*_*

 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?

alhamdulilah

That’s about all I have to say today.  Alhamdulilah.  Yes we did.  It’s been a long time since I’ve cried tears of joy.

Also, I think I’m going to name my cat Hope.

Alhamdulilah!

dhikr while you work

to the tune of whiste while you work from Snow White:

Just dhikr while you work (la il-la-ha il Al-Lah*)
Put on that grin and start right in
to dhikr loud and long
Just move your tongue and lips (la il-la-ha il Al-Lah)
Just do your best and take a rest
and praise Allah right now.

*the whistle that went here in the original has 7 consonants.  La ilaha il Allah has 7 consonants.  Kapeesh?

Ah yes, corny, corny, I hear the groans.  But here me out.  My La TV campaign has lost it’s umph.  I try to focus on doing something else, but I get bored easily, and inevitably end up plopped on the couch in front of the tube.

So I need new things to occupy myself with:

1. Taking courses at Sunnipath.  Just got off the phone with the husband, and he’s actually encouraging me to take Ramadan and You course that starts this weekend.  Alhamdulilah.  Usually, I’ll mention I want to take a course, he looks at it and says it costs too much.  Alhamdulilah, this time he actually realizes how good it will be for me and that it’s worth the $$.  inshaAllah I’ll sign up when I get home tonight

2. Ok, this actually explains the post title and corny song, dhikr while you work.  The goal is constant dhikr in all (ok most) actions. 

Salman Farsee (ra) said, “If a person remembers Allah in times of peace, pleasure and prosperity, then whenever he is in trouble and difficulty, the angels, being familiar with his voice, recognize him in his helplessness and intercede before Almighty Allah (for his forgiveness); but, if one who does not remember Allah in his time of pleasure and happens to pray for help at the time of difficulty, the angels find his voice to be quite unfamiliar and therefore do not intercede for him.” (source)

To further that goal, I’ve taken up cross stitching.  Um, yeah, and that relates to dhikr how?  See, when one is stitching, each stitch is the perfect opportunity for a praise of Allah (swt).  If you’re doing a project that uses 2000 stitches, there are 2000 opportunities to praise Allah (swt).  Instead of counting your dhikr on beads, you’re counting them in your stitches.  And, when you’re done with the project, it will be full of barakah. 

Since I haven’t stitched since I was a child, I’m currently working on an uber easy Allah pattern in kufic.  I’m about a third of the way done, and when I finish, I’ll post a picture inshaAllah.

I figure that during Ramadan, I can lay out a schedule.  Come home, read Qur’an for x minutes, listen to a lecture for x minutes, then stitch and make dhikr until iftar.  After dinner, read an islamic book with the husband, then force him to read to me to practice his english.  Chock full of time for Allah (swt).  No time for tv.   inshaAllah.

Islamic Art in Britain

Visual Dhikr highlights some of the artists that will be showing their work at Islam Expo 2008.  Go check it out and visit their websites.

The muslim art I have hanging on my walls is calligraphy, but I can definately see putting something like this up.  It’s a depiction of the haraam, the kaba in the middle, people doing tawaf around it and the outer rings making salat.  So simple, yet I’m deeply intrieged.

 Ya Waduud!  Oh Loving One!

The familiar calligraphy lines still draw the eye and lead one to contemplate the Divine.

‘The pursuit of knowledge is bitter at first but at the end it is sweeter than honey’

Again, different from what I’m used to, but so captivating.  Seriously, I’m in love.

Fear of the Muzzies and the Religion of Peace©

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.

The Retreat

Alhamdulilah, I had been wanting to watch this for quite some time, but just managed to stumble upon it today.   Well, at least episodes one and three anyways.

I watched episode one this evening, and my overall impression was favorable.  The best part was around the 45 minute mark where a recition of al Fatiha brought a non practicing muslim to tears, which got me all choked up.

