Ramadan, the perfect time to get closer to Allah

By Alya Nadiah

Without even realising it, we are approaching the second half of Ramadan. As Muslims, during the holy month of Ramadan, we fast from dawn to dusk for the whole month. This practice gives Muslims the feeling of contentment if we do it truthfully for the sake of Allah SWT.

Muslims do not only refrain from taking food and water, but also from doing all the bad habits. Bad manners and practices must be left behind. Good manners and acceptable behaviour are all that matter during the month of Ramadan. There are many beneficial things to do during this holy month.

The most important habit to be applied during Ramadan is to read the Quran daily, where you will receive 10 times rewards for every letter you read in the Quran. So take this opportunity to grab as much rewards as you can. Reading the Quran not only you will receive rewards but also the calmness of reading Quran. If you read 1 Juzu’ a day, you might be able to complete the whole 30 juzu’ by the time we reach the end of Ramadan.

Next, remember Allah SWT as much as possible. In our daily life as students, we are so busy with our classes, assignments and a huge amount of workload that we sometimes forget to remember Allah. This Ramadan, spare some time to remember our Creator and recite some zikir. Also in our free time while waiting for the azan, or waiting for the lecturer, before iftar, we can recite zikir and selawat to our Prophet SAW. A few usual zikir people practise are:

a) Subhanallah or Subhanallahwabihamdihi (I praise Allah (or All praise if to Allah) above all attributes that do not suit His Majesty.)

b) La hawlawa la quwwataillabillah (There is no power or might except (by) Allah.)

c) Subhanallah (33 times), Alhamdulillah (33 times), Allahuakbar (34 times) “I praise Allah (or All praise if to Allah) above all attributes that do not suit His Majesty. All praise is to Allah.  Allah is Great.”

We all know that when Ramadan comes, it brings one special night called lailatul qadar, a night where if you perform sunat prayer after sleeping for a while, the rewards you received are equal to doing sunat prayer for 1000 months. However, even though we know that laitatul qadar comes on the last 10 days of Ramadan, we will still receive rewards if the night is not a lailatul qadar night, so let’s teach ourselves to get up in the middle of the night and perform as many worships as we can on this holy month.

Looking at all those poor and homeless people who cannot afford even their meals, it is also important for us to give extra charity like providing homeless people with free food and drinks, giving them extra money to buy foods for iftar, or even bringing people out for iftar, but charity doesn’t always apply to the poor and homeless only. We can also do charity for people who work excessively that they don’t have time to go out and buy food for iftar. Also buying food for your co-workers, friends and family members for them to break their fast is also considered as charity.

Lastly, this is what people nowadays find it hard to stay away from – the unnecessary talk and gossips. If you engage yourself in this unnecessary conversation, you are just wasting your time and energy and you are adding sins into your account. A good respond to people who invite you into negative conversation is to remember that you are fasting and kindly reject the invitation.

It is important for Muslims to look back at what kind of person we are before Ramadan and try to change ourselves for the better. When Ramadan is over, something inside our heart must embrace a change from bad to good behaviour and what we obtained must be continuous.

Let’s not waste it by doing things that are unworthy and let’s take this opportunity to keep ourselves close to Allah because next Ramadan is not promised for anyone. Happy fasting! ***

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