ahlan ya ramadhan!

Keyfa haalukum jamee'an?

How time flies ... and ramadhan is here again! Walhamdulillah :). Muslims in soton are welcoming the first day of ramadhan today (23rd Sept, 2006) ... erm so everyone out there - sotonians - don't forget that there'll be no breakfast and lunch today but the best meal ever inshaAllah during IFTAR :)

* From Abu Hurairah r.anhu, Rasulullah s.a.w said: [Allah Taala rewards one who fasts with TWO happiness, ONE: when he breaks his fast and ANOTHER: when he meets his Creator in the hereafter. Sahih Muslim]

Ramadhan is a path towards attaining and improving our taqwa, not through mere fasting and praying rituals but through the essence which lies beneath the act of fasting and the unique blessings of ramadhan itself.

* 2: 183 "O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint,-"

The goal of fasting or shall we say the end result we're striving for in the Quest of Ramadhan is self-restraint or Taqwa (which I believe means a lot more than simply self-restraint) has been mentioned clearly by the Almighty, yet attaining what Taqwa really means and enduring its challenges are not as easy as it may seem.

Physical fasting alone might benefit us in many ways as explained by various medical research, but abstaining oneself from the evil within us and the temptations outwards to do things which might be unnecessary - wasteful - lagha, or bad - disobedient - munkar, and increasing our love, devotion and awareness of the Greatest Lord (Allahuakbar), in every step we make, and every breath we take means having a lot (thats A LOTTTT!) of patience and effort to do good and to reject its opposites, and perseverance to be steadfast on our daily pursuit of attaining Taqwa and His pleasure InshaAllah.

Hmm ... this Ramadhan means a lot to me. I hope I can complete the fasting month by fasting because I was not able to have a full 30 days of Ramadhan last time (during my 1st pregnancy). The doctor said I can't no longer fast when Ramadhan was about to end in a week's time then. But InshaAllah (please make du'a for me friends), I hope Allah will bless me with good health and ease my quest to fulfil my little struggle which is still far from enough for this Taqwa journey.

To my family and friends all over the world :), I've been a bit (or was it SOOO) busy lately and blogger went 'kong' for sometime, therefore I had to leave the blog 'unattended' and unupdated. Nonetheless, I hope to be able to put up some informative articles and to let my little mind and heart express their thoughts from time to time so that we can share some good things on the net inshaAllah. Sharing knowledge (at least) is a bit of da'wah everyone can try doing right?

Welcoming any informative/educational emails on any subject from my dearest friends, but NO GOSSIPS or NONSENSE pleaseee ! (and of course, enough of Siti and Datuk K's matter filling my inbox :( - I beg you!)

until this pen writes again, may Allah bless us all with patience, strength and wisdom to endure this quest, to understand why we're here today(in ad-dunyaa) and how we should walk through this worldly life to the path of the everlasting aakhirah ... forgive me for all my wrongdoings and please don't forget us in your du'as, ramadhan kareem mubarak!

Allah Knows Best and we know NOT!