Life of Muslimah

Ramadhan 2021 

How I am planning on spending my Ramadhan

This year Ramadhan is different for me. I haven’t fasted in four years because I was either expecting a child or feeding one. Since the last time I was fasting we have changed houses 3 times. I have moved into a different country and the biggest realization of all that I have had is how blessed I am.  

In 2016 me and my husband sat Itekaaf at home for the last three days of Ramadhan. We were both sleeping in different rooms and only saw each other during Sehri and Iftaar. I remember back then I was praying to be blessed with a child. That was my one constant prayer. Now this time around I have become a mother of three healthy and wonderful children. Glory to my Lord, who is the most High.

The aim of fasting during Ramadhan is to diminish a person’s dependence on material things, so that he may elevate himself to a higher place of devout living. Or as they say in simpler words: Starve your body, feed your soul.
Abstaining from food frees up so much of your mental capacity, because you don’t constantly think about the next thing you are going to eat.

This year I noticed how much time I actually spent just thinking about food. Constantly thinking “What can I eat next?” not even “When can I eat next? I just what can I eat next. Before Ramadhan I did not notice how all-consuming my thoughts about food were and now that I consciously abstain from it, I have all this space for other thoughts.

Now that my children are a little bit older and more independent, I can finally divert more attention to my spirituality again. I am praying that I use the upcoming time wisely to establish new habits and routines.

The last book I had read before this month was Atomic Habits, by James Clear. This book specifically talks about the fact that “You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.” With this in mind I know that I shouldn’t be setting up plain goals, but try to implement a few systems, that will help me benefit from this Ramadhan all year long.

So here are the systems I want to have accomplished by the end of this blessed month:

•  Read 15 Minutes of Quran each morning
  These 15 minute translates for me into two Rukuhs, with this I set myself up to finish one reading of the Quran within a year, but my goal is NOT to read the Quran as many times as possible in this life. My goal is to understand it and to implement it into my life. 15 minutes may not sound like a lot, but at this season of my life, that I am in right now, 15 minutes is a very reasonable time for me to take out and study without skipping it.
  
  
•  Work on my Quran Quest
  I am very fortunate that my mother is on a Quran quest herself. Right now she is taking a course to become a certified Quran teacher and she is close to completion. I want to step into her footsteps and learn as much as possible from her. In the beginning we will work on my Talaffuz, which is the way on how to recite the Quran, the slowly moving up from that in the future I would like to work on my memorization and Tafseer.
  
  
• Read more book regarding my faith
  By the Grace of Allah I am already in the habit of reading regularly and that took me a while to re-establish after having children. Now that it is a firm practice in my life, I would like to incorporate more books into my list to help me with my faith.
  I want to start with the book Noah's Ark, as it is also named “Strengthening of Faith” by the Promised Messiah Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and then move on with to the biography of his first successor Hadhrat Hakeem Maulvi Noor-ud-Deen(ra).
  
  
• Separate my prayers from 3 to 5.
  
       Right now I am reading Fajr – Zuhr & Asr combined – Maghrib & Ishaa combined. It is mostly due to fact that I have small children and even finding time to go to the bathroom twice a day is an accomplishment alone. But recently my oldest daughter has started to show interest in praying with me and this alone should be the biggest motivator to become a role model for her and pray all my daily prayers with their due diligence.
  
  
• Cut down my Phone Usage
  This I think is self explanatory, the only thing I would like to add is that I am not planning on cutting it out during this month completely, but to find a way to balance it. I specifically did not say Social Media consumption, because I use it to read books and articles as well as listen to audiobooks while I work around the house. I’d like to say I do use it more mindfully than not, but I also am aware of the fact, that I could cut it down and life in the real life.

I have created a habit tracker on Notion for myself to track my progress and hopefully every week I will be revising it and making adjustment where necessary.

 

I will also be checking in halfway through Ramadhan to report on my progress here on the blog, if you want to follow along.

For now,
Ramadhan Kareem