About time Muslamics has a post on Ramadan!

Rapidly, months pass before our eyes until Ramadan is upon us. The first days may seem stretched, but thereafter they dash by Having realization of the movement of time is part of the Ramadan project.

Harboring suspicion, rancor, or negative opinions about other people is especially noxious in Ramadan. The same goes for all forms of cheating, vanity, and irrational anger. Ramadan is a month of remembrance, for we stand long in prayer listening to the Quran.

Boasting and arrogance are starved in Ramadan. How can they survive, while we admit our abject need of God and His generous provision?

All of these blessings of Ramadan come with the obvious caveat: nothing is automatic. This is not the system that God set in place in our lives and the world in which we live. Without effort and sincere trust, Ramadan can easily be just another 30 days in a year, no special moment.

Even for those who fast, who mechanically deprive themselves without striving to reach deep into their soul for spiritual lessons, replenishment, and climbing, the month comes and goes with only the sense of inconvenience and then a celebration at the end. Then life goes on as it did the months of the year before. One cannot help but notice a tragedy in this: God so generously opens portals in time, truly special opportunities for us to grow, learn, and build for our Hereafter, yet people turn away from it with casual notice and perfunctory interest.

Excerpts from Purification of the Heart

May Allah (swt) make us of those who take advantage of this magnificent gift, and not of those who are heedless towards it, ameen.

For more on preparing for Ramadan check out this, this, and this (for lecture-junkies, the last one has a whole bunch of them).

If you have any cool tips for making the best of Ramadan please share!