The Beauty of Quran

Yesterday, my friend spoke about ayah 102 of Surah Aal Imran.

O you who believe! Fear Allâh (by doing all that He has ordered and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. [Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always], and die not except in a state of Islâm (as Muslims) with complete submission to Allâh

She discussed its tafseer in brief and how it had impacted her life. I was aware of the tafseer because i had studied the ayah many time before and atleast once in detail. But the beauty of the verse struck me this time. I was reminded of the wonder of the Quran, that it reveals new treasures each time its read. SubhanAllah! Now I'm not linguist, nor a literary expert but even I could appreciate the beauty of this address. The  start and end of the ayah is such a contrast, exactly opposite (Iman and Kufr) to one another; and in the middle is the key to staying with Iman. This reminds me of another ayah from Surah Qamar:

And We have indeed made the Qur'an easy to understand and remember: then is there any that will receive admonition? 

The Quran is filled with such beauty, if only we were to take the time out to ponder.Everyday can provide us wondrous moments like these but we rush through; forgetting how this day can be ibadah for us. May Allah give me and you more intellect to ponder upon His greatness! Ameen

The Human Spirit

My heart feels so heavy that words fail me... I've been reading survival stories of my sisters and it aches to know how much these women have suffered. I'm not even talking about your run-of-the-mill difficult childhood, broken family, abusive relationship kind-what these women have suffered is major trauma, beyond words. What amazes me is how they are here and telling their story, to possibly reach out to others in the same situation and in a lot of cases it is cathartic for them. They are serving the deen, by serving humanity for the sake of Allah SWT and they carry hope in their hearts. This is the human spirit - Allahu Akbar - battered but not broken, pummeled but not down: an enigma to modern science.
How great then, is the One who created this spirit? Think about it every time you read something similar.It is through His mercy, these women have the sanity to continue living a life of Iman and I'm certain He will bless them with serenity in this life and high ranks in the hereafter Insha Allah. I'm praying for you girls!
I must pray for patience, gratitude and hope for myself too.

Body & Soul

Body and soul - thats what you have committed to Allah SWT. Its almost ridiculous to have to spell it out because He created both, so obviously! But it is not as obvious to us as it should be. Either is nothing without the other, nor will it ever accomplish anything on its own. With our body, we have to perform our salah, earn to sustain ourselves and our families, perform Hajj, seek knowledge and spread it, command good and forbid evil, etc If you do all this, to others it may seem you are very spiritual, very religious. People generally judge based on appearances and we can easily fall in the trap of assuming ourselves to be "religious".
After a while, the bodily ibadah becomes easy and almost habitual and if you dont assess yourself regularly, you can loose the spiritual connection altogether. If your bodily ibadah is not bringing about a change in your behavior, in your ikhlaq - know this, your soul is not it. If you lie/cheat and justify it too, if you abuse your authority (as a parent, husband, boss, teacher, etc), if you have jealousy in your heart for a brother in deen (except Ghibtah), find faults with others and not spend any time fixing your own, if you think you are more pious than others or someone is not worthy of hidaya, if your ego is so inflated that you cannot control your temper or bring yourself to apologize - know that Allah says about such people, that the Quran would be stuck in their throat not finding its way in their hearts. Only the soul of an ibadah makes it worth anything because it pushes you to better yourself and tells you if you've wronged yourself or someone.
Its something we must question ourselves about every day. Is our soul committed to Allah? When your soul is committed along with your body,  that noor emanates from you; from your smile, your speech, from your ikhlaq - just as it did from the Prophet SAW, and the sahabas (RA). Your soul tells you to do sabr when something goes awry, your soul keeps you from anger when something doesnt go your way, your soul keeps your ego in check, your soul reminds you it has to return to Allah. The bodily ibadah then serves to polish the soul and strengthen it. Then you can protect yourself from assuming you're better than someone else.
note to myself first!

