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For a better YOU.
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Imagine worshipping Allah for a thousand months? Do you know how long that is?
1000 months equals 83 years and four months of worship! Now, think if you could get the reward for over 83 years of worship by just worshipping a single night...amazing right?
Muslims are lbessed with the opportunity to seek out the Night of Power or Laylatul Qadr, which falls on a different night in the last ten days of Ramadan.
Allah the most Merciful has even given us signs so that we may know that it is Laylatul Qadr:
The first of them or number one is that Laylatul Qadr is a
peaceful, tranquil quiet night. Within that night or the night of
Laylatul Qadr you do not hear the barking of dogs, or the sound of the
cockerel.
The second sign is that in Laylatul Qadr the people experience a
pleasant breeze or a pleasant wind which they enjoy which they like.
Thirdly, in Laylatul Qadr there is rain. This is one of the signs of
Laylatul Qadr that during the night of Laylatul Qadr the rain falls.
Fourthly, is that when the sun rises on the following morning the
disc of the sun is seen without strong rays or is without any rays. The
disc is a clear disc when it rises in the morning.
This year I was hoping some one would take a photo of the sun everyday in the last ten days ao that I could know when Laylatul Qadr was.
Luckily, someone posted this on picture on 27th Ramadan, so this year it fell on the 27th night. It was taken in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. May Allah accept our worship and forgive our sins. Ameen.
I know I'm rather late in wishing you Ramadan Mubarak, but if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, I was wishing my followers as soon as reports of the crescent moon had been sighted were confirmed.
In Ramadans past have you ever felt that you weren't able to accomplish much, or that you were unproductive, or though you wanted to be more spiritual this month and you weren't? Did you feel guilty or subdued and wondered how you could have a better Ramadan?
What if I told you there are resources and tools out there to help you have the best Ramadan ever!
I meant to do this post on how you can make the most of this blessed month and how to prepare for Ramadan two weeks ago, but due to personal commitments I couldn't.
But better late than never, right?
Ramadan isn't over yet so I decided to go ahead and share with you some of the resources and tools out there that I think will help you get more out of this Ramadan.
1) Quran Explorer I just love this site. You launch it and you can read the quran on your iPad/laptop/PC, you can listen to various recitations, by well known Qaris such Sheik Sudais, Shuraim, Mishary Al-Afasy and many more. You can also read or listen to the interpretation of the meaning if Arabic isn't your native language. Ramadan is the month when Angel Jibraeel used to revise the Quran with our Prophet (peace be upon him), and you should make an effort to try and complete the Quran once in this month..and then develope a habit of daily recitation in other months.
2) Productive Muslim's fabulous daily tips on how to have to Productive Ramadan are the very motivation I need to keep upbeat and prevent me from slipping into a lazy stupor while pre and post the iftar! Sign up for their Ramadan newsletter for a short and sweet practical tips on how to increase your productivity and spirituality this Ramadan.
3) iloveAllaah.com is another great site with lectures, articles and more what I particularly like is their checklist that's been circulating on Facebook. It's covers things that you can incorporate in life after Ramadan as well, but you can use Ramadan as a boot camp and be extra spiritually productive and reap the many rewards.
4) Duaa, it is the single most powerful tool we have. Make lots of duaa, wherever you are, whatever your situation, when ever you want, but in the last third of the night before iftar, and between the adhaan and salaah, ask for forgiveness, for mercy, for guidance, whatever you want, for peace and security for all of us, and remember me in your duaas too!
Productive Muslim held their 4th seminar on Wednesday in
wait for it...Jeddah! I was lucky enough to get a ticket, they sold out pretty
fast. YIG volunteers did a fantastic job
organising the event in collaboration
with JCCI who generously provided the venue. It started at 5pm and finished a bit before 11, with Salah and refreshment breaks in between.
(Focus and Energy towards maximising your goal in aakhira)
I wanted to write a review of the seminar but I'm feeling
rather overwhelmed by the task. I can say one thing it was definitely a very
productive seminar seeing that so much was covered in a short time. I will
update this article with the links to the slides handout, once it becomes
available. For now I will include highlights what made the most impact on moi,
hopefully Abu Productive will forgive me if I don't do justice to the material
covered.
Productivity triangle:knowledge, action and consistency
I've been reading many of the articles on the Productive
Muslim website, so I was familiar with some of the topics covered by Abu
Productive, but mashaÁllah, his energy, and enthusiasm is infectious and he is very easy to
relate to. The point that really motivated me was that he was a young brother
who understands all the social media entanglements and Genration X/Y issues
such as our addiction to mobile phones, and the same time he was teaching us
how we could pray Tahajjud/Qiyam right after Isha, how you should be reading at
least 30 minutes of the Quran daily and not slacking off and reading only a
page or much, much, less...somewhere in the back of my mind I hate to admit I
didn't think anyone our age could do any of that.
