And can anyone blame me? With Ramadan starting on the first of September this year, I can’t help but think of Ramadans to come. Yes, the mere thought of Ramadans to come sends shivers down my spine. I imagine being unable to eat and more importantly drink (H20) until the red hot summer Sun descends some time around 7-ish. I imagine heat and exhaustion. I imagine the average Jordanian’s intolerance capacity increasing substantially, and that includes me. Skyrocketing actually. I imagine everything that would normally go slow due to the heat, come to a screeching halt with Ramadani summers. And to think, with the Ramadan start-date moving back ten days every year, this is a cycle that will take a few decades before getting back to the cooler, appropriately-timed-sunset, months.
I should also point out that it’s not only the fasting. Taraweeh prayers become increasingly unbearable in the heat, amidst the crowds of people, every single night. Where you have to remain standing for 40 minutes, with few intervals in between. It really becomes a sauna.
Maybe I’m exaggerating. Maybe I’m just being an alarmist. But I’ve really never experienced a Ramadan in summer, which only plays into the whole “young and inexperienced” stereotypes that plagues my 20-something generation, but hey, I’m not afraid to admit that; at least when it comes to this particular experience.
Anyways. I wanted to do all that complaining before the month starts in a few days.
Ramadan Mubarak to all!
Ramadan mubarak to you too!
It’s my first Ramadan as a married person. Whereas suhoor fare used to consist of water and a couple of dates for me, I’ll now be preparing sustenance of a more elaborate kind for the other.
Ramadan Mubarak to you, hope it’s bearable:)
Ramadan Mubarak.
I can’t imagine how you guys are going to handle next year. Wish you all endurance and courage.
I was going to post about my major anxieties over this Ramadan. Summer Ramadan has its advantages if you’re in school because you’re home and that’s a huge advantage…but that won’t apply to most of us in our age range. After this year I’ll no longer have the advantage of summers off as far as school goes.
When I’m an autonomous adult in the working world I’m taking the whole month of Ramadan off.
Skip it claiming you’re on medication due to a virus that only creeps up for 30 days starting on the first day of Ramadan …
Kol saneh winta salim
We always tend to build up Ramadan in our heads to be harder than it actually is. At least I do. I am not downplaying the heat of the summer months, but we also must remember Allah’s mercy on mankind during this month. I recall umrah in Ramadan 2 years ago, being awake and in prayer for much of the night in Saudi–much hotter, much more uncomfortable than Amman–and eating and drinking a fraction of what I would have consumed back in the comforts of my own home. Allah gives a steadfastness to those who seek it.
But I do think that mandatory naps for all fasting people are in order this coming month.
well Allahom yataqabbal ta3atona this month, back in Yoga classes they used to teach us how to isolated through our minds the parts we choose of our body , and when you go in higher Yoga education it becomes easier to isolate certain inner organs of your body, and if you have an imagination that can make you feel as if you are flying just by closing your eyes, then you will be able to isolate nerves in your body and certain feelings… then you will be able to isolate your head and toe then your neck and shoulders , then your chest then your belly and stomache then your legs then your spine then your head then your brain ( but dont sleep) then your thoughts … 🙂
Agollak!!! DO it for Allah ou that is enough, endure the heat , the hunger and the thirst, through really fasting and not getting mad our frustrated o others even if they dont hear you “then you are a winner”
… this one is hard ha?? doing things in a faithfull prespective is like flying while knowing your world is a matrix ( Isolate reality) but then again you find reality when you isolate yourself from what you see… what is reality meen ana:))
I am confused Good luck every body in making your month worth fasting it is worth the Try… Ramadan Mubarak
Ramadan Mubarak to you too!
We should all remember what Ramadan is all about: feeling the hunger that too many in this world feel everyday of the year. For them it is not a choice to do without, it is a necessity of their situation. Ramadan cools our desires and settles our minds. It helps us to drop the petty things in life and to focus on what is important. We have thirty days to purify ourselves and change bad habits. Secular guidance has proven that it takes thirty days to change a habit in our lives successfully. Ramadan is just that chance for Muslims to make changes that could improve our lives.
May Allah make it easy for all of us. With the right intention, anything is possible. Ramadan is a blessing for us and holds countless treasures and rewards for the believers. InshAllah we will all be successful. Ramadan Mubarak everyone.
Don’t complain too soon, you know there’s a very good possibility that a nuclear war will just break out and we will all be dead by then… Or some major climatic changes will take place due to polluion and winter will be in August. You just hang on and keep the tearing the ozon away…
Ramadan Mubarak – Wish you all a blessing month.
Naseem, I don’t think you should complain brother. The weather in Jordan is still better than other places and in some countries you fast much longer because the sun goes down late (I’m used to that).
Of cause I had also been a little bit concern if I could fast this year or not – I’m but used to fast in weather like Jordan but inshallah we will all made it. I really lookinf forward to Ramadan, and I don’t know is it because it will be my first time in Jordan and that I’m in a Moslem country… so the hot weather is not important for me this year 😉
Ramadan Kareem Nas, Yen3ad 3aleik =)
Ramadan is a chance to get closer to Allah by abstaining from your desires. It is a great opportunity to gain Allah’s mercy. A person should look forward to this gift from God. How many Ramadan’s left in your life. You have no guarantee that you will live another day, let alone until the next Ramadan- so make the most of the one you’re in today.
