A bucket of roses

Published in Young Nation 8, October 2011

http://issuu.com/youngnation/docs/young_nation_magazine_08_october_2011/7

http://issuu.com/youngnation/docs/young_nation_magazine_08_october_2011/8

The month of blessings: Ramadan Kareem

Published in Element Prime (Debut Issue)

http://issuu.com/elementprime/docs/element_prime_october_2011/19

It’s the dusky!!!! Dusk time again. All eyes are sticked to the shaded sky in search of the small milky moon. Here the new born baby moon has sighted. People recite dua of “Sighting moon” and wishes “Ramadan Mubarak” to each other. A flood of SMS, e-mails, e-cards (electronic cards) have washed every single inbox whether it’s of computer or mobile phone.

Ramadan is a month of self-regulation and self-training, with the hope that this training will last beyond the end of Ramadan. It is beneficial for one’s entire life. By Listening the word Ramadan the first thing that comes in our mind is “Fasting”. Fasting is the fourth Pillar of Islam. It an obligatory practice during the holy month of Ramadan, from fajr (dawn), until the Maghrib (dusk). Muslims are prohibited from eating, drinking and other fundamental things that are not allowed during fasting. In day time Muslims purify their souls by fasting and at night, they praise Allah in the form of taraweeh.Along with fasting and taraweeh another golden aspect of Ramadan is Zakaat which is use to given to the needy people. We do fasting whole month sometime 29 days and sometimes 30 days depending on the sighting of Shawwal moon and after the moth of patience, Allah Almighty has arranged a celebration for us that is Eid.

Ramadan is all about fasting and fasting is not about keeping your stomach empty from sehri till iftari. Fasting is all about patience. We keep our tummy empty for such a long duration not to keep our body slim and smart but to realize the punch of hunger and thirst. There are lots of people around the world who don’t have bread to eat and any refreshment to drink. For such people, refreshment is a dream they don’t even have clean and pure water to drink. Let’s take an example of Pakistan, after the destruction of last year’s flood; the affected people don’t have proper houses to live.

The month of Ramadan is also known as month of tolerance or patience. It’s divided into 3 ashra (1o days). First beginning ten (1 to 10) days are known as days of mercy, blessing and grace. During these ten days, Muslims seek Allah’s grace by reciting dua and Quran. Next ten (11 to 20) days are known as days of forgiveness in which Muslims seek Allah's forgiveness and repent for all sins by reciting the specific dua. Last ten (20 to 29/30) days of Ramadan are to seek refuge of Allah from the hellfire. There is a specific dua for these days too.

Whole month is like a sack full of sparkling gems and stones like diamond and ruby; everyone is fond of jewels and is ready to work hard on the way of religion in order to earn the reward (sack). Month of fasting is not only consist of blessings of ashra (10 ten days), it also includes 5 hidden nights. It’s like the game find hidden treasure. However, here the treasure is Holy Quran and the task is to find the night in which Holy Quran descended. Muslims use to pray and recite Quran in these 5 nights that is the night of 21th, 23th, 25th, 27th and 29th roza (fast). However, many scholars and Ulemas consider 27th night the hidden one but Allah knows better.

In Ramadan, whole routine use to change our office, schools or university timings along with them the thing that get affected more is our diet. As we keep our stomach empty whole day then we break our fast at the time of Maghrib or it can be say that we break our fast by attacking the refreshments. Well let’s have a look on the precautious diet that you should take during the month of Ramadan.

The month of Ramadan is of 30 days but these days fly away very quickly. The holy month of 2011(1432) arrived and passed away in no time. May Allah accept our prayers which we observed in this Holy month.  Ameen!

Get set go : A key to good grades

Published in Young Nation, 1 October 2011

Get set go

By Noor-ul-Ain Hanif

“Ali…!” Ali’s mother shouted. “Once again you are failed in 4 subjects! This is the third time you have given a poor result. You are such a non-serious student” Ali’s mother scolded him for the bad result. While Ali was looking down to the ground with tear filled eyes. His eyes were filled with disappointment. Do you also hear such remarks from your parents for bad results? Yes or no? If no than very good keep it up with good grades, make your parents more proud. But if your answer is yes than its time to wipe out your tears because I am going to share some tips, by following them you can achieve good grades in future.

1.      Make a to-do list:

To do list, schedule or timetable is very important not only in school life but in professional life also. A person, who follows time table or to-do list, doesn’t face failure. Take out a pen and paper and write your daily routine on it. First write; your wake up time suppose it’s 6:45 am, now move further write total time you spend in school suppose it’s from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. Now write your nap time; than write your playing time because playing is very important but focus on games that you can play physically, in order to keep your body healthy, wealthy and smart. The playing time may include your TV watching time also. After all the fun activities; its time to do some study, give at least 3 to 4 hours for study. In start, it’s difficult to give 4 hours so try to give at least 2 hours to study and don’t forget to mark the work on list that you have done.

2.     Learn lesson on daily basis:

Many of you got shocked, for giving 3 to 4 hours to study, it is because after completion of homework, start learning the work that your teacher taught you in class. Try to learn daily work on daily basis by doing so the lecture will remain fresh in your mind hence, you can learn it well.

3.      Make key words:

As you all know “key” is the main thing to open a door. So here keywords are the words that will unlock your memory and help you to untangle the riddles of your mind. Some times keywords can be key sentences also. So set some keywords according to your feasibility.  Key words or key sentences must be like, when you remember the keyword or sentences whole paragraph come in your mind.

 4.      Concentration:

Everything in the world needs concentration. It’s the main essence for good grades. If you are playing a game than with concentration you can cross the level more fastly and efficiently. Same as this, most of us watch movies twice or thrice, to the extent that we learns movie by heart, we can tell the story to anyone verbally and with dialogues. It’s because we watch it with full concentration so do learn your lessons as dialogues of your favorite movie with full concentration. 

5.      Try to understand the lesson:

Most of the students try to learn the lesson by heart they don’t bother to understand it. Sometimes they don’t actually know what they are learning. Study is not about learning by heart, it’s all about gaining knowledge. Try to extract the main concept of your lesson, understand it than you don’t have to learn it because it will automatically stick to your mind.

6.      Don’t panic:

Many of students take study as a giant monster that has wrinkled face and big dark teeth. It’s not like that study is as difficult as you assume it and it’s as simple as you can make it.  So make it essay by considering it as a fairy with soft skin and pink wings, which will takes you in fairy land. Believe in your self don’t panic.

These were the main power points for better result, if you will follow them than you can achieve good grades and better results. In start, everything is difficult, its human nature but when we practice it, it’s become habitual so make these golden points your habit. Than I am sure, high grades will chase you.