The month of Ramadan is literally around the corner, a month away. And there is much for us to prepare ourselves for.

We mentioned last week the importance of seeking forgiveness and istighfar and that every day we should make 100 istighfar.

We spoke last week about conditioning the body in fast to begin to fast every Monday and Thursday. And we lastly spoke about the importance of the night vigil to find yourself in night prayer, at the very least, you pray the rak’ah of witr.

Develop the Habit of Reading

Today, I remind myself and all of my beautiful brothers and sisters to not forget the Book of Allah, to not forget your intimate relationship and your need to have this Book in your life because this is the light of Allah, this is the guidance, this is the healing, this is the clarity, this is everything that we need in terms of guidance in this life, and so let us not ever be disconnected from it.

So my advice to my brothers and my sisters and myself is that every single day, at the very least, we should read one verse of Quran.

It literally could be a five-second deal. You open up and you read at least one verse; if you read one verse then read two, if you’re reading two then read three, if you read half a page then read a page, if you’re already reading a page a day, then read two pages a day, and if you’re reading one juz’ a day, then read two juz’ a day…

But all of us should make sure that we are developing a habit of reciting this book in these coming days, so that when the month of Ramadan comes, we are already oriented around the Book of Allah.

Because I know many of us maybe perhaps since last Ramadan we haven’t opened the Quran once. I know many of us may be in that circumstance or perhaps we opened it here and there but promise yourself and make a promise to Allah that starting today you will read at least one verse a day. Because that was the first command that was given to the Prophet (peace be upon him):

Stand in the night and pray and recite the Quran with the deliberate recitation. (73:3-4)

And as we learn from the Prophet (peace be upon him) that on the Day of Judgment, the Quran will speak and it will testify to our relationship with the Quran. How often did we pick it up?

The one complaint that the Prophet makes about his ummah is our neglect of the Book of Allah. He says:

Oh my Lord, indeed my people have neglected (left) this Quran. (Quran 25:30)

Conclusion

May Allah not ever allow us to be a people that that statement is truthful with, but rather we are people that never neglected the Quran, and never turned away from the Quran. But we actually realized that only in the recitation of this Quran we will be uplifted in the afterlife because the Prophet says:

Read and recite and rise up as you did in the dunya. (Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi)

That’s what will be said to the person on the Day of Judgment.

And the more you recite in the dunya, the higher you will be in the afterlife.