In retrospective it might have something to do with it being the day for homeworks, catching up on learning and finding excuses when you realize that you should have used the weekend a lot better. This probably made a deep impression in my sub-conscience hence the automatic dislike for Sundays. But it wasn’t always so. I remember once upon a time looking forward to both days of the weekend and waking up as early as possible to catch all the cartoons on TV. All it took to take that feeling away was a few years of homework.

Then I remember that it was a Sunday when I first started reading willingly without my parents suggesting it. I remember very clearly. We used to live in an apartment with roof windows, it was pouring rain and I was enjoying the forbidden fruits by reading books outside of the beautifully designed book-sets my parents gave me.  The first of those was “Ilhamis way to death” by Rešad Kadić, and in hindsight it might be one of the bigger influences in my life.

Then came the political Sundays. In our region it is usual that every two years people go and vote on a Sunday. I remember my first elections, and I remember the elections when I lost all enthusiasm. It was a gradual but quick process, and I blame the ones whose name were on the lists. There is a gradual change in all things, and some changes are external, and some only in terms of perception, but either everybody had the same change in perception or all elections and all politics nowadays lack principle and we therefore lack the enthusiasm when we get to vote. I really can’t tell.

There was a time when I spent quite a few Sundays far away from home, and if you are a stranger in a country far far away, you find that everyone spends Sunday with family, well, that is, except you. Then you begin to equate Sunday to heavy melancholy standing still. It is a fat cat sitting on your chest not allowing you to breath properly. In the Islamic world, there is no Sunday as such. Weekends are differently scheduled and the western Sunday is just another work day – I remember that helping.

But absolutely the toughest Sundays are rainy Sundays. You fight off the urge to start working from home, because that would mean that you lost the final piece of you private life and that your work has swallowed you completely; you fight against turning the TV on because every time you turn it on it is a confession that you have lost all sophistication. Youtube might be TV 2.0. Another alternative is contemplating the rain, and this weekend there was a whole lot of rain for contemplation.

I prefer rain to snow. The whiteness of the snow doesn’t last long, and the muddied brown snow shows us just how dirty we are. On the other hand, rain just cleans the streets and hides the dirt. Magnificent isn’t it? But for me, rain has a deeper connection. Its narrated that the one of the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) said: It rained upon us as we were with the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) unveiled his garment (from a part of his body) until the rain fell on him. We said: Messenger of Allah, why did you do this? He said: Because it (the rainfall) has just come from the Exalted Lord.

This weekend great blessing was lowered down on Sarajevo and yet all we do is complain about it, and that is bad manners to say the least. All around us we are constantly meeting blessings in disguise. Let us for once open our eyes and penetrate the superficial masks worn by people, events and ideas, so that we find in them some good and be thankful for that. Indeed, if you are thankful, you will see an immediate increase in the blessings around you.

And we all are in need of blessings. In the study of the causes of this entire ‘rotten’ milk scenario with aflatoxins scientists believe that it was the recent drought which caused corn plants to suck the juices from the compost and thus gaining toxic elements which have been converted to milk through the organic intermediary, namely the cow. Too often we fail to see the bigger picture in all things. Sometimes we find the ideal way of doing something without ever stopping to think ‘Should anyone even be doing this?!’ Our actions are riddled with tactical manoeuvres and void of strategic thinking. Sundays are great to take a step back and think about where we are in life and where we want to go, to update our goals and refresh our check lists. This is the best use I have found for a rainy Sunday. I challenge you to let me know if there is a better one.