Monday 19th November was the start of Islam Awareness Week thoroughout the U.K. A charity Muslim organisation based in Canary Wharf held their Islam Awareness Day on the 21st November. Alhamdu'Lillah they held an exhibition called 'Me, My Mate and Islam' during lunch hour and then there was a talk by Ibrahim Mogra entitled,'Islam, So what's it all about then?' in the evening.
I had the pleasure of attending both events and i must say i enjoyed them both. There was plenty to see and read at the exhibition and Ibrahim Mogra was a delight to listen too. 'Islam is a way of life, not just a religion' he said. Funny i've never thought of it in that way.
However, i was really disappointed to see a low turnout of Muslims let alone NON-Muslims. Out of the 78,000 people working in and around Canary Wharf there must have been 10-15 of them at the Ibrahim Mogra event. Where were they all? surely they could not have all been watching the football? Nor could they all have used up their orange wednesday vouchers at the movies or even gone to Allah Made Me Funny's stand up show in Hammersmith....then again!!
On a serious note, Muslims should come together and support such events as much as they can, through our support charities such as these will succeed in combating islamophobia and create much needed islam awareness.
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
Monday, 26 November 2007
Urdu Lessons
So i decided to teach the girls urdu. I thought a good start would be to get my 5 year old to watch a urdu cartoon on zee tv. After 10 minutes she had already picked up her first word of urdu, 'Vow!' she said with a smile! =0) She hasn't stopped saying it since................she's a cheeky one!
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Black Tounge!
The other day I was walking my little one home from school. As we walked by some boys playing in the caged football area, my little one waved and shouted out to them,'Bye Friend, Bye!'
'You don't know them', I said
'Mummy, they're my friends!' she replied. As I gave her one of my 'Oh Really!!' looks she quickly changed her story and quickly with a cheeky grin she said,'Oops I forgot, they are not my friends, sorry for lying mamma'
'You know you shouldn't tell lies like that', I reminded her, 'Your tounge will go all black'. She stopped for a moment and then stuck her tounge out at me and said,
'Mama is my tounge black?'. I took a quick look and said, 'No,it isn't!' She then lowered her head, raised her eyes and innocently said, ' Mama, why are you lying?' - Believe me I was completely lost for words! =0)
Moral of the story - Don't make things up, you'll only get yourself in deeper trouble with the kids!! =0)
'You don't know them', I said
'Mummy, they're my friends!' she replied. As I gave her one of my 'Oh Really!!' looks she quickly changed her story and quickly with a cheeky grin she said,'Oops I forgot, they are not my friends, sorry for lying mamma'
'You know you shouldn't tell lies like that', I reminded her, 'Your tounge will go all black'. She stopped for a moment and then stuck her tounge out at me and said,
'Mama is my tounge black?'. I took a quick look and said, 'No,it isn't!' She then lowered her head, raised her eyes and innocently said, ' Mama, why are you lying?' - Believe me I was completely lost for words! =0)
Moral of the story - Don't make things up, you'll only get yourself in deeper trouble with the kids!! =0)
Monday, 12 November 2007
Thoughts of the day...
Feelings today, good. Feelings yesterday, 50/50.
I attended a comic event on Friday 9th Nov in Canary Wharf. The Muslim comedians were absolutely hilarious. The atmosphere was great and the food was awesome, the venue it self was classic. However, whilst at the time I enjoyed the evening, I came away with my reflecting hat on and haven’t stopped reflecting on the evening ever since.
Was it right for brothers and sisters to be in such a mixed environment?
Should the organisers have maintained a segregated environment? (this is what we were advised at the front desk, we were told that sisters would be seated on the left, brothers to the right and family in the middle, this arrangements did not unfold!)
Was it right for the comic to joke about a woman’s breast so openly? (i.e. He was joking about breastfeeding)
Was it right to use the word ‘Astagfur’ Allah’ in such a manner? ( The comic made police siren noises with words ‘Astagfur’Allah)
Was it right for the comic’s to encourage mingling/mixing amongst the brothers and sisters after the event? (After the event the comic said, ‘Singles – Mingle!’)
Surely for being a Muslim comic, the line must be drawn somewhere?
I feel like, just as Yusuf Islam and Dawud Wharnsby have picked up their guitar once again that Muslim comics are also now treading the boundaries and are becoming quite provocative and daring with their jokes. Why is this I wonder. Well, I suppose if so called ‘Liberal Muslims’ continue to laugh at such ignorant jokes they are then encouraging the comics to search for more relative material. Is this all really necessary – the singing of nasheeds backed with musical instruments? Comedy encouraging excessive laughter? Both musical instruments and excessive laughter have been discouraged by our blessed Prophet (pbuh). I mean, how many people do you know of that have become Muslim just by listening to nasheeds or going to a comedy show?. Is such entertainment necessary or just a waste of much valuable time? When you last went to a nasheed concert or comedy show, did you learn anything to benefit you in your deen?
Let me clarify a few of the jokes made by the comics. When joking about breastfeeding, the joke revolved around the comic’s wife who had just had a baby. One day she was very tired thus handed the baby over to her husband and told him to feed her. He immediately looked down at his chest and said that that would be a bit difficult and it would traumatise the baby. OK, that was funny at the time but when I think back to the joke I feel ashamed for having laughed at it. The audience was indirectly encouraged to think of a woman’s breasts and then laugh about them – astagfur’Allah. What I am trying to say is that we are a Muslim audience and such jokes are certainly uncalled for and should be discouraged. There were non Muslims and new Muslims in the audience, what kind of impression must we have given to them?
So all these thoughts are in my head right now, anti-liberal I suppose, so does that make me a fundamentalist then? Once I advised a Muslim committee of up to 8 men that rather then playing bollywood tunes at their next major Eid event, why not try Nasheeds, they responded by indirectly calling me a radical! It turned out that they had no idea what a nasheed was in the first place, upon explanation they relaxed a bit. What shocked me was that one of the members of this committee was the leader of a London Borough’s Muslim community – for him not to know what a Nasheed was let alone a daff was alarming?
So I asked my husband, if I’m not a liberal Muslim then am I a fundamentalist or what do you call someone that’s in the middle of the two trying to find their way? He said, ‘ Darling’, (ok he didn’t really say ‘Darling’, but it sounds good!) you are just a Muslim, simple as that – you are not liberal, fundamental, extreme, you are a Muslim that tries to stay within the boundaries of Islam – you are holding on to the rope of Allah’.
With that said, time for asr……
Wa’Salaam
I attended a comic event on Friday 9th Nov in Canary Wharf. The Muslim comedians were absolutely hilarious. The atmosphere was great and the food was awesome, the venue it self was classic. However, whilst at the time I enjoyed the evening, I came away with my reflecting hat on and haven’t stopped reflecting on the evening ever since.
Was it right for brothers and sisters to be in such a mixed environment?
Should the organisers have maintained a segregated environment? (this is what we were advised at the front desk, we were told that sisters would be seated on the left, brothers to the right and family in the middle, this arrangements did not unfold!)
Was it right for the comic to joke about a woman’s breast so openly? (i.e. He was joking about breastfeeding)
Was it right to use the word ‘Astagfur’ Allah’ in such a manner? ( The comic made police siren noises with words ‘Astagfur’Allah)
Was it right for the comic’s to encourage mingling/mixing amongst the brothers and sisters after the event? (After the event the comic said, ‘Singles – Mingle!’)
Surely for being a Muslim comic, the line must be drawn somewhere?
I feel like, just as Yusuf Islam and Dawud Wharnsby have picked up their guitar once again that Muslim comics are also now treading the boundaries and are becoming quite provocative and daring with their jokes. Why is this I wonder. Well, I suppose if so called ‘Liberal Muslims’ continue to laugh at such ignorant jokes they are then encouraging the comics to search for more relative material. Is this all really necessary – the singing of nasheeds backed with musical instruments? Comedy encouraging excessive laughter? Both musical instruments and excessive laughter have been discouraged by our blessed Prophet (pbuh). I mean, how many people do you know of that have become Muslim just by listening to nasheeds or going to a comedy show?. Is such entertainment necessary or just a waste of much valuable time? When you last went to a nasheed concert or comedy show, did you learn anything to benefit you in your deen?
