A Day in Ramadan

Today is the first day of Ramadan and I wish all the Muslims over the world a happy and blessed month of fasting and prayer. Ramadan Mubarak!

I thought I'd write a bit about this month and its importance.

Ramadan

Ramadan is the holiest month of the Islamic lunar calendar. It is the month in which Allah revealed the first verse of the Holy Quran to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (pbuh) (on Laylat al-Qadr or the "Night of Power").

Fasting is the 3rd pillar of Islam and the Quran says:

"O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you so that you can learn Taqwa" (Quran 2:183)

The Arabic word Taqwa is translated in many ways including God consciousness, God fearing, piety and self restraining. Thus we are asked to fast daily for one month from dawn to dusk and avoid food, water, sex and vulgar talk during that period.

Benefits of Fasting

Fasting is intended to help teach us self-discipline, self-restraint and generosity. It also reminds us of the suffering of the poor, who may rarely get to eat well. But most importantly, it brings us closer to Allah. We show Allah how much we love Him by giving up food - something which is essential for our survival. If I feel hungry, I can't just grab a chocolate bar because I know that Allah is watching my every action and non-action (thoughts). Therefore, it brings us closer to our Creator. During this month, we are supposed to remember Allah more; by reading the Quran and praying extended night prayers (Tarawih). It gives us a chance to ponder over the meaning of life and that we are in this world only to please Allah.

It has been proved that fasting also has various medical benefits in that it helps lower blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure. There are psychological effects of fasting as well. There is a peace and tranquility for those who fast during the month of Ramadan. Personal hostility is at a minimum and the crime rate decreases.

What do I do during Ramadan?

I wake up before Fajr (dawn), say around 4.30am and have my Sehri, which is a light meal taken in the mornings. This is Sunnah (an action of the Prophet) and I normally have a bowl of cereal and toast/paratha. Even if you aren't hungry, its still good to eat something e.g. dates.

After Sehri, you have to make your Niyyah (intention for fasting) which is simply:

"I intend to keep tomorrow's fast of Ramadan"

Now you are officially fasting and so have to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, sex and other bad vices such as backbiting, lying, quarrelling and fighting till Maghrib (sunset). I then say my Fajr prayers and go to sleep for a bit, before waking up for work.

Work is pretty much a normal day. The only difference being that I try to think about my actions and Allah a lot more. I abstain from anything that will break my fast such as swearing, backbiting and vulgar thoughts. I always find that fasting at work is a lot easier because when you're busy doing something you don't tend to think about food much!

I have also downloaded a copy of the Quran onto my iPod and listen to it on my way to work or when I'm coming back home. I scoured the internet for one with an english translation to accompany the Arabic but couldn't find one. If you have any ideas, please let me know!

Maghrib (sunset) is the time when we break our fast. This is around 6.45pm these days, which means the fast lasts for about 14 hours. We first say a short prayer which goes like this:

"O Allah, I have fasted for You, believed in You, relied on You and have broken my fast with Your provision, so accept it from me."

We then have our Iftar, which is a small meal to break the fast. It is Sunnah to start eating with a date. I have my Iftar at work or on the bus during weekdays with a sandwich or crisps but on weekends it is at home and my Mum usually makes pakoras, samosas, fruit mix etc. This is definitely my favourite part of the fast! It feels amazing putting that first morsel of food into your mouth - both physically and spiritually. It makes you happy because you've been doing good deeds and thinking about Allah throughout the day and your fast culminates with the Iftar.

After Iftar, it is time for Maghrib prayers and then Isha prayers. In this month, we also have additional night prayers called Tarawih from 9pm to 10.30pm every day. During Tarawih, the Imam recites the Quran and aims to finish the entire Quran by the 27th day of Ramadan. I try to go to the mosque and pray behind the Imam. It is hard work, praying for nearly 2 hours but once again, the feeling I get when I'm walking back home from the mosque is amazing.

At the end of the month, it is Eid - a day of celebration!

Shadow of the Colossus

This is by far the best PS2 game I have ever played! It is not like your average game in which you go around driving cars, beating people up or shooting aliens. Shadow of the Colossus is unique. The plot is simple, yet engrossing. The graphics amazing. I've never been hooked to any game as much as this. In fact I got so emotionally involved in the game that I used to look forward to coming home from work to continue the adventure and hunt down the next colossus!

