It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not.

Hello people. So how's everyone doing? Good, yes? No? Hah.

So the Moslems all around the globe will be welcoming the great month of Ramadhan, the month of Barakath in which we will all diligently fast in. It's gonna be as good as before, if not better! However, I'm so not looking forward to this year's AidilFitri, or better known to the non-Moslems - Hari Raya! Hah. I dunno if it's just me or what. But guess I’m feeling a little bit too old to feel all excited over it no more. Well, I guess the only thing I like about it now is that I get to meet my relatives whom some only appear before me once, or twice for that matter, while the rest never did! Hah.

So a little background info on Ramadhan and the months before it, particularly 2 months back. So 2 months back we have the month of Rejab, which God had mentioned it being our beloved Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) month, then comes the month of Syaaban where it is God’s month – I hope I didn’t get these two mixed up! Yup so these months do have their specialty and such, and they too have their significance. And now we have the month of Ramadhan due in a day’s time and it is our month! Yup yup. So let’s give it all out shall we? It’s a month of forgiveness, repentance, and such. Not one month is better than this one.

The whole month of Ramadhan is a period of spiritual training wherein believers devote much of their time to fasting, praying, recitating the Qur'an, remembering God, and giving charity. Oh yes, in this beautiful month, specifically in the last 10 days of it there’ll be a particular night (which we, Moslems, weren’t told specifically), – Laylat al-Qadr, literally the Night of Decree or Night of Measures – in which during Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) time when he was 40, the Holy Qur’an got its first Surahs, or verses, which then over a period of 23 years the whole Qur’an was revealed totally. One who misses it, by not devoting him/herself to God for even a second will miss the opportunity of a thousand years! However because of the revealed importance of this night, Muslims strive harder in the last ten days of Ramadhan since the Laylat al-Qadr could be one of the odd-numbered days in these last ten (the first, third, fifth, seventh or ninth). Normally, Moslems would perform an I'tikaf in the mosque (i.e they remain in the mosque all day long) for prayer and recitation.

So yeah! These are just some of the things I remember, read on and know on the month of Barakath - the month of Ramadhan and its associations.

So all in all, I’d like to wish to all Moslems Ramadhan al-Mubarak! Puase eh, jangan tak pause! Heh.

--Hafiz Ishak