Let me clarify a few of the jokes made by the comics. When joking about breastfeeding, the joke revolved around the comic’s wife who had just had a baby. One day she was very tired thus handed the baby over to her husband and told him to feed her. He immediately looked down at his chest and said that that would be a bit difficult and it would traumatise the baby. OK, that was funny at the time but when I think back to the joke I feel ashamed for having laughed at it. The audience was indirectly encouraged to think of a woman’s breasts and then laugh about them – astagfur’Allah. What I am trying to say is that we are a Muslim audience and such jokes are certainly uncalled for and should be discouraged. There were non Muslims and new Muslims in the audience, what kind of impression must we have given to them?
So all these thoughts are in my head right now, anti-liberal I suppose, so does that make me a fundamentalist then? Once I advised a Muslim committee of up to 8 men that rather then playing bollywood tunes at their next major Eid event, why not try Nasheeds, they responded by indirectly calling me a radical! It turned out that they had no idea what a nasheed was in the first place, upon explanation they relaxed a bit. What shocked me was that one of the members of this committee was the leader of a London Borough’s Muslim community – for him not to know what a Nasheed was let alone a daff was alarming?
So I asked my husband, if I’m not a liberal Muslim then am I a fundamentalist or what do you call someone that’s in the middle of the two trying to find their way? He said, ‘ Darling’, (ok he didn’t really say ‘Darling’, but it sounds good!) you are just a Muslim, simple as that – you are not liberal, fundamental, extreme, you are a Muslim that tries to stay within the boundaries of Islam – you are holding on to the rope of Allah’.
With that said, time for asr……
Wa’Salaam
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Ramadan Mubarak!!!!
Woo Hoo!
I'm so excited - honestly, this is the first time in my whole life that i'm really excited about Ramadan. Ever since Allah swt blessed me with the beauty of Islam, Ramadan has a whole new meaning to me and i'm lovin it!
Please make dua that i'm able to make the most of this month insha'Allah, hope you do to!
Remember the world in your prayers - the poor the needy the oppressed the old the young, the orphan - everyone!
I'm so excited - honestly, this is the first time in my whole life that i'm really excited about Ramadan. Ever since Allah swt blessed me with the beauty of Islam, Ramadan has a whole new meaning to me and i'm lovin it!
Please make dua that i'm able to make the most of this month insha'Allah, hope you do to!
Remember the world in your prayers - the poor the needy the oppressed the old the young, the orphan - everyone!
Saturday, 1 September 2007
Shaikh Mohammad Salamouny
Shaikh Mohammad Salamouny was attacked a few weeks ago just after praying Fajr at his mosque, Islamic Cultural Centre, Regents Park. A man repeatedly punched the 58 year old Shaikh in the head. It seems that he was intent on killing the Shaikh as the attack went on for at least half an hour before the Shaikh was rescued. By that time the Shaikh was bleeding heavily and had to be rushed to hospital to have emergency treatment on both eyes.
When I initially heard the news i was devasted. The Shaikh is a lovely man, very knowledgeable and of a very noble character. He has helped me on a number of occasions with a few issues and has taught my children memorisation of the Quran. As you can imagine i was heart broken to hear of the attack. I couldn't understand why someone was so brutual to a harmless soul? What did the man achieve by being so callous in his ways? What satisfaction did he get for leaving a man half dead? What went through this individual's sick mind?
I could not stop thinking of the Shaikh. He was all alone in the mosque, no security guards, no collegues. That poor man, what must have gone through his mind during the attackm? The pain he must have suffered and is still suffering, that poor poor man. I cried in anguish everytime i tried to picture his what he went through, the agonising torment, inna lillahi wa inna ilahi rajioon, To Allah We Belong and To Him We Shall Return.
Alhamudu'Lillah, yesterday i managed to visit the Shaikh in hospital. He is at the Western Eye Hospital in Marylebone, London. I went there with my husband and friend Aminah. Aminah as you'll know if you've been reading my blogs is a 5 month old revert to Islam. Aminah and I visited the Shaikh at the mosque once and sat with him for sometime. As this was the first Shaikh she had ever had the pleasure of meeting, she too was very upset to learn of this brutal attack. Thus she accompanied me to the hospital.
I walked up to the receptionist and asked to see the Shaikh, he looked at me and as though he could read my mind before finishing my sentence he said, ' You're here to see the Shaikh, if you'd just like to take a seat with the others, his son will be down shortly'.
'Others?!', I thought. I looked around me and realised that i wasn't the only one that loved the man!
Aminah is going through a shall i or shan't I phase with her hijab. She wasn't wearing her Hijab upon arrival at the hospital but decided that she couldn't face the Shaikh without it on. She didn't feel comfortable without it. I could sense she was longing to wear it but she was afraid of what the surrounding people may think of her since they saw her walk in without a hijab. I advised her to wear the hijab if she wanted to and not to think of what other people may think. This is something that she will have to do for herself and for the Sake of Allah insha'Allah. She then slyly said, ' Oh i can't, I have no saftey pins!'
I smiled at her and showed her the pins in my bag. She laughed, took a deep breath, took the pins,got up and walked over to the ladies loo. She came back with a black hijab neatly pinned on. Honestly, she looked super!
It was our turn to see the Shaikh.
All three of us were nervous as we walked towards the unexpected. As we approached the Shaikh's room, his son't came out to greet us. They were very pleasant. We waited outside the room for a few minutes before we were told to go in. My husband went in first followed by me then Aminah.
The first thing we noticed was that the Shaikh was blind. Unfortunately the attack had blinded him. I do not know whether this will be temporary. He had a patch on one eye, the other eye was bare. I wasn't sure whether he would remember Aminah and I.
He sat in in his grey ghalabi surrounded by men. There was a doctor from chicago, a translator from syria, a friend from Egypt, and his two sons.
My husband's hand was placed in the Shaikh's hand, ' Assalamu Alaykum Shaikh, my name is Khalid, How are you?'
The shaikh, Alhamdu'Lillah was full of spirit, he smiled a wide smile and said, 'Walikumus Salaam'
'I am the husband of Aisha, whom you've met'
'Ahhhh Aisha, Subhan'Allah', His voice lifted as he heard my name, he was so pleased to hear from me, ' Assalamu Alayum, How are you?'.
Well, i at this point was truly honoured that he remembered me, i had a massive smile on my face and tears in my eyes as i knelt down slightly, put my hand on my heart, lowered my head and said in a voice full of emotion, 'Walikumus Salaam dear Shaikh, I'm well, I was so sorry to have heard about the attack and just wanted to come and see you, I have brought Aminah with me'
'Ahhhh, Aminah, where is she. I remember you Aminah'.
Aminah at this point couldn't believe the Shaikh remembered her. They had only met once and yet the Shaikh remembered the conversations they had had that day.
Believe me, you could not tell that the Shaikh had recently suffered such a terrifying attack. He was in such good spirits, full of sabr masha'Allah. He spoke to all three of us so beautifully. He was extemely grateful that we had come to see him.
Aminah then said, 'Shaikh, you know that day i came to see you and i was meant to take my shahadah inorder for you to provide me with a certificate?'.
'Yesss!', said the Shaikh listening very carefully.
'Well, if it's ok with you, i'd like to take the shahadah right now with you?'.
'Subhan'Allah', He said. He was overjoyed to hear this news. He spoke to all of us in the room and said that this would be a great time to witness a shahdah. We only need two witnesses but alhamdu'Lillah we have people from all over the world here today. He asked Aminah why it was she wanted to become a Muslim. He wanted to know whether this was something she wanted for herself and why?. Once Aminah answered the questions the Shaikh then gave the Shahdah and Aminah duly repeated the words after him in both arabic and english.
