My Moments Before Prayer...

We had several restructuring exercises in our company last year. The culmination of the exercise brought my team back to be based at our headquarters, Alhamdhulilah.

There have been many other reasons that made all of us welcome this move. For me too.
Back to the office in the middle of the city (which comes with accessibility of public transport and a string of other perks). Better work directions. More diversified roles. Bigger team with dynamic work ethics. Oh yes, and a new office space with a view to a beautiful and green and 'private' balcony. 'Private' because not many folks in our organisation crash in. So this space that now is 'dedicated' to us makes a quiet, peaceful place for lunch-ins, doing phone interviews and some colleagues in my team also bring out their laptops  to write when the office gets sometimes noisy or when they just feel like doing so. Alhamdhulilah.

Beyond all these things that only became known to us after we moved, my heart jumped for joy when we heard we were moving back to the headquarters for one main reason. The gym.

No, I do not use the gym for exercise. I use it for my Zuhr and Asar prayers. Sometimes, when I have to work late, Maghrib prayers too.

I have a former colleague, Sister SB, who has now married and moved to London, to thank for sharing with me that other Muslim sisters in our organisation use the gym for their prayers, when I first joined on my job. May Allah (S.W.T) reward her abundantly. Ameen.

The gym we have is cosy and spacious. There is a room which houses a billiard table, and a few comfortable  chairs. It also becomes a 'Mummy's Room' whenever necessary. And we too use it for our prayers.

And on times when the room is locked, there is a huge multi-purpose hall where yoga and aerobics sessions are held, that we also pray at. Albeit an open area, it can still be as peaceful at non-peak exercise hours, like half-hour later than the usual lunch hours. Colleagues who walk in talking at loud voices will reduce their volume once they spot us performing our prayers.

Above all, what I have grown to appreciate most now about the gym are the shower facilities. For the ease of taking wudhu.

And I have my reasons. We had moved to a new office in the middle of the last year. The biggest hindrance I faced there was taking wudhu. Like most washrooms in office buildings, there were wash basins which allowed for washing up.

After becoming more and aware of making the floor wet, I tried my best to prevent the floor from becoming wet. Even then, there were some other ladies who walked in and stare at me and make remarks on the water on the floor. From these instances, I used to take my wudhu in a very rushed manner (literally with my heart beating very quickly) so that I could walk out before any other women walked in.

I made lots of duas and asked Allah (S.W.T) to make this easy for me. SubhanAllah, HE answered my prayers. We moved to HQ. With all the good things that this move brought, I appreciated the move most for being able to make wudhu with peace and pray in the gym. Alhamdhulilah.

Now, when I make wudhu, I remember my times at the old office, and reduce the water that flows out from the shower tap and try my best to save water. I pray Allah (S.W.T) rewards other Muslim brothers and sisters who have to pray amidst conditions similar to that in my old office and more difficult ones.

Talking about spaces for performing prayer, would like to share on an experience I had when I was invited to attend a press luncheon at Furama Riverfront. I was unusually early that day as I did not have to report to office earlier that morning. Hence, I took some time to head to the lobby to wait for my editor to arrive when I spotted a sign that read 'Muslim Prayer Room' (if I remember correctly). I walked in and what I saw really made my day! It was a complete prayer room - with a Quran, some perfume bottles as it is Sunnah to apply some fragrance before praying,  two prayer mats, a few sets of telokong and even an ablution area. All these were in that small area! Masha-Allah.

I felt so at peace in this space. It was early for Zuhr, yet I didn't have the heart to leave without praying. I made ablution and offered two voluntary rakats of prayer. I picked up the Quran and read a few of the short suras, and made duas for all the people who made the room possible.

I snapped some photos and sent them to AZ, sharing my joy, and he was equally thrilled. After the press briefing at lunch, I promptly came back and did my Zuhr prayers before heading to office. Alhamdhulilah.

Every Water Drop Is Precious...

Now that we get showers regularly, Alhamdulilah, the dry spell and the rain it did not bring us, also brought with it some good lessons... the importance of saving water.

While there were spurts of national initiatives to remind us on saving water, I thought it will be a good time to share on the responsibility that we as Muslims have in saving water. For me, I know I can go a long way more in being more conscious about how I use water. Alhamdhulilah for the blessings of Allah (S.W.T) for us living in this country - that drinkable water is just at the turn of the tap.

Here I some ways that we try to save water in our home (in fact for everyone else, these are auto-mode actions while I need the reminders! So by writing down and sharing, this is another form of reminder to me.)

•  Turning off the tap while scrubbing dishes with soap when washing dishes

Something so simple like this as yet Mum and Brother, in fact, Father and AZ, too have to tell me when I don't.

•  Using the water that rice was washed in to water our plants

Our plants basically do not require so much water but using this water brings the 'nutrients' from the rice to them. Our late great grandma used to say this.

• Adapting to the aerator that was fixed to our kitchen tap by the public utilities agency here.

Aerators are small fittings that are screwed to the tip of the tap which ensure less water is consumed in every household. They had them fixed and I remember telling Father to ask the technician if we could request to opt out. The technician gave a point blank, No. Of course it was inconvenient at first, because we wash vegetables, meat, fruits and many other stuff under that water from that tap.
But as Father always says, 'We had to queue for water with water rationing in the kampongs those days'. Then, I better be happy with what I have now. Alhamdhulilah.
So now, I have learnt to live with that much water from that tap and everything still goes on.

•  Additional water that we may end up with, like when filling up water for the water flask, water in utensils that we leave on top  of the pots when cooking rice varieties in big quantities, we use them to fill into our washing machine.

My first impulse is always to pour out the water into the sink. Astaghfirullah. Mum chides me a lot when she sees this. Among us, she really takes a lot of care in recycling and reusing things whenever possible. And at many times, Father and I will have to argue with her to convince her to discard items we perceive as 'old and unusable'. But somehow, she always wins the battle and will think of ways to use that particular item or give away to someone she knows. Just like mum-in-law! AZ says she packs items of all sorts (that sis-in-law and father-in-law coax her to put away) for giving to our folks in India. Her favourite line is, "We may not have any use for this but they may."
These two women in our lives are amazing, for the simple fact that they are Mothers.

• When taking Wudhu (making ablution for prayers)

In Islam, Allah (S.W.T) has taught us the way of living through our beloved Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) and the Quran.
There are precise teachings on every deed we do, Masha-Allah, and we are accountable for our action.
The same with wudhu.

The Prophet (pbuh) said: “Do not waste water, even if you perform your ablution on the banks of an abundantly-flowing river.” [Ibn Majah], and he (pbuh) used to make ablution with one madd of water. [Bukhari and Muslim]

A madd was a measurement used in those days. Madd literally means to stretch, and the measurement was called a madd because food sellers would fill both their hands with food and the person selling would stretch their hands out to the buyer with that measurement. So imagine that the Prophet (pbuh) would perform wudhu with that amount of water!
(Source: http://sunnahaday.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/sunnah-75-do-not-waste-water-during-wudhu/)

Source: Internet