Saturday, September 27, 2008

HERE'S HOPING

Ramadhan is leaving us soon....sigh.

Abang's zeal for tarawih somehow fizzles down though not totally out and Adik, on the other hand picks up.

In keeping with sunnah, Abah sometimes do the tarawih at home with us.... and one night, Abang fell asleep in tasyahhud during the first two rakaat. He didnt wake up until we finished the set, Abah recited do'a, cuit dia and he duly collapsed. Hilarious, really. 

After that, Abang would do the tarawih on his own ,sometimes only 2 or 4 rakaats, but never ponteng. And last night, Abang joined Abah's jamaah of i'tikaaf. Alhamdulillah....he has been wanting to do that since last year but mama and Abah were a bit skeptical as he was still prone to bedwetting every now and then at that time.

Both of you were given a some sort of check up list by your school whereby you have to put a tick in the boxes when you do the good deeds such as fasting, do the 5 solats, tadarrus, helping people,speaking nicely etc. It is supposed to be done before you go to bed everynight. But, Adik, true to her style, confidently and boldly put a tick on all the boxes of fasting and solat for everyday of the month, on the very first day the cards were handed!! 

She, of course, got an earful from Mama....

Contrarily, Abang would sit down and ponder and ponder and ponder....especially on the part of ' meninggalkan percakapan sia-sia'. Hemmph....

Few days ago,in the morning, Adik pestered Mama to let her help out as she noticed that the boxes of 'menolong ibubapa' on her card are mostly unticked. There was nothing to do really as we eat very simply, especially during this last 10 days where Abah's not home, away on his i'tikaaf. Mama will only start cooking at 6 pm. The house was still clean , the washing machine was already loaded, so, there's nothing to do....
So, I asked her to write down the shopping list as I was going to do the grocery later.

I dictated, she wrote.

Later, in Tesco, I couldnt help laughing as I pulled it out from my handbag. Neatly numbered and written: fetoochini,fresh milk, chesse, lazaniye sheets, carrots, salary,tofu,tempe, cat food, Preggo tomato pest and lots other misspelt items...I went home and made her do the correction!! hahaha....It's a good thing I was the one doing the shopping, kalau Abah, tak tau la...salary Adik??

Anyways.....

Alhamdulillah, all in all, I notice that both of you seems to understand the spirit of Ramadhan better. Adik even said she's feeling sad that Ramadhan will soon be gone. Though I'm quite sure the sadness will be gone as soon as you meet your cousins tomorrow at Tok Ayah's for berbuka.

Now she understands why, 3 years ago when we spent our last 2 weeks of Ramadhan in the holy lands, people were visibly sad and the mood was generally gloomy when it was announced that the anak bulan syawal had appeared. It was so strange for her and I couldnt make her understand as she was so used to scream ," yay, yay esok raya" upon the announcement by pemegang mohor besar raja2 with other small cousins back home year in, year out. Now, she says, she understands........

In Makkah, 3 years ago, adik was 6 and Abang 8. Both of you fasted fully despite the heat. Adik, seemed like a small girl, kept being offered candies and such by the kind shopkeepers every time we stop to look at their goods. Adik learnt to say, Ana saum....with pride, to the amused gentlemen. 

Abang would follow Abah everywhere and even did the tawaf sunat after zohor with Abah, as there were less people around, and didnt complain of heat at all....such a keberkatan tanah suci I guess.

It was during this time too that Adik gained the title of cucu kesayangan Mak Tok. Mak Tok was not very well most of the time and Adik would always give Mak Tok a massage and forever looking out for her . We would walk in three's. Abah, Tok Ayah and Abang while Mama with Mak Tok and Adik. Mak Tok and Adik would hang on to Mama's telekong. Once while going up from kaabah area to the masjid, a group of BIG Turkish ladies, rempuh us and we were separated and swallowed by the crowd. Adik loudly shouted Mak Tok's name and frantically groping for her hands. When I later asked her, she said, she was not afraid at all, just worried for Mak Tok.....Mak Tok, then, kept telling everyone back home about that incident and kept puji2 Adik la....

In a few days we will celebrate 'Idil Fitri. I hope both of you will keep in mind all your responsibilities as I wouldnt be able to locate you sometimes when all of Tok Ayah's clan gather. So many of us!! So, when prayer times come, please do leave whatever joyous things you are doing with your cousins and go to HIM. Abah and Mama might not be able to find you!! And mind your manners.....especially with the elders. And no fire-crackers, unless Ayah Mer supplies and supervises...

And here's hoping we would be able to undergo another Ramadhan and may it be more fruitful then this one......

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

RAMADHAN UPDATES

So, we are in the 2nd week of Ramadhan.....

So far so good for both of you. No complain of hunger, tiredness whatsoever, Alhamdulillah. Abang has lost a bit of weight as he is not eating as much as when he is not fasting. Nothing to worry about....As for the enthusiasm for tarawikh, Abang shows some improvement, Adik...hemmm, no comment.wink*

Abang was so enthusiastic, that on the first night, he prayed more than 20 raka'ats!!! Rupa2nya silap faham....hehehe...

Few nights before Ramadhan, Abah was telling us how Rasulullah did the tarawikh at home and Sayyidina Umar started to do it in congregation at the mosque during his caliphate. And Abah said something about the choice of doing it in 8's or 20's, and encouraged us to do as much devotion as possible in this blessed month.

Abang did the first night of tarawikh at the mosque with Abah for 20 raka'ats. Back home, he added 20 more as he mistakenly thought 20 means 20 salaams......Mama and abah were wondering while he was praying, ingatkan sembahyang hajat ke apa...

Abang,Abang....you are soooo pure and lurus!!

In the first week, Tok Su was here for a corrective surgery as she was not happy with the outcome of the surgery done on her broken wrist few months ago. Kak Chik came for iv antibiotic course for the infection on her knee and she is still here till the end of the week. We must thank Allah for giving the chance for us to have more pahala by having guests in our home in this blessed month of Ramadhan.

There's only one thing Abah and me want to stress here for both of you, while reminding ourselves.

Contrary to the wide practice everywhere, Ramadhan is not the month of feasting....We will try not to go to any Ramadhan bazaar as, being weak in imaan, it will surely defeat the purpose of fasting which is to fight our nafs. All those arrays of tempting food will make us buy more than our actual need and will then result in wasting and syaitaan will then laugh at us in their shackles. Without them around, we still cannot beat our nafs as we have been nurturing it all year long......

InsyaAllah, we will try to eat as simply as possible. 

Sahur for us has always been like daily breakfast with the same menu like toasts, cereals and the likes. Iftar, sometimes we will have a type of kuih, and sometimes we will just make do with kurma. Alhamdulillah, so far no complain from you.....As for lauks, two dishes are all that I will prepare, one with gravy and the other will be dry, vege is a must. We dont need many dishes....when we are hungry, anything would taste good, even nasi with kicap....which is what the poors usually have most days in their live....something we are fortunate enough not to have to face it.

So, my little darlings, let's make this Ramadhan as beneficial as possible for us....
Let's take as much of the rahmats of this month...
Let's recite as much Qur'an as possible, give away sadaqahs, do good to everyone and most importantly, worship HIM with more sincerity.....

p/s
I promised Abah to khatam 5x in this month.....but as ramadhan just started 2 days ago for me, looks like it is quite impossible....maybe 3x only, ok Bah...