Day 7: The Importance of Documenting Progress | Ramadan Strong
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Asalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Brother Feroz here today with a method inshallah ta'ala that can help us in the month of Ramadan. And that method is note-taking or as some of us like to call having a diary. The reason why this is important is because when we as believers try to connect with the Prophet or the companions, the way we have access to them and make that human connection with them is through the writings of scholars. That when we hear of a story of the Prophet where he lost a child and he tells us to be patient, we can understand that this man is feeling a lot of pain yet in that instance he is telling us to be patient so we can now have a connection. Or if we have certain personalities that are similar or akin to another companion, we can maybe understand lessons through their lives. And so we have a human connection through the writings of other scholars about their lives. And if we find that spiritual boost through lectures, it's more than likely that the scholar or person giving that lecture obtained that story or lesson from some type of writing. So at the end, having access to writing is so important for us to maintain human connections. As Imam Zahabi mentions, That it was said to Ibn Mubarak, after you finish praying, why don't you sit with us? He says, I sit with the sahaba and tabi'een. For when I look in their books and in their histories.
And what am I supposed to do with all of you? All you do is backbite people and talk badly about them. So here we see Ibn Mubarak is somebody who is telling us that you can have that human connection through the works of the companions, the tabi'een, and of the ahadith of the Prophet. So what benefits do we get from looking to the writings and reading? It's number one that we gain clarity. We learn something new. Or number two, it's that maybe some of our preconceived notions are corrected. Maybe we learn something as a child or someone told us something and we read history and realize that wasn't true. And so it's not just about gaining clarity of the past of others, but if we were to have our own journal, it's about getting clarity of the past of ourselves. That too often, unfortunately, we have selective memory and we become too harsh on ourselves thinking we have not improved at all. Thinking we haven't accomplished anything. When that couldn't be further from the truth. So what's really important to remember about Ramadan and this blessed month is that it's a marathon, not a sprint. That there's going to be slow progress as well. That there are going to be burnouts if we don't carefully manage and schedule what we want to do. So what are some tips? All you need is a journal and a pen or pencil. Number two, it's if you want to read Quran, set a set amount of pages you want to read per day. So for example, what I do for myself is I want to read four pages a day. For example, what I'll do is I'll say I'll cut that in half. I'll do two pages a day because I know for sure I can do that for the first 20 days. For the last 10 days, I'm going to ramp it up and I should do eight pages, twice the amount I thought I could do. Because that's a sprint for me. That way I feel comfortable because I know at least 20 days I can do that for sure.
It's not smart to burn out and then when you're in the last 10 days, you don't have any energy left, especially with work and other things. Also, have a schedule and write down what you eat for suhoor and iftar and then make a note of how you feel afterwards. Maybe you were really thirsty that day. What do you have for suhoor? Why didn't you have suhoor if you didn't eat that day or drink that day? Because you slept late. Why did you sleep late? Try to make this connection so you can figure out where you can fix your daily schedule. Also, write down two good deeds that you'll do per day and then lastly, create Ramadan specific goals and then create goals that you want to continue after Ramadan as well. There are many things you can do but the most important thing is you continuously write down what you're doing, how you're feeling consistently on a daily basis and having a track record of how you want to approach Ramadan so that you have a baseline of knowing this is actually where I'm at, not where I think I'm at. InshaAllah this helps you and myself and may Allah bless us with seeing and witnessing the month of Ramadan and also finishing it up. Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
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