I was always told to make intention for salah by saying "I intend to pray 2 rakats of Nafl for Maghrib while facing the Kaba" then say Allahuakbar

But apparently:

Ibn Al-Qayyim, رحمه الله, stated in “Zaad Al-Ma’aad” or in “Al-Hudaa An-Nabawiyy”: “When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would stand for Salaah he said: ‘Allaahu Akbar’ and said nothing else before it nor did he pronounce his intention aloud. Nor did he say: ‘I will pray for Allaah Salaah such and such while facing the Qiblah four raka’aat as imaam or follower’.

(By Shaikh Salih aal-Shaykh)

I was looking up further to the "smelly breath" post re the brushing of teeth during the day and I learned:

We ARE allowed to use toothpaste during the day while fasting as long as the toothpaste and it's taste stay out of the throat.

Also - the fast only breaks from bleeding gums if the blood overwhelms the saliva and gets to the throat. If this does not happen and there is only a little bit of blood, your fast is not affected.

The word "Ramadan" in Arabic comes from the stem "ramada" which means 'parchedness and scorching heat'
the month of fasting is called Ramadan because it makes the fasting person feel hunger pangs and raging thirst.

Wore a belt before I started eating.

After eating, I thought I was so full I couldn't move.

Then I took the belt off.

And I felt normal.

I would recommend this plan to everyone.

I've just been told:

"After praying the 4 Rakah of taraweeh ppl recite Dua like..

(Subhana ZilMulki wal Malakuti, Subhana ZilIzzati wal Azmati...)

It is not not proven from any authentic Sunnah of our Prophet (salallahu allahi wasalam) that this is a MUST. The rest time after 4 rakats if for having a breather and refreshing vuzoo etc"



Has anyone else heard of this? Is it true? I always done this dua in my taraweeh namaz thinking it's part of the namaz and namaz won't be accepted without this. Have I been wrong or all these years or is this info wrong?

I find one of the not so rewarding side effects of Ramadan is the smelly "hunger breath"

It's not too bad if you sit a few meters away from people, but any closer than that and you may kill someone with it.

What can be done to reduce / avoid this smell?

It smells of kebabs EVERYWHERE.

My first memory of the unexplained magic goings on I have is when I was just six years old.

We had a breakfast bowl, it was like a football cut in half. I really like it. It had been acquired by collecting tokens from Corn Flakes boxes. I only ever ate breakfast from this bowl.

It was a weekend. Saturday morning. I was the first one up as usual. It won’t be until half a decade later that I’ll realise there’s no glory in waking early and start to have a few lie-ins.

I went to the kitchen, got the bowl from bottom drawer, got the Corn Flakes from the breakfast bar, got the milk from the fridge, sat on the stool at the breakfast bar and began eating.

I had just finished serving a regular customer. A local builder who had been using our garage since before I started there four year earlier.

"Yeah, I'm off to that nightmare project again. It's a load of b0110ck5 really. They should get shot for treating me this way but hey ho life goes on right? I'll learn from this and never take on a job from t0553r5 in big houses again" He called over his shoulder as he walked out of the shop.

"How ignorant !!!" Jan began, "He's so impolite. Never says Please, or Thank You. Always going on about his jobs. I was raised to always say Please and Thank You."