Winter Break

I had a lovely first two weeks of winter break. Went on a road trip to Florida. Got a car, got friends and drove down the east coast…then west through the everglades, then back up the gulf/west coast till we reached Tampa, the end of big cities on that coast. After that, we went northeast to Orlando and then up to Jacksonville. Our trip was 2,351 miles long and took us among many places, to the southern most tip of the United States. I met people, saw Southern life, enjoyed Southern food, observed characteristics about Florida and had a really good time.

Now back to working and enjoying my evenings for the remainder of winter break.

Muslim Perspective on Lunar Eclipses

According to NASA a lunar eclipse will occur:

This year's event will take 3 hours and 38 minutes. The eclipse begins on Tuesday at 1:33 a.m. ET, when the Earth's dark-red shadow will turn up on the edge of the moon, according to NASA. It will take about an hour for the shadow to cover the entire moon. Totality begins at 2:41 a.m. and lasts for 72 minutes.
If you only have time for a quick look, NASA recommends that you take a peek 3:17 a.m. ET.That's when the moon will be fully covered in an amber light.
It's the sunnah of the Prophet SAW to perform 2 rakahs (Salat ul Kushuf). Below is an excerpt from a book about fiqh regarding this salah. Inshallah do your own research and ask scholars on how to perform it.
Jazakallah Khairan,
[Name Removed]

"Solar and Lunar Eclipse Prayers

It is a Sunnah of the Holy Prophet to perform two rak'ahs of prayer each on the occasion of the solar and lunar eclipses. At a solar eclipse especially the prayer should be offered collectively, but there needs to be no Azan or Iqamah for this; the people may be got together by some other means. The Imam may recite long Surahs like Al-Baqarah and Al 'Imran audibly and observe long Ruku's and Sajdahs. After the prayer is over, he should make humbe supplications to Allah and the followers should respond with Aamin; they may continue with supplictions till the eclipse is over. If in the meantime, the prescribed time for an obligatory prayer approaches, the eclipse prayer should be discontinued. At the lunar eclipse, the prayer may be offered individually. The Holy Prophet has said: "The sun and the moon are two signs of Allah; they are not eclipsed on the death or birth of anybody. When you see one of them having gone under eclipse, you should make supplications to Allah, and observe prayer till the eclipse has cleared".

The eclipse prayer is not to be observed at a forbidden time, i.e. when the sun is actually rising or setting, even if it is eclipsed. At such a time one should only recite Tasbih and give alms to the poor. However, if the eclipse continues beyond this time, one may observe the prayer.

Similarly, it is permissible to offfer a Nafl prayer at the time of a calamity or fear or affliction, e.g. when there is a windstorm, or rainstorm, or earthquake, or striking of lightning, or incidence of an epidemic like plague, etc. or fear of an enemy or of chaos and general descruction. This prayer should be observed individually."

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PS: I'd highly recommend the text I excerpted this from. It's called "Everyday Fiqh" by Mohammad Yusuf Islahi, its a two volume set, pretty thin, pretty cheap, but very straightforward and perfect for these sort of practical questions regarding the taharah, salaat, sawm, zakat, etc in everyday contexts. You can find it here: http://www.islamicbookstore.com/b2417.html.

The name’s Ever, Greatest Ever

If the title’s reference is lost to you, hint hint its by Drake. Did you know he’s Canadian?

I don’t have much to say, the last few weeks have been hectic/stressful in both physical, mental and emotional terms. Also, it seems that madness is in the air, feels like a mixture of everything romantic and their polar opposites happening at once.

Courses are not going as well as I expected, work loads are hectic. I lost one week to being in Eid mode, I lost the next week half to exams (3 in 3 days) and then Thanksgiving…two days of enjoyment followed by two days of agonizing stress as I rushed through homework and projects. Of course this week wasn’t without its bitterness. Two projects due within 12 hours of each other, plus homework and quizzes. You would think I’m taking 19 credits; I’m actually taking less than 15!

Good moments this week and last: my internship project for the last one year finally went live, with a mass email to the Agency thanking me for my efforts. That felt so good. And today I rewarded myself to an uber chocolaty experience via ColdStone’s Chocolate Devotion (chocolate ice cream, fudge, brownies, chocolate chips) with chocolate shavings added on.

However, that doesn’t make up for the emotional and mental rollercoaster that I have been on for the past three weeks. When others say communication is the key to all things human, they spread utterly pure wisdom. Listen and heed. Assumptions damage. I wish life could have been better, or I could have changed the events of the past 3 weeks, but eh, now all we can do is look to the future, remembering the past to avoid those pitfalls in the present.

That’s all for now folks, good evening.