Woman and Ramadhan

Role of a home-maker in Ramadan

By Aminat Ahmad


Preparing the family for the new spirit of Ramadan is more of the wife’s duty. Muslim women therefore need to be adequately prepared for the spiritual exercise. As a woman at home, you have to buy all the necessary things for the month before the first of Ramadan. This will enable you to spend less time during the holy month rushing around. It will also help you to be focused on your religious activities and spiritual development.

Remember that everyone in the family, even the kids, can participate; so, preparing them psychologically and physically for the period of fasting is your duty as a woman. You need to plan ahead in order not to lose the balance between your responsibility as a woman at home and your religious duties such as reading Quran, salat, qiyamu-lail and others. You may have to also prepare some meals ready to be stored in the freezer. You can chop onions, vegetables and store them in the freezer to have them ready when cooking during Ramadan. You may also soak maize or millet for pap and store them in the freezer, this way, you will save yourself a lot of efforts in getting them done during the month

If you have bad sleeping habit, start readjusting now so that you can wake up to prepare sahur for your family. For women who are fasting, that can mean long hours preparing meals. Some also have to feed children who are not fasting while avoiding food themselves. All these can be very challenging for women if not adequately planned for. Ramadan is a great opportunity to share specifically, its values of spirituality, generosity and kindness with others, especially your neighbours. It’s a great time to invite people for iftar.

If you are planning to invite guests for Iftar, the best time to do that is during your monthly period (menstruation). This is because you will not only be ready to taste the food that is going to be served, you will also have more time for cooking since you will not be engaged in some acts of worship. Be sure to invite Muslim family and friends including neighbours. There are clear exemptions in Islam from fasting in Ramadan for those that are rattled by illness, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers. Although some nursing mothers, sick and pregnant women, still observe their fasts because of confluence of social, religious, and cultural factors. It is in order to the extent that there is no harm done by fasting. Otherwise it can be suspended and paid back at a later date.

The phone is ringing … as I run to attend it, I realise the living room is a mess with toys lying all over.

As I start speaking, the call from the potty comes “Mama! I’m done!”

The pressure cooker then whistles and wakes up the sleeping baby.

While this is my average day, I am not complaining. Seriously. Alhamdulillah for all these blessings — kids, provision, shelter and so much more. But I know that I, and all stay-at-home mummies like me, feel stressed out at times. So, let’s tackle it together.

People often tend to view “Homemaking” as a list of chores like cleaning, washing and cooking of course.

This concept needs to be rebuilt.

Homemaking is all about making a HOME.

All these chores are physical in nature, but we need to first touch the emotional side of it.

Bringing up bright and pious children into the world, providing and fostering all needs of your husband and still maintaining a peaceful and happy home … all this is indeed a big deal.

So, I am presenting a few ideas which might help you and me run a household smoothly.

1.Realise everything is from Allah (Ta'ala) and everything happens according to Allah’s plan. Accepting this should definitely take a lot of pressure away at once.

2.Make lots of dua’ and ask Allah (Ta'ala) to make your affairs easy for you.

3.You are constantly setting goals in your mind — what is the work that needs to be completed today? What should I cook? But if it doesn’t go as per your plan, take it easy! Nothing will happen if you mop the floor the next day or order from a restaurant for a change. Everyone knows kids are unpredictable.

4.Re-energise your imaan listening to a good lecture while mopping the floor or cutting veggies. If you are a nursing mother, utilise the time to read some beneficial material.

5.Find out easy recipes of your family’s favourite dishes, it save loads of time.

6.Treating children as creations of Allah will help us be more patient (a reminder to myself first).

7.Cut down anything and everything that causes Allah’s displeasure and is a complete waste of time. Time is extremely precious.

8.Stress comes when you are overdoing it. Take things easy. Cleanliness is half of faith but that doesn’t mean you do cleaning all day long. Imagine a clean house with frustrated kids and a tired wife when the master of the house arrives!

9.Don’t feel distressed thinking you are moving away from the path of Allah (Ta'ala) due to lack of time. Try and make every act of yours an ibadah. This is what you need to do: have the right intentions with proper action and lots of dua. There, you are done

10.Take care of yourself first so that you are able to take care of others.

Happiness comes from within. If we cannot be happy within our own homes and with our own families, chances are very few of us will be happy elsewhere.

Source :Islam-info