Be excited! Be anticipating! Its Ramadan!!!

Assalamualaikum..

Alhamdulillah that we are given another opportunity to experience the month of barakah the holy month of Ramadan once again.

"Ahlan wa Marhaban ya Ramadan.." :)

and thank Allah that I manage to celebrate my first Ramadan this year with family. Last year i was still in Alexandria, Egypt, and Ramadan fall during our study leave..

But that makes no different.. Because no matter where will we be celebrating Ramadan, the reward is still the same..

What makes us different is how we spent our Ramadan?

did we make the best out of it? or just being idle and having the same routine like any other days?

Ramadan is not just a month where being hungry and not having a drink during daylight only matter, it was about how we try to manage our time, how productive we have been, and how consistent(istiqamah) we are in doing good deeds.

Starting from the time we wake up for 'sahur' till the night, how do we expect to learn from this?

[#note to self]

• Waking up as early as 5am for sahur doesn't means that we can only eat. Take this opportunity to do some prayers, or at least zikr. 

• and after sahur, don't try to get back to sleep. This is the time for you to be prepare for Fajr(Subuh) Prayer at the mosque,

“One who performs `Isha’ prayer in congregation, is as if he has performed Salat for half of the night. And one who performs the Fajr prayer in congregation, is as if he has performed Salat the whole night.” [Muslim]

(...or at least we can pray together with family or friends at home)

• Making the best out of your days and don't spend too much time on sleeping, watching tv, facebook-ing, or playing computer games.. There are still lots of other things to do instead of what is mention above. And it will be no excuses for not being productive in Ramadan! Even during the period of Prophet Muhammad SAW, Muslims are still able to be on jihad(war) against kufar.. so what makes us as a muslim if we just spend our day with unreasonable things that makes no profit to ourself and Islam?

• Some people misunderstood the month of Ramadan as just it was just the month of fasting, and abandon other priorities such as solah and zakat. Slacking in solah is not the way how muslims should react during fasting. A good quality solah reflect to the muslim itself. People who take good care of their solah will fast and make the best out of their ramadan while people who fast because others did, will not gain anything in return except thirst and hungriness. 

• Take this opportunity to recite the Quran. It is preferable to read it after each prayer. Don't bother to finish the Quran as fast as you can, but read it with 'tertib' and 'tartil' with the meaning itself (tadabur ayat), but if you are good enough to complete the Quran during Ramadan, that was the best! Start with a little step, from half a page to two page a day and continue on as much as you can.

• During iftar (break the fast), eat accordingly. :) start with the sunnah; kurma. Bear in our mind that Ramadan is not the festival of food. Thus, make sure to make a list before going to any bazaar Ramadan.. hehehe >.<

Abū Hurayrah said that he heard the messenger of Allah, Muhammad SAW say:
» إِنَ لِلصَائِمِ فَرْحَتَيْنِ إِذَا أَفْطَرَ فَرِحَ، وَإِذَا لَقِيَ اهَ فَرِحَ «

"There are two times of happiness for the fasting person: when he breaks his fast he is happy and when he meets Allah he is happy"

• And the special of Ramadan is when you can perform terawikh prayer!! yeah~ Take this opportunity to do it, cause we doesn't know if we will be given the chance to do it again next Ramadan.

That is all for now. Have a great Ramadan this year. Make it the best Ramadan that we ever had!

*p.s : RT #Ramadan Gain Taqwa, not weight! 

*p.s.s : Selagi mana ada ruang untuk lakukan kebaikan, jangan hesitate. Just do it! 

*p.s.s.s : be productive untuk Ramadan kali nie; 27 Julai talk dekat sekolah. 3,4,5 Ogos yahoo@beijing (insyaAllah). lagi lagi lagi~

*untuk sebarang rujukan hadis berkenaan puasa (klik sini)*