I find it very interesting how people describe Ramadan. It always has to be something deep, poetic or "spiritual".
Phrases like "it's truly a blessing" and "it's a miraculous and spiritual month" are, in my opinion, overused.
I'm more of a realist. If I were asked about what Ramadan means to me, I would say it is a bonus round.
It is God giving you a month where your sins are washed away, your good deeds are doubled and your soul is "cleansed".
But it all depends on whether you choose to take this opportunity and make the most out of it.
Ideally, the choice is a no-brainer. Everybody wants to win a lottery of good deeds, palaces in heaven and a seat right by our dear Prophet Mohammed.
Yet in the real world, the situation is completely different. As we are bombarded with temptations, television shows and Ramadan tents, we tend to foolishly drift away from an opportunity offered to us on a golden plate.
Ramadan is where God is trying to communicate with us. By allowing us this chance to live during Ramadan every year, he is telling us that he has planned something different for each of us and wants us to execute this plan at our best.
He wants our sins to be washed off in order for us to be able to make use of the potential we have to raise great generations and build communities, just as our ancestors did.
Yet again, this all depends on whether we choose to make use of this "freebie" and try to become better people after every passing Ramadan by practising patience, dedication and discipline, instead of just starving ourselves and complaining all day about how hot it is or why a certain actress died in a certain TV show.
Ramadan has become more of a burden than it was intended to be at the start.
It is only as special as we make it, and that is a very small responsibility in compensation for the endless gifts of health, friendship and family God has given us.
Ramadan is our time, if we choose to make it so. This is why I see it as a bonus round, because it is not going to benefit anyone but the individual who grabs the opportunity and makes the most of it.
Amna Raisi, 21, from Dubai, is an international economics student at the American University of Sharjah.