New Year, New beginnings iA

*~ asalam'alaykum wr wb*~

So iA i'm thinking of starting to post again! LOL..I know I know, I was gone for way too long and actually miss all you blog friends! I get a little nostalgic when I realize I'm not up to date with some of your lives! I'm back in NYC with my sister and one of my friends from LA staying with me this week! YAAY! All I've been doing is spending money that I really shouldnt be..but oh well! lol

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Here are some updates on my life since I last blogged...

I went home for winter break, but also flew to Chicago for about a week and spent Eid with my dad's side of the family, which was a change for once, since I hadnt seen a lot of them for about 6 years! They were all shocked to see I wasn't an awkward 14 year old with braces and tomboy tendencies! haha! I then flew back to LA for the remainder of my vacation, which was only about 4 days. :( Sucked because I hardly got to enjoy the nice weather and before I knew it, I was on another plane heading back to school!

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This time around I have five classes and, yup, still two jobs! haha crazy I know! But iA I still try to make some time for fun here and there!

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Oh, don't worry, I have some 'juicy' news up my sleeve, but ya know, I don't wanna give up all the fun stuff at once! haha...just stay tuned iA! hehe..

wasalaam everyone!

~ Madiha ~

@>---

:Free Time:

*~Asalam'alaykum wr wb~*

Sometimes life moves faster than we can blog. That's been me lately, so many things going on at one time alhumdulillah that I can't even form a coherent enough thought. Having 2 1/2 jobs (haha don't ask about the 1/2) and going to school full time gives me only about a few hours of downtime in a day.

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I'm ready for vacation. *sigh* I hate this downward spiral leading up to the holidays and these next couple of weeks are the last stretch towards the finish line, my trophey, Turkey Day (a.k.a Thanksgiving) in Maryland! :) woohoo...

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I miss home. I wanna be driving along the coast, windows down, listening to John Mayer with no real destination in mind. I wanna be walking on the beach with my friend Sophie and then afterwards hit up the cute little market in Malaga Cove for some chocolate chip cookie dough frozen yogurt. iA just one more month and i'll be home....

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Ok, I can't blog too long because even now i'm at work trying to write something worth reading while fearful that my boss'll step in at any moment. This definitely does not look like India's Murder laws, what I should be researching at the moment. OH and btw..does anyone know about India's Murder laws? haha see blogging can be useful to my research!

wasalaam everyone,

Madiha :)

Eid Mubarak :)

Eid Mubarak Everyone!!!!!!!!

Jazakallah for all your wishes and iA i'll post as soon as my week's a little less crazy! I've got an exam in a few hours and a paper to turn in by tomorrw that I haven't even looked at yet. argh, why am I such a procrastinator! ahh...anyways, keep me in your dua's iA!

Wasalaam,

Madiha :)

One of the Bad Guys...

~*Asalam'alaykum wr wb*~


I was so in need of a job and some money lately that it wasn't even funny anymore. I hate living off an allowance and haven't lived off of one since high school, and i'm definitely not going start now. Like most people, making money the easiest way possible is my primary goal. Following that creed, I figured getting a job at my school's library would be a breeze and would definitely get me some quick money. What i hadn't figured on was how freakn bored i'd be! After my supervisor 'taught' me that in order to do a "+" sign I had to press Shift and +/= I knew I had to quit!

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My first day was Monday from 10am-2pm and right after I got off, I went and emailed a law firm about a job. Facing challenges on a daily basis is more important than just getting paid. I never realized how important this concept is to me until now. So, today I had an interview with a firm and alhumdulillah I got the internship! Inshallah it seems like a very interesing position, but i never thought i'd be working for a criminal defense firm. I've worked with the District Attorney (prosecution), but defense! The bad guys?!

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Most people are like, you're a muslim and you're working for the defense!?! I'm such a person as well, or at least i was. Firstly, there's a difference on whether you work for a defense firm where the partners can pick and choose who they get to represent and secondly, who's going to represent Muslims that are innocent of terrorist or conspiracy charges?!
They are also considered criminals in the eyes of the government and are often misrepresented :(

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The work i'm going to be performing is fast paced and very challenging. My boss already gave me work and I don't even officially start till Friday, but InshAllah, this work will give me the experience most firms want to see on resumes.

Lets just say i'm going to be even more busy than I had been, but iA I won't forget my blogging buddies!

