Driving Test

InshaAllah this weekend I intend to write a longer post about my trip to Marrakech, and I'll try and upload a couple of pictures too. I had an amazing time, and should have plenty to ramble about. It all depends though on whether I pass my driving test on Friday and what mood that puts me in. So please make the following du'a for me:

"Ya Allah, please allow me to get bored this weekend from reading ramblings about Marrakech on that at-taalib blog website because the writer felt motivated to write a long-winded post because he was still on a high from passing his driving test"

Whaa? I remember reading somewhere (I need to start making a note of where) that the more specific you make your du'a the more chance of acceptance :P.

InshaAllah I'm starting to feel a bit more confident about my test. I would have felt better taking the test a month ago when I had been taking lessons more regularly, rather than now when I have only had 5 hours worth of lessons in the past month due to my 2 excursions into foreign lands (2 of those were hours were only in the past 2 days). But inshaAllah, if it's written then that of course won't matter. I just want to get it out of the way really, it's become a time-consuming hindrance weighing down on my shoulders. And it costs my mum waay too much. Oh and if I pass, it'll mean I've passed my first time and so I'd have done one better than my dad and [insert large number that I can't count to] better than my sister. InshaAllah :).

Back to du'a. On a more beneficial note, on the authority of my University iSoc's du'a sheet that they give out at exam time, I can relate that "when making du'a for yourself, also make du'a for your friends by name, for every time that you make du'a for another - an angel will say Ameen for you too".

SubhanAllah.

(Notice how I said "on the authority of" and "relate that". See what I did there? See how I made a joke there by structuring the sentence in such a way that should be familiar to Muslims. Funny, right? :D).

Alhamdulillah 'ala kulli haal

I've noticed that I haven't really done any Islamic posts. That's quite strange, it doesn't really reflect how much I talk about it in real life. I don't wanna force it though, so here goes another non-religious (should I just call it secular for the fun of it?) post..

OK so I've been working for 3 days now. Alhamdulillah. And I really mean that. But I can't deny that it's pretty boring. No, wait. It's REEEEAALLY boring. Alhamdulillah. I don't wanna sound like I'm complaining, I'm very greatful (stupid spell checker, I AM NOT IN AMERICA, stop telling me to incorrectly spell it as grateful!) to have a job when so many people (especially in the current economic climate) are so desperate to find a job. I'm just trying to describe how I'm finding it so far. So let me give you a break down of how it's gone..

Day 1

1. I woke up waay too early (well it was actually on time, but generally speaking, it was waay too early).
2. Got in the car (my sister drives me, it's the Qadr of Allah that I managed to get a job 45 minutes away from home in the building exactly opposite hers).
3. Fell asleep in the car (she didn't appreciate that too much).
4. Got to work.
5. Got bored.
6. Had lunch.
7. Got bored.
8. Finished work, went hunting around the area for somewhere to pray (found a place after 45 minutes), and then waited for my sister to finish work in the car (which took about another 45 minutes).

Once again, alhamdulillah. I need to keep saying that to myself, or else I might start taking it for granted. Why was the day so boring? Mainly because of problems with setting up the computer I was working on, and so I ended up actually spending the day doing nothing but sitting around, staring, sticking out as the only bearded guy in a shirt and trousers in a building full of beardless men in shirts and trousers (the word bearded and brown can be used interchangeably there). But hey, they still paid me. Paid me to sit around all day doing nothing. Alhamdulillah :).

Day 2

A much better day. My computer was working, so I got cracking on the work they gave me. Despite working in a company that is intrinsically linked with my degree (I'm studying chemical engineering, what a stereotype..), the role I can be given can only be described as a glorified Administration Assistant. I don't mind, but the work gets pretty tedious pretty soon. But it keeps me busy.

Day 3

Went for a little drive with someone at work to a site further up north in the country. Took 2.5 hours to get there, was there for about 3 hours, and then it took about 4.5 hours to get back (plenty of traffic, we covered about 2 miles in 2 hours, no joke). Which was highly convenient as I had a driving lesson at 6.30 (my test is on Friday, make du'a!), at which time I had only gotten back to the office. But once again, I got paid. I got paid for sitting in a car for 7 hours and falling asleep and eating some raisins.

Alhamdulillah :).

Work Trousers

Oh my God.

Tonight I came to a realisation that has been staring me in the face for months now. I mean, it was obvious. I knew it all along, but I just kept ignoring it. But now I can ignore it no longer. I need to lose weight. I mean, I stand on the scales everyday. I'm not blind, I can see how much further that little damn arrow goes. But I never really noticed when I looked at myself, so kinda just ignored it. But when it came on to trying on a pair of work trousers I wore a year ago, and just how badly they didn't fit... what a moment. I wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone. From tomorrow, I'm hitting the treadmill again. Hardcore. I've done it before (6 times a week for a year and a half), so I know I can do it again. Just gotta stay strong.

