Conversations with Al-Mujeeb (The Responsive)

Sometimes I’d read a book (i.e. Great Expectations) or watch a movie (generally any Quentin Tarantino) that has conversation I felt like couldn’t be topped…but then I learned that Allah (swt) and I converse atLEAST twenty-two times a day when I’m reciting Surah Fatiha and nothing can top/make me feel as good as a conversation with Him…

Abu Huraira narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Allah the Exalted said: “I have divided the prayer into two halves between Me and My servant, and My servant will receive what he asks for”.

When the servant says: “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the universe"
Allah Almighty, says: “My servant has praised Me”

When the servant says: “The Most Compassionate, the Merciful”
Allah Almighty says: “My servant has lauded Me”

When the servant says: “Master of the Day of Judgment”
Allah Almighty remarks: “My servant has glorified Me”. And sometimes He would say: “My servant entrusted (his affairs) to Me”

When the servant says: “Thee do we worship and of Thee do we ask for help”
Allah says: “This is between Me and My servant, and My servant will receive what he asks for”

Then, when the servant says: “Guide us to the straight path, the path of those to whom Thou hast been Gracious not of those who have incurred Thy displeasure, nor of those who have gone astray”
Allah says: “This is for My servant, and My servant will receive what he asks for.” (Muslim)

If you’re intrigued, read on! Suhaib Webb did an excellent segment on Surah Fatiha: http://www.suhaibwebb.com/islam-studies/the-opening/

To Be Hijabi, or Not to Be?

I just read this amazing article featured on Oprah.com about this half white, half lebanese, nine year old girl who chooses to wear the headscarf. The article is from her mother's point of view; and she explores the idea of covering up as an outlet to discover oneself. Take a look and see what you think:

Choosing To Wear the Headscarf - article linked here.

Excerpts from the article that especially resonated with me:
"Since that day in Venice Beach, I'd spent years learning to swim in the turbulent currents of attraction—wanting to be desired, resisting others' unwelcome advances, plumbing the mysterious depths of my own longing. I'd spent countless hours studying my reflection in the mirror—admiring it, hating it, wondering what others thought of it—and it sometimes seemed to me that if I had applied the same relentless scrutiny to another subject I could have become enlightened, written a novel, or at least figured out how to grow an organic vegetable garden."

I agree with what she's saying here, I've had different points in my life where I'm very modest - to the point where I forget that I have curves of any kind and that I could use them to my "advantage" (a horrible dumb-it-down scheme the media feeds to women making them believe that if their appearance is up to par - they don't need to have a brain or opinions or thoughts) or very immodest - to the point where I become overly obsessed with my appearance and forget my actual purpose in life. Honestly, moderation is key, I'm happiest when I'm in the middle of both extremes - "O you who believe! Make not unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you, but Commit no excess: for Allah loves not those given to excess." (5.87) - I am by no means saying that one should ever use their body to get ahead by unlawful means, but it is definitely necessary to feel good about oneself so that Muslimah's are associated with high self-esteem and great poise - I would go to such an extreme that I would stop exercising and wearing nice clothes.

"I understood then that while physical exposure had liberated me in some ways, Aliya could discover an entirely different type of freedom by choosing to cover herself."

This is so TRUE. I feel as American-Muslims especially, we should explore and create dialogue about the kind of freedom that stems from dressing modestly. It's so pleasant to know that you have the power to let someone into your space as opposed to knowing that everyone knows/imagines what every curve of your body looks like unclothed. ALLAHUAKBAR!

Peace.

Come on, Paint Me a Rainbow.

I recently came across a couple of articles talking about color therapy or chromotherapy and how different colors can induce different emotions or moods from us. This is through the fact that each color has different vibrations and each vibration is associated with different attributes and qualities. "A color will vibrate at a specific frequency. It is said that organs and glands of our bodies also vibrate at specific frequencies and that colors correspond to the areas of our body which have the same frequency. When we are sick, our organs and glands may become out of balance and not function at their proper frequencies. Restoring the proper frequency is thought to restore health."

• Red is hot. It can stimulate and excite. It connects to our physical self.
• Orange is warm and joyful. It connects to our emotional self.
• Yellow is warm to hot. It connects to our mental self.
• Green is the master color. It is refreshing and cool. It connects us to unconditional love.
• Aqua (turquoise) is cooling. It connects us to our expression.
• Blue is cold and acidic. It connects us to holistic thoughts.
• Indigo is cool and calming to the nervous system. It connects us to our unconscious self.
• Violet is cool. It connects us to our spiritual self.
• Magenta is balancing. It connects us to devotional love.

Then, I started thinking about how color overtly affects me on a day to day basis and took note of what colors I am drawn to. My room is full of whites, light blues, and yellow - I looove coming home to it after a long day of classes and libraries. However, I started noticing something that threw me off and it was my janemaaz (prayer rug) - it was BRIGHT RED and black. Looking over what all of these colors can stimulate, I decided it was necessary to change the color of my prayer rug to aqua with hints of red, I don't know if it was all in my head, but alhamdulillah my duas are now much more open and eloquent. SO, if any of you would like to try out this little experiment and tell me how it worked out for you, that'd be lovely!

