Surah An-Noor/The Light

35. Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah guides whom He wills to His Light: Allah sets forth Parables for men: and Allah knows all things.

36. (Lit is such a Light) in houses, which Allah hath permitted to be raised to honour; for the celebration, in them, of His name: In them is He glorified in the mornings and in the evenings, (again and again),-

37. By men whom neither traffic nor merchandise can divert from the Remembrance of Allah, nor from regular Prayer, nor from the practice of regular Charity: Their (only) fear is for the Day when hearts and eyes will be transformed (in a world wholly new),-

38. That Allah may reward them according to the best of their deeds, and add even more for them out of His Grace: for Allah provides for those whom He wills, without measure.

39. But the Unbelievers,- their deeds are like a mirage in sandy deserts, which the man parched with thirst mistakes for water; until when he comes up to it, he finds it to be nothing: But he finds Allah (ever) with him, and Allah will pay him his account: and Allah is swift in taking account.

40. Or (the Unbelievers' state) is like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with billow topped by billow, topped by (dark) clouds: depths of darkness, one above another: if a man stretches out his hands, he can hardly see it! for any to whom Allah giveth not light, there is no light!

41. Don't you see that it is Allah Whose praises all beings in the heavens and on earth do celebrate, and the birds (of the air) with wings outspread? Each one knows its own (mode of) prayer and praise. And Allah knows well all that they do.

42. Yea, to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; and to Allah is the final goal (of all).

43. Don't you see that Allah makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a heap? - then wilt thou see rain issue forth from their midst. And He sends down from the sky mountain masses (of clouds) wherein is hail: He strikes therewith whom He pleases and He turns it away from whom He pleases, the vivid flash of His lightning well-nigh blinds the sight.

44. It is Allah Who alternates the Night and the Day: verily in these things is an instructive example for those who have vision!

45. And Allah has created every animal from water: of them there are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills for verily Allah has power over all things.

46. We have indeed sent down signs that make things manifest: and Allah guides whom He wills to a way that is straight.

Green Worm on a Red Mat

I found this worm crawling on the floor in the morning.  It must have come out of the peas that I put on the counter last night.  My daughter followed it and took some shots.  They weren't clear.  On the door mat it felt the presence of my daughter so near that it curled to pretend dead.

It moved after a while to check if the coast is clear.  Then it continued towards the door.

Cats are Cats...

So this is our cat, the unwanted one.  It was after Ramadan, she showed up at the door at the time of Maghrib (sunset).  We were breaking our fast as she meowed for food.  My daughter gave her a piece of chicken and that's it.  We thought that she's gonna come and go like other cats but no.  She forced us to accept her as our pet.  
Our neighbours, especially women, I don't know for what reason, are afraid of cats.  They had an objection.  Building kids used to kick her.  
But it's better now.  My cursing and yelling and shouting have made them tolerant towards this shoni-shani creature of God.  They have started giving her a little respect.  The neighbours living upstairs are better than others.  They now let her go inside their house and let her play with their three year old daughter. 
And from where I picked that word 'shoni-shani'.  Baba used this term for every infant, even for me.

Food Exchange

I like my neighbours.  From time to time they send me food.  Actually we have a kind of a silent contract.  I send them Chinese or pastas and they send me traditional food especially the one which I am not good at.  Such as biryani (the most famous dish of Karachi), koftay (meat ball curry) and other complicated dishes.  So when I send them my experimented food combination, they send me something in return.  
This Eid-ul-Adha (Muslim's festival), five of my neighbours sent me meat (both goat and cow, which I don't eat and pass it to the needy ones).  I don't do sacrifice so I sent them Chinese rice and sauce and tandoori chicken curry.  Then in re-return, I received pulao (rice and meat cooked in broth), kebob, biryani.  One of them, as they have a tradition of not returning the pots empty, filled them with these peanuts, walnut and almonds.