Monday, October 1, 2007

Exhaustion?

Three good friends (not the three musketeers) went for terawih prayers at the same mosque yesterday. At the end of it, all three were exhausted. One exclaimed: "I will go to a mosque which ends super-duper-faster tomorrow." Yet another said: "I will do just 8 rakaats and then leave."

It was indeed a tiring day yesterday - what with the hot weather. But, Alhamdulillah, at the end of it, a deliciously-fattening-cold-milkshake fixed the problem - and our moods resumed to normalcy.

But, in truth, it is in moments such as yesterday, that the "tastes" of ibadah becomes ever so sweet. As we approach the second-half of this blessed month, we see lesser congregations at the mosques as most people are beginning to feel the 'strain' and 'exhaustion' from the fasting, the weather, the illness etc. Lesser people gather together in the mosques for congregation. Yet, the number of people who gather at night bazaars along Geylang is ever-increasing even cabs refused to pass by. This scenario repeats itself every year.

We are so not logical.

Theologically, there are more reasons to increase our service to The Almighty at home or at the mosques in this second half of Ramadhan.

Indeed, only those with Faith holds patience. Only the 'special ones' persevere. Only those who persevere will be rewarded with Laylatul Qadr.

Only those who search, will find.

It will be easier to give up. But, it takes a real special person to hold on.

What we do, defines us. The rest of our talk, is completely unnecessary.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree more to what Ust has to say about the decreasing number of jemaahs at the mosques on the final moments of Ramadan.

Only faith will determine how we can manage and survive till the end, and thus, the "Hari Kemenangan" can be felt throughout Syawal and beyond.

It's kinda sad actually as we'll not know if we ever meet next year's Ramadan again. Wallahu'alam.

And talking about that deliciously-fattening-cold-milkshake... hmmm... I'm beginning to crave for it. Aaargh.

Anonymous said...

if there is a petition to ban the ramadan bazaar i will be the first to sign.
this is a funny month. at the office colleagues talk about the food offerings at the bazaars and ramandan feasts at hotels. instead of educating abt the beauty of the month, it ended up being a month long lessons on malay food :(

Anonymous said...

Little Miss Pinky,

Having a Ramadan bazaar is not wrong actually. What most important is how you divide your time between visiting the bazaar and ur obligations during the holy month of Ramadan.

But we shouldn't pay much attention what are being sold there, except the bazaar is an "alternative" to finding varieties of HALAL food for iftar. And especially in Singapore when HALAL food is very limited.

Terpulang pada individu. Tepuk dada tanya selera. =)

the seeker said...

Hehehe...yesterday I went to a nearby mosque for terawih, expecting small number of crowd. However, it was full house, which was a nice surprise. Then today when I went, instead of full house, only half of the jemaah came. Then I realised that the night before was full house because of Ust Ismail Kamus who gave a syarahan after 8 rakaat terawih. Hmmm he is always a hit with the older generations. I agree with you about the strength of jemaah especially towards the end of Ramadhan.
Oh I'm definitely going to miss the beautiful recitation of the Quran from the Imam hafiz who came all the way from Terengganu...So syahdu...

Anonymous said...

Hmmm.. sounds like u went to Al-Mukminin mosque... or Al-Falah. Wrong? :D