You see what I mean. Now I feel gutted. The word sister has come out different but when I clicked on it the sister’s blog did not open up. Never mind, next time inshallah. Think positive Ines. I will give it another go at the end of the post.
Another reason why I do not appreciate been tagged is…. It forces me to do (or it should make me) something that it is permanently at the back of my mind but because I am the embodiment of procrastination I choose not to. I swear, everyday I plan to blog and let my friends out there know what’s up with me but …this is the bit where I allow my imagination go wild and write lots and lots of excuses…
Well let me tell you something , my dear readers and friends, procrastination is not at fault this time. I have been to busy and that is that. Yes, busy teaching or attempting to teach the year 3 class full of characters. Busy reading as much Qu’ran as I could before falling asleep every night after a long day at work and at home with the family and what have you.
Busy working on ‘getting closer’ to Allah, my creator. And how you may ask? First of all by cutting down on the hours spent in front of the computer and replacing some of those with plenty of Imaan increasing Dhikr. Also by trying my very best to memorise new surahs. I am on my second one since the beginning of Ramadan, mashallah. And making lots of du’a and extra prayers. May Allah accept them all, ameen.
So far it has been the best Ramadan ever. Simply because I have made the effort to benefit from it. In the past I have somehow taking it for granted , astaghfirullah. I mean , I fasted and all the usual stuff but was I moved closer to Allah in any way? Hard to admit but maybe not. I was not seeking spiritual uplifting so I did not get it. Remember… the intention is vital in everything that we do.
I am also blessed with working in a muslim environment where I am constantly reminded through daily morning naseeha and weekly halaquas of different aspects of my deen (religion) and this Ramadhan has not been an exception. Even better, the school closes the last ten days of Ramadan to allow staff to do I’tikhaf in order to get closer to Allah.
And now to more mundane things. Uni started again yesterday. It is going to be a taughlast year by the looks of things ;the reading list is endless, the evidence of teaching and learning is measured in lever arch files and at least 6 are expected plus four, 4000 words long assigments to hand in.. I can’t go onn it is just too depressing. Allow me to share something funny with you though. Guess what is one of the main modules this semester…ICT!!!!
What else has been happening in my dull, average life? I am not complaining, just stating the truth, mashallah. I was invited to an Iftar by a lovely sister who, mashallah, always cooks my favourite chinesse dishes (she is also married to an Algerian and appreciates the shorba ‘syndrome’). The following weekend it was the same sisters turn to come to our house with her family and share iftar with us and another sister and her family. Once again we shared a lovely oriental meal ( fishy noodles soup, spicy prawns and thai mussels with rice) while our Algerian dhs and the Algerian sister stuck to the mandatory shorba, chicken with olives and all the rest.
Tonight we (the girls and myself) are invited to a sister’s house for Iftar. The sister is a dear friend of mine and I really appreciate the effort she is making to feed us tonight, inshallah. May Allah reward her and all the muslims out there who are feeding the fasting brothers and sisters, ameen.
By the way I have just checked the i’tikhaf link and it’s not working either…any suggestions dear readers. Thanks.
Wow, this has turned out to be one of the longest posts ever…Well done, Ines. Not much luck on the IT front but who cares. All I care for is the lovely comments that I am going to get pretty soon ( I meant pretty soon) from all of you out there. You , yes you, if you are reading this you better comment. Pleeeeease.
Oh and before I go….thank you ummhabibati for bullying me into blogging. What a relief to get it over and done with. Thanks sis. Ramadan kareem to you and your family and to the rest of my muslim readers.