Ramadan (the month, the concept, the processes) is unique in several respects. For me, it is the fact that you are able to plan for it, plan during Ramadan how to act after it and to assess oneself when it is gone.
The mainstay for me is that as the rightfully acclaimed ‘Month of Quran,’ I ensure that reading the Quran during Ramadan is as consistent as it is orderly. For Ramadan 2020, I failed, big time.
I was all over the place with my reading, lagging at one point, playing catch up, falling in line and slipping out again. I felt terrible with the way I was able to complete the Quran and to recoup my huge losses from Sha’baan.
The glimmer of hope for me was rediscovering the Hisnul Muslim app which has been on my phone since I started using smartphones.
My relationship with Hisnul Muslim before Ramadan has prior been very limited. I use it when travelling, while praying for the dead and importantly for the day and night supplications – I have memorized the latter thankfully.
Thanks to Ramadan 2025, I was able to read Hisnul Muslim cover to cover.
I discovered that most of the Qunoot that I listened to were a collection of supplications that the Prophet taught his companions. I bookmarked over 50 supplications and the plan post-Ramadan is to incrementally memorize same.
In all of this, the big win in the rediscovery mission was understanding the meanings of some of these supplications and reinforcing meanings that I have previously known.
Scorecard at a glance: Ramadan 2024
Hisnul Muslim = B+
Quran = B
Taraaweeh = D
Tafseer (attendance + online) = D
Azkaar = C+
Muheeb Saeed, a light shines brighter to the end
“To Allah we belong, and to Him is our eventual return!”
We started Ramadan together and fasted for as much as 27 days with him, it would be safe to say that he had plans for Ramadan with the family, with his two widows and five children.
Muheeb taught me so much without speaking in some instances. His was an exit of a true gentleman who was:
M – Master of his art
U – Ubiquitous
H – Hardworking
E – Endearing
E – Enterprising
B – Bulwark of ethics
His death, reinforced a reality of the fleeting nature of this life that we live. Seeing him shrouded and being placed in the belly of the earth was a telling testament of why and how the affairs of man are essentially as Allah wishes it, nothing more!
I am still putting together how I came to know him and our last meeting in late December 2024.
May Allah grant him the lofty gardens of Jannah.
May Allah grant his family forbearance and the blessings of same.
May Allah grant his everlasting charity for his good deeds
May his children become a source of eternal charity unto him
May Allah grant friends and family another Muheeb.
Ameen!
