It was that time of the month again but this time, I was not going to let my spiritual growth and all the progress I’ve made in the past month, go to shit. I wrote the draft in complete frustration but I figured a lot of Muslim women could relate, so I decided to polish it up. Hopefully, it can be of benefit to someone out there❤️.
P.S: Ramadan 2022 is almost here! May Allah SWT preserve our lives to witness it and many more. I’ll link below all my resources that I think will be extremely helpful to anyone❤️.
Ramadan Resources
– 5 Tools to Help You Make The Most of Ramadan
– A Roundup of Resources I’ve Found Really Useful For Ramadan
POV:
It’s a weekday, you’ve finally gotten yourself back into a rhythm that allows you perform your religious acts diligently and with utmost care, you feel so much better spiritually, you have A LOT planned out on how you want to maintain your spiritual progress and even introduce more acts of worship.
Then boom, your period shows up early and it’s Hayd time.
What is Hayd and why does it affect your spiritual progress?
“Al-Hayd” loosely translates to menstruation and this period can affect your spirituality in more ways than one.
For context: Muslim women are not to pray or touch the Quran during this time. It might not seem like a big deal, until you realise not praying at all for at least 4 days can take a major toll on you, especially if you’ve been trying your best to grow in the Deen.
When it comes to your monthly menstrual cycle and particularly the POV described above, words really cannot describe how disappointing it feels; even more so because you know that day just got ruined, and you fear going back to square one in your spiritual journey.
If you cannot relate or you already have a plan that works well for you in these periods, that’s great! If not, you’re not alone. This has been me, this is still me.
This time though, I decided to do something about it. It felt like I had gotten to a stage I truly felt some sort of peace and there was no way I was going to let all of that progress fall through; so I made a plan on how to retain my growth and keep close to Allah SWT.
Ramadan Resources:
– 5 Tools to Help You Make The Most of Ramadan
How to Retain Your Spiritual Growth (My Approach)
It’s pretty much things you already know but my approach is more of ensuring you’re intentional about things BUT you don’t overwhelm yourself.
1. Keep to your prayers’ schedule
This is my most important tip and one I know will help me a lot in the long run. It may sound weird at first; “why would I still stick to it when I’m not praying?”. However, that was the mentality I should not have had.
It was not exactly about the prayers, rather it’s more of those few minutes you get to communicate with Allah SWT, at different times of the day.
Keep those minutes as your “Me-Allah(SWT)” time, even if it’s just 5-10 minutes. Prepare yourself like a typical prayer session, perform your ablution, sit on your mat and do your Adhkaar.
Make your Duas, remember your family, friends and most importantly yourself, in these duas. I have also tried having a “chat” with Allah SWT during these sessions, just like a casual talk/conversation you would typically have with friends (this was inspired by a friend lol).
2. Keep the Quran close to you
You may not be able to touch the Quran and “touch” its words physically amidst your recitation struggle (read as my experience😅), BUT you can ensure to keep it close to your heart. This could be physically, mentally or both.
Personally, I like to keep mine in sight, somewhere I cannot miss it in my daily routine. That way, it’s right there, reminding me not to lose the progress I’ve made. This is also the time I now play my Quran app often. As you’ve probably deduced from above, my recitation sucks and I struggle with it but that has never stopped me.
With the recitations, I try to pay closer attention to some “letters/words?” I find hard to pronounce and I also try to skim through the verses on my phone during the recitations. I don’t always do it but I know documenting these down will be a push towards consistency.
My Travel Diaries:
– A Trip to Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia
3. Don’t miss your dates with Adhkaar
I’ve already highlighted this in the first tip; consciously reminding yourself that you CANNOT NOT do your morning/evening adhkaar. It will help you justify those 5/10 minutes of prayer time without Salāt.
Worthy Read: How to Feel Close to Allah During Hayd
I don’t know how best to complete this post so I’ll just end it here. Those are the ways I’m trying to incorporate into my routine to maintain my spiritual growth during these times. I hope it can be of help to you or someone out there as well!
Thank you for reading🖤.
Till next time,
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