A Moment with Our Prophet, Muhammad (S) — By Imam Zijad Delic
Day 304: Five Goals for Ramadan this Year!
Narrated by Abu Huraira (r) that the Prophet (S) said: “Whoever does not give up false speech and evil deeds while fasting, then Allah is not in need of his/her leaving food and drink.”
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رضى الله عنه قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم مَنْ لَمْ يَدَعْ قَوْلَ الزُّورِ وَالْعَمَلَ بِهِ فَلَيْسَ لِلَّهِ حَاجَةٌ فِي أَنْ يَدَعَ طَعَامَهُ وَشَرَابَهُ
Source: Bukhari
Translieration: “Man Lam Yada’ Qawlaz Zuri Wal ‘Amala Bih, Fa Laysa Lillahi Haayyatun Fi An Yada’a Ta’amahu Wa Sharabah.”
Finding the purpose of Ramadan activities is a determining factor in setting goals and objectives for this Ramadan.
The purpose and the objective of Ramadan and the fasting in Ramadan is to improve ourselves, better ourselves, discipline ourselves…and be better after Ramadan than we were before Ramadan!
When we set the goals for the month of Ramadan, these goals will give us clearer direction, greater meaning and deeper purpose of the activities of the month of Ramadan and in life in general.
Let me share with you, in this post, five goals for this month of Ramadan (you can add to the list some of yours, if you wish):
1. Eat, drink and be moderate – take care of your health!
Let’s try to stick to the Prophetic rule on eating, before Ramadan and during it, as narrated by Miqdam ibn Ma’d (r) who said he heard the Prophet (S) saying:
“A human being cannot fill a vessel worse than his/her stomach! It is sufficient for a human being to take a few bites to keep his/her spine straight. But if he/she must (fill it), then let it be with one third of food, one third of water and one third of air.” (Tirmizi)
عَنْ الْمِقْدَامَ بْنَ مَعْدِيكَرِبَ، يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يَقُولُ
مَا مَلأَ آدَمِيٌّ وِعَاءً شَرًّا مِنْ بَطْنٍ حَسْبُ الآدَمِيِّ لُقَيْمَاتٌ يُقِمْنَ صُلْبَهُ فَإِنْ غَلَبَتِ الآدَمِيَّ نَفْسُهُ فَثُلُثٌ لِلطَّعَامِ وَثُلُثٌ لِلشَّرَابِ وَثُلُثٌ لِلنَّفَسِ
Our goal, in regard to the food in Ramadan, should not be to eat at Iftar or later until Suhur all what we missed during the day!
2. Memorize 1 new Surah each week of Ramadan – Connect with the Qur’an, because it is your life manual!
Memorizing the Quran often seems like a daunting task.
But the key is doing it in small bites.
Since there are four weeks in Ramadan, let us try to memorize one new Surah a week.
Start off with a short, easy one.
Once you’ve started, you’ll build momentum and may even want to memorize a longer one the following week.
The rewards for engaging with the Qur’an are many:
3. Stop swearing and/or backbiting – with a special box – Discipline yourselves!
Narrated by Abu Huraira (r) that the Prophet (S) said: “Whoever does not give up false speech and evil deeds while fasting, then Allah is not in need of his/her leaving food and drink.” (Bukhari)
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رضى الله عنه قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم مَنْ لَمْ يَدَعْ قَوْلَ الزُّورِ وَالْعَمَلَ بِهِ فَلَيْسَ لِلَّهِ حَاجَةٌ فِي أَنْ يَدَعَ طَعَامَهُ وَشَرَابَهُ
It’s hard to keep our mouths closed when someone upsets us.
Whether we utter those indecent words or backbite about someone to our family and friends, we know this isn’t the God-approved way of letting off steam.
In Ramadan, when we want to build our spirituality, we’ve got to wage Jihad against our bad habits.
Try this: get a box and every time you catch yourself swearing/getting angry or backbiting put some money in it.
It could be $10 or more depending on the severity of action.
The point is to choose an amount that makes it feel like discipline.
At the end of the month give the money to a charity or buy a gift for the person whom you’ve backbitten the most against or said things that you are sorry for.
4. Go on a technology diet – manage your gadgets, don’t allow them to manage you!
Even if you work in the IT industry, you can do this.
Avoid checking personal email and surfing the web constantly during your fast.
After Iftar, instead of plopping yourself in front of the screen, go to Tarawih or read some of the Qur’an.
The same goes for the television.
The point is to try to give our full attention to spiritual elevation this month, except when we need to use our gadgets for the job, business or school purposes.
5. Forgive everyone who has hurt you – Forgiveness increases your honor and dignity!
Still got a festering wound from the fight with a spouse or a good friend last year?
Still upset about something your spouse said during a heated argument at the end of last year?
Or are you still bitter about the way your parents sometimes treated you as a kid?
Or you are angry because your son or daughter did not bring A+ last semester?
Let go of the anger and pain this Ramadan and forgive those who have hurt you in any way?
Forgiving someone is not only good for the body, but it’s also great for the soul and your own dignity, as narrated by Abu Huraira (r) that the Prophet (S) said: “no one forgives except that Allah increases his honor.” (Muslim)
وَمَا زَادَ اللَّهُ عَبْدًا بِعَفْوٍ إِلاَّ عِزًّا
And in Ramadan, one third of it is devoted to Allah’s forgiveness…shouldn’t we human beings forgive too?
Now when we know all of these facts, it is our obligation to set the GOALS for this blessed month of Ramadan and try to achieve them all.
We do not want to reach the first day of the month of Ramadan an only then start preparing and setting goals!
Now is the time to do this noble job!
Ya Rabb! Give us clear vision so that we establish meaningful goals for the coming month of Ramadan – the month of opportunities!
Ya Rabb! Do not let us be among those who have confused minds! Indeed, confused minds cannot set meaningful goals!
Allahumma Amin!
