Category Archive

Al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib (ra) said, “When the Messenger of Allah (saws) used to retire to his bed, he would lie on his right side and then say, ‘O Allah, I surrender my soul to You and I turn my face to You and I entrust my affair to You and I seek Your support with hope and fear of You. There is no refuge from You but to You. I have believed in Your Book which You sent down and Your Prophet whom You sent.’” [al-Bukhari]

On the authority of Ibn ‘Umar (ra), who said: The Messenger of Allah (saws)took me by the shoulder and said:

“Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a traveler.”
[Al-Bukhari]

What does this mean to me? That this dunya is not our ultimate destination. A traveler does not make himself at home for too long at any one place along his journey. A stranger is always strange to his surroundings. If he becomes too familiar with them, he is no longer a stranger.

We are not to become too friendly with this dunya.  Doing so will distract us from our ultimate destination – Allah (swt) and Jannah, inshaAllah.

So what is my goal in this life?  To make the people around me happy?  Not if it is at the expense of my deen.  That’s my ticket to my ticket to my final destination, thank you very much.  Certainly, we are kind to those around us, but if they want us to shed aspects of our religion that displease them, be it clothing, jihad, daily prayer, eating zabiha, we can do without them.

They would love to see you deny the truth even as they have denied it, so that you should be like them. (4:89)

Allah (swt) tells us that they will never be happy with us until we are like them. So if we give up a piece of the deen here, a piece of the deen here to appease them, eventually we’ll have nothing left.

Islam is our path and reaching Allah (swt) is our goal. Is every action you take for Allah (swt)? If your actions aren’t helping you along that path, then why are you doing them?

• Agenda to Change our Condition
• The Difference of the Imams
• Love for Allah (swt)
• Muslim Character
• Every single Star Wars novel written after 2000.

1st – the deeny books are totally awesome mashaAllah.  Agenda to Change our condition gives me motivation and direction to continue to improve my taqwa.  T he Difference of the Imams makes me want to become a muhaddith.  Love for Allah (swt) always gives me a boost in my relationship with the Beloved.  And Muslim Character makes me happy and sad.  It makes me happy because it clearly lays out what a beautiful character our beloved Prophet (saws) had.  And it makes me sad because I realize how far the muslim community falls short of the ideal.  If we muslims embodied the beautiful behavior of the Prophet (saws), people would be clamouring to embrace the deen.

Oh yeah, the Star Wars books.  In 1992, Timothy Zahn created the first in a huge number of novels that expanded and continued the universe created in the Star Wars movies.  Throughout the 90s, my sister and I avidly collected and read ever new addition. 

Then in 2000, I went away to college and my disposable income was sucked up by textbooks.  Coupled with my severe disappointment with the prequels, I stopped reading the novels.  A short while ago, I happened upon the Star Wars section of a used bookstore and found dozens of books I hadn’t read.  Inexplicably, I was compelled to pick up the series where I left off.

I’m still ambivalent about the books surrounding the prequel time frame, so for now, I’m concentrating on the post RoJ universe.  Yes, I am well aware of my dorkiness.

I’m continuously flabbergasted every time I see this claim in assorted forms:

My priest made a good point that in Islam they say their god is merciful and just, but never loving. The do not have any concept of God being love, as we do. Love is the highest good. It is the reason that our God is merciful and just. These latter two virtues are secondary virtues, that only exist because of the reality that God is love. Allah is lacking that fundamental characteristic of the true living God–only copying mercy and justice to some degree, but not existing as love itself.

I mean, how hard is it to read through the 99 names of Allah (swt) and come upon this:

And He alone is truly forgiving, all-embracing in his love. (85:14)

And in case they need to read further:

• Allah’s Love
• God and Love
• Feeling Allah’s Love

Now I’ll also often have christians say, “ah ha, but God loves everyone, no matter what they do!  In Islam, your God does not necessarily love everyone all the time.

To this I ask, “what good is the love of your God if at the end of the day, you burn in hell because you reject Jesus’ (as) supposed sacrifice?  Yes, God is our loving friend and buddy and He’s throwing us into hell, big woopdeedo.”

In Islam, the attributes of Allah (swt) are balanced.  He is Allah (swt) first and foremost, not “Love.”  He is the Loving, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Just, the Forgiver, amongst dozens of other names.

We are encouraged to seek the pleasure and love of Allah (swt), and in every action increase our love for Him.  If there isn’t love in Islam, I don’t know what the heck I’m doing everyday.

in which I indulge in some bad haiku

dawn approaches here
standing in front of Allah
peace replaces sleep

Sh. Faraz Rabbani has started an excellent podcast teaching from Fada’il al’A'mal by Imam Diya’ al-Maqdisi.  I’ve transcribed a most of the first short podcast that was posted on the 20th of April. 

A poster on a board I frequent announced today that she had recently left islam, due in part to the extras that muslims insisted needed to be followed outside the Qur’an.  SubhanAllah, how great is Allah (swt), that I put on my ipod over my lunch break and this very podcast plays?  In it, Sh. Faraz introduces the text and speaks about why we learn the sunnah.  Sh. Faraz speaks as follows:

Verily in the Messenger of Allah, the most beautiful of examples for whoever seeks Allah and the last day and makes much remembrance of Allah (33:21)

So what is our intention in learning the sunnah?  It is what Allah (swt) tells us in this verse “Verily in the Messenger of Allah the most beautiful of examples for whoever seeks Allah and the last day and makes much remembrance of Allah.”  So our goal in learning the prophetic guidance and learning our deen, what is it?  It is to seek Allah (swt), to become people of meaning.  We are seeking Allah.  We are seeking His absolute good pleasure.  We are seeking closeness to Allah (swt) in this life and the next.  We are seeking to be those beloved to Allah, of those who love Him, those who remember Him, those who are granted the contentment and serenity that only comes through being of those who remember Allah and live that remembrance.

