Definitions

here are the meanings of some of the common Arabic words I'll be using.. I'll try my best to translate in blogs to come if there are other words that are not listed below...

Assalam alaykum= May peace and blessings be upon you (this is the universal greeting, like "hello" that Muslims greet each other with)
insha'Allah= God willing
alhamdulillah= Praise be to God
masha'Allah= God has willed it
subhan'Allah= Glory be to God
Allahu Akbar= God is the greatest
du`a= prayer

Acronyms:
pbuh= peace be upon him
pbut= peace be upon them
saw= sallahu Alayhi wa salam= may Allah bless him and give him peace (in reference to prophet Muhammad)
ra= radiAllahu anhu= may Allah be pleased with him
radiAllahu anha= may Allah be pleased with her

By popular demand

Assalam Alaykum everyone!
I never thought I would create a blog, but I guess that just teaches us we should never say never... As many of you know, I will be attending the Rihla to Mecca and Madinah this August insha'Allah! I've created this blog so that my memoirs and any notes I can post will be available to all of you (since many of you have requested that I keep a journal and let ya'alls read it!). So insha'Allah if I make it back home, I will definitely be keeping this blog up to date with all my random epiphanies, and things I have learned to share. InshaAllah please pray that I make the most of my trip, that Allah gives me guidance, patience, and strength, and that I am able to implement the sacred knowledge that inshaAllah will be bestowed upon me.
I will randomly be posting even before I embark on this journey of a lifetime, so I can reflect on my own personal changes (growth insha'Allah!). Also, I will ask all of you to keep me in check inshaAllah when I return such that I can continue my personal reformation to earn the pleasure of Allah insha'Allah! I will be sending out a mass e-mail as the date I leave gets closer, so everyone can compile their du`a list and e-mail it to me. Please take advantage of the fact that I will be travelling (and we all know the weight of a traveller's prayer alhamdulillah), that I will be in the most blessed cities and will be praying in the masjid of the prophet (pbuh)(!!), that I will be visiting his (pbuh) grave, and best of all... I will be ending my trip with umrah!! I'll be in Saudi for about 3 1/2 weeks, so I would like to take advantage of my time there.. and insha'Allah as the hadith goes, whenever a person prays for another person, the angels are there to say "ameen" and pray the same for the person making the du`a.
That's all for now...