Ramadhan – A time of Sacrifice and Submission

By: Saadia Malik 

The blessed month of Ramadhan is a time for us to sacrifice our hunger and thirst for the sake of Allah. In order to attain nearness to Allah we resist our body’s natural urge for food and water and we instead enrich our spirituality by nourishing it with Zikr-e-Ilahi, prayers, and the recitation of the Holy Quran. There is another very important aspect of Ramadhan that we must be mindful of. This is the personal Jihad that we must undergo in order to better ourselves, not only for the month of Ramadhan, but forever InshAllah. Just as our physical bodies have a yearning for food and drink, our minds tend to be inclined towards getting easily angered, upset, and/or jealous.  We must strive to suppress these emotions, as they don’t harm anyone as much as their harm ourselves. 

Here is a “Ramadhan Checklist” of all the things that we can try to do in order to win the pleasure of Allah this Ramadhan. Take some time and go through the list, there will surely be some good reminders for us all as to how we can better ourselves InshAllah.

 Have I:

ü  Made intention to fast and ate Suhoor on time

ü  Prayed all 5 prayers on time

ü  Read Quran today

ü  Read a book/excerpt about Islam or Ahmadiyyat

ü  Read one hadith of the Holy Prophet pbuh

ü  Forgave somebody who made us angry or hurt us

ü  Smiled at someone

ü  Been kind to my family/spouse/friends

ü  Avoided gossip and idle talk

ü  Sacrificed a show/movie/other form of entertainment in order to pray/read Quran

ü  Did not argue or swear today

ü  Fed a hungry person or neighbor

ü  Made a charitable donation/Sadqa

ü  Did not waste food

ü  Prayed Taraveeh prayer

ü  Went to the Masjid for prayer

ü  Memorized a Surah that I do not know/may have forgotten

ü  Tried to end a fight between two people/family members

ü  Shared kind words/prayers with loved ones

May Allah enable us all to not only abstain from eating and drinking during our fasts, but also from negative mindsets and tendencies. May Allah give us the strength to make sacrifices for the sake of Allah. May Allah enable us all to shrink our egos, open our minds and soften our hearts during this blessed month of Ramadhan. Ameen

__________________________