Once again, by the Grace and Mercy of Allah, you and I have been chosen to witness Ramadan this year. This is indeed an exclusive honor as many who witnessed Ramadan last year are not here with us this time. Therefore, it is crucial for us to take advantage of this blessed month and not be among those who the Prophet (saw) said should have their noses rubbed in the dust because they are present during Ramadan and yet do not take advantage of this blessing.

To fully benefit from Ramadan, it is absolutely necessary for us to set at least a few realistic and achievable goals for ourselves. If we start out the month without any goals in mind, there is no doubt that we will never get where we want to be. Before I share my personal goals this Ramadan, let us listen quickly to this beautiful advice from our dear Shaykh, Yaser Birjas:

So there is one reminder I particularly took away from this video: “The best loved deeds to Allah are the ones that are continuous even if they are little” (Bukhari and Muslim).

In addition to doing my prayers on time and doing all my sunnahs, there is one goal I have made for myself keeping the above hadith in mind. I have decided to particularly focus on strengthening my relationship with the Quran as Ramadan is indeed the month of the Quran. I plan on achieving my goal this month in 3 specific ways:

1. Reading/ Reciting: Everyday, I make it a point to read three pages of Quran with proper tajweed. I know I could do more, but I also know that instead of quantity, I want to focus on the quality (ie, I want to make sure I’m reading properly with all the rules). Also, knowing I have a large number of pages to cover, for some reason, makes me feel lazy. So, I am taking it slowly, 3 pages at a time. Alhamdulillah, I have not missed a day, and my plan for next week is to add a page to the existing three.

2. Memorizing (with translation): Do you ever want to memorize more Quran but get overwhelmed at the idea of having to memorize those “long surahs?” I can relate! This year, instead of making a goal to memorize an entire juz or 10 different surahs, I am memorizing only three verses a day, but- here’s the catch- with word to word translation. To aid my memorization, I have picked one mushaf to read from and one Qari to follow along with. Verse by Verse Quran has been a great help as I can listen to Qari Husary’s recitation and memorize with it. Another amazing resource that I have been using for the word-to-word translation is Allah’s Quran.  I can see the Arabic text, the word by word breakdown of the meaning, and listen to the recitation, AND read the tafsir all at the same time. Alhamdulillah for technology, eh?

3. Listening to lectures on the Quran: Finally, it is always good to listen to reminders on a daily basis, so I have been listening to a class online on the Quran. If you are like me and have been looking for a nice, motivating, and FREE Quran class during Ramadan,  I would definitly recommend:

This class is conducted daily by Wisam Sharieff, instructor at Bayyinah Institute. Even if you can’t listen to both sessions, you can at least benefit from one.

So, this is a jist of how I am reconnecting with the Book of Allah this Ramadan.  Often, we focus on lots of new and “big” things, but brush some of the more fundamental, but important aspects of our deen.  So, I urge everyone who reads this to make an effort, insha Allah, to invest some time into connecting with the Quran during this blessed month. And if you are already doing so, please share your tips!

May Allah accept our deeds this Ramadan and make it our best one yet

Most people have seen the Halal Mix Tape Vol. 1 video that was a hit at ISNA a few years back, and is still growing in popularity all over Islamic websites. If you haven’t seen it yet, here it is:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you pay attention to their testimonial section, you see that they seem to be using using a Mac Pro for their video production. This, as a lifelong Apple computer fan and part-time Apple Store employee, obviously made me a bigger fan of their productions.

There are two things that I like about these guys. The first is that they’re using their technical and creative knowledge for their enjoyment, as well as for the benefit of the ummah. The second is that they don’t have to cross any boundaries of general Islamic akhlaaq to make things funny. Beside their humor, they show real creative intelligence, masha Allah, a rare commodity in Muslim entertainment.  Big ups, to our brothers, masha Allah.

Recently, as I was surfing the net I saw a link to one of their newer videos, Sunnah Back – now featured in HD!

Click here to view the embedded video.