Ramadan Cleaning: Getting the Act Together

It is mid Rajab and in about a month's time Ramadan would only be a fortnight away, insha'Allah. Considering this perspective, it is high time to begin planning for the big month of great merits. 

Ramadan is a month of heavy-duty quality control for Muslims. The thought had occurred to me when I was writing an article for Productive Ramadan. I titled it 'Muslim Quality Control: Develop Your Character this Ramadan' and discussed various tips on how an individual could be productive in the blessed month. The website went offline and my articles, Ramadan-related, disappeared. This year, for my Ramadan Diaries project, I shall be sharing the goodies I had shared through my articles on that website, insha'Allah.

So, for a heavy duty quality control to begin, a factory always undergoes some down time for maintenance, overhauling, and re-stocking. That is exactly how I feel each one of us should function too. 

Ramadan cleaning does not only comes as restocking the kitchen pantry and the freezer, and getting planning out my Quran and extra prayers schedule. I realized that Ramadan Cleaning (inspired from Spring Cleaning) has a lot more to it.

Types of Cleaning

Apart from the literal meaning of cleaning, I feel that a psychological, spiritual, and social cleanse is also required before I start fasting. It would be useless to fast and worship without getting some serious garbage that tends to accumulate in one's system. We're human after all, we tend to err. 

1. Psychological CleanseGarbage in, garbage out is a simple rule of quality control. Unless you flush away the junk in your mind, you will not be able to feel the blessings of Ramadan. The junk is usually stress, anxiety, depression, negativity, panic, and fears. They automatically contribute to health issues like insomnia (sleeplessness), somnolence (sleeping too much), stomach acid, blood pressure spikes or lows, irregular heartbeat, fibromyalgia (muscular distress), and the list goes on and on. They make fasting a major challenge, and painful too.
   
   Try to let go. Ease up on your over thinking of things and try planning your Ramadan routine. Avoid people and events that trigger emotional chaos. Start meditating if you cannot calm yourself down with will power. Go out for walks, give yourself some alone time, sleep well and eat well.
   
2. Spiritual CleanseIf you're fasting wholeheartedly it means you are most definitely looking out for Allah's forgiveness, inshaAllah. Unless you cleanse your soul of the obvious evil of your nafs (psyche), you cannot attain His Mercy. Personally speaking, a spiritual cleanse begins with Taqwa (fear of Allah) and the realization that you have wronged. The next step is to make an intention of seeking His Mercy and taking a divine oath of not repeating the mistakes.
   
3. Social CleanseGossipy phone calls (gheebat (gheebah) pilers), texts, invites to non-productive parties (breeding grounds for Satan), non-productive friends, and of course the Fitnaahbook a.k.a. destructive part of Facebook are potential pollutants in our immediate sociosphere. As I moved to the USA, alhamdulillah (all praise for Allah), a large portion of my social circle got chucked off. The useless gossips, nonsense discussions about people and events, and the politics of academic life just diluted. I am blessed with a complete social cleanse but there are always exceptions and I always run into people who lure me into making judgement and speaking about their wrongs and rights. I have to tighten the controls there. My family goes into hibernation mode, socially, during Ramadan because we're observing the fasts, reciting Quran, and praying persistently.
   
   Some common social distractions to avoid during Ramadan are:
   
   Iftaar parties. Some of them continue outrageously until sehri (suhoor) time
   Gossipy phone calls. They eat up your fast because they indulge you into gheebat
   Television. Light entertainment never hurts, but reserve the routine TV programs until after Ramadan
   Shopping. We women could go on and on and time flies by. Eid shopping should be done away with before Ramadan.
   
   As Sha'ban would being, insha'Allah, I shall try my best to write about Ramadan preparations; hence, giving the Ramadan Diaries an early start.