Dear brothers and sisters,

I wanted to personally say to the Ummah Ramadan Al-Mubarak! May Allah SWT grant you a successful Ramadan. May the coming month allow us to reflect not only on the Ummah but on the entire creation and all the wonderful blessings of Allah SWT. May we strive to be patient, understanding, just, and firm in our faith. May we use our faith as a catalyst to project Islam into action and bring about a lasting peace throughout mankind. May we be willing to stand up against wickedness and repel evil with good in all forms. May we remember the example of the Prophet Muhammad SAW and utilize the best of manners when dealing with those who are different from us. May we exemplify the revelation of Allah (swt) in all our daily routines. I ask that Allah SWT grant us the strength to repel the whisperings of the Shaitan (evil).

Amin Ya Rabbal Alamin.

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The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the Criterion (of right and wrong).) (Al-Baqarah 2: 185)

Ramadhan is an event that occurs in the life of the faithful, as individuals and as an Ummah, once a year. It is intended by Allah SWT to help us to recharge our spiritual batteries and thus prepare us for the great mission of realizing His will on earth. Therefore, in order to benefit from Ramadhan, we may do well to prepare for it by opening our hearts and minds to embrace it. A lot of us yearn to prepare for Ramadhan, but we have no idea how to start. Below are a few tips to insyaAllah will help prepare our minds and hearts for this upcoming Month of Mercy.

1. Making the Intention

* Simple to do and has a powerful impact. Maybe you want to prepare for Ramadan, but between school, work, family, and any other activities, you just have no idea how to fit in ‘Preparing for Ramadan’ time. Instead of making ‘preparing for Ramadan’ something separate from your daily activities, MAKE your daily activities a means of preparation for Ramadan.

* For example, perhaps your mom asked you to pick up your brother from school on the day you finally had time to read a few extra pages of Qur’an. Instead of feeling upset and feeling like you have lost a great preparation for Ramadan opportunity, make the intention that you are picking up your brother to please Allah SWT and prepare for Ramadan by obeying your mother, helping your family members, building ties of kinship… and the list continues.

* The point is that preparing for Ramadan does not have to be some magnificent, enormous, extra-special thing that needs to be done at a certain time of the day. Many of your daily actions can be turned into Ramadan preparation actions with a sincere intention, insyaAllah.

2. Do these easy-to-reap-reward actions:

* Asking Allah to forgive your brothers and sisters. “Whoever seeks forgiveness for believing men and believing woman, Allah will write for him a good deed for each believing man and believing woman.” [at-Tabarani]

* It was narrated that Abu Hurairah RA said “The Messenger of Allah SAW said: ‘Whoever says “SubhanAllah wa bi hamdih” (praise and glory be to Allah) 100 times, morning and evening, his sins will be erased even if they are like the foam on the sea.” [Narrated by al-Bukhari, 6042; Muslim 2691]

* If a person says “SubhanAllah” (glory be to Allah) 100 times, a thousand good deeds are recorded for him and a thousand bad deeds are wiped away. [Narrated by Muslim 2073]

* Remember Allah when you go shopping : “Whoever enters a market and says:
‘Laa ilaha illallah wahdahu la shareeka lah, lahul mulku wa lahul hamdu yuhyi wa yumeetu wa huwa hayyun laa yamoot, bi yadihil khair, wa huwa ‘ala kulli shayin qadeer’[there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah, alone without partner, to Him belongs dominion and praise, He causes life and death and He is the Living and does not die. In His Hand is all the good, and He is over all things competent]Allah will write for him/her a million good deeds and erase a million bad deeds and raise him a million levels.” [at-Tirmidhi]

3. Up your worship

* To help condition your heart for this blessed month, intensify your worship before Ramadan begins. Just a small, consistent amount is enough. The Prophet SAW told us:

*“The deeds most loved by Allah are those done regularly, even if they are small.”

* For example, if I always pray 2 rakaats of sunnah after isyak, from this day until Ramadan begins- and even through Ramadan, let me make the intention that I will now pray 2 extra rakaats of sunnah after isyak. And every time I pray these extra 2 rakaats, which are more than what I normally pray, let me remember that I am doing these with the intention of asking Allah to help me be prepared to strive and exert my utmost effort during Ramadan.

4. Make a Dua' list today

* This is THE MONTH to ask for EVERYTHING, both related to this life and the Next. Let us not wait until the last 10 nights to make special duaas, and then once Eid passes realize that we had completely forgotten about fifty other things we needed to make duaa for. Let us start making our lists now, and add to it as more things come our way. InsyaAllah this should help us remember to make constant duaa in this month where duaa is accepted, and help our hearts pour out to the One Who can make those duaas happen, subhanahu wa ta’ala.

5. Write out your objectives for Ramadan

* Praying all of your fardu prayers? Praying all of your sunnahs? Reading the entire Qur’an? Giving $1 charity a day? Making itikaaf in the masjid? Leaving one serious sin that you’ve been trying to get away from for some time now? Sincerely turning completely back to Allah SWT.

* Write out a list, put them somewhere you will see them, and make duaa for your success in fulfilling these objectives.

6. Make a plan!

* Look at your objectives, and try to make a plan on how to actualize those objectives in this month.

* For example, perhaps you are really struggling to pray your sunnah prayers. In this month, realize the enormity of the ajr (bounty) of praying the sunnah prayers… think that perhaps these sunnahs will be the deeds that will be so heavy on your scale of good deeds when you are intense need of them- on yowm al qiyamah (in the hereafter). Therefore, fight to keep doing them all throughout Ramadan. If you can’t pray your 2 rakaats after dhur' right away, make sure to do them as soon as you get a chance.

* Thus, your plan might look something like this:

* Objective: Pray all of my fardu prayers.

* Method: Envision myself on the day of judgment seeing the insyaAllah weight of praying my sunnah consistently during this month. Make sure to pray sunnah solah immediately after solah. If I cannot, do it as soon as the opportunity arises… don’t let myself put it off!

* Another example is that of finishing the Qur’an:

* Objective: Finishing the entire Qur’an in this month.

* Method: Read 4 pages of the Qur’an after every solah. 5 prayers X 4 pages = 20 pages. 20 pages= about 1 juz. 1 juz X 30= the entire Qur’an. (Allahu Akhbar!)

——-
So many Muslims or our family and freinds have passed away since last month. So many people have not made it to Ramadan this year. Last year was their very last Ramadan. Will you make it to this Ramadan? Will this be your last Ramadan?

Aim to strive in this Ramadan. With a very small amount of effort, such as just making a small intention, or adding a few extra acts of worship, we pray that Allah will help our hearts soften and honor us with making it easy to turn to Him and open up to Him.

May Allah make us of the successful in Ramadan, and make it easy for us to turn to Him completely and perpetually.

Amin Ya Rabbal Alamin.

For more tips, read it here, insyaAllah, http://www.ezsoftech.com/ramadan/ramadan_tips.asp







The Virtue in Giving the Alms (Zakat)
Ramadhan is near.

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