Al Salam Alaikum 🌱 

🌱 Welcome to Your Planting Season

Sha’ban has arrived- the month that sits gently between Rajab and Ramadan, often overlooked, rarely celebrated.

But there’s something happening in this stillness.

Something important.

The farmer knows this feeling. The weeks before the rain comes aren’t passive.

They’re purposeful.

You turn the soil.

You clear the weeds.

You choose which seeds deserve a place in the ground.

Because when the rain finally falls, it will nourish whatever you’ve planted, inshAllah.

🗓️ The Month the Prophet Loved

Usamah Ibn Zayd (RA) once asked the Prophet (peace be upon him) why he fasted so much during Sha’ban.

The response was beautiful in its simplicity:

There is it.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) understood something we often miss:

While the world celebrates Rajab and anticipates Ramadan, Sha’ban quietly goes about its work- lifting our deeds to Allah (SWT), offering us a window to ready ourselves before the blessed month arrives.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) didn’t stumble into Ramadan.

He prepared for it.

He planted seeds of fasting, reflection, and worship in Sha’ban so that when Ramadan’s rain came, there was fertile ground ready to receive it.

🌱 Why What You Plant Matters Now

Think about your last Ramadan.

How did it begin?

Were you energized from Day 1, riding a wave of spiritual momentum?

Or were you scrambling- adjusting sleep schedules, fighting old habits, trying to find your footing while the blessed days slipped by?

For many of us, the first ten days of Ramadan become a warm-up.

We spend them getting ready instead of going deep.

By the time we hit our stride, a third of the month has passed.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Sha’ban is the gift that lets you enter Ramadan already in motion.

When you prepare your soil now- your heart, your body, your schedule, your intentions- you don’t waste precious Ramadan days finding your rhythm.

You arrive ready.

The rain falls on ground that’s been waiting for it.

This is the secret the Prophet (peace be upon him) modeled for us: the quality of your Ramadan is often determined by the quality of your Sha’ban.

🤫 What Quiet Preparation Looks Like

Preparation doesn’t mean overwhelming yourself with new routines.

It means gentle, intentional reorientation.

Think of it as turning toward Makkah before you pray- a small shift that aligns everything that follows.

Here’s what quiet preparation might look like in these remaining days of Sh'a’ban:

Set/Reset Your Intention:

🌱 Start where you are: If you haven’t been praying consistently, don’t vow to add hours of night prayer. Simply protect your five obligatory prayers. Make them unhurried. Pray them on time as much as you can.

🌱 Fast a little: The Prophet (peace be upon him) fasted often in Sha’ban. Even one or two days reconnects your body to the rhythm of hunger and gratitude. It whispers to your soul: Ramadan is coming.

🌱 Clear the soil: What’s cluttering your days? What habits, commitments, or distractions will compete with your worship next month? Sha’ban is the time to gently remove the weeds- not in punishment, but in preparation.

🌱 Settle your debts: If there are relationships that need repair, apologies that need offering, or obligations that need fulfilling- now is the time. Enter Ramadan with a clear conscience and an unburdened heart.

🌱 Reconnect with the Quran: Even a few verses daily. Let your tongue remember the words. Let your heart soften to its rhythm again. When Ramadan comes you won’t be starting cold.

🧭 The Reorientation: Heart, Body, Soul

True preparation happens on three levels.

Sha’ban invites you to tend to each one.

❤️ Heart: Your heart is the soil. What has it been holding? Resentment? Anxiety? Distraction? Sha’ban is the time to loosen the hardened places. Make istighfar. Sit in silence. Let Allah (SWT) soften what life has made rigid.

Ask yourself: What does my heart need to release before Ramadan?

🚶 Body: Your body is the vessel that carries you through worship. How have you been treating it? Sha’ban invites you to adjust your sleep, your eating, your rhythms. Not drastically- gently. Train your body to wake a little earlier. Fast a day or two. Remind your physical self what’s coming.

Ask yourself: How can I prepare my body to be strong for worship?

💎 Soul: Your soul is the seed itself. It holds everything you hope to become. Sha’ban is the time to reconnect with your intentions. Why do you want this Ramadan to be different What are you hoping to grow? What transformation are you asking Allah for?

Ask yourself: Who do I want to become by the end of Ramadan?

When heart, body, and soul are aligned, you don’t just observe Ramadan. You inhabit it.

🧑‍🌾 The Farmer’s Trust

There’s a beautiful tension in farming.

You do the work- tilling, planting, watering- but you don’t control the harvest. You prepare with excellence and ihsan, then you trust.

This is tawakkul in its purest form.

Sha’ban teaches us this.

We ready ourselves.

We show up.

We plant the seeds.

But we hold the outcome loosely, knowing that growth belongs to Allah.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) tied his camel AND trusted Allah.

He prepared for Ramadan AND relied on Allah’s mercy.

💌 The Invitation

Sha’ban is not the month before the real month.

It’s the month that makes the real month possible.

This is your invitation to slow down.

To prepare with intention.

To turn the soil of your heart, strengthen the vessel of your body, and clarify the hopes of your soul.

The rain is coming. Ramadan is near.

What you plant now will determine what blooms.

Take this quiet month seriously.

You have time. You have this gift of Sha’ban. Use it will.

And when the first night of Ramadan arrives (inshAllah), may you find yourself standing on soil that’s ready, with seeds already in the ground, looking up at the sky with gratitude.

The rain is coming.

Prepare your soil.

This week, I’m inviting you into a simple practice of reflection. Not an audit. Not a critique. Just an honest, compassionate look at where you are and where you want to be.

❤️ 🔍️ Days 1-2: Heart Check- Sit quietly for 10 minutes each day. No phone. No tasks. Just you and your thoughts. Notice what arises. What is your heart holding that needs to be released before Ramadan. Write it down. Make du’a over it.

🚶🔍️ Days 3-4: Body Check- Look at your physical rhythms. When do you sleep? Wake? Eat? How do you feel? Choose one small adjustment to begin preparing your body- perhaps sleeping 30 minutes earlier or fasting one day this week.

💎 🔍️ Days 5-6: Soul Check- Write a letter to yourself about what you hope this Ramadan will bring. What do you want to grow? What seeds are you planting? Be specific. Be hopeful. This is between you and Allah.

🌱 Day 7: Plant One Seed- Choose one practice to begin this week that you want to carry into Ramadan. Just one. Start it. Trust that small seeds grow into mighty trees.

💌 I’d Love to Hear From You!

If this reflection sparked something in you, I’d love to hear it. You can reply directly to this email- I read and respond to every message. Share your thoughts or tell me how you’re preparing for the rain 🌱 

🤲 Closing Dua

“O Allah, bless us in Sha’ban and allow us to reach Ramadan. O Allah, we ask you for a good ending, a sound heart, a truthful tongue, and righteous deeds that You accept from us.”

Ameen