Nisfu Sya'ban

"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"

There are many articles online and also in books relating to this special day. Many consider some of the rituals (like reading yasin 3 times or doing a solat sunnah) a form of bid'ah while others see it as a day to expunge their sins. But I agree with this article here from Al-Mizan regarding some of the misconceptions of Nisfu Sya'ban. As such, I won't go into details about it.

For me personally, Nisfu Sya'ban is a start of a new chapter in my life. On the night of Nisfu Sya'ban at maghrib, our book of deeds are lifted to heaven and replaced with a new one. And wouldn't it be great to fill the first pages of that new book with as many good deeds as possible?

When I was younger, I used to read yasin and tahlil every thursday with my ustad and ustazah at their home where I learnt to read the Quran. So now I hope to cultivate the same habit, Insyaallah... These days, I only go for tajwid classes at their home on Monday but I still make it a habit to read the Quran at least 3 times a week, if not every night before I go to sleep. So, insyaallah, I will try to incorporate reading yasin or tahlil every thursday in time to come.

Tonight, I will be going to ustad and ustazah's house and I have decided to bring a sedekah of food for everyone. But that means I will have to stand and cook it. Ya Allah, give me the strength to stand in front of the wok and cook for usually I will be weak from fasting by 5pm.

Speaking of fasting... I bought an incredible book from the english bookshop at Darul Arqam yesterday. It's entitled 'The medicine of the Prophet'. I've only read a couple of pages but I intend to read more. So, in the book, our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. said that there are two types of illnesses: of body and of the heart/spirit. I will talk about the book in more detail in another entry but for now I want to say that fasting is our Prophet s.a.w's way to strengthen the heart and spirit.

And right now, I need to strengthen my heart and spirit as much as I can. My mother always reminded me when I was younger that not only do our bodies (zahir) need to eat but also our spirit (batin) needs to eat and it has to be nourished with our amalans or good deeds.

So many a times, all our good deeds come to naught when we engage in just one bad deed and make Allah angry. As I've said at the very first entry, I want to begin this new chapter with more good deeds than bad.

Wallahualam bissawab