Fajr By Candle Light

Bismillahi walhamdulillahi 'alaa rasulillah..

" When the night is completely dark,

It finds them staying up in the night.

Fear has chased away their sleep.

So they stay up,

While those who feel secure in this life,

Quietly sleep on."

Abdullah Ibn Mubarak

well, when was the last time you prayed the early morning fajr solah in the dark, with no artifical lights, only using one or two candles to light up the room?

I try to do that every so often to remind myself of what it must have been like in the days before electricity, at the time of the Prophet sallallahu 'alahi wa sallam, and in modern times in places that do not have stable supplies of electricity.

It’s a humbling experience, and reminds me to be thankful for the blessings great and small that I take for granted every day.

One of the awe-inspiring thoughts that would often come to my mind was the image of Muslims all over the same geographic locality and community, people I didn’t know and have never met and maybe a few that I did know, in their houses and in masjid are praying at the same time or in the same period of time, leaving off worldly matters to turn in private conversation with their Lord. SubhanAllah.

Another nice thing to do is to call or SMS someone at fajr time, not to chitchat but just to say salaam, alhamdulillah for another day, send short tazkiyah from Quran or Ahadeeth or asalatu khairun minan nawm - prayer is better than sleep. I think I might start doing that again, so if you’re in my cellphone phonebook, don’t be too surprised or angry with me if I call you at fajr time...;-)

ps : sorry halaqian of halaqah.net, its been a while since i sent you people tazkiyah as a wake up call..i must admit that i am lazy! :P