I hate that damn treadmill though..

My First Job

I'm expecting a sleepless night tonight. It happens to me every year, whenever the new academic year starts, although it looks like this year it's gonna happen twice. Tomorrow I start my first day of work. I've never worked a day in my life (well, at a real job), but surprisingly I'm not feeling that nervous. I never really get nervous. I'm actually quite looking forward to it. It's kind of like a placement type of job, linked to my degree. I found it pretty boring last year when I went for like a little taster, but now for some reason I'm grown to the idea of working in that whole office type of environment. Maybe it's because I'll feel more grown up. Or maybe it's because I'm getting paid this time :P. Let's just hope 24 hours from now I won't be writing a post that will be the beginning of 9 weeks of complaining on my blog..

InshaAllah

How do you spell the phrase? I've seen it spelt a number of ways. The ones I can remember are:

inshaAllah
inshallah
in shaa' Allah
insha'Allah
iA
inshalla

Personally, I spell it how I've written it in the title of this post. I don't know why to be honest, I capitalise the A because I would capitalise the first letter in any other type of name, so why not for Allah's swt? I write that extra little a because of the little hamza in the spelling and the way you pronounce it. I guess strictly speaking then, if you wanna be pedantic about it, the most correct way of writing the phrase in English would be as "in shaa' Allah". I mean, not too long ago I even remember receiving a text message saying that unless you spelt it that way, you risked sinning in the eyes of Allah as the spelling "inshallah" translates as something along the lines of "Allah is created". Na'oodhubillah. I mean, come on... As it is the phrase is being written in English and not Arabic. I'd understand if we were talking about a misspelling in the Arabic language, but we're talking about English here! Of course you're not gonna get the transliteration spot on. If the text had been meant solely to ensure people were pronouncing the phrase correctly (which is a fair enough intention, those of us who don't speak Arabic and have never learnt the language are often guilty of some pretty nasty pronunciation mistakes) then I'd have no reason to complain. But the text was making a big deal about making sure you spell the phrase in English correctly. Come onnnnn. When you see it written down, in whatever spelling (even as inshalla- why drop the h, the spelling of Allah swt has become pretty much standard now), you go on to think it in your head or say it with your lips. Surely that is the point. Even if it's written down as iA, you don't read it as "ih-aa". You say the phrase, right? I see it just as like a way to remind you to say it, just a type of indicator. It could be a symbol, but as long as you saw it and then said it, the purpose has been achieved right? What's the need for telling people they HAVE to spell it one certain way or they're doing it wrong. It's hardly something we're going to be questions about on the Day of Judgement. Whether you write inshaAllah or iA, I'm happy. It shows that you follow the Sunnah and are aware of the Qadr of Allah. Just please don't spell it as inshalla, now that really annoys me :P.

Sore Throats

I hate sore throats. They suck man. I hate it when you wake up in the morning and have that tickly feeling in the back of your throat and just know that you're gonna have a sore throat, and will most likely end up with a sucky cold. I dunno how I got this one, I didn't have it in the morning. I don't even remember shouting much (I went climbing today, I don't want anyone to think I'm some chronic shouter). My throat just started tickling half way through the day and has been getting progressively worse. InshaAllah it'll be gone by tomorrow. That'd be awesome. As long as I don't wake up with one of those even more annyoing bumps on my tongue. They suck too.

UPDATE

I've added 3 sites to my Islamic Links page.

1. http://www.ilmgate.org/
2. http://attahawi.com/
3. http://www.youtube.com/user/roadside2islam

My Absence

OK, so I realise I have written for a long long time. I apologise. To be completely and entirely honest with you... I'm a lazy guy. I really am. I try not to be, but I just can't help it. I'm sure there's a lazy gene or something, and I've definitely got a few. My last post was waaaay back, over a month now, and soo much has happened since. I wrote that post thinking the next day I would be travelling to Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, and instead I found myself in Mumbai, India, 3 days later. SubhanAllah. No matter how much you plan or what you intend to do, nothing will ever come to pass but by the will of Allah. I don't want to get into the details as to why the plans changed, but nonetheless I, along with my mum, dad, and sister, ended up at my foi's (dad's sister) house in India along with about 11 other of my family members. The trip was overall quite enjoyable, although it wasn't really a holiday. I'll write about it again later in another post. I came back from India, and then about 4 days later I was off again to Marrakech with my best friend. Now that was a holiday I'll never forget, but I'll write about that in another post as well. I can make excuse about bad internet connection and being too busy, but if I really wanted to I could have found a way to keep on posting. All those reasons just gave me an excuse to not write. I guess I was feeling a little demotivated. I mean, I'd been writing a few posts but was thinking "no one's even reading this?". I came back from my exotic travels, had come to terms with just leaving my blog to gather dust before it had even had a chance to kick off, when I woke up today to an e-mail on my phone. I now have a follower, and a reason to keep on writing :).