And me? Well, i was desperately looking for a tissue, my tears were rolling down and i was worried my eyeliner may sumdge. The atomosphere in the room was humbly electrifying! There was so much emotion in that room it's hard to explain. Everyone was smiling and crying...thinking back it brings tears to my eyes, this very great man who was nearly killed sat full of sabr and shukur on his seat and never once frowned, no complaint was uttered from his lips, he was full of nobility, humbleness and kindness. May Allah grant him jannat-ul firdous. Ameen.
Once Aminah had compleded the Shahdah, the shaikh's son' gave out chocolates. The shaikh then proceeded to give glad tidings to Aminah, whom at this point was on cloud 9, as she later told me. The Dr from Chicago gave Aminah a few books on Islam and Science as gifts and the Shaikh gave her some more books on Islam. We gave him a box of belgium biscuits to which he said, ' Why did you burden yourself from carrying something so heavy?'. Sweet!
We stood up to leave, my husband shook his hand. I too be honest was speechless. I had just experienced so much in just half an hour. We said salaam to the Shaikh and his family. His son's could speak limited english but the managed to grin and say congratultions to Aminah. The Shaikh's wife was also present, we hugged her and said that we would pray for her and her family insha'Allah.
We left the hospital full of uplifted spirits, we went in not knowing what to expect and came out feeling the presence of Almighty Allah's mercy.
May Allah reward the Shaikh abundantly for all of his good deeds, Heal him in this duniya and grant him the best of jannat ul firdous. May Allah also grant peace, sabr and happiness to the Shaikh's family insha'Allah.
http://www.mcb.org.uk/media/presstext.php?ann_id=265
When I initially heard the news i was devasted. The Shaikh is a lovely man, very knowledgeable and of a very noble character. He has helped me on a number of occasions with a few issues and has taught my children memorisation of the Quran. As you can imagine i was heart broken to hear of the attack. I couldn't understand why someone was so brutual to a harmless soul? What did the man achieve by being so callous in his ways? What satisfaction did he get for leaving a man half dead? What went through this individual's sick mind?
I could not stop thinking of the Shaikh. He was all alone in the mosque, no security guards, no collegues. That poor man, what must have gone through his mind during the attackm? The pain he must have suffered and is still suffering, that poor poor man. I cried in anguish everytime i tried to picture his what he went through, the agonising torment, inna lillahi wa inna ilahi rajioon, To Allah We Belong and To Him We Shall Return.
Alhamudu'Lillah, yesterday i managed to visit the Shaikh in hospital. He is at the Western Eye Hospital in Marylebone, London. I went there with my husband and friend Aminah. Aminah as you'll know if you've been reading my blogs is a 5 month old revert to Islam. Aminah and I visited the Shaikh at the mosque once and sat with him for sometime. As this was the first Shaikh she had ever had the pleasure of meeting, she too was very upset to learn of this brutal attack. Thus she accompanied me to the hospital.
I walked up to the receptionist and asked to see the Shaikh, he looked at me and as though he could read my mind before finishing my sentence he said, ' You're here to see the Shaikh, if you'd just like to take a seat with the others, his son will be down shortly'.
'Others?!', I thought. I looked around me and realised that i wasn't the only one that loved the man!
Aminah is going through a shall i or shan't I phase with her hijab. She wasn't wearing her Hijab upon arrival at the hospital but decided that she couldn't face the Shaikh without it on. She didn't feel comfortable without it. I could sense she was longing to wear it but she was afraid of what the surrounding people may think of her since they saw her walk in without a hijab. I advised her to wear the hijab if she wanted to and not to think of what other people may think. This is something that she will have to do for herself and for the Sake of Allah insha'Allah. She then slyly said, ' Oh i can't, I have no saftey pins!'
I smiled at her and showed her the pins in my bag. She laughed, took a deep breath, took the pins,got up and walked over to the ladies loo. She came back with a black hijab neatly pinned on. Honestly, she looked super!
It was our turn to see the Shaikh.
All three of us were nervous as we walked towards the unexpected. As we approached the Shaikh's room, his son't came out to greet us. They were very pleasant. We waited outside the room for a few minutes before we were told to go in. My husband went in first followed by me then Aminah.
The first thing we noticed was that the Shaikh was blind. Unfortunately the attack had blinded him. I do not know whether this will be temporary. He had a patch on one eye, the other eye was bare. I wasn't sure whether he would remember Aminah and I.
He sat in in his grey ghalabi surrounded by men. There was a doctor from chicago, a translator from syria, a friend from Egypt, and his two sons.
My husband's hand was placed in the Shaikh's hand, ' Assalamu Alaykum Shaikh, my name is Khalid, How are you?'
The shaikh, Alhamdu'Lillah was full of spirit, he smiled a wide smile and said, 'Walikumus Salaam'
'I am the husband of Aisha, whom you've met'
'Ahhhh Aisha, Subhan'Allah', His voice lifted as he heard my name, he was so pleased to hear from me, ' Assalamu Alayum, How are you?'.
Well, i at this point was truly honoured that he remembered me, i had a massive smile on my face and tears in my eyes as i knelt down slightly, put my hand on my heart, lowered my head and said in a voice full of emotion, 'Walikumus Salaam dear Shaikh, I'm well, I was so sorry to have heard about the attack and just wanted to come and see you, I have brought Aminah with me'
'Ahhhh, Aminah, where is she. I remember you Aminah'.
Aminah at this point couldn't believe the Shaikh remembered her. They had only met once and yet the Shaikh remembered the conversations they had had that day.
Believe me, you could not tell that the Shaikh had recently suffered such a terrifying attack. He was in such good spirits, full of sabr masha'Allah. He spoke to all three of us so beautifully. He was extemely grateful that we had come to see him.
Aminah then said, 'Shaikh, you know that day i came to see you and i was meant to take my shahadah inorder for you to provide me with a certificate?'.
'Yesss!', said the Shaikh listening very carefully.
'Well, if it's ok with you, i'd like to take the shahadah right now with you?'.
'Subhan'Allah', He said. He was overjoyed to hear this news. He spoke to all of us in the room and said that this would be a great time to witness a shahdah. We only need two witnesses but alhamdu'Lillah we have people from all over the world here today. He asked Aminah why it was she wanted to become a Muslim. He wanted to know whether this was something she wanted for herself and why?. Once Aminah answered the questions the Shaikh then gave the Shahdah and Aminah duly repeated the words after him in both arabic and english.
And me? Well, i was desperately looking for a tissue, my tears were rolling down and i was worried my eyeliner may sumdge. The atomosphere in the room was humbly electrifying! There was so much emotion in that room it's hard to explain. Everyone was smiling and crying...thinking back it brings tears to my eyes, this very great man who was nearly killed sat full of sabr and shukur on his seat and never once frowned, no complaint was uttered from his lips, he was full of nobility, humbleness and kindness. May Allah grant him jannat-ul firdous. Ameen.
Once Aminah had compleded the Shahdah, the shaikh's son' gave out chocolates. The shaikh then proceeded to give glad tidings to Aminah, whom at this point was on cloud 9, as she later told me. The Dr from Chicago gave Aminah a few books on Islam and Science as gifts and the Shaikh gave her some more books on Islam. We gave him a box of belgium biscuits to which he said, ' Why did you burden yourself from carrying something so heavy?'. Sweet!
We stood up to leave, my husband shook his hand. I too be honest was speechless. I had just experienced so much in just half an hour. We said salaam to the Shaikh and his family. His son's could speak limited english but the managed to grin and say congratultions to Aminah. The Shaikh's wife was also present, we hugged her and said that we would pray for her and her family insha'Allah.
We left the hospital full of uplifted spirits, we went in not knowing what to expect and came out feeling the presence of Almighty Allah's mercy.
