

May Allah swt save us from being among those people, ameen!

Allah swt made it easy for us to do good deed in this month by chaining the Satan and his workers for the whole month. So when we do sin in this month, we really can't blame him for our action. We will be accountable for our wrong action. May Allah swt save us from committing sins in this sacred month, ameen!

Fasting in Ramadan, solely to please Allah swt, is one of the greatest way to gain taqwa ( God consciousness) . This is also known as month of sabr (patience) as we try to refrain from eating, drinking, physical relation, backbiting and so on. This is also a great month to re-establish our relationship with the Book of Allah SWT, the Qur'an. Abdullah Ibn Amr (Radiallahu anhu) reported that the prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: " The fast and the Qur'an are two intercessors for the servant of Allah on the day of Resurrection. The fast will say: 'O Lord I prevented him from his food and desires during the day. Let me intercede for him.' The Qur'an will say ' I prevented him from sleeping at night. Let me intercede for him.' And their intercession will be accepted." (Ahmad)

Our duas ( supplication) are more likely to get accepted in this month. Abu Hurairah (Radiallahu anhu) reported that the prophet Muhammad ( Peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There are three people whose supplications are not rejected: the fasting person when he breaks his/her fast, the just ruler and the supplication of the oppressed." (Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah & Ibn Hibban) We can make a Dua  list and jot down all the things we want to ask Allah swt for, insha-Allah.

There is a beautiful and very inspiring hadith regarding Ramadan which can motivate us again and again to do our best Insha-Allah. The prophet Muhammad ( Peace and blessings be upon him) said, " My Ummah has been given five things in regards to Ramadan which has not been given to any other Ummah before them.

One is that the odour of the mouth of the fasting person is more fragrant, to Allah swt, than mask (perfume).

The second is that the angels continuously seek forgiveness on their behalf until they end their fast.

The third is that Allah swt every day adorns His Heaven and then says (to it), 'The time is near when my pious servants shall be freed from difficulties and (meagre) provisions and they will come to You.'

 The fourth is that the Shayateen will be shackled and refrained from performing the mischief that they can perform outside Ramadan.

The fifth is that they (the fasting) will be forgiven in the last night of Ramadan." (Ahmad)

To know more about the virtues of Ramadan , you can watch the video below. Shaykh Yasir Qadhi has very eloquently described the blessings of Ramadan. Mashallah his talks are always very inspiring. May Allah swt reward him for all the efforts, ameen!  Please keep me in your duas insha-Allah and spread the message :-)

Ramadan is gone :-(

I cannot beleive it! Just at the start fo Ramadan I was so excited about Ramadan and researching on how to get most out of this great month and now this beautiful month has already left us :-( In Ramadan everything becomes easier. I find it easy to concentrate on my prayers, supplications, recitation of the Quran, going through the meaning of the Qur'an etc. But as soon as the month is gone, life becomes hectic again. Trying to perform good deeds becomes a huge challange. I can feel the presence of Shayateen as well as the bad bits of my nafs. I miss Ramadan. O Allah please accept our humble deeds we tried to do just to please You, only You Insha-Allah. O Allah swt please grant us more and more blessed Ramadan insha-Allah. We all are sinful and without Your Grace and Mercy we will definitely be losers. Please help us to get closer to You insha-Allah and please grant us the oppurtunity to meet You at Jannatul Ferdous, Ameen!

Ramadan Kareem : 2010

Alhamdulillah the blessed month of Ramadan is here. We are so lucky to witness this month. All praise is due to Allah swt! Today is the 3rd day of Ramadan. I was a bit worried at the start thinking it is going to be very hard to fast for 17 hours! But mashallah it’s been alright up until now. Last month (Sha’ban) I did couple of  fasts which I believe helped me to get to Ramadan mode. The Sunnah of our beloved prophet saw was to fast in Sha’ban. Now I can see the wisdom behind it, alhamdulillah. As I have two young children, I follow a routine to do as much as possible. By 9:30/10 they go to sleep which makes it easier for me to concentrate on reciting the Quran with the meaning and the taraweeh prayer. I am finding it difficult to do twenty raka’at of taraweeh. The first day I was so tired that I don’t even remember what surahs I recited in my prayer. I felt sad thinking the quality of my prayers wasn’t really that good. So I have decided to do 8 raka’at of taraweeh. Now I have more energy and alhamdulillah trying to have more khushu (concentration) in my prayers. For me, it’s about quality not quantity. May Allah swt accept my efforts, ameen.

