Preparing for Ramadhan - Ustadh Aqeel Mahmood

Preparing for Ramadan

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

We know, brothers and sisters, that in order to achieve perfection or ihsan in something, we have to prepare for it. If, for example, somebody is getting ready for a job interview, he'll prepare for that interview. He'll make sure he knows what he's going to say, how he's going to answer questions that will be asked in the interview. If somebody has an exam, he'll prepare for that exam, and he'll make sure that when he sits for the exam, he'll know the answers to all the questions. Or if somebody has some kind of project that he wants to do, he'll make sure that he'll have a meeting with those who work with him, with his workmates, and he'll make sure that this project is well organized and well prepared.

And so we know this idea of preparing is something which is important, something which every one of us does when it comes to matters of the dunya. But what about, brothers and sisters, when it comes to matters of the religion? How much preparation do we make when it comes to acts of ibadah? We know that actions are but by intention. Yet how many of us actually prepare ourselves mentally and physically when it comes to acts of worship? When it comes to the salawat that we pray? When it comes to reading the Quran? Being in that mental zone where we know that now we are worshipping Allah.

And so I want to talk to you today, brothers and sisters, about something which isn't talked about very often — in fact, it's maybe talked about once or twice a year. I want to talk to you today about preparing for the month of Ramadan.

The Importance of Preparation

The month of Ramadan is less than one month away — about three weeks away. Yet we have to ask ourselves, what are we doing in order to prepare ourselves for this blessed month? The greatest month of the year. The month in which the Quran itself was revealed. The very first words of the Quran were revealed in this month.

The significance of this month, you all know. You all know the importance of this month. And I'm not going to talk to you about the virtues of this blessed month. But what I want you to think about is how much we are preparing for this month. What are we doing when it comes to preparing for this blessed month?

The last time some of us may have fasted was maybe last Ramadan, or maybe the six days of Shawwal. And now, this month of Ramadan is coming upon us, and we're going to be fasting 30 days in a row after not fasting for a whole year. Some of us maybe haven't fasted for a whole year. And we're going to be fasting for 30 days in a row, and we're going to be worshipping Allah in the day and in the night.

No one goes from first year to fifth year straight away. It doesn't work like that. You have to put in the effort. You have to make the necessary preparation in order to be ready for that month. And we know what happens when the month of Ramadan comes and a person hasn't prepared for it. The month of Ramadan comes, and he becomes sick. He becomes ill because he hasn't fasted regularly. He becomes tired in the long days — especially now in the summer, when we're fasting in these long hours. And a person when he's praying in the night, the tarawih prayer, praying in these long nights — it can become tiring on the person.

So what are the things that we can do in order for us to be ready for the month of Ramadan? So that when the month of Ramadan comes, we're ready for it, and we hit the ground running. We won't have to adjust ourselves in the first week or two. We're already ready. We can worship Allah without having to worry about becoming sick or ill or tired.

Ways to Prepare for Ramadan

1. Nawafil Fasting (Optional Fasts)

From the things that we can do, brothers and sisters, is nawafil siyam — optional fasts. We know that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would fast every Monday and Thursday. Every single week, he would fast these two days. And why would he fast on these two days specifically? The reason is because he said that on these two days, a person's deeds rise and go up to Allah. And so he said:

"I love for my deeds to be raised whilst I am fasting." (Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 2358; also recorded in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 747)

And this is why he would fast on Mondays and Thursdays. So it's advisable for us, brothers and sisters, in order to prepare for the month of Ramadan, to fast some days in the week. And even if we can't fast two days in the week, even if it isn't Mondays and Thursdays — maybe it's easier for us to fast on the weekend, on Saturdays and Sundays, or even once a week. If a person is able to do this, it will give him some type of preparation for the month of Ramadan. His body will be ready for the month of Ramadan. He'll be mentally prepared. And his body will be able to take those long hours where he isn't eating and drinking.

And we all know the barakah and the blessing of the month of Ramadan. When a person fasts in the month of Ramadan, it isn't like any other month. It's so much easier. Allah makes it so much easier for a person to fast in this blessed month. So if we fast before the month of Ramadan — in this month of Sha'ban — then if we can do it in Sha'ban, then Ramadan will be easy for us.

And Aisha, رضي الله عنها, she mentioned from some of the habits of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — she said: "I never saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ complete a month of fasting except Ramadan. And I never saw him fast more in any other month than in the month of Sha'ban."

The month that we are in now. The month before the month of Ramadan. He would fast in this month as a means of preparing himself for the month of Ramadan. To make sure that when the month of Ramadan comes, he's prepared for it. So if the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — the greatest of people, the greatest of men, and the strongest of men — if he was fasting and preparing for the month of Ramadan a month before, in the month of Sha'ban, then what about our situation? Why aren't we doing this to prepare for this blessed month?

