The Washing Machine

I was just having my coffee infront of the TV after Iftar, watching nothing in particular. Iqraa channel was on, some programme that I was not following. The programme showed this Guy from the programme who had just knocked on a woman's door. I did not get if this was a random door he chose, or if she was specifically selected for some reason, but the woman happened to be an egyptian living in Saudi. She looked like she was a poor woman, with her kids around her, and she was smiling and talking to the Guy. The guy suddenly announced that he had something for her. A gift, i don't know from the programme or some charity cause , i do not know. A worker came in and brought in a brand new washing machine in its cardboard box. This is for you, the man said. The woman's face lit up with pleasure i have not seen in anyone's face in a long time. real happiness. "Oh my, I can't believe it, come in and see, I wash all my clothes on my hand". She was so happy, and her eyes were brimming with tears of unexpected pleasure. she kept looking at the machine while talking to him with love and tenderness as if it is a new born baby. I was glad to see someone so happy. " Al Kheir fe ommet Mohamed" the Guy said. (The good is in Mohamed's people). I felt like yes, Elhamdo Lillah.

I looked around me at all the luxuries we are surrounded with day in, and day out. We are so used to them, we take them for granted. We do not feel them, and we keep on complaining from petty stuff. We need to see others to appreciate what we have. We have so much. And we are not thankful enough.

Being thankful is not just by saying "elhamdulillah", though it is important. it is also by using what we have for the good. by having content with our status. by Appreciating everything God has given us. By trying to please God to try to thank him for all he has given us. and one big thing that we must do more often. We should let go of some of what we have, for the sake of those who don't. I say this, and my closet is full and over flowing with clothes. alot of which i do not wear. Our misery and stinginess hold us back from helping others. I hope I can over come this, maybe I can make someone as happy as this woman was just a little while ago. Everyone is the most generous in Ramadan. And we take good example from our prophet Mohamed Peace Be Upon Him, He was the most generous in ramadan, to the extent that he was like the sent wind. Salla Allaho 3ala Mohamad, Salla Allaho 3aleih wa sallam.

Little Sis

My little sister. My new best friend. The baby in the family, like she says about herself. I know she would probably be embarassed reading this, but hey little sis, it's ok. You know I like it when you blush.

I have always loved her, and like any two sisters, we have our ocasional arguments, but at the end of the day, we are sisters. And we love each other. Ma shaa Allah. And yet these last couple of years have been different. she has become my friend too. We have both been through rough times, and we both listen to the other. Together we sit and talk, listen and analyze issue after issue. We also have grown to enjoy each other's company and laugh together and have fun together. Again I say: ma shaa Allah. God protect this gift you have given us.

We are different, in attitude and personality, and yet we are the same. We get to feel that we are the same when with strangers. We have same ideas and ehtics a bit, but our attitude might be different that is all.

We even started blogging together. Although we have our separate blogs. And until now, not many people know that we are sisters. We thought it to be that way, for each of us to have an independent blog and view and even comment. Even separate favorites and separate readers. Not to mention we can better back each other up in vital issues, without it seen as just sisterhood support. We back each other if we agree with each other. If not, we usually are honest about it.

Last thing, who is this precious little sister of mine? well her name is....Roora!

tagged

Ok, Roora tagged me, or klukked me in this case. And this one is actually quite easy, it is about 5 random things about me. So I can say absolutely anything, right? Here goes

I am a dentist/teacher. The teacher thing came later in my career, and yet I find it is what I really enjoy. I do not miss at all working in people's mouths (though I still do it sometimes). But thank God it is not all I do. It can get quite boring in there!

I have 2 turtle pets. Zeina and bondok. How I came to have them: this guy, who was really interested in me, got it for me. I was still thinking about it, and taking my time quite a bit. This was his way of telling me that I had to pick up the pace, I am as slow as a turtle. Needless to say; I totally missed the point of the gift. Just thought it was a cute gift, full stop. Would anyone else get what he meant if in my shoes? Btw, it did not work out, but he was a really nice guy Wallahi.

I love playing computer games, strategy games and others. I am yet to find a girl friend to share my hobby. My 11 year old nephew is my best friend there. And dalulla's husband as well. It is a gigantic waste of time.

I am extremely attached to my nephew Ibrahim, and feel guilty for favoring him secretly (well I guess not so secretly now) over his brother and sister. He is just at this cute age of 4!!!

I like to cook, but that is the only kind of house work that I enjoy. My bedroom is messy 95% of the time. Have too much stuff, too little space. The problem is, I get emotionally attached to my things, the memory of anything I have done with it, I have a problem letting go of my things. I guess this makes it 2 random things in one. 

I tag anyone on my "blogs I read " list, if they haven't been tagged yet.

Body and Soul

Human beings are made of what? 2 things; the body , and the soul. Blended together in life. Both are basic parts of us, and both are important, though very different. Also with very different needs.

The body is the part that eats, drinks, walks, plays, sleeps, mates, etc. in short, the earthly part of us, and thus needs earthly things to survive.

The soul is the part that loves, hopes, feels, prays, worships, believes, etc. in short, the heavenly spiritual part of us. It needs to survive love, fairness, prayer, sympathy etc. and needs its share of spiritual food to survive. It is this part that distinguishes us from animals I believe, more than our brains. I believe an animal is better than a brilliant scientist with no heart or love.

