The Importance of Avoiding Sinful Acts during the month of Ramadan

Rebecca Pena

The Importance of Avoiding Sinful Acts during the month of Ramadan

Day 4: Utilizing Our Time Wisely

Is it just me or do you find yourself making a list of all of the many goals that you want to achieve during the month of Ramadan? Quite often the result is that we either end up becoming incredibly overwhelmed, or completely and totally burnt out sooner rather than later. Although the intention is good, becoming overwhelmed can lead to frustration. We end up experiencing feelings and emotions that wind up defeating the entire purpose. The result, accomplishing nothing and breaking our fast by allowing our negative emotions to take over. It is important to find ways to prevent this from happening. Today I would like to offer some tips on how we can utilize our time wisely, achieve your goals, all while preventing any sort of burnout and still, getting the most out of this blessed month. Knowing what we know about the benefits of fasting we all want to make the best out of this month. Efficiency in managing our time would serve the purpose. Successful people are those who manage their time well, so as to achieve their set goals.

# 1: Remember the true purpose of fasting

It’s easy to lose sense of purpose when we don’t nourish it regularly. It needs constant care and attention or else Shaytaan’s persistent efforts to make us lose our sense of purpose will take over. So what is the true purpose behind fasting in Ramadan? In one sentence? It is to gain Taqwah and become closer to Allah swt.

O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous. [Quran-Surah 2: Ayah 183]

And how do we gain Taqwah by staying away from food and drink? 

This is how:

1. The Quran revealed that during the Holy month of Ramadan. With the devil chained down in this Holy month, the negative energy is replaced by positive energy and it becomes relatively easier in Ramadan to strengthen our Emaan.

2. As humans we tend to take everything in life for granted and forget to thank our Creator for His many blessings. But during Ramadan, fasting instills in us a sense of gratitude. Fasting makes us appreciate the value of food and drink. Gratitude elevates our Taqwah.

3. We then become more compassionate towards the poor and needy. We start giving charity in the way of Allah swt and that brings us closer to Him.

4. During Ramadan Allah has promised us forgiveness for all our past sins if we beg Him for forgiveness sincerely. It is the best time to repent to Allah, make duas and recharge our relationship with Him.

# 2:Make a plan and define goals.

This is by far the biggest pain point for the majority of people I know, including myself.

How do we divide time between worship, family,  and everything else during Ramadan? What’s really important in time management is to write down a weekly agenda. If we find that we’ve got too much time on our hands, it may be wasted if not utilized in a productive manner. If we don’t manage our time well we’ll always be late for everything. Sit down and make a list of goals that you would like to achieve this month. The most important thing about planning is setting realistic goals for yourself. Frankly speaking, that’s something I find really hard to do sometimes. But if you don’t want to bail out on your plan later because of burnout, then I suggest you make realistic goals.

• Set an intention for the month to come: Think about what you’d like to change in your life: perhaps you need to cut out poor habits, or improve your discipline, or align your actions with your ideals. Consider what you can do to become a happier and more effective human being. Ramadan is a prime opportunity to your reflect on your life and reset your routines – so plan ahead to make the best use of your time
• Free your mind: Minimize distractions. Focus your thoughts on helping others and improving yourself. Spend your free time studying, creating, or quietly reflecting.
•  Organize your life: Prepare yourself to make the most out of this beautiful month. Do what you need to do to stay on top of everything during Ramadan. You may find it easier to keep to a rigorous schedule of prayer, meals, and anything else may be pertinent to your daily life. 

• Put your affairs in order: Take care of anything serious that you need to do before Ramadan begins. You may be able to focus more intently on spiritual growth if you don’t need to worry about any extra issues.
• Shop for groceries in advance: It might be a chore to shop when you’re hungry. Prepare large batches of food and freeze them; chop vegetables and store them in airtight containers.

 Some tips to better manage your time during Ramadan in order to achieve your goals:

• With hotter & longer days we must learn to practice patience while making  time for worship
• Plan your time when you first wake up setting aside time for worship, work, rest & family
• Eat a well balanced Suhoor or pre dawn meal everyday. Not only is it full of blessings but eating at this time will give you the energy you need to make it through the day without feeling too weak & exhausted
• Include fruits, vegetables, dates in your diet & cut out oily foods
• Increase intake of water & antioxidant juices between Iftar & Suhoor to keep hydrated
• Manage your sleeping hours so as to get enough time for rest & worship
• Pray the obligatory Salah on time by getting yourself ready as soon as the time for Salah comes.
• Ramadan is the month of Quran. Try to schedule reading/reciting it during any free time that you may have. If you are working, keep a pocket sized Quran with you & read it when you get time like on your lunch break, coffee break & so on.
• Make dua for yourself ,family & all Muslims  when possible .
• During the last 10 days of Ramadan we should try to accumulate as much reward as possible by making use of every moment
• Try to sleep less & worship more . Aisha reported:

 “With the start of last 10 days of Ramadan the prophet used to tighten his waist belt & used to pray all night & used to keep his family awake for the prayer”  (Bukhari)

Now that we have prioritized the things that we should plan or schedule around, we should have a better idea of the time that it left. Utilizing these tips will help to ensure that we are getting the things that we need to do, thus having a better idea how to manage our own personal goals. 

#3 Wasting Our Free Time

After all is said and done, you may find that you have free time. This is where we need to be extra careful.The month of Ramadan is a precious time. Before we know it, this beautiful month of mercy and forgiveness will be over. We should try to spend every moment possible worshiping Allah swt. However, there are those moments of “free time” that end up being wasted. Remember that Ramadan is an opportunity to let go of any bad habits and develop good ones.  Here are some ways how we can waste precious time:

• Watching or listening to things that we know we shouldn’t 
• Playing video games
• Engaging in conversations that we know we shouldn’t ( backbiting) 
• Revisiting any bad habits one may be trying to let go of

#4 How Can We Best Utilize Our Free Time

So what can we do to make sure that we stay on the right path? How can we utilize any free time that we may have in a way that will benefit us and not take away from our purpose? Would it be worth it to have our fasts and duas wasted over some free time we did not utilize properly? Here are some things that we can do in the event we have some free time, while guarding our fast. 

• Read the Quran: It is important to read the Quran during Ramadan. Once you have set a daily goal on how much you are going to read each day, use any extra time to read more. 
• Memorize Surahs: It is good to have a lot of surahs stored in mind, so keep memorizing more, and revise the ones that you have already memorized.
• Pray extra prayers. It will help you to become closer to Allah and you will have lots of reward. Don’t pray the obligatory prayers and stop there; try to increase your worship by praying optional prayers. 
• Get plenty of rest. Fasting can throw off your normal eating and sleeping schedule, and you may need to get more sleep than usual in order to stay strong. Many people stay up late at night, then nap in the afternoon. Try to take naps midway through the day – even a half-hour power nap will leave you feeling refreshed. But don’t sleep too much because you will miss the month of acceptance. 
• Be gracious and giving:  Generosity is a central theme to Ramadan, and you can practice this community spirit in every single interaction with another person. You don’t need to donate money: you can brighten someone’s day with a smile or a few kind words. You can even give back to others simply by being patient and kind. Take this month as an opportunity to be the best sort of person that you can be.

We await this holy month every year in hopes of improving ourselves and getting closer to Allah swt. Let’s make sure that we use this time wisely to ensure that we do just that. Make every minute count so that can be better servants of Allah swt. May we all have a beautiful and blessed Ramadan InshaAllah.

Sister Rebecca is a SAHM living in Houston Texas. Married for 13 years with two children, and a revert since 2014,  her hobbies include cooking, reading, and spending time with family