To get some energy, I am having atleast an hour nap after zuhr salah. I feel it is helping me to keep awake until midnight alhamdulillah. Apparently siesta is also a sunnah of our beloved prophet saw. One of my resolutions for Ramadan is to complete the recitation of the Qur’an insha-Allah. Alhamdulillah I have been reading one zuz every day. I hope insha-Allah I will be able to complete the recitation. I cannot attend the taraweeh prayer that’s why I feel I have to recite the Quran cover to cover at least once in this month insha-Allah. In terms of food, we have kept it very simple. We are not having any fried food. We break our fast with odd number of dates and water/milk then after Maghrib salah we eat a light dinner. I think it is helping us to concentrate more in our night prayers. I still remember how sick I used to feel after having all the samosas, pakoras, spring rolls etc. As we fast we think we will be very hungry and can eat a lot but honestly we don’t need to eat a lot to fill us up. Prophet Muhammad saw taught us to eat a few morsel. One of the medicines for a pure heart is to eat less. Eating less makes you sleep less as well which helps in getting some tahajjud prayers done mashallah!

Yesterday, I went to the sister’s halaqa at my local area. I am glad that the sister who runs the circle has decided to do the halaqas twice a week, alhamdulillah. She does the circle for free. May Allah swt reward her for her efforts, ameen. She was talking about the etiquette of reciting the Qur’an. We are not allowed to touch the Quran (mushaf) without wadu (Ablution). The mushaf is the Quran in Arabic which consist of all the surahs from Surah Al-Fatiha to Surah An-Nas. If the book has the translation and the tafseer , you don’t need wadu to touch it but out of respect it is preferable to have wadu. It is also very good practice to use miswak or brush your teeth before recitation. You can make intention of using a miswak while brushing with a toothbrush. The intention can also include following the Sunnah of our beloved prophet saw. She always reminds us that our mundane action can be turned into act of worship by having the right intention. When beginning to recite, we need to take refuge in Allah from the accursed Devil by saying Aaudhu billahi minasha shaitaneer rajeem and say the Basmala. We also need to wear clean clothes, sit straight not leaning, preferably facing the Ka’ba.

She also talked about reciting the Quran with proper tajweed. Knowing how to recite the Quran is a must for every one of us. It’s a fard al-‘ayn not fard al-kifaya. She told us if we cannot then at least we should learn to recite the surah Al-Fatihah with tajweed. It made me think whether we really have any valid excuse not to learn the tajweed! She also told us to read the translation if Arabic is not our native language as that will help us to increase our imaan (Allah consciousness) If the recitation of Quran doesn’t change our life then what is the point in reading the Quran? We need to remind ourselves that the Quran is not just a random book. It’s the Word of Allah swt. He swt wants us to read and reflect and follow the rulings in our daily life. Otherwise the Quran will be a witness against us on the day of judgement!

She also talked about trying to weep while reciting the Quran. If we cannot weep then we should pretend to weep as that will help to bring tears in our eyes. The companions used to cry so much reading the Quran. Some of them even had marks on their face reminding others how passionate they were about the Quran Subhanallah! Our eyes and hearts are so dry that the recitation of the Qur’an doesn’t make us cry! We should ask ourselves why we are so hard-hearted! This is the perfect month to approach our hearts and minds. May Allah swt make us better Muslims, ameen.

Ramadan is gone… what to do now?

It feels like just the other day we have started fasting and now the great month is over! I am missing Ramadan. Allah swt makes everything easier in Ramadan. Everything becomes so special during Ramadan. We feel more motivated to perform act of worship in order to please our Lord. Shayateen are chained up and the doors of jannah are open. Apparently Jannah gets decorated again in order to celebrate this sacred month. Mosques are packed with Muslims. Families get busy with iftar parties. Children are also willing to fast, asking their parents to wake them up for sehri. Even the Muslims who don’t pray their obligatory five prayers throughout the year try to fast and do their best in this holy month. To sum it up, almost everybody is in Ramadan Mode!

