We set high aims for this month but achieve only a little because we are not prepared. We continue juggling between our distractions and our priorities during the month and by the time we have a routine the month is nearing its end.

We have all heard the quote, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Ramadan preparations should begin at least thirty days before the month approaches. The Sahabah (may Allāh be pleased with them) used to prepare six months in advance. The Prophet (saw) trained himself for the tough month of fasting by fasting the first fifteen days of Sha’ban. This indicates that we need a plan to have a successful Ramadan.

Before we work on our schedule for Ramadan let’s first identify the areas that we need to work on. Ask yourself, “What are the actions that are dearer to Allah (swt)?” These are salah, Qur’an, dhikr, dua, sadaqah, gaining and sharing knowledge and improving akh’laq (conduct). The next question to ponder upon is, “How can we get maximum benefit out of these actions?”All of this is linked with the strategic vision in your role of “Abdullah”, which is a mandated role in the roles selection framework we discuss in the Strategic Visions workshop.

Salah

• Make a goal of performing every fard prayer at its prescribed time. The best tip to help you in this regard is to prepare for the salah a little before the adhan goes on, keeping enough buffer for offering it in jama’at.

• Add sunnah and voluntary (nafil) prayers with each fard prayer that you perform (where applicable).

• Perform different extra voluntary prayers such as ishraq, awwabeen and most importantly Tahajjud.

Qur’an

• Recite one juz’ of Quan every day so that you can complete one Quran in the month. To make it easy, plan to recite a quarter of a juz’ after every prayer, which is 4-5 pages only.

• As you recite take out a few minutes to read and understand the translation of the ayah that you just recited.

• Work on your Arabic knowledge by identifying new words in the ayah and studying their syntax and morphology. Corpus Quran is an excellent website to study Arabic grammar. Another resource for understanding Quran is Quran Works. This is a very comprehensive app where you can recite, listen to recitation in the voices of various Qura’a and understand each word of Quran by their root letters and find their meaning. Next time when a similar word appears you will have an idea of what it means. The app is available both on App Store and Google Play, which is an excellent development by couple of Vision Retreat graduates of 2013.

Dhikr

• Keep your tongue moist with dhikr throughout the day. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) taught us morning and evening adhkar that are beneficial for the dunya and in the aakhirah.

• Besides the morning and evening adhkar do astaghfar as much as you can. The Prophet (saw) sought Allah’s forgiveness and repentance more than seventy times a day. Sincere repentance is our key to Jannah and a means for increase in provision. Don’t ignore it.

Dua

• Prepare your dua list in advance. Write down everything that you really desire in your life, no matter how insignificant or silly it may appear to you.

• Memorize the masnoon duas. Understand their meaning so that when you recite the dua, you do so with full khushu’ and sincerity.

• Be creative and make dua cards for yourself and your family. Hang or place them around your house so that you are reminded to recite them.

Sadaqah

• Besides the obligatory zakat, keep some allowance for sadaqah.

• Give your time, your company or sincere advice to someone, is also a sadaqah.

• Look for opportunities to volunteer your time and skills.

Gaining and Sharing Knowledge

• Work on your tajweed or help a friend in improving theirs.

• Along with studying the meaning, take out time to study the sahih ahadith books. Start from Sahih al-Bukhari or Riyadh-as-Sauliheen.

• Purchase or download awe-inspiring and motivational books to strengthen your eman. www.kalamullah.com is a resourceful website that offers free books, lectures and articles.

• Share your knowledge with others. Teach the meaning that you learned with at least one more person; do so either verbally, through a Facebook status, a text message or a brief email.

• Teach a hadith or masnoon dua to your family. Ask them the lessons they can derive from it.

Improving Akh’laq (conduct)

• Utilizing the knowledge that you have acquired, start working on your character, righteousness and integrity. These are the areas which are badly missing from our lives.

• Commit to leave one bad habit and seek sincerity from Allah (swt). Avoid gossiping and backbiting. Do not concern yourself with other’s private matters but concentrate on cleansing your soul.

In above essay we have identified the areas we can work on to extract maximum benefit from this blessed month of Ramadan, let’s plan a schedule. Following is the recommended schedule for Ramadan and it's up to you to follow as it is or make changes. If followed, there are higher chances of consistent good deeds during the whole month:

Morning

1. Wake up for Tahajjud and keep enough buffer for Suhoor. Recite the masnoon dua for waking up. Make wudu and use the miswak.

2. Perform Tahajjud in a quiet place seeking Allah’s love and forgiveness. Complete your prayer by asking dua for your concerns and worries. Try to cry and if you are unable to cry, at least make your face like you’re crying.

3. Prepare or help the family in setting up suhoor. Pick nutritious food and thank Allah for His blessings.

4. Perform Fajr with Jama'at. Recite a portion of the Qur’an and study its meaning. Make morning adhkar, read one hadith and perform Dua. Get ready to start your day as you do normally. Please don't sleep after Fajr.

5. Keep reciting adhkar or astaghfar as you dress up for work or school. Listen to a lecture during your commute if possible. Try to talk less and do more dhikr throughout the day.

