السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته،

الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن تبعهم إلى يوم الدين وبعد:

The sound of the creaking gate was overpowered by the blaring of car horns as I stepped out to get some fresh air. I breathed in deeply only to wheeze due to the dust in the air. I looked to the left only to see that I could not see the building less than a block away from me. The sandstorm has arrived, covering my face with my Shmagh I started walking. The white shmagh with its subtle patterns showed the effect of the sandstorm, only a few days after dry cleaning it, the dust turned it white to cream.

As I walked I began to remember that time a few years back when we stepped out in a category 3 or 4 hurricane because we was bored and we started to walk around in the neighborhood. It was fun jumping over the large trees which laid out blocking the road. We walked by one part of the neighborhood during the hurricane and saw a guy frantically screaming. As we got closer we saw the only personal damage in the neighborhood. A tree had crushed a white Ford and the top of the tree smashed in an apartment building.

“I take it that was your car?” I said to the screaming college kid. “MY CAR AND MY APARTMENT” he yelled pointing to the top of the tree which smashed in the building. The only damage in the neighborhood from a category 3 or 4 hurricane, amazing is the Qadr (predecree) of Allaah.

“What’s this got to do with your blog introduction?” says the avid reader who is sitting behind a computer screen and has arrived at the 15th line of this post. “Absolutely nothing, I was bored” I reply in the 17th line whilst sitting at home waiting for the Adhaan (call to prayer) for ‘Ishaa (night prayer) and anticipating an awaited email.

And now, much like the moment I had ended the thought of walking through the Hurricane whilst I walked through the sandstorm, I heard the words echoing through the wind: “Allaahu Akbaru Allaahu Akbar” (الله أكبر الله أكبر) and I hear it now echoing through the walls of the apartment. Having said that, I end the post here as I ended my thought of the hurricane.