It's all in the attitude...

A'salaamu alaikum ya'll. You know from reading my blog here that I've been less than happy with my local Islamic community. The lack of adhab (manners) coupled with my homesickness really made me not very eager to attend the masjid here.

Alhamdulillah that has changed this Ramadhan. Basically I came to the conclusion that nothing will change without those willing to change it and I can, in my small way, be part of a positive change. I also decided it is incumbent upon me to seek out those kind, like-minded sisters that I want to have dealing with. The others? I say "A'salaamu alaikum" with a smile and keep a'truckin'.

So I've put my new attitude to work in the latter half of this Ramadhan and I am very happy and surprised with the results. I've made some new friends and identified new friendly faces. Now granted if none of these sisters showed up I would feel a bit out of sorts but alhamdulillah that is why my daughter is another blessing. We always have each other and I am just I would manage. It just wouldn't be as fun. :-)

Now, if you were to ask, yes I would say many of them are converts. And then there are a few Arabs, an African or two, as well as a couple of Indo-pak sisters. So it's not exactly a homogenous group. Oh yes and another Persian sister who is masha'Allah so nice; I really enjoyed talking with her last night.

I'm very grateful I pushed myself out of my comfort zone (which appeared to only be my old masjid! lol) and really try to make myself at home here in MA. I am much happier now this Ramadhan, having other sisters to commune with. Oh yeah and not cooking 3 meals a day helps too. LOL

I've not been making suhoor, my husband has so I'm sleeping in until Fajr. I make a bit for Aaminah for breakfast and lunch, I might eat a tiny bit (I can't fast due to my transplant issues) and then we've been going to the masjid every night for iftar. It's been liberating and I've enjoyed my cooking hiatus!

I did make some khadra lubya wa roz to take tonight to the masjid to share at my table. I feel a little bad about that because I can't make enough to feed all the sisters but we can't always eat the food there. I do bring enough so that anyone who sits down where we are will be invited to have some and I never only serve it to others of my ethnic group. So I squelched my feelings of guilt and brought it in to share. Everyone really loved it and I'm glad I did. :-)

I helped with the taraweeh babysitting one night. Ya Allah! First off, I didn't get home until 12:30 a.m. which is horribly late. I had Aaminah with me and she was absolutely tuckered. Spent, stick-a-fork-in-her-done! Then the kids... really. They were horrible. Absolutely no manners, no gratitude and can you say LOUD??? Ok to be fair there was a small enclave of quiet, sweet children but they were totally over-ran by the rambunctious wanna-be runaways.

No one wanted to stay in the babysitting room and I can't really blame them. It was hot and over-crowded but we did have many activities for them. Masha'Allah the sisters who do the babysitting do it fi sabilillah. I will be honest, I would not do it every night. There is no way. Alhamdulillah they are better sisters than I and much more patient. May Allah swt give them blessings, amin!

Well this was a bit of a mish-mashed post but kinda a Ramadhan update. Ma salaama ya'll!