بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
🗒️ Sharing some lessons learned from yesterday's Iftaar gathering (on the 11th day of Ramadan here in the Philippines):
1💎 Always purify your niyyah / intention for Allah's sake before doing good deeds whether they are waajib/fardh, Sunnah, mustahabb/recommended and halal/permissible, so
Inn-sha-Allah if you were not able to achieve or complete certain tasks you intended to do, you still get rewarded for your sincere intention. Sister Jannah Umm Muhammad wanted us to have a small halaqa of exchanging some Islamic reminders and beneficial advice but QaddarAllahu wa maa shaa-a fa'al we couldn't have a proper group discussion because the other sisters, including the wife of the owner of Darussalam Islamic Bookstore here in Davao city and wife of one of the managers of Turkish Kebab Restaurant, arrived a few minutes before the Adhaan of Salat Al-Maghreb then many were busy having their Iftaar meals then prayed etc.
SubhanAllah Al-'Atheem. It's scary how time nowadays goes by so quickly. Almost two weeks of this blessed month Ramadan have already passed by. Continue doing your best for Allah's sake in collecting as many rewards as you can through increasing acts of worship including reading more Ayaat verses from the Noble Qur'an, forwarding more Islamic reminders and praying more Sunnah prayers like Salat Ad-Duha in the forenoon and Qiyaam Al-Layl Tahajjud even if you've already prayed Taraweeh and Sunnah Salat Al-Witr.
2💎 There's always a right timing or ideal occasion when
Allah the Almighty wants you to connect or meet up with some Muslims. Alhamdulillah after numerous days and months of trying to plan when we could have an outing together or gather with other sisters, I was able to "pasyal pasyal" a bit with one of the moms from Wisdom Islamic School and her daughters and meet up with sister Jannah Umm Muhammad after visiting her at her residence which was a long time ago in 2024 if I'm not mistaken.
Maintaining stable friendships as adults can sometimes be challenging when you and those whom you care about for Allah's sake have different busy schedules, different levels of energy to socialize and loads of responsibilities. You need an enormous amount of Sabr/patience for Allah's sake and significant tolerance for various disappointments if you're serious about wanting to keep a connection much longer
Inn-sha-Allah than just temporary.
3💎 Alhamdulillah while waiting for the mom of half-Egyptian daughters so they and my daughter could go together to Niza's BBQ Halal Restaurant I asked the female manager of this Bench store at Gaisano Mall if they allow Muslims to utilize their fitting rooms to pray. She asked about how many minutes it usually takes for a Muslim to pray and I told her "like around 5 or 7 minutes" and accordingly she's okay with Muslim customers making use of the space in fitting rooms to perform their prayers as long as they don't take too long. However, I remember there's a Hadith in which the noble Messenger Muhammad SallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam mentioned how the best of places are the Masaajid/Mosques while the worst of places are the markets or shops where dunya related matters are commonly sought after. So unless there is an actual Musalla or designated prayer room somewhere at a shopping mall, I believe it is much better for Muslim females to pray in their rooms, at home or in the nearest Masjid/Mosque where they can better concentrate, particularly far away from loud music being played in the background and the possibility of noticing a number of strangers video recording you while you're praying in a supposedly quiet corner.
4💎 While his mother was praying, Alhamdulillah I was able to babysit cute Hafidh for several minutes letting him use my cellphone which didn't have internet data and game applications installed for toddlers. I let him play with the tiny jumping dinosaur game that shows up on Chrome browser whenever there's no WiFi and he was actually fascinated by that simple game of pixels while I interviewed him with random questions to distract him from running around.
5💎 One of the most important qualities to have as a good Muslim friend is patience for Allah's sake if you wish for any worthwhile friendship (and marriage) to continue - patience accompanied by lots of understanding rather than assuming negative thoughts about your Muslim friends and loved ones. If we look back to some of the broken connections we had, for those of us who have some ex-friends, we realize that many of those detachments occurred because we weren't patient enough with those former friends and vice versa.
You need to stay patient and empathic for Allah's sake when a friend tells you "I'm sorry; I can't join you today.", "I'm sorry but I have to leave early", "Sorry but there's only one pack remaining", "Sorry that I can't give you a ride this evening" and "I am sorry to ask but what is your child's name again?" etc. Excessive kibr/pride is a terrible quality that causes narcissists to feel so offended easily and unwilling to accept genuine apologies.
True friends oftentimes argue or miscommunicate yet they're always forgiving of each other for Allah's sake, while those who very quickly walk away from your circle were probably incompatible, inauthentic or toxic in the first place.
You're welcome to purchase some halal products from Jannah's Kitchen including packs of frozen sambusa with chicken filling (sometimes chicken, sometimes ground beef if I'm not mistaken) for 230 pesos (15 pieces of frozen sambusas ready for frying) and packs of frozen lumpia (spring rolls with vegetables) that cost 150 with 20 pieces in each packet. Feel free to contact sister Jannah Umm Muhammad for further information 🌼
