Ramadan is near and I only wish to be satisfied with myself in Ramadan this year. And I want now to prepare myself for it.
My self directs me to wherever it wants and I want to struggle against it. It's like I forgot the meaning of Jihad-ul-nafs.
Also the meaning of sincerity is lost, the love of this dunya leaked into my heart and I want to purify it. Doing anything for only the sake of God is not an easy thing at all and I wish for this meaning to be alive in my heart again.
So I'd like your pieces of advice, your experiences, your thoughts to increase faith in the heart.
It would be also great if we agreed on certain things to do together....
Response: As salaamu alaikum sister,
This is a very good topic. I myself was just about to create a similar thread but you beat me to the punch.
My advice to you sister is two things:
The first would be to understand the importance of sacrifice, something which ramadan should help you grasp because love is a sacrifice. Putting your needs and wants second to someone else is love. During ramadan, we do just that. We sacrifice food and intimacy for the sake of Allah(swt). We increase are charity and focus more on Allah(swt) through are studies of the qur'an and its reading as well.
My other peace of advice would be unity. You should get yourself more acquainted with those who are close to you and try to be even more compassionate to them. This should help bring more peace not only to you but to your inner circle. Having a circle of people around you all the time that represents purity and islam in the most beautiful ways will help to increase your passion to do what's right and have less of a temptation to do what's wrong. This is very important. The company you keep plays a vital role on the influence around you. And when you feel alone and by yourself, you can always come here and talk to your fellow brothers and sisters. Surely, we would love to hear from you and help out in any way possible. But above all, always seek refuge in Allah (swt) first, from your salaat.
Edit: For things we can do together, I was thinking the same as well. I have several ideas. I was thinking of the idea that we should watch a movie together, any on islam, than return to the thread for further discussion of the movie and what are views of the movie or even a lecture. There are many youtube videos about islam. Perhaps we can select a few. I was just watching an animated cartoon about the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It was very entertaining. Just a suggestion.
If not, just ignore my post.
