Walking around the school during Ramadan you can see a clear difference in everybody’s faces and attitudes.  If you think it’s joy and excitement, unfortunately I have to tell you to think again.  People are dazed, confused and of course, tired!!

Not only are the students losing focus during instructional time, losing motivation to do homework, and slacking off more and more, the teachers too are starting to lose their “umph”… and it’s only the 3rd day of fasting!

I used to think it was hard to stay awake in school during Ramadan, so during lunch breaks, instead of going to the cafeteria, I would go to the library to put my head down.  Little did I know that it’s even harder as a teacher.  Because as a teacher, not only do you have to keep yourself awake and going, you have to somehow motivate your students too.

I’ve already heard countless complaints of “too much homework” considering it’s Ramadan.  I know, and my students know, that they don’t use all their time after school for extra ibadaat (unfortunately), so a few extra math problems won’t really get in their way.  But dude, I don’t want to do the work, even if it is just grading “a few” math problems!  I’d rather not teach or grade or instruct or motivate.  I just want to sit at my desk and pass out… again, it’s only the 3rd day of fasting!

Maybe insha’Allah with time our bodies will adjust to the new schedule, and life will go on and pick up speed again.  Isn’t that how it always is?  At the end of Ramadan your body is so fine tuned to your new habits, and it feels like the month came and went by too fast.

May Allah make each moment of the next month sweet, fulfilling, and blessed for us all, ameen.

A few Fridays back I attended a short evening lecture given by Imam Suhaib Webb at UIC.  The subject of his talk was, of course, preparing for Ramadan.  He went over the basics– why we fast, how we fast, who needs to fast, etc.  And he also went over the spiritual aspects of Ramadan:  the do’s and don’t’s of actually reaching the goal of increasing our taqwa.

One of the things he mentioned was to set some goals for ourselves during the month.  It doesn’t have to be something enormous, but just something.  Whether it’s giving something up (because we don’t have the time to waste on it) or if it’s adding something to our busy schedules (because we’re learning to prioritize deen in our everyday life).  He said though, no matter what, after we adjust our life to a “Ramadan schedule” we should try our best to hold on to atleast one good habit, and also to continue to let go of one bad habit.

As he was talking, I was taking notes, and wrote in short hand what he had said.  Now, keep in mind that I’m a math nerd (at least self-proclaimed) so I was thinking in terms of numbers.  So, how did I translate and evaluate the verbal expression of neglecting one bad habit and adding on one good habit?

- (-1) + 1 = +2

What does that mean?  When we give up something bad and at the same time strive for something better, not only are we adding one good habit, but because we’re subtracting a negative, we’re also adding another good!

Who knew math and Islam had something in common?? I think I have something to talk about in class tomorrow with my students!  Hurrah

Prescription from: Ar-Razzaq

Patient: Al-Mumineen

Rx: Fasting

Dosage: One daily x 30

Instructions: Do not fulfill bodily desires from Dawn until Dusk

 O you who have believed prescribed for you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous (2:183)

Here it is! A month to relieve your heart of all its ailments.  A cleansing for your souls diseases.  An eraser for all those black spots on our hearts.

Ramadan is finally here, so let’s use it for what it’s worth: a purification for our hearts, and a builder of imaan and taqwa.  I hope everyone has a wonderful month filled with many blessings.