As a mother of two very young children, I was a bit worried before the start of Ramadan. I was wondering whether I will be able to fast, pray taraweeh and tahajjud and so on. Alhamdulillah Allah swt helped me to do as much as possible but I wish I could have done more. I think after Ramadan everybody feels like that. Our predecessors, the companions of our beloved prophet saw used to prepare six months before Ramadan so that they can do a lot during Ramadan. Unfortunately I didn’t do that much preparation and that’s why I regret not doing enough. I don’t know whether I will be given the opportunity to witness the next Ramadan. One of my very close friends was diagnosed with cancer during Ramadan 2007 and she passed away in February 2008. She was around my age. We tend to think that death is not going to come to us now as we are young! We are deluded by our own nafs and the Shaytan, thinking we have got plenty of time to waste!

Let us try our best to carry on acting upon the good deeds we have tried to do in Ramadan even if it’s the minimum we can do. In Ramadan we try to pray quite a lot of supererogatory (nawafil) prayers on top of obligatory one. We need to try to maintain that salah mode even if it means to do only two rakah as nafl salah. Allah swt loves the actions which are small but done on a regular basis. He is so Merciful and Generous to us that He has given us the wonderful opportunity to get the reward of fasting the WHOLE YEAR by just doing Ramadan fast and the fasting of only six days in Shawal! Shawal is here now so let us fast six days in this month Insha-Allah.

Our companions used to ask Allah swt for six months after Ramadan to accept their deeds done in Ramadan and they used to prepare for the next Ramadan the rest of the year by asking Allah swt to grant them the tawfiq to witness the next Ramadan. Let us follow them and do our best to be close to our Lord, Allah swt.

Ramadan is the month of training. It is the month of the Qur’an. Through fasting in Ramadan we are supposed to gain Taqwa (God-consciousness i.e. Fear and Love of Allah swt). Muslims try to recite the whole of the Qur’an in this month but unfortunately we tend to leave the Qur’an on the top shelf gathering dust rest of the year! The Qur’an is given to us for everyday of our life. This is the manual we need to refer back to on a regular basis in order to live our life as good Muslims. Our prophet saw and his companions followed the Qur’an on a day to day basis. They used to remind each other to read, recite and reflect on this great Book. They knew how vital Qur’an is to please Allah swt and reach jannah. Let us try to study the Qur’an on a regular basis and try to act upon the Qur’an. Our children will never understand and love their faith if we as parents don’t follow the Qur’an. We need to lead by example!

Ramadan as a mother

Alhamdulillah I was able to attend a lecture on the first day of Ramadan in East Ham. I love the ustadha (teacher) very much as she is very sincere and dedicated in dawah and that is why I try to attend her circle every week. May Allah (swt) reward her for sharing her knowledge with the ummah. There are quite a lot of things that I have learned through attending this particular one that insha-Allah, I hope to share with you all through this post.

At the beginning we had to go through a short brainstorming session to jot down some of the things we may find difficult as mothers during Ramadan. Not surprisingly, tiredness, lack of concentration, not being able to perform tarawih in the mosque, and the ‘what to cook’ dilemma were the frequent ones. One of the most common complaints was the feeling of not being able to do a lot during this great month.

Mashallah in response, the sister tried to explain our role as mothers and how we should tackle the issues. As mothers we are responsible for taking care of our children and husband. We are in charge of our family and they are dependant on us. We are doing khidma (service) to them! Allah (swt) has allocated us to do this great job. Our beloved Prophet (saw) has taught us that the best of us are the ones who take care of others. If we try to solve someone’s problem, Allah (swt) will relive us from our difficulties on the day of judgement. We need to change our perspective as mothers. We need to realize that our family is a blessing to us and through them we can earn Allah (swt)’s pleasure. We as mothers are not going to be asked whether we have completed the recitation of the Qur’an during this month but we will be asked how we treated our family.

