Reflections of a traveller

Alhamdulillah I was able to attend a lecture on the first day of Ramadan in East Ham. I love the ustadha (teacher) very much as she is very sincere and dedicated in dawah and that is why I try to attend her circle every week. May Allah (swt) reward her for sharing her knowledge with the ummah. There are quite a lot of things that I have learned through attending this particular one that insha-Allah, I hope to share with you all through this post. At the beginning we had to go through a short brainstorming session to jot down some of the things we may find difficult as mothers during Ramadan. Not surprisingly, tiredness, lack of concentration, not being able to perform tarawih in the mosque, and the ‘what to cook’ dilemma were the frequent ones. One of the most common complaints was the feeling of not being able to do a lot during this great month. Mashallah in response, the sister tried to explain our role as mothers and how we should tackle the issues. As mothers we are responsible f...

Our beloved uncle died last year (2008) shortly after Ramadan. He was in a state of fasting as it was the holy month of Sha’wal. When I got the news of this terrible loss, I felt very sad as he was one of the uncles who left a firm and lasting impression in my heart with his special personality. He had a very kind heart that loved everyone sincerely and used to trust everyone. He was a devout Muslim who tried to practise this beautiful faith in every way possible. In this day and age, being a practising Muslim is very difficult and looked down upon. Despite all the difficulties he had to go through, he never showed any lack of enthusiasm in sincerely following his Deen. He was a man of principle. Alhamdulillah we came to know uncle and his family while we were growing up in Iran. Our families used to socialise a lot together and there are plenty of wonderful memories I still cherish from my childhood, thanks to Allah subhana wa tawala. As far as I can remember, uncle was always very in...