Usamah ibn Zaid inquired: "O Messenger of Allah, I never find you fasting in any month like you do during the month of Shabaan." The Prophet responded: "That is the month the people neglect. It comes between Rajab and Ramadan. It is a month in which the deeds are raised to the Lord of the Worlds. I love that my deeds be raised while I am fasting." [Nasaai, authenticated by ibn Khuzaimah. Hasan according to al-Albaani] The cycle of accumulation never ends until we part from our temporal world to the eternal Hereafter. The pervasive culture of the west has affected more than many Muslims in the disease of 'accumulation'!  A mother's shopping spree stimulates national economy and a father seems to be busy in practicing the new age mantra "whoever has more toys wins". Children growing up in this environment learn from their parents and end up owning more than they would ever need!Prophetic advise does encourage accumulation, but only 'good deeds'. We seem to have forgotten this golden principle. We are intensely focused to accumulate everything except 'good deeds.' Thus, we have big and beautiful houses but not homes full of Allah's mercy and blessings. We have comfortable and luxury cars that do not take us to Masjid as often. We have excelled in our academic and professional pursuits but do not share them for the benefit of humanity. Allah asks us for a public proclamation of His Message and we are silently guarding it for ourselves.We have been largely overwhelmed by a culture that seems to have robbed us of our legacies. Imperative it is for us and our children today, to remember the Prophetic words of wisdom more often than only during ceremonial occasions. Else, we will continue to suffer with ills and ailments we will have no idea of, or worse, have the wrong idea. The month of Shabaan is yet another opportunity for us to prepare ourselves for the eternal Hereafter. Let us InshaAllah increase our prayers and fasting in this blessed month of Shabaan and to be ready for yet another blessed month of Ramadan. The intent of this writing is for us to reflect and -- to cause ourselves to remember the reality of Life Hereafter. We pray that InshaAllah, when our deeds reach Allah, the Majestic Creator of everything, He will forgive our individual shortcomings and collective failings. May His mercy shower upon us and may His protection save the innocent in Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Palestine and may we all be blessed to recognize that everything is temporal and Only One is Eternal!