Rajabun Shahrullah | Reflecting on Rajab

Bismillah.

Today is the first day of Rajab.
Rajabun shahrullah.
So I learned, it means Rajab is the month of Allah.
Ana saima.
So I learned, it means 'I am fasting' for females.
Ana saim - for male, if any of you male reader is fasting today.
Let us all pray:
"O Allah, bless us in the month of Rajab and Shaaban and let us see the month of Ramadhan."

*****

It's a public holiday in Malaysia today because it's on the 1st of May. It's Labor Day. I will admit it's challenging to fast on this day because the mind is thinking about enjoying the holiday, being lazy at home, eating and snacking to my heart's content. But Rajab has arrived. Taming the nafs is quite a feat.  

Reminds me of an ayat I chanced upon when reading seerah-un-nabi this morning. It's words of encouragement indeed: "Inna kazaa lika najzil muhsinin." This is how We reward those who are good in their deeds." - from As Saffat 105

Today, my niyyat is to fill the day with reading seerah, blogging (a posting on Yasmin Mogahed is on the way InshaAllah) and learning/memorizing simple Arabic sentences. If you are like me, you are a late starter as far as learning Arabic is concerned you should get these books published by Darul Andalus of Singapore. It's for kids but why not? For RM117, you will get 30 books and 3 DVDs. That's more than value-for-money' if your niyyat is to learn Arabic and understand the Quran better. 

And may Allah have a lil mercy on this faqir for marketing the language of the Quran :)

Fanahnu kholqullah.

We are Allah's creations.

Wassalamualaikum warahmatullah.

E. Ismail

p/s 

1. Darul Andalus has a booth at the KL International Book Fair at PWTC. The book fair ends this coming Sunday.

2. The seerah book published by YADIM Malaysia is a must buy. It's a Malay translation of Ar-Raheeq al-Makthum by Shaykh Safiiyu al-Rahman al-Mubarakfuri. The book was the first prize winner of a seerah competition organized by Rabitah Alam Islami of Makkah.