We are now firmly in the last ten nights of Ramadan with the days and nights of Ramadan slipping by like the grains of sand in an hourglass. Everyone chooses to mark these last ten nights in slightly different ways. Some spend the night in Qiyaam, others read more Quran and still others reflect and ponder over the meaning of life in the seclusion of Itikaaf.

Whichever method you use - the aim is the same. A growing connection with our Creator is being sought and hopefully obtained. And therein lies perhaps one of the lessons of Lailatul Qadr - a night when even the errant one can break loose from his chains because of the power of transformation. A night when someone can work towards a destiny that is better than what he was working towards before.

Lailatul Qadr was the night in which the Quran was revealed thus changing the destiny of every human being on Earth till the day of Judgement... and giving unimaginable power to those who stayed true to its message. Lailatul Qadr is a line in the sand, a last chance saloon, the edge of the cliff, the 11th hour - that special night which you started as "brother/sister X without purpose and without meaning" and end it as "brother/ sister X a Muslim seeking the pleasure of Allah."

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Ramadan is often the called "the month of the Quran." It seems strange to assign a month to a book that is supposed to govern our every waking and sleeping moment - regardless what time of the year. Why specify one month over and above the others?

Partially, it can be down to historical fact. This is the month in which the Quran was sent down to humanity. A simple day of celebration would not do. An entire month can barely contain it. However, it is the month in which inevitably we end up having reconnecting with the Quran. For the majority of us, the months of the year go by in a whirl. We have exams, then holidays, then friends and family issues... you get the drill.

Face it, in most other months when given the chance to go out with your friends or to watch some movie on TV - would you ever say "No! I haven't read the Quran in a while." Well, in Ramadan that comes naturally. Ramadan - the month the Quran was revealed it and then rediscovered by Muslims every year since then.

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An ordinary person has to juggle various facets of their life - work, family and play. This is hard to do and people often feel swamped. The Muslim has an added feature to the mix - Islam. Now, I know that Islam encompasses all aspects of life including work, family and play - however time still needs to be made for activities such as prayer, reading the Quran, doing Dhikr and so on. Where can we find the hours in the day?

Ramadan to the rescue. In Ramadan the Muslim life becomes even more regimented than normal. Ordinarily we have the 5 daily prayers around which to organise our life. Ramadan throws in a few more milestones like eating as a family at Iftaar and Suhoor and taking at least an hour out each night for Taraweeh not to mention Qiyaam. Suddenly, Muslims are forced to become organised because if they don't then they'll never get anything done!

Even the laziest Muslim becomes aware of time and begins to get something approaching a schedule in his life. So there you have it folks, Ramadan is also a way to organise your life.

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A funny T-shirt was made recently putting a spin on a rubbish movie franchise - the tag said "Fasting but not furious." Indeed controlling our anger is something that we are encouraged to do in Islam. This doesn't mean that Muslims should not get angry - on the contrary it would be terrible to not get angry at injustice or if you see something patently wrong going on. However, the key is to control it.

Controlling our anger becomes even harder when you throw in the natural irritability that people will have whilst fasting. It becomes easier to snap in the face of people and in fact this has become so common that instead of people replying to provocation by saying "I am fasting" it is often heard that someone is excessively grumpy because "the fasting is getting to him."

But anger management isn't just because it is nice to be polite. Often when people are angry they say things or take actions that are inappropriate. They vent their frustration by raising the tone of their voice and lowering the quality of their language when what they should be doing is changing things for the better. Like a runaway car with Vin Deisel at the wheel, it's not a pretty sight. Ramadan isn't just a month of fasting - its an anger management course with a difference.

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We often feel sorry for those who are less well off than us only when they come into our narrow field of vision. Even then, all it takes is the flick of a switch and the "problem" goes away. Some of us get a little bit outside our comfort zone by donating some of our hard earned money towards alleviating their suffering. Very few go beyond that.

But Ramadan is one of those times when you can get a pretty accurate idea of what it feels like to be hungry. Ok, you may be lucky enough to have a Suhoor and an Iftaar yet at around 7pm when you've fasted for more than 14 hours... you can empathise like  crazy with the poor and the starving of this world.

Ramadan is about a lot of things but one of those things is to empathise with those less fortunate than ourselves. There's nothing like an empty stomach and a parched throat to focus the mind and make us not only grateful for what we have, but show that gratitude through opening our hearts and our wallets for those who have very little.

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May Allah make this Ramadan one of many more to come. Ameen.

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Don't miss out on the latest issue of ISocNews packed with a host of articles to help give you that pre-Ramadan boost. Click on the poster to go there...

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Look at this picture below and know that this is not just a heart wrenching picture of a family struggling to avoid drowning. This is not just the picture of a father worried that his family may perish before his eyes. This is not just a disaster. This is the price of disunity.

Disunity did not cause the flood, although some believe that divine retribution is at hand for the way that the Ummah has gone wayward. However, disunity is displayed so sickeningly when we can see how the nation of Pakistan itself cannot come together to save their fellow brothers and sisters.

Imagine what the situation would be like had we been united. Imagine if the wealth of the Emirates, the organisational skills of the Turks, the experience of the Bangladeshis, the brains of the Egyptians and the manpower of the Indian Muslims were put to use here. Imagine if a swift centralised and coordinated response swung into action to not only deal with the emergency but to oversee the rebuilding required. Imagine if we were united together in words as well as in action... we could not stop the floods from the skies but we could lessen the floods from the eyes of those whose lives are affected.

Disunity is something the Muslim Ummah can no longer afford.

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So many of us are now deep into our summer holidays. Having worked hard (ahem, ahem) and revised for our exams, we all deserve a bit of a break. Yes, sipping from the mango lassi whilst hanging from a hammock in the back garden and reading the latest issue of "Where's Waldo" can seem like the pay off for working hard for weeks on end. But there is another way, a more interesting way.

This summer, why not get involved in a project to help unite the Muslim youth? Whether it be helping get children into higher education, organising a huge charity project or becoming a reporter on issues affecting the Muslim community - ULU ISoc has the perfect way to spend your summer.

You get a chance to make life-long friends, learn a type of tarbiyyah that books cannot teach and be a part of a big drive to bring change to our situation. So this summer, do something different. Join ULU ISoc and help us reunite the Ummah one person at a time.

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A French-Algerian businessman has offered to pay the fines of all the women who wear Burka in France. Infuriated by what he sees as the Islamophobic attitude of the French political elite towards a minority of Muslim women simply for wearing the Burka - Rachid Nekkaz has launched a campaign fund to which he has already personally donated 1 Million Euros by selling off some of his properties.

It is heartening to see that in a day and age where greed is unlimited and every other businessman is scared witless by the financial crisis - there are Muslims like Mr. Nekkaz who are willing to put their money where their mouth is. The truth is that our faith and our values are worth more than any fine that the Government would choose to levy on it. May Allah bring forth more of the rich of this Ummah to spend more in His cause and on His people.

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