Ramadan – month of FASTING

Ramadan is coming. I am not a Muslim nor a wannabe Muslim lols. But since i am here in the Arab country – U. A. E., i should know about it and should respect.

We haven’t know yet when is the start of RAMADAN, but we are looking forward to it especially because the working hours would be lessen – meaning we can go home early. This time would be my second time here in UAE to experience RAMADAN. According to some friends, it is not that strict anymore unlike before. Some Muslim friend says that they cannot fully feel the essence of RAMADAN this past years. MAybe because UAE has been an open city particularly DUBAI. Almost all nations are already here. Since it is open city – it’s like you can do anything you want to. But we should be reminded that we need to respect their RELIGION as we are here in their land. Respect with one another, with one’s culture, with one’s religion is very important.

RAMADAN is a month of FASTING.

(For Roman Catholics, FASTING falls on HOLY WEEK – abstinence from wine and flesh is commanded for all the days, while for the Friday and Saturday an absolute fast is commanded. It is the last week of Lent. It includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday (Passion Sunday), Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Good Friday, and lasts from Palm Sunday until but not including Easter Sunday, as Easter Sunday is the first day of the new season of The Great Fifty Days. It commemorates the last week of the life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.)

Wayback to my topic – RAMADAN

Ramadan is a special month of the year for Muslims throughout the world. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. Muslims think of it as a kind of tune-up for their spiritual lives.

Fasting has many special benefits. Among these, the most important is that it is a means of learning self-control. Due to the lack of preoccupation with the satisfaction of bodily appetites during the daylight hours of fasting, a measure of ascendancy is given to one’s spiritual nature, which becomes a means of coming closer to God. Ramadan is also a time of intensive worship, reading of the Qur’an, giving charity, purifying one’s behavior, and doing good deeds.

Fasting is a way of experiencing hunger and developing sympathy for the less fortunate, and learning to thankfulness and appreciation for all of God’s bounties. Fasting is also beneficial to the health and provides a break in the cycle of rigid habits or overindulgence.

Daily period of fasting starts at the breaking of dawn and ends at the setting of the sun. In between — that is, during the daylight hours — Muslims totally abstain from food, drink, smoking, and marital sex. The usual practice is to have a pre-fast meal (suhoor) before dawn and a post-fast meal (iftar) after sunset.

The last ten days of Ramadan are a time of special spiritual power as everyone tries to come closer to God through devotions and good deeds. The night on which the first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to the Prophet, known as the Night of Power (Lailat ul-Qadr), is generally taken to be the 27th night of the month. The Qur’an states that this night is better than a thousand months. Therefore many Muslims spend the entire night in prayer.

Since Ramadan is a special time, Muslims in many parts of the world prepare certain favorite foods during this month.

It is a common practice for Muslims to break their fast at sunset with dates (iftar), following the custom of Prophet Muhammad. This is followed by the sunset prayer, which is followed by dinner. Since Ramadan emphasizes community aspects and since everyone eats dinner at the same time, Muslims often invite one another to share in the Ramadan evening meal.

Some Muslims find that they eat less for dinner during Ramadan than at other times due to stomach contraction. However, as a rule, most Muslims experience little fatigue during the day since the body becomes used to the altered routine during the first week of Ramadan.

 

Muslims use many phrases in various languages to congratulate one another for the completion of the obligation of fasting and the ‘Eid-ul-Fitr festival. Here is a sampling of them:

 

“Kullu am wa antum bi-khair” (May you be well throughout the year) – Arabic

“Atyab at-tihani bi-munasabat hulul shahru Ramadan al-Mubarak” (The most precious congratulations on the occasion of the coming of Ramadan) – Arabic

“Elveda, ey Ramazan” (Farewell, O Ramadan) – Turkish

“Kullu am wa antum bi-khair” (May you be well throughout the year) – Arabic

“‘Eid mubarak (A Blessed ‘Eid)” – universal

sigh…

 

There are some points in my life that I feel like to escape and forget everything that has been happening and live the life i am heading to.

I have made a lot of mistakes on my journey but i don’t regret any of it. My nanay said i am a hard headed, that i always insist what i want. My tatay said, i don’t have a single word of honor, that i just keep on promising. My brother said, nanay and tatay are so proud of me, they are just like that sometimes but in a real sense they are so proud of me.

In my life, i’ve been through many trials. I’ve been through many difficulties. I’ve been through many heartaches.

But i was born to be an AMBITIOUS. I may always be in pain but i know GOD is there up watching me – i know HE is guiding me.

I don’t know why i am here in U. A. E.

I hope my family would come to know that life here is not that easy.

