Ramadan Kareem!

It's Ramadan! *tears of joy*

Well almost. For some reason, I had been looking forward to it more than usual this year. Inspite of that, it has managed to sneak up on me and go boo! Kind of. I've been so tied up with stuff that I didn't realise that the calendar's moving forward. I had simply been thinking, Ramadan's coming, Ramadan's coming. And today I saw a couple of Facebook updates and got confused for a moment. What, already? A glance at the calendar and a bit of brain scrambling later, I realised how out of it I've been. -_-



Every year I would keep a check on the dates and always feel this sense of anticipation till the moon was sighted back home. Then I would sit around for some time feeling a little lost and nostalgic. And each time I would pray hard for the next Ramadan to be with family and at home. Half my prayer's been answered. My whole family's here, and Allah has blessed me with lots of happy moments of late (or maybe I've just become a li'l more thankful!). And I have a feeling that next year I shall get to spend Ramadan with family AND at home. InshaAllah.


There's just something about the city that I haven't felt anywhere else [except in Makkah- that's a whole different thing! =) ], the calmness you feel before Fajr, the Taraweeh prayers in the masjid, the tents set up here and there for iftar and all those people at traffic lights before Magrib time, handing out dates and water. I personally loved the few minutes before Magrib the most- when everything was set on the table and everyone was sitting around reading the Quran or making dua, I loved just sitting at the window in mom's bedroom and looking out at the roads below, people rushing home or to the masjid- there was this nice peaceful feeling all around. And then the Masjid's lights would come on and I would head back to the table. Here, it just doesn't feel as much like Ramadan as it did there.


But maybe this time will be better InshaAllah. At the Qur'an translation classes that I've been taking, when we finished Surah Baqarah, we asked them to take up the last Juz, because it would be nice to learn some new meanings for salah, especially Taraweeh. Concentration becomes so much easier! We've memorised quite a few new Surahs as well Alhamdulillah. Plus I've just joined as an instructor at Burooj Angels and I'm oh-so-excited about it! I've sat through one class that was taken by one of the existing teachers, and I'm really looking forward to taking classes myself. For those who haven't heard of Burooj before, here's something about it, and an article on it's founder, Dawood Vaid. Their website seems to be having a bit of a malware problem, so Facebook will have to do for now. I've been going through the course materials and lesson plans and preparing for the next class. Kind of nervous too, since this is the first time I'll be taking a class. Kids can be scary!

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I had been wanting to try the Keep calm-o-matic, but I couldn't think of anything relevant. I finally did.

And I intend to go back and create a few more different (and more patiently edited) ones to print out. ;)

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What plans do you have for Ramadan? And what's your favourite part of the month? :)

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Ramadan. Please don't forget to pray for all those brothers and sisters who are suffering so much everyday. May Allah accept all our fasts, bless us with His mercy and make our Iman stronger. Ameen. =)