I'll leave a link down here for more reading on the possible benefits of color therapy for a deeper look, check it out:
http://www.color-medicine.com/

This world is a prison for the Faithful, but a Paradise for the unbeliever- Prophet Muhammed (PBUH)

This used to be a longer video but I can't seem to find the other parts. Subhan'Allah my heart jumps when I see Samar laughing or smiling and seeing her father's face when he sees her. I can't even imagine having enough patience to deal with losing a family member...and he lost three. This puts the problems of a college student into perspective for sure and makes me so much more grateful for all the blessings I have been bestowed with. Seriously, as a college student I have so much potential to make a change in the world iA and seeing videos like this recharges me in my mission, I am not going to throw away this opportunity. We're surrounded by messages about raising higher in our ranks of this world via wealth and popularity, but why would that be our only intention in this life? The Creator can take away anything He's given us in a second, whether that be our wealth, our legs, or our life. So wouldn't it be wiser to put our focus on the Hereafter and raising our status in the eyes of Allah (swt)? Take a second and think about that also make sure you keep this in your daus: May Allah swt give our brothers and sisters patience in these hard times and also give us, the more fortunate, the ilm and tawfeeq to help them.

read the article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8164582.stm

Mama said, "There'll be days like this."

Having one of those days where I wish I had someone that has gone through the exact same relationship and career planning problems that I have and could guide me on what steps to take next. But each of us is on our own journey and to wish that someone's matches yours entirely is being too idealistic, isn't it? This is a trial from Allah (swt), I know, and i'A I'll come out of this stronger and equipped with the experience to help the next generation of Muslim-Americans.

Recently, at a khutbah, the speaker made a very illuminating point: he said whenever a problem befalls us, we look to Allah's creation for help, whereas we should look to the Creator Himself! After all, He has made the problem so of course He knows how to solve it. And the way to converse with Allah (swt) is through reading the Qur'an. I picked up my lovely Qur'an today and read for awhile and subhanAllah, this is what I came across:

"And those who, when they commit and immorality or wrong themselves [by transgression], remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins - and who can forgive sins except Allah? - and [who] do not persist in what they have done while they know. Those - their reward is forgiveness from their Lord and gardens beneath which rivers flow [in Paradise], wherein they will abide eternally; and excellent is the reward of the [righteous] workers." - 3.135-136

"Or do you think that you will enter Paradise while Allah has not yet made evident those of you who fight in His cause and made evident those who are steadfast?" 3.142

"Allah wishes for you ease and He does not wish difficulty for you." [2:185]

Showing the characteristic of "steadfastness" is a common theme in the Qur'an and I love it because Allah loves it. For the past week I've wanted to do something really drastic like move to a different state or go live at home with my parents and attend our local State University. But by putting me five hours away from home, Allah (swt) has a plan for me, I trust Him and am going to stay strong. How are we going to enter Paradise if we aren't tested? It's much easier said than done, I know, but if any of you sisters are feeling something similar to this, pick up the Qur'an and read about Allah's favorite qualities in a human and try to attain them. Nothing comes easily and we can't run away from our problems, for example, learning how to walk came with many, many falls but if we gave up on it (not ran away from it, because that'd be impossible ha...ha..) because we didn't like the failure, then where would we be now?

Peace.

Guitar Hero to the Rescue!

“SubhanAllah” moment of the week occurred yesterday. I was playing Rock Band with some friends after I was done with a loooong week of class/midterm study - note: this game is $150 and we don’t spend that kind of money on games in my house (but we do on jeans...if that means anything). For awhile I stuck with vocals because singing is easy and fuuunnn but after awhile someone else wanted to try, so I tried out the guitar. I’m sure everyone knows what a Rock Band guitar looks like - just like a Guitar Hero one - six colored buttons on the neck and while you play you watch the screen to know which buttons to press while you “strum” the bar. When you’re new it takes a lot of concentration because your brain is still learning which fingers go with which colors, the more you concentrate, the faster you learn.


I was doing horribly, on EASY, while everyone else was playing on hard or expert. But even as I saw myself getting low percentages every time, I didn’t make an effort to pay more attention to the finger-color pattern. It as as if I had internally labelled myself as a “n00b” and therefore it was acceptable for me to be performing badly. This seemed like a mechanism to keep myself from feeling bad about performing poorly as well as to prevent myself from the “oh no” feeling of treading outside of the waters of my comfort zone.

At the time, I didn’t care. But the “subhanAllah” kicked in this morning when the connection between my incoherent playing was made with the way I’ve been living my life - Ya-Allah, you work in such beautiful ways.

Basically, I’ve been “half-assing” (for lack of a more fitting word) my way through LIFE. Whether it’s preparing for tests, participating in class, running races, concentrating in prayer, being a good Muslim. EVERY SINGLE one of these things could be done SO MUCH better, but I choose to stay in my little bubble and not move forward...just get by. If I was somehow able to get out of my body and look down at the person that I have grown into, I would be quite disappointed. I’d flip them the bird. I have like sixty more years to live tops...and if I’m going to merely “get by” for the next years, I doubt I’ll have much to show for it on the Day of Judgment.

“Verily, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves” (al-Qur’an, 13:11)

Allah (swt) is always there to help us, but we need to provide an outlet for this help! This is for anyone who feels like they aren’t getting the most out of their life - and I’m sure everyone feels like this at time. But, hey, the answer is lies in the Qur’an. At last Friday’s khutba the speaker said “If you want to talk to Allah (swt), pray. If you want Allah (swt) to talk to you, read the Qur’an.” So let’s make two nafl of prayer today and ask Allah for aid in re-connecting with him and in turn i’A becoming a better human being. Ameen.