Allah's best creation

While I was coming back from work today; the car in front me swerved as if to miss hitting something on the road. I saw it was a squirrel crossing the road, except that it was limping. I assumed it had been hit by a car or somehow lost it/broken its legs. It was barely crawling and there were 4 more lanes of high-traffic to cross. The 10 seconds it took me to drive by it; I saw it just standing still at the divider. My heart sunk. One of 2 very bleak futures lay ahead; either it would get run over when it crosses or it will die where it was. Since its the middle of the road with no pedestrian-crossing, no 'person' can save it. My heart broke, but i instantly thanked Allah - Alhamdolillah that He made me a 'person'. I have family and friends who would have cared for me had I been injured like that squirrel. Even if I had been hit on the road, some one would have come to my rescue.
We read it over and over again how the human being is Allah's best creation. We know it is because we have been given intellect and decision making power. Allah has made jannah and jahannum as reward for how we use that intellect and the decisions we make. Sometimes the weight of judgement day is so heavy, we wish were anything but a person. Sometimes, the world is so nasty we cant see the difference between a human and a wild beast. Yet today i saw why it is 'awesome' to be a human being. We take human compassion and the sense of community Allah has instilled in us for granted. We curse the human too easily - we overlook His infinite wisdom and mercy in our creation. Ya Rabb! You have indeed created a masterpiece in whatever you have created and the human being is a testament to that.

لَقَدۡ خَلَقۡنَا ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ فِىٓ أَحۡسَنِ تَقۡوِيمٍ۬

Ar-Rahman, Ar-Raheem

I have been so overwhelmed lately that even though I wanted to blog, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Yes i had work but that wasn't what overwhelmed me; rather the realization that my slightest good intention or wish hasn't gone unanswered. Such is the mercy of my Rabb! I believe I don't even put enough effort and somehow things just start working out beyond my expectations. I am so at a loss for words that all I can say is .... Alhamdolillah! I make dua that Allah teach me how to be grateful to Him so as to please Him. Ameen. My shoulders feel so heavy with the weight of this realization - its probably been there all my life I just never bothered to think about it. I'm burdened with His mercy and very afraid  - what if I get my share in the dunya!?! Ya Raheem! Please raise the ranks of my deeds so I may be able to receive in the Akhirah.
One thing is for sure - with this realization, I will strive harder to please Allah and use the opportunities presented to me in the best way I know how. Ya Rabb! Help me. Ameen. The point of this post is 1) to acknowledge Allah's blessing 2) to make myself and you think off all the things that have 'just' worked out for the better. I guarantee you will find yourself being unable to count them. This is just one quality of our Rabb. He is Ar-Rahman - the one who gives without us even asking or trying hard enough.

