I’m sure by now you’ve come up with your Ramadan resolutions, maybe you’ve written them out and put them up on your wall, which is a great idea.
Resolutions, apart of having ambition which is part of positivity, we have to dream big, we have to aim big.
What I Want in This month?
I want to be forgiven by Allah; I want to enter and be made one of the companions of Paradise and be written with that status… and on a more practical level, how much the Quran do I want to recite, how many prayers that I want to do, how much charity do I want to give…
We want to have goals which we can mark ourselves with as we progress through this month.
Let’s begin with charity. There is a narration found in the collection of Imam Al-Bukhari that tells us that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the most generous of people and that he was at his most generous during the month of Ramadan.
Now, what many people don’t notice is this hadith gives us the reason behind this generosity that
He was most generous in Ramadan when Angel Gabriel would come to him and the Prophet would rehearse and recite all the Quran that had been revealed to that date; and then at that time when he met angel Gabriel, the Prophet (peace be upon him) would be more generous than the wind that gusts forth. (Al-Bukhari)
So the reason and motivation behind his generosity (peace be upon him) was his joy he had received in the Quran, and his gratitude for being chosen to carry this mission.
And this takes us back to the verse of Ramadan in surah Al-Baqarah in which God explains and described the month of Ramadan. He says:
The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was revealed as a guide to all Mankind.
At the end of this verse also gives us this cause for celebration:
…and that you may complete that time period and glorify Allah for the fact that He has guided you and perhaps you will be grateful.
So I think it’s justified to describe Ramadan as a celebration, as the festival of the Quran.
What I Want in This month?
I want to be forgiven by Allah; I want to enter and be made one of the companions of Paradise and be written with that status… and on a more practical level, how much the Quran do I want to recite, how many prayers that I want to do, how much charity do I want to give…
We want to have goals which we can mark ourselves with as we progress through this month.
Let’s begin with charity. There is a narration found in the collection of Imam Al-Bukhari that tells us that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the most generous of people and that he was at his most generous during the month of Ramadan.
Now, what many people don’t notice is this hadith gives us the reason behind this generosity that
He was most generous in Ramadan when Angel Gabriel would come to him and the Prophet would rehearse and recite all the Quran that had been revealed to that date; and then at that time when he met angel Gabriel, the Prophet (peace be upon him) would be more generous than the wind that gusts forth. (Al-Bukhari)
So the reason and motivation behind his generosity (peace be upon him) was his joy he had received in the Quran, and his gratitude for being chosen to carry this mission.
And this takes us back to the verse of Ramadan in surah Al-Baqarah in which God explains and described the month of Ramadan. He says:
The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was revealed as a guide to all Mankind.
At the end of this verse also gives us this cause for celebration:
…and that you may complete that time period and glorify Allah for the fact that He has guided you and perhaps you will be grateful.
So I think it’s justified to describe Ramadan as a celebration, as the festival of the Quran.
And here we’re not talking about the kind of festival or celebration where you overeat because obviously that is against the spirit of Ramadan, nor are we talking about binging on TV series or so as far as happens in parts of Muslim world.
Instead, we’re talking about engaging with the Quran more and developing our relationship with this secret Book.
I want to share with you 4 pieces of advice about how to engage with the Quran during this month:
Recite
To recite as much as you are able; every letter you recite is ten rewards and that’s in normal time, imagine how the rewards will be multiplied during the month of Ramadan.
Your recitation is your worship with your voice and that’s very important whether you are professional and skilled in recitation or whether you find it difficult. Because the hadith tells us that someone who is professional and skilled will have the great reward written with the angels but someone who stutters and stammers and finds it hard, will have two rewards: one for reciting and the other one for being persevering and patient.
Listen to the Quran
There are several ways to listen to the Quran but of course, we have every night the Taraweeh prayers which are going on the mosques where people are gathering and listen to the Quran being recited as they pray behind the imam.
It is a good idea to be prepared for Taraweeh. One thing you can do is to listen to the series which I’ve presented which is called “Ten Minute Taraweeh” it gives introduction to each section of the Quran.
Memorize Some of the Chapters that you didn’t Know Before
You will find that your mind is fresher and may be able to absorb the chapters and also, you’ll develop a special relationship with the chapters that are related to the memories and the experiences that you went through during the special month.
Reflect on the Quran and to Apply it
Reflection doesn’t mean just saying “Wow” at the beauty and the power of the verses but about finding our way to make it relevant and applied in our lives.
So here is the question that comes up. While reciting the Quran, is the focus to be on quality or on quantity? Is it about reading with reflection and study the commentaries or is it about reciting as much as we can to complete the Quran at least once in this month from cover to cover?
Now, ordinarily, I would always put the emphasis on quality over quantity but positivity in Ramadan means to find the strongest balance that we can of both.
So set aside some time to do the quality reading and make time also to recite with quantity because this special season with rewards are multiplied is something that you don’t want to miss out on.
So Inshallah, we conclude our episode here.
Episode 1
(From Discovering Islam’s archive)
