Summary – How “Puasa Enam” helps It turns out, I’m not the only person who is sick after Raya (Duh). Bro Ahmad and Gina were also down with some sort of sickness just after Raya. And I’m sure many of us are just the same.Now, isn’t fasting supposed to be “Menyihatkan”? Definitely! I am at my healthiest state during Ramadhan. Especially this year when the mrs is not that well from pregnancy, so we were eating very healthy food and only went out for Bazar Ramadhan once a week. Very healthy… Alhamdulillah.

I think most of us know the cause of this nationwide illness. It’s the over-consumption (Sumbat) of food during Hari Raya, don’t you agree? During that day, we usually will eat “slightly” more than our average.

But I’m not going to write about this… It’s on how Islam had offer the solution for this 🙂

» Read the rest of the entry..

Don't want to miss a single tip? Get updates via RSS (Full) or Email

Summary – Lailatul Qadar, another POV

We had reached the third phase of Ramadhan. It is popularly connected with one of the greatest gift from Allah himself to us, the Lailatul Qadar.

As a quick introduction to Lailatul Qadar, this night is one of Allah’s secrets. One night in the whole 30 nights of Ramadhan will be chosen by Him and whoever strive to perform “ibadah” that night, will be awarded the same “pahala” as performing “ibadah” for 1000 months.

That is more than 83 years. I’m not sure exactly how Allah will reward that person. But simple logic (within my limited mind) believe that if I perform one “solat sunat” that night, it will be equivalent of me performing one “solat sunat” every night for more than 83 years.

Imagine if we strive every year to find that lailatul qadar, and perform that one “solat sunat” in that night. And imagine we can get hold of this lailatul qadar for 40 years of our life. That would equivalent of us performing one “solat sunat” every night for 3320 years 🙂

There’s so many things we can talk about lailatul qadar. The malay myth of how water will freeze that night, some ignorant folk even stay up that night to see miraculous thing and try to capture it so that their wish is granted.

We can discuss how certain “ulama” had even predicted lailatul qadar based on the day of the first of Ramadhan. Personally, I think this is just a mere conclusion based on experience. Even Rasulullah didn’t disclose the exact date and only specified the range of the nights. And we must not forget, the actual reason lailatul qadar is kept a secret is to motivate muslim to perform “ibadah” the wHOLE month.

It would be very wrong if we aim to find that night and perform all the five solat (Subuh, Zohor, Asar, Maghrib and Isyak) with the intention not having to pray a single day for 83 years. (silly)

We can talk about all that… but what interest me is this

If any “ibadah” we performed in that night, will be rewarded as if we performed it for 83 years, how about if we commit sin that night? What if that night, we stayed up all night talking about other people (mengumpat or fitnah)? What if that night we scold our parent and hurt their feeling?There is no “hadis” explaining this. But I have to say that it is so much easier to commit sins than performing “ibadah”. We need to be very very very careful this time of the month.What do you think? Or maybe you know anything else about Lailatul Qadar worth sharing here?

————–Personal Note————-
I’m not sure whether this is true or not, but I once heard that the next morning after Lailatul Qadar, we can even look at the sun directly. This is because all angels are flying back to the sky that the sun’s brightness is reduced. Again… I’m very not sure whether this is true or not. But when I was in form 2 and 3, I had to travel to my school very early in the morning. And I can assure you that there will be one morning every year in Ramadhan that the sun is very beautiful and I can stare at it for a very long time. At the time, I really believed that lailatul qadar was last night and I had missed it. 🙁  

Don't want to miss a single tip? Get updates via RSS (Full) or Email

Sumary – If done correctly, it can even shed a few kg of you.. Here’s how

Why is it that some people is more energetic during Ramadhan, while another is weaker? The answer to this very question will help us to not only become fitter but we may be able to lose weight in the process, insyaAllah.

The answer is “Sahur”. People from Kedah call it “Soq” :). There’s a reason why “sahur” is very recommended to people who fast. In fact, that’s the only difference from our fast and the non-muslim’s fast.

