welcome ramadan.
Hello, Assalamualai’kum, and Very Good Day!
Welcome Ramadan! How are you feeling? For me, Ramadan is a month of reflection and spending a lot of time focusing on ibadah and doing good deeds. While maintaining my daily routine.
Ramadan, the blessed month of fasting, is starting tomorrow. Muslims are all aware that Ramadan is a month of multiple blessings (barakaat), mercy (rahmah), forgiveness (maghfirah), and many more. Certainly it is the month of fasting and many types of obedience (to’aat).
Here are ways I’m preparing for Ramadan and I hope these Ramadan preparation tips help you getting ready for Ramadan, or just need some inspiration to make this year even better than last, Inshallah!
1. start fasting before ramadan.
It’s Sunnah to fast on Mondays and Thursdays so I try to fast once a week in the leadup to prepare my body and mind for Ramadan. I started fasting when I was 7 years old. As I get older, the body used to it. But couple days beginning of Ramadan usually testing me. So, doing this Mondays and Thursdays fasting sort of preparing the body for the whole month.
So, if you haven’t been fasting in preparation for Ramadan yet, I suggest you start now! Ideally, Monday and Thursday as it’s sunnah but squeeze the days in wherever you can!
Each day fasted before Ramadan will help your fasts during Ramadan, inshallah!
2. get your prayers in check.
If there’s any time in the year to make sure you are praying all 5 prayers a day. Ramadan is it!
Another way to prepare for Ramadan and all of the Ramadan prayers is to make sure you are trying to pray all 5 prayers a day leading up to Ramadan if that’s something you usually struggle with.
If you can’t keep track of the prayer times throughout the day, there are many apps that send you reminders.
I use Muslim Pro as the prayer time is very accurate I find and the notification can be silent or use a simple beep.
3. get a ramadan planner for ramadan preparation.
There are so many Ramadan planners and Ramadan Journals available, most of them available online and also some of the Muslim apps.
I think buying one of these apps and adding this to your Ramadan preparations checklist is a good idea if you felt your faith or motivation was a bit low last year and you hope to increase it this year, inshallah!
I love making lists and ticking things off, so having my Ramadan goals in a journal with additional prompts is a great idea. Maybe you want to read all of the Quran so you can use a journal to split it into sections.
I used Canva’s Ramadan Journal last year which I loved, it’s super colourful with beautiful illustrations and great prompts and diary entry space. The most important thing is consistency.
4. cut down on caffeine.
One of the best Ramadan preparation tips I got from my lovely followers on Instagram to slowly cut down on caffeine before Ramadan. Everybody knows I’m a coffee addict. So, I need to cut down this liquid gold.
This way our bodies will not go into shock when we suddenly stop drinking caffeine on day 1 of Ramadan.
From what I’ve heard, and experienced myself, a headache is usually the result of sudden caffeine withdrawal and that’s not a good way to start this spiritual month!
One of the ways I’m preparing for Ramadan is buying some decaf tea bags because I find that I tend to drink tea and coffee during the day (especially on cold days) through comfort and habit rather than always needing a caffeine hit.
This way, I can still get my warm and comforting drinks, but I’m getting my body off as much caffeine.
I’m planning on starting this 1 month before Ramadan starts as part of my Ramadan preparation, inshallah!
5. re-organise or add in an exercise routine.
This might not be something everyone is doing when preparing for Ramadan but it’s been on my mind for the last 3 Ramadan’s so I’m going to mention it!
I work out in the afternoon during lunch break and right now I’m in a really good workout routine and I don’t want to stop it and ruin all the progress I’ve made by not working out and exercising during Ramadan!
Last year I do stretch up routine after Terawih. It gave me regular fasting-friendly workouts to do after Iftar which is the recommended time to exercise when fasting! I loved having this regular movement throughout the month and after the workout I felt so revived and energised again which was perfect as it was then time to after Terawih!
If you want to try, think about fasting friendly workouts you can do during ramadan like slow yoga flows at home.
6. get a good copy of the quran.
Ramadan and the Quran go hand in hand. But it’s important to have a good translation of the Quran if you do not understand Arabic so you really connect with the Quran and Allah’s word.
There are some really good English - Malay translations of the Quran and I recommend is al-Quran, the noble quran by Karya Bestari. They do highlight the tajweed in colours which greatly help you in reading with correct Tajweed and also understand the meaning of the Quran’s Ayat on side of the pages.
Getting a good and easy-to-read English translation of the Quran is so so important, especially if you are a revert, please don’t make the mistake I did by reading a bad translation to start with as it makes it much more difficult to understand!
7. stock up on essentials. zam-zam water & dates.
Talking of headaches, when I fasted for a week last year during Ramadan, I ended up with a terrible terrible headache and I had no painkillers in my house!
This year, I’ve already purchased a gallon of zam-zam water. So I’m ready for any headaches that start at the start of Ramadan. It does help me a lot. Just a line of bismillah, and quick sip of zam-zam water help me on the headache.
Zam-Zam Water is a great drink to have in the mornings with Suhoor and at night.
Zam-Zam Water has natural electrolytes which keep you hydrated and it’s much healthier than having a hydration drink like Gatorade that contains high sugar. So be sure to stock up in advance as I found the supermarkets not readily available in Zam-Zam water during Ramadan!
There are many different foods associated with Ramadan but the main Ramadan food you need to get is dates!
If you don’t know, it is sunnah to break your fast eating dates, an odd number to be precise.
Dates are extremely nutritious and give us energy. A lot of people have told me to eat dates with Suhoor as well as eating them when I break my fast. Contact my mates here as he sell fresh and meaty dates.
Another food that is recommended to eat for Suhoor is Bananas to keep us fuller for longer so be sure to get some of these in before Ramadan starts!
8. ramadan food preparation.
It’s probably unrealistic to prepare what you’re going to eat for Suhoor and Iftar for the whole of Ramadan in advance but I definitely recommend preparing the first few days on each week.
Firstly, food shopping and deciding what meals to eat whilst you’re fasting isn’t a good idea in my experience. Food shopping when I can’t eat makes me more hungry and deciding on food when I’m hungry leads to poor decisions!
Plan out what you’ll eat for the first week so you can go food shopping before Ramadan starts to help you with the first week of fasting at least.
Also, be sure to look into what goods are good to eat when fasting! Having salty food at night for dinner/Iftar will make you very thirsty the next day which isn’t nice. Plan healthy, fresh and hydrating meals. Normally there will be soup during Iftar and mouth watering dishes for Suhoor to attract appetite early in the morning.
I hope these tips have helped you in your Ramadan preparation! May Allah grant us success in Ramadan so we will be able to achieve those objectives and many more. Amin! Happy fasting and see you another writing.
Happy Ramadan!
Emir S.
