6 Great Goals To Achieve This Ramadan

Ramadan 2021 is rapidly approaching. Alhamdulillah, Allah has given us another chance to see the holy month of Ramadan, so it’s important we make the most of it. A great idea is to set some goals for what you want to achieve and improve on in this month, here are just a few ideas you could focus on:

1) Eat in moderation

We all know how it goes… you fast for the whole day waiting for sunset so you can go and unleash yourself on all those samosas, and whatever amazing meal you have waiting for you. But this isn’t the way to go, Islamically, we’re only meant to eat till we’re full– anything more is greed.

“The human does not fill any container that is worse than his stomach. It is sufficient for the son of Adam to eat what will support his back. If this is not possible, then a third for food, a third for drink, and third for his breath.”

Al-Tirmidhi (Sahih)

Our health and body is from Allah, it is something we should take care of, so let’s try to monitor our portion sizes this Ramadan, not cook too much, and give any leftover meals away rather than throwing them out (there are loads of apps with this purpose now, check out a few here)

2) Try to stop gossiping

Backbiting and gossiping is a major (and unfortunately very easy) sin to commit. It’s so bad that when you do it, the person you’re gossiping about actually gets rewarded. It can be very hard to stop this, we know. But you could make a start this Ramadan, perhaps with a “backbiting jar”- each time you backbite you have to put money in a jar, hopefully encouraging you to stop- this money can then be given away to charity, so at least something good will have come out of those bad deeds.

3) Increase good deeds

Ramadan is the month of mercy, it’s the month where our good deeds are multiplied, and that’s something we need to take advantage of and increase.

Lets try to increase all our good deeds with those around us. It could be something like sharing food for iftar, sure it’s harder to actually have large iftars together now, but it doesn’t mean you can’t drop off food to a family or friend!

After all, the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said,

“Whoever helps to break the fast of a fasting person (giving food), he will have the same reward as him without decreasing anything from the reward of the fasting person.”

(Sunan At-Tirmizi)

Other good deeds include giving money to charity, volunteering to help organisations or charities, even something as simple as helping out with housework. Lets try to be as generous as possible this Ramadan.

4) Learn new surahs

During Ramadan a lot of us turn our attention to trying to complete the Quran within the holy month, as well as attempting to increase our ibadah through other means. One mean can be through learning new Surahs. This is super useful when performing Taraweeh prayers, as well as all the prayers post Ramadan.

If, like me, you have the worst memory and struggle to learn new surahs, check out this blog for some tips to help you with memorisation.

5) Attend online Islamic lectures or courses

Another way to increase our ibadah is to learn more about our beautiful religion. Seeking knowledge in Islam is recommended highly.

Allah (SWT) says in the Holy Qur’an: “And say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge.”   (Qur’an 20:114)

During Ramadan there are an abundance of online lectures and lessons that can help you learn more about the religion, some of these are free and some you have to pay for. You can even check out the older ones- knowledge never expires!

6) Read Quran daily

A lot of people make it their target to complete the Quran during Ramadan, and often feel upset when they can’t achieve this. For those of us that struggle to find time in the day to read the Quran, let’s make it a target to read for just a few minutes each day, even if it’s 5. A little a day can go a long way. It’s definitely better than not reading any Quran at all.

May we all benefit from this holy month and may all our duas be answered!

Ramadan Mubarak! ❤️