First-Ever Eid(al-Adha) Post

           Assalamualikum Everyone! Aspiring Muslima here, wishing you all, Insha' allah to have a wonderful Eid al-Adha!

Regarding the Eid prayer, Muslims are highly recommended to go, even the women who are not able to pray at the time.



     Eid Mubarak

Happy Eid
Eid Mubarak, Ya Muslimeen!
                                                                                        Wishing you the best this Eid.

From a Muslim Sister to the Muslim Ummah: May You All Have a Blessed Eid al-Adha.


An informative article regarding Eid al-Adha and what it celebrates can be reached through the following link:

http://islam.about.com/od/hajj/a/adha.htm


Exciting Eid experiences? Comment and share!

The Day of Arafah

ASAK.
Before I begin, check the schedule. It's been updated. Yes, again, but this time on the same post.
Arafah is tomorrow! Eid the day after that!
I'm really sorry I had to change the topic schedule so that I would resume most of the topics after Eid,  but time is restricted for me at the moment, and Arafah and Eid are right around the corner, so...
Back to Arafah.
‘Arafah (the 9th day of Dhul-Hijjah) (for those who are not performing Hajj); the Prophet (peace be on him) said: “Fasting on the day of ‘Arafah expiates two years of sins last year’s and next year’s and fasting on the tenth of Muharram (‘Ashura) expiates the previous year’s (of sins).” (Muslim and others).

For those of you who have been read the post I made in October, Voluntary Fasting,
you would recognize this hadith. I wish I could spice this post up a little, with more hadith or explanations or details, but I have less than fifteen minutes till I leave the computer.
Arafah is tomorrow,
so Insha' allah all of us who are able,
will fast!

ASAK

Topics Schedule: Updated

ASAK Everyone.
Here's the updated(and updated again) schedule, and I am sorry but the topic of Hayaa will not be posted tonight, instead a post on Taqwa has been posted. Insha' allah tomorrow I will proceed with the schedule.

Schedule:

1. Taqwa (DONE)
2. The Day of Arafah(DONE)
3. Eid al-Adha[First-Ever Eid Post on this blog; anticipate this special post!](DONE)
4.Repentance; Never Give Up on Allah(SWT)'s Mercy
5. Hayaa'

6.  Our Muslim Identity, What That Means, and What We Should Be Doing(in Regard to that)

Any thing you want to add to this schedule? Comment and let me know, although right now I have quite a bit, as I have to put all this, including the Eid Post, before Friday(I believe Eid is on Friday, right?).

ASAK,

Taqwa and Hayaa, Fundamentals

Taqwa. What is Taqwa?

           To me, attaining consistent Taqwa is one of the most beautiful goals. Yet what is Taqwa?
To start off, let me give you an example of a Muslim who is exhibiting Taqwa:

          Let's say her name is Sarah. Sarah, an aspiring muslima, finds herself in the situation of watching a movie that is clearly haraa'm, as it it displays things that Muslims should not be seeing. She mumbles to her friends that she does not think this is an appropriate movie.
         "Aww Sarah, you're such a goody-good. What's the matter with you, it's a great movie."
Cheeks growing red, Sarah doesn't say anything else and continues watching the movie till the very end.
When she goes home, the moment she enters her room she begins sobbing in fear of her Lord, as she has clearly done what is wrong. I should have stood up to them. I could have left the room. I have no excuse before my Lord, she thinks, distressed.
       She pleads for His Forgiveness, reads Quran, and prays extra prayers, all in Fear of Her Lord.

Abu Dhar Jundub bin Junadah and Abu Abdul Rahman Mu’adh bin Jabal, radiyallahu anhuma, reported that the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said:

“Fear Allah wherever you may be; follow up an evil deed with a good one which will wipe (the former) out, and behave good-naturedly towards people.”

This is what Sarah did, the moment she came home, praying, repenting, and making Dua'.

      That is an exhibition of Taqwa. Being God-Conscious, always feeling God is Watching you, and Knows everything you are doing. Having that Love and Fear of Allah(SWT), that you do not want to anger Him, you want to please Him.

 Ali ibn Abi Talib, radiyallahu anhu, defines it as: “Fearing Allah, adhering to His commandments, being content with what He provides one with, and getting ready for the Day of Judgement.”
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Taqwa. A truly beautiful goal. For that is what Islam is. Beautiful.

"Preface to Fundamentals Post"

ASAK Everyone; to the regular readers, to the newbies, to everyone. Man, I'm tired, I was playing tennis earlier this afternoon for, like, an hour, and for some strange reason my weekend's tennis class has caught up with me today, and my legs are sore. ANYWAYS, back to what I was saying. As most of you should know, through my post on the schedule of topics/posts, I at first planned on a post on Saturday, then I edited it to SUNDAY, and then, well hey, procrastination gets to us all(and we should try our best to avoid it), now I'm doing it on Monday night.

