I’m getting a little more mentally ready for Ramadan

Last updated on: May 27, 2015 at 12:20 pm by Nancy Qualls-Shehata

I’m getting a little more mentally ready for Ramadan 2015-05-27T12:20:06-04:00 Nancy Qualls-Shehata

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Ramadan! Less than a month away. It gets light SO early and dark SO late but I will say alhamdulillah because it takes place during summer vacation where I live so I can wake up, pray, and go back to bed before I have to wake up for good to go to work. And I work for myself so I can call in late to myself if I need to.

I bought myself a brand new pack of legal pads in a lovely soothing pale blue to use for Qur’an memorization. I am the kind of person who has to symbolically start afresh with a brand new notebook or legal pad when I begin a new project. Nope, can’t use any old castoff notebook the kids have partially scribbled in. Uh uh, can’t use loose-leaf notebook paper unless I have a brand-new binder, and the binder can’t have any cute puppies on it. Flowers are okay.

I am trying to get into the Ramadan mood. Today I am going to buy some fuul mudammas, inshaAllah, and make sure there is plenty of tahini and lemon juice in the house. I usually use freshly squeezed lemon juice, but during Ramadan I take advantage of cheats and shortcuts. Trust me, ain’t no one gonna notice the difference at four in the morning. My husband seriously eats with his eyes closed that early.

The kids are all going to try to fast according to their level. My teenager will fast while he is home. He is going on encampment for Civil Air Patrol so he will not be fasting as it is a traveling trip and he’ll be undergoing rigorous training. I plan to fast with him any days he will be making up after Ramadan so it will be easier for him. The two middle boys, ages nine and ten, will fast the whole day as much as possible and may do one day on, one day off if they appear to be getting dehydrated or are having serious issues fasting. They did fine for most of Ramadan last year, mashaAllah.

My younger two, ages almost seven and almost six, will eat with us in suhoor and then will fast as much as possible. And when they do eat, it will be nutritious but boring food. They’ll get the tasty stuff after sundown.

Ramadan during the summer is a big test, but a bigger test for me is making sure we all pray all the prayers on time and get in our study time. I won’t tell you how long I’ve been working on surat al Mulk. InshaAllah this year will be the year I finish it. I have the nice paper all ready for my practice writing.

Another thing I am doing this year is making sure I am only doing simple foods for iftaar. I never do the whole “stay in the kitchen all day while fasting” thing. I know a lot of women do, and I just want to give all of them some advice: Stop it. You have the DUTY and the RIGHT to have a spiritual Ramadan. There is nothing in Islam that says you have to serve a nine-course iftaar every night. Trust me, when you’ve been fasting all day, simple foods are greatly appreciated. Toss a chicken in the oven to roast, make some rice, steam some veggies, and make sure there is plenty of cool water to go along with it. If you have been in the habit of doing elaborate meals, now is the time to break it to your family that dinners will be more streamlined.

So, are you ready? I’m more ready than I was a few days ago and almost looking forward to the challenge and simplicity of fasting. I plan to work half days and spend as much time at home as possible so I can keep the kids busy so they are not just vegging on the computer all day. Do some summer schooling (hopefully it will be fun enough that they won’t realize they are learning!). Make it to the masjid a few times. Write some. Crochet some. Read some. Relax some. I can’t be going through Ramadan stressed out. Allah does not want me to be stressed out!

Islam

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May 21, 2015

How did it get to be almost Ramadan already? I ain't ready!

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