THE RAMADAN DIARIES 2008

Friday, September 05, 2008

i'm back home, alhamdulillah. i hung out for a month in the motherland, and i was a tiny bit heartbroken that i'd spend some of my ramadan there. however, it wasn't bad dude. seheris were this intense affair with 57401801 people (fine, just 12), and i kind of watched everyone in amazement. my cousins were super perky and jokey, the tv was on full blast (announcing how many minutes until fajr - so insanely awesome!), and there was food after food after food.

contrast this to my normal suhoor experience - me, stonily quiet (not only am i kind of unpleasant and remarkably grumpy, but i also have to take care not to wake up a roommate), eating cold leftovers and popping tums.

during suhoor-in-pakistan #1 i almost laughed when i thought about the difference between the two situations, and my cousins mistook this for my good spirits. it's very strange to have to make conversation during suhoor. even when i came home for the weekends with my family in the last four years, we'd all be stumbling around in a sleep-deprived stupor - i am the hyper one in comparison to them.

anyway i missed fasting day #3 as i was flying home, but this morning was my first suhoor at home. after i ate and prayed, i tried to fiddle around with the html for the RDs and fell asleep as i worked, being shaken into consciousness by mother - "pray zuhr, you loser" was the spirit of it - and basically that's been my first fast back home. i am incredibly incredibly jetlagged, but not so much that i can't be pretty excited about my fasting prowess (alhamdulillah of course; watch tomorrow i re-lame).

[6:51 PM]

Monday, September 01, 2008

so this evening there were seven of us stuffed into one car as we were driving home from hanging out, and we were listening to the radio because there was some insane strike in islamabad causing a massive traffic jam that we wanted to avoid. and then the newscaster said (in urdu), "in other important news, the moon has just been sighted, signaling the first night of ramadan kareem." my jaw dropped.

when we got to my khaala's house, the tv was on and it was "BREAKING NEWS" - the ramadan moon had been sighted. dude, ramadan in a muslim country is pretty sweet.

although to be honest, i've already been pretty happy and lightheaded with ramadan anticipation since yesterday. i got an email from a stanford list (that i just can't disengage myself from because i canNOT believe that i graduated already) saying that taraweeh prayers start sunday night, and i got insanely jealous because that meant that had i been home i'd get an extra day of ramadan. but you know what? i still feel pretty nice. alhamdulillah, i've been able to see another ramadan, it's a blessing.

[9:48 PM]

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"the month of ramadan is that in which the qur'an was revealed, a guidance to mankind and clear proofs of the guidance and the distinction; therefore whoever of you is present in the month shall fast therein, and whoever is sick or upon a journey shall fast a like number of other days; Allah desires ease for you, and does not desire for you difficulty, and desires that you should complete the number and that you should exalt the greatness of Allah for having guided you and that you may give thanks." [al-baqarah 2:185]