As Ramadan approaches, few Muslims will genuinely welcome it. The vast majority of practicing Muslims view Ramadan’s impending arrival solely through the lens of fasting, and the logistics thereof. What will I eat for suhur? How will I stay awake at work? How will I focus? Will I have enough energy to get Things Done? Can I beat traffic to get to the mosque for iftar? How much sleep will I get? What time should I wake up? Do I have time to go back to sleep after suhur? What do I do about my workout? and so on. This is all perfectly natural and doesn’t detract from the spirituality of Ramadan; if anything it is part of the ibadat in a sense, because it boils down to one question: how do I enable my fasting?

That mental battle is tiring, though, and it sucks to be sapped of enthusiasm for Ramadan’s reflective nature because of the stress about how fasting will impact our lives. Which is why I like to read about Ramadan, especially the things I’ve written during Ramadans past, when I’d already surmounted the initial logistical obstacle and was closer to the spiritual communion aspect. Here’s a roundup of links from this blog that is useful to me for this purpose, and I hope they are equally useful to others. I’d love to see similar roundups from other Muslim bloggers too, and I’ll link to them accordingly.

• Preparing for Ramadan
• Receiving Ramadan, the esteemed guest (by Taha Raja)
• ibadat in Ramadan – process as piety
• The Criterion: reading the Qur’an is the foundation of ibadat in Ramadan
• Ramadan: the month of Jihad
• the paradox of time in Ramadan
• Fast, Pray, Cook: Ramadan in the Kitchen (by G. Willow Wilson)
• Rendezvous with Ramadan
• Be thankful this Ramadan (by Taha Raja)
• sleepwalking through Ramadan
• 3 Stages of 30 Days – My Journey Through Ramadhan (by Taha Raja)
• Ramadan wanes: The Final Countdown
• Ramadan realities (by Hesham Hassaballa)
• Ramadan as a meditation on nothingness (essence vs existence)
• Running To Stand Still (by Aamer Jamali)
• Memories of a (friend’s) college Ramadan (by Araven)
• a lifetime between one adhaan and one salaat
• my plans and Allah’s plans (by Taher Suratwala)
• a Burkean view of Ramadan
• Zakat – in God we Trust (by Aamer Jamali)

Well, that turned out to be longer than I expected! I am grateful to all my guest bloggers over the years, who have helped me build such a trove of reflection and inspiration as above.