From an email which I thought I'd share on here; A few ways in which you can take advantage of this month, especially the last 10 days;

1) Reserve a Private Meeting with Allah - Set a time before or after suhoor to be alone with Allah (swt).  Use this time to connect to Him by praying, making du`a’, or reading Qur’an. There is no other time like it. The Prophet ﷺ said: “When the last one-third of the night remains, our Lord, the Glorious One, descends towards the lower heaven and proclaims: ‘Is there anyone supplicating to Me, so that I grant his supplication? Is there anyone begging of Me for anything so that I grant him his wish? Is there anyone who seeks My forgiveness, so that I forgive him?’” [Bukhari and Muslim].

">http://youtu.be/InT6kmnS8h8]

Ramadan is the perfect time for self reflection - Satan is locked up and we know our thoughts,speech and behaviour are all from ourselves. This should teach us to take responsibility of our actions - we can no longer blame the evil-ness of Satan but have to accept it is the evil (too strong?) within us.

Recently I've been trying to be more healthy but previously there's been two times in the year when I have *really* thought about the fact that my body has a right over me; exam period and Ramadan. During exams because I believe any sin I commit and anything wrong I do will affect my memory, my performance and my results. Therefore I have to do the right thing by my body as well as avoiding other wrong things. If only I lived like this every day of my life...I'm trying inshaAllah.

When Lesley Hazleton was writing a biography of Muhammad, she was struck by something: The night he received the revelation of the Koran, according to early accounts, his first reaction was doubt, awe, even fear. And yet this experience became the bedrock of his belief. Hazleton calls for a new appreciation of doubt and questioning as the foundation of faith -- and an end to fundamentalism of all kinds.

Watch the following video:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lesley_hazleton_the_doubt_essential_to_faith.html

Continuing from Part 1

After two more nights of going to the countryside (this time, to the Saddleworth Moors), a few things have become certain:

">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3BnazhRz5E]

What am I going to do without tea in Ramadan?

In the summer months in the UK there is a debate over when Fajr time starts.

The main cause of this is that the sun doesn't go far enough below the horizon for pitch black conditions to occur.

This causes a problem because Fajr time is supposed to be when the "true dawn" starts from pitch black conditions.

Based on the unique conditions of being at such a high latitude, different groups of scholars have come up with different solutions, the most conservative of which is to start Fajr in the middle of the night.

The main solutions are to either use a different point to decide when Fajr starts (hint: the "true dawn" was not the true test of fajr, but a test that worked where tested with the real requirements that were laid out in the Qur'an).

[Just read the bits in bold if it helps]