Diaries {حِجَابِ} Diaries

Sorting my way through the pile, I don’t know which to choose o_O. This blue one with black embroidery and embellished with iridescent beads? Or that one: a salmon colored silky georgette triangle? The sheer white chiffon, to be casually draped on the head and thrown over the shoulder is nice.

 Or should I get the black bonnet, with a niqab on top and a jilbab below, leaving only the eyes to be seen. There are so many--squares, and rectangles, triangles with straight edges, zigzag, or scalloped. The colors they come in are too many to be named, ranging from red, blue, and yellow, to tangello, razzmatazz, and salmon. For parties there are hijabs covered with embroidery, beads or sequins, perfectly matched with the day’s outfit :D. And for a common quiet day, there are plain solids in georgette fabric, hiding every strand of hair. So many colors, so many choices, it was enough to confuse any girl. The choice was hard, but at the same time so easy—it was only a piece of fabric after all.

A piece of fabric that represents many things for Muslim women: for those who wear it, it’s a sign of modesty and of humility; they are more than their body. It gives them a sense of belonging, a sense of identity, and unity. They are part of the 1.5 billion Muslims that make up 1/6^th of the world. These women are Muslims. The hijab gives them safety and security. No one looks at them with lust, undresses them with their eyes, or judges them for how they look. 

These women are respected for the strength they have to wear this tiny piece of cloth. A cloth that, while makes them part of one community, at the same time separates them from all the rest because this tiny piece of cloth also comes with a heavy load of responsibility; responsibilities that prevent them from doing immodest things. They are examples for everyone else; they have to live by the ideals the hijab represents.

 These women are strong. The freedom they live isn’t defined by the thoughts and wants of others. They conform only to what they believe, they live for what they believe, and they dress according to what they believe. These women are free.

Be my Valentine?

My niece Shefa is six years-old and in 1st grade. Alhamdulillah she loves school, and she absolutely adores her teacher. She came to me today with a drawing she made. It was this huge rainbow heart. She asked me if I had any ideas on how to make it more beautiful. 

She wanted to show her teacher just how much she loves her. 
As I looked at her drawing, I could't help but feel sad. My niece, how was I going to explain to her that this day, Valentine's Day which she was so  excited about....it wasn't our day. We were, we are Muslims. Valentine's Day is a Christian holiday. I told her to take it some other day. She looked at me like I didn't understand o_O.
     "But my classmates are taking it tomorrow"
I looked at her and asked, "Shefa, do you love your teacher every day? For all the days?"
She nodded yes.
    "Then why are you giving her a card just that one day?," I asked.
I told her to take it another day, and she agreed. While she still may not understand exactly what I was trying to say, what it means to be Muslim and non-Muslim, at least she knows that this is something Muslims don't do. *Shes smart :D*
 We are Muslim, and sometimes that sets us apart from all the people around us. It means not wishing our Christian friend a Happy Easter, Merry Christmas, or in this case, Happy Valentine's Day.
 Believe it or not, it even means not greeting our Muslim Brothers and Sisters with these greetings *Doh! :D* or tagging everyone we know on a Facebook e-card photo *watch those notifications go sky-high tomorrow :P*
Living here, it gets too easy to learn these habits, to adopt them. The scary thing is, this "adoption" of ours was foretold by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). 

 It was narrated from Abu Saeed Radhiallahu Anhu that Nabi Salallahu Alaihi Wasalam said, ‘you will certainly follow the ways of those before you, hand span by hand span, cubit by cubit, until even if they entered the hole of a lizard, you will do so too’- we asked ‘O messenger of Allah, do you mean the Jews and the Christians?’ He said, ‘who else’. (Bukhari/ Muslim)

And it's true! When we do it, it doesn't seem like much. 
    "I mean, I was going to get her a gift anyway, I'll just get it on Valentine's Day"
    "My friend is getting me a present for Christmas, I'll get her something too"
     "The costumes are cute, and the kids love candy, we don't believe in Halloween, but that doesn't mean we  can't get some candy, lets go trick-or-treating"

     Shaitan puts so many thoughts in our heads to lead us astray, and we don't even realize it. We go on thinking its nothing till suddenly we are celebrating all the holidays that belong to the non-Muslims, yet we don't do Qurbani because the farm isn't nearby, ect.

It doesn't seem like anything, but it is.

Valentine's Day has roots way back in Roman times:

  Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. 

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets,  slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Roman women believed it would make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman.

And they would spend that year together. *Am I the only one that finds this creepy? :-S* After that year, they either get married or do it over again. The Roman Catholic found the idea to be disturbing. *See! I wasn't alone in thinking it's creepy :D * So, they changed the slips to the names of saints which the guys now had to emulate for that year. They also had the Feast of Valentine on this day to try to change the pagans ways. 
 But back to before the Roman Catholics changed it, the idea of a guy and a girl getting together on February 14th is what some people believe Valentine's Day comes from.