Like us, women of Rasulullah (saw)’s age, once complained about their life and were told that all the work men do (e.g. performing prayer at the mosque, attending his sermons, participating in jihad) equals to the work Muslim women do at home! Subhanallah! Allah (swt) is rewarding us so much for what we are doing for our family. We are the Mujahida struggling to raise the future ummah, Insha-Allah!

However, it does not mean that we should not try to do other acts of worship during this month. We need to balance our life. Some of the tips the sister came up with are:

Preparation, preparation and preparation:
During the time of our beloved Prophet (saw), the companions used to prepare for Ramadan six months ahead. So preparation is very crucial to get the best out of Ramadan. Rasulullah (saw) used to increase his effort before Ramadan. We have to remember that we are supposed to increase our deeds during Ramadan, not just starting our acts of worship. Ramadan should be truly a month of increasing our effort to please Allah (swt)! Unfortunately, a lot of us tend to just start some deeds and stop it on Eid! May Allah (swt) save us from this sort of mentality and may he (swt) keep us motivated throughout our life and carry on doing good deeds. Allah (swt) loves the deeds which are small but frequent.

We need to gradually build up our ability to worship Allah (swt), so that by the end of Ramadan we can do more to get the benefit of last ten nights Insha-Allah. Nobody would like to miss the night of power, which is a night equal to almost 83 years! Rasulullah (saw) has rarely cursed anyone, but he did curse those Muslims who get the opportunity of having Ramadan but not benefiting from it in order to seek Allah (swt)’s forgiveness!

Meal planner: In terms of meal preparation, it’s better to have a meal planer so that we can plan our shopping list and cooking time accordingly. One of the sisters told us that it’s better to have a ten day meal planner as it makes life much easier and gives us peace of mind. It also saves us from wasting our precious pre-iftar time when our duas (supplication) are more likely to get accepted. Unfortunately during this time, sisters are more likely to be stuck in the kitchen preparing a feast! This month is supposed to be a month of moderation in everything. However, our eating habits portray the complete opposite. We as families need to evaluate this situation and change our eating habits. Unfortunately instead of losing weight as people might think you would do whilst fasting, we Muslims tend to gain weight! Our prophetic tradition teaches us to break our fast with simple food i.e. dates, milk, water, soup with meat and wheat, fruits and vegetables. For our own sake, we need to change our saturated fat and salt & sugar rich diets insha-Allah, as it will help us to do all the acts of worship easily insha-Allah.

Concentration (khushoo) in prayer:
In terms of creating concentration in prayer, the sister told us that the scholars have advised us to approach ablution (wudu) with khushoo. We need to keep in mind who we are standing before! As mothers we have to plan before prayer (salah) in terms of what our children may need, and how they can be kept occupied so that we can do our salah with full concentration. Children need to be taught to respect the prayer time. Personally, I have found giving them their own tiny prayer mat helps a lot as they feel involved in the salah. We also need to try standing in front of our Rabb with gratitude. Just imagine the many blessings He has (swt) bestowed on us! You really cannot count them all! Subhanallah!

Having the right intention:
Through having the pure intention of just to please Allah (swt), we can turn even the simplest acts into acts of worship. Everything we do can become a way to get closer to Allah (swt) if we have the right intention with the purer the intention, the higher the reward! For example, no matter how boring household chores may feel, we can remember the greater purpose behind why we are doing it them and we can turn them into ibadah. We are wives and mothers because Allah (swt) wants us to be. Our children are amanah (trust) to us. Through helping them we can help ourselves to gain Taqwa. According to Muslim scholars, Taqwa means to obey Allah (swt) hoping for His reward and mercy and avoiding sins hoping to be saved from His punishment. Allah (swt) has told us in the Qur’an that He ordered us to fast during Ramadan so that we can gain Taqwa. We need to make sure that we have Taqwa in every moment of our life insha-Allah.

In terms of difficulties in attending Tarawih as mothers, we can share our time with other mothers, offering to look after each others’ children in turn so that we all can get chance to pray Tarawih in jama’ah (congregation). From my own experience as the mother of two babies, I find it much more comfortable praying at home after 10:30 while my children are sleeping peacefully.

May Allah (swt) enable us to do our best in this holy month and grant us His pleasure and jannatul firdous, ameen.