6. Do at least one tasbeeh of Durood Shareef.

Afternoon

1. Perform Dhuhr with Jama’at. Recite a portion of Qur’an along with its meaning.

2. Recite five masnoon dua’s and do astaghfar.

3. Do the Qailoolah for 30-45 minutes before Asr. This will give you the energy to stand up during Qiyaam-ul-Layl (Taraveeh) and Tahajjud.

Evening

1. Before the Asr prayer take out a book and improve your Islamic knowledge by reading a page or two. Perform wudhu and get ready for the prayer.

2. Recite the Qur’an portion for Asr along with its meaning.

3. Recite five masnoon dua’s and do astaghfar.

4. Give sadaqah either through money, giving food to a poor person or removing something harmful from the path or speaking with someone with a beautiful smile etc. 

5. Exercise / Walk

6. Help the family with preparations for iftar while keeping your tongue busy with adhkar.

Late Evening

1. When the time for Maghrib approaches go into seclusion, take out your dua list and earnestly pray for whatever you want. This is the time of acceptance of dua, so don't waste this time in front of TV or in chit chat.

2. Make dua loudly at the iftar table so that if there are any young children at home they too can pick it up from their elders.

3. Recite the masnoon dua for breaking fast. Start with dates and thank Allah for your provision. Do not eat too much and consume food in moderation.

4. Pray Maghrib with Jama'at and pray six nawafil of awwabeen.

5. As you wait for the Isha adhan, sit with your family and share an ayah that you learned today or a hadith. Ask them what they learned or a good deed that they performed during the day. Share with them stories of the Prophets and how they used to worship Allah (swt). Keep the session very brief.

6. Recite the fourth part of the juz’ before you leave for Isha prayer.

Night

1. Start preparing for the exclusive worship of Ramadan i.e. the Taraweeh prayers.

2. Take your family along if there is an arrangement for women as well.

3. Pray the Witr prayer, recite Surah Al-Mulk and go to bed in a state of ablution/wudu.

4. Set an alarm for Tahajjud and recite the masnoon dua for sleeping along with other recommended adhkar before sleep. Contemplate on your life in this world, the destination of Qabr and the Day of Judgment, which are about to come.

5. start doing dhikr of Durood Shareef and sleep with your tongue is wet with the beautiful dhikr of Durood.

6. Please remember the deceased from your family in your prayers and also pray for the Ummah sincerely as we need them a lot.

Make dua to Allah (swt) to accept our good deeds, and give us the strength to perform better. The deeds dearest to Allah (swt) are the ones that are done consistently. Make an intention to stay committed to your ultimate purpose even after Ramadan and do not become a “Ramadan Muslim” only!

Dear brothers and sisters,

Assalam-o-alaikum.

Allah (swt) has been very kind to us. Not only has He (swt) kept us alive long enough to see another Ramadan, but He (swt) has also inspired us to use this blessed month for the reflection on and development of our strategic visions.

The last month of June, our corporate and open-house workshops were conducted in various cities of Pakistan: Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar and one of the busiest ever months in terms of number of people went through the framework of the meaningful life. The end of month of June brought us half way through the journey of year 2014 and this month of July is giving us another opportunity to experience Ramadan and make it a source of forgiveness for all of us.

I often emphasize this point in my Strategic Time Management workshop that Ramadan is a comprehensive training course for practicing the teachings of Strategic Time Management workshop. You keep a minute by minute check on time during Suhoor and Aftar. You wake up early during Ramadan, and get an opportunity to pray Tahajjud. You have a time restricted Q2 slots for Taraveeh, recitation of Quran, Dhikr etc. You try to stay away from Q3 and Q4 (Not Important) activities. During this month of Ramadan, I recommend you to put extra emphasis on the aspect of purification of heart. For this month of Ramadan, I am sharing couple of articles in which I have tried to mention the activities and how to schedule them to get close to Allah (swt).

It is certainly true that there are many problems that we are facing today. But if you have an urge of doing something great in this life, you will see these problems as opportunities and this life as an opportunity to seize these other opportunities aligning with ultimate vision and purpose. We should make use of this life by pursuing great visions instead of just live a life by default. 

The upcoming Vision Retreat in Malaysia will give you a great opportunity to join your hands with other visionaries around the globe who are pursuing great visions in their lives to make their contribution in developing this world as Allah (swt) wants this world to be. 

The date of upcoming Vision Retreat, Malaysia is September 05-08, 2014. In this event, we put a cap of 18 participants so that proper quality time could be given to all participants, I request you to inform me on [email protected] as soon as possible if you are interested in participating in Vision Retreat, Malaysia. This opportunity is not only for individuals. This is a great opportunity for families also to plan your vacation in Malaysia and combine it with Timelenders’ Vision Retreat. Most of the seats are already booked and just a few left out of 18.

I wish you best of luck for the month of July and the month of Ramadan and pray that may Allah (swt) make it a source of blessings for you and your family.

Wassalam,

Yameenuddin Ahmed
The Editor

Marriott Hotel, Karachi
30 May-01 June, 2014

Telenor Pakistan, Islamabad
03-04 June, 2014

Fauji Fertilizer Co. Ltd., Rawalpindi
05-07 June, 2014