Ramadan is one of those months that’s gone in a flash. Close your eyes too long and you miss it, and no one knows if they’ll be alive to witness next years Ramadan. That’s why we should prepare for it and train like professional athletes do for marathons, so that we can get the most out of this holy month. Ramadan is not about the food, although our stomachs would like us to think it is. It isn’t about valiantly proclaiming how many fasts you did so far or assuring your colleagues that you really don’t mind if they eat in front of you. Ramadan is about TAQWA or PIETY. It’s like a video game in which you try to jump over every obstacle amassing as many points as you can before you reach the last level. It requires an extra special effort in order to get all those extra special rewards. So counting down lazily the months and weeks to Ramadan just isn’t enough to get you in the right frame of mind. As the weeks slowly dwindle into days, start reminding yourself of why we fast. Of why Allah has created a whole month for fasting.

To read the whole article buy the August 2009 edition of Daily Hijabi or order the pdf.