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!

Impatience

Last Thursday I visited JILC again for another Islamic lecture. It was entitled 'The Goal of Hajj' and was presented by Brother Abdur-Raheem McCarthy.

I found it very interesting that after you complete Hajj, no matter how many times you do it, you return to your life with no sins 'like a baby.' Imagine every little thing, every little lie, every forgotten prayer just erased due to Hajj.

One of the things that can cause you to break your Hajj is impatience. Losing your temper and not biting your tongue can nullify the Hajj. When I went to Umrah I found this difficult as I became annoyed at little things, however towards the end of my Umrah I began to stop getting annoyed. For example I was pushed around quite a lot when trying to get into the lift at my hotel and I got angry with someone. But then they were being impatient too and pushing...but still I should have just kept calm.
Other times were during salah; the Pakistani women had a habit of stretching their right leg out in my face when I was prostrating. However I did not get annoyed out loud I just moved their foot away from my face and carried on praying. I hope that Allah has forgiven me as I did change and become more peaceful during my Umrah. That is the purpose isn't it? To make a difference in your life by visiting Mecca.

On the way to JILC there was a lot of traffic AGAIN! I was really frustrated and got road rage...beeped my horn and just became very angry and loud. Not very lady like and not at all Islamic! SubhanAllah during the lecture the brother discussed how we must have patience and gave the example of driving in traffic! It was like Allah was sending me a message. The brother said that as traffic is really bad in Dubai and we can waste a lot of time on the road, it is best to do something beneficial. You can recite verses, listen to Quran etc as this will take your mind off the traffic.

It is true I spend more time in traffic sometimes than at my destination. During my journeys I always listen to Quran, but from now on I will try and do a lot of thikr and tasbeeh.

My goal next Thursday will be to keep calm on the way to JILC and not get road rage. Inshallah!

Don't be sad!

I went to my first Islamic lecture in Dubai today. I've been here a few years so it was about time I found an interesting one in English.
The lecture was entitled "Enjoy your life" DON'T BE SAD. I decided to go along even though I live a fair bit away from Jumeira.

So off I go through Dubai traffic and actually get there 30 minutes before the lecture. It was held at Jumeira Islamic Learning Centre  which is in a villa. Being a bit wary I waited until I saw a few other hijabis go in and then followed.
WOW! What a welcome I got! Everyone was so friendly and were just the type of people I was looking for. They were mostly Muslims that were born abroad (US mostly) and reverts.

Anyway getting to the actual lecture Brother Taher Khaled gave a great talk on how we should cleanse our hearts and enjoy our lives.
One way we can do this is by thanking Allah for what we have. Think of people who do not have what we have...Alhamdullillah we have shelter, food, clothing and most importantly knowledge of Islam.

He also mentioned that Hajj was important but can be set aside by some Muslims due to the costs involved. We should put our religion first and sacrifice our need for material goods to add to our religion. I guess this is something that I will be working on this year as I shop too much.
Each time I go to the mall there is another item that I need and spend all day searching for...so wrong but Inshallah I will become wiser. It is a struggle :( I'm happy I have found JILC to bring me knowledge each week.

To finish off here is a photo of when I went to Umrah earlier this year...Inshallah I will make my Hajj in the near future!

Mashallah I was amazed at the size of the Kabaa the whole time I was there!