Verily it is by the remembrance of Allah that hearts find rest (13:28).

And the way unto the love of Allah (swt) is by love of the Messenger (saws) and through living his radiant example.  Allah’s Messenger (saws) tells us that

 None of you believes until I am more beloved to them than their wealth, and their parents and their children and all people.

And Allah (swt) tells us about our condition of our love for Allah (swt) being true:

Say if you love Allah, then follow me, and Allah will love you (3:31).

This is an address to the Prophet (saws) to tell all humanity, say if you love Allah, if you love God, follow me, follow the messenger, and Allah will love you.

What do we seek in life?  We seek Allah, we seek to be beloved to Allah, to be pleasing to Allah and the way to that, the door to the Divine is the emissary of God, our beloved Messenger (saws). 

And so we should be very clear in our intention in this.  And we’re seeking knowledge that is of benefit, knowledge that we are bringing into our lives and that we strive to live in the most beautiful of ways with the sense of yearning for Allah (swt) and for our standing with our Lord.  So to be people who’s worship is characterized by excellence and beauty and who’s conduct in life is characterized by excellence and beauty, for that is that beautiful example, that excellent example that is the Messenger of Allah (saws).

Allah (swt) truly does not burden His slaves with something more than they can bear, and He is Most Merciful towards them.

That is all.

I haven’t had ice cream in years, since I was diagnosed with cold induced asthma.  As much as I love love love it, it’s just not worth the hour long coughing fit that ensues after an ice cream cone.

Add to that the fact that many ice creams are heavily processed and chock full of chemicals, and most others contain vanilla, there hasn’t been much out there that’s tempting me to start an asthma attack.

Until now.  I present to you Haagen-Dazs Five, “…[a]ll-natural ice cream crafted with only five ingredients for incredibly pure, balanced flavor… and surprisingly less fat.” 

While not all are alcohol free (the mint and vanilla bean contain extracts, which most likely contain alcohol), you still have ginger, coffee, brown sugar, milk chocolate and the heavenly passion fruit to chose from.

I picked up a pint of passion fruit from Target (where it was $1 less then the grocery store) for Abu Squeakster, who love love loved it.  I decided to risk an asthma attack for a taste, and O…M…Gosh it was worth it.  Maybe it’s just because I haven’t had ice cream in forever, but I don’t ever remember an ice cream being so creamy and flavorful.  Definitely worth the coughing fit.  I think I’ll sneak another spoonful tonight

I am reminded of a hadith in musnad Ahmed, who narrates that the Prophet (saws) said:

“Whoever leaves something for the sake of Allah, Allah will provide him with a better thing.”

Our friends think we are crazy for avoiding food with vanilla, alcohol-based flavorings, and animal rennet.  Ah, you’re missing so much, it’s too hard…

SubhanAllah, Allah (swt) provides us with something better.  I leave my kraft cheese, and Allah (swt) gives me cabot, sargento and seriously strong cheddar.   I leave my kraft macaroni and cheese, and Allah (swt) gives me Annie’s.   I leave my Babcock Ice Cream (which has gelatinin it *sobs*), and Allah (swt) gives me Haagen Dasz Five.  I’m still waiting for my replacement for diet pepsi, but inshaAllah it will be coming

Alhamdulilah.  The Lord truly listens and answers His servant’s prayers.   I asked Allah (swt) to guide me and to show me what I need to do in order to strengthen my deen, and alhamdulilah, it’s right there in front of me.  A sheikh and his knowledgable wife visited the twin cities this weekend and it was exactly what I had been looking for.

I just wish I had remembered to bring a notebook and a working pen.  I had to dig out my little hello kitty notepad and the broken pen from my purse to take attempt to take notes.  The bottom line was that sin weighs us down.  It depresses us and takes the good from us.  We need to be constantly making tawbah, for Allah (swt) is All Forgiving and loves to forgive.  And if we ask for forgiveness, inshaAllah tala, Allah (swt) will give it to us.

The sheikh also related a story from Hasan al Basri (ra)  that I have heard before, but that was just as powerful the second time as the first:

Here is a tale of a child raised by his widowed mother in the time of the great Hasan al-Basri. She was a pious, devout Muslim who would regularly attend Imam Hasan’s Quran dars. She valiantly tried to raise her son on the correct path, but unfortunately when he reached the age of adulthood, he gained control of his inheritance and fell in with the wrong crowd.

With seemingly limitless funds at his disposal, he sinned his youth away.

And all throughout, his mother, a devout servant of Allah (swt), would constantly implore him to return to the right path. But he constantly refused, choosing instead to follow his nafsi whims and desires. Many times she brought him to Hasan al-Basri, who would calmly and politely admonish him, but to no avail. Even the words of the great Imam could not bring about the desired affect.

Years passed and Imam Hasan grew to tire of his wayward shenanigans and resolved that maybe Allah (swt) had simply not written for the boy to be guided. Yet, the mother remained steadfast, as only a mother could, in her wishes to reform her one and only child. Every morning, when he would return from his nights of mischief, she would call on him to make amends with his Creator and return to the path of righteousness.

As he got older and due to the effect of his foolhardy ways, sickness befell him and he became bedridden. Having squandered his wealth, seeing the weakness of his once sturdy body, and with death lingering around the corner, only then did he realize the error of his ways.

His unrelenting mother was by his bed, reminding him that it was never too late to repent. Even though his worldly life was wasted, he still had the chance to salvage his afterlife with sincere atonement, she repeated to him.

Sensing his mortality, his heart finally softened and he responded with a query, “After a life of sin, I don’t know how to repent. Can we go to Imam Hasan?”

