Walking Walking Searching for Food

Salam w.b.t.

The scope of health awareness should cover both the urban as well as the rural area. The right to get a good and appropriate treatment of diseases should be given equally to all human being, be it a businessman or a farmer.

The rule is, treat the patient equally according to their right to get the best treatment, regardless of their social background.

To achieve this objective, rural posting is set up to make sure the villagers also have the chance to be treated as good as possible.

Last Monday, I got the opportunity to join a health camp in Islampur, one of the village area in Karad-district-to-be. This is one of my wish before I go back for good, and at the last week of OBG posting, praise be to Allah that He give me this chance that I longed for.

The journey to Islampur took about 45 minutes. I was feeling a bit, ermmm excited as what Englishman says, even though I had been to other villages long time ago during my student life. (now still a student also) But this time, it is a little bit different.

I thought we were going to the PHC (primary health centre). But I was mistaken.

It was a health camp, ladies and gentlemen, where they set up big tents at the centre and by the side of the tents, there were few booths for the villagers to have a health check-up inside. There was also a stage where any doctors or important person gave a talk regarding health awareness.

SO, this is our booth for Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) --->

Let the photos do the writing ok?

The patients started to come at noon. This was justified by the crowd in our booth who come to get the free check-up on that day. 

Most of them work as a farmer. Most of them are poor people. They are not that lucky like all of us. Their house is just enough to give them shelter from the heat of the sunray and from the heavy rain. It is just a place where they can rest and sleep after a long, tiring work during the day.

This people should be given more care about their health and how they maintain a promising life.

After about 3 hours there, we packed our stuffs and returned back to the hospital.

It was just a short experience for me to see the life of other people. It was a memorable one indeed. It just reminds me that, how fortunate I am with all the blessings and the prosperity that I have till now.

We can eat without any restriction of particular food (except the one that is forbidden), we can sleep peacefully, we can breathe the air without any difficulties.

Isn't it more than enough for us?

"Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?"

Action Equals Words

Salam w.b.t.

One of the verses in Al-Quran states something like this,
"Why did you say things that you are not doing it?"

Let's hear this beautiful story and reflect ourselves, how is our deeds in daily life. Is it increasing, decreasing or still the same one from the day we were being taught by our ustaz and ustazah.

Ya insan, why did you say it, but you are not applying it in your life. You just know how to talk this and that. But the action, none at all.

Let's muhasabah.

p/s : a saying goes like this: "Don't judge a book by its cover." But in reality, people's judgment is based on other's external behaviour. If we are looking good externally but 'rotten' inside, then there's no point.

Allah, Liberty and Love.

Salam w.b.t.

Peredaran zaman memperlihatkan kepada kita akan perubahan sesuatu hukum yang telah ditetapkan dalam Islam sejak zaman Rasulullah s.a.w. dan para sahabat r.a. Segala peraturan dan hukum-hakam Islam berubah-ubah mengikut zaman menunjukkan bahawa Islam bukanlah agama yang rigid sebaliknya ia agama yang memberi kemudahan kepada penganutnya berlandaskan syariat Islam.

Selagi sesuatu yang dilakukan itu masih mengikut syariat Islam, ia boleh dilakukan walaupun pada zahirnya nampak sangat mudah pelaksanaannya. Tiada masalah di situ.

Pada satu-satu masa, hukum-hakam yang telah ditentukan oleh ulama silam kemungkinannya dilihat tidak bertepatan dengan masalah yang timbul dewasa ini lalu memerlukan perbincangan (musyawarah) sesama ilmuan Islam dalam menentukan hukum yang baru.

Kaedah penentuan hukum yang baru berdasarkan usaha seseorang ulama itu yang menganalisa sesuatu masalah lalu mengeluarkan hukum berdasarkan ilmunya, disebut sebagai ijtihad. Inilah yang biasa kita dengar sebagai ijtihad ulama. Mereka ini merupakan golongan yang tinggi ilmunya lagi tsiqah (dipercayai) dan tidak diragui mengenai keupayaan mereka mengeluarkan hukum atau pendapat.

Ijtihad atau reformasi bukannya boleh dilakukan sesuka hati. Ia perlukan ketinggian ilmu dan kemahiran dalam disiplin ilmu tersebut. Seseorang itu harus punya pengetahuan yang luas mengenai perkara yang ingin diperkatakan sebelum sesuatu perkara itu diputuskan demi kemaslahatan masyarakat.

