7 Steps to do in Shaban to Maximize benefit

of Ramadan
Posted on July 1, 2013 by Islamic Spirituality
[Following are rough notes of talk delivered by Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed on CII on
28th June2012. It gives a list of 7 practical and spiritual things to do in Shaban to
prepare ourselves for a life-changing Ramadan]
Ramadan is the best opportunity to make it easier for us to leave sin, to mend our ways,
to patch up with our lord. And the easiest way to make it easy in Ramadan is to work hard
in Shaban. If you want BEST Ramadan, make this Shaban better than your last
Ramadan. If you do that, then inshaAllah this Ramadan will be a life changing
experience for you, it will take you to a point of no-return. Leave sins such that we
never slip in it again, get attached to Allah (swt) and Nabi (sws) such that nothing can
detach us. So we must work in Shaban.
Previously, we didnt prepare in Shaban. So initial 10days of Ramdan were spent in
getting used to fasting physically, next 10 days were spent in getting used to fasting
spiritually, and in the last 10 days when we were finally getting some effects, Ramadan
ended and we lost all the effect of Ramadan within the first few days of Shawwal. So
Ramadan had an effect but not an after effect. This year we will make it different. Begin
the process in Shaban.
We Muslims are deluded by two words: balance and moderation. Because of this
we miss out on the depth and intensity that Allah (swt) has put in deen. There is so much
potential in deen but we lose out on it because of laziness. If a person is hard-working,
can work consistently and put in effort (for dunya) then it is such a shame that when it
comes to deen they dont aspire, they dont dream, they dont work-hard, dont put in
effort.
Take another example: If a person is physically very fit, and off-field they show great
athletic capability but when he gets on-field he walks around lazily. Similar is our case.
Off-field (dunya) we show our effort, hard-work and potential but when it comes to the
real field in our life (which is deen) we have a lazy attitude and come up with words like
balance and moderation to euphemize it.
If you have intention in Shaban, and renew it every day, that this Ramadan, Ill change.
This Ramdan I want everything about my life to become according to deen. Thats how
strong an intention is needed, because Ramdan is a very strong and intense program.
Youll only be able to benefit fully if you bring an equally intense intention. Like if a
person enrolls in a world class university program designed for extreme in-depth study,
and says that no I just want to learn a little bit about business or economics then theyll
tell him that look, you wont be able to benefit fully from this program unless you have an
intention of really getting into the depth of each subject.

This Ramadan is the month of intense Mercy of Allah (swt). Intense Mercy in two
ways: one is that Allahs mercy is so strong that it is enough to wipe away all of our
sins. Allah (swt) makes available to us any and every single aspect of deen in this month,
be it tahajjud, sabr, etc. Second way is that in this month, Allah sends down intense
mercy, karam, fazal and faiz down to us: shukr, taqwa, haya etc, all are available in
Ramadan. Its like a world class chef has displayed every single award-winning cuisine of
the world in a buffet but a person walks in the hall and says no I just want to have some
crackers and a glass of water. So you see, we are not getting enough nourishment from
Ramadan. And going with the analogy, Shaban is the month to wet our appetites, to
realize how hungry, starved we are, how spiritually malnourished we are. If we make this
realization in shaban, then insha Allah we can come out of Ramadan fully nourished.
We should think that I am sick of being on and off in my deen, sick of having surges and
dips. So many people(seekers of the pleasure of Allah swt) have this problem. They have
surges, for days and sometimes for months, they do everything right, their ibadat, adab is
right, they are staying away from sins and then all of a sudden they crash and lose
everything. Miss fajr, isha, dont want to make dua, lose interest in salah, dont want to
do tilawat, tasbeeh, zikr. They may languor in that state for days and for some for months.
And then, if Allah (swt) wants to Guide them, He sends them some difficulty to jolt them
out and they come out in shock at themselves.
How did I let that happen? How could I fall in such sins? Its something to think about,
we are able to go consistently to work 9-5 for many months without taking off, we are
able to study all year round, we have consistency when it comes to dunya, but when it
comes to deen we are unable to get even a matching level of consistency.
We dont want to waver, lapse, slip, be consistent in Shaban so that in Ramadan, we can
become a wali, a beloved friend of Allah swt. Remember, we are not here in Ramadan to
fast, to stay away from food, drink and lawful relations from fajr to maghrib. We are here
to change our entire life.
So this month is about making intention. Dont under-estimate it. Niyat is a very
powerful thing. So in our tips for Shaban,
1. The first one is that we should make continuous niyat.
Now for the more practical tips to do in Shaban.
2. Clear out all things in Shaban.
Free yourself up by Ramadan. Ideally we must have finished everything by Rajab, so that
we would have had all Shaban free as well. But even if now we start, we should sort out
our tasks into two categories. Those that need immediate attention should be taken care of
now, so that you are not stuck doing them in Ramadan. And those tasks that can be
delayed, delay them till after Ramdan (to Shawwal). So put things in Shaban or
Shawwal. And dont feel bad that I am going to be so busy in Shawwal.