May Allah reward the Shaikh abundantly for all of his good deeds, Heal him in this duniya and grant him the best of jannat ul firdous. May Allah also grant peace, sabr and happiness to the Shaikh's family insha'Allah.
http://www.mcb.org.uk/media/presstext.php?ann_id=265
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
ISB Knowledgeseekers Course
I attended a 10 day knowledgeseekers course recently - absolutely brillant!
brain has overloaded with info,shared alot, learnt a new way to re-style my hijab, made friends, kids had a whale of a time.
We were secluded away from tv radio newspapers etd for 10 days - when we were released first thing we noticed was..McDonalds! =0)
More soon..
brain has overloaded with info,shared alot, learnt a new way to re-style my hijab, made friends, kids had a whale of a time.
We were secluded away from tv radio newspapers etd for 10 days - when we were released first thing we noticed was..McDonalds! =0)
More soon..
ER
Just have to share this with you...i was typing up my sister doc whilst at work. I had nearly finished the doc when suddenly the computer froze. All applications were stationery. I tried the control alt delete method but that too wasnt' corresponding. I began to panic as i had just finished the sister.doc but had not saved it. My life hung in the balance as i contemplated whether to call up IT and get them to help me knowing that they would have full view of my document if i let them intervene, which basically meant that i was procrastinating at my desk by way of doing personal work rather then work work. (Procrastinate is a new word i've picked up - currently biggest word in my vocab - husband hates it when i call him a procrastinator - sounds so good though, at least it gets the message through though and he gets on with what he is supposed to be doing..).
So i got hold of IT, below is our dialogue;
'GoodAfternoon, IT Support'
'Erm, i wonder if you can help please?'
'Yes'
'My doc has frozen on me and i haven't saved it yet, I'm worried i may lose it'
'Let me take a look' At this point i honestly felt that i was at A&E in a life or death situation. The IT guy logged on to my screen and began doing his job.
'Did you try to end task'
'Yes'
I could see that he was trying to work on retrieving the data, ' I'm afraid this doesnt look good - but i'll see what i can do', he said. I sunk low in my chair, all i could think of was the time it took me to write up the document, i was full of sorrow, i honestly felt as if i was about to loose something very close to me.
'I'm sorry to say but i am unable to retrieve the data, it's just not responding'.
Have you ever watched ER? You know the bit where a doctor has flung himself on top of his patient and is trying to electrify him back to life - well at this point that was how i was feeling. 'What do you mean its not responding,' I cried in dispair,
'I'm afraid we are going to have to 'END TASK'!'. Oh no, i thought this is it, it's dead, my doc has died on me. His mouse hovered over the end task button - i couldn't bear it look, i closed my eyes....suddenly it was all over. 'I'm sorry', he said.
'Me too' I said. 'Never mind though, thanks for trying'. I suppose he could feel the immense sorry in my voice.
'Wait a minute let me try something'. He said. While i was thinking of the length of time it had taken me to put my words togehter and whether my brain would be able to re-write it again, he suddenly said,' Please re-boot your machine'.
Turning of the machine was like turning off life support, i did as i was told. When the machine kicked back in to action the IT guy got to work again. Alhamdu'lillah through some miracle, only an IT literate guy would know how, my word doc appeared again. It came up under an emergency retrieval section. I was overjoyed, however only the beginning of my doc was saved though. I was slightly embarassed though as the first word that came up was 'Sister', so he must have guessed it was a personal doc, oh well, what else does one do when there's nothing to do at work! I was proactively keeping the brain busy wasn't I?
'I wasn't sure if i was able to save part of your doc that's why i didn't mention it, sometimes it just doesn't work', He Said.
'That's ok', I thought. 'Thanks Dr.IT, you're the best!'
I didn't care, at least the beginning part was saved, that's always the hardest part to write. I thanked him profusely.
So i got hold of IT, below is our dialogue;
'GoodAfternoon, IT Support'
'Erm, i wonder if you can help please?'
'Yes'
'My doc has frozen on me and i haven't saved it yet, I'm worried i may lose it'
'Let me take a look' At this point i honestly felt that i was at A&E in a life or death situation. The IT guy logged on to my screen and began doing his job.
'Did you try to end task'
'Yes'
I could see that he was trying to work on retrieving the data, ' I'm afraid this doesnt look good - but i'll see what i can do', he said. I sunk low in my chair, all i could think of was the time it took me to write up the document, i was full of sorrow, i honestly felt as if i was about to loose something very close to me.
'I'm sorry to say but i am unable to retrieve the data, it's just not responding'.
Have you ever watched ER? You know the bit where a doctor has flung himself on top of his patient and is trying to electrify him back to life - well at this point that was how i was feeling. 'What do you mean its not responding,' I cried in dispair,
'I'm afraid we are going to have to 'END TASK'!'. Oh no, i thought this is it, it's dead, my doc has died on me. His mouse hovered over the end task button - i couldn't bear it look, i closed my eyes....suddenly it was all over. 'I'm sorry', he said.
'Me too' I said. 'Never mind though, thanks for trying'. I suppose he could feel the immense sorry in my voice.
'Wait a minute let me try something'. He said. While i was thinking of the length of time it had taken me to put my words togehter and whether my brain would be able to re-write it again, he suddenly said,' Please re-boot your machine'.
Turning of the machine was like turning off life support, i did as i was told. When the machine kicked back in to action the IT guy got to work again. Alhamdu'lillah through some miracle, only an IT literate guy would know how, my word doc appeared again. It came up under an emergency retrieval section. I was overjoyed, however only the beginning of my doc was saved though. I was slightly embarassed though as the first word that came up was 'Sister', so he must have guessed it was a personal doc, oh well, what else does one do when there's nothing to do at work! I was proactively keeping the brain busy wasn't I?
'I wasn't sure if i was able to save part of your doc that's why i didn't mention it, sometimes it just doesn't work', He Said.
'That's ok', I thought. 'Thanks Dr.IT, you're the best!'
I didn't care, at least the beginning part was saved, that's always the hardest part to write. I thanked him profusely.
Saturday, 11 August 2007
Peace n The Hood
I attended the Peace in the hood 2 festival a couple of weekends ago. After all the hype I was expecting it to be a lot better then it actually was. As my family and I approached the venue we could hear a whole load of people singing hymns, shamefully I knew the words to this particularly hymn (having attended a CofE school) so found myself singing along to them!. My hubby and I began to wonder whether we’d arrived at the right venue, we soon saw a load of hijab, niqab wearers and stopped panicking. To be honest there weren’t many people around so we were debating whether we should all go in or not – but since this debate went on and on until we stood right in front of the brother and sister who were giving out tickets, so rather then embarrassing ourselves we coughed up the money required and all went in to a very empty hall.
The first talk had already started, unfortunately it was all in Arabic so we didn’t’ understand a word, actually judging by the vast audience’s body language it seemed as though no one understood a word!
The kids however were having a ball of a time, running to the stalls and purchasing magic rings, halal sweets and even going crazy over at the henna table. As I began to sink low in my chair bored out of my brains the next speaker came on. He began his talk in Arabic and I immediately thought, ‘ Oh no, here we go, how long is this going to take, bring on the nasheeds….’, and then the speaker began to speak in English, his opening line was, ‘ We are all in trouble…..’ Brillant open line, absolutely brilliant, definitely got me intrigued.
He started his talk by reminding us of one of the most important gifts Allah has blessed us with….’Air’. He rightly said that we pay for our gas, electricity even for water, but how much do we pay for air? Exactly, nothing, we pay nothing at all for the air that we breathe. It’s free, Allah has given us free air to breathe, so do we thank Allah?
Alhamdu’Lillah this speaker was superb. He had so many inspiring stories to share with us all, most of them related to da’wah. He knew of hundreds of people that have become Muslim, and most of the time all it takes is for a Muslim to openly practice his religion so that others, non-Muslims especially, have the opportunity to see the beauty of our deen.
I sat and listened to almost every word and wished that I had encouraged all my siblings to attend this talk too. My hubby later said that it was definitely worth spending a fiver to hear this guy speak. I wholeheartedly agreed.
