Amazing Prayer: The Prayer that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) made at Taif
After going through such hardship and torment by the people of Taif, the Noble Prophet (pbuh) turned to our Lord and Creator and said:
To You, my Lord,
I complain of my weakness,
lack of support and the humiliation I am made to receive.
Most Compassionate and Merciful!
You are the Lord of the weak,
and you are my Lord.
To whom do You leave me?
To a distant person who receives me with hostility?
Or to an enemy You have given power over me?
As long as you are not displeased with me,
I do not care what I face.
I would, however,
be much happier with Your mercy.
I seek refuge in the light of Your face by which all darkness is
dispelled and both this life and the life to come are put in
their right course against incurring your wrath or being the
subject of your anger.
To You I submit,
until I earn Your pleasure.
Everything is powerless without your support.
Technorati Tags: Prayer, Prophet Muhammad, Taif
Blogging the Quran
The Guardian has just launched recently a project called “Blogging the Quran” in which verses of the Quran are blogged daily and a discussion is facilitated between two writers for the Guardian, Madeleine Bunting and Ziauddin Sardar. I’ve read it and it’s a brilliant exercise in explaining the Quraan to both Muslims and non-Muslims. The verses are analysed from a western context by Madeleine in which certain questions come up and initial interpretation is made from a Western context. Ziauddin then explains from an Islamic point of view the interpretation of the verses and the meaning behind them.
Being a blog, all the benefits are available as well.. commenting, discussing, etc. you can also send e-mails to the writers for any further clarification.
I highly recommend this for everyone to read. For myself, I have found it very enlightening and, as usual with the Quraan, the various levels of meaning and their significance leave me constantly mesmerised.
Subhan-Allah (Glory be to God)
Peace,
M.
Technorati Tags: Blogging the Quran, Guardian, Blog, Ziauddin Sardar, Madeleine Bunting
Saudi Girls Gone Wild?
Just got my hands on a very interesting article regarding the younger generation in Saudi Arabia… who live in one of the strictest social conditions implemented by any government. I remember having many a conversation regarding the dark side of the segregation of the sexes in Islam, although you can understand where it comes from… the extreme implementation of this often leads to things far worse than the rules were intended to prevent.
The article also alludes to a book which I want to try to get my hands on… Girls of Riyadh, of which it says…
“…In a country where “driving while female” is illegal, as is checking
into a hospital without a male guardian’s signature, a gossipy romance
can spark an explosion of political debate. That’s what happened when a
Beirut publishing house first released Girls of Riyadh in
2005, by 24-year-old Rajaa Alsanea. It was initially banned in her
native Saudi Arabia, but young Saudis quickly got their hands on it
anyway. They lauded it online, while writers and columnists debated the
book’s meaning and Saudi talking heads told the author she should
disown it.
In the book, an anonymous narrator details the lives
of four upper-class girlfriends, showing them flirting with boys, going
to parties, and in one case, contemplating a relationship with a member
of a different Muslim sect.”
A bit too taboo? In today’s times? Barriers are being broken everywhere and in the tradition of people everywhere who have a point of view forced upon them… Rebellion simmers and boils over. The article also mentions another book which details enforced lesbianism due to the extreme segregation which is being enforced.
There’s a reason why the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that the middle path is the right way and everything should be done in moderation. Extremism on any side leads to too much evil.
Viva La Revolucion!
M.
P.S. you can buy Girls of Riyadh from Exclusive Books and its available for purchase on-line.
Technorati Tags: Saudi Girls Gone Wild, Girls of Riyadh, Rajaa Alsanea
Ba’dal Hajj (After Hajj)
Before I left for Hajj, I kept getting this pressurised comment from people saying that a person must change after Hajj. But after actually going for Hajj, I see that it’s actually me who wants to change. I want to be better to do more… to right all my wrongs and change all my bad habits.
I feel so much more content. Like I know what needs to be done, what’s right and wrong seems so much clearer that it used to be, more black and white instead of shades of grey. The whispers which used to edge me closer and closer toward evil are now more recognisable, I can see them for what they are and stop them. It’s less of an impulse to follow and a more sort of patient understanding and conscious choice of what I need to do next. I don’t want to react on impulse anymore; most of the time it costs me both money and time when I blindly follow, and that’s just the material cost.
