How to Enter Ramadan With a Soft Heart

The Battle Within: Preparing for Ramadan

The countdown has begun, but how are we going to prepare for this month? Ramadan is a battle as well. It is not a physical battle with a physical enemy, but it is a battle with the greatest enemy — the enemy inside you and me. In Ramadan, we don't fight the shaitan.

In Ramadan, we don't fight a person, but we fight the most difficult enemy — which we struggle to fight with our entire lives — and that is us, ourselves. How can we prepare for that battle? How can we ready ourselves for that battle?

The Prophet's Preparation in Sha'ban

We know that the month we have just entered — the month of Sha'ban — the Prophet ﷺ would focus his preparations in this month. As it comes in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim that his wife, our mother Aisha, narrates that the Prophet ﷺ would never fast a month like this month, the month of Sha'ban.

As it comes in the hadith of Usama ibn Zaid, who narrates that the Prophet ﷺ would fast almost the entire month — he never saw him fasting a month like this month.

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 2357 — Narrated by Usama ibn Zaid)

And in the words of the Messenger himself — that is a month that slips many people by: the month between Rajab and Ramadan. And so in this month, the physical preparation would begin. The Prophet ﷺ would fast the majority of this month, the month of Sha'ban. He would prepare.

What Does Allah Want From Our Fast?

When we think about our fast, when we think about the month of Ramadan — is Allah interested? Is Allah looking for you and me to be hungry and thirsty? When we fast, it is not the hunger and thirst that Allah wants from us. But he wants to see who amongst us is most conscious of him, most fearful of him, most loving of him, most hoping of the reward from him. And that is what Allah looks for.

As the Prophet ﷺ informs us, Allah does not look at your outward forms, your image, your shape, your body, your physical features. He looks at your hearts and your deeds.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2564 — Narrated by Abu Hurairah)

At this very moment in time — this very moment as you hear my voice speaking to you — if Allah were to look into your heart at this moment, what would he see? Does he see sincerity? Does he see humility? Does he see the love of Allah? Or does he see distraction? Does he see someone who is heedless? Someone who is forgetful of him? Someone whose heart is not there in the worship?

The preparation for Ramadan should not be a physical preparation. We have to prepare the heart. The battleground is in the heart.

The Heart Is the Battleground

We know that this Quran, when it was revealed — a book did not drop out of the sky and slap Islam in front of the Messenger ﷺ. Rather, as Allah tells us, the trustworthy angel descended with it, and it was revealed to the heart of the Messenger ﷺ.

The fight between right and wrong takes place in the heart. The fight between temptation and fear of Allah takes place in the heart. The fight between eating and not eating takes place in the heart. The heart is what we have to prepare. But how do we prepare this heart? What do we do to awaken this heart?

When you buy a second-hand car or a very old car and you get the car, it parks up in your driveway and you look at the wheels, the tires — they're full of rust. You can't drive the car. First you need to get rid of the rust, the dirt. This heart, which we want to worship Allah with, fear Allah with, love Allah with — this heart is full of rust, of dirt, all around it.

And because of that dirt, nothing goes in. You listen to the Quran, it doesn't go into your heart. You hear a reminder, it doesn't awaken you. This heart is dead. Allah describes such a heart in the Quran — the hearts became hard like rocks. But some rocks, even they can break open and the water of Iman can flow from it.

When the Muslims migrated to Medina, after a long period of time they became comfortable, they became safe, they became complacent — such that the reminders of the Quran didn't hit them like they used to. Allah says: isn't it time for the believers that their hearts should tremble when Allah's name is mentioned?

Does your heart tremble when the name of Allah is mentioned? When the Quran is recited? When the Adhan is called? When the reminder is given? Because if our hearts do not tremble, they do not shake for the name of Allah, then we have a dead heart and we need this heart to be revived, to be resuscitated.

We have already experienced heart failure — but not the physical kind, the spiritual kind. When was the last time you and I remembered Allah? Many of us, we pray Salah, but not for one moment in our Salah are we remembering, connecting to Allah. Many of us recite the Quran, but not for a moment in the recitation have we connected with Allah.

