Ramadan Log DAY 11: Middle of the Month Slump

I think I’m entering that middle of the month slump. We’re so far into the month now that the excitement of all of the new habits and goals are beginning to fade. On top of that, we still have a little over half a month’s worth of fasting and mental diligence to plow through.

A couple of days ago I didn’t have time to read Qur’an after one of my prayers. Yesterday, I was cut short a couple of pages because I had to leave for an event. Today, I was cooking, so while my food was in the oven, I quickly prayed Asr, but didn’t have time to read my eight pages before it was already time to eat.

I can feel my Qur’an goal slipping away. I’m already almost 20 pages behind in my schedule, and now I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it through to the end by the time Ramadan ends. I know, it’s not a huge deal if I don’t read the ENTIRE Qur’an in one month; inshaAllah, I’ll still get the reward for reading something, even if it isn’t a specific amount, but it just makes it so much harder to push myself to continue the habit of reading eight pages when I know that it won’t amount to the goal I was originally hoping to complete.

I mean, I guess it’s not totally hopeless. I have a lot of the 30th juz memorized, so I could probably read that whole section in one sitting if I needed to.

But like I said, my motivation has been harder and harder to find these past couple of days.

Muhammad was on the sadder side today. I reached the chapter called “The Year of Sadness” in which both Muhammad’s (S) wife, Khadijah, and his Uncle, Abu Talib, pass away. I mentioned this when I read of their marriage, but I love the relationship between Muhammad (S) and Khadijah. “They had lived in together in profound harmony for twenty-five years, and she had been not only his wife but also his intimate friend, his wise counsellor, and mother to his whole household including ‘Ali and Zayd” (Lings 96).

Martin Lings includes a much more detailed account of the death of Abu Talib, which was just tragic to read. While it is sad of course, I am glad I was able to read this. Those stories that show the very human qualities and emotions of Prophet Muhammad (S) are the ones that speak to me the most.

In the following scene, Abu Talib is on his death bed and Abu Jahl and other leaders of Quraysh have just angrily stormed out of the house after Muhammad asks them to accept Allah as the one and only god:

“When they had gone, Abu Talib said the the Prophet: ‘Son of my brother, thou didst not, as I saw it, ask of them anything out of the way.’ These words filled the Prophet with longing that he should enter Islam. ‘Uncle,’ he said, ‘say thou the words that through them I may intercede for thee on the day of Resurrection.’ ‘Son of my brother,’ he said, ‘if I did not fear that Quraysh would think I had but said the words in dread of death, then I would say them. Yet would my saying them be but to please thee.’ Then, when death drew near to Abu Talib, ‘Abbas saw him moving his lips and he put his ear close to him and listened and then he said: ‘My brother hath spoken the words thou didst bid him speak.’ But the Prophet said: ‘I heard him not'”

(Lings 96-97).

Anyone who has ever lost someone that they love knows the feeling of wanting nothing but peace and happiness for that person. Imagine the Prophet (S), watching his uncle, his caretaker for most of his life, about to die, knowing what lies on the other side of death for a person who does not accept Allah, and then watching him die without knowing if he actually made is declaration of faith or not. I had never heard this story before, and the uncertainty and sadness of it really touched me.

No wonder it was called the Year of Sadness.

*IFTAR PICTURE OF THE DAY*

Chocolate Chip Cookie, Honeydew Melon, and Blackberries for iftar

Chicken Pastries – my second recipe of the month!

The Chicken Pastries turned out really nice, alhamdulillah! I got this recipe online from Amenakin. They are basically like mild chicken samosas.

Subhanallah, look at how beautiful those blackberries look. If you want to enhance the design of any fruit tray, add blackberries. I guess that’s one of my cooking “secrets.”

Ramadan Log DAY 7: A Good Day :)

Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.

Today was a really good day. It’s amazing how some days, I barely do anything and the day seems to end so quickly, but then there are days like today, where I do a week’s work of things all in the same number of hours.

In the morning, I attended an event organized by one of my friends and her family where we packed bagged lunches to be given to those who cannot afford a meal. It unofficially became a Ramadan tradition of mine to take part in projects like these at least once during the month, and after being so disappointed about not getting around to doing one last year, it felt great to be able to take part in one today. While I didn’t personally prepare the food, I helped pack the bags in boxes to be sent away. It was hard work, but it was actually pretty fun. And subhanallah, my hunger didn’t hold me back at all.

When I got home, I was able to watch the Netherlands vs. Costa Rica game, and my team finally won! I’ll be so excited if Netherlands can actually go all the way to the finals because I’ve been cheering for them since their very first game in this year’s World Cup.

After the game I made my first recipe of the month! It is actually one of the dishes I made last year, but this was my first time making it by myself. You’ll see in the picture later what the dish was. 😉

After dinner, I was pretty satisfied with my day, but then I thought of a great way to top it all off. For some reason, I got a sudden burst of energy around 10 o’clock, so before the feeling could go away I decided to throw in a work out. It has been so long since I went running, and I’ve really missed it. With iftar and dinner being so late, I just don’t have time to eat, pray, read Qur’an, exercise, and write these blogs posts and still have time to sleep before suhoor, so it was the exercising that I’ve been cutting out.

Today though, I just couldn’t let my energy go to waste, so I just went for it and ran a couple of miles. Subhanallah, while I was running, I just felt so… alive. It’s such a contrast from feeling so dead from fasting, and it was amazing. I am so thankful to God for giving me a healthy body to be able to do athletic things like running or playing soccer. I think about the people around me who can’t physically do a typical workout, because of injury or disability, and I am just so incredibly thankful.

Volunteer, watch a soccer game, cook dinner, and work out. That’s what I call a productive day. 🙂 Don’t worry, I also made all of my prayers and Qur’an reading.

Speaking of reading, I finally reached Muhammad’s (S) birth in Lings! Interestingly, now things are moving quite fast. At the part I’m at, he’s already 35. I was very happy to read the introductions of my two favorite Sahaba: Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s (S) best friend, and Khadijah, the Prophet’s (S) first wife. Abu Bakr was only just introduced as the boy “who was to become his closest friend” (Lings 32), but I did read the whole proposal and marriage of Muhammad (S) and Khadijah. I actually listened to a very long and detailed lecture of their love story a few months ago, so I already knew most of what I was reading, but that didn’t stop the story from being a joy to read. Lings actually includes a translated transcript of Khadijah’s proposal (yes, she proposed to him):

‘Son of mine uncle, I love thee for thy kinship amongst the people for this or for that; and I love thee for thy trustworthiness and for the beauty of thy character and the truth of thy speech.’ Then she offered herself in marriage to him and they agreed that he should speak to his uncles and she would speak to her uncle…for Khuwaylid her father had died.

(Lings 35)

I’m a girl, okay. I can’t help but love their story.

There was also the story of how Muhammad (S) adopted his slave, Zayd, as a son, and a description of his family, children, and cousins, but if I included an excerpt of every part of the book that I liked, this post would be way too long. Just read the book. It’s a good story.

*IFTAR PICTURE OF THE DAY*

Honeydew Melon for iftar

My second attempt at Ratatouille. I can’t find the recipe online, sorry! If you would like me to email it to you, leave me a comment!