"I"-dolatory

Summer is here and Canada is abuzz with happy people and even more excited children. Its a time for celebration in this part of the world. Allah's bounties are plentiful in this season and each day is an opportunity to reflect on His infinite blessing, Alhamdolillah.
Another feature of this season are the lush front yards of people's houses. I admire rows upon rows of manicured lawns and the rainbow colored flowers. In addition you see garden gnomes, sculptures, lights and fountains and rock gardens and the list is endless. Its all very pretty but i wonder, how much does it cost? More-so, how much time and effort was put in this? I hear from friends who like gardening that its a taxing task, it requires daily supervision, work and care and you may have to sell a kidney for its upkeep (sarcasm!) People save for an entire season or a year even, to remodel their gardens. SubhanAllah! How hard they try to make their dunya into their jannah, whilst saving nothing for the real Jannah. If its not gardens, its kitchens with remodeling and upgrading from marble to granite and what not! Changing wall colors, furniture, flooring - its really endless! I have never heard anyone say yes! now the house is done, i dont need to change a single thing. When it finally does reach that level of satisfaction, guess what? Its time to sell! And it begins again.
The advent of Islam brought a profound principle to people's lives - There is only one Lord worthy of worship! The weaker sect of the society were amongst the first to accept because they understood what it was like to be enslaved, and they realized what kind of freedom Islam offered them. After being given this precious freedom, we choose to enslave ourselves to worldly desires. We may not be idol-worshipers, but we are worshiping something besides Allah. Worship is not sitting on a prayer mat, it is also not chanting or kneeling down - it is something greater and deeper than all that. Its the sincere love towards your lord which never lets you forget Him, its the fear of losing His mercy which makes you want to please Him. This worship is your everyday life, your every action even as self-indulgent as a good cup of tea that you read Bismillah on. When we indulge in worldly desires, then the love which was suppose to be Allah's alone, is now shared. Our desire for those things occupies our mind, till our days are spent wondering about it, acquiring it, beautifying it - these things become our idols - our existence revolves around them.
As Allah says "Allah hath not assigned unto any man two hearts within his body..." (Surat Al Ahzab v4). We have only one heart and only one sincere love can stay within - dunya or Allah. Dont get me wrong, it is not sinful to appreciate/enjoy this dunya, as it too is the creation of Allah. Just make sure you love the dunya, for the sake of Allah and then that love too will be worship. So in essence, the dunya and all its decorations and all its ties are a subset to the greater love.
You may think I'm being too excessive- just think back to your last remodeling/redecorating project, or even a party that you threw. How occupied was your heart and mind with its preparations? How much of money was spent on it? How much did it remind you of Allah? So, your time, money and love were spent but not in Allah's way.
The beauty of this balance and how you should recognize if you fall within this category, is that such a person would be focused and driven. This person has a bigger goal in life and his everyday is working towards that goal. He cannot afford to divert his attention from this greater goal and hence seems rushed, almost as if he needs to squeeze the khayr out of every second of the day. How can such a person engage in hours of shopping, gardening, remodeling or lazing? He is much too busy decorating his home in Jannah. I have seen such people and I really, truly aspire to be one of them. Ameeen Ya Rabbil Alameen.

The miracle that is the Quran

The Quran never ceases to amaze me. SubhanAllah! It takes my breath away when I'm fortunate enough to contemplate over what I have read. How great must its Writer be!
Ive been over the tafseer of Surah Al Mulk atleast thrice in detail and each time Ive found a new treasure. SubhanAllah that is why the Quran is the book to be read over and over, because there are only 1 or 2 lessons that you will effectively take away/remember/act upon. Each time, a different part of the Surah has spoken to me. This time over, the linguistic depth is sucking me in. May I take heed from its warnings and be guided and kept on the straight path. Ameen
Never be content with going over the Quran or a surah once or twice. Strive to do it again and again and with different teachers. Each teacher and each time, will add value and worth to your knowledge Insha Allah. Ya Allah! Please keep us connected with the Quran. May we never never lose touch with it. May it be in our hearts and on our lips when we begin the journey into "forever". Ameen

All Praise is to Allah

This is one of those posts where i have just realised something, and i'm so flabbergasted that it drove me to the blog. Alhamdolillah that I was able to see it. Since I have started studying the quranic tafseer and tajweed, I have realised my passion lies in Tajweed. There could be multiple reasons; I am good at it (with the Fadhl of Allah), I'm a mathematical person and Tajweed rules are very scientific much like the Arabic language itself, I have learned that Allah loves beautiful recitation, etc etc. Recently I had been feeling that Im not growing as much as I'd like in the field of recitaion, and I made dua consistently that Allah be pleased with my recitation and that I can take it to the next level. First, I got an opportunity to lead a youth group in tajweed, then I saw a course being offered on facebook and i thought thats my chance! But it was too expensive for me. I had also signed up to volunteer at an Islamic summer camp and today was its first meeting. Part of the course outline was recitation and memorization and it hit me! Allahu Akbar, this is it, my chance to improve. One key thing about tajweed is that it only improves by reciting alot. Imagine, by getting the opportunity to teach children, repeating the ayahs over and over - there's no saying how much I could improve. This just wowed me!
Allah may not give you what you want the way you want it, but you do get that or better in some other way.... its all a matter of perspective.
So today, take out 5 minutes and think of something you wanted and see how Allah has given it to you. Or you could trace back from something you have received, it may be in the shape of a responsibility and not necessarily a favor - but you could work it back to something you had asked for, like i did. As my good friend Winnie would say - fink, fink, fink!