Jika diri sendiri tidak mempunyai ilmu yang cukup, dikhuatiri akan muncul pula insan-insan persis Salman Rushdie yang mentafsirkan agama mengikut pemahaman sendiri sehingga mendapat tentangan hebat dari masyarakat Muslim. Ia contoh bagaimana akal didahului oleh pengaruh hawa nafsu.

Alkisahnya
Mutakhir ini muncul pula seorang reformis wanita yang semakin dikenali iaitu Irshad Manji. Beliau merupakan seorang penulis dan wartawan Kanada yang lantang bersuara dan giat mempromosikan idea 'moral courage' yang menurutnya sesuatu yang perlu dalam masyarakat hari ini.

Antara buku tulisannya termasuklah The Trouble With Islam Today dan Allah, Liberty and Love. Ada yang dapat menerima segala idea yang cuba disampaikan melalui 2 buku tersebut namun tidak kurang juga yang mengkritik dan mengecam karyanya itu.

Suratan atau kebetulan, saya turut memiliki bukunya yang bertajuk Allah, Liberty and Love. Sewaktu mula-mula membeli, saya langsung tidak mengenali penulisnya. Cuma tertarik dengan tajuk buku tersebut yang nampak macam sedikit subversif atau offensive barangkali. Setelah hampir sebulan, barulah dikenali siapa penulisnya setelah mendapat maklumat di atas talian. Rupa-rupanya buku tersebut hendak diharamkan di tanahair yang tercinta. Fuh, ganas juga penangan buku tersebut.

Di sebalik buku medik...

Dalam bab pengenalan ada diceritakan pengalaman penulisnya sendiri yang sentiasa dikecam melalui ugutan bunuh lewat e-mail. Ada yang menuduhnya dengan pelbagai gelaran dan ada juga yang bersetuju dengan buah fikiran yang dilontarkan.

Irshad Manji juga ada menjelaskan apa yang dimaksudkan dengan 'moral courage' yang dijaja olehnya kepada orang ramai. 'Moral courage' bermaksud kesanggupan untuk bercakap mengenai kebenaran untuk mengukuhkan masyarakat demi kebaikan yang lebih besar. (The willingness to speak truth to power within the community for the sake of greater good).

Melalui 'moral courage', seseorang itu digalakkan untuk sentiasa bertanya mengenai sesuatu. Lebih banyak soalan lebih bagus. Dan pertanyaan itu lebih berkisar mengenai segala tindak-tanduk Muslim itu sendiri. Kenapa lelaki sahaja yang boleh jadi imam? Kenapa undang-undang ini wujud? Adakah ia masih relevan? Tidakkan ia harus dikaji dan diteliti semula demi imej Islam di mata bukan Muslim?

Kalau dari sudut pembelajaran ilmu-ilmu sains atau apa jua cabang ilmu, rasanya 'moral courage' wajar dipraktikkan. Ia suatu yang harus digalakkan kepada pelajar-pelajar.

Namun dalam bidang yang melibatkan soal agama, mungkin ia kurang sesuai kerana tidak semua persoalan agama itu boleh dijangkau melalui akal yang terbatas. Segala peraturan yang telah ditetapkan itu, memerlukan orang yang betul-betul arif dan dipercayai untuk melakukan sebarang perubahan, dan tidak ramai yang memenuhi kriteria yang sepatutnya.

Usahanya itu lebih kepada menyeru masyarakat supaya memberi ruang yang luas kepada kebebasan. Kebebasan individu untuk bersuara dan kebebasan mempersoalkan perkara yang berkaitan hak asasi manusia yang mungkin dirasakan tidak ramai yang tampil untuk memperkatakannya secara terbuka.

Meniti hari-hari pada akhir zaman, kelihatan semakin banyak usaha yang dilakukan oleh banyak pihak untuk memberi definisi baru terhadap agama Islam. Mereka ini begitu aktif bekerja supaya apa yang dicita-citakan itu tercapai.

Jadi, mari sama-sama kita tambah ilmu asas mengenai agama supaya kita termasuk dalam golongan yang menepati ciri-ciri akidah Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah berbanding 72 kumpulan lain yang nyata terpesong dari pemahaman Islam yang sebenarnya.

p/s : Sedang berusaha menghabiskan Allah, Liberty & Love.

Scholars Quote 1

"This dunya is like a shadow. If you try to catch it, you will never be able to do so. If you turn your back towards it, it has no choice but to follow you."

- Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah -

Sheikh Sudais and Algerian Child

A true story.

A lesson.

A role model in our life.

It never occurred in the imaginations of one of the Algerian mothers that when she contacted At-Tarbawi, Dr. Mohammaed Ast-Thanwiyy’s weekly show that she will achieve her dream and the dream of her daughter. For she only called to expose her problems to the doctors hoping his opinion would guide her.

She said “I have a young daughter who is 8 years old. She loves Sheikh Sudais a lot and she imitates his recitation so far that she won first place in the Algerian competition in her imitation of Sheikh Sudais of Surat Al-Qiyama. She has gone as far as naming herself the description/clarity of Sudais. She always tells me my dream is to meet sheikh Sudais. She asked me, “mom when will I meet Sheikh Sudais?” And I promised her (that she will meet him) But I am not able to do that. And I told her By Allah, if I had a house to sell it (I would do that) and go with you to Makkah and meet Sheikh Sudais.

She (the mother) proceeded to say that time has passed but what she wanted did not come true. She said to me “mother you have lied! And you will never take me to Sheikh Sudais!” She has now come to a condition where she hates everything even the Quran and I have began to hit her.
The doctor addressed her issue with wonderful guidance. At the end of his talk he sent a letter to Sheikh Sudais that he kindly contacts this child to fulfil her dreams.

When the story reached Sheikh Sudais, he graciously welcomed her (the child) and her mother to Madinah, then to Makkah, at his expense, and he invited them to his house. She recited the Quran in front of him, and she did the Khatm ul Quran dua as he does it. He was deeply touched and he wept with joy and he asked Allah to bless her. He is willing to pay for her studies.

Source

The Bigger The Lesser ?

Al-Hassan al-Basree once said :

"Son of Adam! You are nothing but a number of days, whenever each day passes then part of you has gone.''

So, what is so great about the figure of our age right ?

Years by Years, I Have to Be Serious

Salam w.b.t.

Being a senior is not as easy as ABC if you are the first batch among your colleagues. It is a challenging task and job if you are regarded as 'small representative' of your country to others.

Reminiscing the old experience of mine as a first year student brings an involuntary smile. My junior life was full of happy as well as bad moments that taught me how to be independent. (but still depends on government's allowance..huhu)

We walked a small group to the lecture hall everyday and brought a new environment to the surrounding. Consequently, the locals treated us as if we were the members of a white collar organization. Could you imagine ?

'Gaur kaha hai ?' (where do you come from?)

Nepal? Indonesia?

Those are some of the curiosity shown by the local people. They like to ask so many thing but we replied very less thing.

Apart from that, we learned a bit about their mother tongue which is Marathi language. We had to use them during clinical examination of the 'kaka' (what we call the male lab assistants), not the actual patient.

We said 'zopa' to ask them to lay down. Then they lay down. To ask them to inspire, we said 'shoas lo' only then inspiration took place. 'Tuzha ankh bandh karo', meaning 'close your eyes' while uttering 'apka mu kolo' was asking them to open the mouth. Simple right ? But need more practice.

Some 'kaka' know their 'appropriate role' and directly do the position required. So we were considered lucky then. Some of them just being 'innocent' like not knowing anything, then a good skill of examination plus communication skill are required.

Those clinical examination part is really beneficial as they are the basics one in history taking. The skills are still implemented during clinical years, which I am experiencing now.

As a matter of fact, practical skills are highly required in medicine as we have to handle the patients wisely. The knowledge in the book are only theories which is updated upon new discoveries or omitted if proved irrelevant.

That's why it is said that the knowledge without its application or practice is like a tree without its fruit. Al 'ilm bilaa 'amal laa yanfa'. The knowledge is totally useless unless practised. Make sense right ?

The Best Last Paper of Tyrannical Examination

Salam w.b.t.

Praise be to Allah as He is still giving us the blessing so that we can live the world until now. We breathe as long as our heart functions. Respiratory and cardiovascular of 2 most important functions in our life.

We just finished our exam today with Pediatric as the last paper. Although it is next year subject, it is like an exposure for us to take the examination (or test) so that we know what strategies to be applied later on. It's like antigen and antibody reaction. When we are exposed to antigen (harmful substances like dust or allergen) our body will identify it as foreign objects and start to secrete particular antibodies to combat the antigen. It provides immunity to the body. Same situation here but examination should be regarded as good antigen while the good antibody is our attitude and preparation before coming examination.

