They say the birthday month is our favourite month, we somehow forget that Ramadhan is supposed to be our favourite month. We are only a few hours away from our first Tarawih of Ramadhan 1440H, and I have prepared my goals, and checklist since two weeks ago because masyaAllah I don't know why I am excited, impatient and keen for Ramadhan this year.

اَللّهُمَّ بَلِّغْنَا رَمَضَان

I always get excited when it's Ramadhan because it is the month of forgiveness, syurga opens its doors, neraka closes its doors and syaitans are chained. Also, the month whereby our deeds are multiplied by 10/70/100 - you never know, but Allah SWT has promised that any good deeds that we do during Ramadhan will be tripled, decuple or even higher.

Dari Abu Hurairah, Rasulullah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam bersabda,

“Setiap amalan kebaikan yang dilakukan oleh manusia akan dilipatgandakan dengan sepuluh kebaikan yang semisal hingga tujuh ratus kali lipat. Allah Ta’ala berfirman (yang artinya), “Kecuali amalan puasa. Amalan puasa tersebut adalah untuk-Ku. Aku sendiri yang akan membalasnya. Disebabkan dia telah meninggalkan syahwat dan makanan karena-Ku. Bagi orang yang berpuasa akan mendapatkan dua kebahagiaan yaitu kebahagiaan ketika dia berbuka dan kebahagiaan ketika berjumpa dengan Rabbnya. Sungguh bau mulut orang yang berpuasa lebih harum di sisi Allah daripada bau minyak kasturi.” (HR. Bukhari no. 1904, 5927 dan Muslim no. 1151)

I honestly think that each and every one of us must have objectives - on what to be achieved in Ramadhan, doesn't matter if you only have one or two goals to be achieved, as long as there is any so that we are driven to constantly do good deeds throughout 30 days and fully utilized every second, minutes and hour of Ramadhan in shaa Allah.

As a student, it's normal that our schedule is always packed with assignments and tests yet at the same time, we still want to multiply our deeds because we never want Ramadhan to be just another normal month that we go throughout the whole year. I always tell myself that the more I spend time with Him, the easier He will make for me in some ways that I will never imagine.

Just like previous years, I have sorted out my goals for Ramadhan this year, since I've been gaining quite a number of readers over the past months, so I would like to share with everyone a simple checklist that I did last Ramadhan, and I did improvise some part for this upcoming Ramadhan.

1. Ramadhan Planner

I never had a Ramadhan planner before, so I thought I really need one, and I knew the person whom I asked for; will help me. Then I asked Iffah, my lovely junior in TGB for her daily routines, what to do, any tips in Ramadhan. I was right, then she sent me this beautiful Ramadhan planner, you guys can download it here, 

Ramadhan Planner

I printed it out and made it as a booklet. I am all set and ready for Ramadhan.

2. To memorize Juz Amma (Juz 30)

This was what I did last Ramadhan, but I was halfway done only and I am very determined to memorize the other half this year, I have to get it done. #AMUST, to be honest, this is the part that I enjoyed myself the most because instead of spending time with a book, I spent time memorizing surahs. Those surahs that I used to remember then I forgot, I was able to memorize them once again and in shaa Allah I pray that I will remember them forever. I wanted to memorize not merely for pahala but for myself as well and mainly Lillahi Ta'ala.

Tips: You can skip those surahs you have memorized, perhaps ada like 10 surahs you already have in mind, at least. so just skip them and continue with the rest that you haven't. Hafal lepas Subuh, then ulang the surah the whole day which means; recite them in your prayers for the whole day. Trust me, esok confirms in shaa Allah dah hafal. 

3. Recite al-Quran after prayers

I started to recite surah Al-Waqiah after Asar, Al-Kahf after Maghrib and recite Al-Mulk before sleep every day for the past two months and I want to make it part of my life and my daily routine in shaa Allah. As for now, one of my goals is to completely have those three beautiful surahs stored in my mind the entire time. As long as you recite al-Quran after your prayers that should be okay, any surahs will do, most importantly, you recite al-Quran after solat.

4. Sadaqah

I want to treat any of my friends every day. Alhamdulillah, I am blessed with a stable financial background that I don't have any problem when it comes to money. The least that I can do is to share my rezeki with my friends. So, anyone who doesn't have enough money for berbuka, you are always welcome to ask from me okay? Don't be shy!

Also, get yourself a tabung, and put coins/RM 1 every day after Subuh. Even 10 sen is sufficient enough because we want to collect pahala as many as we can while, practising ourselves to always help others, those who are in needs, especially. At the end of Ramadhan, pada 10 malam terakhir, put them in tabung masjid.

