Years go by...

Another year gone, standing at the doorstep of another Ramadan...

I was sifting through my previous Ramadan posts and stumbled upon one from 2007, when I was requesting duas for a close family friend whose breast cancer had returned after years of remission. She passed away earlier this year; inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajioon [We belong to God and to Him we shall return]. May Allah swt forgive her sins, multiply her good deeds, fill her grave with noor and allow her easy entrance into the highest levels of Jannah without reckoning, ameen.

Another year, another Ramadan. Two days in and I'm still hesitant on my resolutions. Being unemployed, I feel like I have immense time to make the best use of this month...yet somehow these gaping empty hours are somehow more daunting than any tight schedule of Ramadans past. What books should I read? What lectures should I listen to? What should I do? How can I ensure that all my actions actually have an effect on my spirituality, my soul and my relationship with God? Focus on worship; remember to feel.

I love how Islam is so tuned in with our human nature. Will write about this later. Maybe. InshaAllah.

The goals for this month:
- Finish Zaid Shakir's "Scattered Pictures"; put a dent in Hamza Yusuf's "Purification of the Heart" and read along "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" for the book club
- set up volunteer hours at the food bank -- every Saturday with the group, twice a week for myself.
- Reading 5 paras (inshaAllah, inshaAllah) of the Quran on my own. I know this is doable, albeit difficult. It shouldn't be difficult. I know it's important. Must remember to read with my heart and not (just) with my head.
- Taraweeh, at least 5 nights/week.

It's the month of dua (supplication). Keep it up.