So, the earliest roots of Valentine's Day is a weird, very creepy, pagan roman holiday. 
We  may not believe any of it. We might even find the whole thing silly, but if we still say those words, "Happy Valentine's Day," so many decades later, somewhere , some how, we are helping to keep that tradition, that belief alive. 

And that belief is SHIRK.

To say the truth, I didn't know the intricacies of Valentine's Day before, and I wished people a Happy Valentine's Day. But as soon as I found out, I stopped. And now I'm telling you, so that you can stop. 

                                        Will You?

Abraha Al-Ashram

In the year that Muhammed (SAW) was born, Abraha Al-Ashram, a Yemeni king, , came to destroy the Ka'bah that Ibrahim (AS) and Ismail (AS) had built . Abraha had built a great church in Yemen. He wanted the Arabs, who did Hajj to the Ka’bah every year, to change their pilgrimage destination to his church. When this didn’t happen, he swore he would tear down the Ka’bah. Abraha came with an army of elephants to Makkah. Some say there were 20 elephants, some 200, and some 1000. The biggest of them was Mahmoud, whom Abraha was riding. 

Mahmoud was simply an animal, a great animal yes, but an animal none the less. Yet this simple creation of Allah even had fear in its heart for Allah. Whenever Abraha tried to lead Mahmoud into Makkah, the elephant would refuse. He would stop and just turn away. Subhana'Allah!

Eventually however, Abraha forced Mahmoud to go in.

 Abraha had also taken some of Abdul Mutallib’s camels. When Abdul Mutallib asked for the return of them, Abraha asked him would he not protect the Ka’bah that Abraha had come to destroy. Abdul Mutallib replied that the Ka’bah belonged to Allah (SWT), and He would take care of it. The camels were Abdul Mutallib’s and as such, their care was his responsibility.

As Abdul Mutallib had said, Allah (SWT) would take care of His Ka’bah. So when Abraha went to destroy it, Allah (SWT) sent flocks of birds, the Abaabeel. Each bird had three stones of baked clay, one in their beak, and one in each of their red feet. As Abraha’s army came in, the birds pelted their stones down at them. The stones burned through the people destroying them till only a husk was left. All except Abraha, who was given the punishment of NOT dying, but feeling such pain throughout his return back to Yemen that his heart came out of his body. And so the Kah’bah was saved. 

Subhan'Allah! 

This story  is related in the Surah Al-Fil.

Mom?

Mom...she's supposed to be the one I love most in the world. And I DO...I really do...but sometimes its so easy...too easy to forget. 

I was reading a book today. This new one that I've been waiting for FOREVER to read. I was in the best part when all of a sudden my Mom comes and yells at me because my door is closed. She tells me to get out of my room and do some work. It seems she always finds the worst time to come in and give me some type of chore. And seriously...sometimes I think she actually looks for something that she can have me do...just to give me work. And no matter how well I do it..something always seems to be wrong. 

I was actually talking about this with a friend the other day..how no matter what we do...it's never good enough for our Moms. Crocheting? Took too long. Sewing? Left a thread hanging. Cooking? Too much salt (or not enough). Painting, writing, or drawing? A waste of time -_-

And dressing up...I dunno about you people...but I love dressing up (total girly girl here ;)). But my mom? Man! Of course she never says I look good... rather she tells me all the things  that look bad. And then someone else sees me, and they compliment...I'm left thinking "umm...Mom?"

But then sometimes when I  think of all the things that she has done for me...I'm left...ashamed. I was annoyed because she disturbed me in the middle of a conversation??? Or a book? A book??? How many times was she not able to do something because of me?

And every time she has criticized me...they were honest. She knows I can do better. And every one of those critics I remember..and make sure not to do next time. She was teaching me all those times. And I was angry?

Abdullah Ibn 'Umar saw a Yemeni man performing Tawâf (circumambulating the Ka'bah) while carrying his mother on his back. This man said to Abdullah Ibn 'Umar, "I am like a tame camel for her! I have carried her more than she carried me.

Do you think I have paid her back, O Ibn 'Umar?" He replied,

"No, not even one contraction!!"

Bukhari

 

My mom always says, if I don't learn all the stuff she makes me do now, what will I do when I get my own house? It always makes me embarrassed (sharmana ;)) as to what it implies (does she have to mention that?)...but Man! it is so totally relevant. I know people who were a mess when it came to running their own household because their mom coddled them so much. My sister...she always tells me, "You might really not like Mom now...but someday watch....you wont be able to thank her enough for all that she taught you". 

O big sister dear what wise words :D

I have no doubt she's right.