Salah

Salah - Its "the" pillar of our deen simply because its the only we got to do 5 times daily; simply because its the first thing we will be asked about by our Lord; simply because when the people of Jannah will ask people of jahannum what put you there - they will say we didn't pray. Allah has told us it prevents us from "fahsh" (immodest things) and to seek help from Salah. Allah has told us innumerable times to establish Salah. So its a biggie.
Seeing how important Salah is, its not unnatural that its a norm in today's society to label a person who prays 5 times a day as "religious". So here's the tricky part about salah, how many people do you know who pray regularly and have so for years, but nothing from their daily lives has changed, even one bit.  With the amount of people praying regularly, we shouldn't see as much "fahsh" in the society as we do, but we do. The problem is though we pray regularly, we dont understand its significance, we dont give its rightful rank, we dont believe it will change us.
People! as important as Salah is - it means nothing if you have not made a connection with Allah SWT in it. It is nothing, if you dont know what you are saying and who you are standing in front of. Its nothing if your day to day life is not changed from it. You cannot reap its many benefits unless you know what benefits to reap from it!
 If you pray, and i hope you do; but arent able to make the necessary changes in your life that you know you must - reassess the quality of your salah. Chances are there's something missing there. Dont ever think you pray "enough" or "well enough" - remember Iblees was elevated in ranks to that of angels and then became the accursed.
Our salah is in constant need of improvement, only and only then will we see an improvement in ourselves. Theres an old programming term GIGO - Garbage In Garbage Out. Apply that to your ibadah, the more ikhlas and effort that goes into the salah - the better the results. Consider why you rush your salah. What are the reasons you delay your salah or dont pay attention to tahara or the salah itself? eliminate those weeds, like your life depends on it - because it does!
The munafiq of Madina harbored a hate for Islam and Muslims, yet what was one act they diligently performed - Salah! Why? They knew if they didnt come to jama'a, people will know they are not true muslims. SubhanAllah! But what was wrong with their Salah? They were not sincere, as we arent now. Our salah can easily be compared to that of the munafiq because we drag ourselves to the prayer mat; but thats the extent our sincerity reaches.
Whether its hijab you are struggling with, gheebat, anger, tawakkul, discipline or even depression (not the medical kind) - all the solutions are in your Salah. Go back to the drawing board - no frills or fancy and take control of that next Salah that may be your last.
May Allah make me improve my Salah, may you benefit from my post. All good is from Allah and all evil and hurtful things are from my nafs.

Stranger

From Abu Hurairah RA, he said: Rasulullah SAW said: "Islam was strange when it began and will one day be strange again; Blessed are the ghuraba' (those strange people)". [H.R.Muslim]

I hadn't really thought about the meaning of this hadith, SubhanAllah. I meant to find out what  "ghuraba" meant, but shaytaan got the better of me i suppose. However, in the last year or so, i have been feeling disconnected with my environment; with people i have known for ages - sometimes, i feel i have no one who I can talk to. This is not a constant feeling, it comes and goes. But when I'm focusing and contemplating about intentions, actions and assessing relationships - i feel alone. I'm afraid of expressing my thoughts for I may come off too rigid and I, myself don't fulfill my own standards. Then a couple of nights ago, while feeling this loneliness - it hit me. Its like, to other people, I'm a strange being now - that's what "ghuraba" means! I'm not claiming that I've reached some elevated status in my actions- not in the least because Allah knows my faults and sins. I suppose though, this feeling of being out of place is what the hadith refers to. This strangeness stems from being in an environment so far away from the principles of deen that anyone remotely on it; seems alien. This comforted me in a way, as i don't fear the feeling anymore. Also i recently read that an intelligent person is he who can change his own nature and thinking and through using his skills and perseverance, influence the thinking of others. That's a very high bar for me to reach but I definitely intend to try. 

