Ramadhan

Assalamualaikum w.b.t. :)

Since this blog is indeed a place for me to write my sweet 'memories', hence it will always be in the PAST ;p (ramadhan da abis, sob3)

Alhamdulillah, I have managed to meet Ramadhan again this year :) Insya-Allah we will meet again next year. If not, He is where we will all return to :)

Ramadhan this year started off rather interestingly, as my friends and I spent it on the road travelling during our Summer-Fall 1 week break XD We knew that we would be busy once classes starts, so.. Sanggup jua berjalan2 while fasting! XD But truthfully, it was really2 energy draining XD We could hear our feet being dragged as we walked at around 1pm :P

Even so, the trip was awesome (sila rujuk previous entry :P) and how the other 3 weeks of the fasting month flew by!

Ramadhan had been very different for me since I stepped out of the house; since I was in INTEC to be exact! :)Since I was little, the only thing exciting about Ramadhan was looking forward to the big feast that my family and I would usually buy at the bazaar Ramadhan for iftar at the end of the day.

Back then, everyone was at home. So the choices of food we bought vary a lot XD Alhamdulillah, rezekiNya lebih dr cukup :)My family would buka ramai2, and yup everytime would be an iftar we would enjoy very much and sometimes get extremely bloated XD

*thank you abg wahahaha, though this is not iftar punya pic :P*
Of course, another thing I always looked forward to was Eid as well ;p

Then came my time in INTEC. (does this sound like my time in prison? okie2 wrong choice of sentence XD) Due to the convenience of having a bazaar right outside our apartments, getting food for iftar was not hard at all XD


*rinduuunyaaaaa :)*

Even though I enjoyed breaking my fast with my friends in a new environment, but I sure do missed breaking my fast with my family :)But then I surely did gained something new by fasting at INTEC. They will have terawikh prayers right at a building just within the apartments itself. (eh2 rindu Akasia plak tiba2 haha)My housemates ajak pegi solat terawikh one night. OH!



I think I did not go with them a few times, but one night I decided to go with them :) Yup2, I was curious to be honest.

That was the very first time I performed a terawikh prayer within the 17 years of my life.

Oh my dear loving friends, you guys are so lucky to be able to perform terawikh prayers wayyyyy earlier than I did :')

My first time performing terawikh~ was of course, rather awkward n nervous! XD Having only the basic knowledge my housemates had taught me on how to do the terawikh prayers, and having no idea what to recite between the 2 rakaats, I managed to do 8 that night :)Since terawikh was very new to me, I didn't perform it every night as it really did took quite some time, and I was also in a very new environment (tak dok asrama b4 this haha) so I think I only did it a few times :)

But it was a small achievement I was happy about! :)Then came my time in Pennstate. (can't find any other suitable sentence XD) Once again, the new environment became an obstacle. However, dgn semangat rakan2 yang ada, we did managed to go to the masjid (ni masa freshman haha) n had iftar there (free food kihkih) and performed terawikh as well :)

Masa sophomore plak, da pindah off campus, didn't get to go to the masjid as much, but then my seniors ade buat terawikh gilir2 kat umah2 orang :) Which I liked so much! XD

Then it was this year's Ramadhan. Still living in the same household, I was still unable to go to the masjid like the previous year. Even so, this year we had buka puasa ramai2 n sama2 gilir2 kat umah masing2, n also terawikh prayers :)
sob3 terasa sgt happy n terharu :) first time terasa such a scenario, kinda like dok kat kampung2 n pegi umah jiran2 berbuka :)

N Alhamdulillah, this year's Ramadhan I did terawikh prayers almost every night (except for the first week sbb berjalan2, n also during 'cuti' argghh) If not with my friends, this year ade semangat lebih utk perform terawikh on my own! :)
Even though performing terawikh only might not be much compared to those who stayed up all night, doing tahajjud and Qiamullail, (fuuhh hebat sungguh kalian! :D) ~I was looking for Lailatul Qadar too.. ^^

Then there was the MASA's iftar n terawikh! As usual, it was a potluck event and after that we performed our terawikh together :)
Masa tgh2 terawikh tu, dengar the imam reciting Al-Fatiha n other surahs.. Oh I felt so touched and thankful to Him for giving me this opportunity. To still be able to fast in Ramadhan, learn the-so many benefits we could gain from it. Learning to do more ibadah, do more good.

Don't get me wrong, I love my family so very very much, and I love my childhood times and would never trade them for anything :) But I wasn't brought up in an entirely Islamic environment. We only did the basics, do good and don't do bad, which is good! :) But we are missing so much on how Islam could bring so much more beauty and peace to my family, and could even bring us much closer than we already are, I truly believe :)

Being able to feel it now, truly made my tears role down my cheeks during terawikh that night. (Oh nasib baek takde org nampak, kottt :P)
Maybe for some of you, you might not understand how I feel :) Some of you might already have performed terawikh almost every Ramadhan since you were little, so it's nothing out of the norm for you :) (ish terawikh je pon, tu pon nak nangis? :P)

Well, I think I cried because I felt very lucky to still be able to feel such a wonderful thing that I have been missing out. Even after so many years, He gave me this wonderful chance. He could have just left me in my previous state of not knowing so many other good things I could do until the day I die. But, He didn't :')

Alhamdulillah. Allah is the Most Merciful, the Most Loving, and the Most Forgiving. :')