“The month of Ramadan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur’an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it ,and whoever is ill or on a journey – then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and perhaps you will be grateful.” 1
Ramadan is around the corner! This time, I will be fasting insha’Allah. Yes, this year I want to fast and will fast insha’Allah. I missed fasting last year due to active chemotherapy but this year Alhamdullilah I will be fasting with you insha’Allah.
And like you, I too want to maximize the benefits of this month, as who knows what is going to happen next year? Now, to maximize the benefits of anything, it is very important to plan, as failing to plan is planning to fail.
Planning is a Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah 
. He meticulously planned everything and relied on Allah 
for guidance and accomplishment of his goals. For example, he planned his hijra to Medina from asking Ali 
to sleep in his place to choosing Abu Bakr as his companion for the trip to packing supplies and finding the right guide.
I now truly understand the implication of the hadith in which the Messenger of Allah says, ” Tie up the camel and trust in Allah.” 2
I can hear you saying , “What, you didn’t understand”? And I am embarrassed to say, I thought I understood but I was wrong. And so, I want to start afresh and make some awesome plans for Ramadan, and set goals and develop some habits, to make this Ramadan all about tasting the sweetness of faith and feeling the mercy of my Lord.
So, are you ready to join me in my planning?
Let’s begin. Bismillah. In the name of Allah!
Hmm, so what do you think are the major acts that we should all do: obligatory as well as voluntary to achieve our goal? Fasting, Salah, reading Quran, making Du’a , giving in charity, repentance, doing and/or increasing in general good deeds, reviving and/or strengthening family ties and so much more.
Experts say (and I agree) that it takes 30 days for a habit to form. There is almost a month before Ramadan begins–give or take a few days. So, let’s begin now to make habits for Ramadan so that during the month of Ramadan, you and I can focus on acting upon those habits with excellence rather than stressing ourselves out in trying to set them!
1) Renew Intention— To have the best Ramadan EVER, make dua and beg Allah to make it the best. Maximize your intention now!
2) Fasting — The Prophet used to fast in the first half of Sha’baan. You can also fast some days in the month of Shab’aan to get into the “mode” of fasting. And this could also be an awesome opportunity to make up missed fasts from previous years, if you have any. However, I would like to remind you that the Messenger of Allah said,: “When a half of Sha’ban remains, then do not fast.” 3
3) Salah —This Ramadan, you could be aiming to:
a) Pray all 5 prayers,
b) To pray on time
c) To pray at the ‘awwal time(i.e., right after the adhaan is called out)
d) To offer complete salah, all sunnahs and nawafils, etc.
Now is the perfect time to start doing these aforementioned acts so that you don’t feel overwhelmed to begin your voluntary units of prayer while fasting in Ramadan. Set your alarm 15 minutes before Fajr to offer tahajjud, so that when Ramadan begins, you don’t find it too difficult to get up for suhoor.
4) Reading Qur’an — The rewards for reading Qur’an are manifold in the month of Ramadan. Some of us can read the whole Qur’an 2-3 times in Ramadan. But some of us find it tough to finish it even once. Start early. Begin reciting from today. Keep your mushaf or your phones with the Qur’an app handy at Fajr, so that right after Salah, you can start reciting. This will get you in the habit of reading Qur’an and also give you a head-start insha’Allah!
5) Making Du’a — Ramadan is a month when Allah answers many du’as. Get your du’as ready. Organize all the dua’s mentioned in the Quran in one place and the masnoon du’as in another. Begin reciting the morning and evening du’as from now so that the habit of reciting them is already set before Ramadan. Grab a small empty notebook and write all the duas that you want to make for yourself, your family, your loved ones, the ummah and for the ones departed from this world in your own language in that book. Write down duas for dreams that you want to accomplish. They may seem impossible right now but remember, “impossible” is a word only in our dictionary. For Allah , everything is possible.
6) Repentance — Repentance erases our sins and increases our capabilities. If you are not in the habit of seeking repentance, then now is the time to do it. Do istigfhfar right after every Salah.
7) Charity — Charity brings with it many rewards, more so in the month of Ramadan. Set aside clothes, furniture and/or books that you can donate. Many of us prefer to give our zakat during the month of Ramadan. If that is the case, then set aside money now. Else, you might find it tough to take out the sum during the month.
8) Plan your Menu and Groceries –Try to plan your menus and buy the groceries beforehand. Freeze snacks and casseroles to reduce cooking time during Ramadan.
