The holy month of Ramadan is a precious gift from Allah SWT. It is a month of abundant blessings and Rahmah. A great opportunity for all the believers to raise their ranks in Jannah through intense ibadah. The doors of Allah’s mercy are open and His blessings are pouring down for us. Blessed are those who grab this opportunity fully and make the best use of their time and abilities during this month.
🔸Now, as we have entered the last half of the month, our ibadah must get accelerated just like the racing horse who puts his maximum strength and efforts before he reaches the finishing line. If we have not yet achieved the goals that we had set for ourselves before this month started, it’s high time to work towards those goals.
🔸We have to bring more sincerity in our siyam, qiyam, sadaqat and recitation of the Quran. It is proven by sunnah that prophet Muhammad SAW used to do maximum ibadah during this time, Ayesha (may Allah bless her) narrates about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the following way: “With the start of the last 10 days of Ramadan, the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to tighten His waist belt (i.e. work harder) and used to pray all the night, and used to keep his family awake for the prayers.” (Bukhari).
🔸The last ten nights of this month are approaching soon and these nights are special ones. We must pray and work hardest to attain “laylatul qadr”, a very special night full of blessings in which Allah SWT forgives His sincere slaves.Prophet (peace be upon him) said in a Hadith: “Whoever stands (in Qiyaam) in Laylat Al-Qadr out of faith and expectation (of Allah’s reward), will have All of his previous sins forgiven.” (Bukhari).
🔸We can choose a quiet corner in our house for the extensive ibadah of these last few days. There we can pray with khushu and repent in front of Allah SWT. We must do maximum Tawba and istighfar as Allah loves and blesses those who sincerely repent.
🔸Since Ramadan is the month of Quran we must strengthen our bond with Allah’s book by reciting it, memorizing as many verses as possible and pondering over its meaning. Our actions will not change unless we reflect upon Allah’s words and they deeply affect our heart.
🔸Charity is the essence of our deen so we must increase that too these days. Besides sadaqat we can distribute iftar boxes among needy ones. It would be a matter of great pleasure for them to be treated in such a special way. Talking to our relatives and sharing kind words with them is also a sadaqa. In such a time of fear and anxiety few positive words to console them will have lasting effects on them.
🔸Listening to the lectures of scholars increases knowledge as well as affirms our faith. So we must keep reviving our imaan by listening to these words of wisdom. We can engage our family in this and listen together to a particular series of lectures.
🔸As a family we can do a ‘dua challenge’ and try to memorize each day a new dua with its meaning. These beautiful acts of togetherness will form lasting memories in the hearts of our children and bring a lot of barakah in our families in sha Allah.
Although, this ramadan is unique and we are facing an unprecedented situation. Even then, we have to be focussed in our ibadah by being positive and reminding ourselves of the immense blessings that Allah SWT has given us. This time Allah SWT taught us how to spend a month of ibadah with maximum simplicity and devotion which is the true spirit of ramadan.
So, these few remaining days our focus MUST be to attain Allah’s pleasure through our sincere ibadah and utmost good deeds exclusively done for Him. May this ramadan become a milestone in our spiritual journey