All these stories are of the Sheikh’s experience with delivering dawah and the ultimate results. (The stories are in my own words as I understood them and Allah Knows Best)
Story 1
The Sheikh and his wife had to travel by tube one evening. As they descended on to a platform, he spotted two ladies sitting on oneside of the platform and two men sitting on the other side. He turned to his wife, who wears full niqab, gloves etc, and told her to go give dawah to the ladies while he approaches the men. His wife walked over to the ladies and as she approache them, the ladies turned around saw her and gasped. His wife said, ‘ Don’t panic, I’m a lady just like you’, and she lifted her veil to show them her face. They both said, ‘ Why are you covered up from head to toe then?’, to which the wife replied,’ because I am a diamond for my husband’s eyes only’. The ladies were emotionally struck by this answer and continued to ask more questions, after a while both ladies wanted to take shahadah. The wife turned and clapped her hands to get her husband’s attention (clapped her hands so that the men that were with her husband would not hear her voice). Her husband came hurrying across to his wife and Alhamdu’lillah the two women took shahdah and became muslim.
This was a lovely true story and May Allah reward both the sheikh and his wife abundantly insha’Allah.
I later said to my husband that I would like to wear a nikab and cover myself from head to toe coz after all, ‘I am his diamond’, to which he cheekily replied, ‘ I’d rather just have you in a glass case for everyone to see but not touch’.
Story 2
The sheikh had just arrived back from a dawah tour in Pakistan. So there he was standing at the arrivals terminal in LHR when the time for salat occurred. So he found a space within the arrival section, put down his briefcase, completely ignoring the people around, stood up right and began to very loudly recite the call to prayer, ‘ Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar..’. When he had finished he turned around to face a female police officier who was all red in the face. The officier poitely said the the sheikh, ‘Sir, please come with me, I’d like to show you were the prayer room is’. The sheikh was amazed, he had no idea there was a prayer room at heathrow. He followed the officier and completed his prayer there.
The sheikh wanted to highlight the fact that almost everywhere we look today, there are prayer rooms. The mere existence of these rooms are fabulous opportunites for all of us to do dawah one way or the other.
Story 3
The sheikh had gone to the post office. Whilst there a kind man called David held the door open for the sheikh for a few minutes. The sheikh was so overcome by David’s kindness that he wanted to give something back as a thank you. The best think he could give back was dawah. So he asked David, ‘Tell me, have you heard of a man called Prophet Mohammad?’ David replied, ‘ Who?, you mean the greatest man in the world?’. The sheikh was taken aback by this comment obviously and asked, ‘ Are you a Muslim?’. David replied no. The sheikh then said, ‘Then how do you know of Mohammad?’. David said that he had recently finished reading a book on the 100 greatest men in the world of which Mohammed was included. The Sheikh then gave David a small booklet on Islam to read and suggested that he call him on Sunday once he had read the book so they could discuss further.
The sheikh swears that he gave the book to David on Friday and Saturday morning, whilst at home having breakfast with his kids, the sheikh’s phone rang. The sheikh answered the phone to which the reply was, ’ Hello, this is Sandra, may I speak to Sheikh Jiani please?’, not used to receiving calls from females he replied,’ Astagfur’Allah who is Sandra?’. Sandra explained that she was the wife of the David whom the Sheikh met yesterday. The Sheikh quickly remembered who David was, Sandra had called to say that David had read the book the Sheikh had given him and was interested in taking Shahadah – Alhamdu’Lillah. The Sheikh was overwhelmed with this news, he quickly gathered together his belongings and rushed to David’s house.
Story 4
One man became Muslim just by learning about istanjah!
A non-Muslim was curious why his Muslim collegue kept taking a bottle of water to the toilet. One day he just had to question him, ‘ Are you having a shower in there or what?’ was the man’s polite way of asking. ‘ No, our religion requires us Muslims to keep clean, even when we use the toilet, that’s what the water is for’ The man exclaimed, ‘Your religion is so pure’ – He later became Muslim
What we can learn from the Sheikh?
The sheikh openly recites the Quran when travelling, especially on the tube.
When the time for prayer is upon him, he will pray anywhere.
He always salams his fellow muslim brother (once he was on the tube and he salaamed a brother, the brother sheepishly looked away and walked away from the sheikh without replying. The sheikh wanted his reply back, so followed the brother through the croweded tube. When he was finally standing next to the brother the sheikh said, ‘Brother, I said Assalamu Alaykum’. The brother quietly looked down and replied, ‘Walikum Salaam’. A sister told me that salaaming your fellow brothers and sisters is a FARD – so don’t ignore it.
The first talk had already started, unfortunately it was all in Arabic so we didn’t’ understand a word, actually judging by the vast audience’s body language it seemed as though no one understood a word!
The kids however were having a ball of a time, running to the stalls and purchasing magic rings, halal sweets and even going crazy over at the henna table. As I began to sink low in my chair bored out of my brains the next speaker came on. He began his talk in Arabic and I immediately thought, ‘ Oh no, here we go, how long is this going to take, bring on the nasheeds….’, and then the speaker began to speak in English, his opening line was, ‘ We are all in trouble…..’ Brillant open line, absolutely brilliant, definitely got me intrigued.
He started his talk by reminding us of one of the most important gifts Allah has blessed us with….’Air’. He rightly said that we pay for our gas, electricity even for water, but how much do we pay for air? Exactly, nothing, we pay nothing at all for the air that we breathe. It’s free, Allah has given us free air to breathe, so do we thank Allah?
Alhamdu’Lillah this speaker was superb. He had so many inspiring stories to share with us all, most of them related to da’wah. He knew of hundreds of people that have become Muslim, and most of the time all it takes is for a Muslim to openly practice his religion so that others, non-Muslims especially, have the opportunity to see the beauty of our deen.
I sat and listened to almost every word and wished that I had encouraged all my siblings to attend this talk too. My hubby later said that it was definitely worth spending a fiver to hear this guy speak. I wholeheartedly agreed.
All these stories are of the Sheikh’s experience with delivering dawah and the ultimate results. (The stories are in my own words as I understood them and Allah Knows Best)
Story 1
The Sheikh and his wife had to travel by tube one evening. As they descended on to a platform, he spotted two ladies sitting on oneside of the platform and two men sitting on the other side. He turned to his wife, who wears full niqab, gloves etc, and told her to go give dawah to the ladies while he approaches the men. His wife walked over to the ladies and as she approache them, the ladies turned around saw her and gasped. His wife said, ‘ Don’t panic, I’m a lady just like you’, and she lifted her veil to show them her face. They both said, ‘ Why are you covered up from head to toe then?’, to which the wife replied,’ because I am a diamond for my husband’s eyes only’. The ladies were emotionally struck by this answer and continued to ask more questions, after a while both ladies wanted to take shahadah. The wife turned and clapped her hands to get her husband’s attention (clapped her hands so that the men that were with her husband would not hear her voice). Her husband came hurrying across to his wife and Alhamdu’lillah the two women took shahdah and became muslim.
This was a lovely true story and May Allah reward both the sheikh and his wife abundantly insha’Allah.
I later said to my husband that I would like to wear a nikab and cover myself from head to toe coz after all, ‘I am his diamond’, to which he cheekily replied, ‘ I’d rather just have you in a glass case for everyone to see but not touch’.
Story 2
The sheikh had just arrived back from a dawah tour in Pakistan. So there he was standing at the arrivals terminal in LHR when the time for salat occurred. So he found a space within the arrival section, put down his briefcase, completely ignoring the people around, stood up right and began to very loudly recite the call to prayer, ‘ Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar..’. When he had finished he turned around to face a female police officier who was all red in the face. The officier poitely said the the sheikh, ‘Sir, please come with me, I’d like to show you were the prayer room is’. The sheikh was amazed, he had no idea there was a prayer room at heathrow. He followed the officier and completed his prayer there.
The sheikh wanted to highlight the fact that almost everywhere we look today, there are prayer rooms. The mere existence of these rooms are fabulous opportunites for all of us to do dawah one way or the other.
