The Iftar Party

AA

Alhamdullilah, the iftar party I had at my place was a great time, mashaAllah. I owe it all to my mother whom, mashaAllah, cooked for hours on end, despite not feeling well. SubhanAllah, I'm lucky to have such a caring mother who makes her son look good in front of her friends!! Please remember her in your duas.

Here's a recap:

1. Sami Haque pulled in a surprise by being the first one to show up. In true Hydro fashion, he guaranteed himself a spot to being the first guy at the buffet. Sami also took a lot of time to explain what he does for a living and how Hydros do not have a tribal system. Sami, halal food processing centers are very promising, bro...run with it. Sami is the guy looking up in the pic below obviously trying to pose for the camera, but in a nonchalant way. You're a smooth operator, man. :)

2. Fasih, aka Maulana Fasih (based on attire), and Mehboob Ali showed up. I'm not sure what else I can say other than wanting to relive the moments of them walking into my house. Imam Fasih out did it by bringing in apple cream pie from Bakers Square -- a big hit of the night. Fasih also did it big by dropping off his family and ditching them for me. Mehb ditched his expecting wife and then threatened to bust into my house at his discretion with his master key (note: Mehb is a part-time real estate agent and our house is up for sale). Please note that Mehb looks hotter when not wearing his standard button shirt, tie, dress pants combo. Thanks for taking our relationship to the next level, guys. In the pic below, Fasih and Mehboob are discussing the fiqh of eating with hands...haha


3. Mike Rabi. During the first 30 minutes or so, I was worried about this guy. I thought he wasn't enjoying the festivities. You see, I rarely see Mike without his digital camera and though that perhaps he didn't think the party was www.mikerabi.com worthy. But, Alhamdullilah, after I took out my camera, he busted out his like it ain't no thang. I was relieved. See http://www.mikerabi.com/ for more pics. Mike (aka Mustafa) poses like he's either a dignitary from Palestine, preparing for a high school senior year picture, or just getting read for a new career in modeling.


4. Taha Ghani. Ahmed Hassan. SubhanAllahi wa bi Hamdihi, they showed up. I was partially convinced that they would not as one can never tell with people from STL. They tend to be a shady group of people that cover their shadiness with hot looks (mashaAllah) and, in the case of Ahmed, hair that's simply 'on fire.' In the course of the night, Taha somehow managed a solid slap across my face, which then provoked me to launch an all-out assault on him. Ahmed, hope your 1st experience at my crib and the suburbs of Chicago was fun. Next time, please be sure to bring 1) Hershey's king size candy or 2) a huge Oreo ice cream cake. In the pic below, Prince AH (Ahmed) makes himself at home and Taha...well...all I see is his chisled chest and distinguished, Punjabi nose (mashaAllah). Did I mention that Taha works out?

5. AJ. AJ (Ahmed Abdul-Jaleel) had to feel pretty darn good coming to the Shakur household. In one-on-one basketball (semi-full court up to 7 in what was a king of the hill type of tourney) between me, him, and one of my brothers (Umar), he dominated us just a couple hours prior to the iftar. It's hard for me to say that, but I cannot deny him this truth. If he does that again, though, he's definitely not coming next year!! Then he has the audacity of winning the Madden 06 tourney. In the picture below, AJ looks like a white college guy who's enjoying his 15th beer in someone's dorm room on a Thurs night. It was actually roo afza. But it probably was his 15th serving!! :)

6. Harris Lakhani. You know, I just don't know about this guy anymore. I mean, it's amazing, really! The guy recently got engaged (mashaAllah) and suddenly thinks that he can drop the shareef, acha bacha image. Harris, she agreed to your hand in marriage because of those traits! Just keep that in mind and stop polluting our minds! Ha ha. Of course, I'm just joking. Harry Potter is my homie. Well, up until he started making fun of my xbox Madden '06 skills, that is. Oh, I finally got to see his facial expression for when I call him Harry! It's...well...intense. Here's Harry after eating too many samosas and thinking he's somehow teleported back to the 70's:

7. Fahad Siddiqui. He's the 'lover' part of my blog title. And at times the 'punjabi' part b/c the brotha is always down for a little bhangra, mashaAllah. Fahad, I'm sorry I disappointed you. I know that I don't live in the ghetto I rap about in my songs (please Google "2pac Shakur"), but I hope my love for your, let's say "family," overshadows it. In the pic below...well, who cares about describing this pic...do you see this guy's hair!! SubhanAllah...hot/flawless as always! Harris...seriously...what's up with the peace sign, vato loco?

8. Aladdin Nassar. The great thing about Aladdin, mashaAllah, is that he really makes himself feel at home. I mean, doesn't he get that people just say that? You see, just like everyone else in my family, Aladdin soon enough started giving me orders to prepare chai for him. Aladdin also re-enacted our first meeting years ago. Yes, the infamous, I'm-gonna-pull-Imran's-shorts-down-but-also-happen-to-grab-his-boxers-too. That one, much at my expense, never gets old. Just ask Taha. But I can't hate on Aladdin...he let me drive his car...60mph+...in my subdivision...in a Porsche Cayenne (mashaAllah)...it was my early Eid gift! Aladdin entertains everyone by looking all too gay in this picture. And yes, there's Harris with his peace signs again. The 2nd pic is a better one of Aladdin, who uses me as his personal pillow, again proving that he really felt like part of the family that night!

9. Zubair Khan. Yes, Mr. Hydro himself graced my home. Though he suggested where I could stick the Pakistani flag I held in my hand and then did his own version of Taha's slap by walking away from me when I told him my family's preference for marriage to Pakistani women, my brother had sweet revenge by destroying him (over and over and over and over again) in Halo 2. My brother commented, "I never knew ethnic cleansing felt so good." Even AJ and Tariq laughed at that. Don't worry, Zubair, I won't mention how I saw a smile on your face when my brother made that joke; it was too funy not to laugh. Oh shoot...too late. I did serve Zubair and others green tea in a really nice way, which prompted him to say, "If I had a daughter, I'd marry her to you." But then he followed that up by saying, "Thank God I don't have a daughter." Ha ha. In the pic below, Zubair looks like he's teaching AJ the art of meditation...

10. Tariq Syed. Yes, my Bolingbrook partner in crime and reunited work out buddy. Here, he's also looking like he's meditating, but via the xbox controller. I guess it didn't work as AJ emerged victorious in a thrilling game. When Tariq came into my home, I don't think he said salaam to anyone but headed straight to the kana table. Though he lives the closest to me, Tariq was the 2nd to last person to come. Tariq, we never did work out that night, did we?

11. Farooq Alikhan. I start off with praising Allah: AllahuAkbar! MashaAllah, it can only be an act of Divine Intervention that brought Farooq to my house. But, in what turned out to be a complete catch-22 or test of my patience, seeing Farooq was of little good as he spent his entire time 1) eating food, 2) going back-n-forth on txt msging for an hour and ignoring everything else around him, and 3) sleeping for a good hour until 2:15am. Yeah, needless to say, this quality time was one to take advantage of for me. Please see the pics of a passed out Farooq below. :) Ha ha. Seriously, it was really awesome for the guy to make it this far out and to come so late and stay late, mashaAllah. JZK, man.

Well, until next year, inshaAllah! Jazak Allah khair for reading all this and more importantly JZK to all my friends who came by and made it so fun, memorable, and baraka-filled. And we missed all you guys who couldn't make it. Please remember me in your much needed duas.

Salaam!