I can see that my previous behaviour patterns are not worthy anymore of who I have become. Most of all what irritates me is the wasting of time. Because, I realise just how little of it I actually have… I need to use it for more useful, more fruitful activities. One fact, however, is clearer than most… “Life is going to end.” So everything around me is just fluff. I need to focus on what’s really important… and it all boils down to my character and my behaviour, based on my values and my beliefs.
I realise that once you know this, your purpose in life becomes so much more simpler to understand. but.. .even this only lets you know what the path is. And…
“There’s a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path.”
Peace,
M.
Eid Mubarak!
Ramadaan is a time I will definitely miss. I felt so close to the One, so at peace with who and what I am and what my purpose is on this Earth. I don’t want that feeling to go away. I don’t want this closeness to disappear.
Now is the time the real test begins. Faith is tested in reality, amongst the things we cherish most, our lives need to be governed by the same principles we imbibed during Ramdaan. Even if it was just little changes we made to make ourselves better people. We need to carry on those little things outside of the Holy Month.
Eid for me is a time for celebration, but also the time for real reflection. Will I be able to keep up with the changes I had made during Ramadaan, or will all the lessons be forgotten so quickly, like the flip of a switch, or a press on the remote for the TV.
What have I learnt from Ramadaan? I learned that this life is nothing but a test. Everything material will melt away, we have so many examples of how everything will perish, superpowers will fall, big personalities will die and be forgotten, what seems to be the biggest changes will mean absolutely nothing in the long run. What matters in the end is how you lived your life, what did you DO with your life.
Everybody will be judged at the end. I think we all need to realise that… our every action will be tunred over and analysed, no matter how small, no matter how secret. I need to take a good look at myself before I can lift my head up and judge anybody else. The evil without begins with the evil within. I need to watch myself. Awareness is the first step to enlightenment.
Eid Mubarak.
Muhammad Karim.
God’s Plan
I though this was too beautiful not to put up.
Some things are beyond planning.
And life doesn’t always turn out as planned.
You don’t plan for a broken heart.
You don’t plan for an autistic child.
You don’t plan for spinsterhood.
You don’t plan for a lump in your breast.
You plan to be young forever.
You plan to climb the corporate ladder.
You plan to be rich and powerful.
You plan to be acclaimed and successful.
You plan to conquer the universe.
You plan to fall in love – and be loved forever.
You don’t plan to be sad.
You don’t plan to be hurt.
You don’t plan to be broke.
You don’t plan to be betrayed.
You don’t plan to be alone in this world.
You plan to be happy.
You don’t plan to be shattered.
Sometimes if you work hard enough, you can get what you want.
But MOST times, what you want and what you get are two different things.
We, mortals, plan. But so does Allah in the heavens.
Sometimes, it is difficult to understand Allah’s plans especially when
His plans are not in consonance with ours.
Often, when He sends us crisis, we turn to Him in anger. True, we cannot
choose what Allah wishes us to carry, but we can carry it with courage
knowing that He will never abandon us nor send something we cannot cope
with.
Sometimes, Allah breaks our spirit to save our soul.
Sometimes, He breaks our heart to make us whole.
Sometimes, He allows pain so we can be stronger.
Sometimes, Allah sends us failure so we can be humble.
Sometimes, He allows illness so we can take better care of ourselves.
And sometimes, Allah takes everything away from us so we can learn the
value of everything He gave us.
Make plans, but understand that we live by Allah’s grace.
Peace,
M.
On the 1st Day of Ramadan…
I found it particularly interesting this morning when I got into work to suddenly see girls who I didn’t even know were Muslims suddenly pitched up in Big Scarves and flaunting their Muslim identity. Sadly, this happens every year… these people (whom my friend calls “Fly by Night” and “Flash in the Pan” Muslims) always scuttle to the surface during the Holy month (as they should), but what I hope doesn’t happen (again, as it does every year) is that this “Proudly Muslim”-ness disappears at the end of the month and sometimes even during!
