By Ramadan Kareem!
Alhamdulillah! It’s Ramadan! For a lot of us Ramadan falls during the summer holidays which, strangely, makes the fast harder than if we were working or at school. When you are at home, you get bored easily and boredom usually leads me to craving for snacks. So how do you keep yourself busy while respecting your fast?
I always try and do a lot of work around the house, prepare nice food for Iftar with family and friends… But, during Ramadan its also important to focus on Islamic activities, so I decided to show you some of the things I came up with.
First and foremost, reading or listening to Qur’an and Hadiths is especially important during Ramadan. Abdullaah Ibn ‘Amr (RAA) reported that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “The fast and the Qur’an will intercede for the servant on the Day of Judgement. The fast will say: ‘My Lord, I restricted him from food and drink, so allow me to intercede for him.’ And the Qur’an will say: ‘I prevented him from sleeping at night, so allow me to intercede for him.’ So they will be allowed to intercede.” (Saheeh Muslim, 804). It is during the month of Ramadan that Allah (SWT) blessed us with the Holy Qur’an, so there is a special virtue in reading Qur’an during this time.
An easy way to finish reading the entire Qur’an during Ramadan is reading 4 pages after each of the five prayers. Four pages, five times a day, means twenty pages a day, which is about one juz’ (part). With 30 days in Ramadan, this means you should be able to cover the entire Qur’an insha’Allah!
As for Hadiths, some of the best sources are Sahih Al Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. You can easily purchase the books online or in major Islamic bookshops, or you can just choose to read them online for free!
Playing an Islamic board game is also a great way to learn while having fun with your friends and family. My two favorite games are The Quran Challenge and Kalimaat by Baba Ali. This way of learning about Islam is especially great for recent converts as it covers the basics and shows you how fun it can be to learn about our beautiful religion.
Another thing I love to do during Ramadan is charity work. We all known giving Zakaat and helping the poor and needy is a must for all (able) Muslims, but actually getting involved in charity work is so much more rewarding to me, and a great way to meet brothers and sisters in your neighborhood, too! To get involved you can ask around at your local mosque or find out whether an Islamic charity organization is active near your home. In London for example, Muslim Aid and Islamic Relief are extremely active masha’Allah… You could even start your own little fundraising project! I used to ask each of my friends to bake a cake and then we would all come together somewhere crowded (and preferably somewhere people tend to get hungry) and sell them at a profit. All the revenues would than go to the charity of our choice.
Now that I told you some of the things I keep myself busy with during Ramadan, tell me some of your ideas in the comments below or on my Twitter or Facebook Page!