ramadan preparations

Welcoming Ramadan with delightful decor!

This is my first year doing real Ramadan decorations with my kids, as Ilhaam is finally old enough (aged 3) to participate and appreciate, so I’m super excited! My intention is to create a positive and loving environment at home to celebrate this special month as a family, and to teach Ilhaam the important practices we do as Muslims we are fasting in this period – such as showing extra kindness, sharing, prayers…

I decided to keep it simple, and age appropriate using mostly what I already have at home. So if you’re looking for beautiful and quick ideas that don’t break the bank,  here’s what I have being doing this year.

✨Elements:
1. Ramadan Corner – notice board with Good Deed Tree & 30 day gratitude challenge (see below), printed Ramadan book, and Iftaar display items.

Ramadan Notice Board
30 Day gratitude challenge


2. Ramadan sign in living room (will share pic when I put it up closer to the time so kids know Ramadan is near).

3. Ramadan art & crafts – paper plate moon & sun, colouring pages.

✨Links:
Everything I used were free printables from amazing sites- I just had to click “Print”.  And since I did all the research already, here are the quick links:

  • If you like browsing, and checking out many sites for resources Ayeina has the Ultimate Ramadan list.
  • If you just want ONE place for everything: try Qamar Designs.They have banners, duas, colouring, ramadan book. The Good Deed Tree idea is from here. Just brilliant stuff. 
  • Ramadan 30 day gratitude challenge. I plan for us every day to talk through this as a family while the kids have dinner. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the Instagram rush of fancy Ramadan decorations, but let’s stay focused on our intention – and use our time and energy productively Insha Allah.

Please share your home decor and we’ll love to feature it in our Productive Muslim Mom Instagram stories!

Welcoming Ramadan soon, one activity at a time!
Productive Muslim Mom

Getting ready for Ramadan….Beyond stockpiling the freezer!

With two weeks to go before the start of Ramadan, I began some planning for this special month of mercy and forgiveness. Planning involving taking actions to be in the best space for maximum gains. As given are already self isolating, being home and with no distractions about going out – I feel we already have a headstart!

For many years, I found that I would consider myself ready for Ramadan once I had containers of savouries in the freezer, and a pantry filled with ingredients to make traditional desserts and dishes we especially enjoy in this month (sometimes to the extent of mandating it!)

But if the purpose of this month is to develop Allah Consciousness (“taqwa” in Arabic) as Allah says in the Quran (2:183)
“O you who believe fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you so that you can learn Taqwa” 
Taqwa includes Allah fearing, piety, and self restraining. An opportunity to turn things around. To become closer to Allah and to learn more about ourselves by learning more about Him. It involves doing lots of good to please Allah. And to exit the month with more than we entered – physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally.

Which is why I drew up this chart – to remind myself about adopting a “holistic approach” to welcoming the Holy Month of Ramadan. Looking at all ACTIONS necessary to make the month as productive as possible. Here it is:

Holistic Approach to preparing for Ramadan. Please SHARE

Physical and Practical
This is usually my starting point. I would look at the key dates such as when do we start fasting and when is Eid and jot them into my calendar and diary. This would give me an indication of what else is going on around Ramadan (for example any appointments, meetings etc). It also gives me a good jolt into how much time is left for preparations before the start of the month! 

Next step is to plan what food preparation is needed. Without the convenience of abundant home made savouries and delicious chutney dips like we get in South Africa, if I want anything like what I am used to back home (such as samoosas or pies!) here in Istanbul, I better make it all myself (or do without it as I have in some years. Borek will have to do!). So this year where I could I used two evenings to do some preparations and I’m calling it a day.

A tip I learnt from my dear mother was to also do any Eid shopping such as clothes and gifts before Ramadan. That way you are not using precious Ramadan minutes running around with these activities! Also you can avoid the crowds. This year given the lockdown situation, I really don’t know what Eid will be like so holding on with any gift planning till things are more clear.

Lastly in this area is setting up the environment at home – putting up some exciting decorations, involving the kids in some crafts- all with the intention of creating a positive spirit and love for this beautiful month for the whole family. We have already started talking about Ramadan parties, so my little one is amped!

Mental Readiness
Setting a real focused intention immediately puts me in the right space. Reading up on the benefits of fasting, and listening to a few great speakers on the blessings of this month are great reminders about why I need to maximise on stacking up reward. 

If there are any habits I want to change, I might start working on them now, weeks before we start fasting. This year, I aim to give up on junk shows (at least!) on Netflix. I actually enjoy documentary style shows so I have already started switching to that instead. In Ramadan, I would aim to watch nothing at all. It always amazes me how I am able to detox in this way so easily, and occupy my time with extra prayer -or just rest.

Closer to the start of Ramadan I would begin my “fasting focus”, and do my best to clear my mind of all other peripherals – binge chats, binge Instagram scrolling, anything else taking me away from the sole purpose of this month – worshipping Allah and gaining closeness to Him.

This mental focus is so important as it sets the tone for the last pillar. We cannot pray in the sincerest way we are meant to if our mind is still cluttered with other things. I mentally put on hold anything extra that can wait for after the four weeks- so my mind has clarity and space.

Spiritual
The focus of the month will be on my soul- to uplift myself in a deep spiritual way Insha Allah. Usually this involves goals for completing recitation of the Quran, listening to tafseer, revising previously memorised surahs. I really enjoy understanding what I read in Quran so for this I have begun at least listening to (and often making notes though I do need to revise more so its more entrenched), the tafseer from leading scholars on the verses of Quran we read most often – for example starting with Surah Yaseen, Surah Kahf, and the last 20 surahs in Quran which are the ones I would read in my Salaatul Taraweeh every night. 

Other great resources I have come to love has been the daily 20 minute lectures that some scholars give live after Taraweeh salaah. My favourite being Ramadan Gems  and Ramadan Nightly Reminders (Mufti Menk). These are all available on demand on YouTube if you miss it live. It is centred around a theme such as Stories from Quran, or Stories about the Messengers, making it compelling listening to complete the full picture. Great learning.

So as you can see, if we start to break down all the aspects to consider in preparing for this month Insha Allah, there’s so much more beyond hanging up decor or stock piling the freezer!

 How far are you with preparations for this beautiful month? And which aspects do you focus on?


Wishing you all a productive Ramadan, filled with barakah and blessings
Taskeen