99 Names of Allah

Abu Hurayrah narrates: There are ninety-nine names of Allah, whoever commits them to memory would go to Paradise. Verily, Allah is odd [Allah is one and it is an odd number] and He loves odd numbers. (Muslim, No. 4835)

My aim by the end of the year is to memorise the 99 names Inshallah!

Islam is perfect!

Beautiful Islamic Story

After performing Salat Al Maghrib, she put on her make-up, wore her beautiful white dress preparing herself for her wedding party. Then she heard the Adhan of ‘Ishaa and she realised that she broke her Wudu…she told her mother,

"Mother, I have to go to make wudu and pray ‘Ishaa."

Her mother was shocked, 

"Are you in your right frame of mind?! Guests are waiting for you, to see you! What about your make –up?

It will be all washed away by water!!

I am your mother and I order you not to perform salah now! If you make wudu now, I will be angry at you!"

Her daughter replied,

"Wallah I won’t go out from here till I perform my salah! Mother you must know that obedience to any creature is disobedience to the Creator!"

Her mother said,

"What will our guests say about you when you show up at your wedding party without make-up? You won’t be beautiful in their eyes! They will make fun of you!"

The daughter asked with a smile,

"Are you worried because I won’t be beautiful in the eyes of created beings?

What about my Creator?

I am worried, because if I miss my salah, I won’t be beautiful in His eyes!"

She started to make wudu, and all her make-up was washed away, but she didn’t care…

Then she began her salah and at the moment she bowed down to make sujud, she didn’t realise that it would be her last one.

Yes, she died while in sujud!"

*Changed slightly from original content*

10 reasons why I love my hijab

I work with mostly Non-Muslims and as I was brought up in England I mostly have Non-Muslim friends; therefore I get asked several questions one being:

 'Why do you wear that thing on your head? Why do you cover your hair?' 

Usually I ramble on about protection, religion and so on. I read a great response to this question by another sister. She replied 'Why do you wear clothes?' This led to a discussion about covering up and modesty etc
Another question I have been asked A LOT is 'Do you go to sleep in it?' I always laugh at this. Do they really think that?

NO I do not sleep in it
NO I do not wear it in the shower
YES I do have hair and YES I do brush my hair
NO I am not hot because I am wearing it, who isn't hot in 40 degrees?
NO I am not forced to wear it
NO I do not have alopecia (true story)

Moving on... my 10 reasons why I love my hijab...

1. I am worshiping Allah

2. Wearing the hijab makes me feel protected and safe in Allah's hands

3. Men know that it is not appropriate to approach me most of the time *rolls eyes*

4. I look different everyday as I can experiment with different hijab styles and colours

5. My hijab is a badge that shows I am Muslim and proud

6. Hijabs are cheaper than hair products - 10 dirham at Naif souq, haggle and you will get them even cheaper

7. No more bad hair days, however some days there can be bad hijab days HAHA

8. I feel respected and confident when I am wearing my hijab

9. It is a good topic to talk to Muslims and Non-Muslims about

10. I look and feel beautiful because of my hijab!

I actually do work with a nice bunch of people who always compliment my hijabs. One elderly lady told me how her daughter works in a reception and was told that she is not allowed to wear her hijab. I was so shocked that this would happen in Dubai! Anyway she was telling me how she liked my hijabs and how I cover up, and basically I think I inspired her daughter to fight for her right to wear her hijab. A couple of days ago her company finally agreed to let her wear it, Alhamdullilah!

Because one who stands for nothing will fall for anything

Yesterday I went to another lecture....my third one after living in Dubai for three years (shocking!), but the third one this month so Inshallah this continues!

Let me sidetrack for a second and update on my road rage this week in Thursday night traffic (ref: my post on 'Impatience') well I did not lose my temper. GO ME! This time I did not beep and kept very calm, we stopped off at a beautiful Masjid in Jumeira before this week's lecture too.

The talk was about defending our Prophet and was held by Brother Gabriel Keresztesat at Jumeira Islamic Learning Centre.
Brother Gabriel was a great speaker and touched upon some things that I always pondered but did not want to say out loud. A few months ago I finally found a copy of the Seerah that was written well (it has pictures!!!) but after I read it I had many questions about the Life of the Prophet. The book was called 'When the Moon Split.'

 Mashallah Brother Gabriel answered a couple of these niggling questions last night: 
One was about Muhammed (PBUH) attacking caravans. In the book it mentioned that our Prophet would attack the caravans and then split the 'booty' between the Muslims. Brother Gabriel made us aware that it was times of war and the Muslims were being attacked too. Obviously Muhammed (PBUH) did not attack innocent people and always had a reason for doing what he did. I learnt that the Muslims had everything taken away from them and sometimes even had to survive on eating animal skin. It was necessary for the Prophet to attack Quraish caravans to survive. Muslims had left everything behind and were persecuted, so it was their right to attack the Quraish caravans.

Another part of the Seerah I felt uncomfortable with was that our Prophet married Aishah who was very young. I guess I have been brainwashed by society today, as everything has to be about sexuality. Brother Gabriel talked about how marriage was about responsibility and a girl of a young age who has reached puberty CAN take on that responsibility. In that time culturally it was accepted to marry at that age. There are no accounts of disputes about the Prophet's marriage by the people at that time. Historically it was acceptable to be married at the age of puberty.

