Ramadan 1430H

Today is the fifth day of Ramadan of the year 1430H. Alhamdullilah, so far I have not been hit by painful headache or aching caused by joint pain unlike the previous fasting months. Perhaps, the zyloric that I am taking on daily basis now has reduced the Uric Acid level in my body. The craving for cigarette is also reduced tremendously and alhamdullilah, this year's Ramadan I did not suffer from Nicotine Withdrawal! Thanks to the Quitting Smoking initiative I am doing at the moment post my littho surgery last month.

The number of Jemaah going to the BJ mosque for tarawih has also increased significantly. This is normally the time of the year where one can meet up with many muslim brothers whom on any normal days or months will probably come to the mosque for Friday prayers only. Despite the extension to the back and left sides of the mosque, the capacity seem inadequate especially on the first night where some had to pray on the pavement. Although this is very encouraging, it will be a lot nicer to see such a large crowd on normal days after Ramadan :-) Good thing is, even Fajar prayer congregation also increased significantly. I counted up to 5-6 rows of jemaah (excluding the muslimah section) and if each row accomodates 35-40 people, we can get few hundred jemaah attending Fajar Prayers!

My doa and azam for this Ramadan is to complete full 30 days of tarawih. The last time I did this was probably when i was in secondary school more than 25 years ago! May Allah give me the strength and accept all the ibadah I have done thus far..amin..

A New Start

It started with some kind of mild stomach and back pain after the Friendly Futsal and Bowling game on Saturday afternoon. But the pain grew stronger and stronger until I could not longer endure it and told my other half to take me to the nearest clinic at home. At the clinic, the doctor quickly diagnosed the pain as stone related although at that time it was not conclusive. I was then referred to DEMC Hospital for a thorough diagnose but eventually ended up hospitalised at SMC due to some medical insurance administrative issue.



However, alhamdullilah, on Monday I underwent Lithotripsy procedure at SMC to remove the stone from my left kidney. The operation took more than 2 hours to complete and I was ordered to be hospitalised at the SMC for three nights.


I don't wish to elaborate on the details of the surgery nor do I want to elaborate on my stay at SMC. Suffice to say that the stay was relatively pleasant but I think the room at the DEMC which I was temporarily assigned initially is much better :-)

What I learnt from this experience of being hospitalised for the first time in my life is that Allah gives us a lot of rezeki and ujian in this world that sometimes we take for granted. Rezeki that comes from Allah is not only in terms of money or power but simple pleasure such as feeling sleepy at night, able to eat freely without side effect, able to walk without pain in the foot, able to breathe easily or even able to pass urine easily are all rezeki that we as normal human beings, simply overlook many times. We always want more money, more power more anything but seldom that we cherish what we already have. In other words, we always count what we cannot get but we do not count our blessings.

Sometimes ujian like this, being hospitalise like I did, also can teach us that we must always be prepared for the ultimate. Allah can always take us away from this world at anytime and no amount of money can stop us from this to happen. We shall not fear the death itself but the life after death instead. As a moslem, simply put, we must stay focus on the herefater and must always ask guidance from Allah to lead our lives in this temporary world.

I also made a resolution that I want to stop smoking. Today is the 10th day for me going smokeless and I pray that Allah will help and guide me to completely forgot the joy of smoking so that I can become a better moslem and can become a better role model to my family and the people that I lead.



For my memory during my stay at SMC as in the above pic, I can only qoute the lyrics from the late (or is it Allahyarham?) MJ...

..for you don't need my now, I will stay in your heart, and when things fall apart..you'll remember someday....One Day in Your Life..