Ya Allah make my student caring and kind
Open his heart, and open his mind
Make her righteous, respectful and honest
And also pious, loving and modest
Make him appreciate the chance to come to school
And realize that knowledge is his greatest tool
To get what she wants in this life, and the next
And to be considered among the ummah’s best
Let him see the importance of knowledge
Not just as means to get into college
That it can empower him in this life
To help out his brethren living in strife
Show her that she can be a doctor and help save a life
And not just, instead, strive to be a doctor’s wife
Let her not measure her success on her number of purses
But instead the ability to lead a team of fifty nurses
Let his goal not be the best grade on a test
But that he studied and tried his best
Make her do homework and turn all of it in
And study every night with true discipline
Let him see that nothing is given withing out trying
And that cheating is the same thing as lying
Guide her to see that success only comes from You
And attaining Jannah is the only success that is true
Show my student that my goal is the same
To help increase the strength of their name
To make them the best students they can be,
Ya Allah, please answer my dua, ameen!
About a month ago my two parents-in-law left for India and to perform Umrah. In their absence it’s just me, Saqib and Waasiq at home. I’d basically been left in charge of cooking dinner everyday. I got help from Saqib and Waasiq, but for the most part I was faced with the difficult task of answering “What’s for food?” every night.
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.
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 