Eid ul Adha

Eid namaz at Shahkotla Majid

Eid-ul-Adha marks the end of Hajj – the holy pilgrimage made by Muslims to the city of Makkah or Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

What an amazing feeling it must be to perform Hajj! I hope one day I get to go to this special with all my family (iA), but until that day I shall make do with watching other people’s video’s/ documentaries, which where I came across a particular clip. I honestly never knew you could go inside the Kabah! I mean I’m pretty sure not anyone can gain access but the fact that some people can actually go inside amazes me. Well, you learn something new everyday :)

Anyhow hope you have a lovely time with all your families and wishing everyone Eid Mubarak in advance :)

Eid-ul-Fitr

Eid-ul-fitr is a bit of a tough time in my family since Aisha left us. Talking to my cousins, I don’t think we miss Eid celebrations that much. Maybe it’s because we’re growing older and eid is more fun for the younger children. However I sometimes think that we should perhaps make more of an effort for my younger brother as he is still only a kid after all. Anyway who knows :-/

By the way the White House wishes everyone a happy ramadhan kareem. This is one of the reasons why I like the guy :)

< http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Ramadan-Kareem/ >

Ramzan

The month of fasting (Ramzan) has started and I’m in two minds about the whole thing. I may not be overly religious or a perfect muslim by some people’s standards, yet the feeling of this month doesn’t seem to pass anyone by. The build up to it, the actual month and the after-effects seems to draw everyone closer together and you can’t help but get drawn in. This feeling is very different from the remaining 11 months of the year and I believe it is a good type of feeling to have.

From a personal point of view, I welcome the change in pace this month brings. For this month alone, everything else takes a bit of a back seat and the main focus of most of your time is to remember your creator, doing good deeds and disciplining yourself. It is a bit of juggling act what with school, university, work and other daily duties but it is rewarding. Being born and raised in England, I’ve never had the opportunity to experience the month of fasting in say a muslim country such as Pakistan or Saudi Arabia but I’m guessing the normal routine of daily life completely changes in those places to accommodate the fasting month. Everything is made easier for the fasting masses so they don’t have to make alternative plans and can just get on with the task at hand. I’d like to experience that someday; not having to juggle everyday stuff just so I can fit in a bit time reflecting on my faith. I’m ashamed to say that in my day to day life, I hardly have time to sit down and read passages of the Quran or pray the full 5 prayers (I usually manage 4 out of 5). Perhaps I don’t try hard enough and so it is important for me to not get caught up in the same old excuses during Ramzan.

Conversely these past few years have brought a shade of unhappiness to this month that I previously enjoyed so much. I still enjoy this time but I am also somewhat saddened because as it draws closer it reminds me of the losses that I have endured during this period in previous years. No matter how hard I try and push things into a corner of my mind, I can never forget how I lost my sister. That whole month spent praying for her recovery, that unfortunate Eid morning and the events that followed after will forever be imprinted in my memory. Losing uncle Mirza Sahib a year later during that same month was also distressing for me as I had lost another major influence in my life. Following Aisha’s departure, this man (as well as many others) had spent hours advising me not to give up on my life ambitions and actively encouraged me to go back to finish my education. When I went back to university, uncle was the first one to congratulate me on getting my scholarship and there was a sense of genuine pride in his eyes. He was such an avid supporter of my career, always full of enthusiasm and I could always count on him for some inspiring words of wisdom whenever I felt down and depressed.

I learnt so much from both these people; Aisha taught me about how hard life can be and it is what you make it; whether you choose to cheerful (like she was) or depressed about it is up to you. Uncle taught me that even if life doesn’t work out exactly how you planned it to, it doesn’t mean you should just give up and not try to find your way around it. There are so many things that I want to write about at this moment in time, but I just can’t seem to compose myself and find the right words to convey how I’m feeling. For now, I shall take my leave.

Love and blessings to all - Ramzan Mubarak.