Wasalaam,

Madiha :)


p.s. i luv my roomates..especially maheen cuz she ain't ditch me! :p lol *mwah*

::Who's older?::

*~ Asalam'alaykum wr wb* ~

Ashton and Demi, Jutin and Cameron are all doing it and it seems to be the latest craze in Hollywood. "It" is the fact that older women are marrying/dating younger men. Ironically, for once Hollywood seems to be promoting an Islamic sunnah. Since we can't date, we can still consider the question of whether it is really so off the wall for a girl to marry a younger man?

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In many cultures, especially including my own Pakistani culture, a girl marrying younger than her is quite taboo and talked about in hush hush tones. When does this kind of marriage cross the line into the land known as "robbing the cradle." We commonly hear of men marrying girls much younger than them, hey, often times it seems like the younger the better! Why is it then ok for a man to marry a girl 20 years younger than him in our communities, but if a girl ever even entertained the idea of purusing a boy 20 years younger, WOAH, bring out the stakes and get the lighter fluid ready. Something like that can never be allowed! But if we look to Rasulallah as an example we know that Khadijah (raa) was older than the Prophet (saw). Surely, following the sunnah cannot and should not be considered wrong.

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All these various classifications are so engrained in our minds and in our upbringing that I find that I too pause when I hear a boy marrying an older girl or vice versa. Then again, maybe a 20 year age gap is a bit pretentious because even for Western standards its a little wide. How young is too young though? To me it all depends on the guy.The requirment should be subjective because its difficult to just say, "oh i think 1 year younger should be the max." Some guys still act 19 when they're 30 or some 19 year olds act 30 at their age....

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wasalaam,

Madiha :)

Just heading to the masjid...Really!

*~ Asalam'alaykum wr wb ~*

Most every night alhumdulillah my friends and I go to pray taraweeh at the masjid closest to us. Although, there's this large, beautiful and extravagent masjid that almost EVERYONE goes to, we decided to support our local masjid instead. Its a cute masjid, which is frequented by men mostly, but thank god, it has a totally seperate entrance and salat area for the women. Yet, there's something odd about this masjid.

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On late nights, after taraweeh and most often Isha, and especially Friday and Saturday nights, you might find yourself fighting around crowds of people decked out in their club clothes. These people are all waiting to get into one of the hottest sheesha (hookah) bars in NYC, which is located right next door, even sharing a wall with the masjid. Hey makes it easier to just whip off the hijab and place it around your waist for some dancing... OMG j/k astaghfr'allah! Sorry i couldnt help myself :p Still, I don't really put it past someone actually doing that.

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Anyways...I guess this is what you'd call the quintessential craziness of New York City. Talk about temptation and then being turned off by it! If i was going to check out a sheesha bar and saw the masjid next door, where sometimes people exiting after isha prayer, i'd be turned off in a heartbeat and my guilt would most definitely eat me alive.

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Nowadays after leaving taraweeh, my friends and I often come face to face with the roped off portion where people are waiting to get in and, yes, some of these people are even fellow brothers and sisters in Islam. Takes ogling in the hallway of the masjid to another level now doesn't it hanna? lol

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wasalaam,

madiha :)

p.s. make sure to watch that vid i put up too! jazakallah!!!! :D

*sigh* I love this! :)

Asalam'alaykum wr wb...

SubhanAllah this is so beautiful and if you've already seen it, just watch it again :D

Shahadah

~ Asalam'alaykum wr wb ~

I haven't been posting because, as some of you may already know, my computer has been away for repairs. Its hard to blog when you're using someone elses computer and I kinda feel like i'm imposing. Since its sahoor time right now and my roomate has decided to go back to sleep, I can blog a little iA....

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This past weekend I was able to see a young girl of about 20 years give the Shahadah. SubhanAllah it was one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen :D I always just remember them announcing at Jummah that someone had taken the shahadah and that there were sweets outside, but i'd never really witnessed or even participated so intimately with the whole process. At about 4:00 am Saturday morning, my friends and I went out to Cozy's, this cute diner, for sahoor and then made our way to the Islamic Center after Fajar with flowers. We were surprised to see that the girl was so young! And on top of that, she'd learned all about Islam and even some Surah's on her own by reading transliterations! This really made my Ramadan mashAllah :)

Goes to show how beautiful Islam is and how much we take for granted when we're just born Muslim. iA may Allah {swt} bless her and give us tawfiqh as well. (ameen)

wasalaam,

Madiha :)

{p.s. ok i hate ta use black font..but it wont let me do my colored fonts :( So, this'll be a rare sighting! lol}