It's not often that I have a day off on Friday. As this Friday was different, I thought I'll stay behind, wait until everyone else has left the prayer hall before I go home myself.

The man who was there with his twin sons was one of the first to go (in the second wave of people to leave). The first wave is mostly made of men wearing suits who are probably on their lunch hour. I'm normally among them, but not today. Today I have a day off and I'm going to be the last one to leave the hall.

Everyone has a massive smile on their face. Hugging and saying "Eid Mubarak" to everyone else. I sit on the side, by the coat stand in the corner.

Everyone is getting up and going. Going to see friends and family.

Its been put to my attention that I have deleted a new user to the site, one that was starting to post.

Twice.

Oops.

Apologies.

Ive just been trying to figure this one out. why is it that i like planes and flying so much?

right now its a pretty blank blank. i really cant think of anything "concrete".

the only thing ive come up with so far is:

I like flying because of the travelling, of the amazingness that is an aeroplane, because i get to carry people to places, because of how humans have shorten distances so much and linked the whole world together and made going places a lot easier.

but this doesnt feel like its IT. it's close..especially the bit about the amazingness of the aeroplane but its not quite IT! and its ARGH-ing me!! I WANT TO KNOW!

Eid Mubarak. In The Revival spirit of orange, we pray that the blessings of Allah fill your life with peace, joy and prosperity

Oh our eyes.

Oh how we wish that we could have been one of those who walked to Mina last evening. Oh how we wish that we could echo the Labbayk with the melodious crowd. Oh how we wish that we could take our pebbles and pelt the hated one. Oh how we wish that we could lay our heads on the blessed ground of Muzdalifah. Oh how we wish that we could let our tears fall on the plains of Arafat. Oh how we wish that we could see the Ka'bah and perform Tawaaf az-Ziyaarah. Oh how beautiful these places are and oh how we wish we were there right now. Oh how the longing to be amongst such blessed people continues. Oh Allah, with this ache in our hearts- to be amongst those you have called this year, we pray that you let our names be amongst those you call next year. Ameen.

Last night, when i was alone with my own thoughts, a thunder bolt struck me and decided to warn me that i had very less days and a few piles of work, homework, questions, notes, exam practice and revision to sift through.

So today, i woke up bright and early, prayed Fajr and got on with some lovely Maths Questions. This was at about 7.45. I spent just over two hours, (till 10.00 precisely) using 6 pages of working out, in my attempt to answer a 4 mark question, and after all that pain, i was clearly not getting anywhere.

My mum told me to simply try it later on, when im a little more fresh, and i told her 'Ive just prayed Fajr, how much more fresh do you want me to be?!'.

Now to all of you who've studied Chemistry at one part in your life, i'd just like to say: Happy Mole Day! I bet you didn't know such a day existed. Never ever forget the Avogadro's Constant: 6.023 x 10(to the power of ²³) mol^-1.

">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvT51M0ek5c]

A mole is an an animal that burrows in the ground,
Or the spot on your chin that you gotta shave around.
But there's another kind of mole of interest to me,
That's the kind of mole they use in chemistry.

When the Ottomans ruled, during Ramadhan, the rich people would visit the poor neighbourhoods and find a shop. They would ask for the debt notebook and pay off the debts of the poor. 

And when the Ottoman era died down, their heritage and generosity towards the poor continued.  

When i went to Istanbul, just a few years back, there was a man who told me that during the nights of Ramadhan, it was in their Turkish nature to place money onto the many ledges of the beautiful Blue Mosque and anyone who needed this money to support their families were free to take however much they wished. 

Quote:

 Some people when they fall in love they say "I need you, I can't live without you" the hearts have become attached in a very wrong way, this is not love. ..Sometimes as we acquire things, they own us, they enter our hearts- this is the complete opposite of freedom and reliance upon Allah (swt)

">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=059cHZdzhk8&feature=youtu.be]

I was watching an episode of Andrew Marr's "History of the World", episode title Age of Plunder earlier on BBC 1 and I was once again hit by what was unsaid rather than was said.

History is something that is constantly being erased, sometimes in destructive ways and other times to make way for the future. I am not talking about the destruction of Islamic sites in Saudi Arabia through redevelopment, or in Somalia or even in Timbuktu (where the conquest of the city also known as the place of 300 saints was immediately followed by the conquerors going at its historical buildings with pickaxe and shovel while the locals could only look on earlier this year), but something much more subtle.