How Muhasabah Can Help You Hold on to the Goodness of Ramadan
by Amaliah Team in Ramadan on 6th June, 2019
As the 30 days of Ramadan began to come to an end, and the farewell Ramadan statuses started popping up over my timeline I realise soon Ramadan will be a distant memory and we will all stop reminiscing. I want things to be different this year and I know for that to happen I need to plan now.
Last year I traveled to Makkah to make Umrah and having spent time reflecting on various parts of my trip in an effort to savour the highs of imaan, I realised a few things that I could apply at the end of Ramadan. It got me thinking that I can do this with Ramadan, savour the moments and continue the goodness and so the Ramadan Reflections plan was born. Excitedly I told family and friends “I have the secret, I know how we can hold on to Ramadan.” What’s heartwarming is everyone wants to hold on to Ramadan too or at least the good bits!
Often when we look at the stories of the Sahabah and Prophets we are often learning from a journey they took whether that be internal or external and led me to think Ramadan in itself is a journey and we can reflect on the same way. Here’s the outline of how I am going to reflect on my Ramadan in an effort to keep the good going and continue to work on ridding my bad habits.
I’ve decided to organise my purposeful Ramadan reflections into categories most relatable to my life which is based roughly on the Life pie. Example below:
My categories: Quran, Communication with Allah, Health, Finance, Community, Mosque, Relationships, Children, Night prayers, and Work.
You may need to adjust or change the categories to suit your life. I start by thinking about the positives of each one at various times of the day. Reflection itself without writing down things is a powerful tool. Often we can get caught up in the act of documenting our reflections as opposed to the reflection itself, I would encourage you to make it easy on yourself because often our biggest barrier is starting things post Ramadan. I’ve provided a little insight into my reflection with the intention to inspire you to reflect on the journey you took to yourself this Ramadan. Along with my reflection, I also outline the things I can potentially continue as well as an additional goal or thought and it’s made me realise that much of what we do in .
Quran
- I enjoyed reading Quran daily in Arabic and think the repetitive listening and reading of Surah Fatiha 5 weeks before Ramadan contributed to the improvement of my Arabic.
- I will continue to read the Quran daily, and next year I can prepare the same way.
- I would like to begin understanding the Quran and will begin to study the Tafseer of Surah Fatiha, by next Ramadan I will understand what every word in the Fatiha means Insha Allah
Communication with Allah:
- I am pleased I have developed an easier way to communicate with the one I love. In years gone by I’ve felt there was a formality that at times wasn’t needed, sometimes it’s fine to tell Allah your struggling and to thank him as well as ask for guidance. Prolonging my sujood does help and I will continue to
- Prolonging my sujood does help and I will continue to outside of Ramadan.
- I love speaking to Allah outside of Salah.
Health
- This Ramadan I am glad I didn’t overeat and thought about how the foods I was consuming would affect my energy levels and thus ibadah. I found hydrating foods like Homous, salads, and soups to work best. I’m glad that I didn’t have any fried chicken and I do not miss it!
* I’d like to understand the right way to eat Insha Allah and perhaps look at the sunnah more
Muhasabah is part of our faith and a way to continuously improve yourself, it is the act of assessing our own actions honestly and requires both criticism and honesty. Umar ibn Al-Khattab said:
“Bring yourself to account before you are taken to account. Weigh your deeds before your deeds are weighed.”
Amaliah Team
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