Ramadhan Insights #2

picture taken from a park near Eiffel Tower

 

Assalamualaikum and salam Ramadhan to all,

 

Puasa tak? :p It is 13th Ramadhan today, how time flies so fast!! Here's my second Ramadhan insights for your eyes only ;)

 

1) I spent my weekend attending a camp(well, not literally), and it was a very fruitful one.At least it helps me to optimize one and a half day doing what is required for a Muslim especially in this fasting month, where all good act and ibadah gained double pahala from Allah :) Among the good things I earned is, to utilize `tasbih' , and appreciate it more than a mere decoration or as souvenirs received from Makkah.Thanks abang, your absence is truly a blessing in disguise, and best of all you'll get some reward for it too :)

 

2) Wan (nenek) is still admitted in the hospital, it seems that her fever is not getting better. I went to Seremban yesterday but haven't had the chance to visit her :( Am hoping she will recover gracefully, insya Allah. Can imagine how more worried Mama is... a few nights were already spent at the hospital, and hopefully not more to come.

 

3) Following Wan's condition, hubby tried to persuade his superior to allow him to come home earlier; perhaps by Wednesday. I hope he succeed! (Sambil rasa nak jerit tapi kena behave sebab bulan posa. Dan ramai orang di ofis ni yer). However I'm not so optimistic and still avoiding high hope as always. Because, falling hard out of frustration is the worst feeling so far..-_- And my treshold for him is to be back atleast, before Hari Raya. I can't imagine anything beyond that at the moment, yet.(Huhu manjeee la kau shah padahal my officemate masa dia first year kawin dah takpat beraya ngan husband sebab kena duty offshore)

 

4) Remember my kuih raya project? Haha yesterday telah selongkar stor rumah dan berjumpa oven Ma lantas terus mencubanya (bukan cuba buat kuih,cuba warm up je). Nampaknya masih berfungsi dengan baik walaupun telah bertahun2 bertapa dalam stor(Tapi insulator rubber kelihatan telah ternoda sikit, takpe ke? Wires not exposed, though). However, I am quite sceptical and worried to bring it back to my house, due to various reasons. So maybe, if ever my project come true, it shall be baked fresh from my mum's house instead of mine :) And option kedua adalah mungkin I bleh kecek my lovely hubby for a new electric tabletop oven?? :p

 

5) Have I mentioned that my stove rosak at the high time when I have the mood to cook? And saya adalah takut nak godek stove tersebut sendirian kerana takut kang meletup kang takde sapa nak panggilkan I ambulans or call my parents. Jadi expert from negara Viet telah menyarankan I takyah memandai2 and makan luar je sampai la dia balik. Masalahnya, I tak berapa gemar bazar Ramadhan. But I think I'll survive, for the moment.

 

6) Me and my parents had a (another) conversation pasal zakat yesterday. Yelah bulan puasa ni memang elok bayar zakat, pahala berlipat ganda. Dan berita baik kepada penduduk Negeri Sembilan, pusat zakat negeri akan dibuka pada sabtu dan ahad di bulan Ramadhan! Cool kan. As some of you already know, I prefer to pay my zakat manually/yearly rather than to have the monthly auto-debit by pusat zakat negeri just for a simple reason; I just want to master the theoretical and calculation part of it. Memang senang je konsep kira zakat ni sebenarnya tapi i still think i belum pakar lagi dalam hal ni, masih banyak yang perlu dirujuk. Among the gist of our conversation is that only zakat paid using official receipt by Pusat Zakat Negeri can be 100% waived in Income Tax, while zakat paid for the other organisation (although is recognized by jabatan agama negeri) can only be waived 24% of it-consider as `sumbangan/derma', bukannya `zakat'. And it is a recommended practice to calculate wisely and get your income tax to be waived fully by zakat. Dan.. some Ustaz suggested the method of varietykan penerima zakat dan bukan sepenuhnya kepada pusat zakat. Kalau kita kenal mana2 asnaf lebih baik kita salurkannya sendiri. Tapi kalau kita sendiri ragu2 dan tak yakin so serahlah sahaja kepada yang telah menerima amanah, iaitu Pusat Zakat ye..dah memang tugas diorang nak bahagikan pun.

 

7) Among the things that I loved working for the company, it is full with aktiviti kerohanian, kadang2 seaktif NGO2 agama yang full time. Dalam bulan puasa ni je, setakat ni setiap minggu dianjurkan solat sunat tasbih yang bagi saya payah dan susah sangat kalo nak initiate sendiri. Ceramah agama pun hari2. I still remember working with different companies before, nak dapat ceramah agama sebulan sekali pun payah.

 

8) If we are to divide this holy month into thre phases, we've left the first phase that often been referred to fasa `rahmat' (blessing). Now we are in the midst of fasa `keampunan' (forgiveness), hence lets us optimize this phase to seek forgiveness as much as we can from Allah ya :) And prepare ourself for the most awaited third phase of Ramadhan, insya Allah!