Let me tell you this (we are going to explain this more when to return to this program
after Ramadan), but briefly, if you have a very very busy Shawwal then you have a
greater chance of retaining your Ramdan. But if you give yourself two-weeks off and
relax then youll lose Ramadan very quickly. So, you want to be free in Ramadan as
much as possible. For those stuck in 9-5 corporate jobs, should also try to keep their
weekends as much free as possible, try to spend time in aitikaf as much as possible. And
if they can, they should delay tasks till Shawwal.
By clearing things out by Shaban, I also mean emotionally. If you have any emotional
issue going on in life, relationships with parents, friends or any other person, you should
sort out any and all emotional issues now. Have those conversations now so that your
spirituality is not hampered by emotional sadness, emotional stress and you are
completely focused and ready in Ramadan. Take care of all your huquq-ul-ibad in
Shaban (ideally it should have been done in Rajab), so that Ramadan is free for Huququl-Allah.
3. Muhasabah.
We should bring ourselves to task, should run an antivirus on ourselves to check which
files in us are infected in us. What sins do we have? Like Hazrat Ji says:
Apnay mann k darichay ko kholiyay, apni asal taswir ko dekhiyay.
With a fine comb, and devastatingly critical eye, analyze ourselves. Try to read your book
of deeds. The chapter of sins, the chapter of ghaflat of failure, volumes of shahwat,
volumes of hasad, kibr, ujb, we should scrutinize ourselves. And we should keep doing it
this whole month so that you get a feeling I need to fix myself. So that in Ramadan,
you do fix yourself.
4. Do nafl fasts in this month.
It comes in a sahih hadith that other than Ramadan, there is no other month in which Nabi
(sws) used to fast more than Shaban. And ulema have written many wisdoms behind this
act of fasting, as to why Nabi (sws) used to fast so much in Shaban. Some are :
1. To get back in the groove of fasting physically
2. Also to get back in spiritual groove of fasting.
You wake up for suhoor, you pray tahajjud, and make dua for your Ramadan.-> This is
the best way to prepare for Ramadan, to pray in Tahajjud in Shaban before that Fajr after
which you will have a fast.
3. When you fast, you remember your previous Ramadan.

You remember the duas you made, those duas which you may have forgotten during the
whole year, those duas that you didnt become a sabab of fulfilling them by not working
on them.
4. Really, we cannot over-state the benefit of fasting in this month. You should make
niyat of nafl or Qada and fast as much in this month as possible.
Monday and thursday are sunnah, also 13-15th of this month are also sunnah to fast.
5. It shows Allah (swt) that we are committed to change, to improve.
For many of us, who didnt come from a practicing muslim family, who didnt really pray
or fast regularly before. So they have a whole list of qada namaz and fasts. Thousands of
prayers, and only Allah knows if we will be able to do all of them during our life. But as
for Qada fasts, if you sit down and write them out, youll see that its actually do-able.
So atleast while fasting in Shaban, we can do some Qada fasts, and make dua to Allah
(swt) that OAllah! I want to atleast repay this debt I owe you of Qada fasts of Ramadan.
That will show Allah (swt) that we are committed to fulfill his commands.