Ramzan Mubarak

Stolen from a ramadan mubarak message that was sent to me :)

"I am pleased to inform you that our special guest and neighbour Ramadan will be visiting you with his wife Roza and their two children Sehri and iftaar. They will be accompanied by three grandchildren Rahmat, Barakat and Touba, they will leave after thirty days by Eid Airlines. Treasure them and you will be blessed. :)

A very happy Ramadan too you now the festive season is upon us :)"

Cute, right?

Partners

Digging through some old stuff and I found a letter (no we didn’t use email then ;) lol) from one of my good friends and a dear sister; Ammara.

Just re- reading her letter brings back so many memories and makes me realise how much I miss not having her around. We were literally glued at the hip as kids and we were partners in crime, lol. What made it even easier was that she got on so well my little sister and had no problems with Aishi hanging around with us. The three of us got on well mashAllah and I remember our mums used to dress us in identical outfits, lol. I was equally fond of her younger brothers Moeed (or Abdul as Aishi called him) and Muneeb and have many vivid memories of the things we all used to get up to.

Anyhow I found a few extracts from the stuff that Ammara sent me a while ago and just wanted to share them with everybody else. Also a backup in case anything should happen to the original paper copies...

• “The more civil and kind a muslim is to his wife, the more perfect in faith he is”
• “She has the perfect liberty to choose her own husband. ‘It is true that liberty is precious – so precious that is must be rationed’ – “
• “Unlike other religions, which regarded women as being possessed on inherent sin and wickedness and men as being possessed of inherent virtue and nobility, Islam regards men and women as being of the same essence created from a single soul. That single soul that will return to Allah as one
• “A good woman, by marrying a man, helps him keep to the path of rectitude in his life. Women are the beautiful half of men, let them deny it or not, they know they cannot live without our care and guidance.
  Your wives are your garment. And you are garment for them”

And a final extract, which is my favourite and I can relate to (Sorry, slightly longer than the others...)

“...A woman’s urge to be independent is up to her but not to exceed out of her limits. A woman to stand on her own two feet is a proud and exhilarating moment to be cherished, as we obtain our education we become more experienced in new developing world today. For we all know the great saying from Malcom X. ‘Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today...’
In society today, it is becoming increasingly difficult to choose between the street or the religion we are brought up with. Especially in western countries, muslim girls are torn at school, at home and outside, where they are consistently changing from different roles to the next. They are forced to fit in and sometimes the outcome can become severe. So an easier outlook and approach is needed. If each and every one of us is brought up with a purpose and we are continually taught our purpose, the day we feel inadequate doing wrong is the day we realise our true meaning. The true meaning of ourselves, after all we are human beings, neither one of us are perfect but unique, it is our uniqueness that lets us adapt at different times in our lives to the reality of the moment. We are all searching for ourselves a lot of the times, some of us feel confident enough to find love and some wait for it to knock on the door, sometimes this door is not stable enough to withhold the pressure... and we break. This is when we remember Allah, like I said we need an event to bring us back to the reality of the moment – otherwise we cases to understand the significance of etiquette and modesty in our religion... we slowly recognise ourselves and then our womanhood is complete.”

There are loads more, but this post is getting rather long :P

Though I may not see Ammara very regularly, I do feel I can rely on her certain issues. Although she’s only a couple of years older than me, I have trust in her not to get too heavy on the Islamic aspect and just give me sound advice, which makes a nice change. So I guess this post is to say...

Thank you Ammara for being a “very together” baji, a wonderful person and for being a part of my life. Love you always :)

Confusion on Christianity

Halifax, West Yorkshire is a predominantly white area with very few asian people. It’s where my sister and I grew up and spent most of our lives there. We were literally the only asian’s in the village and yet I never resented it, I accepted it and liked living there... a lot. Despite some restrictions, I felt a real sense of belonging within the community. Then just as I about to embark on my Gcse’s, my father decided to move to Bradford, where he had spent most of his life. Suddenly I found myself dropped into the middle of a very big asian community. Where everyone knows everyone else’s business, traditional dress was seen as a must for girls (even at school!) jeans were a no no and if you didn’t join in with the big debates (on religion, politics or how the west was slowly destroying the east) then you were seen as a bit weird.