Moms...they are the people who knew us before anyone else knew we even existed. Who stayed up countless night...cooked a million meals...kissed thousands of booboos. They are willing to do anything for us....what are we willing to do for them? There was a time when our lives revolved around our mother....now do we give them even a few minutes from our day? Now when it's out turn to care for them...do we take up that task?

Mom...she's the one who gave her life up for me, her time, her efforts in bringing me up...but often I forget...its so easy..too easy to forget.

Du'a Time

As kids, Dad used to always take us shopping. It was the thing we used to do together as a family. We'd all pile into the car..Dad would tell us to recite Dua wherein my sister and I would compete as to who said it the fastest :P
This one time though, Dad was saying how shopping was such a materialistic Dunyabi...worldly thing to do (despite being Oh Soo Very Fun :P). Why not make this a way to get some reward? So he taught us this Dua, and said that we had to memorize it by the time we got to the store. The Dua was this:

 Allah is free from imperfection and I begin with His praise, as many times as the number of His creatures, in accordance with His Good Pleasure, equal to the weight of His Throne and equal to the ink that may be used in recording the words (for His Praise).

Guys, boys, males -_-

*sorta harsh topic, but it needs to be talked about...I've seen way too many people make mistakes

         Guys, boys, men...there's a reason why Islam prohibits boy-girl relationships...they are way too complicated. I live in a mostly all-Christian population...and I've seen enough broken relationships to last a life time. I'm talking about teenagers, young kids who decide they are totally completely in love, and all of a sudden they can't live without this person. They have this happy phase where everything is going good...and then just a few months later it falls apart and they barely know each other.

      And it breaks my heart when I see my young Muslim sisters making the same mistakes, doing the same things.

        Truth is, there are two things: crushing, and loving, and as young kids we mistake crushing for love. I don't even know what love is, but I do know what a crush feels like. In today's world, its kinda hard to avoid a crush...it happens...I think so anyway. We can't exactly prevent ourselves from liking someone... that's near impossible. What we can do is remember that WE are Muslimahs, and as Muslimahs, we should always coincide what we do with what we want in the Aa'khirah. 

So I might like this guy, but is he really worth my Aa'khirah? 

         I think if a guy is really worth it, I wouldn't have to worry about my Aa'khirah being jeopardized because he would worry about that. If a guy really loved me, how could he ask me to do something that Allah (SWT) has forbidden? How could he doom me to the punishment of the Aa'khirah? 

         If a guy was really worth it, I wouldn't have to hide him, and there would be no need to defend him. 

It is related on the authority of Abu Haraira (Rahimahullaah) that the Holy Prophet(salAllahu `alaihi wa sallam) said,"Seven people will be shaded by Allah under His shade on the day when there will be no shade except His. They are: 

1) The judge who is just;

2) The man who devotes his life in the worship of God even in his youth;

3) The man who eagerly awaits the call to prayer to go to the Mosque and worship God;

4) The two companions, who love each other for the sake of Allah, when they meet they meet for the sake of Allah, when they separate they separate for the sake of Allah;

5) The man who resists the temptation of a woman who is beautiful and comes of a respectable family and tries to incline him towards her for evil purposes;

6) The man who gives alms with his right hand but conceals it from the left;

7) The man when alone, meditates on God, and his eyes become filled with tears."

(Bukhari)

            I don't know about anyone else but I want to be among those under Allah (SWT)'s shade. If a guy is leading me away from Allah (SWT) instead of toward him, how could he EVER be worth it???? 

He isn't.

May Allah (SWT) protect us from all of those things that lead us away from Him....Ameen

Lovin' Y'all For the Sake of Allah :)

Hijabless and Hot

So we see those girls every day, girls who don't wear hijab. Not necessarily Muslim girls...just girls in general....and man some of them look So pretty and nice...and from a male point of view....sizzlin hot... especially if shes dressed "provocatively" ;)
Unfortunately another thing also described as hot...rather extremely hot is Jahannam, Hell.

And then there is us..Hijabi and Proud :)...no one describes us as hot...even if we are lookin as perfect as we are gonna get...hot...just isn't heard for us....it's almost derogatory. No...we get Beautiful :)
And you know the placed that's described as the Most beautiful place ever created?....you guessed it (or didn't): Jannah, Heaven. Subhan'Allah!
So then there's the question: Girl you wanna be hijabless and hellishly hot? ..or hijabi and heavenly beautiful?


OK so that's a bit harsh (but perfectly dramatic enough to sound good ;)). Wearing the hijab shouldn't be something that's forced, it should be something one chooses to do, be it because they love Allah (SWT), or they fear Him.

Personally...I wouldn't know what do if someone called me hot...it just sounds sorta wrong...as if that person is seeing just a body and thinking bad thoughts. Beautiful on the other hand...just sounds so nice *dreamy*
And there are no implications or intentions behind that word...just a well deserved compliment :D