Our Salah is empty, our recitation is empty — we are making movements, we are doing aerobics, but we only have the form. There's nothing inside. Something empty is being presented to Allah.

Step One: Revive the Practice of Dhikrullah

This is why the first step to revive the heart is to revive the practice of Dhikrullah — to remember the name of Allah. The remembrance of Allah is not an empty movement of the mouth, it is not the empty movements of the body — but it is an action of the heart.

When the heart remembers our Creator — the one who sustains us and provides for us, who brought us into this world and who will take us back — when we remember him and we appreciate him and we are comforted by him and we feel the fear of him, this is the reality of the remembrance of Allah. Without which, our Salah is dead and our Quran is empty and everything we do has no meaning if it is not filled with the remembrance of Allah. This is the first step.

Remember Allah in the morning and the evenings. Remember him as you walk about your daily duties. Remember Allah when you're on your commute, driving, stuck in traffic. Remember Allah when you wake up in the morning, as you eat your breakfast, as you go on your daily duties. Do not let a moment of the day pass except your heart is thinking of Allah — and every time your tongue moves and every time your lips shift to mention his name, know that Allah has mentioned your name amongst the angels.

This is the first way to awaken the dead heart.

Step Two: Make Tawbah — Sincere Repentance

The second way to awaken the heart is to make tawbah to Allah, to ask Allah's forgiveness. Because the heart only becomes hard for one reason and one reason only — and that's not rust and that's not dirt. That is the sins that we do. They make the heart hard. They make this heart like a rock. No Quran recitation can enter this heart. No remembrance of Allah takes place in this heart because of the sins that have taken place.

Allah says: No — their hearts have become hardened because of the sins that they used to do. There is a reason, my dear brothers and sisters, that nothing moves us anymore. That nothing reminds us of Allah anymore. There's a reason why we are cold, we are numb. It is because our sins have overwhelmed us and this heart is now hard.

What is going to break open this rock to let the flowing waters of the remembrance of Allah inside? There is only one thing that can open this heart again and that is to repent to Allah with a sincere repentance.

Allah says: O believers, return to Allah with a sincere repentance. He accepts Islam and he is a young man, but he has so much baggage, so many sins, so many mistakes he made in his past. This man — it is only a matter of time before it is narrated that he is able to read the whole Quran in one raka'ah, one unit of prayer.

What is it that allowed him to reach such a height in his closeness to Allah, in his relationship with the Quran? It was his sincerity in his repentance to Allah. When he asked Allah's forgiveness, he asked Allah's forgiveness with tears in his eyes and a broken heart. When he asked Allah to forgive him with his repentance, he broke down in front of Allah on his knees and on his face.

If you want the reminders of Allah to break and touch your heart, start with repentance.

Step Three: Fast With the Heart, Not Just the Body

The third — but perhaps the most important — step to prepare for Ramadan is to fast in this month, but to make sure the heart is fasting with the body. What do I mean by that?

The Prophet ﷺ informed us: whoever fasts in the month of Ramadan but does not leave idle speech — the wrong words, swearing, cussing, lying — Allah doesn't need them to be hungry and thirsty.

This month, practice a different kind of fasting. If you fast on Monday or Thursday, if you fast the middle three days of the month as the Prophet ﷺ would, every time you fast, write down one bad habit you are going to avoid today. Some of us have a mobile phone addiction. Some of us lie habitually. Some of us have a temper, an anger problem. Some of us curse, we swear, we use bad language.

When you wake up for Suhoor this month to prepare for the fast of Ramadan, write down one habit that you are going to avoid today. Fast of the heart, not just the fast of the body. If you have a smoking problem, this is the month to start. If you have a temper problem, this is the month to start. If you are using your tongue in the way it shouldn't be used, or your eyes in the way they shouldn't be used, this is the month to practice.

Don't just fast with your food and drink — fast with the heart. Because that is the best preparation for the month of Ramadan, the month to come.