Question:
assallamu alaykum,
most of Everybody gets excited for Ramadan to start and many do tasbih extra to get close to Allah but after two or three days some lose motivation because they made a mistake in their fasting thinking that Allah will not accept their fast while others they lose the interest. in such situation how can a person gain that motivation and come back to reading quran/praying at night etc.

May Allah grant you paradise imaam!

Time: Tuesday August 25, 2009 at 6:06 pm

Answer: We had requested Br. Yassir Butt to answer this question. May Allah (SWT) reward him and his family.

Dear Seeker

Just like when we have germs enter our body the side effect is fever.  So one can conclude that fever is a natural side effect of a physiological infection.  Once understood, there is a certain physiology to what you are describing.  the whole ummah is suffering from Spiritual sickness manifesting itself in the form of lack of motivation to do good.

Imam Ghazali in Ihya Uloom ud din has a prescription though:
1-To not eat a lot in Iftar since it makes the body lazy.
2-To avoid extra physical activity during Ramadan to save energy for night worship.
3-To practice Qailoola (afternoon nap between Duhur and Asr prayers Sunnah) he contends that people who have left it eventually succumb to exhaustion and cannot keep the motivation up.
4-To avoid sins during the day to be prosperous at night.
The great Tabee Sufyaan Al Thawree states” I was deprived of Tahajud for 5 months due to a sin, inquired what was the sin he replied: I saw a Man crying and thought in my heart that he is faking it!”

It is common sense if you look at the any professional athlete they try to rest and save energy for the main marathon.  So they win Gold.  For us Ramadan is the main event

But since we (the Ummah) have fore gone the traditions of our predecessors we have become spiritually weak unable to run the required spiritual marathon during the month of Ramadan.  We feel good if we finish Quran once in this month

Imam Dhahabi narrates that Imam Abu Abdurahman Al-Maroozi used to finish Quran 99 times in this Month.
The Khalifa Abdul Malik bin Marwan used to finish it 17 times at least

Allah knows Best