Important Tips to Make Use of the Best of All Months-II

02/08/2010| IslamWeb

Fifth: Try to decorate the public places and your house with Ramadan posters and decorations

This will please and delight the people in general as well as your children, in addition to spreading the noble principles such as adhering to Hijab, interest in the Quran, consoling Muslims, and so on.

Sixth: Protect your time during the month of Ramadan and be keen on utilizing it in the best possible way

The precious and valuable time of Ramadan must be protected and invested well, because during this month the rewards of good deeds are doubled. This can be achieved through the following steps:

A- Prepare a written timetable to utilize this month:

1-    Allocate a plan for the whole month: In this plan, you should distribute the means that help you achieve the objectives of the whole month in writing so that you can check them and determine whether you and your family are making progress, step by step.

2-    A daily plan to organize one’s time on a daily basis: This should specify the times of family gatherings, hours for sleeping, reading time, social occasions and visits, times of studying for the children and so on. Let us organize our affairs, keep away from randomness and leave nothing to circumstances.

B-   Tips for saving time during Ramadan:

1-    Buy and stock the household needs before Ramadan as far as possible (such as the foods that can be stored).

2-    Buy the requirements of ‘Eed (such as new clothes) before Ramadan instead of wasting time in going to the crowded markets during the last ten days of Ramadan.

3-    Refrain from making long visits as well as holding or attending several parties and banquets.

4-    Minimize the time spent in front of mass media such as TV even if you are watching good programs. That is because the programs presented on the mass media are attractive and time-consuming. Moreover, you should be engaged in performing good deeds instead of just watching good people while depriving yourself of a similar opportunity. The time utilized for this should be estimated rationally and viewing should be limited to certain times.

C-   Utilize one’s time in doing several things simultaneously:

For example, you can remember Allah The Exalted while walking, recite the Quran while traveling, or listen to the Quran while driving. You should always carry your Mus-haf (copy of the Quran) with you wherever you go.

Seventh: Plan well for acts of worship

A- Never eat too much at the Iftaar meal: If you over eat at Iftaar, you will go to the Taraaweeh Prayer almost asleep without any ability to contemplate during prayer. Hence, your prayer would be spiritless and you would lose the rewards of the month, day by day. Let us adhere to the guidance of the Prophet, , by breaking our fast immediately after the Athaan (call for prayer) of the Maghrib Prayer with dry dates or water (juice), and then go to perform the Maghrib Prayer. When we return, we should eat a light meal and have some drinks and then go to the Taraaweeh Prayer. The main meal should be after Taraaweeh, as this is better for one’s health and enables you to perform acts of worship in a better way.

B-   Be keen on seizing the opportunity of the time before daybreak and supplicate as much as you can during it, as the doors of heaven are opened during this time.

C-   Be keen on having a reward akin to the reward of complete Hajj and ‘Umrah every day through investing one’s time between the Fajr (morning) Prayer and sunrise in remembering Allah The Exalted and then performing the Dhuha (mid-morning) Prayer.

Eighth: Consider the following guidelines when holding visits and banquets:

1-    The time of the visit should not be long – half an hour or three-quarters of an hour is sufficient).

2-    Make sure that there is no banquet during the last ten days of Ramadan so as not to lose the opportunity of making ‘Itikaaf.

3-    Make sure that the banquet will end before the ‘Ishaa’ Prayer with sufficient time so as not to miss it in congregation as well as the Taraaweeh Prayer.

4-    Make use of the    visits in guiding your friends, relatives and colleagues to what is good, and avoid gossiping, backbiting and defaming people.

5-    If it is possible to make the banquets during the days of your wife’s menstruation, it will be better.

6-    Try to invite the largest number of friends and relatives to a single banquet, because it is better to hold one or two banquets instead of wasting the whole month in holding many small banquets.

7-    The banquets should be during the first ten days of Ramadan as much as possible.

8-    Avoid extravagance and boasting so as not to deviate from the spirit of this blessed month.

9-    Do not forget the poor and the needy in your banquets, because they are the most worthy of partaking of your food.

10-                       Do not turn the banquets into means for social competition and boasting, because the insistence on holding banquets in return for the ones to which they were invited wastes the whole month.

Ninth: Plan well for the last ten days of Ramadan

1-    Organize your time and vacation for ‘Itikaaf and be keen on increasing your acts of worship on the Night of Al-Qadr (you can make use of the days of the ordinary vacation).

2-    Buy the things that you need for ‘Eed as well as the children’s new clothes before Ramadan or at least before the last ten days.

3-    Avoid wasting the last ten days of Ramadan in making cakes and biscuits‎. However, if this is considered necessary then it should be done prior to these extremely blessed ten days. It is even better to buy ready-made cakes if possible, or buy them before Ramadan or during the wife’s menstruation.

Tenth: Plan your spending and prepare the budget

1-    Family’s budget

2-    Donation to provide Iftaar meals for the needy, travelers, and so on.

3-    Donation for a bag of provisions to be sent to poor families

4-    Donation for war afflicted and troubled areas like Palestine

5-    Increasing the children’s pocket money to teach them to be charitable and benevolent

6-    Banquets

7-    ‘Eed clothes

8-    Zakat Al-Fitr (charity given before the 'Eed Prayer).

9-    Charity to the poor and the orphans

10-                       ‘Eed gifts and pocket money

Finally we supplicate Allah The Almighty to make Ramadan blessed for us and to be a station where we can increase our faith, draw close to Him and attain Paradise.

Important Tips to Make Use of the Best of All Months-I