The following are Habib Kazim bin Ja’far as-Seggaf’s counsels on preparing for Ramadhan.

Programming the Heart to Meet Lailah Al-Qadr

Al-Habib mentioned 3 preparatory acts – 3 things practiced in 3’s to be exact – which one should do to program one’s heart to meet with and benefit fully from Lailah al-Qadr.

1. Always make iftar with at least 3 dates. You can make iftar with more than 3 dates e.g. 5, 7, 9 and so on, so long as it is witir i.e. odd BUT if you break your fast with only 1 date, your heart will not be properly programmed to greet Lailah al-Qadr even though 1 is witir.
2. Always perform at least 3 rakaats of witir in Ramadhan. Similarly, al-Habib mentioned that if you perform only 1 rakaat of witir, your heart will not be properly programmed to greet Lailah al-Qadr even though 1 rakaat satisfies the conditions for Solat al-Witir.
3. Look at the hilal on the first 3 nights of Ramadhan, preferably after the sunnah ghusl in the nights of Ramadhan, and say to it “Hilal khair wa rushd… Rabbi wa Rabbukallah [O hilal good and guiding, my Lord and you Lord is Allah]” and then make the following doa from Nabi s.a.w on each of the 3 nights even if you do not actually sight the hilal:

اللَّهُمَّ أَهِلَّهُ عَلَيْنَا بِالأَمْنِ وَالإِيمَانِ وَالسَّلاَمَةِ بالإِسْلاَمِ بالتَّوْفِيقِ ومَا تُحِبُّ وَتَرْضَى

Transliteration: Allahum-ma ahil-lahu alaina bil-amani wa-al-iman wa-as-salamati bil-islam bit-tawfiqi wa ma tu-hib-bu wa tardha

Translation: O Allah, manifest al-hilal to us with peace and iman, with safety and Islam and with continued guidance to what You love and You are pleased with.

If one doesn’t do these 3 things and Lailah al-Qadr passes by without him experiencing its blessings, he only has himself to blame.

Advice On Reaping The Full Benefits Of Ramadhan

Al-Habib also gave the following advice on how one can get the FULL benefits of Ramadhan’s blessings:

1. You should be happy and thankful that Allah sent Ramadhan to you (as a 29 or 30 day guest).
2. You should honour Ramadhan with lots of ibadat e.g. read the lots of al-Quran, perform the 20 rakaat of Tarawih prayers every night, make lots of zikir etc.
3. You should avoid arguments at ALL costs, especially in the last 10 days of Ramadhan, and be especially weary of arguments with your spouse for it is from amongst the works of the shaytan that he spoils your potential rewards during Ramadhan by making you argue with your spouse.

Further to the above, Al-Habib also gave a tip on how to maximise the rewards from Tarawih. Al-Habib said that one can make one’s Tarawih fardh by making nazar [1] just prior to making Takbiratul-ihram and get the 70x reward promised for an obligatory act performed in Ramadhan.

Allahu ‘alam.

These counsels have been paraphrased from Habib Kazim’s talk at a private function in Singapore on Monday, 18 July 2011.

[1] IMPORTANT: This team would like to advice caution here as this should only be performed by those who know the rulings and consequences pertaining to nazar.