As a British national, born in the united kingdom yet with an ethnic origin classed as Pakistani (where my parents descended from) I still found it incredibly hard to accept this new community. I didn’t get their mentality (and I still don’t most of time) and didn’t seem to share the same interests as the majority of my classmates. I may have looked the part but my accent was always a giveaway (mine being a broad Yorkshire accent and the rest class having a bradfordian accent).

I’m ashamed to say that I also didn’t know all that much about my religion. I mean I knew the basics but I hadn’t memorised parts of the Quran like some of the other people in my class had. I only ever learnt about Islam during R.E lessons at my school in Halifax and through my parents at special times of the year such as Ramadan. Ironically though I could recite the Lord’s prayer at the drop of a hat and still can. I read the bible during Friday morning assemblies, at my school and knew all the biblical stories, who all the characters were and what the moral of each story was. When going out to meet other family members, I used to like getting dressed up in fancy clothes, watching Bollywood movies and listening to asian music. I didn’t mind the culture, in fact I quite liked it and sometimes craved it as I wasn’t exposed to it as often.

But moving to Bradford and being totally surrounded by that same culture 24/7 felt rather strange. It’s like when I visit my extended family in Pakistan, I feel out of sorts there as well. However a good thing that came out of our move was that I learnt more about my religion, which was great. I mean I‘m not claiming that I know everything about Islam but I feel more comfortable as a muslim and knowing what my religion is about. Also I started University fairly soon after, which was great as it gave me a lot more freedom and I felt much more at ease. In terms of the culture, I eventually got used to it but that doesn’t mean I agree with it. Even now, when having discussions with other people, I still can’t get my head around how other people in the community think and why they say and do the things they do.

Having a dual personality can be a blessing and a curse. I think growing up in here in England, I feel I’m able to fit in better in society. Perhaps better than someone who wasn’t born here and so doesn’t get the english way of life. But then ultimately the colour of my skin will always make me stand out. At the same time, I feel I fit into the desi community as well but then again my natural curiosity, questioning the norm and not willing to accept everything at face value makes me stand out again. I feel a real sense of displacement sometimes. Where do I belong... the asian community or the english community?

Islam

Religion. I look around and find myself thinking that the very thing that is supposed to bind us together seems to push people further apart. With Islam being the second largest religion in the world, it has the potential to influence society today. If muslims could form an understanding amongst themselves, not for the purposes jihad or whatever else the extremists out there say but just for sake of peace and humanity, what religion is suppose to stand for, then how great would that be!

Looking around others religions seem very proud to follow their particular beliefs and yet with Muslims it doesn’t seem to shine so strong...
a) Christianity – With Christmas coming up, everyone seems to pull together and let bygones be bygones. The sense of togetherness that arises from such times of the years is great and truly illustrates the season of goodwill.
b) Judaism – surviving horrific events like the holocaust, this section of society found the strength to pull together and change that. The power and support that these guys have is something that should be admired and should be aspired to. Some of the most influential people in the world are Jewish.
c) Hinduism/ Sikhism – Many of my dad’s friends are sikh as well as hindu and we usually get invited to quite a few family weddings and religious occasions. I’m always impressed by the closeness of both these communities and how their traditional customs and culture are easily integrated with their religious beliefs.

Islam is still ever present in society (god knows it’s the media’s favourite topic these days), but it’s more like it’s just for show. The core values of Islam seem to have gotten lost somewhere and it’s perceived to be more about extremists and focusing on negative aspects brought about by a select few. So why is that I feel Islam doesn’t really tie us together as much as others religions seem to be? Am I being overly critical of my religion or is there something genuinely a miss here? Looking around the asian community, people would say that the desi community is alive and very much together. However in that instance I feel that people confuse religion with culture. I’m sure everyone fulfils the cultural requirements but what about the religious ones?

