Tag Archives: koran

Ramadan 2024 Reflections: First Third

We’ve already made it through a third of Ramadan!

Even though it’s far from my first time fasting Ramadan, I always have a slight twinge of apprehension before the fast starts.

How thirsty will I get?

Will I be able to manage alright breastfeeding, working, running errands and a household and watching children?

Am I going to reach maghrib each night hanging on for dear life?

Doubts pass through my head as the month approaches, but I also place my trust in Allah that this is a month of mercy and that He will make it easy upon us all. And thus, without fail, I complete (almost, a couple of days were still hard) each fast easier than I thought I would, alhamdulillah. There were some big transitions in our family that happened literally the same week of Ramadan starting that made me a little more nervous as well, but again, Allah helped us through.

Something that helped me get most of everything done at work and home while keeping my energy and spirits up is to try and slow down. I’m the type of person that approaches each day with a plan and idea of what I want to accomplish, and I’ve realized how much importance I place on seeing this plan through, that sometimes it can deeply affect my mood and well-being if I percieve that my day didn’t go to plan. I needed to shift this mindset for this month because I knew I would drive myself and others crazy trying to do all the things while fasting. I told myself that it’s to be expected that you may not be able to get absolutely everything done that you normally would at work or at home due to your energy levels and the extra ibadah you’re filling your time with, so I’m trying to remember to accept that I’m operating on an alternate mode — Ramadan mode — for these 29-30 days.

With that let’s enter into the second third of the month in high gear, settled in our fasts and our ibadah, and ready to continue making the most of each day and night!

The Simple Way I Connect with the Quran

Long time, no blog post!

Life has gotten away from me between work, raising a toddler (already a toddler, gasp!), and keeping up with the house and family. I feel like I have had no energy to think about what to write about let alone carve out the time to write a post. However, I do enjoy writing and the feeling of posting an article that hopefully someone will find helpful, so I’m trying to make a better effort.

With that, I wanted to share something that I have been doing since the beginning of the year. I made a New Year’s resolution to read the Quran every single day. A couple of months in, I have stuck to it. I made no stipulations on how much I would read everyday, only that I would.

Admittedly, some days I only managed to read one single ayah as I tried my best to keep my eyes open before falling asleep (new mom life!), but still, I can honestly say that 65 days into the year, I have read from the Quran every single day.

The reason that I committed to this daily exercise is because I have a deep desire to understand the Quran and you can’t understand it if you don’t read it. Here’s what I’m doing differently this year to help me connect to and cultivate a love for reading the Quran.

1. Read Quran every single day

I’ve already addressed this. Read the Quran every single day and make it a habit to reflect upon it, even if it’s a single ayah. I personally did not want to commit to a certain number of ayah to read because I did not want to feel discouraged if I did not meet that goal. Generally, I keep reading until I come across an ayah or subject that I do not understand or that I have a strong connection to and want to reflect upon.

2. Write down my thoughts and questions daily

I have a beautiful agenda with lined spaces for each day of the week where I write my thoughts and questions to what I have read. It’s motivating to have a lovely place to write my notes and it’s one more way I have stuck to my daily goal.

3. Keep track of my questions

In that same agenda, I have the monthly calendar before the start of each month. Whenever I have a question or some topic I don’t understand in response to what I’ve read for the day, I will circle that date on my monthly calendar. Some days, I don’t have any questions and some days it feels like I have day after day of concepts I don’t understand.

4. Revisit topics

In my free time (lol) I can look at my monthly calendar where I’ve circled the days I had questions about what I read and try to find the answer to those questions through different sources. Sometimes, I can find explanations on Islamic question and answer sites and sometimes I get led to reading articles or books on the topic. I never know what path a question will lead me down, but that’s part of the fun! On the way to answering my question, I learn a lot more than I originally thought I would.

This is the method that has been working really well for me so far. It appeals to my love of journaling, writing, research, and habit tracking and I think that’s a big reason why I’ve been able to stick to it. I hope this helps someone try and approach learning and loving the Quran in a way that is new and fresh, it’s certainly helped me a lot!