At last I got the chance to continue watching the Japanese movie : Team Medical Dragon 3 featuring cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Asada Ryutaro as the main actor. He is so fantastic during operation and his skills are appreciated at world level. Suddenly I have a desire to be like him and I wonder if I could be the one. =) Actually I like kids also and paediatric is also one of my choice other than neurosurgery. But I should pass undergraduate course at first place then I could make a decision later. Let's see which path is the best from Allah.

May our junior get the best result in Ist MBBS which will come out maybe this week. Allaahumma najihnaa fil imtihaan. (",)

PSM done !

All Praise be to Allah as our PSM posting finished already. Yesterday we had this ward ending exam at the end of the posting.

During PSM posting, we have to present a case in a group of two. One case per day. There's a list of cases available to be taken by us. After that, we have to copy the corrected cases in our journal.

PSM also, but not in the medical field.

Back to the ward ending, everybody were given 1 case for history taking and for sure presentation of the case later on. As for me, I had been given gynaecology case which is PIH (Pregnancy Induced Hypertension). At the first place I thought this could be challenging for me as I think gynaec case is one of the toughest case. Moreover, the language barrier gave a synergistic effect to it..hehe

I rushed to the maternity ward when I found the patient assigned to me after few minutes. Fortunately there was a local student who was taking the same case as mine. What a relief. We had less than an hour to complete our case. For the 'interview' part, I let my friend to handle it as she knew hindi very well. I took the case paper and search for the information like what investigation had been done and so on. We wrote as fast as possible.

Then at about 11am, we went to the common room to complete the history and to prepare ourselves for the presentation. Everybody was preparing as good as they could while some were correcting their history including me myself.. :-)

Around 1pm, the session ended. We felt so relieved, as the PSM cases was so vast which cover most of the diseases commonly found in the community. It also requires the history of water supply, housing condition, sanitation, socio-cultural factors and the prevention to be taken. We have to consider the entire aspects of life as their occupation or their lifestyle and habits could lead them to particular infection. As I have mentioned in previous post, the cleanliness should be maintained perfectly as the source of the infection are mostly from the dirty environment either from poor housing condition or from the person itself.

As for me, gynaec case is not that difficult unless you are not prepared well enough. Most of the question came from the theory part. If we had strong understanding then it's not a big deal. It is we ourselves who do not learn how to survive in a difficult situation. What matters most is our desire to learn what is the mistake, never repeat it and how to improve our performance so that it would be better next time.

It is the same when we feel guilty after committing the sin. We should feel regret, and wishing to never doing the same mistake(sin) again in the future. That's the steps of 'Taubat'. At the same time we have to perform many good deeds also. Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. said that one of the characteristics of the people of Paradise is those who always prefer to do good deeds. Everytime the people are talking, they talk about how kind he is. How helpful she is. That's the sign. If all Muslim behave in a good manner, obey things asked by Allah, I strongly believe the world would be a peaceful place to live in. (",) No such dictatorship could even exist in this world.

After experiencing the history taking part (not 100% of my own as I'd been helped), I admit my journey of study is still not good enough. Still more to learn and to be revised everyday. And most importantly the learning of hindi language is a crucial task to be carried out. Actually people of Karad speak marathi language and still I have to know a bit about this language.

But, no pain no gain right. Like the Malay saying, "Bersusah-susah dahulu, bersenang-senang kemudian.) =)

p/s : gynaecology = bidang yang berkaitan dengan penyakit-penyakit wanita.

TB, HIV, DM ?

Well, what are those 3 things supposed to tell you ? I believe most of us are familiar with the title of this post. Those are neither the name of famous company nor the name of a person. Instead they are the name of the diseases commonly found here, namely Tuberculosis (batuk kering), HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and diabetes mellitus (kencing manis).

TB cases are still there in India, but not in our country. Many people died due to TB throughout the year. One people die every minute here, according to my lecturer. So sad. Fortunately TB has been eradicated from our country a long time ago.

During our PSM posting, the lecturer reminded us to know everything about TB. It should be at the tip of the tongue.

What is the sign and symptom. How is the treatment. How do you classify the patient. What is the drug to be taken.

As its highest prevalence here, we should know the details as this case is of favourite topic during examination.

During pathology practical in 2nd year, one of my lecturer told us that we should know the details of 3 important diseases : TB, HIV and diabetes. We have to 'master' them as those are common in the community. Those are always asked by the lecturers, which tells us how important the diseases to be studied.

