June 24, 2015

Maybe Sleep will come…Now! ….Nooooo….

And that is the game I spent playing this morning for two hours, turning this way and that. But that evasive temptress we call sleep was just that — evasive. I tried fruitlessly in my bed, punching the pillow and mangling my blankets. And then it started getting hot. I got up, grabbed my pillows and my stuffed Minion and trudged into the lounge, where I made a makeshift bed out of the large floor pillows that gracefully litter the floor. And I finally fell into the land of sleep, and not a very comfy one at that.

I woke up around 2:30, starting my day. I would have felt guilty, but alhumdulillah I had accomplished blogging, sending off the hubby to work and some cleaning.

The rest of the day consisted of salah, recitation of the Quran, the next portion of the Surah Ar Rahman lecture series I started listening to, and Iftar prep.

Sigh, that’s what happens when I sleep most of the day.

On the plus side, I haven’t encountered that horrid June bug again, so yaaaaaayyy!!!

Ar-Rahman

I started on this lecture series by Nouman Ali Khan, who is the founder and teacher at Bayyinah Institute, which focuses on Quranic Arabic and classical Arabic. Every Ramadan for the past three years, they offer a lecture series on their super-cool website Bayyinah TV. This year, they are offering their exclusive series on Surah ar Rahman, the 55th Surah of the Quran.

Surah ar Rahman is my favorite surah of the Quran. Don’t get me wrong, I love the whole of the Quran. But this surah, it’s just beautiful. This surah encompasses the Rahmah of Allah(God), which I won’t define as mercy just yet. The surah starts off like this:

الرَّحْمَٰنُ
The Most Beneficent (Allah)!

عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ
Has taught (you mankind) the Quran (by His Mercy).

خَلَقَ الْإِنْسَانَ
He created man.

عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ
He taught him eloquent speech.

This surah focuses on the attribute of Allah, ar Rahman, which is commonly defined as Most Merciful. Mercy, however, is not the best definition of Rahman.

When you think of mercy, the first thing that pops in your mind is the fact that there was some punishment that you are being spared. The word mercy is used like so : “The conquerors showed mercy to the people whose land they had overtaken.” This shows that there was some sort of punishment or harshness that was avoided by the one who showed mercy. Rahman, however, does not entertain the concept of punishment at all.

Rahman comes from the root word, rahm, which means the womb of a mother. Knowing this, some attributes that pop in mind are “protection,” “love,” and “care” when we think of a mother’s womb. A mother’s womb is the epitome of these attributes, protecting the baby against all odds. The mother, in turn, embodies these attributes, protecting and caring for the baby that is growing in her belly, loving it with unimaginable love. The baby keep on taking from the mother, the food she eats, the protection of her body and almost her life upon birth, and in return, she showers the baby with continuous and ever-growing love.

Just like this, ar Rahman harbours this love for His creation, except infinite times greater. We keep on taking from His blessings, and He keeps giving more. We ask for more, and He gives it to us. We don’t remember Him, and yet He still gives. We neglect to thank Him for all that He showers us with, and He gives us more.

That is the true meaning of Ar Rahman.

After Iftar Snack

Heh. Let me just start off by saying that my hubby’s the best and I possess great love for him, alhumdulillah. I’ve been whining all week for ice cream after iftar, just craving it like crazy. And Saim(my hubby) and I always make plans to go out for ice cream after Iftar. But by the time Iftar time comes and goes, I’m just too tired to go get ice cream. After planning this 2-3 days in a row, I finally gave up and forgot about it.

Yesterday, Saim surprised me!! He bought some on his way back from work, snuck in from the garage, where our second fridge is located and stashed it in there. I, under the stupor of the fast, did not suspect a thing. After we had eaten and we were chilling, he went and got it for me!!

He rocks.