Sensing a bit of hope, she excitedly replied, “My dear son, you are too sick to walk and I am too old to carry you, but I will rush and beckon him to come here.”

When she reached him and requested his company with her son, he remembered the countless failed efforts and quickly wrote him off, “My dear sister, I have the Quran lesson for which I must prepare. Over a thousand students will come and I owe it to them to properly present my lesson. Besides, your son has consistently ignored my advise, rejected any efforts to reform and basically rejected the message of Islam so many times that I fear he is beyond assistance.

“Should I not spend my time for those who are coming to seek the knowledge, who have shown a keen interest, who are trying to please their Lord? I’m sorry but at this time, I really cannot make it.”

Dejectedly, she quietly whispered to him, “Then at least when the angel of death visits him, can you come to our home and lead the Janaza prayer over him?”

He sharply rebuked her, “Throughout his entire life, I have never seen your son pray a single prayer, fast a single day, attend a single Juma’a. I fear that he has left the ranks of the Muslim and thus, I am sad to say that praying over him would not be permitted.”

With a broken heart, she returned home to inform her dying son of the tragic response by Hasan al-Basri. Upon hearing that even the great Imam Hasan refused to pray the Janaza over him, he burst into tears and made his dying wishes, “Oh my mother, I have lived a life of shameless sin and indulgence. I have wronged everyone that I have known. I have disappointed you and I have disappointed my Lord. So please, when I die please do not bury me in the company of Muslims, for I fear that they will be undeservedly disturbed by my cries of pain and misery.”

And with his weeping mother by his bedside, he continued, “And before you bury me, please take my corpse, tie it to the wild dogs on the street, and let it be dragged through the streets where my final fate in this life will match my eternal fate in the hereafter.”

With that he breathed his last breath.

And at that same moment, a knock came on the door. Startled, the grieving mother got up to answer it and found Hasan al-Basri standing there. He explained, “As I was preparing my lesson, I fell asleep and it was then that I heard a voice say ‘Oh Hasan, what kind of wali are you of Mine, that you have refused to pray the Janaza over another wali of Mine?’”

How amazing is Allah (swt)’s forgiveness, that after a lifetime of complete and total waste, a moment of sincere repentance is enough to become a wali of Allah (swt)?

I really am feeling amazing right now and feel like there is some real direction in my life.  Please make dua for me that this feeling remains and that Allah (swt) continues to guide me.

I’ve officially been a muslim for one quarter of my life now, alhamdulilah.  On this morning, 1/4 of my life ago, I awoke before fajr, earlier then I’d ever arisen as a college student.  I stumbled to the bathroom to attempt ghusl and returned to my dorm room.  I pulled out one of the scarves I had purchased from alhannah, clumsily fashioned it to my head and stood at the foot of a prayer rug I hoped was facing towards Mecca.

I had been exploring Islam for more than a year, and subconciously had considered myself a muslim for months.  Using cards a kindly sister in Texas had sent, I prayed fajr for the first time, and in doing so, submitted myself to Allah (swt) with my whole heart and concious.

Over the years, I have not always been the most attentive slave of the Most Merciful.   Please make dua for me that I will improve as I continue forward on the straight path.

Oh Allah, may your Mercy towards me prevail over Your Wrath!

Oh Allah, allow me to draw nearer towards You walking, so that You may come to me running!

Oh Allah, on this Thursday when the gates of Paradise are open, please forgive me my transgressions and protect me from future ones!

Oh Allah, make me one of your friends.  Help me to draw nearer to you with obligatory acts, and even nearer with superogatory works, so that I may be one of those You love!

Oh Allah, make me one of those You love, so that You are my hearing with which I hear, You are my seeing with which I see, You are my hand with which I strike and You are my foot with which I walk!

Oh Allah, make me one who, when I commit a sin, immediately run to you and beg your forgiveness!

Oh Allah, make me one who stands the last third of the night in prayer!

Oh Allah, let me die with la ilaha il Allah on my tongue and in my heart!

Oh Allah, make me one of the people of paradise!

Ameen.

no, not the department of justice, the Day of Judgment.  I was reminded of this hadith qudsi today while searching for a response to a message board posting.  I have a ton of snippets of quran and ahadith rattling around in my head, but alas, I still must rely on sheikh google to make sure I get the wording right.  Then I think about how the quran and ahadith came to us, from men and women who memorized thousands of ayat and hundreds of thousands of ahadith.  Ya Allah, how amazing!

After reading this hadith, I say alhamdulilah that I am of the ummah of Muhammad (saws).  I also say alhamdulilah that I am so blessed know and believe la ilaha il Allah.  May Allah (swt) grant us the intercession of His beloved Prophet (saws) on that Day and may Allah (swt) shower the beloved Prophet (saws) with more blessings then there are stars in the sky.

On the authority of Anas (ra) from the Prophet (saws), who said:

“The believers will gather together on the Day of Resurrection and will say: ‘Should we not ask [someone] to intercede for us with our Lord?’ So they will come to Adam and will say: ‘You are the Father of mankind; Allah created you with His Hand, He made His angels bow down to you, and He taught you the names of everything, so intercede for us with your Lord so that He may give us relief from this place where we are.’ And he will say: ‘I am not in a position [to do that]’ – and he will mention his wrongdoing and will feel ashamed and will say: ‘Go to Noah, for he is the first messenger that Allah sent to the inhabitants of the earth.’

So they will come to him and he will say: ‘I am not in a position [to do that]’ – and he will mention his having requested something of his Lord about which he had no [proper] knowledge (Qur’an 11:45-46), and he will feel ashamed and will say: ‘Go to the Friend of the Merciful (Abraham).’

So they will come to him and he will say: ‘I am not in a position [to do that]. Go to Moses, a servant to whom Allah talked and to whom He gave the Torah.’

