The Blog

Take a look at the beautiful work done by Farid Zadi on Ramadan foods from different parts of the world. I particularly enjoyed the photos from Malaysia as I spent two Ramadans in Kuala Lumpur and the experience was unforgettable!

Related Links:
Ramadan Around the world
Ramadan fil ‘Alam.

This is my newest project: The Message of the Quraan. InshaAllah, I plan to post the entire Quraan and its translation and explanation by Muhammad Asad on my web site using WordPress. The Quraan has been translated into English numerous times. Two of the most readily available translations of the Quraan in English are by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall. Then from my father I found out about an excellent translation by Mohammad Asad. Mohammad Asad’s translation is called The Message of the Qur’an, which I have decided to present to the world wide web via this site because it is not as easily found as Yusuf Ali’s or Pickthall’s.

Why WordPress and not MovableType? I am using MT 3.10D (yeah, i need to upgrade it) for another Quraan project, I’m calling AlQuraan, which is to try and place the entire Quraan (in original arabic with english transliteration, four english translations and an urdu translation) in a search friendly format. That is going to take a while to complete as each ayah is a separate entry and there are 6236 verses in the Quraan. My webhost, DreamHost, has an automatic one-click-install of WordPress available as a goodie they offer. And the wide array of themes offered by the WP community for free is another reason I’m going with them.

Please remember us in your prayers, always JazakAllah Khair!

The month of Ramadan is almost over. Alhamdulillah, we’ve had a good month of fasting and prayer and we’re sad that its leaving us so soon. Several people have asked me on various occasions about Ramadan and what we do during this month and what’s the fasting like. I think its a good idea to write a brief account of a typical day in Ramadan. A day in Ramadan has two meals: the Suhur or the meal before dawn to start the fasting and the Iftar or the meal at sunset to end the fasting. The fast, on a physical level, is not eating, drinking, smoking or having sex during the day. On a spiritual level, it is keeping away from all sinful acts and increasing in prayer and good deeds. I’ll briefly the sections of a typical Fasting day…

The Suhur: The day starts early as we get up at 5:30 AM and make chai (tea with cream and sugar) and heat up 2 parathas or a sheermal (we buy them frozen from a Pakistani grocery store in North East Calgary). The significance of eating parathas or sheermal instead of the normal naan is personal preference: Naan is hard to eat by itself with tea whereas paratha or sheermal have flavour and butter/grease so its heavier as well. After the meal, I head to the local mosque to pray the Fajr in a congregational prayer, which has been at 7:00 AM for most of Ramadan. After the prayer, I head for work and get there before 8 AM. I spend the lunch hour walking (weather permitting) and reciting the Quraan and pray the Zuhur prayer after the walk, at work. I stop at the mosque on the way home to pray the Asar prayer. At home, we sit down and read the Quraan, check email and prepare the Iftar.

The Iftar: The iftar is a special meal where everyone in the family and sometimes guests are invited to sit together and eat a traditional iftari, then pray the Maghrib prayer, then eat supper. The iftari for us pakistani types is dates (to break the fast with), a glass of milk with Rooh Afzah choley (chick peas), pakoray (made from chick peas), samosas or spring rolls with chutney. The dinner meal is a regular meal, maybe a little lighter since we’ve already had iftari. This is followed by chai (tea).

The Taraweeh: After the meal and chai, its time for the Isha prayers, which is immediately followed by the special Ramadan prayers, called the Taraweeh prayers, in which a Hafiz (someone who has memorized the entire Quraan) leads the prayer and aims to finish the entire Quraan, all 114 chapters of it, in prayer within the month of Ramadan. This is a congregational prayer attended by a lot of people. I particularly like the Taraweeh prayers at our local mosque here in Calgary. The Huffaz (plural of Hafiz) are really good and after the first four rakaats of the Taraweeh prayers, there is a break in which a brief Halaqa (speech) is delivered by the imaam. A drink of water and tea is also distributed to those who want it (I personally can’t refuse tea). It is a wonderful thing to be sitting in the mosque listening to the lecture, which is usually very enlightening, mashaAllah. And be sipping hot tea.

This is how a muslim normally spends Ramadan, although every culture has some traditional difference in the meals prepared and how social gatherings are handled, but the basis is the same, the fast between the sunrise and sunset for the whole month and the prayers I mentioned above.

Here’s a blogger from the UK writing about his Ramadan.
Here are some photos about Ramadan.

I’ve installed the new version of gallery to showcase my photographical masterpieces. I found that the photo blog was not easy to maintain and I’ve since discontinued it. You should now see fresh photos much more often than I could ever post on the photo blog before.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

“Verily God created Mercy. The day He created it, He made it into 100 parts. He kept with Him 99 parts, and sent (just) one part to all His creatures. Had those who do not believe known of all the Mercy that is in the Hands of God, (they) would not lose hope of entering Paradise. And had the (believers) known of all the punishment that is present with God, (they) would not consider (themselves) safe from hell-fire.”

Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Hadith 476