Ramadan diary: day 2

Last night was pretty difficult. But halfway through complaining to a friend I realised just how ungrateful I sounded. There I sat on a double bed, paid for by my company, snacks at the ready for when I was ready to break my fast, moaning away. Putting things into perspective and finding that silver lining really helped lift my mood. And the biggest silver lining of them all – the tougher the challenge the more satisfying the reward. Inshallah!

So yes the work here is very boring but it is easy to do and I have the opportunity to learn new skills.

So yes my taxi got lost for half an hour. But I got to see the beautiful countryside, the fields and the flowing river.

So yes my room has no fridge and is like a boiler but I have a family apartment size.

So yes everything bar the vegetarian pizza is haraam (and even that was burnt) but I have a 24 hour nisa local next door which I would not have had at the other hotel I was scheduled to stay at.

And yes I overslept so did not have time to have sehri but I somehow woke up just in time to have water and pray fajr. And I got to sleep for a little longer.

And through being thankful I could be full, able to get on enjoying what I do have.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said “Be satisfied with what Allah has apportioned for you and you will be the richest of people.” (Tirmidhi)

Chocking heat! ☀️

Pretty accurate. From @TechnicallyRon

Unless you’ve been asleep for 2 days – and to be honest, if you’ve managed that please tell me your secret because I can barely sleep – you would have noticed the heat wave we’ve been experiencing here (here being London, but I think the midlands were also very hot). How’s the weather where you are?

It’s a pretty British thing I think to wait all year for the sun to come out – buying an entire new wardrobe of sunny attire – only for what is usually less than 5 days of actual sun! And what’s even more British is how as soon as the sun does make an appearance, we do nothing but complain about it. My Facebook is full of rants, all I heard at work were people complaining over the sound of the table fans we each had locked to our faces, and even chalkboards outside of pubs had “it’s finally hot enough to complain about how hot it is”.

It’s hilarious how unprepared we are for this kind of weather – roads melted and the trains were a mess. Despite all their upgrades I was not feeling any benefits to the aircon. Thankfully I missed rush hour – I can only imagine the sweaty horrors. 

Staying hopeful

me to myself when I’m procrastinating. Source

Ramadan is amazing. I could write pages on how blessed this month is and how it magically transforms our souls. But people have already done this and they’ve done it way better than I ever could. So this post is about me.

My heart feels void. Even after 10 days I do not have the Ramadan feeling that it so desperately earns for, that feeling I have basked in before and that feeling I hear people talk about now. My prayers feel empty, my mind distracted and my body reluctant.