Speaking of New Year resoultions...

Ok so admittedly I never have any, but I thought that maybe for next year (i.e. in less than 24 hours) it would be good to have this one:
Forget me, me, me, focus on charity!
Yes, corny, but necessary!
Before I was a student I was better at it as life didn’t revolve around mobile bills, food and train tickets. (And yes the more than occasional restaurant visit). Now I only remember to give charity when it comes bearing a free three-course dinner tag on an ISOC poster.
I can see those heads nodding with guilty recognition.

It’s time for some change I think. I want to make this resolution and keep it. I want to bring back some of my year ten enthusiasm when I honestly thought a walk around the park with water balloons was a good way of raising money.
Although my creativity’s hopefully spiralled upwards since then I know it’s impossible to organise events all the time, so for anyone who thinks they need a new year’s resolution like mine then I suggest a charity chart: twelve donations, one at the end of each month where you mark on who you donated to, and how much. Obviously it doesn’t have to be loads, we’re students after all :) You can alternate the charities on a monthly basis and make one off payments through their websites.

The first two on my list at the moment are islamic relief amd iera.
And don’t forget the classic penny jar either. Collect for one year and add it to your December donation. I remember doing that one year and getting £3.98. Maybe this year I’ll reach £4.00.

"Save yourself from hellfire by giving even half a date-fruit in charity." Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 2, Hadith 49
"The believer's shade on the Day of Resurrection will be his charity." Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 604

Before we look forward, look back and learn

It's been sixth months since the Gaza crisis ended. A year since it begun. The Islamic Relief adverts say: 'They haven't forgotten, have you?'
Well this brought it all back. I first heard this (song) by Lowkey at the Gaza Protest in Hyde park on that freezing day on the 10th of January. I don't think anybody expected him to be as good as he was and he's even better with the music.

The second part is coming out in January.

I can't believe that it's been a whole year since Gaza came on our TV screens and the world was  re-awakened to another horrific example of injustuice.
Please everyone, keep them in your prayers. We may have moved on, but time is frozen in an era of horror in Palestine.

Half an hour until until Magrib...

I find it amazing how the times for prayer alter so much throughout the year. It’s something we barely think about. But it occurred to me today when I struggled to pray my Salaah on time just how quickly the days passes into night in December. From season to season the prayer times expand and contract so that we find ourselves praying Isha at ten o’clock in the summer and five thirty in the winter. Today I seemed to have awoken in summer mode, I had a busy day planned ahead, beginning with a trip to town at twelve o’clock. As a late riser, twelve o’clock to me still sounds like morning, it didn’t occur to me that it was actually time to pray Dhur until I finally caught the 12.18pm bus at 12.40pm and then realised that I had less than an hour until Asr.

So, when I reached town I ran off the bus and headed for the nearest clothes shop (H&M) to pray Dhur Dawud Wharnsby style in a changing room! But the most amazing sale in H&M had just begun, and the changing rooms were packed. Never mind, I thought, I’ll just have a rummage through the sale stuff until one of the rooms become free. But I, in true girly fashion, got completely caught up in an ‘I want everything on the £10 rack!’ moment and ages had passed until I checked the time again and realised that it was 1.30 pm. Unfortunately the first thought that passed through my head was not ‘oh my gosh I have to pray!’ but ‘oh my gosh, I have to be back home by three and I haven’t even started my shopping!’ So, completely forgetting my Dhur prayer, I dashed to the perfume shop, card shop and River Island, and once I was I was satisfied that I had everything on my list, my tummy started to rumble. My head followed my body clock’s instincts and led me straight to the Coffee Cup. It wasn’t until I had filled myself up with the tastiest soup and sandwich a £5 note can buy that I looked at the clock again and was so frustrated I wanted to kick myself. It was Asr time, and quarter to three. I needed to be home, and hadn’t even prayed Dhur! Well, I had no choice but to make Dhur up, but if I rushed back I could still make it in time for Asr. Or so I thought.

It was one of those days when both the time and the weather were out to get you. It had begun to snow heavily outside. The usual journey from town to home by bus takes fifteen minutes, but this time it took half an hour. Then walking from the bus stop was another journey in itself—downhill, uphill and downhill again before I reached my house—and you can imagine how easy that was in the snow!
So I came home with half an hour until Magrib and prayed my Asr and Dhur straight away. Then when I’d finally managed to put the kettle on, time had sifted through my fingers once again and the adhaan for Magrib had begun.

Pheww!
Today may have been exhausting, but the fundamental lesson I learnt from it is that it is so easy to get caught up in materiality and insignificant details of the day that we forget to do the most essential things like performing Salaah. Prioritising and timing are two big issues I need to improve on, and I’m sure I’m not alone with this. Salaah is a mercy to us not just because it provides us with a medium for communicating with Allah swt, but also because it puts a structure to our day. How much less aware of time would we be if we didn’t have five strict Salaah times to follow? How much more time would we waste and fritter away on the Dunya if we did not turn to remember Allah five times a day? Salaah is a blessing in so many ways, and sometimes it takes a day like mine to realise it fully!

And another thought provoking pic:

This one caught my attention straight away, I'm sure lots of sisters could relate!

Hmm...

I was emailed these pictures a few weeks ago of Eid Salah in Egypt and didn't know what to think of them really. I thought this only happened in Makkah?! So is this an attempt at 'liberalising' Islam or an act of pure ignorance? Well anyway I plan to post a few  interesting/controversial/thought  provoking pictures a week (to brighten this blog up more than anything)! but also to make us all think and see how the portrait of Islam is portrayed across the world...

