Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar. La ilaaha il Allah Allahu akbar. Allah hu akbar Wa Lillaahi'lhamd..
Meaning: Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest. There is no god worthy of worship except Allah. Allah is the greatest and all praise due to Allah.

The takbir Aidilfitri (above prayer) has never failed to cause a lump in my throat. For any muslim who hears the melodic reading of the takbir, Im quite sure a myriad of emotions will run through his/her veins. It marks the end of Ramadan. The holy month when the gates of heaven are open and that of hell, closed, with syaitan chained away. The month of introspection, the month of renewed faith. I was struggling to hold back my tears last night during break fast when the prayer came on the radio.

I felt a tinge of regret because this Ramadan hasnt been as fruitful as I wished I had made it out to be. For one, I was consumed by worldly affairs, grumbling about tests, datelines, work,etc. etc. I did not manage to read as much on my faith as I wanted to. I did not sembahyang terawih as often as I would like to. It was only towards the remaining days that I felt this indescribable feeling of blessed to be born Muslim. To be proud of who I am. In spite of the unfortunate misunderstandings of this beautiful religion.

I read the papers today and I felt a rush when I read how this boy read up on various religions and settled on Islam. Alhamdulillah. Now, dont get me wrong, I dont support evangelism at all. I dont believe in pushing people, cornering them into adopting a faith out of obligation or guilt. So, when I hear about people reading up on Islam by themselves, completely voluntary, and trying to understand it with a clear mind, I feel happy for them. Even if they dont end up Muslims, at least they had a thorough read about it :) Thats what the boy did. Good on him :)

The other thing I'll miss abt Ramadan will be the nightly dinners with my family. There's hardly any other period except Ramadan when everyone at home makes their darnest effort to break fast together, and then pray as a family.

Anyway, Insya-Allah, we'll get to experience the next Ramadan together :)

So, today's Hari Raya! :):):) As usual, my family winds up rushing to clean the house and stuff cos everyone's busy with work every other day. Everything's so last minute. Can you believe I was in the middle of scrubbing my toilet when aunty and family came over. So embarrasing. So cleaning and stuff was done by 2 plus. Then we slacked around and finally left home at 5pm. Haha! We managed to cover 4 houses today and I think that's it for me this year cos I have lots of work to finish.

In a nutshell, only 1 relative remarked abt me gaining weight (wohhoo!) and another said I lost weight (she must be short sighted) :) Overall, ok la..I enjoyed myself :)

Alright, its nearly midnight. I'll need to finish up some work before I sleep.

So, I just want to end this post by saying Eid Mubarak and Maaf zahir batin. If Ive offended anyone with my thoughts, words or actions, please accept my sincerest apologies, ya?

END POST~11.46pm