blogging break

I dont really feel like blogging right now, I feel like I need to devote my time to other things at the moment. Once I settle things then I'll be back. Take care!

Dirty Bathwater

We took Tamim out for some errands on Friday night and we came home a little late. Well he was hungry but cranky and would not eat. We wanted to get him ready for bed by giving him a bath. So my DH came up with a brilliant idea to feed him cereal while in the bathtub.

Baby finished eating and was happily playing in his tub. Then he got this look on his face. A look I know so well. Before I could lift him out of the tub and onto the toilet seat he had started pooing in his tub.

The look on my husbands face was priceless! So there I am holding my naked baby by the arms over his tub so he can finish his business comfortably while my husband is telling me to make him stop pooing. I am laughing so hard that I am crying and my husband soon finds the humor in all this and joins in laughing. I eventually clean up my son while my DH cleans the baby tub and we put him to bed. Definetly a memorable night!

If Allah Wills

{8:23-24}And do not say of anything: Surely I will do it tomorrow.
Unless Allah wills; and remember your Lord when you forget and say: Maybe my Lord will guide me to a nearer course to the right than this.

Ibn Kathir explains that when The Messenger of Allah was asked by Quraish about the people of the cave he said I will tell you tomorrow about what you have asked me but he did not say `If Allah wills.' So they went away, and the Messenger of Allah stayed for fifteen days without any revelation from Allah concerning that, and Jibril, peace be upon him, did not come to him either. The people of Makkah started to doubt him, and said, `Muhammad promised to tell us the next day, and now fifteen days have gone by and he has not told us anything in response to the questions we asked.

The Messenger of Allah felt sad because of the delay in revelation, and was grieved by what the people of Makkah were saying about him. Then Jibril came to him from Allah with the Surah about the companions of Al-Kahf, which also contained a rebuke for feeling sad about the idolators.

It was recorded in the Two Sahihs that Abu Hurayrah said that the Messenger of Allah said: Sulayman bin Dawud (peace be upon them both) said: "Tonight I will go around to seventy women [according to some reports, it was ninety or one hundred women] so that each one of them will give birth to a son who will fight for the sake of Allah.''

It was said to him, [according to one report, the angel said to him] "Say: `If Allah wills'", but he did not say it. He went around to the women but none of them gave birth except for one who gave birth to a half-formed child.) The Messenger of Allah said, (By the One in Whose hand is my soul, had he said, "If Allah wills,'' he would not have broken his oath, and that would have helped him to attain what he wanted. ) According to another report, (They would all have fought as horsemen in the cause of Allah.)

…and remember your Lord when you forget…

It was said that this means, if you forget to say "If Allah wills", then say it when you remember. This was the view of Abu Al-`Aliyah and Al-Hasan Al-Basri. Hushaym reported from Al-A`mash from Mujahid that concerning a man who swears an oath, Ibn `Abbas said "He may say `If Allah wills' even if it is a year later. This was also the view of Ibn Jarir, but he stated that this does not make up for breaking the oath or mean that one is no longer obliged to offer expiation. The Sunnah is that he should say it, so that he will still be following the Sunnah of saying "If Allah wills'', even if that is after breaking his oath.

Struggling

When I first "refound" Islam everything seemed to be so easy. Once I decided that following Islam was how I wanted to live my life it was easy for me to change. I was on this meteoric rise to get rid of all my Haram habits and live my life the Halal way. I started praying the 5 prayers all with Sunnah, I prayed at work even though I was singled out because of it. I fasted, paid zakat, stopped dealing with Riba. I stopped dealing with bad friends and non mahram men. Anything that was Haram I did my best to avoid it.

I completely changed as a person because I felt that I was a walking representation of Islam. I was nicer, calmer, an all around better human being.

On the outside I changed even more. Gone were the tight clothes, the make up, the perfume, the long flowing hair and the blue contacts. They were replaced by a abaya, Hijab, glasses and eventually a niqab.

With all of these changes one would think that I would be struggling but it was the happiest time of my life.

And now that I have made all these changes I find myself struggling with my Iman. My feelings have not changed towards Islam but it is harder to do the little things. I do not read Quran as much, I do not pray Sunnah as much, I watch things on TV I should not watch etc. Overall I feel I am slipping.

A big part of this is my isolation away from other good Muslims. I can not even go to my local mosque because of the mixing and the leers of dirty men. I think as Muslims we go through phases with our Iman, sometimes up and sometimes down. I have to be more diligent about the little things and make more dua and InshAllah I will be back on the right path.

Al Kahf-How the People Came to Know About the Dwellers of the Cave

018-021: Thus did We make their case known to the people, that they might know that the promise of Allah is true, and that there can be no doubt about the Hour of Judgment. Behold, they dispute among themselves as to their affair. (Some) said, "Construct a building over them": Their Lord knows best about them: those who prevailed over their affair said, "Let us surely build a place of worship over them."

(And thus We made their case known) According to Ibn Kathir this means We (Allah SWT) caused the people to find them. It also means just as Allah SWT caused them to sleep then woke them up physically intact, He made their story known to the people of that time.

(that they might know that the promise of Allah is true, and that there can be no doubt about the Hour of Judgment) Ibn Kathir states that several scholars of the Salaf mentioned that the people of that time were skeptical about the Resurrection. Ikrimah said: "There was a group of them who said that the souls would be resurrected but not the bodies, so Allah resurrected the people of the Cave as a sign and proof of resurrection.''

They mentioned that when they wanted to send one of their members out to the city to buy them something to eat, he disguised himself and set out walking by a different route, until he reached the city, which they said was called Daqsus. He thought that it was not long since he left it, but in fact century after century, generation after generation, nation after nation had passed, and the country and its people had changed. He saw no local landmarks that he recognized, and he did not recognize any of the people, elite or commoners.

He began to feel confused and said to himself, "Maybe I am crazy or deluded, maybe I am dreaming.'' Then he said, "By Allah, I am nothing of the sort, what I know I saw last night was different from this.'' Then he said, "I had better get out of here.'' Then he went to one of the men selling food, gave him the money he had and asked him to sell him some food. When the man saw the money he did not recognize it or its imprint, so he passed it to his neighbor and they all began to pass it around, saying, "Maybe this man found some treasure.'' They asked him who he was and where he got this money. Had he found a treasure? Who was he?

He said, "I am from this land, I was living here yesterday and Decianus was the ruler." They accused him of being crazy and took him to the governor who questioned him about his circumstances, and he told him. He was confused about his situation. When he told them about it, they -- the king and the people of the city -- went with him to the cave, where he told them, "Let me go in first and let my companions know.'' It was said that the people did not know how he entered it, and that the people did not know about their story. It was also said that they did enter the cave and see them, and the king greeted them and embraced them. Apparently he was a Muslim, and his name was Tedosis. They rejoiced at meeting him and spoke with him, then they bid farewell to him and went back to sleep, then Allah caused them to die. And Allah knows best

(Behold, they dispute among themselves as to their affair) This is talking about the Resurrection. Some believed in it and some denied it, so Allah made their discovery of the people of the cave evidence either in their favor or against them.

(Construct a building over them; their Lord knows best about them) According to Ibn Kathir this means seal the door of their cave over them, and leave them as they are.

("Construct a building over them: Their Lord knows best about them: those who prevailed over their affair said, "Let us surely build a place of worship over them.") Ibn Kathir says Those who said this were the people of power and influence, but were they good people or not There is some debate on this point, because the Prophet (ASWS) said:

(Allah has cursed the Jews and the Christians who took the graves of their Prophets and righteous people as places of worship)

Al Kahf-The Sleep of the Dwellers of the Cave

018.018: And you might think them awake while they were asleep and We turned them about to the right and to the left, while their dog (lay) outstretching its paws at the entrance; if you looked at them you would certainly turn back from them in flight, and you would certainly be filled with awe because of them.

(And you might think them awake while they were asleep) Ibn Kathir explains this first part of the Aya by stating that some of the scholars mentioned that when Allah caused them to sleep, their eyelids did not close, lest disintegration took hold of them. If their eyes remained open to the air, this would be better for the sake of preservation. He also mentions that when the wolf sleeps, it closes one eye and keeps one eye open, then it switches eyes while asleep.

(and We turned them about to the right and to the left) Ibn `Abbas said: "If they did not turn over, the earth would have consumed them.''

(while their dog (lay) outstretching its paws at the entrance) Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Sa`id bin Jubayr and Qatadah said: "The Wasid means the threshold.'' Ibn `Abbas said: "By the door.'' It was said: "On the ground.'' The correct view is that it means on the threshold, i.e., at the door.

Their dog lay down at the door, as is the habit of dogs. Ibn Jurayj said, "He was guarding the door for them.'' It was his nature and habit to lie down at their door as if guarding them. He was sitting outside the door, because the angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog, as was reported in As-Sahih, nor do they enter a house in which there is an image, a person in a state of ritual impurity or a disbeliever, as was narrated in the Hasan Hadith.

The blessing they enjoyed extended to their dog, so the sleep that overtook them overtook him too. This is the benefit of accompanying good people, and so this dog attained fame and stature. It was said that he was the hunting dog of one of the people which is the more appropriate view, or that he was the dog of the king's cook, who shared their religious views, and brought his dog with him. And Allah knows best.

(if you looked at them you would certainly turn back from them in flight, and you would certainly be filled with awe because of them. ) Ibn Kathir says this means that Allah made them appear dreadful, so that no one could look at them without being filled with terror, because of the frightening appearance they had been given. This was so that no one would come near them or touch them until the appointed time when their sleep would come to an end as Allah willed, because of the wisdom, clear proof and great mercy involved in that.

More fear of the Niqab

I have read several blogs mentioning the story about the head of Al Azhar wanting to ban niqab and it bothered me. I then found this article on google and it my blood boil when I read something I had not heard about earlier!

The article states:
He also said he intended to ban the niqab at Al-Azhar and made an unflattering remark about the girl's appearance when she took off the veil, the newspaper said.

"And you look like this; what would you do of you were a bit pretty," he reportedly asked, adding "I know more about religion than your parents."

Not only does he question the validity of niqab but he then demeans, embarrasses and brings down this poor girl! What is going on that a "scholar" can do something like this??? I used quotation marks because he is no scholar. Any true scholar can never say that Niqab is based on tradition and then go on to demean a pious Muslima in such a manner. Would he speak to a belly dancer in such a manner? I think not!