Ramadhan Ready: A Newsletter of Two Halves
Assalamu Alaikum and welcome back to the Hijabi Culture (HC) newsletter!
A Little ramble!
Before we get into this week's newsletter- I wanted to share a couple of Hijabi Culture milestones. They are small in the wider social media sphere and in my head i was thinking, it's not as big as most other accounts, what's the point in posting. However, comparison is the thief of all joy- so get the trumpets ready... We hit 500 followers on Instagram and the podcast reached 4000 listeners. I've been working on Hijabi Culture for nearly five years and it's taken so long to get to this point.
For a long time I was everything for Hijabi Culture- blog writer/ podcast host/ researcher/content creator and planner; the thought of it not going anywhere would keep me up at night so much so I would work myself into exhaustion. I still cry about HC sometimes- thoroughly believing someone else could do a much better job with this whole thing, but at the end of the day I'm the person who cares about this - I'd be even more upset if somebody else made it a success.
The sad thing sometimes about the whole side hustle concept is that you're quite isolated. There's no team to high five when you hit a goal, there's no shared excitement- it's more of a silent 'woohoo' and then back to your normal job. But since this is the HC Newsletter- you're forced to take part in my celebration.
Now the newsletter: Ramadhan ready
I cannot believe there's just over a week to go until Ramdan begins and I'm so nervous.
I always get this feeling as Ramadan comes around that I'm nowhere near ready- i can't do it. The 'it' in this sentence doesn't refer to any one specific thing- it's everything.
I have such high expectations of myself and I always want to gain as much from this month as possible. Every time the countdown begins- my anxiety flares up and I think I'm not good enough yet for Ramdan to be here again-I haven't even met any of my last year's targets. I haven't finished my one Islamic book of the year, I've done Istighfar but not the 1,000 I promised myself I was going to do and whilst I've worked on tackling a bad habit, I still fall into it sometimes- How can it already be Ramadan again?
Usually, I'm a little more prepared- but with being ill for the past week and working more than I have in the past year- Ramadan has crept up on me and now i'm panicking.
This morning on my drive to work, I was listening to Sheikh Omar Suleiman, and something he said got me thinking- we shouldn't go into Ramadan with all these lists and plans to tick off this many Quran's and this many nafl salaahs. Rather we should be doing them now and then hoping to build on them Ramdhan. The 1st of Ramadan is not the starting point, because God Forbid you don't make it-what will your excuse be in front of Allah.
So to bring it back to Hijabi Culture and our main aim- To empower Muslim women in their identity. Ramadhan is a time where millions of Muslim girls and women put on Hijab for the first time- because it's easier than any other time, our hearts are in a better place, Shaytaan is locked up and we're a bit more detached from this worldly life than we usually are. Whilst it's easier to put on in Ramadan, it shouldn't be just for the month. I wanted to take the end of this newsletter to share a thought: we don't go through shaping our hearts and reflecting on our lives in Ramdhan for the 1st of Shawwal to come and all the positive changes we've made to be thrown out of the window. We are on a journey to Taqwa, on a journey of building a connection with Allah, loving and fearing Allah and only by standing by these positive changes can we make a real difference to our place in Jannah.
When you put your Hijab on this Ramadhan, do it with the intention that on Eid day you'll be wearing a matching scarf with your gorgeous outfit- you'll be rewarded for going the extra mile and picking out your Hijab.
Please keep me in your duas in this blessed month and pray that Allah grants me success in this life and Hijabi Culture.
See you next time,
Haleema