It’s over. Gone as quickly as it came, maybe quicker. I know I didn’t make the most of the month, and many others did not either. So what do you do now that the month is over?
We’ll cover 3 things to do that will help us keep the spirit of the month alive.
Remember, the key to the month of Ramadan is change. The change is not noticed until after the month. Think back to how you were before Ramadan started and the goals you set coming into the month. The key now is to make sure you are a little bit better than you were when Ramadan started, regardless of how your Ramadan went.
1. Du’a List Reloaded
This is the single most important tip I can share. We all had a du’a list we made. Even if we didn’t, there’s still something we were supplicating for throughout the day, at iftar time, or throughout the night. Take your list, and make it bigger.
That’s right – make it bigger. We tend to think that during Ramadan we can maximize our benefits, so it’s time to ask for whatever we want, and then for some reason we stop when the month is over. The etiquettes of du’a necessitate that we keep asking. The more we ask, the more we show our need of Allah and our humility in front of Him. So take your list and add to it. And, of course, keep reading it every day. In fact, if you read it once a day in Ramadan, make it a habit to read it once in the day and once at night.
Either way, increase your du’a time. And don’t limit yourself either. I have noticed that when I struggle spiritually, the only thing that keeps me in check is just making casual du’a. And by that I mean in English and asking for random things. It’s making du’a for help with a project at work, it’s making du’a that my kid has a good day at school. It’s a lot of “dunya” and “trivial” things, but they deepen my connection with Allah, and I feel that it allows me to have a more attentive heart when I try to ask for the “bigger and better” things like forgiveness. Keep the connection on going. Ramp it up. This is the time more than ever, especially since Ramadan is over.
2. Get Involved
Just do something. That’s the advice. Do something meaningful and productive. You have something that you can contribute to helping others or “making the world a better place to live.” Trite as that may sound, it’s much better than spending your hours watching Jersey Shore. Go volunteer somewhere, help out with something at the masjid, or start a website, but make sure you’re doing something positive. When I go to the masjid and see volunteers who have been running around for hours, part of me used to say alhamdulillah someone else is doing that so I can focus on something else (like my own ibadah), but now I realize that was a naive outlook. It hit me this month (now that it’s ending) that those people had a much more fulfilling Ramadan than I did because they performed one of the greatest acts in that they were constantly serving others.
3. This Month is the Month of Qur’an
The fondest memories I have of this month both deal with the Qur’an. Even though I did not give the book its proper due this month, I still received benefit from the little that I was able to put in.
The second moment was while I was “killing time” in the masjid, and randomly opened up to a shorter chapter and began reading the translation. I realized that I don’t do this enough. In my mind, I have built up an ‘Arabic or bust’ mentality to such an extent that it has been years since I just opened a translation and tried to comprehend even a little bit of what is being said and have my own personal reflection on the basic and core messages of the Qur’an.
So that is my final advice: the month of the Qur’an may be over, but don’t let that mean your relationship with it is over too. Make time to read the Qur’an, memorize it, study it and try to do it in a blessed place whenever the opportunity arises.
Ramadan is over. Most of us fell short in reaching our goals, but this is not a reason for sadness. The true test of how our Ramadan went is how much we changed because of it. Perhaps some of us hit a home run in the month and the carry over effect is enough to change us. But there are others of us who are so frustrated with ourselves for not taking advantage that maybe we declare now once and for all that we are sick and tired of being sick and tired, and it causes us to change. Either way, the goal is the same. I’ve shared the 3 tips with you that I feel I needed most and hope that it helps.
What are your post-Ramadan productivity tips?
