When is Ramadan? Really?

Bismillah...

What day is Ramadan really starting? We have this same problem every year, and then again for the last day and the day of Eid. Seems that the moon doesn't look the same for everyone. My in-laws live in Bahrain, and Bahrain always follows Makkah and Saudia Arabia. I always thought when the New Moon was sighted by anyone, that was it. But apparently Pakistan likes to do their own thing. Shi'as like to do their own thing. The various Sunni sects have reasons for doing their own thing. No one is united on this simplest of things.

We have always waited for the call from Ami in Bahrain, but it doesn't always match with whatever masjid we just happen to be going to at the time. Finding a masjid is a whole other problem, I'll get back to that. Last year or the year before the ISNA or ICNA (I never know which is which) decided to plot out the first day of Ramadan for the next few years. I was so against that because how is it possible to know that? Sometimes the months have 29 days, some have 30. I have noticed, also, the past few years Ramadan in Houston only lasts 29 days. I have read haddith that it is possible, but every single year? The Islamic Society of Greater Houston always rents the convention center at the Reliant Stadium, next the the Astro Dome, for the big Eid prayers. But more than once people have complained that they were under the impression that the day they chose to lead the Eid prayers was actually the 30th of Ramadan, while the people in the stadium were considering it to be the 1st of Shawal, the month after Ramadan.

So confusing...

About finding a masjid. We recently moved back to our old neighborhood. When we were here before we would go for Jumah at the masjid closet to our home. I always enjoyed the English dars but the when the next man would come to give the Arabic khutbah (which was usually the same as the English lesson) he would chant, in a kind of sing song voice, almost like he was reading poetry. I have never heard any other imam speak a sermon like that. My husband did not like it. It was kind of like he was reading the Qur'an like poetry, instead of reciting it properly. I was not fond of it myself.

So then we moved, but my husband's job was still in the old neighborhood. He would take his lunch break and go to a masjid that was two blocks away from the other one. He really liked it. I would go to another masjid when I could, but it was not always easy or even possible because the baby was only a few months old at the time and extremely fussy.

Now we are back and so far we have not gone to Jumah at all. My husband is in training for his new job and is not able to make it to Jumah at all. I no longer have a drivable car so I do not go either. So we really do not have any particular masjid these days. Probably when we ever do start going again, it will be the second one my husband liked.

Introduction

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim

I already have dozens (seems like it!) of blogs floating around out there somewhere. The most active one is on MySpace. I decided to start this specifically to talk about my daily life as a Muslim woman in Houston, Texas. That, I just think this place is a bit more "mature."

I think a lot of people have formed their opinion of Muslim women based on what they see on the news. Most have never met a Muslim woman. In a city the size of Houston, people may have seen Muslim woman and not even know she was a Muslim becaue she was not wearing the recognizable scarf or robe. Or they may have seen a scarved, robed woman at the grocery store and thought her to be an unapproachable oddity.

A brief introduction, my name is Reem. Not my birth name, of course, as I was born in southwest Arkansas and raised in a Missionary Baptist church. I was very much the "church girl." There was even a time I considered entering the mission fields. I always befriended the exchange students at my high school, I am still in contact with a few of them 15 years later. I think my ultimate desire was to travel and see the world outside tiny Bodcaw. I loved anything foreign, languages, cultures, geography was my favorite subject. My interests eventually were narrowed down to the Arabic language. This led to Arab culture and finally, the Arab religion, Islam.

In 1995, this young Arkansan Baptist reverted to Islam. A belief in Islam is that every person and everything is born in submission to God. Submission to God is the definition of of the word islam, so in essence everyone is born as a Muslim (a submitter to God.) So instead of saying convert--or changing from the original to something new--we say revert, returning back to the original.

But I don't want to get into all that. (Besides, I personally use both terms, though some people get picky about it. From this point on I will use the word revert.) This blog is not about my reversion. This blog is going to be about my life now, 13 years after taking the shahadah.

I read a lot of reversion stories where the new Muslim talks about finding peace, everything is so wonderful now. Alhumdulillah, if they have found that coveted inner peace and strength. May Allah keep them strong. I, on the other hand, have not always been in high iman, or at peace. A lot of the time I stubble from what I know to be the Right Path, and feel that I am the worst Muslim in the world. Many times when I do find myself heading in the right direction religiously, I tend to get judgemental, even bitter, when I hear or see other Muslims who seem to have little regard to Islam, or the fact that they are setting bad examples, spreading incorrect information, going to extremes in either direction (from laziness to fananticism.)

I want this blog to be honest. I want this blog to change me for the better. I am preparing for Ramadan and I see this as a time for new beginnings. the idea for creating this blog came to me just a few minutes ago and I need to hurry this along before my baby wakes up.

Oh, I should mention I am married to a Pakistani (after I reverted) and we have an 11 month year old son, Imad, alhumdulillah. I'll be talking about him a lot probably.