Praise be to Allah, the Lord of Creations, and Peace and blessings be upon our prophet Muhammad, the faithful and the honest.
O, Allah, we know nothing but what You teach us. You are the All- Knower, the Wise. O Allah, teach us what is good for us, and benefit us from what You taught us, and increase our knowledge. Show us the righteous things as righteous and help us to do them, and show us the bad things as bad and help us to keep away from them.
O Allah our Lord, lead us out from the depths of darkness and illusion, unto the lights of erudition and knowledge, and from the muddy shallows of lusts unto the heavens of Your Vicinity.
The holy month of Ramadan is the month of goodness, love and mercy. The Prophet (peace and blessings odf Allah be upon him) said:
"Whoever observes fasts during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah's rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven."
And he also said:
"Whoever establishes prayers during the nights of Ramadan faithfully out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah's rewards (not for showing off), all his past sins will be forgiven."
In order to fast and pray as Allah wants and likes, I advise you to do the following:
1- Be prepared to Ramadan before its coming by repentance, asking for Allah’s forgiveness, night prayer, and paying charity, as we prepare for months before starting a new job or buying a house, so isn’t the month of forgiveness worth preparedness? The Prophet (peace and blessings odf Allah be upon him) said:
“May Allah rub his nose in the dust, that person who Ramadan comes and his sins are not forgiven,”
The righteous salaf used to invocate to Allah for six months that they would reach Ramadan, and then they invocated for six months for Allah to accept their worship in Ramadan, as if all their life was Ramadan.
2- Don’t leave what is lawful only in Ramadan, but leave what is prohibited first, because it does not make sense to leave things that are lawful out the time of fasting such as food and drink and do what is unlawful in Ramadan and outside Ramadan such as gazing at women, lying, or treasury. Leaving what is unlawful is more prior.
3- Performing the congregational prayer in the mosque especially Al-Fajr and Ishaa’ prayers then remembering Allah after Al-fajr prayer in the mosque and reciting the Quran till Duha time to perform Adduha prayer if we can as the prophet said:
“Whoever prays Fajr in congregation then sits remembering Allah until the sun rises, then prays two rak’ahs, will have a reward like that of Hajj and ‘Umrah, complete"
4- Reciting a juz’ (part) of the Quran everyday thoughtfully.
5- Duaa’ (invocation) at sunset time before eating, eating some dates first, and performing Maghrib prayer before eating because this has great spiritual and health benefits.
6- Performing taraweeh prayer and trying to stay with the imam till he finishes in order to have the full reward.
7- Keeping the athkar that the prophet (PBUH) used to say especially in the morning and evening
(Keep your tongue wet by remembering Allah)
8- Paying a charity everyday as the prophet (PBUH) used to be more generous like the wind in Ramadan.
I ask Allah to make us reach Ramdan, to accept our fasting and prayer and to help us to fast, do nightprayer, lower our gaze, and control our tongue to set us free of Hellfire.
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