So they will come to him and he will say: ‘I am not in a position [to do that]’ – and he will mention the taking of a life other than for a life (28:15-16), and he will feel ashamed in the sight of his Lord and will say: ‘Go to Jesus, Allah’s servant and messenger, Allah’s word and spirit.’

So they will come to him and he will say: ‘I am not in a position [to do that]. Go to Muhammad (saws), a servant to whom Allah has forgiven all his wrongdoing, past and future.’

So they will come to me and I shall set forth to ask permission to come to my Lord, and permission will be given, and when I shall see my Lord I shall prostrate myself. He will leave me thus for such time as it pleases Him, and then it will be said [to me]: ‘Raise your head. Ask and it will be granted. Speak and it will be heard. Intercede and your intercession will be accepted.’ So I shall raise my head and praise Him with a form of praise that He will teach me. Then I shall intercede and He will set me a limit [as to the number of people], so I shall admit them into Paradise.

Then I shall return to Him, and when I shall see my Lord [I shall bow down] as before. Then I shall intercede and He will set me a limit [as to the number of people]. So I shall admit them into Paradise.

Then I shall return for a third time, then a fourth, and I shall say: ‘There remains in Hell-fire only those whom the Qur’an has confined and who must be there for eternity.’ There shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said: ‘There is no god but Allah’ and who has in his heart goodness weighing a barley-corn; then there shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said: ‘There is no god but Allah’ and who has in his heart goodness weighing a grain of wheat; then there shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said: ‘There is no god but Allah’ and who has in his heart goodness weighing an atom.

It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Muslim, at-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah).

From Rebecca:

Welcome to Muslim Monday

Today’s theme:  Post a picture of one of the 99 Names of Allah subhananu wa ta’ala and explain your choice. After you post on your page, come back here and post a link to your page in the comments section so we call share our contributions.

Next week’s theme (April 14th):  Post a favorite Qur’an recitation.  Try to pick someone less well known so we can introduce one another to reciters we may not be familiar with.

Post your links on Rebecca’s page

by Art Hafez

I can’t remember when I first stumbled upon Art Hafez’ beautiful rendering of the 99 names of Allah (swt), but from the very beginning, this painting has been one of my favorites.  It is of as-Sabur, the Patient One. 

Over and over again, Allah (swt) exhorts us to ask His help with patience.

O ye who believe! Seek help through sabri and salat. Surely Allah is with those who persevere. (2:153)

By Time, All of mankind is in a state of loss; except those who attain correct belief and do righteous deeds and exhort each other in truth and exhort each other in sabur (103)

Oh you who believe!  Endure in sabiruu and constancy, and station guard posts, so that you will be sucessful. (3:200)

And be patient in adversity; for verily, God is with those who are patient in adversity (8:46)

Anas (ra) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) saying, “Allah, the Glorious and Exalted said: `When I afflict my slave in his two dear things (i.e., his eyes), and he endures patiently, I shall compensate him for them with Jannah.”.
(Al-Bukhari).

How often to I let the world get me down?  How often to I despair?  Rather, I should seek patience in the Most Patient, to endure what lies ahead of me and strive for Paradise inshaAllah.

While taking my noon walk through the skyways, I happened upon an odd site.  A man had set up shop outside one of the myriad of Caribou Coffee shops that populate the area.  He was dressed in a suit, and was typing away on his lap top while sipping from a steaming cup.  Usual enough sight, eh?  Well, this man had a giant poster board leaning against the table that said “I need a job.”  His resumes were available to take from a pouch below the sign.

I almost started crying right there in the midst of the lunch crowd.

I’m coming undone with all the bad economic news surrounding me.  663,000 jobs lost in March.  The husband’s was one of them.  There goes all the plan I had been making.  Home prices dropped 20% in January alone here in the Twin Cities.  If we had both kept our jobs, we could have bought a house by year’s end.  We could be making hajj this year.  We could start to have kids.  Could have, would have, should have….nada.

Allah (swt) is the best of planners (3:54), so whatever the plan is, it is for the best inshaAllah.  Just sometimes it’s hard to see what is best when everything is is going downhill.

*mope*

Hamza Yusuf – Allah & His Messenger in our Lives

In this lecture, Sh. Hamza says something that really resonates with me.  He speaks about how for those of us who are not native arabic speakers, it is the character of the Prophet (saws) rather than the Qur’an that draws us to Islam.  If we don’t speak arabic, we miss so much of the beauty and miracles of Allah’s (swt) words, but the character of the Prophet (saws) is readily accessable to us.

I totally agree.  While I struggle and strive to learn arabic to better understand the book of Allah (swt), I can easily open a biography of the Prophet (saws) and learn about his life.  And every time I do this, I grow to love him more.

Allah (swt) says “The Prophet is preferable for the believers even to their own selves” (33:6).

The Prophet (saws) said: “None of you becomes a believer until I am dearer to him than his children, his parents and all mankind.” (Bukhari and Muslim).

I was browsing through the catholic answers forum yesterday, masochist that I am, and came upon this thread that accuses the Prophet (saws) of commiting shirk. 

Is our love for the Prophet (saws) shirk?  Only if one does not understand what this love entails.  The Prophet (saws) was sent as a mercy to the worlds (21:107).  Notice the key word in this verse – sent.  He was sent.  He did not come on his own power.  Someone who is far greater than the Prophet (saws) sent him.  And it is only through the power of the Most Merciful (swt) that the Prophet’s (saws) mercy was given to us.  Without Allah (swt), the Prophet (saws) would be nothing.  And without Allah (swt), we would not be able to love the Prophet (saws).

So when you love the Prophet (saws), also love He (swt) who sent him, and thank Him (swt) for sending the Prophet (saws) to us, for providing us with the best teacher we could ever hope for.

