DO'S AND DON'TS OF FASTING IN RAMADAN

"Shaitaan trains us the entire year just so that we mess up our Ramadan and Ramadan trains us so that we brighten the rest of our year!"

Assalamualaikum WarahmatuAllah hi Wabara kaatuhu!!!!
Kullu Aam wa antum Bukhair!! RAMADAN MUBAARAK! Alhumdulillah for granting us life and giving us another chance for pleasing Allah in this blessed Month. 

                   

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, “When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained."[Sahih Bukhari :: Book# 31 :: Hadith# 123]

Fasting is about abstaining not only the Haram but also the halal. (food & drink)
Many of us know what we are supposed to do in Ramadan but little to we realize what NOT to do. And even if we did know, most of us focus on what we need to do rather than what we need to stop doing!

I am quickly going to wrap this up and write in brief. 

DOs:

• Read Qur'an with the intention of gaining ajar and finishing it. Read with tajweed, slowly, with translation or with Tafseer. Do not read Qurán with haste but understand it most importantly. 
• memorize surahs from the last juz or any of your wish. If you already are a Hafiz, best time to revise your memory.
• Learn more about your Prophet Muhammad Sallahu alaihi wasallam and act upon his sunnah for constant Ajar. (reward)
• Add nawafeel prayers at the end of Zuhur, Maghrib and Isha.
• Add Sunnah prayers before Zuhr. Four sunnah before Zuhr and four sunnah before Asr and four sunnah before Isha. 
• Go for tarawih with the intention of gaining reward and increasing imaan and taqwa. 
• Do morning and evening Azkar without FAIL!
• Give charity every day either by words, money, food or smile. 
• Pay your annual Zakat
• hurry up in breaking fast (of course only at the call for Maghrib). Break fast with Dates. It is sunnah.
• Wake up for suhoor for there is blessing in it. Have dates at Suhoor time. It is a sunnah. 
• learn the duwa for breaking the fast and break the fast with the duwa.                         

                   

• finish all your kitchen or outside duties half an hour before maghrib azaan so you could spend that important time in duwa. (Duwa is accepted at that time)
• Eat less
• Worship more
• Seek forgiveness
• Forgive everyone
• play the recitation of Qurán if you are busy and can't read. The least you could do is listen to it. 
• lips should be busy more in Azkar and less in utter nonsense. Speak only when important. 
• fast like it is your last Ramadan and pray like it is your last Salat
• sleep early and wake up early. Be productive throughout the day
• train your taqwa level so that you can be a better muslim even after Ramadan
• Fast with sincere intention for pleasing Allah so all your past sins will be forgiven in sha Allah. 
• Try to do self-ibaadat more than automatic ibaadat like Read Qurán instead of listening, act upon your knowledge instead of acquiring knowledge through listening to lectures. Ramadan is more about Amal than knowledge. It is the time to act upon your authentic knowledge and gaining more ajar. (reward) 
• Even if you have not finished your shopping before Ramadan try to finish it before the last ten days of Ramadan. Although, it is better if you shopped way before Ramadan.
• Go to umrah at least once in Ramadan. It is equal to performing Hajj with Rasool Muhammad Sallalaahu alaihi wasallam.
• Attend all the prayers of the last ten days. If you can't for some reason, attend at least the odd nights; 21, 23, 25, 27, 29. 

• If you can't fast because of a chronic disease and can't make them up ever, please feed a meal per missed fast to a needy person. (better to feed than to give money) that is your kaffara. It is obligatory!
• Indulge yourself in Etekaaf. Go to the masjids (mosques) or take a break and go to Makkah or Madina. People who are not in Saudi Arabia could go to masjids and perform etekaaf. Best place is Masjid. 
• Women with Menstruation should do all the above except for praying Salat and fasting. You can read Qurán from your tablets or cell phones. Don't make excuses for not reading Qurán and stop being LAZY!

DON'TS:

• don't sleep more than required. Sleep less than required
• don't eat more than required. Eat less than required
• do not fast with the intention of losing weight or dieting. (minor Shirk)
• no smoking or drinking. (avoid major sins)
• stop watching anything related to entertainment be it during the fast or not

               

• no playing games, watching tv seriels, cricket, over dosed news, reading novels, watching unlimited youtube videos etc
• no sexual contact with your wife during fasting. 
• minimum usage of your cell phone. (the hardest of all is to minimize chatting) 
• minimum usage of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, snapchat etc. 
• Please stop posting your pictures with or without Hijab. Some people post pictures of themselves performing Umrah. We know you did umrah but it is best if we hide our good deeds from people. Remember we need to clean our intentions only for the sake of Allah! AND NO showing off!                                                                                  
• Stop your sins or bad habits like watching movies, wasting time, munching mouth, talking unnecessarily, shopping every night, having loads of Iftar parties etc.
• stop all the cursing or bad words that you use in your daily life. Do not goof around or make jokes. Don't be a snob but also don't be a clown. 
• Do not scream or shout or fight or create fights. If someone starts a fight with you, warn them politely that you are fasting. (doesn't mean you will take the matter outside after you finish fasting) 

For complete detail about Ramadan and Fasting please read this post from my group blog. 

Some other great Ramadan blog posts from amazing blogs to read:

1. Duwa Qunoot in Witr Prayer

2. Excellence of Spending out charity in Ramadan

3. Duwa for Ramadan and Fasting

4. The Virtues of Ramadan

5. Fasting in the Month of Ramadan

6. Stay healthy in Ramadan with patience
7. Suhur: The Pre-Dawn Meal During Ramadhan
8. Ramadaan Mubarak? OR Ramadaan Kareem?

If there are any more Do's and Don'ts that I missed, Please enlighten us all so that we may benefit!

If you have posted anything beneficial on the topic of Ramadan, do post your Links below so I shall publish them here in my post so that people could benefit in sha Allah!

Ask me anything related to Ramadan or Fasting here.  in sha Allah I will try to answer and get back to you soon.

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Thank you for reading. Please feel free to send me the link of your blogs and comment below if you have similar views. 

-Manal Mirza