Story 3
The sheikh had gone to the post office. Whilst there a kind man called David held the door open for the sheikh for a few minutes. The sheikh was so overcome by David’s kindness that he wanted to give something back as a thank you. The best think he could give back was dawah. So he asked David, ‘Tell me, have you heard of a man called Prophet Mohammad?’ David replied, ‘ Who?, you mean the greatest man in the world?’. The sheikh was taken aback by this comment obviously and asked, ‘ Are you a Muslim?’. David replied no. The sheikh then said, ‘Then how do you know of Mohammad?’. David said that he had recently finished reading a book on the 100 greatest men in the world of which Mohammed was included. The Sheikh then gave David a small booklet on Islam to read and suggested that he call him on Sunday once he had read the book so they could discuss further.
The sheikh swears that he gave the book to David on Friday and Saturday morning, whilst at home having breakfast with his kids, the sheikh’s phone rang. The sheikh answered the phone to which the reply was, ’ Hello, this is Sandra, may I speak to Sheikh Jiani please?’, not used to receiving calls from females he replied,’ Astagfur’Allah who is Sandra?’. Sandra explained that she was the wife of the David whom the Sheikh met yesterday. The Sheikh quickly remembered who David was, Sandra had called to say that David had read the book the Sheikh had given him and was interested in taking Shahadah – Alhamdu’Lillah. The Sheikh was overwhelmed with this news, he quickly gathered together his belongings and rushed to David’s house.
Story 4
One man became Muslim just by learning about istanjah!
A non-Muslim was curious why his Muslim collegue kept taking a bottle of water to the toilet. One day he just had to question him, ‘ Are you having a shower in there or what?’ was the man’s polite way of asking. ‘ No, our religion requires us Muslims to keep clean, even when we use the toilet, that’s what the water is for’ The man exclaimed, ‘Your religion is so pure’ – He later became Muslim
What we can learn from the Sheikh?
The sheikh openly recites the Quran when travelling, especially on the tube.
When the time for prayer is upon him, he will pray anywhere.
He always salams his fellow muslim brother (once he was on the tube and he salaamed a brother, the brother sheepishly looked away and walked away from the sheikh without replying. The sheikh wanted his reply back, so followed the brother through the croweded tube. When he was finally standing next to the brother the sheikh said, ‘Brother, I said Assalamu Alaykum’. The brother quietly looked down and replied, ‘Walikum Salaam’. A sister told me that salaaming your fellow brothers and sisters is a FARD – so don’t ignore it.
Sister
It’s true, time is flying by. So much is happening and so quickly. We’ve just said goodbye to Ramadan 1427 and now we will very soon be saying hello to Ramadan 1428. May Allah (swt) make it easy for us all.
My sister was in hospital the other day. Rather then describing my sister to you, let’s put it this way, very recently an aunty wanted me to sum up my sister so she asked me whether my sister was a ‘fashion-wali’ or a ‘ deen-wali’. I was slightly amused at this concept, shook my head and said, ‘Fashion-wali’.
There she was sitting in her hospital bed bemoaning the fact that she was getting old and she hadn’t even seen life yet. I asked her what her priority was in life – she simply replied, ‘To be happy’. Well that’s easy I said, but to be happy you’ll need to take a step back and start from the very beginning. I reminded her that the key to her happiness lies with the very One that created her, Allah. All Allah (swt) asks of you is for you to worship Him. In the return for creating you, giving you beauty, your eyes to see, your ears to hear, this world – all He asks is that you worship Him and Him alone. I advised her, that as soon as you begin to worship your Lord, then you will begin to be happy. Doors will open for you that you could never see – trivial things in life will become meaningless – you will begin to search and yearn for more knowledge, your whole life will re-focus and ultimately you will be one of the most happiest sisters alive insha’Allah.
My sister’s 25 year old friend recently died in an air crash in Brazil. I reminded her that her friend did not live to see 26. The time to worship your Lord was yesterday-don’t waste the time that you have. I could see that alhamdu’Lillah I had my sisters full attention, she suddenly looked at me accusingly and said,’ Well, if that’s the case then why didn’t you bring me something to read?’
‘I did.’, I smugly said. She smiled at me and said, ‘What, how did you know I’d ask for something?’.
‘I always carry a book or two in my bag, you never know when you may need it’.
I had been revising the surahs towards the last part of the Quran. My teacher had given me a booklet containing the 30th chapter of the Arabic and English translation of the holy Quran. I sat with my sister for a while and read through the translation of a surah along with its hadith. All the while my heart was thumping, for all I wanted was for my darling sister to begin to read the Quran and thus come back to her deen.
A few days later I was over at her place in the kitchen at the sink washing dishes as usual and she was sitting behind me. She suddenly said,’ By the way, I’ve nearly finished that book you gave me’ I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I was so happy, no, I was over the moon, tenfold!. I calmly turned around and said, ‘You have?, Ma’shAllah, that’s brilliant!’. I turned back and continued to wash the dishes, concealing my big massive grin. Alhamdu’Lillah Allah is truly so Great!!.
I did not want my sister to see how overjoyed I was. I was and still am afraid of scaring her further away from her deen. With some people you have to take it a step at a time and go slowly and leave the rest up to Allah.
The other day, my sis and I were over at my mums. My sis had just left mum’s room as I walked in. Mum was in a highly emotional state, her cheeks were red and she had been crying. I asked her what was wrong she said, ‘ Nothing’s wrong, Masha’Allah you sister has just told me that she has begun to read the translation of the Quran,’ she then smiled and said, ‘ She’s finding Surah Al Bakarah a bit to long but insha’Allah she will get through it’. My mum and I cried and hugged eachother for comfort. I could truly feel her emotions as I too felt the same. Insha’Allah one day very soon my sis will find her happiness….
My sister was in hospital the other day. Rather then describing my sister to you, let’s put it this way, very recently an aunty wanted me to sum up my sister so she asked me whether my sister was a ‘fashion-wali’ or a ‘ deen-wali’. I was slightly amused at this concept, shook my head and said, ‘Fashion-wali’.
There she was sitting in her hospital bed bemoaning the fact that she was getting old and she hadn’t even seen life yet. I asked her what her priority was in life – she simply replied, ‘To be happy’. Well that’s easy I said, but to be happy you’ll need to take a step back and start from the very beginning. I reminded her that the key to her happiness lies with the very One that created her, Allah. All Allah (swt) asks of you is for you to worship Him. In the return for creating you, giving you beauty, your eyes to see, your ears to hear, this world – all He asks is that you worship Him and Him alone. I advised her, that as soon as you begin to worship your Lord, then you will begin to be happy. Doors will open for you that you could never see – trivial things in life will become meaningless – you will begin to search and yearn for more knowledge, your whole life will re-focus and ultimately you will be one of the most happiest sisters alive insha’Allah.
My sister’s 25 year old friend recently died in an air crash in Brazil. I reminded her that her friend did not live to see 26. The time to worship your Lord was yesterday-don’t waste the time that you have. I could see that alhamdu’Lillah I had my sisters full attention, she suddenly looked at me accusingly and said,’ Well, if that’s the case then why didn’t you bring me something to read?’
‘I did.’, I smugly said. She smiled at me and said, ‘What, how did you know I’d ask for something?’.
‘I always carry a book or two in my bag, you never know when you may need it’.
I had been revising the surahs towards the last part of the Quran. My teacher had given me a booklet containing the 30th chapter of the Arabic and English translation of the holy Quran. I sat with my sister for a while and read through the translation of a surah along with its hadith. All the while my heart was thumping, for all I wanted was for my darling sister to begin to read the Quran and thus come back to her deen.
A few days later I was over at her place in the kitchen at the sink washing dishes as usual and she was sitting behind me. She suddenly said,’ By the way, I’ve nearly finished that book you gave me’ I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I was so happy, no, I was over the moon, tenfold!. I calmly turned around and said, ‘You have?, Ma’shAllah, that’s brilliant!’. I turned back and continued to wash the dishes, concealing my big massive grin. Alhamdu’Lillah Allah is truly so Great!!.