Thank you Allah (swt) for giving us the greatest example, the best of mankind in the Prophet Muhammad (saws).  Without You we are nothing and without him we would be lost.

I’ve become a fairly decent cook and baker.  In the early days of our marriage, dinner consisted of macaroni and cheese with some cut up hot dogs and frozen veggies mixed in.  For a little variety, I may use rice a roni instead of macaroni.  This got very boring very quickly, and my blood pressure went through the roof. 

A year ago, I read Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, and my life changed forever.  The processed foods were chucked out the door.  Ok ok, I’ll admit, I still eat macaroni and cheese about once a week, but other then that, everything I buy needs to fit into this framework:

 “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

For me, this statement translates into buying as many whole foods as possible and making as much as I can from scratch.  Processed food stuffs contain so many ingredients that are a mystery.  For someone who eats zabiha, it’s more than just a question of health.  We want to know that what is going into our bodies is halal.  No alcohol.  No animal products from non zabiha slaughtered animals.  If the alcohol or animal product is cleverly disguised with any number of chemically sounding names, how are we to be sure that our food is halal? 

The answer is simple – buy food with ingredients that are whole and make your meals from scratch.  Not everything that comes out of a box is bad, but more often then not, it’s just not that good for you.

I recently posted this suggestion from Michael Pollan on a muslim message board

1. Don’t eat anything your Great-Grandmother wouldn’t recognize

No Go-Gurt Portable Yogurt tubes. (She wouldn’t be able to identify high-fructose corn syrup, modified corn starch, kosher gelatin, carrageenan, tricalcium phosphate, natural and artificial flavors, etc.) No “protein waters,” “nondairy creamers” or foods that never grow stale.

2. Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronouncable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high fructose corn syrup

Pollan’s example: Sara Lee’s Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread, which fails every test proposed by this rule. “If not for the indulgence of the Food and Drug Administration, (it) could not even be labeled “bread,” he wrote.

3.  Avoid products that make health claims

If a food has a health claim, it probably has a package and that means it’s very likely processed. Moreover, the FDA’s “qualified” health claims” are all but meaningless.

4. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle

“Processed foods products dominate the center aisles of the store while the cases of ostensibly fresh food–dairy, produce, meat and fish–line the walls,” Pollan wrote. Be careful though, because high-fructose corn syrup lurks in the dairy case.

5. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible

“You won’t find any high-fructose corn syrup at the farmer’s market. Also look into CSA (community supported agriculture), in which you can subscribe to a farm and receive a box of produce.)

Unfortunately, the only responses I got were to say that this was too hard for the average person to do.  I disagree.  While it may be overwhelming at first, it’s totally doable, and it’s all about your mind set.   Are you going to approach this as a drag, ohh sigh, life was so much easier when I could just throw things in my cart without reading the ingredient list?  Or are you going to approach it as an act of worship?  Allah (swt) tells us in the Qur’an:

Remember Me and I will Remember you (2:152)

Every second you spend scrutinizing the ingredient list, know that you are doing it for Allah (swt).  Know that you are doing it because He has asked you to eat only halal.  Know that you are doing it to obey Him, to worship Him, to remember Him. 

If that extra time you spend in the grocery store becomes an act of worship, then how can you begrudge it?  The same mentality holds true for cooking from scratch.  I set aside a few hours on the weekend to prepare the food for the week.  I make a few different meat dishes, a few substantial vegetable sides and a dessert.  The only thing I haven’t mastered yet is bread, but inshaAllah I’m going to start working my way through these lessons and see what I can do.

Here are some resources I’ve found invaluable in my cooking odessy:

• Omnivore’s Dilemma – follows four meals from their beginning as plants and animals through the processing until they’re on your plate.  A real eye opener as to where our food comes from

• In Defense of Food – finding the food amongst the food stuff that clutters our lives.

• International and Vegetarian Cookbooks – plenty of recipes that don’t call for processed foods and chemically stuff

  • Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian

  • Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East Vegetarian

  • Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, Fast and Easy Recipes for Every Day

  • Moosewood Restaurant’s Simple Suppers

  • Varied Kitchens of India

•  Recipe Websites – if I’m at a loss for what to make, I’ll look in the cupboard or fridge, see something I have on hand, and search for a recipe that I can make with it.  It’s a great way to try something new

  • All Recipes

  • RecipeZaar

  • RecipeHound

  • 101 Cookbooks

  • The Fresh Loaf

  • Ahmed’s Egyptian Recipes

…don’t tie your religious identity to your husband.  We often marry soon after converting, or convert after marrying a muslim man, but even if we delay marriage for a few years, we may not have fully developed our religious identity yet.

Don’t put your hope in a man, or in any human being.  Put your faith in Allah (swt).  If you rely completely on Him, it won’t matter if a mere mortal fails you. 

Ibn Abbas (ra) narrated that:

I was (once) behind the Messenger of Allah (saws) when he said to me, “Boy, I teach you (a few) words: Remember Allah, and He will protect you. Remember Allah (observing His commands and avoiding His prohibitions), and you will find Him close to you. When you have to ask for something, ask of Allah. When you seek help, seek Allah’s help. Believe firmly that if all the creation desires to benefit you in anything, they can never benefit you, but that which Allah has decreed for you. If they all unite to harm you, they will not be able to harm you in anything, but that which Allah has decreed for you.” (At-Tirmidhi)

So check yourself.  If your husband doesn’t live up to the standard set by our beloved Prophet (saws), will you run screaming from the deen?  If your whole world comes crashing down around you, will you maintain your faith?  If everything you have today is gone tomorrow, will you still rely on your Lord?

Don’t do anything to please a man.  Don’t put on hijab for him.  Don’t pray for him.  Don’t learn Arabic for him.  If you do anything, do it for Allah (swt).  A man may leave, but Allah (swt) won’t.

