Ramadan Kareem!

I know this is a bit late, but a combination of illness and ohmyGodtheholidaysareendingandIhavetonnesofhomeworktodo prevented me from writing this. I also was waiting for someone else to write one of these posts, or I donno, something related, but it didn't happen...

Anyway, the point is, to all my Muslim brothers and sisters out there:

... well, I mean, the title said it all.

And to everyone else, well, how are y'all doin'? You know it's much easier to type that than say it. I mean, I just tried saying that, but, erm, it sounds weird. Whatever. It sounds about right in my head.

So for those of you who don't know what Ramadan's all about, I wrote a post about it here, and also, this is one of the first posts of Ghadeer's that I read, and I feel like it just perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere. So now that we're in the spirit, I'ma continue.

I've only been on the blogosphere for two Ramadans, so I don't know if I can actually call this a 'tradition' yet, but both years I set myself a theme. I already had it in mind what I wanted to do this year, but for the aforementioned reason of ohmyGodtheholidaysareendingandIhavetonnesofhomeworktodo, I felt like I couldn't do it because I hadn't done enough research to do this... topic... justice. So insha'allah, I'm saving it for next year.

But I just can't let Ramadan go without Something, you know? So I just decided I'll put up random stuff every week or so. Maybe. I don't know.

Well, whatever, I was just looking for an excuse to share this video:

(OH, um, just in case you get ideas by that title, it's not in any way putting down Jesus or anything. I mean, duh, we believe in him too. Maybe differently, but still with the same respect we give Muhammad (SAW) )

Okay, I confess, I sort'vemaybe am a littlebitinlove with him. His name is Kamal Saleh, and this year he was at the annual Mercy Mission/Al Kauthar conference - this one being 'Twins of Faith'. I, however, knew him from earlier on from this video my older sister's non-Muslm friend showed us - one on love and marriage. I was star-struck then, but even more so when that awful 'Innocence of Muslims' video showed up. If you check out my 'Better View' page (does anyone check that out?), I put his response video up there then. I just love that he has all the right words, all the right knowledge. Me? I was on the verge of posting my own response to that video, but I knew I'd just go insane with rage, and it'd come out a little like this:

... and we had enough crazy Muslims on the loose.

So I let Kamal do his thing and I fell in love with him. The best part, the best part is - I didn't actually go to the Twins of Faith thing, because it was too expensive for us this year, and I didn't volunteer because I thought school would be busy (which it wasn't -_-'). But he was here this year, and my sister got the DVD as a volunteer, and he was just so bashful, in a way, on stage, like, he looked so nervous and gentle and AAAAAGH 

I'MGONNADIE.

Yeah. So now I'm showing you that video, because I think it's just so lovely again, and I wish I could speak so reasonably like that, so eloquently, so knowledgably (that a word?).

Also, I heard this conference (the Mercy Mission/Al Kauthar one - I can never tell which one) touched down in Dubai and Pakistan! You GUYS. Go check it out and when it happens x) If it's the same as the ones here, well, they're superdy awesome.

Just some random scenes from this Ramadan:

Haloomi does her first ever full day fast:
My mother has just come home from work, and we're setting the table for iftar. She's flicking through some letters.
"Ma, Haloomi didn't break her fast," I say.
"Mhm," she says absentmindedly. "It's okay. It's just her first one. She's still little."
"Ma," I say. "She didn't break her fast."
She freezes. Looks up at me slowly. Stares. Gawks.
"Are you sure? Really? Truly? Are you sure she's not lying?" All the words tumble out at once, and I'm all like way to have faith in your kids.
But I'm pleased, because Louise has come over for iftar with her girls, and I can hear my mother speaking proudly, and it makes me proud because these are the things she won't say to our face. For example:
To me: Why don't you ever study? You're so lazy! Do you know soandso's daughter/son wakes up at 7am to study, and doesn't stop studying even past midnight? But look at you, reading, sleeping at 10! Shame, shame, shame!
To her friends: Yeah, my Laila, she's so organised, she always brings home good grades, masha'allah, she wakes up on time, and sleeps on time, and she does all her study within organised times, and she's trying to be healthy too...

So when I hear her bragging, it makes me so happy :)

My mother babys my older cousin, who's like twentysomething:
If there's food on the stove, all cooked, it's just expected that we (my sisters and I) come and serve ourselves and eat up on time. My cousin, on the other hand, has to be told. She needs to wake him up to go to work or uni, but I have to set my own alarm. It's no big deal, but she just treats him like her ickle baby, and I'm like, woman, if you miss babying, have another kid - your nephew is a MAN. Stop spoonfeeding him.
So the other night, she was at work and she was to come home after iftar. She told us to pack some food for my cousin before he went to work. He was all like 'nah, I'll have it when I come back.' I packed it anyway, I put it on the table, I told him to humour me, humour my mother, but he just waved us off. My older sister was like 'what're we going to do? Mother's going to kill us.'
I was like, 'Leave it on the table so she can see that we did our bit.'
So mother comes home, and I point it out, and tell her just that. She stares at it for a moment, then looks at us with disbelief. 
"Are you serious?" she snaps. "That's all you packed him?"

And now I'm going to go and not stay up late reading thus resulting in my waking up late and doing everything late so that homework starts at 4pm and even then I'll be watching Superwoman videos. No, no. That will not happen.

Wishing y'all happy days (Y'ALL. It just sounds so BIZARRE.) and lots of hugs. And patience and yummy food. 

Peace in,
Laila