A piece to commemorate the coming of the awaited blessed month.This being ramadhan…the month where as mentioned in the tradition of the Prophet peace be upon him as,  “When there comes the month of Ramadhan, the gates of mercy are opened and the gates of Hell are locked and the devils chained.” (Sahih Bukhari)Every Muslim claims to have awaited for this month and its arrival is marked with much joy and happiness. It is regarded as the ‘bonus month’, the month where everything is given the reward many times over, the month where in it lies the night which equals to 1000 month, as recorded in surah 97:“We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power: And what is the Night of Power? The Night of Power is better than a thousand months. Therein come down the angels and the Spirit by God’s permission, on every errand. Peace! This until the rise of morn..”As i reflect back to the previous years when i was still in university, it was not a struggle to really maximize the month with lots of zikr, prayers, reciting the Quran, attending reminders, qiyyam and iktikaf. Especially when, at the end of the day, or after lectures, you went back to the surroundings where people fast and pray like you, read the Quran and do zikr like you. Even if you get a bit lazy from time to time, upon seeing other people relentlessly pursuing the fruits of Ramadhan, you will be left with the same valour afterwards, as you wouldn’t want to be the only one left out from the rewards.But now, things have changed. in work I spend the whole day around people who don’t fast nor pray, nor believe in Allah anyway. Their life will go about as if nothing is different at all this month. Why should it be? gates of mercy? gates of Hell? devils tied up? huh? And I’m left struggling to uphold the sacredness of this month on my own.You have to maintain it as a constant reminder in your heart, in your mind. you have to be in constant vigilance, sorting out the good from the bad, in order to really take care of your fast, not to let it be eroded in any way. This is because at the end of the day, fasting is not just about not eating or drinking, as related to us in this hadith:Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet said: “Fasting is not [abstaining] from eating and drinking only, but also from vain speech and foul language. If one of you is being cursed or annoyed, he should say: “I am fasting, I am fasting.” (Related by Ibn Khuzaimah, Ibn Hibban, and Al-Hakim. The latter said that it is Authentic according to Muslim’s criterion.)Anybody can not eat the whole day. Those patients i see in ITU, some of them are technically considered as fasting anyway - if fasting is just merely not eating and drinking (of course they could not eat and drink, they are intubated!) so what is the difference between me and them, if its just down to ‘not eating or drinking?’Abu Hurairah narrated that the Prophet said: “Perhaps a fasting person will get nothing from his fast save hunger, and perhaps the one who stands to pray at night will get nothing from his standing except sleeplessness.” (Related by An-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah, and Al-Hakim. The latter said that it is Authentic according to Al-Bukhari’s criterion.)It will be such a waste, if we are lumped into this category of people who fast, but don’t get anything beyond the physical effects of it.it is then our challenge to make this ramadhan, better than the previous ramadhans. Regardless how difficult or different the circumstances are today.  so what if i’m on call untill 9pm and have to break my fast during hand over? or i am on night shift during ramadhan? i should not use this as an excuse to cut slack and miss out on the enormous blessings and rewards out for any Muslim to grab, during this whole month.Practical things that we can perhaps try:1- refresh the intention everytime before going to work so that every second at work will count as ibadah. 2- to appear refreshed and energized, and to try our best to do the job well despite lack of glucose and hydration so as to present a positive impression to the non muslims. this is also in spirit of the hadith,  “Verily Allah has enjoined excellence with regard to everything.” (sahih muslim)also to do away with the image that muslims are lazy and tired during ramadhan after not eating and drinking the whole day.3- take advantage of night shifts to increase points for ramadhan. Don’t forget to bring the quran with you in case there is free time during the night to recite the quran or while waiting for people to bleep you.4- increase your zikr, don’t let the mind be idle, instead, fill it with remembrance of Allah, ie while waiting for ward round/hand over/teaching to start.5- treat everyone around you, colleagues, patients, relatives with the best of manners.6- be aware of the conversation that goes around you. when you detect that the conversation is revolving around something not at all useful or worse, talking not-so-good things about other people ie backbite, try to excuse yourself to get away from it, or if you can’t, try to block it out of your mind and make istighfar, or even better, change the topic of conversation.7- although there might be limited time to do supererogatory prayers during work shift, ensure that the obligatory ones were performed very well.may Allah give us the strength to remain steadfast and patient all throughout Ramadhan, in order to reap its fruits, later in the Hereafter.ramadhan mubarak! Written by: Munirah Nasir