2. Reading the Quran

From the things that we can do, brothers and sisters, when it comes to preparing for the month of Ramadan — as well as fasting in this blessed month of Sha'ban — is reading the Quran. Reading the book of Allah. Spending time out of our days to read the words of Allah. The book of guidance.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ talked about the virtues of reading the book of Allah, and he said:

"Whoever reads a letter from the book of Allah will have one reward, and that reward will be multiplied tenfold. I do not say that Alif Lam Mim is one letter, but rather Alif is a letter, Lam is a letter, and Mim is a letter." (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2910)

So imagine, brothers and sisters, reading the book of Allah. Reading pages upon pages of the Quran. Imagine how much reward a person will get just by reading the book of Allah, even if it is one page. If he took time out of the day and spent his time with the book of Allah — investing for this world and for the hereafter.

You know, we spend a lot of time working during the days. Some of us may work six days a week or seven days a week, and we accumulate this wealth. Yet we know that this wealth isn't permanent. Money comes and goes. Sometimes a person will have a high bank balance, and other days it will be low. Money in this world, brothers and sisters, comes and goes.

Yet when a person does a good deed, that good deed isn't going anywhere. He has that good deed until the Day of Judgment. It's stored for him. It's permanent until the Day of Judgment. And we need good deeds as much as anybody. None of us can say that paradise is guaranteed for us. None of us have that guarantee. So we have to make sure that we do what we can when it comes to good deeds.

If a person took time out to read the book of Allah — to spend his time with the very words that Allah spoke, and to contemplate over those words — to spend just 10 or 15 minutes a day, whenever he wants, in the morning or in the evening or before he goes to sleep, reading the book of Allah. And he is consistent in this. Then when the month of Ramadan comes, it will be easy for him to read the book of Allah every single day for hours on end.

And a person when he reads the book of Allah, there's no feeling like it after he's completed the reading of the Quran. Allah puts tranquility in the hearts of the believers when they worship Him:

Verily, by the remembrance of Allah do the hearts find true peace and tranquility. Ease in the hearts only comes from worshipping Allah. You won't find it in anything else. You won't find it in your families or in your work. You'll find it in worshipping Allah.

And when the month of Sha'ban used to begin, from the scholars of the past — Amr ibn Qays — he would close his shop and he would spend his time reading the Quran. Spending time with the book of Allah. And the scholars of the past, they would say that the month of Sha'ban — this month that we are in — was the month of the Quran readers, that they would spend this month just reading the Quran, preparing themselves for the month of Ramadan.

And the scholars of the past — when the month of Ramadan would finish, they would spend the next six months supplicating to Allah, making du'a to Allah that He accepts their Ramadan from them. And then the following six months, they would supplicate to Allah and ask Him that they would be alive to see the next month of Ramadan. And they would start preparing six months in advance. Six months in advance. And some of us don't even prepare six days before, or six weeks before.

So it's very important for us, brothers and sisters, to prepare ourselves for this blessed month. One of the scholars of the past said with regards to preparing in this month and the virtues of Ramadan:

"The month of Rajab is the month for planting the seeds. The month of Sha'ban is the month of irrigating the crops. And the month of Ramadan is the month of harvesting the crops."

So the month of Ramadan is when the fruits of a person's preparation are shown and are apparent.

3. Increasing in Nawafil Prayers

From the ways that we can prepare for this blessed month is increasing in nawafil prayers — optional prayers. To supplicate to Allah. To pray to Allah in the day and in the night. When the month of Ramadan comes and we have to stand in those long nights praying the night prayer after fasting for the whole day — if a person hasn't been praying optional prayers before the month of Ramadan, how does he expect to be able to focus on what the Imam is reciting in the night prayers? An hour and a half a person will be standing in the night prayer trying to hear and contemplate the words of Allah that the Imam recites. Yet if he doesn't do it before this month, how is he able to focus?

He'll be thinking about going home. He'll be tired. He won't be focused. He won't be thinking about what the Imam is reciting, because he isn't used to it. He's not used to standing for that long when it comes to praying to Allah. So try to make more nawafil prayers. Before a person goes to sleep, make a habit of praying optional prayers — something which will prepare you for the month of Ramadan.

And some of the scholars would say that optional fasts that a person does are like sunnah prayers offered before the obligatory prayer, because it prepares the soul for performing the obligatory action. So when it comes to the salawat, it's a way of preparing us for the obligatory prayers, and it's also a way of preparing us for the night prayer that we're going to be praying in the month of Ramadan.

4. Refraining from Sin

From the ways that we can prepare for the month of Ramadan, brothers and sisters, is by refraining from sin. By keeping away from those bad habits that we may have — whether it's swearing, using filthy language, whether it's listening to music, whether it's going to a place that we shouldn't be going to, whether it's doing anything which Allah has forbidden for us. To keep away from these bad habits. These things we know that we shouldn't be doing. Wasting our time with those things which won't benefit us in this world or in the hereafter.

