Sort yourself out. Fast

I remember once talking to a brother in Manchester who was not fully practicing. He had been struggling with his faith, and said to me, ‘you know Ramadan really helps me from getting completely lost in life’.

He was someone who by his own admission had weaknesses which he could not always overcome during the year, but this was one time he was able to bring himself back to his spiritual roots.

If there is one time in the year for you to sort out your bad habits, weaknesses or lackings, it’s Ramadan. I just love it when this month comes round. It’s magic. People are excited, masjids are getting ready, people are buying dates and ingredients, and radio Ramadans are going live up and down the country. It’s also a chance to take stock of what we’ve been doing, what we’ve been failing to do, and try to fix it over the course of 30 days.

Each of us will have their own areas for improvement. It might be to dust off that mus’haf and starts reading the divine words regularly again. It might be to make more time for the sunan and nawafil prayers. It might be to try to rebuild broken relationships, or give a bit more time and money to our local masjid.

One thing I’ll be working on is to perfect my khushu (concentration) in prayer. For some reason it’s not been the same lately as it used to be. If there is one thing the big city does to you, it’s to clogg up your mind such that it’s difficult to cut everything out and focus on your worship.

Which brings me to my final point. Even if we manage to cut everything out when in the prayer hall, there still no getting away from one big nusance. Mobile phones!

Before it used to be a simple ring tone. Now in the middle of maghrib we’re treated to everything from Bollywood to Beyoncé. And with the advent of sat navs on phones, I recently experienced the ridiculous moment when a voice announced ‘please turn left’ just when the Imam recited ‘ihdinas siraatal mustaqeem’ (guide us to the straight way)!

Let’s hope there’s less of that this Ramadan, otherwise I’m wearing earplugs! Mind you I wont be able to hear the Imam then. Hmmm… some problems wont get solved that easy I guess. But as long as Allah knows we try.

Anyway I wish you all a wonderful Ramadan!