Every soul shall taste death

Death is on my mind these days! How can it not be?? The massacre in Syria and Palestine, the recent plane crash in Pakistan just weeks after 135 brave soldiers were buried under snow and just generally death seems to be around me, so I've got death on my mind. I have been thinking about my state when my time comes. I recently read about a brother who has been through a major surgery and as soon as he came to; he said his shahadah and kept repeating it through semi-consciousness all while he was still in the ICU. I read about a sister, who was in the throws of death - screaming with pain and passing out due to its intensity but as soon as the doctor came she asked for her hijab. I read about a sister, who bore extreme pain of chemotherapy for months on end but never gave up hope. I recently found out my paternal grandfather (who passed away when i was 4) never gave up prayers even right after he had  been operated on for a tumor. My uncle is in a coma right now, doctors say his brain is too damaged to ever fully recover but our hope is in someone greater than medical science. One time my aunt saw his arm moving, when she removed his covers he had his fist made like he was in tashahud. He was never known to miss his prayers.
I read how Prophet Ibrahim AS made dua for himself to be remembered by people in a good way. Allah not only fulfilled his dua but made his acts a legacy for all Muslims to follow - SubhanAllah. So I pray death comes to me in the best state of my Iman, I pray when it comes I have the Kalimah on my lips and when Allah takes me; He is pleased with me. I am still thinking about how Id like to be remembered - I hope as someone who made a difference. May Allah give me the guidance to be of use to His creation and may He accept.

Quality of a Caller (Da'ee)

I have finished reading an excellent book about the qualities a caller to Allah must possess. For each one, I felt either i dont have it at all or it needs serious work. May Allah make it easy for me. The one quality, however, that really stood out was sincerity. It is sincerity or concern for people that will pull them toward you; sooner or later they will realise your words were genuine and hopefully that will bring about a change in them. While spreading the message of Allah, the most common stumbling stone for me is loss of this sincerity and coming off too pious. Although that has never been my intention and nor do I lose concern entirely; but if my behavior and words do not communicate my intention correctly, then whats the point really. I also feel its tough to "like" everyone, to the extent that you care about their akhirah and sometimes you care so much that you're shoving the deen down their throats. Ofcourse we shouldnt do that. Sometimes i loose sight of my purpose; sometimes it becomes about trying to change them - whereas that is needed too but i have learned that if i just keep the concern alive; the rest will work out bi izn Allah. Now that i have pinpointed my error, I must work on correcting it and thats a daunting task. Im so afraid of my words that I feel I may never be able to speak again, but thats Shaytan trying to stop me and I must fight it. May Allah put love in my heart for His people.

Qarun Lives....

First let me introduce you to Qarun, as in the Quran. He was a learned scholar, from the Bani Isarel and had been blessed with immense wealth of the world. I just read his story (Surah Al-Qasas) and was forced to admit that although Allah destroyed the real Qarun long ago ... his disciples exist in each one of us. He is living through us. Allow me to elaborate.

Qarun was a Muslim, as he came from the people of Musa AS and was even related to the prophet. He was a haafidh of the Torah, had been blessed with a lot of knowldege obviously; but along with that he had been given wealth of the world, so much so that it would burden big, strong men to carry just the keys to his treasure. He should have been the most grateful one around for having been given the best of both Ilm and Dunya... yet he was the most arrogant. He accredited himself for his wealth, he didnt deny it came from Allah BUT he said he deserved it. He was so close in behavior and status to the Pharoahs - they made him one of them! Can you imagine? The Bani Israel were a slave tribe and to be made a courtsman? He should have been lenient with the Bani Israel, given his authority.... yet he was the harshest on them. He refused to give zakat and did not spend on the people. He walked the earth with arrogance and pride and the same earth was commanded to eat him whole along with his wealth.

