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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Day 0 - The night before Ramadan and few friendly tips!

In addition to exchanging dozens of messages from my friends and family wishing and congratulating me and family on Ramadan, the phone has been ringing continuously. Some of the friends that I haven't met in a while called up. Some friends are in town and are making plans to meet up after Iftaar (breaking the fast).

There are invitations flowing around and there are already date conflicts as there are only 4 weekends. As a tip, in Ramadan, it is good to socialize and meet people in a relaxed atmosphere but also be conscious of the fact that this is one opportunity to do some soul searching and meditation along with prayers. 

I am not saying keep praying all the time, but just give yourself those moments when you can do an yearly analysis of what you wanted to do same time last year and how you wanted to be a better father, son, husband, and a Muslim and how you did it or if you are more like me, why you couldn't do it. 

Take it easy, relax your body and mind and try to leave the craziness behind and try to come out of this month as a more mature person. 

Drive Responsibly, if you are late for anything by few minutes, it is understandable, but do not jeopardize your life and lives of your loved ones and others whom you share the road with. Ramadan is about sharing and caring and not about madness and rudeness. 

Plan your day and stick to your plan as much as you can but get ready to be flexible. If you have planned to pray at home but your wife wants to go and meet some relatives or friends, its not end of the world. Talk to her and be flexible. the rights of people and the rights of God, both are important.

Be nice to your family. The best among you are those who are good with their families.

God bless you all and remember me when you pray.

Day 0 - My effort to see Ramadan Moon

Image by Marlon Malabanan

I stepped out of my home in Mirdif, Dubai in an effort to see Ramadan moon (crescent) immediately after Maghreb prayers with my sons Tahir & Tayyab. We kept looking at the spot where we expected the moon to appear for 15-20 minutes with no luck.

I decided to take help from technology, and whipped out my Android phone and downloaded the "Google Sky Map". it detected my location by default and pointed me to a certain point in the sky. I immediately tracked down the moon and disappointingly enough, it was below the horizon already. I already knew that it was too late but tried the "time travel" feature of the app and found out that moon will continue to go further down and there is no point in waiting. 

It is already announced that Ramadan will be tomorrow so this quest was only symbolic in nature. 

Isha Prayer today is 8:29 PM

Tomorrow's prayer timings are as following:
FAJR:  04:25
SHURUQ: 05:45
DUHR 12:30
ASR 15:56
MAGHRIB 19:08
ISHA 20:38

All timings are Dubai.
Off for the prayers.
Allah Hafiz

About this blog

Image by rana ossama 
There is a lot of information available on the web on Fasting and Ramadan and I am not just going to create another source of information by replicating all the information already available. I want it to be a discussion with myself and other friends who want to feel it with me. In next 30 days, I'll blog about various aspects of Ramadan as I experience them and a lot of information may find its way into this blog.

Thank you for experiencing Ramadan with me.
Regards,
MAC