Let me tell you about the game. You play the part of a young man called Wander whose mission is to seek and destroy 16 colossi that inhabit the forbidden lands, in order to revive the body of a dead girl. Wander only has his faithful horse Agro as his companion and is armed with only a sword and bow. At first you might think that the game would get boring and repetitive after you've fought the first few colossi but thats where you're wrong! The game just keeps getting better and better. Each colossus is different and you have to use your skill, wits and environment to figure out what strategy to use to defeat it. There are big ones, small ones, flying ones, swimming ones, burrowing ones...





I loved the game's graphics. The terrain is magnificent and so are the colossi. Details are so fine that you can see individual hairs on a colossus blowing in the wind, and the colossi’s movements are so graceful that while clinging to one of the creatures you feel as if you are moving yourself!

Its really hard to choose my favourite colossus. I found the 16th one the most challenging because you have to use everything you've learnt from the previous wars in order to kill it. I also liked fighting the one in the desert, in which you have to use your horse riding skills to get close enough and then leap off onto its wings! And then there was the small but fast dog-like colossus which you have to send crashing off a cliff using a torch.

On the whole, Shadow of the Colossus is a fantastic adventure. I felt so sad when it was all over and there were no more to fight. If you haven't played this game, go out and get it!

Why Choose Windows?

• Choose Bill Gates as your Dark Lord.
• Choose service packs every three months to fix the 800 bugs introduced in the last one.
• Choose an assload of obscure shovelware apps and shitty games and an Office suite that needs 18 gigs to write a letter.
  
• Choose selling your soul to piracy.
• Choose cheap ass parts from Korea.
• Choose Winamp skins that look like snot.
• Choose the blue screen of death.
  
• Choose hordes of 133t skript kiddiez clogging the internet with their shit.
• Choose running Norton and ZoneAlarm constantly to fight off the newest viruses.
• Choose using letters for drives while wondering where the hell B:\ went.
• Choose Steve Balmer jumping across the stage like a gorilla in heat.
• Choose a damn crapshoot every time you install a program or add a peripheral.
• Choose Microsoft squashing competitors and finding new ways to take over the world.
• Choose sitting on your fat ass, mocking Linux users in chatrooms and forums, drowning in your own bile about Intel and AMD who think stealing from others is "innovation".
• Choose your future.
  

Choose Windows.

Decompiling Java Class Files On-The-Fly

Being a Java developer, I sometimes want to look at the source code of class files just by double-clicking on the class file itself. There are lots of programs out there, such as DJ Java Decompiler, which allow you to do just this, but I was looking for a quick and easy way without the overhead of having to install memory intensive software.

Create ClassViewer.bat

I came up with this simple Windows batch script which uses the Jad Decompiler to decompile any Java class file that is clicked on. It then displays the decompiled code in your favourite text editor e.g. TextPad.

@ECHO OFF
jad -p "%*" > "%*.jad.java"
"C:\program files\TextPad 4\TextPad.exe" "%*.jad.java"
sleep 5
del "%*.jad.java"

Save this script as ClassViewer.bat

Associate Class files with ClassViewer.bat

Open File Explorer and click on Tools > Folder Options > File Types. Scroll down to the CLASS Extension (or if it is not there, add it by pressing the New button) and then press Change. A new window will open up asking you to select the program you want to use to open files of this type. Browse to ClassViewer.bat and hit OK. You have now associated this program with files with the .class extension.

Test it out...

Double-click a Java class file and see it execute the script and display decompiled code in your editor! You can even double-click class files within jars!

Only Apparently Real

I used to believe the universe was basically hostile. And that I was misplaced in it, I was different from it... fashioned in some other universe and placed here, you see. So it zigged while I zagged. And that it had singled me out only because there was something weird about me. I didn't really groove with the universe.

I had a lot of fears that the universe would discover just how different I was from it. My only suspicion about it was that it would find out the truth about me, and its reaction would be perfectly normal: it would get me. I didn't feel that it was malevolent, just perceptive. And there's nothing worse than a perceptive universe if there's something wrong with you.

But this year I realized that that's not true. That the universe is perceptive, but it's friendly...I just don't feel that I'm different from the universe anymore.

- Philip K Dick in an interview, 1974
(from Only Apparently Real)