Down Ramadan Lane...

Salaams,

Ramadan Mubarak…!!

So another Ramadan has stealthily crept upon us again…subhanAllah how time eats away at us like the waves crashing into the rocks…

The past few Ramadan's I've had have all been different in various ways…pre-university alhamdulilla it was a very family orientated experience fasting at home in Burnley…something which I haven't really had in 6 years…! I think in many ways this is a great loss as, for me anyway, Ramadan is very much a family orientated thing as everyone wakes up together for sehri, goes through the day hungry with each other and then collects together again at iftaar time to break the fast…also another huge loss in not fasting at home is the loss of the community atmosphere you get in the area I live in….given that 99% of the people in my area are Muslim, there's a noticeable "noor" about the area with people busy shopping for their iftaar or running to the various masaajids for prayer and the various smells of food being cooked coming into the streets….almost like being in a Muslim country…!

From 18 onwards the following three Ramadan's were spent at university..and to be honest they were a bit dry, the first two anyway. From being a spiritual act, fasting almost became a mechanical one as the vast majority of people around are still eating, you still have to go to lectures, supervisions etc..essentially the days were the same as normal apart from missing breakfast and lunch. But one good thing about Cambridge was the free food…! No, I don't mean because it was free…! But the food provided at the mosque for iftaar provided a focal point and allowed you to meet up with many friends, although it wasn't That regular as it was a good 20 min walk from the main campus site. My third year at uni was Much better, particularly because I had swapped to an Eeeeasy course which meant I had lots of time to do extra ibadah, alhamdulilla. Looking back on that, I know appreciate how much of a link there is between how much ibadah you can do and how "useful" you feel that Ramadan was. Alhamdulilla the ISOC in that yr at uni was very strong too so there were many communal events going so I really felt I benefited from the spiritual and social blessings of Ramadan.

The following Ramadan I was back at home but unfortunately I didn't feel like I got that much out of it as I had just finished my ten week internship and so was Drained and I was off on my gap year straight after so had a fair few things to sort out. Last years Ramadan got even worse as it was my first in London and the first whilst working which was Very difficult. I literally joined my team on the first day of Ramadan, so I found it incredibly difficult in combining all the extra things your supposed to as well the demands of the new job.

This year however has been much better, so far. I think I've settles into London and my job and so am able to better manage things so I can get as much out of Ramadan as I can. As with most years, it always somewhat awkward to explain to a new bunch of non-Muslims that your fasting, then having to go through what this means etc etc…but alhamdulilla this yr I've been very fortunate…! One of our BIG clients happens to be a Muslim guy from Leicester (he actually commutes from Leicester to London everyday…!!). So anyway I went to a meeting with my boss and him, and when he saw me with a beard and my name I presume he thought I was Muslim so he came over to me, gave me salaams, asked about me etc…all with my boss just standing there feeling somewhat dejected I think…! So I think he was chatting to my boss the other day and mentioned to him that Ramadan would be starting soon, that he should le me leave early etc etc…so all the things I was going to say, my client told my boss for me…! Alhamdulilla..! So in return I was thinking about telling my boss to organise an iftaar for our Muslim clients…! I actually think this would be the first time any bank would have done this…but am a bit wary though as they are all very keen to keep religion etc out of things…we'll see inshaAllah

In other news there are Big developments at 41CGG…due to various reasons (nothing bad!) two of the high profile members have ceased to be part of the brotherhood in the flat (ie they're moving out) so after an extensive process (which we on many occasions thought would never end…!) alhamdulilla we have found two high calibre young men to fill their places ; ShortStack from the Mauritius (bro from Cam) and Yank from the US (still working on a nickname for him..another bro we had the pleasure of studying with for a while at Cambridge). So alhamdulilla the Cambridge centric vibe to the flat will remain, and both the guys are a good laugh so this should be another good year coming up, inshaAllah!

Salaam

More Ibn Batutta-ing

Salaams,

Well the traveller has been doing more travelling…

Alhamdulilla I spent the week of the 13th in Dubai and Qatar and spent last week end in Paris/Belgium.

The main reason for Dubai was to just see what all the hype is about - and to be honest I think it's all a bit over hyped…Dubai is still mainly desert with only one main road where there are quite a few big buildings present. Fair point though that there are quite a few buildings in construction stage so that in a few years time it will be a lot more packed out, but still, it wasn't as buzzing as I had expected it. The main things to do there are to SHOP and EAT which I more than accepted. The malls there are indeed out of this world, with everything you can think of, and more, under one roof. One such mall involved us going skiing on real snow on slopes they had created within the mall…! The food was awesome too as all the cuisines of the world were available to eat.

The whole story of Dubai is quite amazing/scary and this was shown quite clearly by a visit to the museum there. In it there were lots of picture of the current king when he was a child - and boy were things different then…! Only 40 years ago, the royal family were living in a 2 story building, wearing tattered clothes and with the very basics in terms of household items. Looking at the pictures there is no way one would think that this was the royal family. Also just looking at some pictures of Dubai, even 10 years ago shows how in such a short amount of time the city has been completely transformed.

This I hasten to add has been done off the back of South Asian and north African labour. Modern day slavery is what some people call it. Over a million Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Filipino and North African Arabs working 12-15 hours a day in the sweltering heat, for often nothing more than a place over their head and some food (i.e. they don't even get paid). OK, this applies mainly to the labourers, but for the majority of these guys, as soon as they land, their employer takes the passport off them, and then they are at the mercy of them in terms of the conditions they will have to work in. This was one bizarre aspect of Dubai and Qatar - the fact that you rarely saw any Arabs around (except eating in the restaurants and shopping in the malls) - 90% of the people outdoors were Asians so often it felt like I was back in Bangladesh…!

Another issue has been the rise in prostitution and drugs. With the ratio of males to females 7:3, prostitutes have been shipped in from eastern Europe with the Russian Mafia bosses ruling the underworld in Dubai. There's a saying that apparently every third woman in Dubai is a …. Maybe this is an exaggeration, but there is a LOT of it, especially in the posh hotels (as is the case in most Arab countries - hence the bombings in Jordan which targeted the 5* hotels)

I actually preferred Qatar to Dubai because it was a calmer and smaller version to Dubai. We also went there to visit a friend who was working for a construction company who were building the new airport in Doha…he seemed to be loving life out there…..tax free income, free (and awesome) accommodation, subsidised travel, good quality of life, cheap living, good weather, halal food and the list goes on….so I'm actually now seriously thinking about working abroad at some point…Lehman have offices both in Dubai and Qatar so it shouldn't be too hard to go out there for a yr…we'll see inshaAllah.

The road trip last week end was pretty cool too…It was my first time in France, but Paris was very nice..and the Eiffel tower all lit up at night is simply magical…! We only spent a day in Paris so didn't get to do too much but I was quite surprised at how cosmopolitan the city was. We then drove to Belgium and went to Ypres, near Passendale where the battle of Passendale had been fought 90 yrs ago during WW1. The world's largest commonwealth cemetery is placed there with 30,000 people commemorated and 11,000 actual graves present. It was quite a sight to see headstones as far as the eye would allow you…shows you the reality of war I suppose - so many people dying, many unnecessarily. As Stalin said though "one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic".

But now back to London, back to work, back to the ins and outs of Living.

Pics soon iA.

Salaam