“Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so – for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.” (Quran Surat al-Azhab: 35)
When you examine all the things mentioned in this ayah, we need to apply them to ourselves and analyze where we are deficient. Firstly, we should see if we are recognizable as Muslims in our appearance, speech, thoughts. We should examine the level of our Iman – is there Nifaq (hypocrisy) corrupting our belief? Is there a poison of hypocrisy infecting us? Do we do our acts of worship in front of people for show? Are we lazy in our obligatory acts? Are we obedient to Allah (swt)? Are we truthful in our speech? Are we patient? Are we continuous or do we get frustrated easily and quit? Do we lose control of our emotions? Are we humble towards Allah (swt)? Do we have that khashiya, is it reflected in our personality and characteristics? Do we give sadaqa on a daily basis?
Minimally you should make a habit to give something at least every jumah. Sadaqa given for the sake of Allah (swt) should be a habit, separate from a hyped up fundraiser and zakat. That should be part of our personality and character- sometimes we can have aspects within us that have too much of a personal connection with money. If you don’t have money, give something- time, effort. Give at least $1, $2, whatever you can every week. There should be encouragement within us to fast beyond just Ramadan. We want to link this act of fasting to the sake of Allah (swt). Men and women who guard their chastity- that isn’t just in one way, that is also with your eyes, on facebook, etc. There are many times you can be connected with Allah (swt) like while you’re commuting. Anytime you feel stressed out, you don’t go to haram things to relieve you of your stress, but you connect with Allah (swt)-reviewing death, the purpose of life, the life you want to live. If you have a strong connection with Him you have hidaya and baraqa.