Let me try to explain it.. We all know breakfast is the most important meals of the day. Yes it provides us more energy to start our day, but there is another secret to it. Breakfast actually gives signal to our body that we are not in starvation.

You see, our body is very clever. When we are starving, the body does not react by burning more fat. It actually react by lowering down its metabolism and burn less fat to preserve them. That is why we are often weaker when we are hungry for a long time.

So Sahur, will indirectly signal the body that we are not starving ourself. And thus the body’s metabolism will switch to normal mode. Which means it burns more fat and giving us more energy to start the day. Thus we will be fitter and stronger the whole day. And since the metabolism rate is not slowed down, more fat will be burn and eventually the weight loss (Of course other factors must be taken into consideration, such as exercise, type of food etc)

So guys.. it’s already half a month, Any weight loss or gain? 

Note : The intention to fast is never supposed to be about weight loss. It is our very own bond with Allah, since no one will ever know we’re fasting or not except Him.

————–Personal Note————-
Waking up for sahur is very challenging indeed. During my childhood, I even have some stages that will occur before I completely aake for sahur. My grandmother will wake me up by calling my name. That almost certainly will not work. She then go very close to me (visible distance) and again call. This time, I will reply by giving some sort of protest that I don’t want to sahur. She know this too well and start nagging with high frequency voice 🙂 That should wake me up. And I protestly walk to the dinner table and eat my sahur.This happen almost every night, and almost everyday.. I will feel grateful to her for patiently wake me up. 🙂 if not… *sigh

Don't want to miss a single tip? Get updates via RSS (Full) or Email

Summary – Syaitan’s work is very easy

We all know that Syaitan are our greatest enemy. They had sworn to sway us away from the Islam and Iman. If there is any bad things we do, we often associate it with the Syaitan, whispering in our heart to push us do the sinful thing, like “mengumpat”, stealing, and even killing. Syaitan is of course blamed for every bad things happening in the world.

That makes me wonder, Isn’t it during Ramadhan, all syaitan are chained to protect human from being tempted? Why is it, that nothing had actually changed. Just look into our heart, we ourselves can do sinful things during Ramadhan, like “fitnah”, “mengumpat”, even neglect the 5 solats. Look around us, we can see people proudly not fasting, innocently walking during Friday prayer, and some even go to the extreme such as raping and killing. Can we really blame Syaitan for all this?

I definitely agree that syaitan is the one who whisper to us, tempting us to do sinful things. and I agree that they are human’s enemy till Judgement Day. But how can we explain the sinful things we do during Ramadhan? Desire? maybe…

My opinion is, syaitan nowadays has an easy job. What they do is just to plant a seed in our heart. That seed can be as little as some white lie (bohong sunat), or rushing after solat etc. All those things that we normally think “not a big deal”. The seed buried deep inside our heart, by mean of we keep doing all the minor things (makruh) like solat at the end of the period, reciting alfatihah in a breath time. We keep doing it, and thus the seed grows.Until one time, we no longer care what is makruh and what is sunat, If we don’t realize this, the time will come when we no longer care what is haram and what is wajib. To make things worst, not only we are like that, we try to persuade our friends to act the same. What difference then between us and syaitan?Basically we can see ourselves, syaitan’s work is very easy. Maybe we should learn more about Islam, knowing exactly what is makruh, what is sunat. If we take the time to learn about makruh and sunat, I believe abiding wajib and haram will comes naturally. Let’s give those syaitan a challenge shall we?

What do you think? any other insights you might notice?

————–Personal Note————-
When I wrote this, I feel like the words are actually meant for me. I admit, I am not a good muslim. I never pray at the beginning of the period, I rarely “sedekah”. And it’s been a long time since I go back to learning all this Feqah. So this writings are more like a reminder to me, A reminder that I know and still I don’t care. Ya Allah, please make me a better person

Don't want to miss a single tip? Get updates via RSS (Full) or Email