I did not want my sister to see how overjoyed I was. I was and still am afraid of scaring her further away from her deen. With some people you have to take it a step at a time and go slowly and leave the rest up to Allah.
The other day, my sis and I were over at my mums. My sis had just left mum’s room as I walked in. Mum was in a highly emotional state, her cheeks were red and she had been crying. I asked her what was wrong she said, ‘ Nothing’s wrong, Masha’Allah you sister has just told me that she has begun to read the translation of the Quran,’ she then smiled and said, ‘ She’s finding Surah Al Bakarah a bit to long but insha’Allah she will get through it’. My mum and I cried and hugged eachother for comfort. I could truly feel her emotions as I too felt the same. Insha’Allah one day very soon my sis will find her happiness….
Sunday, 29 July 2007
Little blessings
As my little 5 yr old treasure climbed up the ladder to her bunk bed she said. 'mummy. I'm going to leave my hijab on tonight coz i'm going to wake up for fajr'. Subhan'Allah, kids r a true blessing in disguise as well as a mighty inspiratiön to others. My trearure is sound asleep right now, with her hijab ön.
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
Good Coffee
Good Coffee A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. "The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything." Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God
Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. "The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything." Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God
A New Born Baby; Encounters With A Revert
First penned in 2007, edited in 2020
Before I came face to face with Sarah at work, I was told that she was keeping a low profile because not everyone knew that she had become Muslim. So on the day that we finally met, I wasn’t too sure whether to meet and greet her openly or in secret! So quietly I asked Sarah whether it was ok to say, ‘Assalamu Alaykum’, to her in public, to which she ecstatically replied, ‘Oh please do!’, and proceeded to give me a hug and three sunnah kisses! Glad we sorted that one out!
Sarah was extremely humorous. When we first met, she looked at me in my hijab and immediately touched her own neck scarf and remarked how that so far, this was as close as she had come to wearing her own hijab, but one day she will make that ultimate move. I personally felt as if her soul was fighting to want to wear the hijab but was succumbed continuously by the shaitan, but hey, a fighting soul is a good soul, right? The mere fact that she had this desire to want to wear the hijab but felt that she was unable to because of what people may say, was certainly a challenge in the right direction.
Every time I met with Sarah she always brought up the point about wearing hijab. When she spoke of her need to wear hijab, she had tears in her eyes, she wanted to wear the hijab so much but the shaitan was making her feel it’s presumed difficulty. The will was there, I saw it, she just had to make dua and ask Allah (SWT) to help make it easy for her.
You know, it felt as if she was nervous of my presence, well, people do get scared of my appearance at times. I’m kinda tall, wear thick black framed glasses and wear hijab. Put it this way, if you’re a minority wearing a hijab within a non Muslim environment then you’re considered to be extreme. So no wonder people were scared of me, plus the fact that my face shows no welcoming warmth to the on lookers, unless I break into a smile…. But hey, I’m not complaining, if this keeps the ‘brothers’ away from me, so be it!
One of the first things Sarah and I spoke of was jihad. She mentioned that she wasn’t sure how to prepare herself for jihad and actually didn’t quite understand what it was all about. I explained that the mere fact that she had become Muslim was jihad, the struggle she faced each and every day. I explained for a mother, bringing up children was a form of jihad too. As I began to explain all of this she began to ease a bit. She really did carry a fear that one day she would have to go to fight in the name of Islam, and that this was obligatory for her.
Now Sarah was loving the whole new her, ie..new Muslim. For example, she loved the fact that she had to get up at 3am in the morning for fajr….yep you read it right, her exact words were, ‘I bounce out of bed at 3am!’, at which point I sunk low into my chair embarrassed of the fact that I had missed praying fajr on time for the past 2 weeks. I confessed as she looked on at me, mortified, as if to say, ‘Oh, How could you??’
She then proceeded to apologise for having not removed her nail varnish. She said she couldn’t bear to live without painted nails! She had worn nail varnish every day of her life and felt so so bear without it. She said she was even contemplating whether to remove all her make up before meeting me for the very first time. Seriously now, I’m not that bad – maybe it’s the impression I tend to give people – ‘Be afraid, be very afraid!!’ Lol.
Sarah and I hit it off almost immediately, She was overly excited about her new found religion and had just so much to say. She was so unsure of many things and was keen to get everything right. One day, she drew close to me and whispered, ‘Listen, I have a serious problem’. I prepared myself for this unimaginable problem, she said, ‘I have a visa card!’ To which I burst out laughing. I just cracked up and started crying tears of joy and sadness. Joy because this sister was Alhamdu’lillah so keen on getting everything right and sadness because there are millions of Muslims out there that don’t give two hoots about using, abusing credit cards and accumulating interest. Sarah wondered whether it would be ok to transfer her card to another provider in order to take up the 0% interest offer and help her pay her debt back ASAP. I advised her that it was her intention that really mattered and to pay back the debt as soon as she could possibly afford to.
I sent Sarah an email once and ended it by saying, ‘And remember me in your duas’. Little did I know, she didn’t know what the word ‘Duas’ had meant. So one day she asked, ‘Is that something to do with prayers by any chance’. I felt silly for expecting her to know the meaning in the first place and explained that it was to do with prayer.
She also picked up the word, ‘Insha’Allah’ from me and every time she would repeat it, she would take it a step further though and raise her hands in the sky, pause a second and say a slow heartfelt, ‘Inshaaaaaa Allah’ then she’d look at me gleefully as if to say, ‘I got it, I got it!’.
She burst into laughter as she imagined that when conversing later on with her Tunisian husband, she’ll end up repeating insha’Allah after every sentence, only because of not being sure of when to pronounce the word and when not too. I can just imagine the domestics they’ll end up having if pronounced at the wrong time..
‘Make me a cup of tea darling’ he’ll say, ‘Insha’Allah’ Sarah will reply.
‘Iron my shirt honey’
‘Insha’Allah’
‘Have you done the banking dear’
‘Insha’Allah’
‘It’s so hot today, I’m gonna die in this heat’
‘Insha’Allah’. 🙊🙊🙊
I once showed her a picture I had taken of the Kaaba and I commented, ‘That’s lovely isn’t it?’ to which she replied, ‘We should say, ‘Subhan’Allah’ right?’. Yep, she put me to shame each and every time :)
Sarah’s husband had taught her the basics of prayer. She told me that she was confused by the technique of lifting her index finger up during the tashahhud. She made me laugh, again, when she mentioned that whilst praying tashahhud she was always uncertain at whether to lift her two thumbs up, fonzi style, or was it two fingers. So just to be sure she had been lifting both thumbs up!
When Sarah felt that she did not understand the religion like she was supposed to, when she felt like, she was not ‘getting it right’, her eyes would fill with tears. She was trying so hard to make it work, she was craving for knowledge, and she wanted to pray with sincere devotion to Allah (SWT).
Alhamdu’Lillah sisters like Sarah are an inspiration for those Muslims that take their religion or their presence in this world for granted. They live off the luxuries of Allah (SWT) and do not even take the time out to reflect on His infinite mercies and thank Him for creating them at the very least.
I invited Sarah to attend one of my Saturday Islamic Studies classes with me. I thought it would be a good idea for her to meet with my teachers and my fellow class mates, a majority of whom were new Muslims.
I hardly recognised her when she arrived. She wore a pair of baggy cotton trousers and a silky top and had a scarf loosely tied around her head, draping backwards. She allowed room for a lock of hair to escape from her scarf and had adorned a long pearl necklace. Yep, she looked like Sinbad!. And me being me, I immediately told her so to which she burst out laughing – ‘I like Sinbad’, she replied with a smile.
Sarah was overwhelmed with the nicety of all the sisters she met with. She couldn’t believe how everyone wanted to talk to her and share their thoughts and feelings. While we were mostly dressed in abayas, in hindsight, I shouldn’t have really commented that she looked like Sinbad, since I felt that broke her confidence slightly. But she was the star of that moment, and everyone welcomed her.