Develop your deen on your own terms.  Sure, if your husband is knowledgeable, ask for some guidance.  But don’t take your religion blindly from him.  Seek out a wide variety of scholars and opinions.  Find the a few that you can learn from, even if your man isn’t there anymore. 

Everything you do, check your intentions.  If you’re not doing it for Allah (swt), stop and rectify yourself.  Because a husband may not be forever, but Allah (swt) is.

On the authority of Abu Harayrah (ra), who said that the Prophet (saws) said: Allah the Almighty said:

I am as My servant thinks I am.  I am with him when he makes mention of Me.  If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assembly better than it.  And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length.  And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed. (Bukhari, Muslim, Tirhmidhi, Ibn-Majah, Imam Nawawi’s 40 hadith qudsi) 

Run to Allah (swt) dear sisters.  Run!

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr

There is horror in the world around us.  Far away, bombs are dropped and innocent people are killed.  In the forgotten parts of Africa, people are massacred without the world watching. 
Closer to home, there is poverty, death and despair, even if it’s not in our faces.

The Prophet (saws) and his companions experienced hardship.  They saw horrors.  What were they do to about it?

“When any one of you sees anything that is disapproved, let him change it with his hand.  If he is not able to do so, then let him change it with his tongue.  And if he is not able to do so, then let him change it with his heart, though that is the weakest faith.” (from the collection of Imam Nawawi’s 40 hadith)

So what is a person to do when they’ve done this, and still, the horrors persist?  It is hard to have any faith left in this world, in our fellow human beings, when we see the awful things we perpetrate upon one another.

The answer is tawakkul, absolute trust in our Lord.  We can feel sadness, and strive to change the wrongs in the world, but if we do not succeed as much as we had hoped, we need to know that is the will of Allah (swt).  There should be no despair in what Allah (swt) has willed.

Anas ibn Malik (ra) is reported as having said:

“A man once rode into town on a fine she-camel of his, and he said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, shall I just leave her unattended, and put my trust in the Lord [ada'u-ha wa atawakkalu]?’ So the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) told him: ‘Hobble her feet with a rope, and put your trust in the Lord [a'qil-ha wa tawakkal]!’”

Granted, it is very easy to type this, but not so easy to do.  It is a struggle, a test from Allah (swt), to submit to Him and to His will.

…to Wells Fargo for making it easy for their muslim customers to avoid riba.  The husband and I were going to change all our savings accounts (which earn interest) into non interest bearing checking accounts.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that we didn’t need to do that – all we needed to do was fill out a form saying that we declined to earn interest.  The banker who helped us even had the forms all ready printed out, and wasn’t phased in the least when we asked.

Alhamdulilah.

Why is Riba, such as bank interest, forbidden?

How to get rid of haram money

I finally got my Eid present. Nope, not the husband’s fault. I ordered Treatise For The Seekers Of Guidance a few days before Eid and promptly forgot about it. A week ago, I remembered and was like, where the heck is that book? Before I had a chance to email and ask, I received an email that it was shipped. It arrived yesterday. Obscenely long processing time aside, I’m uber excited about this book!

When I read, I tend to skim. This works fine if you’re reading a hundred pages a day for a college course, or Harry Potter, but it doesn’t work when you’re studying sacred knowledge. One needs to read deliberately, reflecting on each word. Alhamdulilah, the set up of this book is quite conducive to this. Imam al Muhasibi’s text is in bold, and Imam Zaid’s commentary follows in a normal font. Imam Zaid’s commentary serves as a jumping off point for reflection on the words of the original author.

From page one, this book has tremendous benefit. In fact, these first few sections are right in line with what I’m studying in my Sunnipath course on the Creed of Imam Tahawi. Alhamdulilah.

An excerpt from page one:

All praise is fittingly rendered unto God, the First, the Preexisting, the One, and the Majestic.

Something can be first and also have a beginning. Adam was the first man, but he had a beginning. God is unique that He is the first with no beginning. His existence necessarily precedes all other existence, and all else in existence owes its existence to Him, the Creator. Hence, He alone is preexisting. One holding this unique distinction is deserving of all praise for all else owes its existence to Him. This is the foundation of the most credible arguments for the existence of God. Acknowledging God as preexisting and eternal allows us to avoid the logical problems arising from infinite regress, when trying to account for the origin of creation, and the appearance of an obvious effect, in this case, the creation, without the existence of a causal agent, the creator.

 This book is awesome.  Seriously, seriously awesome.  It’s not something you can sit down and read in large chunks.  I’m going to read a paragraph each night and then just reflect as I fall asleep inshaAllah.  Awesomeness to the nth degree, mashaAllah.

How often do we just sit and think about Allah (swt)?  How much of our day is devoted solely to Allah (swt)?   How much of our day is taken up by the mundanities of the dunya?   Get up, get dressed, go to work, go to the gym, come home, eat dinner, veg in front of the TV or computer.  Make all your salat on time if you’re lucky.  Time for dhikr or reading Qur’an?  Phffft!  Go to bed, get up and start it all over again.

an excerpt with some questions for reflection in purple: 

God alone, and none other, is the true Deity, the Necessary Existent, who is Creator, Producer, Fashioner, Provider, Giver of life and death, and Wise Disposer (Think about each of these names.  What do they mean in relation to you, to the world, to creation, to life itself?); who has perfected everything He has created, and excelled in everything which He has made; who directs all things with ultimate precision, and has determined everything He has decreed (Think about your life.  Every action you’ve taken.  Everything, good and bad, that has happened to you.  How is each thing the best possibility for you?). He alone is the true God, Pre-existent and Eternal, worthy of inward and external worship (What are inward and external worship?  Which of these do you do each day?  What more could you do?), exalted above all blemish, who possesses the most exalted attributes and the most beautiful names. His are might and majesty; none shares in His essence, attributes or actions.  There is no other God than He.