The resources that Productive Muslim provides such as the
Daily Taskinator, the Habitator and the ultimate Goal Planner are all very practical tools
to help you implement what you learn at the seminar, and printouts were
distributed to all attendees.
Credit: Sister Aneesah/Productive Muslim
One of the main topics that was covered was sleep
management, how to wake up for Fajr, and how to stay awake after Fajr. Now,
although alhamdolilah I don't have trouble waking up fo Fajr, but as soon as
I'm done with my prayers I immediately jump back into bed. I've also become a
bit of a night owl, and I think its really affecting my energy levels and the
amount I get done in any given day. So, I was delighted that this topic was
covered in detail.
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said,
"O Allah, make the early morning hours blessed for my
nation/ummah".
Abu Productive also explained that all the productivity
books he'd ever read about successful people from all over the world they all
woke up early.
Do you see a connection here? Now, I'm sitting there
thinking I've been sleeping through the blessed hours ever since I left school
:(...hmm not a very blessed or successful life, huh?
Then he covered on how to stay up: have an early morning
routine. The routine should be planned out before hand so that you don't have
to think of what to do next otherwise you will simply crawl back into bed as
the sheer effort to think of what to do next will slip you up. SO SIMPLE! WHY
DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT BEFORE?
Unfortunately, because of the weekend haven't really been
able to go to bed early, but post-Fajr I've been able to stay up till 630am,
and then I tend to collapse into bed. I guess, I'm using baby steps, and in a
few days inshallah will try to stay awake until ..gasp ..the afternoon
siesta/nap time.
I also want to experiment with the sleep cycles, find out if
my sleep cycle is 90 mins or more, apparently most people have 90 minute sleep
cycle but for some people it can be up to 120 minutes. That was one of the
'Homework assignments'. You can use this tool called sleepyti.me to figure out what time you should
sleep.
The 18 sources of barakah was also touched upon, and we were
asked to chose one source which we wasn't part of our daily life and to tap
into it for a week and try to build on it from their. I'm going to try
incorporating istighfar, as there are loads of benefits :-).
To focus, you need to disconnect and simply your life
What you need to reclaim your focus? Sincerity, commitment and discipline
Ever since Facebook
and Whatsapp became an (I hate to admit it) integral part of my life, I
think my focus, on any task generally, and computer related specifically, has
gone down the proverbial drain.
Abu Productive advised us to have a 'disconnect time' from
all technology, for e.g early morning till 7. I hate to admit after my Fajr
alarm goes off, while I contemplate leaving my comfy bed, I scroll through
Facebook on my phone-I'm not sure what earth shattering revelation I'm
expecting happened through the night, but yeah I do it. So, I've also been
enforcing this and it does help concentration in Fajr.
Disconnect from technology for a specific sacred quiet time
Another cool tip was how to engage in distraction free
writing, and I really need that for my blogging, he suggested WriteRoom for Mac
users, and I Googled and found Q10 for Windows and it’s free. This post was
drafted on it (look how long it ended up being) then I did spell check on Word.
You get full screen black background type no frills writing program, which
hides all tabs.
A crazy tool is Freedom software which is an internet
blocking software- it blocks access to the internet for your desired set amount
of time- will not let you access the internet even if you restart the
computer-dangerously effective!
Freedom: the internet blocking software
The 3 ways in which Islam helps to boost our focus: Salah, recitation of Quran, and lowering the gaze.
Now, I'd heard about the first 2 in relation to focus but
the third one was an eye-opener. I don't have a problem with lowering my gaze,
alhamdolilah, I don't think most sisters have a problem..(but certain TV shows
are making me feel guilty) :(, but I never realised the benefits before.
Focus triangle: Salaah, reciting quran, and lowering your gaze
I'll share the slides on this topic ad verbatim:
Lowering the gaze helps your heart focus.
It Reduces the Distraction of the heart:
" The soul is a temptress and loves to look at
beautiful forms and they is the guide of the heart. The heart commissions its
guide to go and look to see what is there and when the eye informs it of a
beautiful image it shudders out of love and desires for it. Frequently, such
inter-relations tire and wear down the heart and the eye.
Therefore, when the sight is prevented from looking and
investigating the heart finds relief from having to go through the arduous task
of (vainly) seeking and desiring." Ibn Al-Qayyim.
It gives you penetrating insight ("baseera")
"Whosoever builds his outward form upon following the
Sunnah, his internal form upon perpetual contemplation and awareness of Allah,
he restrains his soul from following desires, he lowers his gaze from the
forbidden things and he always eats the lawful things then his perception and
insight shall never be wrong" Ibn Shujaa' Al-Kimaanee
It Strengthens Your Discipline
"the people seek nobility and powers at the door of the
Kings and they will not find it except through the obedience of Allah,"