9) Go shopping — Yes, go shopping. Get your Eid clothes ready for yourself and your family. There will be get-together parties that are either casual or formal in nature after Eid. Get your wardrobe ready now. Don’t waste time in the markets during Ramadan. The Messenger of Allah said, “The dearest parts on the face of the earth near Allah are its mosques, and the most hated parts near Allah are its markets.” 4
10) Plan your day in Ramadan — Chalk a daily plan while you will be fasting. Block time for reading Quran, reflection on what you read and time for sharing it with your family. Plan your day around Salah.
11) Get Kids activities and supplies for Ramadan — For many of us, our children will be home from school this Ramadan inshaAllah. Plan your halal fun activities and get the supplies right now so that you are not running to get glue, clay, paper, etc. during Ramadan.
11) Organize your Call List — Ramadan is a great time to reach out to family and friends who we haven’t been in touch with for some time now. Get your list ready with phone numbers. Start calling people now so that by the time Eid approaches, you have reached out to all of them insha’Allah.
12) Begin Social Media Detox Diet — I usually don’t stay away from social media (including Facebook and whatsapp) during Ramadan. In fact, I try to share something beneficial on these platforms as much as I can, without stressing myself out in Ramadan. Yet, it would be great to Unfollow or Unlike pages that distract you during Ramadan. Those posts are huge time wasters and time is precious, especially in Ramadan.
13) Revamp your Audio Files in the Car — Get CD’s or download Qur’an du’as and lectures in USB’s so you can listen to them while driving. One Ramadan, my husband and I almost finished half of the lectures of each juz while driving to the masjids and doing the errands.
These “plans” are what I am planning to get done before Ramadan this year. I am sure you might be having some great ideas too! Please share them with us so that we can benefit from your experience as well! 🙂 We would love to hear from you. 
You can comment using Facebook and Google+ as well. Just see comments section
I pray that this Ramadan is indeed the best we have yet. May Allah accept our worship and forgive us our sins, and may we live to witness another amazing Ramadan next year. Ameen
Comments
Dhikr in Ramadan
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pre planning
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Ramadan Plan
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71 replies on “The Ramadan Pre Planner-2015”
Jazak Allahu Khairan…Very useful and prompting information..
Assalam alai kum,
JazakaAllah khairan 🙂 i am glad you found it useful
Salam sister…beautiful topic jazakAllah khairan..can u plz tell me about tahjjud time…jzk
Aslm sis may Allah accept all your did and reward you with janna and make it easy for us to spread his religion all over thank you
May ALLAH BLESS YOUR EFFORTS. AMIN
[…] I now truly understand the implication of the hadith in which the Messenger of Allah says, ” Tie up the camel and trust in Allah.” 21 […]
Ameen. Thanks for the helpful tips and insightful post. JazakAllahu khayran! 🙂
Assalam alai kum Dear Sister, I am happy you found it useful.
[…] plans, career plans, wedding plans, etc. – we are great at all of it. Then why not a pre-Ramadan plan? You know your life, your schedules and your commitments. Keeping these in mind, chalk out a […]
Jazakallah for this post. May Allah guide us all. Ameen!
Ameen brother!
Jazakallah khair:-). beautifully written , motivational
JazakaAllah khairan for your comments brother, may Allah swt accept from us.
Jazakillahu khair sister
what i wanted to add is
inshaAllah we will listen the adhaan and will give its answer after that dua of Adhan what our prophet SAW Taught us. ..inshaAllah. .
Assalam alai kum, yes sister, indeed this a great tip! a forgotten sunnah for many of us.
“Allahumma Barik Lana Fi Rajab
Wa Shabaan Wa Ballighna Ramadan.”
Oh Allah Give Us The Blessings
Of The Month Of Rajab And Sha’baan
And Allow Us To Reach Ramadan.
I wanna fast the whole month of Ramadan with piety and God consciousness, may Allah make Ramadan easy for us.
Ameen, brother, amen for all of us
jazakaAllahu khayran in sha Allah Allah will make it easy for us all.
Second Ramadan for me this year I hope I will complete all of it inshallah. Everyone was like you are crazy you can’t stay without food for more than 8 hours, this is something stupid, but Allah gave me the strengthens to go on and to be focus on myself and seeking for his help and bless. It’s a feeling that I never felt before, it’s so nice and I felt so strong my eeman. I hope everyone will find yourself and your way to Allah inshallah. I pray for all my brothers and sisters that they are in countries where the wars doesn’t stop and the persecution doesn’t stop, may Allah bless you all. Ameen
Salam alaykum
Ps: can you please tell where I can find a good translation of the Sunnah of the prophet Mohammed( peace and blessing of God be upon him)?