Also, we see the brothers showing up for Zohar Salaah (Mid-day Prayer), which is equally good and the masjid was so full I couldn’t even get parking! Unfortunately again, the numbers dwindle as we get into it. *sigh*
Right now I should do some soul-searching myself… I am one of those who shirk my responsibility when it comes to prayer. And all the other things I have to change suddenly become clear to me as we get into Ramadaan. So, here are my resolutions for this month…
1) Eat Less (Easy to do in this month, but a good habit to keep up after as well) + I can lose weight :)
2) Pray all my Salaah on time at the mosque (as often as I can manage)
3) Stay up after Fajr Salaah (Early morning Prayer) – Even modern scientists vouch for the benefits of doing this.
4) Read more Quraan.
There may be some others, but I’ll add them as I get into it.. right now , this seems simple enough, hopefully I will succeed :)
Peace,
M.
Technorati Tags: Ramadaan, Ramadan, Fasting, Islam, Muslims, South Africa
Muslim Xtremists!
LOL!
Technorati Tags: Muslim Xtremists, Extermists, Islam, Muslims, Muslim, humour
“Make Laugh Not War” and the Conservative Muslim Backlash
I went to watch the Muslim comedy show “Make Laugh Not War” last night and I never ever laughed so much since I went for YFM‘s “Blacks Only” Comedy show in 2005. I swear I laughed so much it actually hurt, really. Riadd Moosa (pictured) was the MC and every time he was on stage everybody couldn’t keep from laughing, he picked on everything South African and Muslim and ripped it apart so beautifully every Muslim couldn’t help but laugh at themselves and I’m sure the same effect was made on the non-Muslims.
I’m in the process of getting a bootleg copy of the event (from a friend of a friend *snicker*), so maybe I’ll put up a podcast later :P
What got to me though, was at the end of the show the comedians had said people were claiming the show was” Haraam” (forbidden) and anti-Islam and , I don’t know if this happens else where but it happens in Durban… the spreading of pamphlets. It’s the most irritating thing ever… In Islam, if you don’t like what somebody is doing, the correct course of action is to give that person nasiha (advice), these idiots subvent the entire process and spread hate-speech pamphlets to every mosque they can get their hands on banning whatever they feel is Un-Islamic without ever talking to the people in question.
It’s not unrelated to the cartoon question, where these same people resort to tactics which are extremely UN-ilsamic in order to make a point. These are the people who are giving Islam a bad name.
Specifically with regard to the comedy show, it actually made Muslims laugh at themselves.. which these people obvioiusly never do. No sense of humour, which probably also lends to the point above. Azhar Usman, who sports a lengthy beard actually started his set up with “Check this out, this is what a person who looks like me, actually looks like when they smile…” LOL, it’s sad but true.
They were even being fought with over the name of the comedy show… Originally it was supposed to be called “Allah Made Me Funny.” but they were taken to task for it so they cahgned it to “Make Laugh Not War” and again these “scholars” went on a tangent saying it was against Jihad… if there’s anyone who needs to have a better understanding of the concept of Jihad, it’s these people and here they go sanctioning “going to war” is Jihad… WTF?
Another question… if we are listening to Scholars who are this immature.. what does that say about us? What does it say about the entire Muslim community? Grow up. Ask the questions… Are we that blind and stupid to (1) Not Learn Islam for ourselves and (2) Blindly Follow without questioning?
Sex and Islam…
Jeffrey Fleishman (Los Angeles Times)
In the delicate realm where the Koran meets human desire, Heba Kotb, a Muslim sex therapist in a ruffled gold head scarf, has strong opinions on vibrators, foreplay, premature you-know-what and why more men can’t seem to locate the G-spot…
‘Everyone is searching for better sex, but people aren’t having the best sex. Sex within Islam is the best. It covers the man’s rights and the woman’s rights. Islam is the ultimate sexuality.’
— Heba Kotb, sex therapist in Cairo who has a late-night satellite TV show