Anyone else have any other questions to spark reflection on this passage?

“God does not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear: in his favour shall be whatever good he does, and against him whatever evil he does.”O our Sustainer! Take us not to task if we forget or unwittingly do wrong!”O our Sustainer! Lay not upon us a burden such as Thou didst lay upon those who lived before us! O our Sustainer! Make us not bear burdens which we have no strength to bear!

“And efface Thou our sins, and grant us forgiveness, and bestow Thy mercy upon us! Thou art our Lord Supreme: succour us, then, against people who deny the truth!”

Qur’an 2:286

Translated by Muhammad Asad

Quran 2:172 

O you who believe, eat of the good things We have provided to you and be grateful to Allah, if it is He whom you worship (in real terms). (Mufti Muhammad Taqi Uthmani)

O you who have attained to faith! Partake of the good things which We have provided for you as sustenance, and render thanks unto God, if it is [truly] Him that you worship. (Muhammad Asad)

On the near freezing, miserable dreary day that is today, I say Alhamdulilah for chai.  In partcular, TeaSource Chai Spice Blend.  Got the chai goop (aka spices and sweetened condenced milk) in the fridge at work, so when I get in, all I need to do is brew a cup of black tea, add a spoon full o goop and I’ve got something to warm my insides.

Alhamdulilah!  Chai is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Or for that matter, why anything in Islam?  I posted this in reply to a query about hijab.  I didn’t get any responses, which isn’t surprising.  The debate was already raging full speed, and a post that doesn’t use the buzz words (pearl, modesty, oppression, tent etc) doesn’t register for those speeding down that same ol road.

I think it all gets down to your paradigm. Who am I, what is this world, and what is my role in it? I am a servant of God, this world is His, and my role is to submit to Him.

How much free will do we have in submitting to our Lord? Sure, someone can chose not to do something that is required of them, but that leads to an imperfection in their submission. Someone could chose not to pray, chose not to fast, chose not to do any number of things that are required in Islam.  Hijab is simply one of those number of things that are required.

This is the mindset I’m striving for inshaAllah.  It’s hard to beat down the nafs, the “me me me!” that is crying out to be the center of attention.  But in the end, it’s all about Allah (swt).  It’s not about me.  It’s about how I can please Him with every one of my actions.

hadith mentioned in Sh. Hamza’s Eid address:

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (saws) as saying: Verily, Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, would say on the Day of Resurrection: O son of Adam, I was sick but you did not visit Me. He would say: O my Lord; how could I visit Thee whereas Thou art the Lord of the worlds? Thereupon He would say: Didn’t you know that such and such servant of Mine was sick but you did not visit him and were you not aware of this that if you had visited him, you would have found Me by him? O son of Adam, I asked food from you but you did not feed Me. He would say: My Lord, how could I feed Thee whereas Thou art the Lord of the worlds? He said: Didn’t you know that such and such servant of Mine asked food from you but you did not feed him, and were you not aware that if you had fed him you would have found him by My side? (The Lord would again say: ) O son of Adam, I asked drink from you but you did not provide Me. He would say: My Lord, how could I provide Thee whereas Thou art the Lord of the worlds? Thereupon He would say: Such and such of servant of Mine asked you for a drink but you did not provide him, and had you provided him drink you would have found him near Me.

From saheeh muslim

Heads up!

The month of Ramadan is often used as a means of correcting our slackened efforts in this deen. It is a month when extra effort is made towards spiritual goals, with the du’a that we will receive blessings for our good works, and the hope that we will come out of Ramadan ready to incorporate more into our daily spiritual practice the rest of the year.

Many Muslims keep journals throughout Ramadan to track their progress on goals and save for future benefit the feelings, sights, and lessons learned throughout the holy month.

Gratitude is one of the character-improvements that we should see as a fruit of Ramadan. “Depriving” ourselves for the month should make it that much clearer to us how much we take for granted, how much we sometimes normally overeat, overspend, oversocialize, over-talk, etc.

So, this year, the Grateful to Allah blog will host a blog carnival designed to celebrate our gratitude to Allah. This is an opportunity to take the lessons learned, the insights discovered, and the goals intended during Ramadan and express our gratitude for them. It is also an opportunity to share and learn from what each other have experienced throughout the month.

• This carnival is open to ALL Muslims.
• After winding down from Ramadan and the Eid festivities, please look over your journals, blog entries, and memories of the month and write a blog post expressing what you are grateful to Allah for.
• Email the link to your post, along with your name, email address, and the name of your blog to niqaabisister@yahoo.com. Or you can submit through the Muslimas Speak Up! Blog Carnival Submission form (technically this is not an MSU carnival, LOL, but to keep the Blog Carnival site appeased I have to list something anyway, and many of you find it easier to submit through that form, so please feel free.)  
• Submission deadline will be Wednesday October 8.
• The carnival will be posted at the Grateful to Allah blog on Saturday October 11, inshaAllah.
• Please feel free to be creative; express yourself in your own way. Artwork and photographs with explanation of how they relate are welcome. Poetry, journal entries, essays, etc. are all fine.
• If you do not have your own blog but would like to participate, email your post and it can be hosted at the blog.
• Older blog posts related to gratitude are also welcome! Do not feel that you must write about Ramadan-related matters, or only what you felt grateful for during Ramadan. Ramadan is just a nice jumping-off point, but we should express this gratitude to Allah all year long.
• No limitations (as long as it’s halal, LOL): Poetry, essays, articles, lists, meandering random thoughts, quotes, photos, whatever: However you would like to express appropriate gratitude to Allah – please share.

