.: Night of Power :.

From Deeds in 60 Seconds.

Just a few more days and we shall soon enter the last 10 nights of Ramadhan. In seeking the blessed night of Laylatul Qadr, a night better than a thousand nights, hopefully we can include some of these duas in our daily worship even after Ramadhan has ended. 

1. Ya Allah grant me Ultimate Success - safety from the Fire and entry into Jannatul Firdous 

2. Ya Allah make me and my family of those companions of the Right. Who receive the book of deeds in our right hands. 

3. Ya Allah, Grant me a blessed death. Let me utter the shahada before I die. Grant me the intercession of Prophet Mohammed ﷺ 

4. Ya Allah grant me the companionship of Prophet Mohammed ﷺ his family and the Sahaba's in Jannatul Firdous. 

5. Ya Allah save my non-Muslim friends from the Fire. Guide them to Islam. 

6. Ya Allah, reunite me in Jannathul Firdous with those whom I love for Your sake alone. 

7. Ya Rabb, perfect my Deen and my Worship.  

8. Ya Allah accept my good deeds and increase me in reward and Your Mercy. Wipe away my sins and pardon me completely. Shower your Mercy upon me and save me from disgrace on the Day of Reckoning.  

9. Ya Allah, when I die, let my soul and my record of Deeds be with the Illiyeen.  

10. Ya Allah grant me, my parents, family and children guidance, steadfastness and increased Imaan.  

11. Ya Allah, make me of the few You love, You Pardon and You shade on a Day when there is no shade but from Your Majestic Arsh (Throne).  

12. Oh my Lord, increase me in Yakeen and Tawakkul in you. Let there be no doubt in my belief in Your Oneness, Your Majesty and Power. 

13. Ya Allah increase me in my love for You and Your Prophet Mohammed ﷺ 

14. Ya Allah forgive me and increase me in Your Blessings and Provisions.  

15. Ya Allah lead me to more opportunities to do good and seeking Your Pleasure.  

16. Ya Rabb, Purify my intentions for Your Sake alone and let me not show off or take false pride. Save me from arrogance, pride, showing off and reminding of favors.  

17. Oh my Creator and Sustainer, do not leave me alone. Bless me with a righteous spouse and children who will be the coolness of my eyes.  

18. Oh my Lord, make me of those who are patient and obedient to You and my parents.  

19. Save me from the Fitnah of Dajjal.  

20. Save me from the punishment of the grave and the punishment of the Hell Fire.  

21. Ya Allah, increase me in Sadakatul Jariya work.  

22. Ya Allah, bless me with good health, so I can make sajdah with ease till my dying day.  

23. Ya Allah, protect me and the Muslim Ummah against wicked oppressors. Save us from Fitnah and give us ease in our times of trial.  

24. My Lord, bless me with the best in this world, the best in the Hereafter and save me from the fire. I am indeed in need of the good You have in store for me.  

25. Ya Allah increase me in gratitude towards You alone.  

26. Oh my Rabb, save me from hypocrisy.  

27. Ya Allah, let me and my spouse be among the pilgrims to perform Hajj in 2016.  

28. Ya Allah protect me against Evil Jinns and Spirits. Safeguard me from their evil incitements and plots.  

29. Ya Allah forgive and have Mercy upon my parents, as they looked after me when I was young.  

30. Ya Allah, I pray and beg of you for the guidance of the Muslim Youth and Ummah. Save us all from Kufr, Despair, Misdeeds and Shirk. 

31. Ya Allah grant me the strength to battle laziness and sleep, so I may wake up for ‪#‎Tahajjud‬ and ‪#‎Fajr‬ everyday. 

Ameen ya Rabb.

6.05am, Malaysian Time

.: Ramadhan bits :.

Halfway through.

Keep others in mind.

11.57am, Malaysian Time

.: Unfathomable betrayal :.

By the ones you trust.

Often at Islamic lectures, the speaker would remind us:

"Would you want someone to do that to your mother? Would you allow someone to do that to your sister? Would you, yourself, do that to your daughter?

If your answer is no, then do not do it to someone else. That someone could be someone's mother, sister, daughter."

For the past one week I have been reading numerous confessions on sexual accounts, or if i can put it bluntly, sexual assaults. Sexual assaults committed by none other than the people who these girls trust the most. The ones who are supposed to protect them. The ones who are given the honorable titles such as "Father", "Brother", "Uncle", "Grandfather". 

Yet these honorable titles went on a path worse than beasts by choosing to submit to their devilish desires. They chose to become the predators who destroyed the lives of these innocent girls, their very own flesh and blood. 

To think that this monstrosity takes place in Malaysia, and could possible take place in our very own backyard is repulsive.  

To think that some of these monsters also prey on other innocent victims, without the slightest feeling of guilt or disgust is repulsive. 

To think that there are many more victims who chose to remain silent, who had to relive the nightmares till the day they die, the ones who never got out alive is repulsive.

To think that Muslims, yes Muslims are committing these acts gleefully is repulsive.

The very thought of having to write this post is repulsive.

On this day, a rainy Friday, in Ramadhan and minutes before the Maghrib adhan, I pray may Allah heal the victims, may Allah protect all girls and women from these beasts, and may Allah punish these beastly perpetrators severely should they choose to not repent and fear Allah, Allahumma ameen, thumma ameen.

Beasts living among us.

7.03pm, Malaysian Time

.: Marital bliss :.

我们结婚了！

Entering the second week of Ramadhan. Time sure flies doesn't it? Recently one of my friends asked how has Ramadhan been like as a newly married couple. The introvert in me had to keep it succinct with a tinge of sweetness thus I came back with, "All well, Alhamdulillah." 

And I am still far from divulging further privy details in the blog either. 

One thing that I would like to share though is my keenness to explore, learn and understand the intricacies of my husband's side in observing Ramadhan. Not exactly by the family, more of his entire race. I work macro down to micro level, and I like to cover as many aspects as possible. So I re-activated my Weibo account and began scouring for Chinese Muslim profiles. One can say I became like some sort of a stalker, full of glee at the first slight indication that a profile could possibly belong to a Chinese Muslim. 

Alhamdulillah, eventually this obsession paid off. Found close to 50 profiles, where like most Muslim profiles, shared their daily Ramadhan rituals, supplications and reminders. Quite a number are into fashion so I did get a fair share of the hijab tutorials. Not too different from ours here in Malaysia. Even followed an account that does Islamic lectures in Chinese. Out of the 50, I connected with about 5 of them. At this age, introversion is fully embedded in me. 

Will this continue after Ramadhan? Probably. It fascinates me how diverse our religion is. We may be of a different race, speak a different language, look differently, have different preferences, yet we are very much alike. The more we seek each other out, the more we realise we are not that different after all. The religion, in some ways, unites us.  

How I would like to end this is break out from your nutshell, breakaway from your comfort zone and go ahead to venture into the unknown. Get to know other people. People from another race, another religion, another country. People with varied backgrounds and lifestyles. Open your mind and heart to just be aware that there are other people out there. After all, we are created differently so we can learn from each other. 

Limitless learning. 

10.42am, Malaysian Time