Assalam alai kum Sis ,
you can grab a copy of the sealed nectar by Saifur Rahman. Its very good. Even “when the moon split” is good.
🙂
As Salamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,
JazakAllahu Khair! Ameen!
May Almighty Allah have mercy and guide us all to righteousness! Ameen!
ameen!
My hard dawah is not only for me,not only for my family but to all the Ommah,and it is not only on the month of Ramadhan but evry time of my meeting with Our Almighty ALLAH(SWT),in every Ramadhan come am always planning and praying to earn some amount of monney to give as a charity for those people who most needed,
ALLAHUMMA MUSHARRIFALKULOOB,SHARRIF KULOOBANA
AMEEN YARABBAL ALAMEEN,ALLAHU AKBAR,MASHA ALLAH,
i wanna be a real Ommah with in my Deeds,my Words and in my Body.
May allah swt accept your efforts and make it easy for u , amen
Plan simple .. Planning high volume of task for Ramadan may not work. Plan small and do 100% of them. 1- read whole Quran 2- donate money/ charity. 3- make dedicated dua and quantity based zikr as much as possible . 4- fast 29/30 days in Ramadan . and you can add more actions if you have more time. Like reading the hadiths related to ramadan or communicate with relatives and friends to keep in touch.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. That’s all for Ramadan ahead
Yes Brother! JazakaAllah khairan for the great tip
It is great to plane any mission on our life ,
Ramadan is a gift from الله to us , it comes once ayear . To clean our chest , our bodies and our hearts … then raise our spirits to a higher level , we shall do our best to be with the motaqeen ان شاء الله
May Allah swt accept your and our efforts. Ameen
May Allah reward us all for our efforts. As a heavy coffee drinker, one of the things I do is gradually stop drinking coffee before Ramadan..I am caffeine free two weeks before Ramadan. That way, I would not go through caffeine withdrawals and focus more on spiritual. Also, it allows me to cleanse myself from a full year of coffee drinking. Leaving in Seattle where halal food can be hard to find, I make a trip to the slaughter house a week before Ramadan and get lamb meat for full month including Eid..you get fresh meat, save money and ensure your meat is halal. Ramadan will be coincide with the beginning of school vacation and it’s a perfect time to get the children involved in all of the activities, to center learning throughout the month. Also, I save my vacation hours so that I can take be off the last 10 days of Ramadan and Eid. At my work, they know this is a time I like to take off. The last 10 days are so important I believe it’s just best to be off work if one has the possibility. JazakaAllah Khairan
Assalam alai kum, Great tip ! i too have decreased my tea 🙂 May Allah swt make it easy for all of us amen
Jazakillah Khair Sana..May Allah swt Bless all Momin with Khair,hidayat & Barkat & accept our deeds & forgive us for our shortcomings,Ameen.Love u for sake of my Rabb
Assalam alai kum Saima bhabi,
<3 ameen , i too love you for the sake of Allah swt ! amen to your beautuful dua
Its beautiful and very accurately guided i m going to follow it from today inshAllah
Thanks for this article!
AssalamOalaikam,Ameen. Thanks for the helpful tips and insightful post. JazakAllahu khayran! kaseera!
Asalamu Alaikum… I wasnt knowing that this much could b done during ramzan… Keep in in tough with relatives nd pendowning my duas… In sha Allah I wil try to follow all these things… Allah bless u…
Jazek Allah Khair sister:
Any advice anyone can give about fasting and perimenopause?I find that I am “starving” each 5 minutes…I cannot seem to control this intense hunger also I am visiting Pakistan from US, to stay with my husbands mother right now and the intense humidity makes it SO hard to cope with thirst. This is very difficult for me and I want so badly to have perfect fasts for everyday o Ramadan! Any advice is appreciated!
Thanks!
Allah hafiz
Asslaam Walaikum. . I could surely advice u for ur pre or postmenopausal symptoms. You are facing those problems due to hormonal imbalance which normally occur during this time
. Please get ur blood glucose levels checked. There are medications for perimenopausal symptoms. Like T. Menopace is for heat cramps during this time. U should consult a gynaecologist at present. U can get ur problem solved before Ramadan InshaAllah. Hope you get the right treatment and have a fruitful Ramadan. .
Assalam alai kum Dr Sana,
Jazakillah khairan for your timely comment, I pray that Sister Amina and other sisters who read it were able to benefit from it too. Ameen
Jazakallahu khaira 🙂
Jazakallah. A beautiful reminder.
