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

I missed a few days more than usual...

But i'm still gonna have to give anyone out there following me this month a quick recap of the past few days b/c they are so worth it.

Saturday 8/28/2010 Day 18: So "Amazing"

Well not that i really want to be on the show but my sister loves the show and is an avid fan! So i had no choice but to go and be her partner in crime and attend the amazing race tryout/casting. We had to drive to the 99 restaurant in tewksbury mass and stand in line for about 2/3 hours so we could get in front of the camera for 60 SECONDS... and try to make the biggest impression of our lives!!! Not easy haha. So if you got a random text or email from me asking you a personal question about what makes me so amazing lol then that's why not b/c i wanted to have my ego lathered with praise! Its Ramadan I'm trying not to do that.

I'll have you guys know though that in the spirit of Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" I made full use of the 60 seconds and bordered on what i would think was an insanely amazing impression haha. We'll see... I mean honestly i'm one of the best "racers" in the world man how hard could it be ;-)

Sunday 8/29/2010 Day 19: Wow, Fasting is really hard sometimes...

This morning I got up early and stayed up this time. I didn't actually go back to bed, but i stayed up reading b/c there is a hadith (hadith = story of the life/sayings of the holy last messenger; prophet Muhammad, salallah hu alaihi wa sallam = peace and blessings be upon him). It says that when one stays awake in the early part of the morning until sunrise Allah (God) will allow his rizk (rizk = daily sustenance) to come to him easily. This means that instead of working really hard your day becomes considerably easier. I'd that that's not something hard to believe nor is it hard to relate to. When I was young i though of sustenance as food and water and i noticed it was really hard to evaluate how hard i actually had to work to get it b/c mom and dad were there doing it all for me. Now that I am a little more seasoned I realize that sustenance is derived not only in the act of eating or driking but also in participating in the act of attaining the means to eat or drink. Therefore, work and your livelihood is directly related to attaining sustenance. Hence, when you sleep in late and then go to work you can often notice that you are starting behind time, and things can seem like they are a little more difficult to get done but often when you wake up early you are a lot more productive; you get your morning workout done, you have an early start with getting stuff completed and ultimately that is what keeps you in a state of balance mentally so that you can be productive in your day to day responsibilities. Ok i said all that to get to this point I was fasting so i wasn't going to eat any food but i was in a better mood for the morning and b/c i was awake i was able to go to play some morning basketball with my brother and some buddies at Elliott park in Brookline b/c they play really early in the morning on the weekends.

It had been a really long time needless to say and man it was 2 hours of the hardest fought layups that I've ever gotten. I really notice how terrible i am when i haven't played basketball in a long time and it kinda makes me self conscious. I mean i used to play all the time when i was young so i know i am amazing but...NOT NOW HAHA! It was so exhausting though. Basketball just takes it out of me b/c I am constantly banging against people trying to keep my balance with people pulling and leaning on me so when i was done i was sore in all the places I never feel on a regular track work out. I felt like i was back working at gentle giant and it was my first day back all over again. I had to fast the rest of the day too!!! My throat was parched, my legs were cramping and my feet felt like they were on fire the whole time and that is not an exaggeration.

After basketball my brother and i then went and helped my father pick up a washer and dryer...I'ma keep the story short. It took us 6 hours from 10 to 4pm. Honestly between the peak moving season and organizing vans that could do the job it was nearly impossible. Thank goodness we stuck it out and its over and we're all happy.

That day was one of the roughest days of Ramadan for me though. After b-ball man i just felt like every step i took i was going to fall b/c i just had no energy. Those are the times when you know fasting is really hard but if the mind is committed then you can always find a way to do it. We broke fast that day at 7:20 or so and it couldn't have come a moment too soon haha. I think i drank about 40 cups of water that night haha ok maybe more like 13 but you catch my drift.

Monday 8/30/2010 Day 20: Back to school again!!!

Well this day was a pretty exciting day. I got to teach at SCSU as an adjuct professor, and it was the first day of classes so the campus was transformed from ghostown to live and living city of new haven all over again wooooohoooooo!!! Thats great but also difficult. Its great to see all the athletes again but its so distracting when there are so many new people and campus events going on at the same time. I must say though I did well and had a productive day one of school. Lecture was good, kids on the team were fired up to be back, I fasted ;-) and even managed to go out on a 20 min run and some bare for striders! I'm the man...

Holla back!

Ma assalama my people
Mustafa

Day 16

Ran though a pack of dogs today. Had no idea where i was going b/c i was walking through some really thick bushes! then all of a sudden I stumble on an open field and see a pack of dogs. They immediately just start chasing me and run me all the way back through the bushes and up this really short tree which was high enough just to keep me out of their mouths!

J/K: Now wouldn't that have been exciting haha. Not really!
The truth is it was just another day in the month of good ole Ramadan. I had suhoor (i'm getting good at it again yaaay!) and then went to SCSU to see if i could meet the new president of the school! I didn't get to meet him in the organized setting that we had planned to meet him. I cant say i am mad though b/c the plan was to hang out at an ice cream social and if you only knew how torturous that would have been for me just imagine yourself there not allowed to eat any of it! Instead, as me and the other track coaches were walking across campus to check on some friends we bumped into him for a very brief but fulfilling moment!

I have been keeping up with the reading and the days have been boring by design so as to maximize on my subr (subr = patience) and self awareness and restraint. Sorry for boring yall... the fun stuff is coming... I hope lol.

Ma-assalama
Mustafa