Ramadan is hands-down the most important time of the year. With Shaytan locked away, it becomes the best time to improve upon ourselves. In the lead-up to this blessed month, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of information that gets posted, which is why the Embrace GLA chapter hosted a livestream going over the basics in a digestible manner. Headlined by Co-founder Nahela Morales, Shaykh Abdur-Rahman Khan, Shaykh Ahmed Biloo, and moderated by the national secretary, Nuh Seifullah.

The Meat and Potatoes

To start, let’s break down Ramadan into its core components.

Fasting

You likely heard about the importance of fasting or Sawm in Arabic immediately after you were taught about Ramadan: “Avoid eating or drinking inbetween fajr and maghrib.” It may sound extreme, but the Qur’an states that a soul will never be burdened with more than what it can bear. Additionally, the reward for a fasting person is greater than any difficulty we may face:
“The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “In Jannah there is a gate which is called Ar-Raiyan through which only those who observe Saum (fasting) will enter on the Day of Resurrection. No one else will enter through it. It will be called out, “Where are those who observe fasting?” So they will stand up and proceed towards it.” -Riyad As-Salihin 1217

Can you think of a greater reward than having your own gate into paradise?

Suhoor

Suhoor is the meal that you eat before your fast starts. It may be tempting to skip it because we’re tired, but consider the following hadith:

“Take meal a little before dawn, for there is a blessing in taking meal at that time.” -Sahih Muslim 1095

The blessing is not only physical, though it does mitigate the difficulty significantly, but also spiritual.

“Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) (p.b.u.h) said, “Our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, comes every night down on the nearest Heaven to us when the last third of the night remains, saying: ‘Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone who invokes me, so that I may grant him his request? Is there anyone seeking my forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?” -Sahih al-Bukhari 1145

Making the meal is one of the best times to ask Al-Ghafur (the Ever Forgiving) for His mercy.

Iftar

Iftar refers to the meal we have to break our fast. It is recommended to do so as soon as you hear the Maghrib adhan. This meal is sometimes shared, with many masjids hosting specific events to allow the community to get together. At these events, as per the Sunnah, you’ll be provided with a date and some water, after which everyone will pray maghrib before having a full meal.

Taraweeh

Taraweeh is a prayer that is ideally completed in congregation, usually after Isha. It can be a very long prayer, as the goal is to finish the entire Qur’an during Ramadan. Typically, congregations will include 20 rakats. This might sound shocking at first, but with any practice during this month, instead of focusing on the perceived difficulty, we should consider the benefit.

Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said: “Whoever establishes prayers during the nights of Ramadan faithfully out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards (not for showing off), all his past sins will be forgiven.” -Sahih al-Bukhari 37

Improvement shouldn’t be temporary.

A trap that we can fall into during this blessed time is to treat the month as a temporary break from our sins; however, doing so misses part of the point: to use the time Shaytan is locked up to gain control over our nafs. Sins cause us harm no matter the time of year:

“When the believer sins, a black spot appears on his heart. If he repents and gives up that sin and seeks forgiveness, his heart will be polished. But if (the sin) increases, (the black spot) increases. That is the Ran that Allah mentions in His Book: “Nay! But on their hearts is the Ran (covering of sins and evil deeds) which they used to earn.” [83:14]” – Sunan Ibn Majah 4244

Be realistic

The theme of Ramadan is to be ambitious in how we strive for Allah’s love. This means we should plan to do more than we normally would, and in this lies another potential trap: trying to go from zero to one hundred in our practice and burning out by the end of the month. However:

The Prophet (ﷺ) was asked, “What deeds are loved most by Allah?” He said, “The most regular constant deeds, even though they may be few.” He added, ‘Don’t take upon yourselves, except the deeds which are within your ability.” -Sahih al-Bukhari 6465

This hadith shows that when planning for Ramadan, we should start by reflecting on our current position. After, we can consider the improvements that will help us the most and how much we think we can achieve consistently.

Start Today

The companions were known for preparing for Ramadan six months ahead of time, not just general planning, but actively seeking self-improvement to allow them to enter the month in the purest state. On top of that, you don’t know if we will make it to the next Ramadan, so why would we want to miss good deeds we could be earning now?

To summarize, Ramadan is the best time of year for the believer, and while it may sound difficult or intimidating at first, know that Allah put immense barakah in every single recommended practice. By starting your work early and showing up, Allah will grant you forgiveness and help push you closer to Him when the month comes to a close