Very often, we tend to pay attention to one part more than the other, thus ignoring the other part till it slowly dies away. That part is usually the soul, being trapped as it is in the body. We pay too much attention to our bodily earthly needs, and forget about our soul. And every now and then , we would wake up feeling like we need to breathe. We are suffocating. This is our suffocating soul calling on us, sending its SOS, please help me, I need to breathe. Yet, a lot of us heed no attention to this call, and instead try to shut it down with yet more earthly food.

This is why Ramadan I believe is intended to increase the piety of Moslems. By ignoring our bodily needs for a big part of the day.. we finally give our heart and soul a chance to feel and breathe again. You can pay attention to it, without the worldly distractions. Even the day that I eat a little more, I find it difficult to concentrate or pray properly. Ignore your body a bit, you have been feeding it for 11 months. It can actually take a break. Just the fact that you are leaving your worldly needs for a little while for the sake of God’s approval, would automatically make us feel closer to God and connected to Him. May God accept from us and forgive us all.

I remember when I went to Mecca, there was this weird phenomenon I felt, the haram, the most sacred place on earth, the most spiritual, is surrounded with hotels for people to stay at. It is very convenient of course. Some of these, like Hilton, have a mall inside. And after prayer, esp. tarawee7, people tend to step inside for shopping or coffee or something. And the minute you step in, voila, it is as if you have a remote control for your self, and you can literally feel that you have switched channels. The mood and feeling shifts very quickly, as our bodily needs wake up, and we look around to shop, while some of us would still have the tear tracks on their faces visible from the kenoot doaa.

Sub7an Allah, both are important. Le badanak 3aleik 7ak, we li deenak 3aleik 7ak. It is not asked to forsake the world for the after world completely. It is not possible. We are not angels. But keep the balance, and let the soul control the body. Get your bodily needs from a path that does not contradict with your soul. Then, they can happily co exist.

Oh Ramadan is so good. El hamdo li Allah annaho ballaghana Ramadan.

The whole story is...

I was just watching Iqraa chanel, where they were showing a new clip for a song called "Kol el hekaya" or " the whole story is..". it was performed by someone called Tamer Nour of whom I haven't heard before now. the song was of a religous theme, there seem to be more of those these days. i just got to watch part of it, but i liked what i saw.

the words went something like " the whole story is .. that we all worship God alone"
"Our father Adam and our mother Eve told us that all of the universe kneels down before God" " there is no one on this Earth whose heart did not once kneel inside and Say God the one and only" (a7adon a7ad)

he then went on to talk about terror, and how it is not ours. this had accompanying scenes that were a bit ..strong I think.

but the theme I got, from the beginning of the clip, where he is this moslem guy attending a christian wedding at a church and wishing the couple well, was unity between religions.

i remembered paul, he always tells me, that he likes to focus on what brings the religions together rather than what differences they have, and indeed they have a lot in common.

we all do Worship God. we have to acknowledge and remember that, instead of focusing on the differences only.

in the song, he says "Moses is a prophet, Jeses is a Prophet, and Mohamed is a Prophet". we acknowledge them all, and thus their religions and books that they had delivered as well.

will try to see the whole song another time, but I really liked the theme. peaceful, and loving mood, or is it just my first day in Ramadan mood? Probably both.

The first day of Ramadan is over, the first night too, and this is the second night. time flies away, Ramadan is passing too quickly, and I feel that I am missing out on alot of the Good in it. Time wasted that could be so better used. "ya Rab Barek fe Ramadan Le kol El moslemeen"
Amen

shut down

These past few weeks, I have been mentally overloaded. Even though I might not be actually doing anything so hard, I have several major issues on my mind, all need a lot of mental effort. Too tired. Exhausted actually. Last night I was so beat, I went to bed at 8:30 pm! I don’t even have the mental energy to talk on the phone with my friends anymore. As each topic needs hours if not days of undivided mental attention and analysis, writing about them as I usually do to sort things out is not an option. It would take a decade kida. So I woke up today to find my mind totally numb. Not thinking about any of those things. Can’t. it is as if my mind has taken a vacation. It reminds me of a Dexter’s laboratory cartoon; Dexter was so busy inventing and working, and one day his mind just shut down till it cooled off. In the mean time he was behaving like a dummy. Hope that doesn’t happen here. Well, instead of making a list of all the things that I have to do, organize or analyze, I thought of making a light list instead. My books. (sound like a nerd don’t I), but I do enjoy reading a lot, I get excited like a kid when I hear of a new book store open. Don’t know how some people just don’t get it. Well here goes:


Books I have bought last month:

Mars and Venus starting over
Reader’s digest condensed books
Dave Barry talks back
The world’s worst mistakes
The world almanac
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center Line of Control
Big trouble
The Talbot Odyssey
Kissat al diyanat (story of religions)
3abkareyyat al siddik
fatawa el mar2a al moslema

books I have read last month;

Song of the beast
The bone doll twin (does anyone have part 2 or 3?)
Harry potter and the half blood prince

Am reading :

Mars and Venus starting over (tougher on me than I thought)
Dave Barry talks back (for light reading before bed)
The Quran (never ends)
Tons of articles!!

Need to start: Later when I am done with the zillion things on my mind

El ra7eek el makhtoom
7 habits of highly effective people


need to buy:

The dark tower part 7 Stephen King
Part 2 and 3 of the Tamir triad (part one: the bone doll twin)

I think most of my regular activities would change a bit in Ramadan, as will my priorities. Will try to stick to Quran this month, and my work related stuff.

Ok, I think I need a cup of coffee right now. After which I guess I will go to sleep? Very tempting, but it is only 6:30 pm! well, I’ll see :)