You may be wondering right now, is there a specific dua which I can recite at the beginning of every fast during the month of Ramadan?
According to the sunnah there is no one single dua which a Muslim should recite daily. The most important thing is niyyah (intention).
In the first hadith Nawawi (Sahih Al Bukhari 54), It is narrated on the authority of Amir al-Mu’minin (Leader of the Believers), Abu Hafs ‘Umar bin al-Khattab radi-allahu-anhu, who said:
I heard the Messenger of Allah saw say: “Surely, all actions are but driven by intentions, and verily every man shall have but that which he intended. Thus, he whose migration was for Allah and His messenger, the migration will be for the sake of Allah and his Messenger. And he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to marry a woman, then his migration will be for the sake of whatever he migrated for.”
Simply having the intention to fast tomorrow should be sufficient. To perform a particular act that’s done to please Allah SWT alone is one of the most beloved acts.
With that being said, there is one dua which is recorded Jami At-Tirmidhi 3451 upon seeing the crescent moon which would signal the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan. Also, this dua is not restricted for the sighting of a new moon but can be said by a Muslim whenever he sees the new moon at the beginning of each month.
Dua For Beginning of Ramadan:
Here’s the dua written in arabic,
اللَّهُمَّ أَهْلِلْهُ عَلَيْنَا بِالْيُمْنِ وَالإِيمَانِ وَالسَّلاَمَةِ وَالإِسْلاَمِ رَبِّي وَرَبُّكَ اللَّهُ
Transliteration of this dua:
Allahumma Ahillahu Alaina Bil-Wal-Islam, Rabbi Wa Rabbuka Allah
English Translation:
“O Allah, bring it over us with blessing and faith, and security and Islam. My Lord and your Lord is Allah”
It was recorded that when the Prophet (ﷺ) would see a crescent moon, he would say this dua.
Second Dua for Starting Fast:
اَللّهُمَّ اَصُوْمُ غَداً لَّكَ ـ فَيَسِّرْهُ لِىْ و تَقَبَّلْهُ مِنِّىْ
Allahumma Asumu Ghadallak Fayassirhu lee wa taqabbal hu minnie
O Allah I am fasting tomorrow for you. So make it easy for me and accept it from me.
There is no source for this dua, this is purely for niyyah or intention.
“and most certainly you can recognize them by the intent of (their) speech; and Allah knows your deeds.”
Quran 47:30
My Islam - 2022 In Review (impact report)
Alhamdulillah – we had a busy year.
First and foremost, to all the readers and supporters of MyIslam.org, we want to express our sincerest gratitude as we welcome another blessed Ramadan. None of this would be possible without your support.
Let’s begin with the goal of this site:
The intent behind myislam.org is to create one of the most useful Islamic website for Muslims and non-muslims alike. Our approach is to research and write high-quality content and create online applications (Qur’an reader online, games, tools, resources, etc.).
We want to share and summarize the six major projects we’ve completed since last Ramadan, and then we’ll look at the impact our site has had with some website statistics.
(#1) 99 Names of Allah:
1. Published the 99 names of Allah (سُبْحَٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَٰلَىٰ) for free on our site for all to read. A 110,000+ word long guide elucidating the beautiful names of Allah (swt) and read by over 30,000 people every month!
2. Along with this series, we had a real-time email course that spanned eight months and went out to over 70,000 people every week. We received over 900+ reviews and comments for feedback and averaged 4.57/5.00 stars.
3. Developed 99 names of Allah guessing game, played over 40,000 times, and was shared over 867 times.
(#2) Qur’an v3.0:
Listen and Understand the Qur’an.
1. Includes both Arabic and English Audio-playback with the ability to playback as Arabic only, English only, or you could listen to both.
2. Word-by-word karoke style highlighting.
3. 8 different relaxing thematic backgrounds (4 videos & 4 wall-papers).
4. Ambient background sounds (fan, water, nature, fire).
5. 280% faster than v2.0.
6. Select the word to reveal it’s English meaning + audio for pronunciation.
(#3) Qur’an PDFs
1. 114 Beautifully designed PDFs, ornamental frame, and also free.
2. Includes Arabic, Transliteration, and Sahih International Translation.
3. Made primarily for offline use, can be used in kindle or other PDF readers.
4. Made interactive, click on any ayah in the PDF, and it will transport you to the tafsir page on our website for that verse.
5. Distributed over 29,601+ copies to people in the last year alone.
(#4) Islamic Coloring Book Application
We developed an online coloring book application and released the first book for children and adults. It includes a complete audiobook on the ninety names of Allah to follow along. This one is exciting because the core technology is developed, and we can now publish an entire series of educational books to make learning important Islamic content and life principles fun and engaging.
• Download and sign your artwork to save on your device
• Can expand the text to read the full description
• Listen to the audiobook version
• Drawing Tool
• Paint Bucket Tool
• Textured Patterns
• Erase
• Undo/Redo button (keyboard shortcuts on desktop)
• Set custom colors
Insha-Allah, with time, we’ll have a whole library of educational content for you to use on a single device. This would be like carrying a whole library of books but available to you everywhere you go… with an interactive element that can be far better for learning. The savings we’ll be passing on to users is quite large, a single book + audiobook can cost upwards of $20.00, if we can publish 20 books indepdently and make it available for free, that’s $400.00 in educational content for every person.
(#5) Qibla Augmented Reality
We offer three experiences to help you find the exact location of the Kaaba. The first is the coolest of the three with AR (augmented reality). We teleport you directly from your home to being in Masjid Al-Haram where you can look around to find exactly where the Kaaba would be.
(#6) Who wants to be a scholar – 99 Names of Allah
A fun and exciting game to test your knowledge. With over 146 unique questions that get harder the further you go, you’ll slowly advance to becoming a true scholar. With each wrong answer you’ll have an opportunity to learn something new. As we write more guides, we’ll create more quizzes to test a person’s knowledge on that subject.
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Year in review – statistics:
It’s fun to look at the stats, but evaluating the impact the right message could have on a single person delivered at the right time is hard. What would that be worth? What would the butterfly effect be for their community, family, and neighborhood? I am not sure, and it’s impossible to measure. So, although one of the site’s goals is to continue to grow and reach a larger audience – it’s not all about the views.
Updated Results For This Year:
We’re grateful for all the support. Our request to you is if you are able and like the work we’ve done thus far, please consider donating. Because of the generosity of a small group, we’ve released all our projects for free. It’s the way we think that helps the most people, and Insha-Allah, with your support, we can continue down this path.
Masha Allah