Chicks Rule! :D

*~Asalam'Alaykum~*

My favorite pass time *evil gleam in eye* lol


http://www.davidandgoliathtees.com/games/throwrocks.html
wasalaam :p


Warning: don't really try this in real life..no matter how mad you get :) LOL!

"The Sky's Falling!"

~*Asalam'alaykum *~

There’s no denying it, I’m a chat-hog when it comes to chatting with my friends online. I never used to be until more recently; when I was forced to keep in touch with my friends via the net or end up talking to my apartment walls with sheer boredom. Since my move to NYC for school, I’ve gotten more into the internet world of chatting and blogging and MashAllah even developed great friendships with solely “online friends.”

****

Still, there’s one thing that seems to get to me every time. Some people I’ve come across forget that the disembodied pink (in my case), Georgia fonted typing actually represents a real-life person. Yes, we all know that the net gives some of us too much “freedom” with our words and thoughts, flirting and inserting too many winky, cutsie smilies, but how about those who think that chatting is always some sort of therapy session? Of course we all have problems and life can’t be “happy, happy joy, joy” all the time, but shouldn’t there be a limit to the number of problems you can discuss with just one person? Unless that person is a psychologist (*ahem* like Zahera…lol) or a psychiatrist, it’s not at all an appealing quality and truthfully makes that person want to avoid chatting with you all together!

****
Good friends are those who share their companions both happiness and sadness; however, I think that complaining how much your life sucks, how depressed and upset you are because you couldn’t eat pizza today or that they ran out of your favorite ice cream at the market is a little too much. Especially if that's what is being dicussed every time.

Your life should not be an “’OMG, the sky's falling’” Chicken Little Syndrome.” I think some people need to take a step back and see what hardship really is.

****

So next time a friend asks how you’re doing, take time to remember that some problems can wait, especially if they’re not imperative. It doesn’t mean your friend is being selfish, it just means that you’re being considerate.


Wasalaam :)

::: Reformed Players :::

~*Asalam'Alaykum*~

When looking for a spouse one obviously looks for the most common traits (i.e. decent looks, career, morals, etc…) One of the most important traits is of course that of a good Muslim. But while being thrust upon the “rishta scene” I’ve come across something that makes me take a mental step back. Is it fair for a girl to be introduced to a “reformed player?” You might say “Oh of course you should accept him! MashAllah he’s a good Muslim: prays all five prayers and observes Islam fully! Perfect!” Well, I don’t think so. Okay, before you object heavily to that, let me explain myself fully.

****

play·er (pla.er) n.

One who utilizes the game to his advantage to be able
to date multiple women at once without being caught by the other
women.

****

There’s this breed of guys that we all know as the players; living up to the “boy’s will be boys” adage and basically giving a damn about their “Muslimness.” In my definition, the Player will go out and party, have a girlfriend or two, and maybe even dabble in some drinking and drugs. He’ll only claim to be Muslim when it makes him look gangster, “Oh, don’t mess with me, I’m Muz foo!” Mmm ok yea. *rolling eyes* Can we say immature.

****

It’s usually later in life that this Player decides to reform himself, more especially around the time he decides to jump on the bandwagon and get himself a nice, naive wife who’ll be, lo and behold, a good Muslim girl. But is that fair? Now if the situation was switched….

****

What would happen if the guy was the nice, innocent Muslim boy and the girl was a *ahem* player (we all know she'd be called somthing else entirely...something along the lines of a word beginning with an "S" and ending in a "T")? I’m pretty sure she’d have a harder time ridding herself of the “player” image. A guy is forgiven much more easily for his digression from Islam than a girl is. Once again our various Desi cultures screw with what’s fair and right. So many times I’ve heard the excuse that boys will grow up and follow the right path, but for now let them be. Why!?! I think we girls need to take a stand and give the reformed players a hard time, something I’m sure we’d be subject to if we carried the label “reformed player” sometime in our past.

