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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This past weekend my parents and sister came into town to visit both me and my brother.  Friday night we were at my brother’s place for iftar.  My bhabi had made quite a spread of food.  I did happen to think it was quite blog-worthy, despite what she thought.  The food she made hit the spot, after a long day of fasting.  The chocolate cake at the end of the evening was to die-for.  It was the type of cake that when you’re first offered it you think, I’m too full to eat it, but then when you see it, your start thinking about how much milk you’ll need to take it down.  Delicious!

After eating, the men went for tarawih, and I got to spend time with just the girls.  It was a lot of fun unwinding with Ammi, Ummy, Fahma, Hunno, my puhpo and Jenny.  We talked about purses, sales, cooking, and everything girly in between.  I felt so relaxed leaning against the coach in front of my puhpo, having her pinch my cheeks, and tell me I’m made of milai.

When the men came back, the rest of Saqib’s family left back home, but the two of us stayed behind with my family and did a half exchange of Eid gifts.  Basically, nothing was wrapped and things were being pulled out of giant Bed Bath and Beyond plastic bags   One person, who shall remain unnamed, came into the room ho-ho-hoing like it was Christmas time… haraam!  Just kidding, just kidding.

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