It’ s a bit of a delayed reaction to the new moon sighting, but Ramadan Mubarak to you and yours!

I think I may be having a delayed reaction to Ramadan because it seemed to come up and out of nowhere so quickly!  The summer has been going by, full steam ahead, and then… wouldn’t you know it, Ramadan was here!

Saqib started fasting on Wednesday, so Tuesday night we headed to the local masjid to pray tarawih.  We just moved into our own apartment (another reason I hardly noticed Ramadan was coming up–I’ve been busy setting up this place) and it is about 5 minutes away from the masjid.  It was real nice not having to rush out the door to make it on time for prayer.  The hall was jam packed with people.  And with the 90 degree weather, it was almost unbearable in there.  That’s why I haven’t been to tarawih since Wednesday night.  Me and my 33 week baby just can’t take the heat.  I figure it’s better to pray at home, anyway.  I get some more time with the Q, and I can take my time with my salah.

So as someone who hasn’t been going to tarawih, I’m a little behind on my Ramadan-Mubarak-ing.

Oh!  and I haven’t been fasting. I feel like that makes me twice removed from Ramadan (not nightly prayer, no daily fasting)   I tried on Saturday, and it wasn’t so bad.  Insha’Allah I plan on fasting on the weekends.  Most people have told me to not to fast more than one day at a time.  I figured the weekdays would be tough with school and work starting up, so Saturday was the best choice.  I’d fast Sundays, too, but like I said, I don’t want to push myself and fast two days in a row.  I’m not sure how much me and the little one can handle, and I’m not sure I want to find out!

Anyway, for those of you who are fasting and going to the masjid every night, I hope you reap the benefits of your ibadah, and that Allah accepts all that you do this month!

I’ve been feeling recently that getting that Ramadan feeling has been a little difficult for me.  I feel like my Ramadan “Power Hours” are very limited.  What are Ramadan Power Hours?  It’s the time between sunset and sunrise–the time when it really feels like Ramadan.  Why?  Because you break your fast with your family.  You pray maghrib together.  You share a meal.  Then you go to the masjid to pray tarawih in a large congregation.  You get to a hear beautiful recitation of the Qur’an for an hour.  Then you come home, try to read some more Qur’an on your own.  Wake up a little extra early before sahur to pray some tahajjud.  Eat sahur because it’s the sunnah of the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalaam.  Pray fajr at the masjid, and then it’s done.  Eight power hours have flown by.  That’s a lot of activity to cram into eight hours, especially if you consider that at a minimum you try to sleep for about four hours of that time.  That’s not a lot of time to feel Ramadan.  And also, try as I might to feel Ramadan during the day time, all I can feel is my hunger and tiredness.

I guess that’s the most important part about the last 10 days or Ramadan.  Really cutting back on the luxury of sleep and using the few eight Power Hours of night we’re given to truly feel Ramadan and worship Allah in the best possible ways.  Here are some of activities that are easy to do, that I like:

1)  Making extra dhikr at any free opportunity–really restrain yourself from useless talk (especially gossip).  Just saying something as simple as subhanAllah wa bihamdihi, subhanAllah al atheem is light on the tongue but heavy on the scales

2) Read Qur’an as a form of dhikr–recite it outloud and try to make your voice beautiful.  Then make sure to read the meaning to get the most benefit from the activity.

3)  Pray in the last third of the night–even if it’s just one set of two rakaah.  Take advantage of your sajjud and closeness to Allah by asking Him for ANYTHING for this life and the next.  Be honest with yourself and realize that He is truly the only One who can give any of us what we want, and more importantly, what we need.

4) Make du’aa for your parents–you and I both know they deserve it.

Allahumma a’inee ‘ala dhikrika, wa shukrika, wa husni ibadatik! (O Allah, help me remember You, expressing gratitude to You and worship You in the best manner, ameen.)

Two Sundays ago Saqib and I went to the Islamic Center of Naperville to attend its second installment of the lecture series Ramadan Reminders entitled Paths to Remembrance.  This lecture/class was given by AbdelRahman Murphy.  Two things impressed me.

First:  AbdelRahman did a couple things from a speaker’s end vital for a good event.

1)  The speaker was on time (read, early) greeting people as they came in–this is VERY important as a teacher.
2) The speaker was prepared and organized with a power point presentation–also VERY important when teaching.  It shows your audience/students that you cared to prepare something a head of time, that it required thought, and effort.

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Ramadan Mubarak!   A blessed month is upon us.  A month in which the gates of Jannah are open, and the gates of Jahannam are closed.  A month in which any obligatory act can earn up to 70 times its normal reward.  A month in which there is a night worth 1,000 nights.  A month in which people are more generous and caring with one another.  And a month in which people over eat until their guts busts open, they can’t bend to make rukuh properly, and cannot focus properly in prayer, mubarak!  It’s time to bust out the Pepto (more…)

A few weeks ago I was talking to my husband about Eid in Illinois.  I was a little nervous about how it would be for me, as it was the first time I would be celebrating Eid without my parents in a different state.  I innocently asked him, “What exactly do you do here?”  He grinned and said, “Nothing.”  Apparently Eid in Illinois consists of going for prayer and then eating Biryani followed by hanging around your own house.  There’s nothing wrong with that, of course:  to each his own.  But for me, I need a little something extra.

So I sat down and thought about what we do in Michigan, and figured,  if I couldn’t go to Michigan for Eid, I’d have to bring a Michigan Eid to Illinois.  I called up some friends and invited them over for an open house… Michigan style.  That meant tables of food and people coming in and out all day long.  Below are some food pictures from the event.

Pasta salad with chicken, carrots, corn, black olives, and mozzarella cheese

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