I’m not preaching and I’m not saying that I’m the perfect muslim... I’m probably far from it, lol. But the point I’m trying to make is that shouldn’t we doing more as muslims to bring our community together? Trying to explain the misconceptions about our religion rather than turning away or pretending that we’re not muslims. Take on active role in politics, look within ourselves to bring about change rather than blaming other people or circumstances. I know there are people out there making a difference but it’s like we need to pick up the pace as we seem to be lagging behind. I guess with other religions they all seem to have concentrated groups within select countries, whereas with Islam it seems to have no geographic boundaries. Maybe that’s one of the reason we can’t seem to join... we may be muslims but all have different cultural differences which perhaps stop us from uniting? Or perhaps I’m making stuff up in order to provide a logical explanation as to why we can’t even do the simplest thing and unite!

So yea that’s my thoughts for the day :) I’m gonna stop blathering now and get back to some real work :P

Easter is all sweets and no Jesus

Whilst working away, we somehow ended up talking about Easter. Someone commented on how the actual message of Easter had got lost along the way and had been replaced with chocolate as that was more profitable in the modern world. I guess all religions are having a hard time trying to put their message across and explain to people what they stand for.

P.S. Haven’t posted a joke in a while so here’s one that sort of links to this post…

There were two prawns, James and Christian, swimming along the bottom of the ocean. James accidentally rubs up against an old lantern and whoosh, a genie appears and grants James two wishes.

After a moment's thought James decides that he wants to becomes a shark so as to gain the respect of all the creatures of the sea. Whoosh, James becomes a shark and swims off.

Two weeks later James is upset. All of his old friends are now afraid of him and his life is miserable. He decides to use his second wish, and he wishes to be a prawn once again. Whoosh.... Now a prawn once more, James swims away to look for his mate Christian.

When he arrives at Christian's house he knocks on the door and shouts out for Christian. "Go away", says Christian, "you're a shark and you'll just eat me".

"No I won't", shouts James, "I'm a prawn again Christian".

:P

Once upon a time…

Christmas time and I’m watching the assortment of movies that BBC and the other channels put on every year. It got me thinking about my childhood and how much I enjoyed watching these movies. Do remember as a young child when you were told stories by your teachers/parents/grandparents and every story they told had some kind of hidden message; a moral to each story. Those messages were meant to teach you a lesson and hopefully you would go onto remember them in the future. Man, I haven’t heard one of those stories in such a long time and I miss it. I miss being a kid, simpler times :)

Well what with it being Christmas and all, I recently overheard an elderly gentleman tell his grandchildren a similar story. The children were actually interested in what was being said; then again they were only 5 or 6 years of age. The story went something like this…

There was a little boy called Jack who was visiting his grandparents on their farm, along with his sister Susie. Jack was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He

practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged one day, he headed back for dinner a little sad.

As he was walking back he saw to the house, he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, Jack let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it by accident. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to turn around and find his sister standing behind him.

Susie had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, “Susie, please could you help me wash the dishes?” Susie replied with, “Grandma, Jack told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.” Then she whispered to him, “Remember the duck?” So Jack did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, “I'm sorry but I need Susie to help me make supper.” Susie just smiled and said, “Well, that's all right because Jack told me he wanted to help.” She whispered again, “Remember the duck?” So Susie went fishing with Grandpa and Jack stayed at home to help Grandma.

After several days of Jack doing both his chores and Susie’s, he finally couldn't stand it any longer. Jack went to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, “Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. But because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Susie make a slave of you.”

The elderly gentleman was actually much more animated with his story telling complete with actions, different voices, sound effects etc. What a cool granddad! Lol. At the end of the story, he turned to his grandchildren and asked them what they thought the story was trying to telling us. So I ask you the same question, what do you think the moral of the story was?

Message of the story:
Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done that the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.). Whatever it may be, you need to know that God was standing at the window.

He saw the whole thing and he has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that he loves you and that you are forgiven. He was just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, he not only forgives you, but he forgets. It is by God’s grace and mercy that we are saved.

So yea a bit of religious message, but I liked it and just wanted to share it you guys :)