She had wanted to officially have it declared that she was Muslim, so I decided to take her for a visit to Regents Park Mosque. She had never been to the masjid in London before so this was something she was really looking forward too. I introduced Sarah to the Imam of the Masjid who was very pleased to see her.
Sarah was lost for words out of nervousness and so the first question she asked the Imam was about....Jihad!
After praying Zuhr at the masjid a sister approached Sarah and told her that she should cover up properly if she was going to pray. Sarah, being already nervous as it was, explained that she was a new Muslim and currently learning the ropes so to speak and would cover up properly in time insha’Allah.
Sarah later confessed that she found the encounter slightly off putting and had I not been there she would have ran out the masjid and not come back in fear of doing something wrong. A message to all I suppose, if you are going to preach, do it gently, we are supposed to be inviting people to Islam not making them run from it! Sabr everyone, Sabr! Shuwee Shuwee! (Something I picked up whilst on Hajj!)
Sarah purchased a book to help her learn Arabic starting from the very basics. She thought the alphabet looked very pretty and couldn’t wait to master the letters.
A day later I met with Sarah to go through the Arabic alphabet and to begin teaching her salah. I had also given her a tape so that she could listen to the pronunciation of each Arabic letter. The tape contained a recording of the alphabet and a few surahs.
Sarah found the Arabic alphabet confusing. She kept trying to compare it with the English alphabet in order for her to make out some sort of pattern. I told her not to bother with the English alphabet and to just learn the Arabic alphabet via its transliteration. The tape itself she found amusing, she said, ‘One minute the teacher is pronouncing the alphabet and then he breaks into a song!’ With a smile, I explained that that was actually called a Surah, a passage from the Quran.
I must reiterate, she was a laugh – she called up her husband once and said something along the lines of, ‘Look what I’ve mastered….’Raa’, she roared like a lion. She was referring to the letter ‘Raa’ within the Arabic alphabet.
She also adored the enchanting way in which the teacher recited the surahs and said that she too would like to be just as melodic one day. Sarah enquired whether it was permissible for women to recite the same way as men. I replied yes of course and encouraged her to practice this during her prayers.
After the visit at the mosque she said she had found the experience quite overwhelming. She was beginning to feel suffocated with all the attention she had managed to attract. Many sisters had gathered round her and were offering congratulations and giving free advice. I explained to her that they all felt such sisterly love for her, and that’s why they felt it was their duty to explain what they think she may not know.
Even the Imam was reduced to tears when at one point she explained to him that, one day she realised for herself that she really did want to become a Muslim. She had this yearning suddenly develop inside her, it wasn’t because of marriage to her husband, it felt like the right thing to do, the inner peace that she so needed.
When I first met Sarah, I noticed that she was overly excited and wanted to learn everything and anything about Islam there and then. I advised her not to overwhelm herself and take it a step at a time, ‘After all’, I said, ‘Remember, all of your sins have been wiped away, Alhamdu’Lillah, you are just like a new born baby!’
We ask Allah (SWT) that He makes it easy for Sarah every step of the way and accepts all of her good deeds – Ameen.
Let's begin...
I've been feeling conscious of my travels into work since last week. Ever since the terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport of 30 June 2007, it seems that I have become a public attraction or is it just my conscious playing games with me? I have been feeling the very same I felt when I first began to wear my hijab 5 years ago. At that time, I felt as if everyone I walked past were looking back at me, talking about me perhaps, maybe believing that I was oppressed by my family or forced to wear my hijab.
Today, Alhamdu'Lillah I did not see any headlines in the paper that began with, 'Muslim...' or, 'Islam..'. Funny thing is though - there's me feeling slightly uneasy and overly self-protective with the thought that, 'oh damn, with this hijab of mine, I might get recognized by someone as being a Muslim and then I'm going to be blamed with absolutely everything that's going on worldwide!', when actually infact I may not get recognized at all. Why you ask? The other day I was introduced to a guy who graciously stood up and leaned over to shake my hand. I politely declined his handshake and my colleague informed this man that due to religious reasons she, meaning me, will not shake hands of the opposite sex. This piece of news was obviously new to the man who then looked at me and asked,'Oh that's interesting, so which faith are you from then?'. I smiled and said, 'Islam'. Therefore, even though Muslims get to hit the front pages nearly every week, and there our wonderful supporting pictures of 'Muslims' supporting beards, hijabs, niqabs, abayas etc...There are still some people that remain completely ignorant of the fact of what a 'Muslim' looks like.
Perhaps I am wrong here, maybe I should have introduced myself as a 'Practicing Muslim' inorder to save some confusion for next time this man bumps into a sister that is half decently dressed, does not wear a hijab but is Muslim too. However, is she a 'Practicing Muslim'? You know what, who cares? A Muslim is a Muslim, practicing, non-practicing, extreme, moderate, fanatic who invented these tag words? A Muslim knows what his duties are as a Muslim, it is up to him or her to follow them to the best of ability at the end of the day, who are we as individuals to judge a person by the way he prays, reads, dresses. We don't know what is in a person's heart, we don't know his destiny. Remember, One of the most beloved people to Allah (swt) was Umar (May peace be upon him), the companion of our Prophet (pbuh). He used to bow down and worship idols before he was blessed with Islam. Allah (swt) is the judge of all things. Everyone else, just do the best that you can in this temporary duniya and use it wisely to prepare for our akhira.
My friend and I walked into Caffe Italia today and hey, guess what - we sat in what used to be the cloudy smoking area only now it was smoke free...what joy!
Today, Alhamdu'Lillah I did not see any headlines in the paper that began with, 'Muslim...' or, 'Islam..'. Funny thing is though - there's me feeling slightly uneasy and overly self-protective with the thought that, 'oh damn, with this hijab of mine, I might get recognized by someone as being a Muslim and then I'm going to be blamed with absolutely everything that's going on worldwide!', when actually infact I may not get recognized at all. Why you ask? The other day I was introduced to a guy who graciously stood up and leaned over to shake my hand. I politely declined his handshake and my colleague informed this man that due to religious reasons she, meaning me, will not shake hands of the opposite sex. This piece of news was obviously new to the man who then looked at me and asked,'Oh that's interesting, so which faith are you from then?'. I smiled and said, 'Islam'. Therefore, even though Muslims get to hit the front pages nearly every week, and there our wonderful supporting pictures of 'Muslims' supporting beards, hijabs, niqabs, abayas etc...There are still some people that remain completely ignorant of the fact of what a 'Muslim' looks like.
Perhaps I am wrong here, maybe I should have introduced myself as a 'Practicing Muslim' inorder to save some confusion for next time this man bumps into a sister that is half decently dressed, does not wear a hijab but is Muslim too. However, is she a 'Practicing Muslim'? You know what, who cares? A Muslim is a Muslim, practicing, non-practicing, extreme, moderate, fanatic who invented these tag words? A Muslim knows what his duties are as a Muslim, it is up to him or her to follow them to the best of ability at the end of the day, who are we as individuals to judge a person by the way he prays, reads, dresses. We don't know what is in a person's heart, we don't know his destiny. Remember, One of the most beloved people to Allah (swt) was Umar (May peace be upon him), the companion of our Prophet (pbuh). He used to bow down and worship idols before he was blessed with Islam. Allah (swt) is the judge of all things. Everyone else, just do the best that you can in this temporary duniya and use it wisely to prepare for our akhira.
My friend and I walked into Caffe Italia today and hey, guess what - we sat in what used to be the cloudy smoking area only now it was smoke free...what joy!
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Assalamu Alaykum
Well, i've finally done it. I've been wanting to create a blog for some time now.....so much to say, so much to share and Alhamdu'Lillah i've finally done it! Woo Hoo!!
Can't wait to begin blogging, for now though - off i go on the school run.
Peace and Salams to all.
Can't wait to begin blogging, for now though - off i go on the school run.
Peace and Salams to all.
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