When West met East :)

I've just come back from a vacation to the UAE and Pakistan. This was my first time back with the niqab.... yeah I KNOW! Alhamdolillah, it went well and I live to tell the story :) Both these places were once home to me and its strange how once familiar faces and places seem inhospitable... or maybe it was the niqab! On the flip side, there were some close friendships which grew closer and this time for the sake of Allah SWT. But this writeup is not about that part of my trip, rather about the differences I found between practicing Muslims living in a "Muslim" land vs a non-muslim land. The main difference is that here we are trying to save our Iman from a largely non-muslim environment. Thats how we are raising our kids too and hence we limit exposure to TV (watching the content closely) and make sure we spend time with them and know who their friends are (and their mums!). We are close-knit with the Muslim community at large, trying to instill values from the Sunnah of brotherhood and avoiding gheebah. We are working hard to get ourselves and our kids an Islamic education so they know their roots. We read labels like no-ones business so that we may eat halal. Alot of us are involved in youth counselling and da'wah work. We try to be responsible citizens as we consider ourselves ambassadors of our deen; to the extent that we dont steal parking-spots and wait in lines PATIENTLY!
Initially, I was a little taken aback when i found these elements almost missing from people there. Soon however, i understood that these were not their concerns. Living in a Muslim land, even if only in name - their Iman is being nurtured by the environment and hence their concerns are focussed on the tiny kinks like should we listen to nasheed, or that scholar is only "mostly" right hence we should avoid him, or you must cover properly or else! Granted, all these are valid but it seemed very authoritarian to me till I understood that this is the difference between living here and there. They can focus on gaining knowledge and have many avenues to spreading it; their kids already have Muslim friends, they just need to see what kind of Muslims, there is plenty of halal entertainment hence avoiding nasheeds is not a big deal; they dont need big Islamic conferences as the work is being done on a state level and Islamic congregations are held at many places. They have the luxury to focus on micro issues. Alhamdolillah! both serve to strengthen our Iman and not only that, I also understood how Allah SWT has split our work. How merciful He is!
Mainly, I'd like to address my friends and family on both ends of the world to try and find common ground as our circumstances are different but our motive is one - to please Allah SWT. We should avoid pinpointing mistakes in lives in these different parts of the world and try to live in piety wherever we are as all land belongs to Allah. We must appreciate our differences and challenges and try to adapt to situations we are placed in. It was the will of Allah SWT and we must adhere. Inshallah!

Niqabophobia

Whats niqabophobia? Its when you see a person wearing the veil, instant emotions of prejudice rise from within. Despite the woman's confidence and apparent comfort in her appearance, you are sure she has been forced to wear it. Even after speaking with her and thinking for a moment "wow shes quite normal", you instantly want to believe she's forcing her "culture" on you or "we have no place for extremists" or something like that!

If you got it, hear me now - Im done explaining to you that Im not oppressed or forced into submission. I am who I am and as long as I am following the rules as you are; you got no right to look down at me.

Pitiful!

When a person enters Islam, after having spent a considerable part of their lives as part of other faiths or cultures; they are vulnerable. Its natural, if you think about it really. To me (born muslim) they may seem very strong for having taken such a strong step... but you must understand the step was the easy part - the real challenge lies ahead. Normally when we come across a new muslim, we get all excited and start bombarding them with questions and giving them advice. Its true that its an eman booster to meet a revert, yet dont you think how weak we are as Muslims that we are seeking strength and motivation from a person who has just entered Islam!!? We should be able to offer moral support and strength to our new brother/sister, instead we only have advice for them what to do and what not do. Who made you the spokesperson anyway?! And this is not my opinion, i have heard multiple reverts complain how some of the things we (born muslims) say are so insensitive. We dont realize that these people are at a very tentative stage in their life - like a baby, if you may. They need to be nurtured and protected and supported. Please, dear (born) muslims, be considerate of this when you meet a new Muslim next time. Offer them support and kind words, not personal questions and advice.