..a time for Ramadan..

.,.pakmat missed solat berjemaah this morning, solat in congregation at the village mosque. He woke up to the agitated and plaintive meow of Ayam as she tried to wake him up...He could hear his wife reading the Quran in the next room...Later as he let Ayam out, he peered the still darkened but almost light morning sky...It will be Ramadan soon..A time then for the renewal of his faith...time for sahur, the pre-dawn meal. Ayam loves sahur..and this year will be no different from the last, seeing that there will be only the two of them, and Ayam makes three..

He had always measured his year from one Ramadan to another. And this particular year had been eventful for him. He did the umrah in the month of Rejab a year ago - something he had been yearning to do since his haj in 2011...if Allah wills he might just enjoy a few days of Ramadan in the holy land of Madinah and Makkah..but when he did not know, habouring intent uncertain of

the future...as for this Ramadan, another 20 days away, it will most likely be in Bachok...at home on a house bulit on a slight rise facing Kemasin River... and Irama Beach, 2 km away..may Allah grant him the time and space...grant him the will and health that he may solat terawih with the rest of his village folks, with vim and with vigor...above all, with taqwa and with sincerity..with an acknowledgement..that Allah is Greater..that He is the Most Merciful, the Most Loving and the Most Compassionate..

At 70, he knew his life is in its final stretch, the final lap of this worldly journey...he knows not whence or where its end..or how..but this Ramadan he will fast along with others of his faith...

..O Allah..safeguard me for the month of Ramadhan, safeguard the month of Ramadhan for me, accept it from me...and forgive me, O Allah, my sins...

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