Almost forgot to do this

As the title suggests, I almost forgot to write this week. I always write on Monday, but this Monday I totally spaced it. I WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN, DEAR READERS!

That being said, I'm phoning it in again.

Look, Ramadan is almost finished. There's only a couple of days left. It's weird because I'm so used to fasting. When Ramadan is over, you feel almost guilty eating and drinking during the day that first day. Then, you get used to it and return to your shitty lifestyle.

Y'know, I kinda treat Ramadan like a New Year's sort of thing. It's my chance to start new things that are better for my life. I guess I make resolutions, and much like New Year's resolutions, I take it as an opportunity to disappoint myself in new and creative ways.

So, random thing, but I have a callous on top of my left foot. I've had it for some time now, but I couldn't figure out why it was there and why there wasn't one on my right foot. I thought it was just my shoes, but if that were the case, I'd have one on my right foot too. Then, it hit me. It's from praying (the Muslim kind, not the normal "talk to God" and so forth one). So, let me explain this to my non-Muslim readers...

Muslims pray five times a day. As I've said before in other posts, I am a Shi'a Muslim (12er/ Ja'fari) so I'm gonna explain ours. It's basically the same as Sunni prayers with a few differences.

The first prayer is before sunrise (I usually do this one late when it isn't Ramadan... I know... bad Muslim). This is made of two rak'a... and a rak'a is basically a "round." Just hear me out. So, you start by putting down your prayer mat facing Mecca and putting down a tablet of clay where your forehead will touch the ground (this is a Shi'a thing). Now you face Mecca. You put your hands near your ears and think "I offer this prayer of Fajr (morning prayer) of rak'atain (2 rak'at) to gain closeness to God." Then, looking at the clay tablet, you say "Allahu Akbar." Now the fun begins.

So one rak'a starts with reciting two surahs while standing. A surah is like a chapter from the Qur'an. The first one is always Fatiha which is the first surah of the Qur'an. It's gotta be in Arabic too. All of this is in Arabic. Anyway, you then recite another surah of your choice. I always do Ikhlas. It isn't too long. After your two surahs, you say "allahu akbar" and then bow. Now if you're like me, you just say "subhanallah" three times while bowing. That just means "Glory be to God." There are other things to say... but I don't speak Arabic and this is the easiest to remember. Then you rise and say "sami'allahu liman hamidah" which means "God listens to those who praise him." You say "allahu akbar" and then you get down on the ground on your knees. This is where you bow and put your forehead on the tablet. Again, three subhanallah's with your head down and you rise to a kneeling position. Now, we Shi'a keep our feet tucked under us with our right on top of the left. THIS IS WHERE THE CALLOUS COMES FROM. You say "allahu akbar"... pause/ say something like "god forgive me for my sins"... "allahu akbar" again and go back to putting that forehead of yours on some clay.

And that's one rak'a. You stand up and do it again. Now there's a few differences in the last rak'a of a prayer and a couple of more differences, but you get the gist.

"But Lon!" I hear you say. "Why does it need to be in Arabic?"

Good question. These are NOT normal prayers where you talk to God and ask for stuff like lotto numbers or an potential spouse or meaning to your sad, pitiful existence. Muslims have those prayers too. And they can be in any language. The five daily prayers have a different purpose. They are a reminder of your obligation to God and the connection you have to God. It's kinda like an agreement you make as a Muslim. The same goes for fasting during Ramadan. It's purpose is to keep you constantly connected with God and humbled.

And that's how I got my foot callous.

Hopefully, some of you learned something. Oh, and I didn't translate Allah to mean Allah because Allah is just God in Arabic.

Also, if you have Arab friends, they say "wallah" or "wallahi" a lot. There is no "probably" about this. They do it. That just means "I swear to God." If you want to pretend to be Arab, you need to say this about 3 times in a minute of normal conversation to pass for being Arab. Wallahi them the rules... see what I did there.