Eid Mubarak!!!

Well I celebrated Eid today after all! It was a good day man. I woke up nice and early, did some reading and then got ready for Eid. This Eid was also really nice b/c after the prayer we got to actually eat homemade food and the kids got to play on a bounce-about and play basketball etc. I also got to serve cotton candy for the first time so that was especially fun. Eid is a fun and celebratory time so this day felt like it had all of the festivities necessary and so it was a good feeling. Now I just have about 6-8 more days to fast and then i'm done for a little bit. The reason i fast an extra 6 days after Ramadan is b/c there is a hadith that says to fast an additional 6 days in the first month following Ramadan and you will get rewards as if you had fasted the entire year! The other 2 days that I may do to add on are just to satisfy me for some days that i felt my fast in Ramadan may have been a little bit compromised unintentionally.

Talk again soon,
Ma'assalama
Mustafa

PS My hair cut also felt good today. I could feel the breeze tickle my ears as it flickered past them while I ran. It gives me chills and goose bumps to feel that! I love new hair cuts.

OH yea

I dont get hair cuts often and i espeically dont go to barbers a lot. Last year in march was the first time i had my hair cut by a real barber in about 13 years. It was kind of a rude awakening haha. But I've since gotten a little less worried and grown a little more trusting. I got a nice hair cut today man... I was especially proud when I got back to SCSU and everybody was all excited to see me with my new hair cut and congratulating me haha. It felt good especially when our AD saw me and said "wow!!! Nice hair cut I like it now thats aerodynamic." I knew she liked it and I was really happy to make her kinda show some genuine pride in me. Those were the first really real positive words she had said to me since i started working at SCSU so it was a big deal. Plus, I was in the barber shop waiting for about and hour and a half but its all good b/c i got a decent cut. I still feel like $15 is a lot to pay for a hair cut especially when you're used to gettting it done for free but if i do it only 1-4 times a year its not a problem ;-). Thats the plan man. I gotta get some head shots posted so you guys can see the new me man (while it STILL IS the new me). I loved it man... its just too bad i wont be doing this again for another 3 months or so haha ;-).

Ma'assalama
Mustafa

Confessions

Ramadan is just about over and now i'm gonna come clean. I dont usually follow the calendar that they put out on the exact times of the beginning and end of ramadan to be honest. What i do is I start counting the days of the moon about 3 months before Ramadan comes and then i watch the moon from that point on. A lot of times I dont end up seeing the moon and when that happens the proper protocall as I was taught according to the Sunnah of Muhammad (SAS) is that you are supposed to look for the moon after the 29th day in whatever month you are in and then if you see it at sunset of the 29th day then the next month begins and if you dont then proceed with the 30th day of that month and then sunset of that day is the beginning of the next month.

Ramadan falls in this same category. However, with the islamic calendar coming out for the whole year we often find that some people follow the calendar's dates and others dont and try to look for the moon. I am one of the "look for the moon" school of thought. Thats the way I grew up doing it and thats the way i like to do it. Therefore, I am fasting today as my 29th day of fasting and if i dont see the moon tonight then I will continue to fast tomorrow and have Eid-ul-Fitr saturday. Crazy!!! but thats just how it is.

I have been running again and my body actually feels pretty good. Foots not killing me and the ankle is doing well also. Fasting and being structured and disciplined is really helping me i guess. Its kinda taking me back to the days of college when i had a lot of stuff to do and just couldn't relax haha. Good ole Dartmouth man. I love that place. Dont know what i would do if I lived in Jersey right next to princeton...??? however i do know how one princeton alum feels about her experience and life in hanover. I dont want to overstate this but "LOVES IT!!!"

I rest my case... Go green!

Ma-assalama people!
Mustafa

Last few days...

Today must be like my 28th day... Its crazy how long it seems before you start ramadan then how fast it actually feel like it went by when its over. Well i know i'm meeting the goals i've set for myself this month. I've just about finished the Holy Quran in Arabic. i've been doing all my other reading as well. I'm feeling decent about the month but in all honesty i know i could have done better and I will try to do better next time. Its funny b/c Next year its gonna be world champs and that might fall in/around Ramadan and if that does and i'm there... well you know the rest. I've been doing a thing or two with my training these days. Its ironic that i've started in Ramadan huh... Well its just about done and now i just have to get through a few more days and a week. Gotta keep the spirit man, bc if anything Ramadan has taught me its that i dont really need all of the things that i've had busying my life lately. So if i can slow things down then I can focus better then I will be scarey!!! Just gotta keep taking it one day at a time man... one day at a time.

Ramadan is amazing and is a blessing from Allah that i just cant quantify or put into words. Eid (Eid = party/celebration) the celebration after Ramadan is great too ;-)

Love you all
Ma-assalama
Mustafa

There is a video attached to this blog of a night I was at Tarawi (Tarawi = extra night time prayer done during Ramadan) you have to click the title of this blog though to get there!!! Enjoy... His recitation is so beautiful!

Its almost over man! bitter sweet though...

Well my last blog was Thursday sorry for the missed days. It’s been pretty busy these days. That’s kinda the best thing for Ramadan being busy and productive or active. Frankly its just so tedious if you don’t have anything to do to take your mind away from the fact that you're fasting. Don’t feel sorry for us fasting just look to get involved ;-).

Friday i was so busy had so much to do. I had to teach class, then go map out a 10k loop for our cross country guys, then went to Jumah (friday prayer), then came back and watched them run the 6.2 mile loop, then finally i got to go and kick my own but in 9x300. Wow what a day! Got it done though... That’s my motto this year... just get stuff done and take things one day one task one interval at a time and keep a positive attitude. Have fun with it.

Saturday was my day of catching up and getting back control of my spiritual goals for Ramadan. I had fallen behind the past 2/3 days in my reading of the Holy Quran (in Arabic). Frankly I just had to get out of the house and go and focus on what i had to do. I went to the mosque for the whole day and just read and read and read some more. eventually I caught up, went ahead, and felt good about myself again. That’s the way to do it man. I think i will do that again.

I will say more soon

Maassalam
Mustafa

Ramadan day (I forget right now)

why cant the days and weeks and months just all be in Arabic and done by the Gregorian calendar man? Sometimes its just too hard to keep track of the days of the Islamic calendar and the days everyone else is using without messing up one. Anyway, today was nice man. My brother came and checked me in CT last night and it was good. We always have a good time. We went to the mosque and did Tarawi (night prayer supplemental prayers during the month of Ramadan). We were standing by one of the most beautiful Hafiz/Qarees I've ever heard.

Hafiz = one who has memorized the entire Holy Quran from cover to cover.
Qaree = one who recites Holy Quran to perfection

Often if you are a Hafiz you are a Qaree by default but that is not always the case. This is not the first time I've been there to hear him but its the first time I've ever brought someone to the mosque to hear him. I am forgetting his name right now but i will get that for you.

anyway man Its getting kind of hectic right now just seeing Ramadan dwindle away right now. I want to get it over with so bad but I also realize when its gone this level of spiritual motivation in the community will be gone so it will be a big time struggle for now one. So I'm torn between loving it and enjoying every day and just drooling over every snicker bar i see!!! I will be aight inshallah (Inshallah = God willing)

One love you all
Ma-assalama
Mustafa