Archive

When the end of Ramadan approaches, Muslims everywhere get ready for the celebration of the festival of Eid ul Fitr, known in this region as Hari Raya Puasa or Hari Raya Aidilfitri. One of the more interesting things about how Raya is celebrated, as the festival is commonly known, is that celebrations stretch for the […]

  As I sit in the office this week trying to write “How to Get Over the Mid-Ramadan Slump”, words evade me. All I can think of is the visits to and fro the hospital as I visit my 23-year-old cousin who lie 97% motionless, with wires & tubes coming out of his nose and […]

Since getting older, I have a newfound appreciation for how Islam is practised in Singapore. While a younger me might have been been confused at what was being recited in between tarawih prayers at the mosque and read along after it got familiar to my ears, I now actually know what I’m reciting and understand […]

If you have non-Muslim colleagues who are missing their lunch buddies this month, perhaps this will give them a better idea of what’s really going on with Muslims this Ramadan. Your Muslim classmates and colleagues may look pale, have chapped lips and look adoringly at the clock counting down to 713pm to break their fast, but […]

SimplyIslam’s Ramadan Charity Basket is happening for the 7th year running. This year, we interviewed 4 of our recipients so that our donors may know more intimately how and who they are helping. When I first set out for the interviews, I expected heart-wrenching stories and  tearful pleas for help. What I got instead was […]

  I remember attending a lecture lead by a scholar last Ramadan. In it, one message hit home: “Where exactly is my heart placed?” Does your heart lie with the Dunya – where it is only able to sight short-term pleasures and seek temporal conveniences? Or does your heart surround itself in search of Jannah in […]

Baihaqi reported on the authority of Salman Al-Farsi (RA) that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) delivered a sermon on the last day of the month of Sha’ban. In it our beloved Prophet (SAW) said: “O People! The month of Allah (Ramadan) has come with its mercies, blessings and forgivenesses. Allah has decreed this month the best of […]

The mosques are empty once again, the Holy Qura’n on the bookshelf has started getting washed in dust, we have started missing Fajr prayers, and the humility we had acquired during the month has started leaving us. We are back into the modern life style that dictates us to be busy with the ornaments of […]

At the start of Ramadan, I was alerted to this radical blog: The New MethoFesto. Why was it so radical? In a world that recently seems to love to hate Muslims, here was a Methodist Pastor who willingly embarked on a month-long fast in solidarity with the Muslims. He wrote his reflections almost daily and […]

To great lovers of the Internet, television and social media, allow me to apologise for my attempt at the audacious. I am using the power of electronic media to denounce electronic media. I am using it so that you don’t have to, at least until Ramadhan’s over. This is my literary kamikaze, my swan song […]

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Qul inna Salati, Wanusuki, Wamahyaya, Wamamati, Lillahi Rabbil Alamin.. This very same ayah in Surat Al An’am [Ayat 162], is the very same du’a we recite in the Iftitah. We admit, at least 5 times a day in our daily lives that our Salah, our rites of Sacrifice (for the Deen), our living.. and […]

A non-Muslim friend approached me recently to wish me an enjoyable weekend, before catching herself and saying “Oh, but you’ll be fasting this weekend. “ And in my heart, I was thinking “By Allah, as though there was no enjoyment in Ramadan”. I approach this Ramadan, as I have every Ramadan prior, with a sense […]

Two years ago, while I was in Siem Reap, Cambodia, I saw something which I feel has changed me in ways little else has. I was with a group of friends, and we were all having dinner under the stars at a roadside food stall. Another group at the table next to us had finished […]

[imagebrowser id=6] “Capture the Spirit of Ramadan” International Photography Competition is a unique and unprecedented 30-day visual celebration that will educate and enlighten thousands of viewers around the world. It will showcase the skills and imagination of talented photographers from around the world as they share their techniques and personal anecdotes about cultural and religious […]

When I was younger, Ramadan to me meant waking up at a dreadful hour, then eating as much as I could during sahur (much like a bear preparing to go into hibernation) and then minimising all activities that would require any movement during the day, preferring to be horizontal as much as I could. With […]