With less than a month left until Ramadan, the blessed month is fast approaching, insha'Allah! Can you believe it? Ya, Allah!!!

As the days pass, it’s not too late to start preparing for your Ramadan. Whether that means making up missed fasts if you're able to, reading more Qur’an, attending the mosque for prayer, giving more sadaqah, and so forth. Now is simply the perfect time to get off the hamster wheel and start preparing!

Let’s remind ourselves what Ramadan is and why we fast during this blessed month. Ramadan linguistically means an intensely scorching heat and burns away the sins of the believers. Therefore, this month is of great significance to obtain the forgiveness of Allah SWT and to achieve taqwa. Additionally, this is the month of the Qur’an when Prophet Muhammad SAWS received the revelation from the angel Jibril during Laylatul Qadr. This demonstrates to us the importance of why we should be preparing in advance to receive the rahma of Allah SWT. It can be as simple as addressing a bad habit that you have.

Now, let's not forget what month we are in currently, Sha'ban. The Prophet SAW used to fast more during this month to gain extra reward. This is a reminder to us to pay extra attention to our deeds in Sha’ban and maximise our worship, rather than neglecting this month in favour of Ramadan.

By simply reading more Qur’an, praying voluntary prayers, and following the Sunnah of the Prophet SAW by fasting more, you can strengthen your Taqwa and establish good habits in time for Ramadan.

May Allah SWT enable us to make the month of Ramadan a form of spiritual exercise that we can maintain after Ramadan and to obtain mercy and forgiveness, ameen.