Countdown to Ramadhaan

Some of you might just wonder as to why this article is written ‘so early’ when the month of Ramadhaan is still ‘far away’. Well, as a wake up call let me tell you that Ramadhaan is not too far away from us, alhamdulilaah. We are now into the sacred month of Rajab, and hence Ramadhaan is at a time span of less than two months from us, inshaAllaah. So I decided to write this short reminder that it is time to start ‘preparing’ for the Blessed Month.

‘Preparing for Ramadhaan’ for many would mean getting kitchen stocked up or cleaning the house and all, to welcome Ramadhaan! But that is not what I mean by ‘preparing for Ramadhaan’; what I mean is equipping ourselves with the essential information about Ramadhaan and related issues. Learning the necessary things related to Ramadhaan like conditions of fasting, what invalidates a fast, virtues of Ramadhaan, how to spend Ramadhaan, common errors during Ramadhaan, Taraweeh, I’tikaaf, Laylat-ul-Qadr, Eid and so on. Also the fasting before and after Ramadhaan, i.e. in the months Sha'baan and Shaww'al.

Unfortunately, due to lack of proper knowledge most of us generally fail to observe Ramadhaan as one should, and hence miss out on so much. Many of us do not know the conditions, requirements and proper etiquettes of observing a fast. Most of us merely remain hungry from dawn to dusk while doing things which we should refrain from and think that we are observing proper Saum. Every Ramadhaan we miss out on so many Blessings of Allaah because of our lack of (correct) knowledge.

So now that we have (a little less than) two months, we can start preparing ourselves for this Blessed Month, so that we can make the most of its Blessings inshaAllaah. Start acquiring knowledge (or revising) about Ramadhaan and related things. We can and should avail ourselves with lectures (audio/video) of scholars or good da'ees and orators and/or books on fasting and Ramadhaan; keep a check on scheduled lectures, seminars or courses in the city or even online. We should also plan and decide in this period as to what we will do and how we will spend our Ramadhaan, so that we can maximize our chances of Pleasing our Lord and Earning more and more from Him. Remember, that even if you make a firm intention to do something good and somehow cannot do it, you will still get the reward of doing that good act! So make an intention straight away and try your best to prepare yourself for Ramadhaan so that you can make it a real productive one, inshaAllaah.