Church bell rings out in the distance: the same 3 notes over and over and over.
How long it's been going, I don't know. How long it will continue, is anyone's guess.
In the gaps between its simple comforting echoes, the subtle sound of chirping birds f i l l t h e a i r.
Our winged co-residents out for their morning sustenance hoping like us, that today's sun won't bring the 40-degree furnace we baked in yesterday.
A Ramadaan heat wave fitting, given the root meaning of this month's name.
We tiredly trudge through these long, Summer days - beads of sweat trickling like lazy streams down overheating skins outside water-deprived bodies.
The lack not a punishment, but instead a wisdom: bodily suppression, by default, elevates the soul.
And once this month leaves, we shan't force ourselves into this spirit-nourishing equilibrium, so it's best to soak in as much as we can before these limited days expire.
21 have passed. 8 more to go - or 9 - should our lunar companion be too shy to show herself.
That same moon which mesmerised me just a week ago, but is now nowhere to be seen in these final 10 nights - our spiritual peak - before her silver sliver signals Eid's celebration and we all go back to our normal ways of life.
Or perhaps we hang on to something - subtle or striking - that elevates us beyond who we were; success in a life given for continuous striving towards self-improvement.
The bells have ceased. The birds have not. The light slips through. Let the day begin...
It is a long spiritual journey for you, my friend, and I confess I cannot bear heat, so it would be most trying for me to earnestly focus. But, as you say, Ramadan literally refers to heat, which symbolically can represent purification, a beautiful insight for enduring and transforming the experience.
Each year, I admire your commitment and diligence; they seem to lead to such a joyful fulfillment. I pray for your peace and the renewal you seek, Yacoob.
Thanks, Kitty. It’s the very end of Summer here, and Ramadaan moves back around 10 days each year, so we’re in for this for quite a long while to come until it moves into the cooler months again. But there’s wisdom in us going through different seasons and conditions – even if we prefer some over others. We need them all, and it’s a reminder that we are never truly in control, which is an important reminder in an age of instant gratification and on-demand services.
So next year, Ramadaan begins 10 days later? I like that idea of moving through the year and the deep wisdom it affords.
I enjoy my Lenten and Advent journeys, too, though they are clustered around the same months each year. The Lenten journey, more changeable in its dates, is especially transformative, and so movingly for me, travels with spring’s arrival and all of its symbols and themes.
Roughly 10 days *earlier*. I think in the US, Lent actually started the same day as Ramadaan this year, which is a good reminder of seeking commonalities rather than differences. If only the so-called ‘leaders’ would take the lesson rather than pursuing their greedy, selfish pursuits…
Ah! Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Imagine a cooperative humanity. 🩵
slip-sliding away..... 
It is a long spiritual journey for you, my friend, and I confess I cannot bear heat, so it would be most trying for me to earnestly focus. But, as you say, Ramadan literally refers to heat, which symbolically can represent purification, a beautiful insight for enduring and transforming the experience.
Each year, I admire your commitment and diligence; they seem to lead to such a joyful fulfillment. I pray for your peace and the renewal you seek, Yacoob.
Thanks, Kitty. It’s the very end of Summer here, and Ramadaan moves back around 10 days each year, so we’re in for this for quite a long while to come until it moves into the cooler months again. But there’s wisdom in us going through different seasons and conditions – even if we prefer some over others. We need them all, and it’s a reminder that we are never truly in control, which is an important reminder in an age of instant gratification and on-demand services.
So next year, Ramadaan begins 10 days later? I like that idea of moving through the year and the deep wisdom it affords.
I enjoy my Lenten and Advent journeys, too, though they are clustered around the same months each year. The Lenten journey, more changeable in its dates, is especially transformative, and so movingly for me, travels with spring’s arrival and all of its symbols and themes.
Roughly 10 days *earlier*. I think in the US, Lent actually started the same day as Ramadaan this year, which is a good reminder of seeking commonalities rather than differences. If only the so-called ‘leaders’ would take the lesson rather than pursuing their greedy, selfish pursuits…
Ah! Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Imagine a cooperative humanity. 🩵