Ramadan Mubarak! ♥

The blessed month of Ramadan is upon us, and for those of you who don't know much about it, I thought I'd do a wee little blog post about my favourite time of year. 

It has finally come around again, and just the thought of it being so near has made me the happiest I've been in ages, Alhamdulillah! I've been looking forward to it since it ended last year - yes, I love it that much! 

Every year, Muslims all over the world fast for a whole month. Not continuously of course - that'd be just silly! There are a few reasons we fast, the main one being because it is God's command. But the others are to learn self restraint, to help control our ego and tongue, to help us empathize and help the poor.

Fasting really helps us realise how blessed we are to have running water, a warm bed, a roof over our heads, hot, delicious food to eat at the end of the day.. It really opens our eyes to how much we take for granted.

'O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may (learn) self restraint...' 

(The Holy Qur'an, 2:183)

So how does it work? What do we do when fasting? Well, we follow the traditions of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace & blessings be upon him).

We fast from dawn till dusk, not only from food, water, smoking, and conjugal relationships, but doubly so from actions which are prohibited in a Muslims every day life such as lying, slandering, adultery, backbiting, obscene/abusive language, hurting other people, etc.

Traditions include:

♦     Eating just before dawn,

♦     Ending the fast at sunset, (which is about five minutes before before our evening prayer) with dates, water, or something sweet,

♦     Reciting the praise of and seeking the forgiveness of Allah the Almighty, the Most Merciful,

♦     Giving charity, particularly in the last 10 days of Ramadan,

♦     Performing the Taraweeh prayers with the last prayer of the day,

♦     And I'tkaaf, where you stay in the masjid (mosque) for the last 10 days of Ramadan.

There are of course more, but I thought I should keep my first post on this short and sweet (^__^) 

Now I'm off to write up a few more posts like this that I'll be posting throughout the month. They'll be (hopefully) handy hints and tips about fasting - I'll post them between my usual skincare posts. 

If you have any questions or requests, please comment below and let me know ☺ 

Everything good in this post is from Allah swt, and any & all mistakes are mine.