Countdown to ramadan

ramadan is so near!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i just cant wait. yipeee!!!

I'm looking forward to it too but the days will be long this year. I was looking at the irish prayer times for ramadan and theres nearly an hours differene in the times for fajr and maghrib when you compare them to the UK. I might be in Ireland for Ramadan this year and I'm wondering how it will be being with my non muslim family while fasting.

Inshallah it will be fine hun. yeah it is very long but allah will make it easy for us all inshallah..

Asalam alaikom sisters

I have been so unwell that I haven't been concentrating for months. I would be ashamed to admit it, but Allah knows how ill I've been, but I don't even know WHEN Ramadan is due this year, so please share all you can.

Carima

assalaam alaikum sis. the 1st ramadan is on 20th july

Subhan Allah - that's ages away yet. The way people were talking on Facebook about preparing for it made me think it was next month!!!

Asalam alaikom sisters

Nice to "see" you on here. Return I wouldn't worry about it - fasting is hard no matter how long the day. I think a lot of it is in our minds. But you are very right to consider being with your non-muslim family.

I think you should sit down and imagine different scenarios and act out how you will react. e.g. Whenever I have to mix with non-muslims and family friends who are expecting to shake hands I try to picture the situation and imagine myself with a glass in my hand, or something in my left hand while I hold my handbag with my right. In Weight Watchers we consider how we are going behave in a particular setting. e.g. If we are invited to a BBQ or Buffet if you plan in advance and think "i'll put salad on my plate first, I will not go back to the buffet so I will put what I am going to eat on my plate on my first and ONLY trip to the food, I'll cook something low-fat that I know the points in and bring it as a gift for the hostess and then eat that rather than 'dangerous' food.

I hope this helps.
C

Carima,

Ramadan is thirteen weeks away. It may seem like ages but before you know it the weeks fly by then its July!

Claire,

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully it wont be too bad as I may be there for the last two weeks. I'm thinking of heading to Dublin for Eid ul Fitr as I know there wont be anything going on near where my parents live.If anyone knows of any events being organized let me know please.

Salams

Maybe you should ask in the Facebook group? More people log on there than in here.

Carima

I'm afraid I'm not on facebook. I prefer to avoid it. If anyone is on it and finds something out please let me know.



Jazakallaukhair

Insha Allah I will post information on here that is educational from Facebook but not the social stuff - I couldn't keep up with that!

See the posts I added already today. INsha Allah they'll keep you going for a while!

Jazakallah

assalaam alaikum

why do people prepare for ramadan in advance? i just dont get it! is there anything in the hadith about preparing for ramadan in advance.

Asalam alaikom.

DJ - was hoping someone else would have answered this before now. In Ramadan the shaytains are chained so we only have to fight our own nafs. There is a night in Ramadan that is worth 700(?) months. (Laylat al Qadr). The Qur'an was revealed in Ramadan. The rewards for all your deeds are multiplied many times over in Ramadan. Out of all the acts of worship possible the fast is the ONLY thing that is specially for ALLAH - the salah, zakat etc is for OUR benefit. Ramadan can be 29 or 30 days. If you want to get the most out of these days and night you plan in advance. If you were going on a holiday - you'd think about what to pack. e.g. If you were going to a sunny country and you planned on swimming you would pack Sun Screen and a bathing togs. Before you'd pack them you'd put them on your shopping list and you'd go out and buy some if you didn't have any. If you want to save as much time as possible you do all this in advance so you don't have to leave the beach to go looking for suntan lotion. Same with Ramadan - to get the benefit of all your deeds you don't want to be distracted with the Dunya - you do your preparation so you can focus solely on good deeds and not have to "leave the beach" while the sun is shining.
Not a very good example but it's what came to me as I saw no one had answered this yet. It's like Mary and Martha in the Bible when Jesus (alayhi salam) came to visit - one of them sat down and just listened while the other one was faffing about with the housework. Which one got the most benefit from Jesus' visit? Alhamdililah, since we started this forum and got such good advice I feel that I am getting "value" for my Ramadan. I love the idea of leaving food for the people to break their fast on - you get the same reward as them not taking anything away from them and it's multiplied because it's Ramadan. Have a look in the archives and the library section. The Sahabas used to spend the 6 months before Ramadan preparing for it and praying they would live to see it and the 6 months afterwards praying that their deeds would be accepted. Check out the articles and hadiths. They are available on here and online. I'm not preparing yet for Ramadan but in the back of my mind I know it's coming up and I'm thinking that insha Allah when I have sent in my last assignment for college at the end of May the next "deadline" for me is Ramadan.
Hope this helps.
C