I am Muslim first.... Part 3

Bismillah....

Alhamdulillah, it is now the 5th day of Ramadhan but my first day of fasting. The possibility of Raya with family and friends, however, currently looks bleak with the rising number of cases everywhere. So, I decided to go back to Labuan tomorrow with accompanying my mom for vaccination as a reason for interstate crossing. It was a decision made in a hurry right after the announcement that I have to make all the arrangements in two days which include a swab test (RTK is suffice but I got myself a PCR), a written police permission for interstate crossing and also my ticket back. As I was walking under the scorching sun on my way to the swab test area I thought, "This used to be easy~". Indeed, we won't realize something is such a blessing until we lose it, right? But, I have to mention here that although the process is tedious, Alhamdulillah, for my case things were running very smooth. I just dread the swab....

So, what's your Ramadhan routine for 2021?  I don't know if it was just me, but I was fighting back tears on the evening of 1st Ramadhan when I passed by the mosques, looking at how full the parking areas were. It was such a solemn sight last year when all of us were in lockdown during Ramadhan and I even had several Tarawih prayers in the oncall room! This pandemic is a long, hard battle. Some might have it even harder than the rest of us. But we are slowly moving towards win, inshaAllah. 

I've written several times that Ramadhan is a month where I'll miss UIA very much. But I guess those 6 years have shaped the strong foundation for my yearly Ramadhan routine. I will stop all night sports activities for the whole month and will replace them with a brisk walk in the evening. I don't listen to music when I run because I like to listen to my breathing and also the sound of nature (although sometimes interfered by the chatters of uncles and aunties lol).  Yet, during my Ramadhan evening walks I will listen to podcasts in Spotify or talks in YouTube. I'll make sure the volume is not too loud because I still want to have the birds chirping, and the rustling sound of leaves as the background. At night, I'm trying my best to be steadfast with the Qur'an 30 for 30 series. I started with juz 14 of the 1st season because that was where I stopped. Will try to catch up with the 2nd season, inshaAllah.

Well, we are so accustomed with this Ramadhan routine so the whatsapp group will be flooded by all the resources for Ramadhan. We love planners since forever! So for this year I'm trying this one from Qalby. Here is how it looks like. I actually prefer a printed version but I'm trying to be paperless here so I'm making use of this PDF version on my tab.

And there is also this Qur'an 30 for 30, 1st season ebook. After I listened and made my own notes, I'll spend a few minutes reading the explanation in the ebook which gives the concise summaries. And I also love this Doa ebook which I downloaded into my phone for easy access.

So what I want to share actually are these 2 videos that I was listening to during one of my evening walk by Ustadh Wael Ibrahim. I jot down the notes here and my own thoughts on them for easy reference in the future.

Tips on how to be a productive Muslim

WHY we must be productive

1. Life is too short to waste

“O Son of Adam, you are nothing but a number of days. Whenever each day passes, then a part of you has gone.” — Al-Hasan Al-Basri

In reality, our days are numbered and we have no idea when will be our last. Thus, time should not be wasted into things that are not beneficial because we are here to equip ourselves adequately before we are to meet the Creator. If we waste too much time, we might have very few to bring with us~

2. Quality time

By being productive and by having things or work done on time, we will then have spare time for other things that matter like time for family, time for hobbies, enough rest etc

3. Leave a legacy behind

This doesn't mean having your name on the wall of fame. Leaving a legacy here means being remembered and of course we want to be remembered as GOOD. But if we haven't been spending time productively, that's most likely will not be achieved.

HOW to become productive

1. Keep your eyes on the WHYs. 

The list of WHYs to me is never exhaustive and it is personal. I agree that if we are very clear with our WHYs it will be a driving force that will keep us steadfast

2. Fight one battle at a time

I'm a super monotasker since forever so I could really relate to this point. There was a point in my life many years ago when I realized multitasking was not getting me anywhere. I started on multiple tasks but very few were completed and they were not up to the standards that I myself have hoped for. That was how I started to focus on one battle at a time. That was when I totally start to understand that being busy is not necessarily being productive

3. Ignore the pain from great effort

I think this is something that many people find very hard to adopt even myself. We are more incline to comfort or quick gratification thus we ignore anything that could possibly inflict pain although that is the only way to greatness. This is, I feel, a very profound reminder. Nothing great is easy. The greater the challenges, the more rewards await at the destination.

Tips on how to make positive changes in our lives

E- Environment

Find a healthy environment that encourages you for the better. Avoid an environment that exposes you to negative activities or even negative emotions because we will eventually 'become' who we surround ourselves with.

S- Structure

Have a structure and system in place. Rasulullah s.a.w was a man of routine, he planned and strategized his day that every second of his time was always filled with something beneficial for him, the religion and the ummah. It's easy to waste time when one does not plan.

I- Implementation

Put things into action. Implementation of knowledge is power.

 العلم بلا عمل جنون والعمل بغير علم لا يكون

"Knowledge without action is madness and action without knowledge does not exist"

P- People

Have a support system which will help us grow in knowledge and character as well as people who will help us care for our physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing.

I'd wanted to schedule this post for later since I just posted 2 days ago but then again I should share this earlier so you can download as well as benefit from this sharing earlier in Ramadhan. 

That's all for now. I'll try to share as much as I could on the things I learned this Ramadhan here and in IG story, inshaAllah.