5. Spend wisely

This is the crucial part of all, you have to spend wisely and please avoid food wastage. Control your own nafsu, I am glad that I am never a food hunter, I loove to eat but I am somewhat picky. I only eat what I want. There it shows why my weight is 44kg. #brag

If you ever want to buy so many foods/kuih for breakfast, think twice, I repeat, think twice! Because deep inside you knew; you won't able to finish them all in a night. Instead, you buy the other food that you want on the next day. I swear man, this is the only time you are able to save your money.

6. Less time on social media

I deactivated my Instagram last year but I ain’t gonna do that this year. I thought of sharing my favourite ayat, or any surahs on my story every day in shaa Allah. In fact, I have them on my phone already and can't wait to share with everyone.

If you ever thought of taking a break from social media, this is the time. You will have more time with Al-Quran, your day will become more productive, and you'll definitely live in reality. Discipline is that we need because syaitan is chained, and what left is ourselves and nafsu, that's that.

7. Pray on time, make doa before berbuka, wake up early for sahur

These are all those cliché things that you hear at any Ramadhan lectures, but they are indeed significant. Force yourself to pray on time. Make doa before berbuka because doa orang yang berpuasa adalah doa yang mustajab, dan waktu sebelum berbuka adalah antara waktu yang mustajab untuk berdoa, take all these opportunities to ask from Allah SWT, anything that you want, repeat them as many as possible. 

Dalam sahur ada keberkatannya, so if possible jangan terlepas sahur. If you have a good sahur, drink enough water, eat kurma, in shaa Allah you'll be happy for the whole day, and as energetic as ever. I did try the last two weeks and I didn't feel that I was fasting though. :')

Those are some little deeds that I wanted to share; you guys can add more if you want. I am just giving suggestions, and hopefully, give inspiration to anyone who reads this blog post to continually do the good deeds in shaa Allah.

I went for a ceramah in conjunction with Ramadhan a few days ago in UiTM, and I am glad I was there to listen. Up till this day, whatever the Ustaz was saying, they managed to touch my heart. 

Ustaz mentioned about golongan orang-orang yang celaka dalam bulan Ramadhan (pardon me that I write in Malay because I believe it is the easiest way to convey the message)

Diriwayatkan dalam hadits sebuah hadis; 

“Dari Abu Hurairah: Rasulullah Shallallahu’alaihi Wasallam naik mimbar lalu bersabda: ‘Amin, Amin, Amin’. Para sahabat bertanya : “Kenapa engkau berkata demikian, wahai Rasulullah?” Kemudian beliau bersabda, “Baru saja Jibril berkata kepadaku: ‘Allah melaknat seorang hamba yang melewati Ramadhan tanpa mendapatkan ampunan’, maka kukatakan, ‘Amin’, kemudian Jibril berkata lagi, ‘Allah melaknat seorang hamba yang mengetahui kedua orang tuanya masih hidup, namun tidak membuatnya masuk Jannah (kerana tidak berbakti kepada mereka berdua)’, maka aku berkata: ‘Amin’. Kemudian Jibril berkata lagi. ‘Allah melaknat seorang hambar yang tidak berselawat ketika disebut namamu’, maka kukatakan, ‘Amin”

(HR Ibnu Khuzaimah dishahihkan oleh Albani )

وَرَغِمَ أَنْفُ رَجُلٍ دَخَلَ عَلَيْهِ رَمَضَانُ ثُمَّ انْسَلَخَ قَبْلَ أَنْ يُغْفَرَ لَهُ

"Amat merugi/hina seseorang yang Ramadhan masuk padanya kemudian Ramadhan pergi sebelum diampuni dosanya." (HR. al-Tirmidzi, Ahmad, al-Baihaqi, al-Thabrani, dan dishahihkan Al-Albani dalam Shahih al-Jaami', no. 3510)

We have to be the better version of ourselves after Ramadhan ends. It doesn’t need to be the big deeds at one time, persistent is the key. Slowly but surely, because we want to make changes and not jumping our lives. Leave all your past behind, and make this holy month as a turning point to a brand new you, and one step closer to Allah SWT. I want to have a fresh start and with that, do forgive me if I have wronged you in any way, intentionally or unintentionally. Beribu ampun dan maaf saya pinta, dan semoga Ramadhan kali ini adalah Ramadhan yang paling bermakna untuk kita semua. Aamiin Ya Rabbal Alamin.

Ahlan Wa Sahlan, Ya Ramadhan.