Ramadan Goals

I don't know how many people already do this (you might do it without the formality of sitting yourself down and thinking about it), but I think it would be a good idea to set some goals for this holy month. Attainable and realistic goals, but goals that will still push us a little... and that we'll try to surpass. These goals could be a number of things, such as:

• re-memorising some surahs (the real plural is suwar, as I learnt from Dr. Abu Ameena Bilal Philips, so I'll use that from now on) that you may have forgotten.
• learning a certain number of shorter suwar if you dont't already know a lot (the number you pick totally depends on the amount of free time you have, but be a little ambitious).
• if you already know quite a few of the shorter suwar, try memorising the entire juz' 'amma.
• learn some longer suwar, or segments, who's rewards have been specifically mentioned in the ahadith of our Rasool sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam, such as the first 5 and last 3 verses of Surah Baqarah (there are numerous ahadith discussing the virtues of various ayaat of this surah) , the first 10 verses of Surah Kahf (protection from ad-Dajjal), Surah Ya-Seen (a surah to recite when somebody is near to death), Surah ar-Rahman (has got to be the most YouTube'd surah), Surah Mulk (which will intercede for one on Yawm al-Qiyamah if they have memorised it), and so many others.
• waking up to stand and pray tahajjud as much as one can.
• praying Salatul-Tasbih as much as one can (inshaAllah I'll try to write a post about the method and benefits of Salatul-Tasbih).
• learning a new (prophetic) du'a a day.
• praying all of your sunnah and nafl salaah.
• increasing other superogatory salaah, eg. praying 2 rak'ah when entering the masjid (Tahhiyatul-Masjid), or praying 2 rak'ah after making wudu (Tahhiyatul-Wudu).
• trying to stay in a constant state of wudu, (even going to sleep with wudu).

These goals don't have to be limited to 'ibadah (although this is where most of our focus should be). We can seek the pleasure of Allah 'azza wa jal in so many other ways, from helping our mothers prepare suhoor and iftaar (this one's for girls AND boys :)), to just simply practing a bit of sabr in this month of jihad when the people around us run short on theirs. Even just keeping the TV off would be beneficial, think of the blessed minutes that we would be able to reclaim and spend in worship, rather than sitting glued to a (religiously questionable) box (inshaAllah one day maybe I'll write a long-winded post about how I feel about TV). This list is by far exhaustive, but I just wanted to throw a few ideas out there. I know some of the ones I wrote are a bit ambitious, and I know that I won't be able to do most of them, but I just thought of a list that would be suitable for people of different capabilities.

The goals I have made for myself are to complete memorising Surah ar-Rahman (I'm about 30ish ayaat through), and inshaAllah I want to try and memorise Surah Mulk also. That second one I think is a bit ambitious, but inshAllah if I make the effort Allah tabaraka wa ta'ala will make it easy for me, as He will for all of us if we make the effort. There is a hadith qudsi (the words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but unlike the Qur'an in that they are expressed in the words of our Rasool sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam rather than being the direct words of Allah 'azza wa jal) where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us "Take one step towards me, I will take ten steps towards you. Walk towards me, I will run towards you." SubhanAllah. Knowing this, any goal would seem a lot easier. InshaAllah I intend to write a post in the coming days with some tips that have personally made it easier for me to memorise Qur'an. InshaAllah, it'll be beneficial for you as well.

As a last point, I just wanted to include a hadith on the performance of Tahhiyatul-Wudu. It is recorded in Bukhari and Muslim that Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah radiAllahu ta'ala 'anhu related that the Messenger of Allah sall-Allahu 'alayhi was-sallam said to Sayyiduna Bilal ibn Rabaah al-Habashi, "Tell me from which of your acts you are most hopeful (the act with which you hope to receive the most reward from Allah 'azza wa jal) since your acceptance of Islam, because I heard the sounds of the steps of your shoes in front of me in paradise." Sayyiduna Bilal radiAllah ta'ala 'anhu replied, "I do not consider any act more hopeful than whenever I make wudu at any time of day or night, I offer salah for as long as was destined for me to offer." SubhanAllah, the wording of course is not an exact translation, but nonetheless I hope I was able to somewhat convey the beauty of the hadith.