5 Super Common Mistakes to Avoid This Ramadan

In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful

We’re back again as promised. I hope you enjoyed the 30 ideas for Ramadan goals for the whole family.

Today we’re talking about five common mistakes that we make during Ramadan. I’m sure most of us can pick one or two of these that we can relate to and hopefully reading about it and getting clear about what most affects us, can enable us to gain clarity and make a plan ahead of time to avoid them. 

These things aren’t necessarily detrimental but they certainly cut into our intentions, our joy and our ability to maximize the short and quick-passing time of Ramadan. So let’s jump into our little list…of five mistakes to avoid this month.

1. Making it all about food.

Food is a gift and it’s a vital part of life…and iit is a part of the Ramadan experience. We have suhoor, which is actually a sunnah. We have breaking our fast quickly when it is time and the best way of going about that. But ultimately, Ramadan is NOT about food. Oftentimes, we have a hard time finding balance with our relationship with food during this month though… This might mean overeating, over shopping, and even wasting food. The gist is, of course we need to eat…but we shouldn’t be thinking and planning and talking about food every minute of the day.

2. Getting caught up in perfectionism.

The first week or so, we’re all in and ready to do all the things. Our eyes are bigger than our stomach, so to speak… We get into this idea where if we can’t do everything, we maybe should just not do anything. We can’t read a whole juz every day, so we don’t open the Qur’an. We can’t pray the full 8 raka’ah of Tarawih each night, so we don’t attempt to pray tarawih. You get the gist. The thing is though, Allah doesn’t expect perfection…and instead, we are taught that those smaller deeds, when done consistently, weigh heavier than the huge things done only once or twice…or done haphazardly.

3. Having a bad attitude.

We sometimes get this idea in our heads that we are excused during Ramadan because we’re hungry and tired. Fasting and all that comes with Ramadan is supposed to strengthen us…not that we won’t have difficult days of course, but we should be using this month as a time to build our character. We should be patient with our Muslim brothers and sisters of course and hopefully, they’ll return the favor..but we need to be mindful of our own behavior and mannerisms. On this note, we need to do our best to make sure to fulfill our needs – making sure we’re eating and drinking appropriately during eating times, getting enough sleep and taking a moment to yourself when you need to.

4. Using other people’s traditions instead of our own.

I know this is a sticky one for some..but it’s a very tricky slope to go down to incorporate other peoples religious/holiday traditions into our own holy months and celebrations. I think it’s very important to have special family traditions…but we have to make sure that they are aligned with the Qur’an and Sunnah. We don’t want our children feeling like they’re missing out on all the fun things they might see around them and we want to make sure this special time is an awesome and wholesome experience for our whole family but we don’t want to do so in a way that might not be correct and lacking in blessings.

5. Fasting only from food and drinks.

This ties back to mistake 1 but…it goes a little deeper. During Ramadan, we want to not only fast from food and drinks. We want to take this month as a bit of a boot camp, as my dad says. It is a time to kick those bad habits and incorporate a good one, it is a time to hone in our character, it is a time to grow as a Muslim and as a person. But taking it even deeper, think about your distractions or things that might be cutting into your health – maybe television, maybe sugar, maybe music… and maybe make it a goal to cut that out for the month.

That’s all for today! I hope you’ve found some benefit in our topic today…and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow.

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