Itssssssssssssssss coooooooomiiiiiiing!

Yaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Alhamdulillaaaah! It's coming its coming its comiiiiing! :) Less than two weeks left. Unbelievable! :))))

Yes! I am talking about Ramadhan! :) I feel so joyeous about its return. I feel as though this Ramadhan is going to be awesome inshaallah. Soooo very excited about it. So! you ready girls???

My excitement may possibly be related to doing half of Ramadhan in Oz, and completing the other half in Turkey, my beloved Istanbul?! Yesss that does have a lot to do with it. :)

Well, I have promised myself that this Ramadhan I am going to live to the fullest inshaallah. Both in terms of ibadah (prayers, supplications, charities, etc) and in seeing people... Oh and what about foooooooooooooood?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Seriously, overeating is totally out of the question, it is so against the spirit of Ramadhan. Eat in moderation, and consider the situation of those who cannot afford to eat what we eat... or even eat one of the many different types of meals we prepare for iftar (breaking fast). Well, I have the advantage of the band which wont allow me to overeat anyway :P So alhamdulillah to that also :)

Ummmmm so you will be getting blog posts from Oz (maybe not many as I will be busy moving all my furniture either to storage (until I return from turkey) or to storage... Butttttttttttttt inshaallah I will share the best Ramadhan posts from Istanbul. Ohhh I'm gonna go to the Ramadhan fair at the Blue Mosque grounds. It happens every year since the Ottomans. So it's a very old tradition. Oooh I better not share much now and leave it all to time. :))))

Yes, I'm happy... excited... Obvious? Well it's a good thing. Alhamdulillah. :) Alhamdulillah my flu is also starting to go away. It's been two weeks, still recovering alhamdulillah. On top of all that, I am still buried under heaps of translation work. Of course I am thankful to Allah for that also. A girl needs an income you know. :)

Well, I'll leave it at that for now. :) Just wanted to share the love.

Mwahhhhh

Posted on 11:31 PM / 0 comments / Read More

It's almost time...

to eat!

Day 1 of Ramadhan was not difficult at all... but for those who are not foreign to Ramadhan will know all about the anticipation to eat at sunset...

I'm am hungry, but do not feel hunger... if you know what I mean? But as the hour approaches (only 1 hour left!), I just think about what I should/can eat. It's not actually as bad as it sounds... it's actually a little entertaining. :)

I have a beautiful mother and sister who will be cooking for me this Ramadhan, and they know what I eat and don't, so I don't need to worry about what to prepare. I aint much of a cooker anyways. :)

I will be leaving work in approximately 15 minutes, and probably get home 10-15 minutes before iftar (breaking of fast) to a warm home cooked Turkish dinner. Yummo! :))

Until then, I will try not to entertain anymore food thoughts. :)

Finger lickin' good! :))

Oh... Ramadhan Kareem peeps! May this Ramadhan bring us all many blessings, peace, love, friendships, and things so wonderful that we couldn't even imagine....

Loving you all for the sake of Allah, the Most Great, the Most Merciful...

xoxo

Posted on 12:02 AM / 0 comments / Read More

Glorious Ramadhan

I absolutely love the month of Ramadhan. I always have wonderful feelings during this time of the year, and many new resolutions. However, Ramadhan in Australia always begins and ends in confusion.

This year, some Muslim communities will start fasting on Thursday, some on Friday, and some on Saturday.

I will be fasting on Friday with the rest of the Turks... not because I believe this is the ONLY true and correct day to start fasting; I do this for simplicity. I believe all are correct, and all predict the start date of fasting for the sake of Allah. Nobody wants to take on the responsibility of people missing out on the first day of fasting and cause them to be fasting on the day of eid.

I don't think that people should go to the extent of calling the other group names, and saying how wrong they are.

OK, so I am a Turk and I have it easy and choose to follow the Turks, and Arabs follow the Arabs... What are the Muslim reverts (converts) to do? If any of you are reverts and reading this, and if you are in a dilemma, I think you should just go with what is more common in the area you live, just like prayer times...

Hey, I'm no imaam and I don't give fatwas, but this is a dilemma we have had for many years in Australia, and this opinion was given to me by an imaam, and I understand and accept it. It makes life a whole lot more easy, and our faith does tell us to "make things easy, not difficult".

Anyways, I am excited to be getting up for iftar tonight (well, Friday morning). :)) Make Allah make it easy on us all, and may He give us understanding of what we need to understand during the month of abstaining from food and other worldly desires.

Before I end this post, I want to mention one thing about Ramadhan in Turkey (I miss it!)... Every year, the mosques in Turkey put up huge illuminated signs between the minarets of mosques for all to see. These signs (messages) are usually taken from ahadith (the traditions of Propher Muhammad (SAW)) and remain up until throughout the entire month of Ramadhan. Below are some examples of these...

Let's Love and Be Loved

Prayer (Salat) is the Pillar of Religion

The Greatest (Sultan) of 11 Months



Serve (Worship) Allah Alone



Welcome oh Month of Ramadhan

Posted on 4:54 PM / 0 comments / Read More