When was the last time you prayed the early morning fajr salah in the dark, with no artificial lights, only using one or two candles to light up the room?
I like to do that every so often to remind myself of what it must have been like in the days before electricity, at the time of the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam, and in modern times in places that do not have stable supplies of electricity.
Try it, it’s a humbling experience, and reminds me to be thankful for the blessings great and small that I take for granted every day.
I remember after I converted to Islam, one of the awe-inspiring thoughts that would often come to my mind was the image of Muslims all over the same geographic locality and community, people I didn’t know and have never met and maybe a few that I did know, in their houses and in masajid are praying at the same time or in the same period of time, leaving off worldly matters to turn in private conversation with their Lord. Subhan’Allah.
Another nice thing to do is to call someone at fajr time, not to chitchat but just to say salaam, alhamdulillah for another day, or asalatu khairun minan nawm – prayer is better than sleep. I think I might start doing that again, so if you’re in my cellphone phonebook, don’t be too surprised or angry with me if I call you at fajr time.
Ify Okoye 
Salam Alaykum
That’s so beautiful, sister Manzanita 🙂 I shall try it sometime Inshallah. I hope you are well.
This experience was my first Ramadan. I wrote about it for you here:
http://patienceandgratitude.wordpress.com/2007/02/03/living-simple/
yes it’s beautiful to do this. I also love to think about many muslims praying at the same time in the same locality…and if it’s fajr you are praying in the dark, it’s even more amazing, because you are alone but not really, a very private yet shared experience.
Asalamu alaykum wa Rahmatullah,
Um Mahtab: Alhamdulillah, I’m fine. Glad to see your joined us on WordPress.
Zaynab: Simply beautiful, mashaAllah, you’ve been holding out on us with your writing.
Jamila: Yeah, SubhanAllah I like that thought that it is a private yet shared experience of a diverse group of people brought together by a statement of faith.
JazakAllaah kheir for reminding us of the blessings we often forget about!
Asalamu alaykum,
Sincere Advice: SubhanAllah, I feel the most in need of remembering the numerous and uncounted blessings of Allah. By the way, welcome to Muslim Apple.