In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful
Ramadan is right around the corner! With less than a month left, if we haven’t already begun, now is the perfect time to dig our heels in and start getting ourselves ready for this blessed month! For the next four Mondays, we’ll be doing a sort of Ramadan countdown inshaAllah. This week we’re talking about preparing our own selves – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually!
As a wife, mom and/or homemaker we sometimes feel like our other responsibilities and our little ones that we are responsible for get in the way of our Ibadaah. I want to go ahead and debunk that before we go any further! Yes, our worship might look a little different… We might have to fit time for reading Qur’an in between diaper changes and nap times but we have to remember that taking care of those Allah has entrusted to our care is worship as well if we keep the correct intention!
With a little preparation in these few weeks leading up to Ramadan, we’ll be able to prepare ourselves and get things into place so that we are able to make the most out of our month and come out on the other side feeling refreshed and refueled! Here are 8 things we can do now to prepare for Ramadan:
1. Start getting your intention set!
As a Muslim, we know how important making your intention is. We know that every deed is judged according to the intention. When Ramadan is officially upon us, we’ll want to set our intention to fast and for the individual acts of worship we’ll be doing throughout a given day on a daily basis. In addition to that though, now is a good time to think about the overall month and what you’d like to spend your time on. What do you want your relationship with Allah to look like throughout the month of Ramadan? When you set your intentions, you want to be realistic but at the same time this is different from setting your goals, you can allow yourself to be a bit idealistic as well.
2. Repent!
Of course, we should be repenting all the time but seeking forgiveness in these couple weeks leading up to Ramadan will help us become more conscious of the habits we need to work on changing or building in our life and also it will help us establish a greater awareness of Allah. When we repent, we’re also purifying our hearts and hopefully this will allow our hearts to be more open to all the blessings and virtue to be found in the month of Ramadan.
3. Work on cutting down distractions!
Ramadan is a special time of year and we never know if this will be our last time to enjoy the humbling beauty and blessings of it. Therefore we should strive to make the most out of the limited time and do as much as we are able. If we wait until Ramadan starts and then expect to out (think TV, music, Facebook, etc), we are going to have a much harder time than if we slowly cut back on some of those things. We can also use the time that we’ll have once we’re no longer allowing ourselves to be distracted as much to start building better habits.
4. Take some time to reflect on the previous Ramadan!
When we are working hard in Ramadan to improve our relationship with Allah, we should not be competing with others but it is a good idea to try to improve ourselves each year. We can make the intention to level up from one year to the next. In order to do this effectively, we must be able to take a close look at our previous Ramadan. Examine how we felt – did we feel like we used our time wisely, did we accomplish our goals, did we feel connected to Allah? We can also look at how we managed our time, what habits did we work on, and the like. The point in reflecting on our last Ramadan is so that we are able to identify what we did really well at and can build off of for this year, as well as what we could use more work on and thus come up with some beneficial goals.
5. Make some goals!
If we fail to plan, we are planning to fail. When we set time aside to decide on some goals to work on for Ramadan, we are able to identify what we really hope to get out of Ramadan, how we can make that realistic for ourselves with our given circumstances and we can take the steps necessary to actually accomplish that for ourselves. It is important to be realistic. We don’t want to set goals that are too many such that they will be overwhelming. Nor too difficult, such that we know that unless a miracle happens, we’re not going to be able to do it. We want to keep it simple and make sure that whatever it is, we have our intentions straight.
6. Meal plan!
Next week, we’re talking about getting our family prepared for Ramadan and we’ll talk a little more about this in that post. For now however, it is important that you plan ahead what you and your family will be eating during the month. Not only will it save you a lot of time and effort throughout the month, it’ll be helpful in limiting food waste and it will also help you be mindful with your budget!
7. Look at your schedule!
As much as possible, you don’t want to have a whole bunch of events or appointments scheduled during Ramadan. You can’t take a break from life for the whole month of course but you do want to simplify as much as possible. This is a special gift from Allah that He is allowing you to take part in and benefit from and we want to enjoy it as much as possible. If you are able to change your appointments around and fix the majority of your schedule to do things before and/or after Ramadan, that would probably be best.
8. Start NOW!
With all of these things, you can start today to get yourself ready for Ramadan. Even if you just pick a few of these things, I’m sure you’ll find some benefit. Ramadan seems to pass by in the blink of an eye so if you are prepared ahead of time, you’ll be able to squeeze much more benefit from it than if you wait until the last minute. On top of the suggestions mentioned in this post, it is also a great idea to start adding those extra acts of worship you are looking forward to doing in Ramadan. You don’t have to wait, you can start those now and start getting those extra rewards.
That’s all for now! Next week, we’ll be talking about getting our family prepared for the blessed month of Ramadan!https://nourishingourhome.com/preparing-for-ramadan-countdown-getting-your-family-ready/
Question for the comments: What is something you learned last Ramadan that you hope to implement this year?
P.S If you’re looking for ideas for Eid gifts for your little one’s, I just put together an Eid gift guide for toddlers! It has 50 gift ideas for little Muslims ages 1-3!
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