EXPLAINING your way through life...

When Non Muslims ask you questions on Islam, more often or not the questions are awkward or challenging. How are you most likely to respond? Do you make up some vague answer, avoid the question completely or just tell the truth?

Nearly all the way through secondary school I would have probably chosen option one or two. This was partly because I thought people were only asking me questions to criticise or to start an argument. I remember year ten in particular as the year I was asked the most awkward questions, especially as people started to notice I was refusing party invitations more and more! By year ten teens begin think they’re old enough to do what they want (if they hadn’t thought that by year nine already) and suddenly birthday invitations move from all girl sleepovers (which I was rarely allowed to anyway I might add) to Friday night parties and under 18 club nights. So obviously it was not long before non Muslim friends started asking questions like ‘why don’t you drink?’

I told them I don’t drink because I am a Muslim.
One friend called me a liar. I was a bit dumbfounded. For a moment I thought she was accusing me of lying about my religion. But then she clarified herself by saying:
‘So-and-so’s a Muslim and she drinks. So obviously Muslims can drink.’
Besides it being one of the most illogical arguments I’ve ever heard, I instantly realised that her knowledge of Islam was SERIOUSLY limited. I said to her:
‘I can see why you’re confused; some Muslims still do drink, but really Muslim’s aren’t allowed. Obviously not everybody does as they’re told.’

I expected the party invitations to stop then and there, but of course they didn’t. Friends started to say, ‘just come along to the pub with us, you don’t have to drink any alcohol, you can just have a coke.’ To them this seemed like a perfectly rational compromise. I could still have a good time with them outside of school without having to ‘break the rules of my religion’ as they use to say. By this point I would get extremely frustrated. Hadn’t I just explained myself? In the end I would just give up and say: ‘no I’m busy, I have coursework to do.’

But it didn’t take me long to realise that I hadn’t properly explained myself at all. I had skirted around the question, I had told them a mere fact rather than giving them a proper explanation. What they needed to hear was why exactly we didn’t drink, not that we just didn’t drink, full stop.
Of course this should be applied to everything, not just alcohol. Why do we pray? We do we not eat pork? We do we dress the way we do? These are basic questions which we know the answers to, so we should start telling people. This probably sounds like quite a basic reminder, but it’s amazing how many of us forget how essential it is to explain why we do what we do. the root meaning for the word ‘Kafir’ is a good reminder of why we should explain ourselves a bit better.

When the word kafir is mentioned we usually associate this to a person who disbelieves in Allah, a non-Muslim. In Arabic, the word ‘Kafir’ means a ‘rejecter.’ However the plural of ‘kafir,’ which is ‘kufar,’ means ‘to cover up,’ and was used as a term to refer to peasants who till the earth and ‘cover up’ the seeds. Therefore a kafir is not simply anyone who is a non Muslim, but someone who heard the truth and rejected it- in effect they ‘covered’ the truth up as they were unwilling to accept it. These are the people who Allah has damned to the hellfire. However, on the day of Judgement Muslims will be held responsible for not giving the message to the non Muslims who were ignorant of the truth. And how many people do we know who are ignorant of Islam?

Giving Dawah is such an important part of our Deen. Allah tells us in surah Asr :
(1) By the token of time through the ages (2) Verily mankind is at loss (3) Except such as have faith and do righteous deeds and join together in the mutual teaching of the Truth, and of patience and constancy.’

In this surah Allah has informed us of four criteria which Muslims need to meet to be successful in this life, one of which is to give dawah. By explaining to non Muslims WHY we do what we do and why we can’t do certain things is a form of dawah.

When I came to university I was reminded of these things. I have four non Muslim flatmates who have never had to live with a Muslim before. I see this as a perfect opportunity to spread small dawah, simply by telling them why I wear hijab and why I eat halaal meat etc. Amazingly some of my flatmates didn’t realise the most basics rules we follow, such as not eating pork or non halaal meat. But then again how can they know if nobody’s told them?

The ultimate conclusion of this rather long post: use every opportunity to give dawah to others by explaining! Of course people will not agree with everything you say and people are bound to criticise, but at least you know you have done your part by telling the truth. And InshaAllah...you never know who you might affect....

A useful reminder by Muhammad Alshareef

How to get an A Grade final Exam?
1. In school, you can often redo your exam if you fail. In the hereafter, if one fails there is no going back.
2. In school, you often do not know what questions will be asked. In the hereafter, there are only 3 questions: Who is your Lord? What is your Deen? And who is this man who was sent to you? But the answers are answers you live by.
3. In school, we stay up at night to prepare for the exam the next day. So too in Allah's exam, we should be staying up in night prayers.
4. In school, we pray and hope and work for an outstanding mark. So too should be our attitude towards Allah's exam.
5. In school, when we get a great mark, we erupt with happiness. So too will the believers erupt in happiness when they get their books in their right hands. Work for it.
6. In school, when we get a bad mark, sadness can be seen on our faces, and we dislike to face others. So too in the hereafter. Protect yourself from that.
7. During a school exam, you cannot ask anyone for help. In the hereafter, you can prepare from now to get assistance from Allah's Messenger, the Quran, and other ways of intercession.
8. In school, when exam time draws near, we banish distractions to focus on what is really important. In Allah's exam, isn't death within 1 heart beat? Banish distractions and focus.
9. In school, until exam results come out, we worry about the result. In Allah's exam, we don't know what our result will be, so we spend our days in hope and worry until the results come out.