Modest Babies

Salam!

Bismillah

Ok I was reading about Mother Teresa and I saw this adorable little baby. I decided to do a compilation of adorableness since I haven't done that in a while :-P

Baby Mother Teresa

Little girl, Persian maybe? It looks like an open chador

Beautiful little Pakistani Girl

I realllly dig her awesome glasses!

A little Bandana Girl

I am in no way trying to advocate girls this little wearing hijab because I think it is something that you need to be old enough to understand and choose, but aren't they just sooooo adorable dressed like grown-ups?? MashaAllah!

Things Unclear

Salam

bismillah

I got this from a sister's blog, little auntie. InshaAllah will find a link soon but I wanted to post it before I forgot. This is one of my favorite hadith and I think that I refer to this at least daily...


“What is lawful is clear, and what is unlawful is clear. And in between
the two are doubtful matters [whose rulings] many people do not know. He who guards against the
doubtful safeguards his religion and honor, and he who falls into the doubtful falls into the unlawful,
just as a shepherd who grazes his flock around a preserve will likely soon graze them in it. Indeed, every king has a preserve, and the preserve of Allāh are the things he has declared unlawful” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī)

Go with the Flow

Salam

Bismillah

I have had a problem concentrating during salah. I would fidgit, my mind would wander, and sometimes I would just go through the motions without a lot of feeling or meaning.

I tried a lot of techniques to help me try to concentrate but I still always felt like I was sort of impatient with my salah overall.

But finally alhamdulillah I found something that has been working for me.

I love being in water. To me there is nothing more relaxing or comforting than moving through water. SubhanAllah it feels like a hug and a pat on the back and a pillow around your body taking the stress from your bones and your muscles. When I am in the water my mind is free to concentrate on anything.

So I decided that when I made salah I would pretend I was in the water. When I am standing or sitting I can feel weightless and natural, when I'm moving I can feel the resistance and support of the water and my movements are less rushed and jerky and impatient.

SubhanAllah when I take care of the motions of my body in this way, my mind is free to concentrate on what I am saying and meaning. Its like when I started slowing down my body movements and relaxing all of those muscles, my mind was so much more focused. I feel so much more comfortable in salah this way, and I feel like I am using my time in salah much more productively alhamdulillah.

How do you keep your concentration in salah? Do you have techniques that help you?

Twitter

I just realized it is exceedingly difficult to have a meaningful theological discussion over twitter.

Also it is sad that people need excuses like football to bond with other people of different beliefs instead of being able to bond over our shared humanity... Or is football a metaphor for our shared humanity? :-P maybe not.

In any event, visca barca

Eyebrows

Salam!

Bismillah

I know... it has been an embarrassingly long time again. Please accept my apologies.

Today I want to share with you how I deal with my eyebrows. I know it's a strange topic but it is definitely something that I wish  someone had given me tips on when I converted to Islam.

Okay, first things first. No plucking obviously. The idea behind it is that plucking eyebrows is a kind of vanity and deception. So with this in mind, I find that it is equally vain and deceptive to cut the eyebrows and also to bleach them in such a way as to make them look smaller. There are different scholarly rulings on this issue and most of them don't agree with mine, this is just the level of comfort I have achieved with what I believe is the spirit behind the prohibition. I'm talking about my own comfort zone here, not my scholarly opinion or anything since the hadith as far as I understand doesn't specifically say that coloring eyebrows is wrong or anything.

So that being said, and inshaAllah clarified, what am I supposed to do with my new Muslimah eyebrows? lol

I think my eyebrows have cow-licks, they grow in every which way and never like to stay neat and orderly. I'm not concerned with the volume or anything because subhanAllah most people's eyebrow's correctly fit their features but just the overall messiness. I have found that my eyebrows do look more shapely and thinner when they are orderly.

So, in the spirit of keeping things in order, I have found that the secret to nice Muslimah eyebrows is clear mascara. You can use a little clear mascara to shape your eyebrows without trimming and it gives a little hold during the day so they don't freak out again inshaAllah. (if you can't find clear mascara you can also use a little hair gel and an old cleaned mascara wand).

First use the wand to brush your eyebrows upward. You want them to be as close to straight up and down as possible. Then, take the mascara brush and run it along the top of your eyebrows following the natural shape, just pushing down the hairs that are at the very top, leaving the lower eyebrows somewhat in place. Start at the inside corner of your eye and move outward. This will give you a nice arch and sweep inshaAllah!

Here are some products I used before:
Anastasia Clear Brow Gel
Covergirl Clear Mascara
Disposable Mascara Wands and Hair Gel

How do you all deal with the natural eyebrow that comes with Islam??

Halaqah: Sorat Al-Ikhlas #112

Salam 3laikum!

Bismillah

Sorat Al-Ikhlas

word by word translation: http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=112&verse=1

English Interpretation of the Meaning:

1. Say "He is Allah who is ONE

2. Allah, the Self-Sufficient

3. Neither did He beget and nor is he begotton

4. And there is none comparable unto him."

Notes from Tafsir:

Imam Ahmad reports that the idolaters asked the Prophet Muhammad, sal Allahu 3laihi wa sallam, what is the lineage of your Lord? (this means where did Allah come from? what is his progeny? Etc. It is common for polythiests to have complicated stories about the origins of their gods and their relationships to each other) In response, this surah was revealed. Allah has no lineage because there is nothing like him in the whole of the existence subhanAllah!!

Verse 2~ As-Samad is one of the names of Allah: one who does not give birth, nor was He born because all things that are born die and nothing dies except that it leaves inheritance => Allah does not die or leave an inheritance because he is self-sufficient. He is self sustaining so nothing can cause Him to die so He has no need of progeny to inherit for Him.

(This is in contrast to the Christian idea of Jesus "inheriting" the Earth/World/Kingdom/Universe that can be found in Hebrews 1:1-4 and several other places. If Jesus is God (audhu billah) how can he inherit from himself? If he is not God, how can he inherit unless God dies? This is a common statement of Christians that I believe not many people actually think about the implications as it comes out of their mouths.)

Verse 4~ None comparable: none similar, none equal, nothing at all like Him. You can not even describe Him except in the ways that He described Himself subhanAllah.

New Design

Salam 3laikum!

How do you all like the new design?

I was hoping that the wider 3 column design would be a little more user friendly and you wouldn't have to scroll down for miles to see the bottom of the page :-P

Can you read all the fonts with the current sizes and colors? Can you find all the stuff on the page that you want?

Anyway, let me know what you think inshaAllah

<3 NeverEver