It is indeed a blessing of Allah, the Almighty, that he has blessed us with a month filled with mercy, forgiveness, peace, tranquillity, kindness, generosity, beauty, and much more. He gives us a fantastic month of Ramadan amid all the turmoil to reconnect to the Qur’an and cleanse the system again to retune and reset our brains, minds and hearts. Much turbulence, chaos and loss have been seen in the past few years. Many of us have gone through hardship, difficulty, and loss of life, and people worldwide have suffered from recent calamities like earthquakes, floods, pandemics, war, and so on. Many people lost their lives, many of their properties and their loved ones. Their lives were turned upside down in a flash of a moment.

People still struggle to restore shelter and look for jobs, income, etc. People have issues with their relationships and communities, and the list is endless. It is increasing as time passes—so much hardship and turmoil. But Allah, the Almighty, grants us an opportunity to reconnect with him to rekindle the flame to relive the hope and ask Him forgiveness in this month of Ramadan, the month in which the Qur’an was revealed as a guidance for humanity and the criterion, the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.

As the world continues to modernise, and so many things keep changing, being modern and using modern technology is an excellent thing on the condition that it is not going beyond the limits of the Almighty. So, using modern technology has always been evident in Islam because one remembers his prayers, gets morality and values, and reflects his character. He never forgets his duties towards his Creator. One has to distinguish between what is halal and haram, what is permissible and impermissible, and what is pure and impure according to faith and religion. One needs to understand that however modern a man becomes, peace and tranquillity should only be achieved by adjusting to Allah’s instructions and ordained through the Holy Qur’an.

A survey indicates that during Ramadan, more and more Muslims spend time on electronic devices and social media. Technology is shaping the way how Muslims spend their time during Ramadan. The survey states that people in the Middle East spend nearly 58 million hours on Facebook during Ramadan, and videos on YouTube are watched more than any other time of the year.

Muslims spend five per cent more time on social media platforms as they stay up a lot more at night during Ramadan. Consumption and time spent on these social media platforms do indeed increase. The report states that the viewing of sports videos jumped by 22%, viewing of travel videos increased by 30% and 27% watch time of religious material on YouTube also increased.

While technology has paved the way to consumerism, we should ponder how to make the most of technology during Ramadan. In this modern era of technology, one needs to be spiritually inclined and smartly inclined to work efficiently with technology. As we observe fasting from dawn till dusk for the entire month, it gets difficult to maintain productivity due to physical reasons like fatigue and low energy levels. We also need to spend more time on social and family fronts. It becomes imperative for one to stay productive and maintain a healthy work-life balance during Ramadan. So there are things that we can plan well and use the new age technology to work efficiently and effectively by easing the load, which can cause unwarranted strain.

Here are a few tech tricks and techniques:

Here are 

Virtual reality:
One can save a lot of time, effort, and energy using virtual platforms during Ramadan to transcend the limitations of time and space. One can connect virtually and stay associated with clients and customers.

Planners and shcedulers :
For efficiency and proficiency, one can schedule their daily tasks as well. Prayer times can be marked, and calendars can be blocked for meetings and work, which helps us ensure that nothing is missed. To maintain a healthy work-life balance during Ramadan, a simple to-do list to accomplish all our tasks can be empowering.

AI and Chatbots:
To eliminate unwanted calls and meetings, one can extensively use artificial intelligence and online chatbots to focus on what’s essential and streamline one’s working day. These chatbots help a lot. Assisted chatbots restrain you from speaking a lot, making you thirsty. Performing tasks by simple voice recognition using artificial intelligence helps save energy and time and aids in performing rituals and prayers.

Reminders :
Reminders for prayers, suhur, Iftaar and other work-related calls, meetings, and tasks help to save time and be punctual, and everything can be performed at the scheduled time. With these few suggested tech integrations, one can make most of the time in Ramadan and consistently earn the most working days while fasting this month.

Turning to tech- perform charitable deeds:
Since 2020, overall zakat collection through online payment methods has increased by 45%. Today, Muslims widely use online modes to pay their zakat. As they increasingly gain traction, it also helps increase their digital literacy.

An app approach:
Many Muslims today rely on apps like ‘Muslim Pro’ to keep track of fasting hours and prayer time. It is beneficial as one may not hear the azan if he is far from the mosque. Apps today come with several features like tracking fasting days, Qur’an in multiple languages, Daily Qur’an verses, Qibla directions, etc. Apps like ‘Digital Qur’an’ help read the text and listen to commentary in various languages. Ramadan Legacy helps to track progress using an interactive timeline that shows all monthly achievements like mandatory prayers, Taraawih, etc.

Calorie counter and Diet tracker:
It helps to track calories and eat healthily during fasting.

Share the meal:
It helps to donate food to hungry children around the world.

Qibla finder:
It helps to know the direction of the qibla.

Improving access to religious material:
In conclusion, although we ought to take challenges like “Refrain from technology” during Ramadan, using technology in the right way and reflecting on the true purpose of Ramadan can instil its spirit in the proper form.