Sincerely, Sawda

Its pretty obvious that blogging has not been on my recent list of  'things to do' seeing as my exams just seemed to take over life completely - but I am back (and freeeeeee)! Back and better I would like to think; you can see that there's been a change in the blog theme, and as I strengthen my coding abilities  hopefully we'll see some more. Code Academy, still with the basics here Ramadan has just began and I am B U Z Z I N G. Its the best month of the year hands down for reasons that could take me an infinite amount of time to explain. Going to school will be hard and I couldn't even say that I have the most structured 'Ramadan plan' if any at all, but I am excited for what it will bring. Ramadan Kareem to my brothers and sisters out there. Make sure you watch this space!

It feels like just recently when I was sitting in the exam halls doing my GCSE exams, and I have been waiting (not so nervously *1) since mid-June for the results. I did well; Pathetic fallacy played its role as today was a sunny day and I got 5A*s, 6As which I am very happy with. Can't stop saying alhamdulilah (All praise be to Allah *1 ) for these grades because they've made me so happy. What's more is that all my friends did well, as did the rest of the school so the mood of today has been great.  If you read my first post, you would have read that English was never my strong subject,  and so one aim of the blog was to improve my literacy skills; but to my surprise it turns out that one of the A*s was in English literature! That grade of all grades was the most shocking, that single grade is what made everything sink in and actually reduced me to tears or relief and joy. It seems that I underestimated myself in some sense as I wouldn't expect myself to have gott...

One thing I told myself I would do this summer is read more. I started this book earlier this summer and left it unfinished (really bad of me, I know).Nonetheless, I finally finished it and decided to review the book as I enjoyed it. This is probably the only book that I've read twice - not because its my all-time favourite, but because I was given the book about five or six years ago,I read it, but hurriedly, and also didn't appreciate the book because I think I was too young to understand and grasp what she was saying. I particularly enjoyed the book because I could relate to it in so many instances. I think my dad bought me the book to encourage me to wear the hijab, or to keep me convinced when I had already started. I'm not too sure, but I either way, the main character, Amal, 16 year-old Palestinian living in Australia decides to take up wearing the hijab "full-time" rather than when having a bad hair day too. The bo...

Although Eid was on Monday, I thought it was necessary to make a post based on Eid. For those who may not know, Eid- ul fitr is the first day of the next Islamic month after Ramadan, and so marks the end of the month of fasting. It's a day of celebration and often described as a festival. The Prophet SAW said:  "Every people have a festival and this[ referring to Eid ] is our festival" This explains the celebratory nature of the day, and so many people set off to celebrate their eid. But what does a Muslim typically do on Eid? There are many things to do to celebrate Eid, as long as their within Islamic bounds there is much choice. However there are certain customs followed on Eid day to stick to the Sunnah (teachings and ways) of the Prophet SAW.  It is recommended that one does ghusl (a whole body ritual bath) One would wear the best of their clothes as    This is related by ash-Shaf'i and al-Baghawi. Al-Hassan as-Sibt says: "The Messenge...