How Can One Achieve Spiritual Insights in the Last Ten Days of Ramadan?

*Originally Published on 7/06/2018

Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf encourages us to maximize our benefits from the last ten days of Ramadan and offers advice and practical tips.

Step 1: Appreciation & Intention

We can begin by appreciating the gift of these blessed ten days and learning about what Allah offers us therein. We can receive it with gratitude, joy, and thankfulness to Allah for His gift.

We can intend to fast happily, do good works, and pray to Tarawih to follow the practice of the Prophet. Allah bless him and give him peace. I think you should try to deal with others well during Ramadan.

Step 2: Understanding

We know that the first part of Ramadan is mercy, the middle part is forgiveness, and the last part is freedom from the Fire. By recognizing that the last ten nights are freedom from the Fire, we can plan to strive harder to achieve it.

We can also remember that Allah prescribed the fast to us, just as He did to others before us. It was not meant to be a pointless command to put us in difficulty but to teach us valuable lessons in self-restraint and God-consciousness.

Step 3: Rejoice

Therefore, we can rejoice in the presence of these days by exposing ourselves to the mercy of Allah and embodying it by showing mercy to others. This is in the spirit of the hadith, “The merciful ones will be shown mercy by the Most Merciful. Show mercy to the ones on Earth, and the one beyond the heavens will be merciful to you.” [Tirmidhi] We should pray for Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and we should pray that people who are isolated or unaware of the religion find a connection to it.