Diary of a Hafiz

Ever wondered what's it like to lead the tarweeh prayers?  Well,  I have so I'm guessing you have too at some point.

Last year I stumbled upon a really cool blog written by an 18-year-old American-Muslim Hafiz*.  He blogs at http://invalidtruth.com/ and his posts are quite interesting to read.  Go have a look!


*Hafiz:  one who has memorised the Holy Quraan.

Was I Dreaming?

For some reason, I thought I had already posted something this week.  Maybe it was a dream....or maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me. Anyways, since that didn't actually happen in real life, here's the real life post (if I'm not dreaming at the moment!).

For many of us, Ramadhan is a time of deep spiritual reflection of who we are, who we want to be and where we want to go.  We look inwardly and examine our hearts, our intentions and our lives as a whole.  

But the purpose isn't to despair on how much we haven't progressed or why we haven't become the people that we tell ourselves we want to be.  Rather, it's an opportunity to begin again.  To set goals and to turn to Him, because without His help, nothing is possible.

Every moment is a new moment.  Every second is a new second.  

As someone once said, Ramadhan is a perfect time for making changes; it's a time for renewal and  rejevunation, and a time for establishing and solidifying those changes so that they carry forward throughout the rest of the year, and inshAllah, throughout the rest of your life.   

Change can happen now, inshAllah.  

A dear friend sent me this lovely poster, and I think it's something that those of us who are taking the time to look inwardly this Ramadhan can benefit from.  JazakiAllah, SJ.  

Source: Unknown. Please email us if you know who this belongs to!

And maybe one day, when I'm brave enough, I can share what this 'looking inwardly' is like for me.  In the meantime, I'll rest my hopes  upon my other MM bloggers (who seem really MIA, don't they?) to share their insights and experiences. 

May the next two-thirds of this blessed month be full of blessings, forgiveness and a true turning back to our Lord. Ameen!

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?