If only i have choices, i wouldn’t be here struggling for the life i’ve been dreaming of…

I just want to have my own family and my own kids soon.

On the other side, I want to be a kid again to play all day long with nothing to worry about what would happen tomorrow….

to walk down the aisle

someday i would walk down the aisle and meet my man over there…

 

Burke: Cristina; I could promise to hold you, and to cherish you. I could promise to be there in sickness and in health. I could say ’til death do us part, but I won’t. Those vows are for optimistic couples, the ones full of hope. And I do not stand here on my wedding day optimistic or full of hope. I am not optimistic, I am not. I am sure. I am steady. And I know I am a heart man, take them apart, put them back together. I hold them in my hands. I am a heart man. So this, I am sure. You are my partner, my lover, my very best friend. My heart, my heart, beats for you. And on this day, the day of our wedding, I promise you this. I promise you to lay my heart in the palm of your hands. I promise you, me.

- dr. burke and dr yang on Grey’s Anatomy-

why Philippines?

The only place on earth where……

Every street has a basketball court.
Even doctors, lawyers and engineers are unemployed.
Doctors study to become nurses for employment abroad.
Students pay more money than they will earn afterwards.

School is considered the second home and the mall considered the third.
Call-center employees earn more money than teachers and nurses.
Everyone has his personal ghost story and superstition.

Mountains like Makiling and Banahaw are considered holy places.
Everything can be forged. All kinds of animals are edible.
Starbucks coffee is more expensive than gas.
Driving 4 kms can take as much as four hours.
Flyovers bring you from the freeway to the side streets.
Crossing the street involves running for your dear life.
The personal computer is mainly used for games and Friendster.
Where colonial mentality is dishonestly denied!
Where 4 a.m. is not even considered bedtime yet.
People can pay to defy the law.
Everything and everyone is spoofed.
Where even the poverty-stricken get to wear Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger (peke)!
The honking of car horns is a way of life.
Being called a bum is never offensive.
Floodwaters take up more than 90 percent of the streets during the rainy season.

Where everyone has a relative abroad who keeps them alive.
Where wearing your national colors make you baduy.
Where even the poverty-stricken have the latest cell phones. (GSM-galing sa magnanakaw)
Where insurance does not work.
Where water can only be classified as tap and dirty – clean water is for sale (35 pesos/gallon).
Where the government makes the people pray for miracles. (Amen to that!)
Where University of the Philippines is where all the weird people go.
Ateneo is where all the nerds go.
La Salle is where all the Chinese go.
College of Saint Benilde is where all the stupid Chinese go, and University of Asia and the Pacific is where all the irrelevantly rich people go.
Fast food is a diet meal.
Traffic signs are merely suggestions, not regulations.

Where being mugged is normal. It happens to everyone. Rodents are normal house pets.
The definition of traffic is the ‘non-movement’ of vehicles.
Where the fighter planes of the 1940s are used for military engagements, and the new fighter planes are displayed in museums.
Where cigarettes and alcohol are a necessity, and where the lottery is a commodity.

Where soap operas tell the realities of life and where the news
provides the drama. Where actors make the rules and where politicians provide the entertainment.
People can get away with stealing trillions of pesos, but not a thousand.
Where being an hour late is still considered punctual.
(Grabe talaga ‘to!) Where the squatters have more to complain (even if
they do not pay their taxes) —- than those employed and have their
tax automatically deducted from their salaries….and where everyone wants
to leave the country!

According to Manila businessman, Tonyboy Ongsiako, there is so much wit
in the Philippines because ‘. . . we are a country where a good sense of humor is needed to survive. We have a 24-hour comedy show here called the government and a huge reserve of comedians made up mostly of politicians and bad actors.

Now I ask you where else in the world would one want to live?

cellmate

i have love MICHAEL SCOFIELD the moment i watch his tv series Prison Break.  I wouldn’t mind staying in prison as long as he is my cell mate…

he is so YUMMY uuhhmmm…

i am still waiting for their Season 3…

june 27, 2002

taong 2002 nang maging mg-nobyo at mg-nobya…

ala sa hinagap na tatagal ang sinimulang relasyon…

marami ang nagulat at nagtaka…

marami ang humusga,

sapagkat CE Student c vhonn

at CE Student Assistant nman c jheng…

kapwa laging bigo sa tinatawag n pag-ibig

kapwa naghahanap ng matagalang relasyon

pinagtagpo, itinadhana ng panahon…

…

…

“…Find ARMS that will HOLD you at your WEAKEST,

EYES that will SEE you at your UGLIEST,

a HEART that will love you at your WORST…”