I was happy to see that there was a lot of dhikr in the program, although I felt that the leaders could have explained the role of sufism in Islam better.   I don’t know if it was just the parts that were selected for the program, but it would have been nice to hear an explanation of Islam as both a set of rules (like the participant Aisha is focused on) and striving to know Allah (swt).  I wonder if the leaders talk with Aisha about bidah hasana.  It’s not simply enough to say, oh we know the Prophet (saws) didn’t do dhikr like this, and we don’t care, nah nah nah nah nah.  No, explain how the science of tasawwuf developed alongside oher islamic sciences, and how it fits into the framework of traditional islam.

I’m also interested in finding out more about the hosts of the Retreat.  What’s their tariqa?  Who are they  affiliated with?  Who were their teachers? 

And finally, I’ve added Alqueria de Rosales as a place I must visit.   Despite being the granddaughter of dairy farmers, I’ve never felt an attraction to farm life.  But after seeing this video, I can’t help but wonder how my relationship with Allah (swt) would be if I removed myself from the distractions of the modern world and could live in a community devoted to Allah (swt), even if it was on a farm.  I guess at the present, I should do my best to create that atmosphere in my very own home, right here in the frozen metropolitan northwoods of Minne-snow-da.  inshaAllah.

Ya Latif!

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).

running dhikr

From the New York Times:

Dr. Morgan, who tested the method in research studies, said he was inspired by a story, reported by an anthropologist that, he suspects, is apocryphal. It involves Tibetan monks who reportedly ran 300 miles in 30 hours, an average pace of six minutes a mile. Their mental trick was to fixate on a distant object, like a mountain peak, and put their breathing in synchrony with their locomotion. Every time a foot hit the ground they would also repeat a mantra.

So Dr. Morgan and his colleagues instructed runners to say “down” to themselves every time a foot went down. They were also to choose an object and stare at it while running on a treadmill and to breathe in sync with their steps. The result, Dr. Morgan said, was that the runners using the monks’ strategy had a statistically significant increase in endurance, doing much better than members of a control group who ran in their usual way.

la…ilaha…il…Allah…la…ilaha…il…Allah…

Sub…han..Al..lah…Sub…han..Al..lah…

Choices

I’ve been brainstorming names for my future fish (still haven’t gotten him yet, dur), no thanks to my blog readers (if I have any, lol).  My goal is to come up with a name that encourages remembrance of Allah (swt).  Here’s what I got so far

• Sabr (I’m leaning heavily towards this one right now.  I need all the reminders to be patient that I can get)
• Shukr (I’m thinking about saving this one for our future cat, inshaAllah.   If you have to say here Shukr Shukr Shukr to get your cat to come, couldn’t that remind you to be thankful to God?)
• Salaam
• Latif (Since listening to the Latifiyya, I can’t get Ya Latif out of my head)
• Nur

Notice a pattern?  It’s so hard to choose, so I guess I’ll just get a fish and 4 cats :)

Extreme Misbaha Makeover

I covet the misbaha at Uns.  I *heart* them all, but in particular, I looove this one, this one, and this one.   As an anniversary gift, the husband has promised to get me one, to which I went, huzzah!  But now, I’m having second thoughts.  I mean, do I really need to spend $100 on prayer beads, or should I put that money towards my debts instead?  Honestly, should I even be getting things like this when I have debts to worry about.  Probably not. 

Instead, I gave my old misbaha a (not so) extreme makeover.  It wasn’t really all that bad.  It was just that the color of the tassels wasn’t my favorite and the string was a bit too long, so that the beads kept slipping away from my fingers as I tried to make dhikr.

So, I took a trip to the local craft store, bought some new string, dug the superglue out of the drawer and went to work.  I’m quite pleased with the results.  I may have made the string a bit too short so that it’s kind of tough to work through the top beads, but once my fingers get out, they move through my fingers much easier then before.

Guess I won’t be getting new prayer beads anytime soon.  Maybe for my next anniversary instead.  Now I can tell the husband that he can get me a cat as a present instead, bwahaha!

Before:

 

After