Every year, Muslims get super excited welcoming Ramadhan- the month of mercy. We list down deeds (ibadah) that we would want to achieve during this period; we execute it diligently (or not?) and when Ramadhan finally draws its curtain, we felt a bit lost? confused? Sad that it had come to an end, guilty of not maximising the time, a bit of a failure for all the unachievable goals.
Some call it the post-ramadhan blues.
The fasting, the masjid-hopping for tarawih, the daily Quran recitation, the taddabur of the Quran.
do all this end when Syawal comes?
The deeds during Ramadhan should not be considered as a stop button- where you stop everything you did once Ramadhan ends.
Or a shut down button where you completely leave everything behind
The deeds of Ramadhan could be your reset button. A restart button.
Where it could be your new starting point. Your new beginning.
كونوا ربَّنيين و لا تكونوا رمضانيين
Be the servant of your Rab; and not the servant of Ramadhan
To keep up with the Ramadhan momentum, I share 4 easy & doable tips here:
1. List down the things that you have achieved in Ramadhan.
I have always advocate for celebrating small wins– be it in homeschool or parenting. Just to motivate us and keep us going. Listing down the deeds that we have done in Ramadhan help us to actually visualise what actions that we can continue doing it outside of Ramadhan. Even if it is a small one!
Narrated by Abu Dhar :
– عنه قال لي النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم: “ لا تحقرن من المعروف شيئاً ولو أن تلقى أخاك بوجهٍ طليق” ((رواه مسلم)).
Abu Dharr (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Do not belittle any good deed, even meeting your brother (Muslim) with a cheerful face”. [Muslim].
Riyad as-Salihin 121
2. Do small but consistent
For this tip, I was actually inspired by my daughters request to continue going for the congregatory prayer in Masjid. During Ramadhan we will go for Taraweeh at a nearby masjid and during weekends, we will do masjid-hopping.
Once Ramadhan ended and normal routine resumes, the masjid trip stopped.
We might not be able to go to the masjid everyday but we can do a weekly family trip one.
(note: congregratory daily prayers in Masjid (Solat Jamaah )are obligatory (wajib) on healthy men)
We can also continue fasting on Mondays and Thursdays or fast on the white days (Ayyamul Beid) which are on the 13,14 and 15th of every month.
Aisyah Radiyahhu Anha narrated :
حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَرْعَرَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ سَعْدِ بْنِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، عَنْ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ ـ رضى الله عنها ـ أَنَّهَا قَالَتْ سُئِلَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَىُّ الأَعْمَالِ أَحَبُّ إِلَى اللَّهِ قَالَ ” أَدْوَمُهَا وَإِنْ قَلَّ ”. وَقَالَ ” اكْلَفُوا مِنَ الأَعْمَالِ مَا تُطِيقُونَ ”.
Narrated `Aisha: The Prophet (ﷺ) was asked, “What deeds are loved most by Allah?” He said, “The most regular constant deeds even though they may be few.” He added, ‘Don’t take upon yourselves, except the deeds which are within your ability.”
Sahih al-Bukhari 6465
3. Finding block of time
Time blocking method is a method where you divide your day into smaller blocks of times. So during each block, we focus on a single task or a few similar ones.
I wrote a blogpost 2 years back :
I shared here on how we can work our daily routines into our daily prayers.
This means, I blocked my day into smaller blocks following the 5 daily prayer times.
Try list down our daily routines and where to shuffle it around our prayer times.
We might not be able to finish one juz everyday outside Ramadhan, but at least, choose one specific time where you can recite the Quran together as a family. I would suggest Maghrib time as Quran time.
4. Stack habits.
The concept of habit stacking is gradually incorporating new lifestyle habits into your routine by associating them with an already-established habit.
For example, think of one household chore that you will do daily. For example cooking or doing the laundry. This is your already established habit. Something that you will not skip on that day. Try include a “side-habit” that you can do during that cooking, for example listening to Quran, listening to Islamic podcasts/ attend online halaqas etc.
The idea is to maximise your time with small consistent ibadah, without being overwhelmed or stress.
May our time be filled with barakah and may Allah aid us in every step we take towards Him to attain His redha and blessings inshaAllah!
Raising muslim kidlets 