Lunar Eclipse

Have you heard about this phenomenon before or even seen it before? As for me, to hear about it.. the answer is yes and to see it...no.. until yesterday... yeah, yesterday i supposed many Malaysians were waiting to watch this full lunar eclipse at selected locations or if they were lucky, they could even watch it without using any special binoculars or equipments for the event from wherever locations that it could be seen. I saw some announcements in the media earlier that the eclipse would start from around 7 in the evening on 10 December 2011 until around 1 o'clock in the next morning. However, I didn't pay much attention at first because it was Saturday. That day was just like any other Saturday when I spend my weekend at my parent's house. It was a special day though for one of my younger brothers, Tarmizi, as yesterday was his birthday. Really wish you the very best for your future and hope things will always be better, bright and positive.  Ok, forget about my younger brother's birthday. 

Talking about the lunar eclipse, I didn't realise that that night many people would do things associated with the rare phenomenon until my father returned from Isya' prayer at mosque. As the mosque is quite near from the house, earlier, I could hear the Imam recited a few long surahs like during tarawih in Ramadhan and I was telling myself that there might be special occassion at the mosque. Then, when my father returned, he told us that we were having a lunar eclipse that night and the people at mosques just performed sunnah prayer for the eclipse. He told us that he also learned and experienced new things that night about how to perform this solat sunnat.. It has 4 rakaat and the Imam has to recite a few verses from Surah AlBaqarah during the first rakaat. The verses recited for the second rakaat should be shorter than the first rakaat but longer than the third and the fourth rakaat. It also has khutbah like the one in Friday prayer...wahhh I also just know about this.. I thought it is just like any other solat sunah which normally has 2 rakaats...it is not.. so this occassion must be very special...very very special...

Indeed, it was very special. At first I didnt see anything on the clear sky except the stars and a few thin clouds moving slowly. As I ignited my car engine to return to my own house that night, my eyes suddenly found the moon and the eclipse was in full I supposed. It was around 10.30 - 10.45 pm. I could not stop myself from staring at the moon. It was so unique and so beautiful. The colours were combination of white, yellow and orange. The white colour part formed a crescent like shape while the rest had the mixture of yellow and orange colours. There were small dark or maybe brown dots on the moon. Really, I don't know how to decscribe it here but indeed the phenomenon amazed me and exciting. I watched this together with my father and my youngest sister. Unfortunately, I couldnt keep this special moment in the form of picture as I forgot to bring my camera....waaaa there I did it it again.. forget about important things when the opportunity is there and dont know when it will occur again...slap slap slap.. 

Whatever it is, I feel very happy and grateful about it especially when I found out that not all people who are waiting to see the phenomenon were able to do so. So stop complaining... be grateful for whatever you have and enjoy it whether it is big or small... it is because others might not even have it or only see it in their dreams...