I remembered when I was growing up in England and my Non-Muslim friends would be 'extremely shocked' when I mentioned I would be attending weddings for 16/17/18 year olds. On the other hand these same Non-Muslims were in and out of several 'relationships' from an even younger age! Isn't being in a marriage better than what they do?

This episode of 'The Arrivals' sums it up quite well about how children from a young age have been brainwashed....

Anyway this talk made me feel much better than I did before and much more confident about defending my religion. I have never been in a situation where I have had to defend my religion (Alhamdullilah) but now I am prepared!

*Angels*

Aishah reported:

"The Messenger of Allah (S.A.A.W) said: ‘The angels are created from light, just as the jinn are created from smokeless fire and mankind is created from what you have been told about."

(Reported by Muslim, no. 2996)

There are many stories in Islam that talk about Angels, and also many stories of Angels visiting Earth in human form...
During Ramadan I was driving home from the supermarket and stopped at the lights. A really old man, who looked similar to my late grandfather, put his hand out to beg. I ignored him and he walked down another street. Whilst I was still waiting at the traffic lights I felt really guilty and thought about all the food I had bought for breaking my fast and this old man may not have anything.
Therefore I searched through my bag for some money but had nothing! I then drove really quickly to the nearest ATM took out some money and went looking for the old man. I found him and gave him some money.
TWO THINGS TO NOTE: I don't usually tell people when I give to charity but as this blog is anonymous I CAN! Secondly you should report beggars in Dubai as they could be illegal, however I just couldn't call the police for this old man.
Anyway I mentioned the whole scenario to my sister who said that it could be an Angel testing me during Ramadan. Now we are not sure if this is true or not, but it is nice to think that he was an Angel in human form...and hopefully I passed the test! InshAllah!

Last year my mother and I visited some family friends in sandy Ajman. Stupidly we left at midnight. Have you been to Ajman? There are no streetlights or proper roads. So we left our friend's house and tried to get back to Dubai. I could see Emirates Road over a sandy area but could not figure out how to get round and onto it. So SILLY ME decided to drive over the sand (in a small car) and you guessed it, we got stuck! I pushed the gas pedal even harder and sand covered the whole car.

Imagine, two women, alone, in the middle of nowhere, stuck! Ya Allah!
Within minutes two Afghani men in a massive car parked next to us...they tied the wheels with something and attached it to their car. I locked the doors. The men did not speak to us at all. Then four young Emirati boys (looked like yobs!) stopped in front of us. They came over and advised me how to drive out of the sand. It was strange as the boys did not talk with the two men at all. In the end the 6 men helped us out! We were still lost but my mum told me to just drive, drive drive!
We were scared and very shaken up. We finally made it home. I cried! SubhanAllah I was home safe!
Where these men Angels? You hear stories about Angels who come and save people when they are in danger...I still cry to this day thinking about this time. I have also decided never to go back to Ajman! We have to remember that Allah is always protecting us. I feel blessed!

SubhanAllah, La illaha il Allah, Allahu Akbar!

 "And the trumpet shall be blown, so all those that are in the heavens and all those that are in the earth shall swoon, except Allah; then it shall be blown again, then they shall stand up awaiting." —Qur'an (39.68).

I just wanted to leave you with one thought...the Angel Israfel has already drawn his breath to blow the trumpet for the Last Day and is just awaiting Allah's order. InshAllah we all pass the tests in this world and become good Muslims.

That's life!

I saw this and thought 'I wish I could just walk away from it all.'
But isn't drama part of life?
Wouldn't it be boring if we had no drama in our lives.
Does anyone focus on the good all the time?

Islamically you should think about the good in times of bad.

Alhamdullilah for everything!

Sometimes I think one day (soon) I will just leave work, leave Dubai etc and everything will be so relaxing and serene. But then there is a part of me that thinks...hmmmm maybe it won't be. Perhaps I may feel bored or totally lost. I don't know.
If everything in life just went smoothly then you would never appreciate everything around you.

I guess we are conditioned from a young age to believe that everything will be alright in the end. Think of your favourite fairy tale...'and they lived happily ever after!'
Alhamdullilah I have a nice life but I have taught myself to be strong and understand that not everything will be happy all the time, and sometimes we just have to accept it.

A few weeks ago I watched the film 'The Mist' and I was shocked at the ending, as it was extremely disturbing and I was not prepared for a sad end.
SPOILER ALERT!
Basically everyone is trapped in the mist and there are creatures brutally killing everyone who venture deep into the mist. So 5 people try to escape in a car including David and his young son Billy. When they realise they cannot get out of the mist and are probably going to be killed by the creatures they all decide they should shoot themselves. David has a gun with only 4 bullets. He kills the other 4 people in the car including his son Billy. Then it gets disturbing and he screams a lot (I cried!) he gets out of the car and basically rescue comes. Too late!

THE MIST ENDING That's a link to the youtube video...I suggest you watch it on DVD though!

ANYWAY...this film shows you that you should never give up! No matter how low in your life you feel or if you feel like things will never get better, there will always be a bright light at the end of the tunnel. When you have made it, you will learn to appreciate life more. Patience is key in some situations. It may not end 'happily ever after' but think about the good and always thank Allah. Have faith in your Creator!

Now I'm off to walk into the sunset....everything's going to be great!