Sleep and dream

Women who get less than the recommended eight hours sleep a night are at higher risk of heart disease and heart-related problems than men with the same sleeping patterns.

Research by the University of Warwick and University College London has found that levels of inflammatory markers vary significantly with sleep duration in women, but not men.

I dream to sleep like a baby - to fall deep in slumber without a care in the world and without nightmares haunting...

My sleeping pattern, most probably like others in the same hemisphere (especially students), varies according to the seasons. Eight hours during summer is utterly impossible although on occasions, I do insist on it - made possible during the women's time of the month.

Back home, I remember being prohibited to sleep during Maghrib, for fear of being disturbed by syaitan. As a child, I remember falling asleep at dusk one day, later waking up feeling numb and heavy headed. And, what did the elderly say?

"Tulah... orang dah kata, jangan tidur masa senja, masa Maghrib...Pergi mandi cepat!"

[I told you! Never sleep during sunset or dusk! Now, go and take your shower quick!]

However, over here, the days can stretch so long during summer that Maghrib is at 9.30pm. Hence, it is impossible to NOT have the children sleep during Maghrib, if not before!

Last week, at about Maghrib time, I put the younger two to sleep and accompanied them in bed while reading Khalid Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. They recited their du'as out loud and then began to wriggle and giggle about. The brightly-lit room strained their eyes so I had to put the book down and turn off the lights - surely enough, I too joined them in la-la land in a matter of seconds.

The next morning, I woke up feeling estranged - I had a really weird dream. But then again, when I dream, I always have strange ones. In most cases, I don't believe them at all because they are mind-games and illustrations played by ficticious imagination. After all, it was just a dream... But, oh boy, it does feel good to dream of your missed one, doesn't it? (even though you can't help feeling the ache deep within...)

The Holy Land beckons

I've been having these dreams of the Holy land recently. Needless to say, it's perhaps due to the reading materials I've been indulging in.

Frankly, I've had this strong urge and desire to perform my Hajj since 2005. I remember praying very hard to be given the rezqi. Rezqi is not only in the form of financial, but also in the form of time, health, ability, and just about everything else syncronised together. Of course, we have heard of numerous stories of people who have planned their journey to the dot, yet at the very last moment, are tested with circumstances that make the journey impossible. Frustrating, no doubt, but all must be faced with consent and total redha.

I remember having a system of saving my money since my teaching days in school. All extra income gained from exam invigilations, marking test papers, and becoming examiners of oral exams or MUET exams, went into my savings for the Hajj trip. Well, at times, I did use portions of it for personal use, but most of the time, it went into my Tabung Haji account.

Then, in my next job, there were more opportunities for extra income - third semester classes, night classes, etc. Almost 80% of these extra earnings then went right into my account, unless there were more pressing matters to attend to.

I think I may have enough there already.

If I shut my eyes, I can feel the cool marble of Masjidil Haram under my feet or even visualise the Kaabah proudly standing ahead of me. I can almost feel the Hajarul Aswad (Black Stone) with my hands, with its pungent perfume - on my telekung, or hijab. In my head, I can even hear the Imaam reciting the verses of the Quran with his melodious voice, so enticing and beautiful. I can imagine myself in Masjidul Nabawi, the Prophet's mosque, looking in between the pillars.

It is a dream I will keep on dreaming for. I have done my umrah a couple of times when I was younger but have not yet got the opportunity, or rezqi, to perform my Hajj. I had dreamt of performing my Hajj with my late husband but did not have the rezqi to. I believe my time will come soon, InsyaAllah...

For those who still haven't gone, let's all make this our ultimate dream.