Salaamun ‘alaik,
Yaa GoodOldLovedBuddy,

How’re ur last days of Ramadhan coming along???may all of us be of the faa-iziinal maqbuuliin…ameen!!=>
As promised in my last letter,I’l tell u about e tarawih prayers in Syria…
((caution:everything I’m gonna write down is totally based on my own opinion—
pls keep in mind that I prefer
*tarawih prayers which are not too fast-this means I get to read all the 3 tasbihs in ruku’ n sujud,
*tarawih prayers in which the imams finish reading 1 juz/ nite,
*tarawih prayers in which the imams read with a nice tune..hehe…so dapat enjoy!!))

My housemates n I like to go to different mosques to try out each one n find the ones we like…so far,hati ni da terpaut @ Jame’ Naabulsi…it has a combination of all 3 factors I look out 4..
Anyway,I found out when going to some mosques-quite shockingly-that quite a number of them read only one ayat per raka’ah!!!literally one ayat,as in ‘Tabaarakal-lazii biyadihil mulku wa huwa’alaa kulli syai-in qadiir’4 one raka’ah..hehe…style,kan???
For example also,@ jame’ Buuthii,during the whole 20 raka’ahs,the imam only read a total of 3 pages from surah Al-kahfi….wen I asked the reason from one of the seniors,she said that they follow a qaul in Mazhab hanafi which holds on to the aayat:
((Faqra-uu maa tayassara minal Qur-aan))-((Read what is easy from the Quraan))….
Wallaahu ta’aalaa a’lam!!

I also went to jame’ Maqam arba’iin where the imam leads the prayer as if tengah lead perang!!hehe….betol!!berkobar-kobar die bace/….takbir macam takbir perang…bace surah w/o any tune….& cepat giler!!!!(in 45min,we finished ‘isya’,20 tarawih & witr!!)…nice experience,ah,although I didn’t get to feel the relaxing ‘aspect’ of tarawih,as its name suggests…

I also went once to ifthaar & tarawih @ jame’ Umawi,a.k.a Omayyad Mosque…yup…the very mosque we learnt about in Sejarah islam in Sec 3…the great mosque built during zaman Khalifah Al-Walid bin Abdul Malik during zaman pemerintahan bani Umayyah…it is very beautiful,ancient-looking and has half of it with Islamic-looking carvings while the other half has Cristian-looking carvings(as the Cristians once took over it).
Anyway,ifthaar there was best!!!
we were ‘marshalled’ by workers wearing uniforms called-Maa-idaturrahmaan(The feast of the Most Gracious) to our ‘seats’… in the mosque courtyard -on the floor-around hidangan makanan arab….we actually even planned to bring a s’pore flag as ifthaar @ Omayyad Mosque appears on Syrian TV every day….hehe…tapi tak jadi...=>
Ifthaar beneath Allah’s sky(we cud see it changing colour,from blue to darkness) was amazing,Subhanallaah!!!
Thje tarawih there was the usual one/two ayats per raka’ah from Surah Maryam.

So,as of now,I’ve been to 11 different mosques…the rest of the days, I go to jame’ Nabulsi….
Nabulsi pon best as there is dars(like blajar ugama) after the tarawih prayers.
The topic-Law in the Quran….
not laws as in haram n halal,but laws as in-Allah says in Surah An-nahl ayat 97
من عمل صالحا من ذكر أو أنثي و هر مؤمن فلنحيينه حياة طيبة
(Whosoever does good be he male or female and he is of the mu’minin,we will give him a good life)
So Allah has made a law which says that who does good,he’l get a good life…
So,if a person doesn’t do good,he’l never ever get a good life….
There are many such ayats in the Quran!!!,with ‘Fi’il Syarat n Jawab Syarat’,only I never really noticed before…so,Imam Ratib Nabulsi touches on a topic per day,eg:the laws of Rizq,the laws of Nasr,etc….exciting sangat2!!!
If I have time,i/allah I’l tell u some of the contents of these Dars biiznillaah….

K,la,dear, I gotta run….since ‘eid is coming,I wanna say- kullu ‘aam wa nahnu bikhair!!!

p.s-i like this zikir(learnt it here in Syria)-
يا حنان يا منان, يا ذا الجود و الإحسان, ثبت قلبنا على الإيمان, نرجو عفوك و الغفران,
May all of us get ‘itq minan naar…ameen!!!و اجعلنا من عتقاء شهر رمضان

p.s:the above pic is a pic of the courtyard of the Omayyad Mosque...cantik,kn???=>