Monday, August 01, 2011

Ramadhan O Ramadhan

The month of Ramadhan 1432 Hijrah is the most significant for me because for the first time I am welcoming the holy month without my father because he passed away last May 2011.

It was only in Ramadhan 2010 that he was admitted to the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital, Seremban at about 3.00 am in the morning during the first week of Ramadhan. I was in Kuala Pilah when myn sister phoned me asking me urgently to come back to her house, and I knew something was not right with "Abah". Upon my arrival he was already taken by ambulance to Hospital and I followed later.

Now he is gone but the memories still linger on and I supplicate to ALLAH that he is placed amongst the pious and his soul be Blessed with peace. My father had a very strong will and he fasted for the first few days though we asked him not to because of his age and frail health. He was then 90 and was not too well due to his condition of having to live with an internal cathether due to his bladder problem and his mobility was limited because he had a hip joint operation twice many years back.

Of course when I was in Seremban helping my sister to look after him, I used to do my Terawih in Masjid Panchor Jaya and only on the weekends I came home to PJ.

But as a consolation, this Ramadhan I have my son Haniff to accompany me to Terawih at Kelana Jaya Al-Hiadayah Mosque. He had been away for the past half a dozen years and we had no opportunity to go together for terawih. Indeed it is a Blessings which I readily welcome and grateful to ALLAH for the chance given. I supplicate to ALLAH that our Ramadhan this time will bring us to greater heights in our " Taqwa " which means our closeness in performing HIS Commands and refraining from what is Forbidden, InshaALLAH.

6 comments:

kaykuala said...

Dear Hal,
Comes a time when suddenly we find things get lightened considerably. Perhaps it being a breather to allow breathing space to work out our best strategies in the near term. What more comes Ramadhan. Selamat Berpuasa.

Hank

abdulhalimshah said...

Dear Hank,
It is the Signs of ALLAH's greatness as I always believe that in order for our Faith to become more committed is to accept all that comes your way and learn that ALLAH is closer to you than your blink of an eye. That is if you constantly remember HIM at every breath that you take. May this Ramadhan is not the last which ALLAH knows best. It is the greatest endowment from ALLAH that we are still given this opportunity and we remember our Allahyarham Ridzuan in our memory of our great times together in Ramadhan, and May His Soul be Blessed, Amin!

norzah said...

Ii's Allah's omniscience and magnanimity that when something is taken away from us something is given back. U are experiencIng that now Akhi and Allah be praised. I'm still struggling to follow and understand the Imam's recital of the al-Quran during tarawih since we are never told the chapter and verse of what he will read. I guess the makmum generally don't bother to know. We've been taught to just listen to the fasaha of the Imam, enjoy the reading and don't bother to u derstand. Well, so be it. Salam.

abdulhalimshah said...

Akhi Norzah,
What you have pointed out is nothing further than truth and I am extremely grateful for HIS magnanimity and Graces for which we always forget how many of HIS Bounty we enjoy in our lifetime. Yes, our performance of the non-obligatory Terawih is mainly following Tradition rather than full understanding of what is recited, thus year in year out, it is not an enhancement of our deeds because we do not understand and comprehend fully what is being read. We probably need a new approach and until then, we just plod along with the rest. At least we hope that our deeds shall be accepted by ALLAH S.W.T.

Al-Manar said...

I am truly pleased to see you back posting. I kept coming back to see if you had been well enough after your not-so-pleasant journey to Cork.You mentioned earlier of your dad's illness and you going back to give a hnd looking after him. I did not realised that he subsequently passed away. It is sad. Such is life.

Consider yourself more fortunate than me. I lost my father at my age of 23 and I was away from home as well.

Enjoy your fasting my friend.

abdulhalimshah said...

Dear Pak Cik,
I have been away from updating my blog as I need time to get back to my former rhythm as the new situation and challenges kept me fairly busy. But life has to go on and I am grateful ever to ALLAH for all his bounty and Blessings. Selamat Berpuasa.