What is my current reading list during Ramadan this year? I’ve taken all texts that aren’t of a sacred nature off of the table for this special month, but I do have a line-up of things I’m planning to read.
Yaqeen Institute Day of Judgement Series
This is the series I’ve watched during Ramadan for the past few years and it’s safe to say I’ll always watch whatever series Shaykh Omar Suleiman does for Ramadan. One of my favorite things about this video series is that one drops every night in Ramadan, so I can sit down to drink some tea and put my feet up after a long day and also get a little learning done. I love how this year’s (Day of Judgment” and last year’s (Angels) are very belief-centric topics–I feel the need to engage with the more supernatural (ghayb in Arabic) elements of my faith to renew my belief and conviction in it.
Yasr Qadhi/EPIC Masjid Manners of the Believers
Who doesn’t need some help with their character (akhlaq), especially during Ramadna?
IOK Ramadan Reflections Series
An org clos to my heart, and my homeland, IOK! This year their Ramadan series is a nightly reflection on whatever they’re reading in taraweeh that night. Have I mentioned that the story of Iblis (Shatyan or Satan) is one of the most fascinating to me form the Quran?
Listening to 1 Juz of Quran a Day
I won’t be going to the masjid every night for taraweeh (someone has to stay home to be with the toddler). I know my husband loves to go during Ramadan and with the additional logistical considerations (how exhausted fasting makes me, how most of the care and attention I pay to my health and well-being happens at night once my toddler is asleep [like showering, working out to manage chronic pain, etc.], and the reality that I do end up finishing most of my work for my part-time job with MuslimMatters at night since I’m a stay-at-home mom for the majority of the day….) of my daily life and meeting my own needs, I’m okay with going to the masjid once or twice a week.
But why do so many Muslims like going to taraweeh at the masjid? It’s because an added bonus of going includes listening to the entire Quran during Ramadan. So I thought to myself this year, why don’t I just listen to a juz every day anyways off my phone? I don’t have to go to the masjid to do that! With my low vision and difficulty reading anything in any language due to blind spots in my central vision, finishing reading the Quran (despite being an advanced reader in terms of fluency and etc.) would not be possible for me during Ramadan even if it’s the only goal I had other than fasting during the day and someone miraculously took over all of my other responsibilities for me. My eyes just can’t–but my ears can! So I’m going to embrace this listening thing as a way to be compassionate to myself as my vision slowly worsens. I hope to also exercise my listening comprehension skills as I listen, since my ability to understand Classical Arabic will likely only worsen the longer I do not actively return to study it.
Who is my favorite reciter you ask? Well, it happens to be Abdur Rashid Sufi. Why? I like everything about his voice, his tajweed quirks are something I can easily stomach as a Quran teacher and tajweed snob, AND he recites in different qira’aat (or varying recitations) which I am currently studying and technically have an ijaazah (permission to teach) in.
HOWEVER…have you heard?
THE QARIAH APP FROM USTADHA MARYAM AMIR!!
This app features women Quran reciters from all over the world (with some reciters who recite in other recitations which I’m studying and also some reciters with low vision/blindness-so stoked) so perhaps I’ll find a female favorite reciter this Ramadan as I listen to one juz every night?!
Brown Teacher Reads 