Productivity 5: Fasting Plan, Self Care, Sunnah & Skill Development

————————————————————————————————–

PREVIOUS – Productivity 4: Understanding Quran, Yourself, Priorities & Perspectives

————————————————————————————————–

We started this 7 month Pre-Ramadan Productivity Course in the start of October (And if you will be reading this afterwards, this is the 5th month of #preRamadanProductivityCourse – as a detailed guide on the PRODUCTIVITY JOURNAL FOR MUSLIMS – although you can choose any topic in any month or week, this is simply how we did it and we hope that it helps make things more clear and doable for you in shaa Allah).

Since we pick out 1 section from each category in the journal each month (we will do this till April 2018 in shaa Allah): 1 from Spiritual Development, 1 from Personal Development, 1 from Strengthening Relationships & 1 from Goals and Dreams – In February 2018, we picked topics of discussion like: Fasting Log (making up your previously missed fasts before Ramadan and warming up for the blessed month through a daily, weekly and monthly plan), Self Care Goals (a daily, weekly and monthly set of goals for self care routine and habits), Sunnah Log (Building our love for Muhammad saws through seeking of knowledge and applying it in our lives) and Skill Development (teaching old skills to others and learning new skills from others).

The reason we are doing it all publicly with YOU is because we are struggling as much as you are in this life and this will help us stay accountable if we lose the motivation somewhere in the middle! Also, we want to enter Ramadan as a better Muslim and experience the blessed month on a whole new level in shaa Allah. 

We did a detailed post on each section in this month and in shaa Allah will be doing so for the next few months as well – collaborating with different bloggers and entrepreneurs who are experts/researchers of those topics! Here are some of the examples of people from different parts of the world doing the challenge with us ❤

 

1) Fasting Plan

(spiritual development)

Challenge 1 from *Spiritual Development* was “Fasting Plan” in #PreRamadanProductivityCourse – (making up your previously missed fasts before Ramadan and warming up for the blessed month through a daily, weekly and monthly plan – page 21 on the productivity journal).

Do you have any missed fasts from last year or even from before? Since Ramadan is right around the corner, let’s strategise on how we can make up for some of our old fasts before the blessed month knocks our doors… Are there any missed fasts that you can keep weekly? Perhaps monthly? Or any specific time of the year? If you don’t have any missed fasts to cover up Alhamdulillah, then let’s plan on how to warm up for the upcoming Ramadan!

Beyond Ramadan, you will find HERE the days that Prophet ﷺ preferred to fast on, so I hope this makes it easy for you to figure out your weekly, monthly and yearly fasting goals 💞 in Shaa Allah

2) Self Care Goals

(personal development)

Challenge 2 from *Personal Development* was “Self Care Goals” in #preRamadanProductivityCourse –  (a daily, weekly and monthly set of goals for self care routine and habits).

The Prophet (ﷺ) called ‘Uthman b. Maz’un. When he came to him, he said: ‘Uthman, did you dislike my practice ? He said: No, by Allah, but I seek your practice. He said: I sleep, I pray, I keep fast, I (sometimes) leave fast, and I marry women. Fear Allah, ‘Uthman, your wife has a right on you, your guest has a right on you, your self has a right on you ; you should keep fast and (sometimes) leave fast, and pray and sleep.” [Abu Dawud]

Did you read the line – “…your self has a right on you…” ? Because your body, your heart, your mind – none of them belongs to you actually. They are an amaanah of Allah. Your soul has been granted this vessel as a test. And it will be taken back from you. One day or the other… Let’s not give back Allaah His amaanah in a damaged form. Take care of your body – do what keeps you healthy, Take care of your mind – do what keeps you sane! and most importantly – take care of your heart! Do what keeps you fulfilled! ❤

One of the self-care habits I focused on was some nature time and a nap in my day. I decided to make mid-day nap my everyday goal. It’s a Sunnah to take a nap before Asr (could be before Or after Zuhr – but preferably in the earlier part of the afternoon). If someone calls you selfish for taking care of yourself, tell them that you are taking care of Allah’s amaanah. And amaanah is supposed to be given back the way it was given to you! Sane and bound – Safe and sound! 💞

A post shared by 2 Muslim Mom Bloggers+ Artists (@ayeina_official) on Feb 14, 2018 at 10:03am PST

I remember when I first became a mother, everyone would say – sleep when the baby sleeps! And that sounded like the most impractical advice because I had DOZENS of other things to do and sleep was hence a last priority. If I slept, nothing would get done around the house. But seeing the amazing benefits of this sunnah and knowing how nothing gets done if your own energy levels are zero, I’d definitely suggest fitting even a 15-20min nap in your afternoons – especially if you’re waking up at Fajr time and not getting to sleep afterwards. Short mid day nap can seriously recharge you! 

3) Sunnah Log

(strengthening relationships)

Challenge 3 from *Strengthening Relationships* was “Sunnah Log” in #preRamadanProductivityCourse – (Building our love for Muhammad saws through seeking of knowledge and applying it in our lives).

Resources to Know More About the Last Messenger ﷺ :

1) A Year with the Prophet ﷺ by The Quantum Chronicles – a beautiful 52 week audio journey on the seerah.

2) The Sealed Nectar: Biography of the Noble Prophet ﷺ (Ar-raheeq Al-makhtum)

3) When the Moon Split: A Biography of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

4) Muhammad: How He Can Make You Extraordinary

5) FREE PDF Download of Fiqh-us-Seerah by Muhammad Al-Ghazali

6) As-Seerah An-Nabawiyyah – The Prophetic Biography – audio lecture series by Taimiyyah Zubair

7) Audio lecture series by Anwar Al-Awlaki

8) Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources

9) I want to be like Muhammad ﷺ by Muslim Mother Source

10) The Prophet’s Pond by Learning Roots (not exactly a seerah book but a beautiful children’s story to grow Muhammad ﷺ‘s love in their hearts – and also to make you cry. The book triggers all kinds of emotions). I also have their big board book on Muhammad ﷺ (which does not depict any human being – be it sahabas or quraish – something that I loved because most prophetic books end up illustrating the unseen which is really hard to explain to a child with 100s of questions and wild imagination, but I’ll still recommend the former over the latter).

11) I Love Muhammad SAW by The Odd Muslimah – children’s color and wipe board book (designed by us :D).

12) Muhammad ﷺ habits and dealings by Al-Huda Publications Pvt Ltd.

13) Malik and Ameerah Hadith activity book by Ruqaya’s Bookshelf

Do you have more suggestions? Feel free to add them in the comments section. These are personal recommendations, but I’d love to explore more because we can never know enough about seerah and ahadith 

4) Skill Development

(goals & dreams)

Challenge 4 from *Goals and Dreams* category was “Skill Development” in #preRamadanProductivityCourse – (teaching old skills to others and learning new skills from others). For those who have the productivity journal, this exercise is on page 77. 

A post shared by 2 Muslim Mom Bloggers+ Artists (@ayeina_official) on Feb 23, 2018 at 7:14am PST

Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “When a person dies, his deeds are cut off except for three: Continuing charity, knowledge that others benefited from, and a righteous child (or children) who supplicates for him.” [Tirmidhi]

What skills do YOU have that you can convert into sadaqah jaariyah? And what can you learn to grow in life?

BONUS CHALLENGE 

((any) Habit Tracker)

Subscribe to Ayeina for FREE access code