If we haven’t begun already, than it is about time that we start our preparations for Ramadhan. Schools have now closed and many women will use this extra time to ensure the savoury preparations are on schedule and the freezers are well-stocked up. Now there might not be anything totally wrong with this, in fact it could actually be something good, because we will be fasting and need food to eat at Iftaar, and if we can get through most of the preps now already and decide the menu`s, than this will give us extra time in Ramadhan to devote to our worship.

So while these preparations are on its place, we should not forget that the mind and the soul needs to be prepared as well.
What many of us do not do is prepare our Souls for the challenges and blessings that come our way with Ramadhan.

Why the need to prepare?
Just like how every event and occasion in our life requires sufficient and adequate preparations, take exams for example, when we are going through an exam period, we don’t just study, but before that we make sure that all the preparations are done and a timetable is chalked out and the mind and soul are tuned in to understand the crucial time we will be going through, similarly, Ramadhan also requires us to be well-prepared on all fronts.

Consider this, on normal days we eat three meals and sleep all night. But in Ramadan, our daily routine becomes topsy-turvy.
We start fasting which means that the time period between our meals increases and our body experiences hunger and thirst. We also start praying Tahajjud and have to partake of Sehri, which means that we can’t sleep all night. These are some of the major changes that our body has to face.

But what are the challenges that our SOUL has to face?

The Noble Companion, Abu Huraira (RA) narrates that the Prophet (ﷺ) said,
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ” مَنْ لَمْ يَدَعْ قَوْلَ الزُّورِ وَالْعَمَلَ بِهِ فَلَيْسَ لِلَّهِ حَاجَةٌ فِي أَنْ يَدَعَ طَعَامَهُ وَشَرَابَهُ “.
“Whoever does not give up forged speech and evil actions, Allah is not in need of his leaving his food and drink (i.e. Allah will not accept his fasting.)” [Sahih Al-Bukhari 1903, Book 30, Hadith 13]

The Soul has to put in an effort to connect deeply with Allah, which is the true purpose of Ramadan. To increase our level of spirituality.

You don’t seriously expect that the moment Ramadan arrives, you switch on your “Spirituality button” and voila! You become a righteous soul with an impressively strong connection to Allah.

Don’t get this the wrong way. It is as easy as calling out to Allah to feel closer to Him instantly. But to be in a highly spiritual practicing state and stay there, that doesn’t happen overnight. That takes a conscious effort and consistency on our part.
In the context of preparing for Ramadhan- Just like your BODY takes time to adjust to the physical challenges of Ramadhan, your SOUL also takes time and effort to adjust to the spiritual challenges of Ramadhan.

Therefore let us utilize the remaining days of Sha`baan to sincerely prepare both our body and soul for the most beautiful month of all – Ramadhan. Think of Ramadhan as a 30-day reward sale for which you start saving up money before-hand, so that you can spend more to buy yourself as many bonus points as you can.