“Be Kind, Always”; that should be everyone’s motto regardless of the season. Whether it’s Ramadan or not, human beings should be kind to one another at all times regardless of anything. It’s really disheartening that every once in a while some new trendy show catches everyone’s attention and people claim, “It made them want to be kind”. As if they didn’t already know that! The same goes with Ramadan; every year around that time we somehow remember to be the best possible version of ourselves. But why can’t we seem to stitch this rule to the back of our hands our entire lives? Why do we have to wait for the holy month to arrive to start taking long looks at ourselves in the mirror? Here are 10 things that we should refrain from doing this Ramadan (and to be honest, things we shouldn’t even do at all).

 

 

  • Engage in Gossip

 

It’s human nature to talk about our fellow human beings, but it really is a disgusting habit that we should try our best to give up. It won’t be easy and it won’t come as naturally to some as it would to others, but we shouldn’t stop trying. We should never be the source of gossip and if we are sitting with people and one of them starts gossiping, we don’t HAVE to take part in the conversation. It’s not mandatory and we could easily just refuse to give in to this type of behavior. So it’s about time all the aunties stopped running their yaps about what they don’t know!

 

 

  • Judging Others

 

And that includes people who aren’t fasting. Even if our religion tells us that it’s the only right religion, our God asked us not to be judgmental and to let each person be. Because at the end of the day, our religion urges us to be kind to everyone regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity and religion. Always remember that “to each his own” and we are not in the right place to place judgment upon anyone.

 

 

  • Enforcing Our Lifestyle Upon Others

 

Just because we believe in our core that the way we live our life is the right way, doesn’t mean that we should push others to mold the same beliefs and way of life. Each person has a right way of their own and it will never look the same on anyone. Ramadan is not the time we should be going around and telling other people how to live their lives, but rather the time we should be dwelling on our own thoughts and pondering how we should live ours.

 

 

  • Being Mean

 

No cussing, badmouthing, mistreating, hurting or wishing harm on anyone. We should never willingly and consciously act in a way that we know would hurt another human being. We must always strive to be nice, kind and empathetic towards people, even the ones that harm us and do us no good. If we give in and do the same, we will be just as bad as them and that won’t make things any better.

 

 

  • Overeating

 

Our religion preaches that the best of everything is being in the middle. That means that we should never over or under do anything! We should never exaggerate just like we should never hide certain parts of the truth. This implies to everything as well; so in Ramadan, try not to overeat after Maghreb prayer but rather slow down and enjoy the food you’re eating. Appreciate the fact that you’ve got so much to be thankful for including this meal.

 

 

  • Lying

 

We all make upwhite lies to maneuver our way through tough situations or to get by but this year strive to not lie, even if it’s a small lie. Try to be as honest as you can with others and the more you do that, the more you’ll find it easier to be honest with yourself from deep down.

 

 

  • Contradict Our Actions

 

As in we can’t just swear off, cussing and drinking alcohol, for example, before Maghreb prayer and then resume to partaking in all the activities we refrained from doing as we were fasting. This is self-contradicting because just because we didn’t do anything “haram” during the day doesn’t mean that it had turned “halal” because we are no longer fasting.