For the first time I got acquainted with the month of Ramadan in my childhood – I was probably in the second grade at that time. I think it was summer. I remember it was hot. The yard guys and I bought some gum and started chewing. One of the boys immediately pulled his gum out of his mouth and put it back in the wrapper, saying that he had forgotten that he was fasting and would chew in the evening. I didn't understand what he was talking about at all, loudly calling him a fool, and continued happily blowing balls out of the gum.

The next time I heard about the month of Ramadan and fasting a few years later. Russian Russian teacher got sick one day, and our class was transferred to another teacher, who was Russian herself. No one listened to her in class, everyone was playing around, making noise, and at one point she addressed the class with words that I remembered for a lifetime. This Russian woman began to tell us that we should behave calmly, because now the month of Ramadan is going on, and we (the children) are Muslims, and that in this month of ours you can't fight, make noise, indulge, or commit any other bad deeds – you need to be as calm as possible. She said this with such sincerity, desperation, as if tearing the words from her soul, that during the subsequent changes I moved through the corridors from class to class with slow steps, refusing to play with classmates in "cockfights", "donkey cop" and other games with no less poetic names.

Then my conscious Ramadans began. I remember that it was the winter period. And I remember that two Ramadans in a row at the very end of the month I was very ill and spent the holiday with a fever. For some reason, I remember the nickel silver ring with the Arabic inscryption "Allah", which I was wearing at the time, although it was large and just dangled on my finger.

Then there were many other Ramadans, one after the other. There was something special about each of them. But all of them were united by my conscious attitude to Ramadan as the best month of the year, during which, as never before, you can get closer to Allah Almighty.The month of Ramadan is the best period for repentance, forgiveness and redemption of sins.

Fasting in the month of Ramadan, night prayers, especially standing up for the Night of Predestination (cherish-l-frame), wash away past sins if they were fulfilled with faith in Allah and hope for His reward. A person finds more incentives for worship this month than at other times, because the gates of Heaven are open, the gates of Hell are closed, and devils are chained. All this helps a person to repent and return to his Lord.

Truly, unhappy is the one who has missed this time, who has lived this month, and his sins have not been forgiven. After all, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) called for such misfortune and humiliation when the angel Jibril said to him: "O Muhammad, may Allah remove from Himself and bring into Hell someone who lived Ramadan, but did not achieve forgiveness and died. Say 'amin (so be it).'" And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Amin" (At-Tabarani).

The Almighty calls His slaves to repentance and forgiveness at all times, but this is especially true for the month of Ramadan, because this month hearts calm down and temptations decrease, this month they get rid of Hellfire. If a person does not repent this month, when will he repent?

The month of Ramadan is the greatest mercy of Allah Almighty shown to believers. Ramadan is the time for a Muslim to sort himself out, set life priorities, establish himself on the right path and get off the wrong one, look back and weigh his life on the scales of Islam.

Let's think: Are our thoughts given to Allah? Are our hearts attached to Him? Do we do good solely for the sake of His satisfaction, or simply because you are a good guy and "don't do bad to anyone"? Let's review our daily routine, compare it with the regime in Ramadan. What prevents us from performing collective prayers in the mosque in other months? What keeps our hands from giving alms? Why don't tongues remember Allah? Why is it only in Ramadan that we do not hesitate to make a remark to a smoker, swearing obscenities, throwing garbage?

Let this month become for us not a month of hunger, sullen faces and spat entrances! May Ramadan saturate our souls, revive our hearts, remove sadness and inspire hope! Hope for an early meeting with our Creator on the Day when the faces of some will brighten and others will darken. And may this month, with its fasts and prayers, lay a heavy burden on the cup of our good deeds. Amin!