In most of the cases, those who get HIV infection are more prone to get TB also. This happen as a result of weakened immune system of the body, thus leading to opportunistic infection. Frankly, there are many complications of HIV-AIDS patient, and TB is just one of them.

The occurrence of the disease has a strong relation with the hygiene and lifestyle aspect. The proper self hygiene is still not practised and the sanitation is unsatisfactory also. That's why TB infection is easily available.

And for our country, diabetes and hypertension as well as heart disease are at the top ranking. Why ? Hmm.. I think most of us know already the answers.. :-)

Last but not least, prevention is better than cure. Before we get it, why don't we prevent it at the first place from happening. So, watch what you eat ok...

P/s : PSM = Preventive & Social Medicine a.k.a. Community Medicine.

Clueless People

I got this thing from my e-mail inbox. Juz wanna share with all of you.

Quite interesting stories that should not happen but still, it is happening.

How do these people survive?

ONE

Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could

have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half
dozen nuggets.
'We don't have half dozen nuggets,' said the teenager at the counter.
'You don't?' I replied.
'We only have six, nine, or twelve,' was the reply.
'So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?'
'That's right.'
So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets
(Unbelievable but sadly true...)

TWO

I was checking out at the local Woolworths with just a few items and
the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked
up one of those 'dividers' that they keep by the cash register and
placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the
girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the 'divider', looking
it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar
code, she said to me, 'Do you know how much this is?' I said to her
'I've changed my mind; I don't think I'll buy that today.'
She said 'OK,' and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue
to what had just happened.

THREE

A woman at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive
and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was
doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking
for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM 'thingy.'
(keep shuddering!! )

FOUR

I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. 'Do you
need some help?' I asked . She replied, 'I knew It! should have
replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get
into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience
store) would have a battery to fit this?'
'Hmmm, I don't know. Do you have an alarm, too?' I asked.
'No, just this remote thingy,' she answered, handing it and the car
keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I
replied, 'Why don't you drive over there and check about the
batteries. It's a long walk....'

FIVE

Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift. One day
she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, 'I'm almost out of
typing paper. What do I do?' 'Just use paper from the photocopier' ,
the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining
blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make
five 'blank' copies.
Brunette, by the way!!

SIX

A mother calls 911 very worried asking the dispatcher if she needs to
take her kid to the emergency room, the kid had eaten ants. The
dispatcher tells her to give the kid some Benadryl and he should be
fine, the mother says, 'I just gave him some ant killer...... .'
Dispatcher: 'Rush him in to emergency!'

ISLAM, not just an ordinary word

ISLAM means :

I

Shall

Love

Always

Muhammad S.A.W...

So, practise ISLAM as the true way of life. And make a habit of saying salawat as the proof of our love to the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.

Can you promise of the evening ?

If you can't promise of the evening, how can you promise of tomorrow ?

How can you promise of the day, the month or the year ?

Can you promise of living till the day of 'Asyura (10 Muharram) this year, during 1st Muharram before this ?

God is the only one who can make the promise, and He never break His promise...

What about you yourselves ? Have you all think about it ?

At The Tip of The Tongue

A good memory is very beneficial in our learning process. It helps you a lot and keeps you in the right path of what courses you are dealing with.

During pathology practical yesterday, our skill of memorising was being tested by the lecturer. That was not the first time we were questioned by them, as those revised question had been asked previously.
"What is normal serum urea level ?"

"................................................" (Silent)


"Serum creatinine level ?"

"..............................................." (once again)


"Normal CSF protein level ?"

"............................................"
"How are you going to diagnose, if you don't know the normal level at least ??" said the lecturer.

Everybody blurred, neither dares to answer nor to try an error. Those question comes from the portion of first year subject. Being second year student, the last year knowledge seems to be ignored by most students.

Sometimes, the skill or ability of mugging up or menghafal is needed, though you have to apply it in certain situation only. For remembering the numbers or quantity of something, it is advisable to train our memory perfectly with numbers, so that everything is at the tip of your tongue.

Yes, at the tip of the tongue, not inside the larynx.

When someone asks you something, you are ready enough to give the answer. As if the reply is already there before he or she asks you.

Practise makes perfect. So, we have to start revising, and practise to think faster.

Nowadays, everything is at the tip of your finger. Just by clicking, you can travel all around the world, and see what's happening globally in a fraction of a second. The entire world is on your hands.

If at the tip of the finger is already a success, then why not at the tip of the tongue ?