Mashaa Allah! Thank you so much 🙂
InshaAllah is a very vital reminder , I have copied it to ready as many times I can before fasting. Is unfortunate for some of us who are living hundreds of kilometers away from the congregation, we fast and pray alone, no one to share with,
InshaAllah we ll’ keep to it and may Allah guide us through and we pray for your good health to keep helping the Muslim brotherhood.
JazakAllah khair.
Beautifully laid down for us.
PLANNING IS VERY IMPORTANT IN OUR LIVES. MAY ALLAH BLESS OUR PLANNINGS AND GIVE US POWER TO FAST ALWAYS… AMEEEN!
Mashallah! Thanks so much from your this important information May Allah bless you.
Ameen
Aslamualikum. My name is Rayan and I am 17 years old the purpose of writting hear is acctually I have a easy way of making or letting the Glorious Quran to be recited completely in the month of ramadan . Hear I go , AL-QURAN has 600 pages right it means 20 pages of AL-QURAN you have read per day still it can be reduced like , after every prayer read 4 pages so in totall 5 prayers 4 pages right after every salah . This will help you to finish reading the AL-QURAN . If you want to finish reading completely 2 times then read before prayer 4 pages. And after prayer 4 pages consequently . May ALLAH SUBHANA WATA ALA bless us AMEEN .
JazakaAllah khairan Brother Rayan, I pray that this beneficial information is helpful to many
I pray that you are also able to complete your Quran and that it becomes a light for you in this life and the next. Ameen
Very nice. Jazak-Allahu khairan
Thanks so much
[…] there isn’t anything much to apply and the result is another Ramadan that just flies by. To plan for Ramadan, we need to be clear regarding the goals (Maqasid) of Ramadan, which is to attain taqwa. Therefore, […]
Jazakalkhair
Allah help us all aameen.just 1 goal daily start learnin ayah of quran for 5minutes only no less no more.its called 5 mins plan for lifetime.definite success inshaAllah for memorising quran.the only friend who will go with us in grave.
Assalamu Aleykum,
i wish to start my dawah activities this ramadan insh’ALLAH, make duaa for me please. I love you in the sake of ALLAH.
Start now to lower your gaze when a non mahrm girl comes in front of you that way in ramadan while fasting it will be easier and a habit will be developed. 🙂
Jazakallah hair.may Allah make easy for everyone a ameen.
allah help us
[…] key to having a successful Ramadan is to organize, plan and then execute. It may sound simple but it’s a goldmine to help you have a satisfying […]
Ramadan Kareem to all!!! The article was really good especially revamping the audio tracks in car. I would also like to share some Ramadan tips which I found useful.. http://www.nestle-family.com/my-ramadan/ramadan-tips/
One thing you can do is to read the seerah of the Prophet (ﷺ). I will insha Allah listen to the seerah.
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatulahi wa barakatu! Jazaki Allah khayran sister Sana for this great article ! I am a reverted muslimah from Brazil and it will be my 4º Ramadan insha Allah. I have one tip to share.
As in the period of menstruation we women can not fast and pray, I went to talk to my gynecologist and decided to take the contraceptive pills without stopping and so I won´t menstruate in the month of Ramadan. I thought about doing this for the first time as I used to feel incomplete and sad for having to stop fasting during “those days”.
I guess many sisters face this so maybe they would like to enjoy the whole month without interruption, as insha Allah I will have this time.
Jazakallah khayr! Way beneficial.
I wonder if there would be any tips regarding kids part i.e their fun activities? Making quizzes competition? What else? I can’t think of some more. Can you please brothers and sisters give me some good and halal suggestions?
Again, thanks so much.
May Allah accept all our lawful desires. Ameen ya rabbi!
[…] Plan your meals and buy your groceries beforehand so you don’t have to wonder what needs to be prepared for suhoor or iftaar every single day. […]
[…] key to having a successful Ramadan is to organize, plan and then execute. It may sound simple but it’s a goldmine to help you have a satisfying […]
[…] clothes and we would try our best to reserve a distinguishing seat for our self-esteem. We would plan and prepare ourselves in the best of ways, so that our declaration of attitude would turn to be […]
[…] and recharge our purpose to make the most of this blessed month. Now, let’s look at how we can plan and set goals to maximize our ibadah during this […]
Even as this Ramadan approaches, thank you so much for this. May Allah continue to reward you. Ramadan Mubarak!
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail 😛
Jazakallah khair!
Could you please share collection of Dua’s for Ramdan month.
[…] key to having a successful Ramadan is to organize, plan and then execute. It may sound simple but it’s a goldmine to help you have a satisfying […]
[…] key to having a successful Ramadan is to organize, plan and then execute. It may sound simple but it’s a goldmine to help you have a satisfying Ramadan. By doing this […]