Keeping our tongue free from any cursing, any backbiting, any type of gossip or slander. Keeping our tongues pure with the remembrance of Allah. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

"Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him speak good or remain silent." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6018; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 47)

If you don't have anything good to say, then don't say anything at all. A person should think before he speaks. And the scholars would say that a person has been given one tongue and two ears so that he can listen twice as much as he speaks.

Because we know when we speak, the angels record every single thing. And on the Day of Judgment, everything will be present in front of us. If we don't remember what we said a week ago, then imagine how surprised we'll be when we see in our book of deeds on the Day of Judgment things that we said ten years ago, twenty years ago, thirty years ago. Can you imagine how much of a shock this will be for us?

"What is with this book — it has not left anything small or anything great except that it has recorded it." The book in which you have the Kiraman Katibin — the noble scribes, the angels — writing every single thing down.

And so we have to prepare ourselves for that ultimate day by preparing ourselves for acts of worship in this world. Making sure that our tongues are free from cursing. And when it comes to the month of Ramadan and sawm in the month of Ramadan, the scholars used to say that sawm isn't just about staying away from eating and drinking. It's more than this. It's about staying away from what a person says, from the evils of the tongue, and the evils of the hands, and the evils of the feet when a person goes somewhere and commits something which is haram.

A person shouldn't think that the month of Ramadan is just like every other month, except we just don't eat and drink — that's the only difference. It shouldn't be like this. The greatest month of the year, a month in which a person's good deeds are multiplied because of the greatness of this month. This month isn't like any other month. It's a special month.

5. Organizing Our Time

Another thing that we can do when it comes to preparing for this blessed month is organizing our time. Making sure that we have time to spend worshipping Allah — in this month and also in the month of Ramadan. If somebody needs to take time out for the last 10 days of Ramadan or the last two weeks of Ramadan, if he has to book any holidays from work, then let him do it now. Let him prepare for that month. Let him commit his time so that he can worship Allah in that blessed month.

Many of us spend lots of time working, accumulating wealth. We spend time with our family. We spend time with our friends, going out in the evenings and in the nights. Yet how many of us spend time worshipping Allah? Remembering Allah? Reading the book of Allah? Organizing our time so that we have an organized timetable — knowing when we are going to be working and when we are going to be worshipping Allah.

And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — the good deeds that he would do were unlike anybody else's, and he was the busiest of people. He was a father. He was a friend. He was a judge. He was a warrior. He was a husband. He would help around the house. Even though he had greater goals given to him by Allah. Yet he would still spend time worshipping Allah. So if the Messenger of Allah ﷺ could organize his time in such a way, then I'm sure all of us here can spend some time in the day to worship Allah, to remember Allah, to do some type of good deed.

Some type of regular ongoing charity. Something which will help us in the akhirah. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that the most beloved of actions to Allah are those actions which are consistent, however small they may be. Even if it's something small, even if it's something minute — if someone does a good deed regularly, then it's more beloved to Allah, because it's something which is consistent. He's doing it every single day, or five days a week, or six days a week. And there's ongoing hasanat — ongoing good deeds — for him because he's doing it every single day.

"The most beloved of deeds to Allah are those that are most consistent, even if they are small." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6465; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 783)

It doesn't have to be something great. It can be something small. As we mentioned, a person can read one page of the Quran every single day. How many letters are there in one page of the book of Allah? And how much reward can a person get? SubhanAllah. Imagine the amount of reward a person will get just by reading one page every single day. And when a person does this regularly, naturally he'll increase — he'll start reading two pages and three pages, because he's used to reading that much every single day. It becomes a good habit for him.

Closing

We ask Allah that He gives us the ability to prepare properly for the month of Ramadan, so that when the month of Ramadan does come, we make the most of it.

We talked about some of the ways that we can prepare for the month of Ramadan which is less than one month away. And we all know that time flies. And it is from the traditions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said that from the signs of the Hour is that time will go by fast — a year will go by like a month, and a month will go by like a week, and a week will go by like a day. So before you know it, brothers and sisters, Ramadan is going to be upon us. And we don't want to be in a situation where the month of Ramadan comes and we are not ready for it.

We talked about the ways that we can prepare for the month of Ramadan: to fast in this month of Sha'ban; to read the Quran and spend time with the book of Allah; to increase in nawafil prayers so that we are committed when the month of Ramadan comes and we pray those long prayers in the night; to refrain from sin and free ourselves from bad habits so that when Ramadan does come, we don't have those bad habits anymore; and to organize our time so that we have time to worship Allah. May Allah give us all the ability to make the most of this blessed month.