How children receive Ramadhaan

Laying down the book I looked up at Tessniem. "OK, so what are we going to do this Ramadhaan?" Her cheerful face lit up. "Paint the windows." Looking at my pretty white sheers I forced my head to nod. "OK, what else do we do during Ramadhaan?" Omar jumped off the couch… "Not eat, ah, I mean fast." "That's right, we fast for a whole month," said Tessniem, gently wrapping her arms around her chest and hugging her self. "I love Ramadhaan, it's fun." Omar said, "Yea, it's great, we get to choose whatever we want to break our fast with."

I could tell by his eyes that he was remembering steaming corn dogs out of the oven dipped in ketchup with a glass of chocolate milk. "And what makes that food taste so especially good?" I asked sitting upon the couch. Omar raised his hand high into the air like he was in class. "I know, I know," he screamed." Omar you can put your hand down, we aren't in class now." Omar lowered his arm and smiled "because we are doing it for Allaah and when we eat we remember Allaah."

Tessniem jumped in, "and the poor people who don't have any food like the ones in Somailia and Ba…" Omar turned to her, "you mean Bosnia." Tessniem looked up at Omar "yea Bas, that place Omar said." Omar's head lowered and his mouth's edges dipped down. Taking his hand. "What's wrong Omar?" "I just remembered the stories about the Bosnians eating grass because there was nothing to eat during the war." Breathing deep, "yea, there is a lot to be thankful for." Tessniem walked up to me with her shoulder raised close to her ears. "Remember that picture of the Somali baby on the ground and the vulture waiting for him to die?" I did not even have to think back, the picture is forever seared in my memory.

Placing my arms around Tessniem, I brought her close to me on the couch. Omar scooted over to me and hugged my other arm. Looking at the floor, he leaned his cheek against my arm. "Mama?" he whispered. I made a soft hmm to let him know I was listening. "Can we send them some money so they can buy food?" Sitting up I smiled, "Yes, every year we give them Zakaat."

Rubbing his eyes I could see his wheels spinning in his brain, got up and ran to his bedroom. I thought for a minute he was going off to cry. I could hear the closet door open and the sound of jingling down the hallway. He quickly turned the corner and stopped abruptly in front of me holding out a plastic spice container filled with paper riyals and change. With his face solemn he moved it closer to me so I could take it from him. "Omar, what do you want me to do with it?" With puzzled expression he looked at me like I was seriously confused. "Mom… It's for the poor people, who don't have any food."

Taking the plastic container, I started slowly unscrewing the red lid. "And how much do you want to give to them?" Omar scrunched up his face and held out his right hand upward as if to say 'you still don't get it?' He sighed heavily and took the container and dumped it onto my lap. "All of it Mom!" I thought I should get into the concept of percentages for Zakaat, but it just didn't seem appropriate.

Looking down on my lap, I knew he had been saving his money for a Spiderman at Wonder World. I was getting ready to tell him about the reward from Allaah when Tessniem appeared in the living room with her spice container bank. Smiling she untwisted the red lid and dumped the money on my lap too. Too touched for words, I hugged them. Looking at the money, Tessniem laid her hand on her cheek thinking. Softly she whispered, "maybe it will buy enough food for that little boy so he can get up and the vulture won't eat him."

Of course the most logical thing to tell her is that the picture was taken over two years ago and most probably the child never got up and was never buried. But only Allaah knows what happened, and this little girl needed to know that by the mercy she receives from Allaah there was still hope.

Ramadan in Iraq

Sihaam Azeez longs for her beloved Baghdad in Ramadhaan, where she used to be awakened by the sound of a man walking the streets, shouting "Suhoor, Suhoor!" in effort to wake up his fellow believers to have the pre-dawn meal. Neighborhood children also come knocking on doors with their Faanoos (lantern)—a personal wake-up call in exchange for some sweets.

"Just before Iftaar time, after a long day of fasting, all the kids gather to wait for the traditional cannon to sound. This signals that it is Maghrib time (sunset) and we can break our fast," says Mrs. Azeez.

In the minutes leading up to Athaan, the smell of barbecue wafts through the city, as most people cook their kebabs out on the grill. Those who are breaking their fast eat some dates and yogurt first, then after offering the prayer in the mosque, return for soup, kebabs, etc. Residents send whatever food they have made to their neighbors to share, so no one goes hungry in Ramadhaan. The leftovers are kept for the next suhoor.

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