****

It is important to remember that in Islam a man and a woman are not allowed to be alone together, and any physical contact before marriage is forbidden. Hence, Dating is not permitted in Islam.

****

"(Lawful to you in marriage) are chaste women from the believers and
chaste women from those who were given the Scripture (Jews and Christians)
before your time, when you have given their due Mahr (bridal-money given by the
husband to his wife at the time of marriage), desiring chastity (i.e. taking
them in legal wedlock) not committing illegal sexual intercourse, nor taking
them as girlfriends. ... ” - Al-Ma'idah 5:5

wasalaam :)

I ain't fallin for it this time!

Brunch in the City.

That's the title of the evite I received this morning. Pretty innocent sounding right? Wrong. I fell for it last time, but they can't fake me out twice! Some of you may remember my other seemingly nice, innocent get together..yeah the *cough* naseeb *cough* event.

Deer In Headlights

One embarrassing moment thwarted one more left to damage control! I just sent a "personal" email meant for one Muslim Bar Association Officer, to the entire Board of Directors. Sometimes I wonder how I even make it through the day on my own. *ugh*

~ wasalaam ~

Sign & Forward!

Please go to http://julywar.epetition.net and sign the Save the Lebanese Civilians Petition and forward this invitation to your friends.

Lebanese civilians have been under the constant attack of the state of Israel for several days. The State of Israel, in disregard to international law and the Geneva Convention, is launching a maritime and air siege targeting the entire population of the country. Innocent civilians are being collectively punished in Lebanon by the state of Israel in deliberate acts of terrorism as described in Article 33 of the Geneva Convention.



wasalaam...

~ Madiha ~

Cupcakes :)

Cupcakes always brighten up your day! I made some this weekend and they tasted great! :P

Here's a pic before they all ran out, some are already missing as u can see....


** wasalaam **

Requests for Du'a...

I received this email and felt that it was important for all of us to read.

As’salaamu alaykum


Inshallah all is well with all of you

Recent events have stirred many thoughts in my mind. Train wrecks, bombings, kidnappings, etc., all over the world things are taking place that require attentiveness, but where do our thoughts lie? How often do we wonder what we can do to help and then how often do we actually take the steps to help? Our ability to act might be somewhat limited and a means to speak out is perhaps beyond our grasp. At no given time however should we forget that we will always inshallah have the ability to help those in need in a way that is more powerful then our actions and our words alone, and that it through our du’aa. Yet for some reason we choose not to do so.

We pride ourselves on describing our ummah as unique and diverse; a nation transcending language, gender, ethnicity and creed. Yet when the time comes for us to help one another, even by a simple utterance of words that would take mere seconds to be spoken from our lips, we fail to respect that diversity. We enjoy that which has been given to us, as we have the right to do so alhamdulillah, but we should not forget that there are those who do not have the same experiences that we do. The prophet Muhammad alayhi salaam has told us in a tradition la yu’minu ahadakum hatta yuhibu li akhihi ma yuhibu li nafsi that “not one of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” What we fail to remember sometimes is that the word brother in this hadith is not qualified by any term. He does not say your brother in race, your brother in ethnicity, your countryman, or your kin. All he says is brother, a word so simple in meaning, yet many of us have forgotten what it stands for.

Let us today stop defining ourselves in terms of our skin colors, of our cultures, of any of our differences.

Today let us raise our hands and pray for everyone, everywhere; for the orphan child that sits at home wondering when his parents are coming home, whether he is in New Orleans or in Darfur; for the young girl who is forced to remove her head covering, whether she is in France or in Iraq; for those who are standing with no roofs over their heads, be they in Kashmir or Palestine or Lebanon or Afghanistan or Sudan; for all those who are feeling some kind of pain, some kind of remorse, some grievance or need, let us pour our hearts out for them all in hopes that our words will make a difference in some way, as the One who will be hearing them is the One who has the power to change all things, azza’ jal.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala guide us and protect us, May He bring ease to the lives of all those who are in need of tranquility and peace, May He grant strength to the weak, understanding to the ignorant, wisdom to the knowledgeable, and justice to the oppressed, and May He accept all of our prayers and secret wishes, as there are no secrets from Him. He is the All-Knowing, the Merciful.