We, my fellow brothers and (somehow I think mostly) sisters in Islam, shall be discussing the very highly important topics of Taqwa and Hayaa'. Each of these topics are fundamentals of Islam,
and a blog post or two CANNOT express any one of them in its entirety, but I shall do my best. Out there, I'm sure you can find countless books on these topics, and I urge you to do so. (I'm started reading a book entitled The Ideal Muslimah by...I'll get you the author later. So far it's pretty good. It's Islamically educational, and focuses on us "women"(if you are unaware, Islamically you're considered an adult, or accountable for your actions, when you have reached the age, or stage, of puberty. So a ten-year old out there could be considered a woman. But...that may sound unusual or different to some, so that's why I put the word in quotes).

I'm aware that  I'm  leaping from topic to topic, but that's good, isn't it? Learning/brushing up on your Islamic knowledge is always good.
Back to those two fundamentals of Islam I was talking about

Taqwa and Hayaa'

Truly Beautiful they are.  That's Islam. Beautiful.
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As always, I'm open to comments; after reading the next post, or possibly posts on Taqwa, and Hayaa', share your experiences, views, feelings about Taqwa and Hayaa', how you might be working to maintain these fundamentals, or why you believe they are truly important. Share events that demonstrate absolute LACK of these fundamentals, and why some may be lacking these fundamentals.

Assalamualikum,

I've Seen; Clearin' Things Up

ASAK Everyone.
OK, it seems that some may be feeling I've Seen, the song that I have made available to hear on the blog, is romantic, or in other words, "lovey-dovey."
When I first heard the song, I thought similarly,
but when you hear the rest of the song,
it appears that Sami Yusuf is speaking about LOVE FOR THE MUSLIM UMMAH.
I highly doubt Sami Yusuf would be speaking of romance; he's a Muslim brother in Islam, and a Muslim singer with many beautiful Nasheeds(check 'em out, they're wonderful!), and none of his other songs contain a hint of romance. In addition, if you look at the lyrics, it would be completely irrelevant to speak of romance and that sort of love, when you see what the other lyrics are talking about.
Insha' allah, I cleared that up,
and Thanks to Anonymous who commented on her observation and provoked this post to avoid further misconceptions, Insha' allah.
ASAK,

Topic Schedule

ASAK EVERYONE!

This post is going to be dedicated to scheduling what topics and such I am going to talk about in future posts.
I plan, Insha' allah, on Sunday to post a post about Hayaa', modesty, a VERY IMPORTANT FUNDAMENTAL. And as one reader commented, on our position as Muslim teens. In other words, our Islamic Identity, and what we should be striving to do in regard to that. So that's two topics.

Here's the schedule:

1. Hayaa'
2. Our Muslim Identity, What That Means, and What We Should Be Doing(in Regard to that)
3. Eid al-Adha[First-Ever Eid Post on this blog; anticipate this special post!]

Any thing you want to add to this schedule? Comment and let me know.
As always, I'm open to suggestions, polite criticism, and comments. Assalamualaikum Everyone.

Continuing Hijab: More in Depth

Assalamualikum.

I know that it might be difficult for Muslim girls living in a non-muslim country, a non-muslim society, to wear the Hijab. I acknowledge that.

Personally, it isn't that hard for me to wear the Hijab. But today I was thinking about all of this, and I felt that I should try others' perspectives as well. Everyone's different, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.

I felt that I was being a bit too sharp on the last post. Truthful and honest, but sharp.

So, to continue:

You might feel that you'll stand out, people will look at you and think you're strange. The reasons for not wanting to wear it are endless. But you need to overcome that nervousness, that anxiety. That feeling "I'm not ready. I know I have to, but I just can't."

I really sympathize with and love all my Muslim sisters, be they wearing Hijab or not, but I'm trying to let them know that what they are doing(not wearing Hijab) is wrong, against Allah(SWT)'s command, and they are accountable.

I pray for all Muslim sisters to overcome the difficulty of living in a Non-Muslim society.

Simultaneously, it is not an excuse to disobey God. The harder it is to do something for God's sake, Insha' allah the more Ajr, the more good deeds you shall receive.
Again, if you have any questions or concerns, such as how you want to wear Hijaab, but find it difficult to do so, feel free to comment.

(Recall that I have enabled comment moderation, so if you dont see your comment on for a couple of days, that may mean that I havent had the chance to review and accept your comment for publishing on the blog.)