Explore posts in the same categories: Announcements, Blog Carnivals I Support, Blogs I Contribute To, Introspection, Islam, Muslim Group Blogs, Ummah Issues, Writing/Arts

So it is perpetually beholding the divine, with a heart that is out of it’s mind with Love for Allah (swt).

I have this song stuck in my head.  Sing along with me!  Allahu Allahu Allahu!

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To watch when I get home from work:

Clip from SunniPath Answers Live event. This answer addresses the issue of Ashari vs. the Maturidi tenets of belief. Answered by Shaykh Hamza Karamali.

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Iqra!

The first word revealed to our beloved Prophet  was a command – iqra – to read, to recite.  As I’ve mentioned in the past, the Quran was what drew me to Islam.   I read it voraciously at first, and sought to own as many copies as I could afford.  I’m reluctant to admit, but now more often than not, my extensive Qur’an collection sits and gathers dust.  Rarely have I picked them from their place of honor on the top shelf of my religious books collection and engaged with them. 

Every once in awhile, I’ll vow that I’ll read the entire quran.  But, inevitably I’ll fail.  I’m a fast reader, and over the years, I’ve perfected a form of skim reading that allows me to get the gist of a novel or textbook without actually having to read each word.  However, this method does not translate well into Iqra or into understanding.  I’ll turn page after page, only to realize later that I have no clue what my eyes just passed over.  I’m aware of the problem and will conciously try to slow down, but the habit dies hard.  Eventually, I get frustrated and quit.

In an effort to break the slump, I’ve decided to WRITE! while I read.   Everyday, inshaAllah, I’m dedicating 20 minutes to the Qur’an.  Half of that time, I will read x number of ayat, first in the Muhammad Asad translation with commentary, then in one or 2 other translations.  I have a journal I bought specifically to become my quran diary, and in it, I’ll write about those ayat.  Questions, thoughts, reflections, how these ayat relate to my life, it just has to be something related to the verses.  The second 10 minutes will be dedicated to reading the ayat in arabic. 

I know 20 minutes isn’t a terribly long period of time.  Heck, I spend more time each night watching television.  But, I figure that if I set a larger block of time out, like an hour, that when things get busy, I’ll just shuffle quran reading time down to the bottom of the list and skip it.  By chosing a shorter period of time, it’s more managable and inshaAllah that means I will be more likely to do it every day.  

The goal then, will be to read the entire quran in english and arabic, AND to understand it.  What good is it if I skim through, and when I’m finished I gain nothing?  inshaAllah with this endevour, I’ll develop my relationship with the book and with it’s author, Allah .

Want to take this journey for yourself?  Here are some resources that may help you along the way:

• The Qur’anic Journal: why and how?
• al Tafsir
• Soundvision’s Qur’an Page
• Easy Dictionary of the Qur’an
• The Qur’an: A user’s guide

Dear readers, please share any resources you have or any thoughts on how you engage with the Qur’an, and how you seek to understand it better.

In the midst of a chaotic world, God’s words are there, solid, unchanging, to provide a firm ground upon which to stand.

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We verily created man and We know what his soul whispereth to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein (50.16)

Ya Allah, be close to me today!  Provide me solice in this storm!

Obama Name Games Painful to Muslims

NPR covers some Pennsylvanian Muslims’ reaction to the whole muslim as a schmere re: Obama flap.

On a tangent, is anyone else sick of the “Islam is the religion of peace” bit?  It seems to me that this phrase emerged post 9-11, when the american muslim community was in shock and didn’t know how to respond to the increased, often negative attention their faith was given.  But here we are, several years later, and this phrase seems contrived and stale to me.  Shouldn’t we have had time to come up with something a little more descriptive, a little more accurate?  Islam is an increadibly complex religion, and this simplistic phrase doesn’t do it justice.

Islamophoboes have ceased on the phrase, and now everytime a muslim somewhere does something stupid and violent, they’ll be on their message boards crowing “look at this fine member of the religion of peace©.”  If I ever chose to engage these people (and my more recent response has been to steer clear of places where these kinds of statements are bandied about), my response is usually as such:

Islam is not a religion of peace.  It is a religion of balance that seeks peace.  Islam is the middle path.  We are not to vere off towards any extreme.  We are to be neither pacifists nor aggressors.  Islam allows for warfare, but it places strict guidlelines on it’s warriors.  Terrorism happens when muslims do not follow these rules.  They are not acting in accordance with the religion.  If they were, these incidents would not happen.

It saddens me that Islam is reduced to violent acts of those who have strayed off the middle path.  It saddens me because Islam is so much more than that.  Islam has had a profound impact on my life and my relationship with God.  For me, it’s all about the Rememberance of God.  Islam has given me the means and the encouragement to bring God into my everyday life, to thank Him, to praise Him, to worship Him in every act I do.  It’s not about killing people.  It’s about God.

Al-Lateef, One of Allah’s Beautiful Names

From His beautiful and excellent Names is the Ever-Discreetly Gentle (al-Lateef).  He is the One Who is so Discreet in His Actions that He discerns the hidden and secret, and what the hearts are filled with. He also perceives what is in the lands, of enclosed grains and seeds. He is Ever-Gentle with His devoted slaves and makes things easy for them and keeps them away from difficulties. He makes the path to His Pleasure and Generosity easy for them. He protects them from every and means that may lead to His anger. This is through means that they may perceive as well as means that they do not perceive. He also decrees matters for them that they dislike in order for them to be granted what they love. He is Gentle with them with respect to their own souls as He guides them to His beautiful ways and His noble creations. He is Gentle with them with respect to matters that are external to them with every goodness and righteousness. The name Al-Lat.eef is close in its meaning to Al-Khabeer (the Well-Acquainted with all things), Al-Ra`oof (the Clement) and Al-Kareem (the Generous).