Today we, Muslims, when we are very educated or our kids manage to shine in universities or we are wealthy or even when we have ilm of the Quran - we attribute it to ourselves. Oh! we worked so hard with our kids, or our kids worked so hard for this. We say it about other people too Oh! they were so good with their finances and made all the right decisions, etc etc. All of us have had that attitude one time or another - it was ME, I did it. Wallahi you didnt! Had it not been Allah's will, you would not have anything despite making all the seemingly right choices. Crediting ourselves with our successes leads to us becoming arrogant. We may not become arrogant right away, but as people start to praise us and place on pedestals for our worldly standing; we start thinking we deserve that status. This arrogance eats away at our 'ikhlaq' like a termite and soon we are too good for our own families, our own people. We avoid meeting them too often, sometimes even say hurtful things about them. This is not true just of wealth, even those with "ilm" look down on their relatives not so endowed. We walk the earth with pride, very satified with our status.

Now if you are thinking that you arent THAT wealthy, so you're ok.... Alhamdolillah for what we have but take a look at your closets. Isnt it burdened with the treasure it holds, similar to the forces who carried Qarun's keys? Dont we have bank accounts in like 3 or 4 banks, isnt our wallet bent out of shape with the cards it carries. Dont our refrigerators and pantries boil over with food. Doesnt our heart pinch when it comes time to pay zakat or give in sadaqa? Dont we think we deserve the lifestyles we have or even our health? We have been blessed with Iman and wealth of the world - how thankful are we? Sadly, I was reminded of "us" when i read about Qarun.
So beware! Strive to be a Sulaymaan rather than a Qarun, Insha Allah.

Humanity & Religion

All too often Ive been reading about humanity being above religion or that being a good person doesn't depend on religion, etc etc and I'm stumped! How can a Muslim make/agree with these statements. If one does, then it can be said they are not aware of the tenets of Islam. The majority of our deen is based on principles of humanity and justice and standing up for whats right even if that means going against your brother. Also maybe people aren't aware of the meaning of humanity. Here is what Wikipedia says:

The virtue, humanity, is a set of strengths focused on “tending and befriending others.”The three strengths associated with humanity are love, kindness, and social intelligence. Humanity differs from justice in that there is a level of altruism towards individuals included in humanity more so than the fairness found in justice.That is, humanity, and the acts of love, altruism, and social intelligence are typically person to person strengths while fairness is generally expanded to all.

So actually humanity is an incomplete concept as far as our deen is concerned and Islam actually goes one step ahead of this virtue to establish and serve justice. Allahu Akbar. A Muslim cannot be separated from his deen in any sphere of his life and hence claiming that humanity is above religion actually puts you in a very dangerous spot as a believer. The Lord who created us, chose this way of life for us and in it you will find such whole principles of community that empty statements like the above wont hold any water.

Ok. Rant over!

Habitual or Contemplative?

Is your ibadah or dhikr habitual or is it contemplative? This is a question that i ask myself time and again. Also, this is what initially would confuse me because when i'd start a dhikr and if i contemplated everytime, i would 1) not be able to complete the tasbeeh 2) not be able to continue to do it regularly. And Allah likes an act, however small, that is done consistently. I would get all flustered and eventually abandon the practice Aaoozubillah!
If you are facing anything similar and struggling between contemplating over daily adhkar and ibadah and making it a habit; here is something i  did, which may help.
1) Choose one big ibadah or couple of small ones that you want to practice. If you do many together, for sure you will end up doing nothing consistently
2) Be aware of the excellence of the tasbeeh/dhikr/ibadah. Understand the meaning of the verses.
3) Focus on  making it a habit.
4) Once you find istiqamah, move on to contemplation. Because you're so used to the act now, you can afford the luxury of contemplating.
The process isnt written in stone and I go back and forth between steps. Sometimes, i forget the meaning so i revisit that; other times i feel im not contemplating at all and i focus on that.
For eg. Reading Surah Al Kahf on fridays: I am currently in the process of getting into the habit. Alhamdolillah i'm aware of the tafseer but for sure i cannot focus on every lesson each time. So i pick a passage and try and make that the focus of the week.
Ofcourse ibadah will be habitual but i think the key is to find the balance between that and contemplation Insha Allah

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.