When I first became a Muslim, Ramadan was in December, the Australian summer with days 16-17 hours long. I was working on the construction of houses in the middle of a heat-wave with tempratures nearing 40 degrees Celsius. I then came down with a severe case of chicken pox and I had a severe temprature for nearly a week. Yet I fasted, and I did not complain. I was just grateful for the opportunity to worship God. An opportunity that billions of disbelievers do not get.
Please, do not complain about Ramadan. If you don’t want to do it, then why are you a Muslim? Islam means submitting to Allah. A small way of saying thankyou to Allah for Him creating us and giving us a chance to prove ourselves. Actually fasting a few hours a day is not such a big deal – you should really be grateful that Allah did not place a bigger burden on you – which He is easily within His rights to do. He created you, therefore He owns you. You should do whatever He wants and just be grateful.
I hope this clears things up for you.
Abdullah
Just to clear something up from some of the comments that have the “don’t complain” tone…
Why not? Why can’t a person complain that it’s in fact too hot? That prices are too high. That while fasting, yes, we do get hungry and yes, we do get thirsty. That people become more aggressive during Ramadan.
How does any of that nullify the month?
I know the meaning of Ramadan. I know my religion pretty well. Yes, I am a practicing Muslim. I do fast. Yes, it’s tiring. And yeah, I, as any human being on this planet, have the right to complain.
Yes, many people have it way worse than I do, but why does that mean I can’t complain.
We’re all human.
The theory is great, but in reality, the implementation is hard and we shouldn’t be afraid to voice that. Ramadan will get more difficult in the summer. It’s a fact. Who wouldn’t prefer to fast shorter days in cooler months?
Nas, can you imagine when we have to start fasting in July!!!!
I am planning all my pregnancies around Ramadan for the years to come! 😛
Oh dear nas, how sad it is that your iman is so weak, well most of our imans are weak even mine. Thing is i dont blame you to complain, we all do even me, but just to let you know we dont want to decrease our rewards by winjing, if only we but knew how many endless and imense rewards we get the harder our hardships are during fasting. You make it sound as though allah is punishing us, listening to you no wonder the non beleivers laugh at us and mock our islam, not to mention piety us. Please dont get offended dear bro or sis!
But then i understand where your coming from, your right the days will get longer in the coming years of ramadan and theres no sin in saying that, BUT now this makes me feel alot stronger, better, and patient, the sahabis and the prophet p.b.u.h had to fast in the scorching heat with so little food for iftari and sehri, they worked and prayed in the heat with thirst and pangs of hunger, when we are ill and fast, we will get bid big rewards in jannah and then we will think if only every fast was as such that we fasted during immense hardship. Just think the sahabis had to take it 1,000 times worse then us that,ll put your mind at rest a little make you feel better inshallah. And remember Allah burdens as with such that he knows we can bear, no more then that.
The Prophet (PBUH) said, “When the first night of Ramadhaan dawns (comes), the doors of the skies are opened, and none of its doors are then closed until the last night of Ramadhaan. No mu’min servant (of Allah) performs salaah during its night (any night of Ramadhaan), but Allah will record for him one thousand five hundred hasanah (rewards) for every sajdah that he makes. And Allah will build a home for him in Jannah made out of red ruby, which will have sixty thousand doors, each of its doors having (interlinked to, leading to) a palace made out of gold, ornamented (beautified and decorated) with rubies. Thus, when he (the mu’min) fasts on the first day of Ramadhaan, all his past sins are pardoned, and seventy thousand malaaika make istighfar for him, daily, from the time of the fajr salaah, until the sun sets. And for every sajdah that he makes during Ramadhaan, either by day or by night, there will be for him a tree, (in Jannah, so huge that) a person on horseback will ride in its shade for five hundred years.”
Hazrat Abu Hurairah (radhiyallahu anhu) reported that Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) said, “On the last night of Ramadan, my Ummah is forgiven.” He was asked if that meant on Laylatul Qadr and he said, “No”. (This merit is for the last night, the merits of Laylatul Qadr are quite apart). He (PBUH) further said, “The truth is that full wages are paid to the worker when the work is over and the work is completed in the last night. Hence, they are forgiven.”
“Please dont get offended dear bro or sis!”
it is very offensive to tell any fellow muslim that their faith is weak, especially if you don’t know them and especially if all they did was acknowledge a well known fact and especially if you accuse them of causing a mockery of our religion. that’s simply disheartening to hear.
in my book, to accuse anyone of weak faith for something as small as this is a very slippery slope towards a part of Islam no one should descend to…
Salaam. Ok… i apologise if i hurt you by saying those things. But any fellow muslim when they see “even though im not looking forward to the next decade” will respond, if i didnt care what you thoguht or felt, beleive me i wouldnt have bothered replying.
I kind of mean that i only wanted to make you understand the vitues of ramadan because it felt as though you were dreading ramadans to come by what you wrote, you are a brother, or i dont know sister so i thought id give you a bit of an eye opener by the second reply, a bit of knoledge maybe, to make you feel better in yourself and know what you will gain by ramadan. You may have even already known all that and thats fair enough.
But i got to say (i) was disheartened when i read that your not looking forward to the next decade, id rather have hardships in this world then in the hereafter if you know what i mean. Eid Mubarak.