Ameen ya rabbul ‘aalameen.barakallahu feekum jamee’an was’salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatahu

Khalid Latif
New York University Chaplain
Islamic Center at NYU

Curiousity is Baad!

mmm u've probably noticed that I have a new template. Well I guess I touched something I wasn't supposed to and royally screwed up the previous template and hence had to start over. The other one was so pretty too *sigh*

So don't worry, I'ma have all the links back up asap iA. In the meantime, sorry its not that entertaining @ the moment. :P

wasalaam :)

::Supernatural::

~*Asalam'alaykum~*


...While sitting around with my cousins the other day, I experienced this overwhelming sense of familiarity that felt like it shouldn't be familiar at all. We were hanging out, cracking up about different things and all of a sudden I had the feeling that i'd already experienced this very thing -- same situation, same place, same topic. Its not something new because it's occured before, but everytime it does happen, it kind of 'creeps' me out. The term used to describe this feeling is most often referred to as déjà vu, which in french means, literally, "already seen."

But...what exactly is it? Some scientific theories say its a type of precognition, or a pre-knowing, which is probably the most common paranormal experience that people claim to have. It is usually where a person "watches" a scene, sometimes in a dream or a daydream, which then later, usually within hours or days, seems to match an actual event and a lot more common than we think.

Some people asked Allah's Apostle (saw) about the foretellers. He said -- They are nothing." They said, O Allah's Apostle (saw)! Sometimes they tell us of a thing which turns out to be true." Allah's Apostle (saw) said, "A Jinn snatches that true word and pours it into the ear of his friend (the foreteller) (as one puts something into a bottle). The foreteller then mixes with that word one hundred lies."
** narrated by Ayesha (raa); Sahih Bukhari transmitted it. Vol 7 #657 of Sahih Bukhari**

Well that's a scary thought! Certainly the Qur'an warns Muslims against Black Magic. The Quran mentions that some people had extra-ordinary powers and were able to do things regarded as magical or miraculous. There is the example of Moses and Egyptian Magicians who faced him. And there is Solomon who controlled Jinn. But what i'm still confused about is why some people have precognition and what do experiences like precognition and deja vu play into Islam and faith?

How does Islam explain precognition though? Just like the lack of information on jinns & the supernatural, I didn't fine much. Once again, many of the fatwas didn't help much either. One' s that I did find were more like the following, a little vague:

Q: What is Islam's position towards psychic people. Can they really know what happened in the past?

A: Psychic people are untruthful people who full their constituents by telling them false information. Any reasonable and wise people will not demean himself/herself to go to a psychic. It is not Halal to practice or use their services. No one can tell anything of the past or future except through satanic dealings.

I know that visiting psychics, getting palm/tarot card readings and believing in one's astrology is a great sin.

Whoever comes to fortune tellers, and asks him about something, his prayer is not accepted for forty days and forty nights. **narrated by Hafsah (raa); translated by Muslim**

** and **

There are three who will not enter paradise: one who is addicted to wine, one who breaks ties of relationship, and one who believes in magic (i.e. the use of). **Narrated by Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (raa); transmitted by Ahmad.**

However, what about those people that genuinely can see the past or even the future? I don't think all psychic are fake. Off an on, I've "known" things before they actually happened. SubhanAllah, I don't have the desire to know these things nor an interest in the dark arts, but it still happens! So why does it?

~ wasalaam ~

Bismillaah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem
Qul a'uudhi bi rabbin naas
Malikin naas
Ilaahin naas
Min sharril wawaasil khannas
Alladhee yuwaswisu fee suduurin naas
Minal Jinnati wa naas

****

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most
Merciful.

Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of An-Nas.
The King of An-Nas.The God of An-Nas.
From the evil of the whisperer who withdraws.
Who whispers in the breasts of An-Nas.
Of Jinn and An-Nas.

{Ameen}

*** Ok, so later, I was talking to sister Veiled Knight about this and I asked her to post the gist of our conversation and her thoughts under this post...so here it is------

Ameen to above.

I just had this discussion with my friend a day or two ago, my friend- sister mujahidah an nafs-, Some of this is from what she relayed to me and some is from other bayaans, readings, etc...If i am erreneous-please correct me, jazakAllahukhayr, and Allah knows best.

These 'magical' powers that people have of "seeing the future" aren't real.. Rather these people have been given the Ability by Allah to do something. So what is this something? This something -When it comes to "real psychics"- is the ability for them to "converse" w/ shaytaan. Allah Knows the past, present and future, whereas the angels, jinns and humans are only given the intellect to know the past and present that is relevant to them. So what about the "psychics who 'predict' someone's future?" Before we understand that, we have to understand another thing: Each individual is given a jinn-this is the shaytaan/jinn who is laways with them-this jinn/shaytaan knows of this persons past and present. For the benefit of this lets refer to this one jinn as our 'personal jinn/shaytaan.' So what does this have to do w/ psychics? Allah has given humans and jinn freewill, He has created everything and left it up to us to chose good or bad. When you choose good-certain capabilities come from it... ie: pious shuyukh chose to lead righteous lives- and at some point attain a closeness to Allah-thus enabling this person to see things froma different prespective. Similarily when one chooses to lead a life of sin, he/she sees things froma differnt prespective. The sorcerers or what have you cose to take a path that was destructive and Allah has let them fall into that whole, and given them the ability to "converse" with our "personal jinn." How so? It's not as if they can summon your jinn and just talk to it. The example my friend gave me was something like this: Say you have an exam coming up and your stressed about it- your personal jinn knows b/c that jinn is always with you, so say you goto a 'psychic' and ask "do you see trouble in my future?" or "what does my future hold?" etc. This perosnal jinn and the 'psychic' acquire a connection in which the jinn whispers[somewhat like waswasa perhaps] to the psychic that you are worrying about something or are going through this or that or somethign of that nature. The psychic has been given this ability by Allah- as a means to drop them furhter into that whole which they initially dug for themselves in the first place. If you notice the psychic won't tell you that "you will fail an exam" but will say something like "you will face difficulties in the near future" etc. They are always spot on about you present or past b/c the personal jinn can tell them, but the jinn nor the psychic know what your future holds, b/c indeed Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is All Knowing.

So what about "pre-recognition" or "psychic dreams?" Subhan'Allah alot of people are bestowed with this ability. For example look at us-as we attain a closeness to Allah we sometiems develop asense of 'this may be better, or worse for me' sort of like a gut feeling.. instint perhaps. A prime example is why we ask the pious shuyukh for advice. The shuyukh who attain this sense of "knowing" that is bestowed upon them-this intellect- which is given to them from Allah, can insha'Allah give us guidance in many areas. Aside from "attaining" this,i think that Allah sometimes jsut gives some this intellect [i.e psychic dreams etc] simply b/c He wills, and He knows that this would be best for us in this life and the next. Some may have a little of this 'psychic' intellect some may have alot, some may have none, and so on- Any intellect we have, whether it be something we acquired or learned or attained etc-It's purely from Allah. He can give and take as He pleases...."Allah gives and takes, but makes no mistakes" Alhamdulillah, and Allah Knows Best.

This is VeiledKnight signing off, jazak'Allahukhayr.

Walaykumasalam warahmatullah.

Quote.

~ Asalam'alaykum ~


HOME SWEET HOME :)

I liked this quote:

Always keep smiling, no matter what, cause to the world you might be one person but to one person you might be the world

Will post more later iA...i just gotta get some sleep now and all the shaadi business outta my system!

wasalaam,

madiha

Journey...