Start some of the sacrifices and hard-work now. Hard-work to come on deen, to leave
sins. We want to show Allah (swt) that we can do hard-work outside of Ramadan. Dont
wait for Shawwal to show it. Show it now. Do Mujahida.
Or it could be a surge in mujahida of mukhalifat-e-nafs -to control anger, pride,
jealousy, lowering gaze. Start this mujahida now.
One way scholars have explained this that: We have three months Rajab, Shaban and
Ramadan. So if our Rajab is the month of Mujahida and Shaban is the month of
muraqaba then Ramadan can be the month of Mushahida. Our goal is to reach ihsan.
First level of ihsan is that we do ibadat of Allah (swt) being aware that Allah (swt) is
looking at you. This is called muraqaba.
Then the second level of Ihsan is that you do ibadah being aware you are looking at Allah
(swt), this is called Mushahada. And to get this Ihsan, we need to do Mujahida.
Another way scholars have also explained this is for Ramadan itself, that the first 10days
are mujahida, second 10days are muraqaba and then third 10 days are mushahida.
Although we have passed Rajab, we can work on it now. Allah (swt) has made this a
process. First we must do mujahida, after we take the first step, do the mujahida,then
Allah (swt) sends His fazal. So we want to start our mujahida earlier, so that we can get
the fazal earlier.

So, begin our mujahida now. Dont wait for Ramadan to change. Like I said, try to make
this Shaban better than your previous Ramadan. Obviously there are going to be some
differences. We arent going to be fasting this whole month (its actually makrooh to do
so) and we cant be praying tarawih either as they are only allowed in Ramadan. But we
can engage in nafl fasts and nafl salah e.g Salatut tasbeeh every night to make it more like
Ramadan.
6. The time-table of ibadah that you want, start doing it in Shaban.
Start gradually (increase it to your ideal level). Give yourself a target and make lots of
dua to reach it during Ramadan. This year, get on an early start in Ramadan. Closer and
closer we get to Ramadan, the more we feel increase in the barakat of Shaban and by
15th of shaban Allah (swt) has put all the barakat of Ramadan on the horizon and when
the first of Ramadan comes, all the fuyuzat are already there.
Lastly, I want to mention a hadith on remembering Allah (Swt) so that we realize the
importance of zikr-ul-Allah. You have heard many talks on this and we have previously
mentioned many ayahs on this like:

(33:41)
But now I want to mention some ahadith.
7. Last and final thing: Try to be zakir in Shaban, so that you can be Mazkoor in
Ramadan.
If you do fazkuruni today, Allah (swt) will do azkurkum in Ramadan. Even if last
Ramadan you were lucky to touch zikr-e-katheer, think that this time, I dont want a min
level of zikr-e-katheer. I want days, months, years, a whole life of zikr-e-katheer not just
moments of it. Even if we just get traces of kathrat in this month, then we can spend the
whole of Ramadan in Zikr.
One way to get zikr-e-katheer is to sit in gathering s of zikr.
Hadith: No group of people sits remembering Allah (swt) except that they are
encompassed by angels and enshrouded by mercy of Allah (swt) and sakina (tranquility)
descends upon them and they keep remembering Allah (swt) in this and Allah (swt)
remembers them fi mann indahu (to those who are near and dear to Him).
This can be another tafsir of fazkuruni azkurkum: If we sit with people of zikr, we can
also get azkurkum. Note that some say by zikr here means salah, but it cant be salah
because it says they sit in zikr. In salah, thats the least important posture. It can be
represented by qiyam, ruku or sajda, but sitting is not identified with salah. So sitting

means, sitting doing zikr of Allah (swt). We need to find such people and attach ourselves
to them who sit and do zikr of Allah (swt).
Another hadith in Sahih muslim narrated by Abu Hurairah:
Hadith: Those who are mufradoon (those who have adopted solitude) they have
surpassed everyone. Sahabah asked that who are these mufradoon. Nabi (sws) replied
they are :az-zakireen Allaha katheeran wazzakirat.
This hadith mentions individual, solitary zikr. So we want to sit in solitary zikr and
gatherings of zikr. If we do this in shaban and Ramadan, then Allah (swt) will give us
zikr for the rest of the months as well. May Allah (Swt) guide us to the best of Ramadan.
Wa-akhiru dawana an alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen