StraightenUrLinesCloseDaGaps's Xanga

Monday, October 23, 2006

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 04:11:57 GMT

Let us celebrate this Eid in the spirit of togetherness; and may Allah (swt) reward us all for our efforts this Ramadan and forgive our shortcomings.

Ameen.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 02:23:08 GMT

“Why is the U.S. government so against our people?” Ahmadinejad, speaking through a translator, asked in the interview with NBC News. “They speak of war so easily, as if it’s on their daily agenda. We never speak of war.”

“Again, I ask, who has the nuclear bomb and has used it before?” he asked. “Which one is a bigger danger? One that’s trying to develop a fuel for peaceful purposes? Or the one that made a nuclear weapon?”

“The U.S. government thinks that it’s still the period after World War II,” "a mindset that led Bush to believe that he “can rule, therefore, over the rest of the world.”

But “the world has changed,” he said. “Nations are awakened now. They want their rights — equal rights, and fair ones. The time for world empires has ended.”

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 00:33:36 GMT

Shab Bara'at ( Night of Salvation) Customs

The only thing authentic about shab bara'at (15th of Sha'ban) is that the prophet (saw) has advised us to spend the night in worship and the day in fasting 1. He went to the graveyard of Madinah on this night and prayed for the dead 2. Anything beyong that is nonsense

get some coffee ready if you have to ;)

1. Ibn Majah, Bayhaqi (narrated by Sayyidina Ali)
2. Ibn Abu Shaybah, Tirmizi, Ibn Majah, Bayhaqi (narrated by Sayyidina Aysha)

Monday, July 10, 2006

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 19:33:02 GMT

July 10, 2006

Plane Crash Kills 45 In Pakistan

27-Year Old Aircraft Crashes Into Wheat Field; Cause Not Yet Known

(Page 2 of 2)

MULTAN, Pakistan, July 10, 2006

People gather near the wreckage of a Pakistani Fokker F-27 twin-engine passenger plane that crashed in Multan, Pakistan, on July 10, 2006. All 45 people on board were killed. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)

(AP) He said PIA has six other Fokker planes in its fleet — mostly flying less-busy routes to provincial cities — and defended their safety.

"No PIA plane can come on the runway before it is fully looked after for maintenance," he said.

Bashir said flight PK-688 took off normally on a flight to Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province, at around 12:05 p.m.

"Whatever happened to it was after takeoff," he said.

Plane debris, newspapers, cold drink bottles and clothes littered the crash site, about two miles from Multan airport. Emergency workers wore face masks to protect against thick black smoke and the smell of burning oil and flesh.

After firefighters doused the fire, rescuers pulled bodies from the smoldering wreckage. The fire left the plane's fuselage a blackened hulk and its seared tail lay on its side.

Bodies were taken to the morgue at state-run Nishtar Hospital in Multan, where about 500 relatives, gathered to claim the remains of loved ones for burial.

At least five bodies have been claimed by relatives but many were burned beyond recognition, said Dr. Gul Nawaz. Relatives were trying to identify the corpses from clothing and other belongings.

Mohammed Nadeem, a jeweler who lives near the crash site, said the plane was rotating sideways in the air before it hit the ground and went up in flames.

"There was a huge explosion after the plane hit the ground," he said.

Another witness, Arshad Gujjar, 35, who had been cutting a tree in a nearby orchard, said the plane had come down "abruptly" and hit the ground with a huge thud. It caught fire and caused a fire at a nearby power line, he said.

At least eight fire trucks helped put out the blazing wreckage as police and army troops ordered hundreds of onlookers to keep back.

The crash could put PIA's safety record under close scrutiny.

The airline has reported a number of emergency landings in recent years and in December 2004, several passengers on a domestic flight were injured when one of its jets suddenly dipped, fearing a midair collision with another plane.

In August 1989, another PIA Fokker, with 54 people onboard, went down in Pakistan's Himalayan north on a domestic flight. The plane's wreckage was never found.

In September 1992, a PIA Airbus A300 crashed into a mountain in Nepal, killing all 167 people on board. Investigators found the plane was flying 1,500 feet lower than it reported as it approached Katmandu airport.

In February 2003, a Fokker F-27 of the Pakistan Air Force crashed in mountains near the northwestern city of Kohat, killing 17 senior officials including the then-air force chief Mushaf Ali Mir.

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Inna lillahi wa inna alaihi rajioon. May Allah (swt) give their families sabr and may He(swt) Protect the deceased from the punishment of the grave and all of us. Ameen.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:20:19 GMT

June 28, 2006

SABR HOLDS WITHIN IT BEAUTY

"The relation of patience to iman is like the realtion of the head to the body. If the head is chopped off, the body becomes useless." Then he raised his voice and said "Certainly, the one who has no patience has no iman, and patience is like a riding-beast that never gets tired"

- Ali ibn Abu Talib (ra)

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today marks 1 year and 5 months
516 days

uff !

i mean... masha'Allah

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Thu, 04 May 2006 01:35:16 GMT

" Repel the thought, for if you don't, it becomes an idea. So repel the idea, for if you don't it will become a desire. So fight against that (desire), for if you don't, it will become a determination and a passion. And if you don't repel that, it will become an action. And if you don't replace it with it's opposite, it will become a constant habit. So at that point, it will be difficult for you to change it. "

                                                                   [Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawaziyyah]

Monday, April 10, 2006

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 23:09:55 GMT

It is related from Ali (ra), that the idols which were in the Kaaba fell on their faces when the Prophet (SAW) was born, and a voice proclaimed from heaven: Truth is revealed and error is annihilated. The whole world was illuminating on that night, and every stone and clod and tree laughed for joy, and all things in heaven and earth uttered praise to Allah. Iblees fled, crying: The best and the dearest of creatures is Muhammad (SAW).

Iblis, after learning what had transpired, assembled his offspring and cast dust on his head, crying: Since my creation no calamity like this has befallen me; a son is born whom they call Muhammad bin Abdullah; he will destroy idolatry, and require men to worship Allah in unity of His being. Hereupon the whole evil crew cast the dust of degradation on their heads, and fled to the fourth sea, where they wept forty days.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 22:06:56 GMT

Asalaamualikum wa rahmatullah.

A few months ago I needed to interview someone for my Senior Project which was on The Status of Women in Islam and The Veil :)
I interviewed the Mufti of the Masjid I attend, Mufti Abdul Muqtadir - masha'Allah best Mufti in the world haha, I wish I could have taped what he said to me and put it up here......................butttttttttttt i didnt.
So, then I wanted to interview a convert [revert] to Islam, so the judges who were judging my presentation can get both views of the picture. And I interviewed Sister Candice Elam - and masha'ALlah I really liked her replies and so I want to share them.
Insha'Allah they benefit all who read them. :)

Wasalaamualikum

Senior Project – Interview Questions - Candice Elam

1. Can u briefly tell us about you’re conversion to the Religion of Islam? (What was the religion you formally practiced? What about Islam led you to adopt its practices?)

I was raised by my non-practicing Catholic mother and my non-practicing Jehovah Witness father. Until I was 5 or 6, my father would teach me Jehovah Witness theology, but he never took me to any JW events. When I started going to Catholic elementary school, however, my mother started taking me to Catholic Church on Sundays. I became more involved in Catholic life, got baptized, made Holy Communion, and Confirmation (Catholic Sacraments). I went to an all-girl Catholic high school, and sometime around my junior year, I was plagued by burning questions about the status of Jesus and the sinfulness of mankind. I asked the nuns and religion teachers for answers, but they couldn’t provide me with sound answers. Little by little, I started to feel that Catholicism does not hold the keys to spiritual realization.

By college, if someone asked me what religion I was, I would no longer say, “I’m Catholic”. I’d say, “I’m Christian”, but that statement alone is loaded with ambiguities. There are hundreds of types of Christians, but I was too unsure to pick one. In my freshman year, I met a group of non-denominational Christians, and I hung out with them for a semester, yet, I still had those unanswered questions: “How is Jesus fully human and fully God simultaneously?”, “If Jesus is God, then who was running the affairs of the heavens and earth while he was living as a human?”, “If Jesus is God, then why didn’t he answer his own prayers when he was about to be tortured and crucified?”, “If God is just, then how could newborns carry the weight of sins for which they’re not guilty (Original Sin)?”

Eventually, I stopped claiming to be Christian, and I would just say, “I believe that God exists, and I believe that some great person named Jesus existed and tried to teach people to lead decent lives.” At the time, I was majoring in Women’s Studies, which at my university, was anti-Christian (or any other religion that did not recognize that either God does not exist or that God is a woman) program. My professors lamented the inherent sexism of all religions, with particular focus on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Having learned so many things that were antithetical to the 3 monotheistic faiths, it was easy for me to maintain my “I-don’t-agree-with-organized-religion” stance.

After 9/11, I set out to prove that Islam was backward and deeply erroneous. I didn’t dislike Muslims, in particular; I just felt that Islam, as a whole was barbaric. I was convinced that Islam is inherently oppressive to women and that terrorism is a systemic flaw of the religion. Despite being quite vocal about my disdain for Islam, a few Muslim girls befriended me. They invited me to an event organized by the Muslim Student Association. I heard that they usually have free pizza and soda at those things, so I figured that I had nothing to lose by going. This was in March of 2003. The event was called “Islam and the West”, and the speaker was Sheikh Yusuf Estes. Basically, he argued that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share the same fundamental values, and he used the 10 Commandments to illustrate that point. He said that Western societies, however, are incongruent with the values espoused by the Abrahamic faiths. Surprisingly, I agreed with much of what he said. I was intrigued by the fact that he used to be a Christian minister. I started asking him questions like, “Doesn’t Islam advocate the execution of women who had been raped?” He gave me honest and sensible answers, but the wording of my questions revealed the scorn that I had for Islam. He invited me to read the Qur’an. I accepted the challenge, still believing that I would find the proof that Islam is a religion for cavemen.

During the time period that I was reading the Qur’an for the first time, I met Muslim women who defied my stereotypes. They were intelligent, confident, religious, articulate, and seemingly, unfettered by the things that I thought oppressed them. Unbeknown me, Allah was opening my heart to the beauty of Islam. At first, I was looking for the flaws in Islam. Then I stopped looking for the flaws, and just read about Islam. Then my mind started agreeing with Islamic teachings. Then my heart felt inclined towards Islamic truths, and that is when I accepted Islam as my permanent way of life in November 2003.

In hindsight, it was the pure monotheism of Islam that appealed to me the most. I no longer had to pray to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, saints, Mary, statues, or candles. I could take my requests and complaints directly to the One who made me, without worrying about an intermediary.

2. After you’re conversion did you start to do Hijab?

I have not left my home without my hijab since the day before I became Muslim. I didn’t plan things that way, however. In fact, I didn’t think that I’d adopt the hijab until way after I became Muslim. Nevertheless, I felt compelled to get over my vanity and submit myself to Allah’s command.

3. You are probably well aware of how Muslim women are perceived to be here in the west. Being a convert, you have seen both parts of the picture – one from a non-Muslim’s point of view and one from a Muslim’s point of view. Can u describe how you feel as a woman now, compared to as u did prior to your conversion?

In a word, I feel liberated. I feel liberated from the polytheism of Catholicism. I feel liberated from the constant strive to be prettier than the girl sitting next to me. I feel liberated from tight jeans, uncomfy shoes, unhealthy dieting, and unfair standards of female beauty. That isn’t to say that I “let myself go” or that I no longer take care of the way I look, but I’m more accepting of myself, and I no longer compare myself to the magazine women. I also feel liberated from the lustful gaze of men who only care about whether I have a nice body or pretty face, and whether they’ll have access to either. I’m liberated from fruitless means of entertainment, such as clubbing and drinking. I’m liberated from phony friendships. And finally, I’m liberated from my own desires, which would’ve lead me towards a life of superficiality, unhappiness, discontent, and possibly self-destruction.

4. What were your thoughts about the face veil prior to you becoming a Muslim?

I thought it was extreme, oppressive, and ultimately anti-woman.

5. What are your thoughts now about the face veil?

I appreciate that it affords me a lot of privacy when I’m out in public. I realize how much unwanted attention I was getting because of my face. I like that I don’t get catcalls anymore.

6. Many people in the West think that Muslim women are forced by men to wear the veil and cover themselves up; they think that Muslim women are oppressed and that the west will give them freedom from this so-called ‘oppression’. Now of course there are many Muslim women who even being born in America still decided to wear the veil without any kind of compulsion. You came from a non-Muslim family, were born here in America, and were not even born into the Religion of Islam, but still decided that this was the best path for you. So can you tell us why you decided to cover and practice wearing the face veil?

When I read the Islamic arguments in favor of the face veil, I was moved to start practicing this style of hijab. About the West freeing women from oppression… When I first became Muslim two years ago, it was extremely difficult for me to find clothing that wasn’t tight, see-through or short. Everything in the stores was too tight, too short, too see-through or had slits in it. It was so hard to find conservative clothing that I bought a sewing machine and learned to make my own clothes. The fact that a woman cannot walk into a clothing store and buy something that doesn’t reveal her body shows the oppressiveness of Western ways of dressing. Western women simply do not have the option of dressing conservatively because the fashion industry doesn’t allow them to dress modestly. If a woman does decide to dress conservatively, she must buy clothes that are too big for her or buy men’s clothes, which would only make her look sloppy. This is the true oppression. Western women fail to realize that the men behind the fashion industry are slowly undressing them, and they’re not being allowed to put their clothes back on.

7. Why do you think the West has such a negative image of Muslim women?

I think that people are inundated with so many stereotypes about Islam, in general, and Muslim women, in particular, that they can’t distinguish between truth and falsehood. Another possible reason for the negative perceptions is that, perhaps, non-Muslims look at Muslim women and use their own values as the only valid standard by which others should be judged. If that is the case, then it’s totally unfair because it doesn’t allow for mutual understanding and respect.

8. Lastly, Is there a message that you would like to give to non-Muslims as well as Muslims who have a negative image about us Muslim women?

Sometimes people who claim to be Christian do really un-Christian things. Likewise, sometimes the same is true for people who claim to be Muslim. Just because someone says that they are Muslim, doesn’t mean that they represent all Muslims or even that they’re practicing the religion properly. Just like there are some Christians who are very ignorant about their religion, there are some Muslims who are equally ignorant about their religion. If you’re really interested in finding out about Islam, then ask practicing Muslims about what the religion says about a particular issue, or go to a mosque in your area.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 01:21:55 GMT

                       If you can change ANYTHING in this
        world... JUST ONE, what would it be?



replies would be appreciated.
Wasalaamu'alikum wa rahmatullah.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 15:42:34 GMT

Whatsoever is on it (the earth) will perish.

And the Face of your Lord full of Majesty and Honour will abide forever.

Then which of the Favours of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?