Who's Ready for Ramadhan?

photo credits & source: Brotherhood Arts

Aren't these buttons AWESOME?!?

MashAllah, Muslims are so creative sometimes.  :)

And whether you're first fast starts tomorrow, or Monday or whenever, we want to sincerely wish you a blessed Ramadhan!  Happy fasting!


"The person who fasts during Ramadhan experiences an even greater joy [than being gleeful and overjoyed at the fleeting things of this world], one related to this world (the happiness of breaking the fast at dusk) and one related to the Hereafter (the ultimate jot of meeting God and recieveing lasting bliss of Paradise)."  -Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, in Purification of the Heart, p. 185.

Motivational Stuff...

Everyone likes those cheesy motivational posters, right?

You know the ones I'm talking about...with a few inspirational words, a beautiful background image, and a stunning lay-out that showcases all the elements of art (unity, harmony, balance, texture, line, shape...etc.).

And for you folks who will vehemently deny appreciating these works, I've got something that even you can't not like.

Enter Karen Salmonsohn.  I stumbled upon her website upon one of my blog-hopping adventures and fell in love with it.

After all, who could not love this:

source: notsalmon.com

source: notsalmon.com

Source: notsalmon.com

source: notsalmon.com

source: notsalmon.com

 Feel better yet?  :P

Check out her gazillion-and-one posters at notsalmon.com...click under "older posts" to see the full range of cutsey, pretty, and even breath-taking posters.  Happy viewing!

Rmd Prep

As far as I can remember, this is the first time I've consciously prepared for Ramadhan.  Like many, come every Shaabaan, I start of to-do list of  Ramadhan Prep stuff.  Unfortunately it get's stuck there.

Remember folks, I'm the Professional Procrastinator.  I'm also a Major Do-Nothing-er.
And while this is fairly typical of a Type Four, I'm also surrounded by wonderful people who have interesting things they're working on, and yes, I tend to zap myself into that. [More on the Type Four Enneagram stuff later, inshaAllah!]

Allhumdulilah, this year I've been able to knock of a couple of the big ticket items on my list, and with under two weeks to go before the blessed month arrives, inshAllah, I'll be able to get going with the other stuff too.

Some of the things on that list:

• Keep qadha fasts
• Read salaat at the earliest time, as per the meaning of "establishing" salaat (vs. "praying" or "reading")
• Increase recitation of the Quraan
• Recite the musnoon duaas and litanies daily.  I have this awesome little book that was gifted to me, and I can't begin to describe how grateful I am for it!

And there's obviously more..but I won't bore y'all with the details.  So, I'm now left wondering what other people are up to.  How do you prep for the Blessed Month?