~*Asalam'alaykum*~

I'm flying out to Maryland Thursday morning for shaadi # 3 inshAllah :) This time its my cousin on my mom's side, the first one of us too! That means one down and all attention on me and my sister next ::eek:: iA i'm gone for only 4 days and will be back Monday night. Until then be nice guys. hehe :)

Anyways, I came across this really nice post on a journey that I felt was very befitting....

Amongst all the running around, preparing for my journey, I managed to find a
long overdue spare minute and naturally, I began to think…A journey requires so
much preparation in order for it to go smoothly, it also takes much out of you
physically and mentally...

The time we take preparing for the journeys of the dunya outweigh the time
we take preparing for the ultimate journey of the akhira...How much time
do we dedicate to preparing for this most important journey of all; the journey
of the hereafter, the journey that determines our fate as to whether we
abide in jannah or the fire of hell?

This dunya is a temporary moment; it will disappear into an insignificant
memory of the past when we stand before our Lord Allah Ta'ala. Our deeds
will be laid out in front of us and we will have to answer, there will be no going
back. The thought of standing in front of Allah Ta'ala with so many sins to account
for cannot even be comprehended... How ungrateful are we that despite the
many blessings that Allah Ta'ala has bestowed upon us we repeatedly sin, and
each time we are forgiven by Allah Ta'ala. He covers our faults and gives us numerous
opportunities to repent in our lives and to seek forgiveness from Him ...yet we
do not hesitate to commit that sin again...a beautiful dua that brings tears to
the eyes is as follows and can be found in Prayers for Forgiveness By Hasan
Basri (Translated by Mufti Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf):

“O Allah, I seek Your forgiveness for every sin that my body empowered by the
good health that You had granted, was able to commit; every sin that came within
the reaches of my power only due to the grace of Your bounties; every sin to which
my hand, nourished by Your ample sustenance, extended. And while sinning, I hid myself behind Your veil from the people; and when fearing You, while engrossed in my sin,
I relied on Your assurance of safety and forgiveness; and I took refuge in You,
with Your clemency, not to smite me, and I depended on You, with Your noble countenance
and pardon, to forgive me.”

Ameen

Subhanallah…

Now tell me, how will we be able to stand in front of Our Rabb Allah Ta’ala with the sins that we committed knowingly, that we committed on purpose, that we committed, knowing that Allah Ta’ala would forgive us? A very unfinished ending, but I leave you and myself with the
following to ponder over...

Seek forgiveness, before it’s too late…repent…. before it’s too late

Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah

**Excerpt from bloggers Veiled Knight, Mujahidah an-nafs, & Aaliyah @ http://mujahidah-an-nafs.blogspot.com/

Hajj Experience

~* Asalam'alaykum*~



I came across this pretty tyte site that gives you a Hajj experience virtually! InshAllah I plan on going to Hajj sometime in my life, as most you do too i'm sure, and this is a great way to see what its kind of like! Here's the link :)

** Virtual Hajj **


Also, I came across this movie poster and was wondering if anyone had seen it.


www.roadtoguantanamomovie.com

Happy 4th of July

Glitter Graphics

too bad most of my friends are brits tho lol...

Feliz Cumpleanos...

~* asalam'alaykum wa rahmatullah wabarakatahu~*

With all the shaadi hoopla going on and the family visiting from different parts of the country, I'd kinda forgotten that it was my birthday today! Still, I don't think birthdays are all that exciting when we're older anyways. Alhumdulillah, my sister and I already got the best present, all the family together to sing us happy birthday and a du'a by my cousin, who is mashAllah a hafiz and an Islamic Alim in training. But, hey, I don't think i'll say no to a new car or money! lol...j/k j/k :P

Allahumma a-'inni 'ala dhikrika wa shukrika wa husni 'ibadatik(a)

'O Allah, help me in Your rememberance, Your thanks, and in perfecting Your prescribed worship.'

wasalaam