DefSufi

Ash-Shura 42:29 And among His signs is the [very] creation of the heavens and the earth, and of all the living creatures which He has caused to multiply throughout them.

"The maghrib alarm has gone off", I told my husband the other evening.

"What?"

"The maghrib alarm....I can hear the tree frogs, so it's time for evening prayers."

"Oh."

I had started noticing this fact a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't really conscious at first. Just the once in a while mental note that as I was making Iqamah I could hear the tree frogs outside the window. One evening, it occured to me to check the time for maghrib prayer and the tree frogs singing against my prayer schedule. Same time. Again the next evening, and the next. So far, the only night it's been wrong in the past couple of weeks has been the few days we were inundated by Tropical Storm Fay, when the little fellows were probably too wet and scared to do much of anything except cling to a tree.

There are also "fajr birds", those annoying mockingbirds, that seem to come to voice just before dawn. When we first moved into our house, it sounded like the phone was ringing about 30 minutes or so every morning before the alarm clock would go off. It drove me crazy until I figured out what it was, because the first few mornings I DID go to answer the phone. I still call them phone birds: wake up, Allah's calling!

Soon, there will be the sign of the new moon, and Ramadan will begin. In my 14 years of being Muslim, I have yet to make it through a full Ramadan fast. I have been severly hypoglycemic over the past 15 years or so, and a late meal has been known to nearly knock me to the ground, let alone a missed one. But I'll probably be tempted to try it again. Can I get past what are simply the signs of hunger and see if it's only that this time? Or will I let fear set me up for failure again, which is sometimes what I feel actually happens when I push meals off on a normal day (it's LATE! I'm going to DIE! (the heart races) SEE! I TOLD YOU!!!... is this panic or real?)

The little mental note in the back of my mind reads, "Try again."

That might be a sign. Wish me luck.

Blessings.

And an easy Fast to all my Muslim brothers and sisters!