Abdullah Rahim
  15. Don’t miss opportunities to help others or to be kind to them:
      We sometimes use fasting as an excuse to lay back. We should not allow this to take away opportunities where we may be able to help a fellow human being or where we can gain many rewards just by being kind.
  16. Understanding Islam better:
      During the month of Ramadan there can be times that we like to spend for the cause of fasting yet we are not in the mood of offering more prayers, etc... In other words, we might need a break from our ritual worship while still longing to do something related to religion. In this case, a good break will be to learn more about Islam from its original sources and from those who have learned it from its original sources. Having a correct understanding of Islam will help us with being better Muslims.
  17. Thinking about ourselves:
      The previous point described one way of having break from our ritual worship while we still like to do something related to religion. Another thing we can and we should do is for each of us to think about him/herself. This means reviewing one’s life so far, thinking about the person that one has become, the strength of one’s belief, one’s priorities, the way one wants to spend the rest of the life. Overall, this means reflecting on one’s life so far to see where one is heading and whether any adjustments or redirection is needed.
  18. I’tikaaf (seclusion):
      The idea of I’tikaaf is to distance ourselves from the busy day-to-day life and to devote some special time to improve our relationship with our Lord by means of worship, reading the Qur’an and thinking about God and us. The preferred way of doing this is to stay a few days during the last ten days of the month of Ramadan in a mosque. However, if this is not possible for us, we can at least choose to stay for a shorter period in a mosque. Even staying between two prayers can be considered as I’tikaaf. It is important to note that we do I’tikaaf to have some private and quality time with our Lord and not to spend it chitchatting with people.
  19. Seeking Laylatul Qadr (the Night of Destiny):
      There is a reason why we have not been informed about the exact date of Laylatul Qadr by a divine source. If the point were to simply hit the correct night like hitting a target, then we would have been told exactly when that night was supposed to occur. Instead, we have been advised to ‘seek’ it during the odd nights of the last ten nights of the month of Ramadan. Maybe the point is to prepare our heart and make it so powerful that we would get benefit we are seeking any way, even if we do not know which night is the night of Qadr and even if we unintentionally miss it.
  20. Do not commit Haram:
      The most important precondition of all that is mentioned in this article is to not going even near what is made Haram for us. There is no place for Taqwa if Haram is still in the play.áTo be Countnuedâ
  Courtesy of Column Foreign Afairs