Fall Semester 2011's Best Moments

Fall Semester 2011 is officially over and I am so thankful for that. This is my Junior year of college and Fall made for an interesting semester that brought me both ups and downs. I want to take a walk down memory lane and reflect on the moments that brought me smiles this semester and helped me grow.

Maryland  ICNA Youth Conference

              I enjoyed this event a lot and benefited from speakers such as 

   Nouman Ali Khan and Sheikh Omar Suleiman. I blogged about my experience. 

Read all about it here!  

Morgan took her shahada

       One of the most exciting moments from this semester 

     was when my friend Morgan took her shahada. I've known 

    Morgan since the beginning of college and I was so surprised/ecstatic when I heard she wanted to take her shahada. I was so happy that I was there when she spoke "la ilaha ilala Allah" for the first time. May Allah preserve her and continue to strengthen her imaan, especially during difficult times.

I ran my first 5k marathon

        This was one of my favorite moments from this semester. I've always wanted to run in a marathon, so the Relay for Life 5k for life was an amazing opportunity. Me and two of my friends got up at 6 a.m., bundled up, and joined in the efforts to raise money to fight against cancer.

Signed up for Quran Program

This is one of the most beneficial changes I made this semester. My friend and I signed up together for Quran tutoring classes through QuranReading, a very reliable website. I found the tutoring program to be affordable and I've benefited so much alhamdulilah. I advise you all to sign up for online classes too if you  want to begin memorizing more chapters of the Quran or just practicing your reading. 

Held our first Sisters Halaqa of the school year

I was so excited to have gotten the opportunity to lead the first sisters halaqa of the school year! This was something the sisters on campus and I have been wanting to do for a while, and we're so glad to have finally held our first structured halaqa. We held two more since then and inshAllah I will document future halaqas and post them on Beauty of Islam. The clip I posted is only a small portion of what we discussed, so if you want to find out what else we discussed click here.

Source: Ultimate Spring

Got Deans List

I'm so grateful alhamdulilah!!! I just found out my final grades and I am really surprised. I worked hard all semester and remained focused, but the last two nights of preparing for finals was so difficult for me. I pulled two all nighters and was unhappy with my performance on my Islamic Civ final and I barely made it through two papers for another class. I felt like a failure at the end of finals week. I'm so happy that my grades ended up being even better then I imagined, and all of that is because of Allah swt. I couldn't have done any of this without Him. 

He is Near

 A good friend sister of mine wrote this letter to me. I thought I would share it with you all. It brought tears to my eyes and InshAllah it will bring some sort of benefit to someone out there. This sister was there from day one of my transition towards truly embracing Islam. As I mentioned in my story under Who I Am, alhamdulilah I was born a Muslim, but like most young people living in the West, I didn't love/practice my deen the way I should have. This sister was there for me from the very beginning and I remember her telling me one day that no matter what happens in college, she always wanted me to be able to come to her if I ever needed anything. At the time, I felt intimidated by people that appeared "religious" to me, especially hijabis lol. I feared that they would judge me. This sister proved to me the complete opposite, and we quickly grew close. In this letter, she reflects on the defining moment I mentioned in my "Who I Am" story where I took my first step towards Allah swt.

 "Take one Step Towards Him walking, and He’ll come to you running.

Subhan`Allah this hadith reminded me of you. I remember when you first became inspired. I remember when we all prayed in jama`a (congregation) in the Virginia Hall lobby on a Friday night with the special guests who came to visit (it was either Maghrib or Ishaa), [because we ended the night praying in jama`a, Allah SWT put some type of barakah (blessings) into that night.] We prayed, while background noises consisted of heels and excited freshmen girls, getting ready to party and go about their casual nightlife plans. We went on, prayed our salah and conversed with our Lord. A friend told us about the odd stares we received that night while we prayed. (We didn’t notice because we were engaged in our salah). How amazing, that as we put our noses and foreheads on the ground in prostration, everything around us seemed so adverse to what we were doing. Subhan`Allah. Allah SWT put something in your heart that night.

   I remember how in awe how you felt that night, and how inspired you were. Despite what everyone else was doing, we fulfilled our obligation to Allah SWT. I remember walking into your room the following morning and seeing the Google search on your screen ‘How to pray the right way in Islam.’ I remember you updating your Facebook status to ‘Last night changed everything for me.’ I remember that ever since that day, by the mercy of Allah SWT, you became consistent in your 5 daily prayers. I remember you taking one step towards Allah SWT, and beautifully, I remember Allah SWT running to you with His mercy. I remember you deciding to wear the hijab almost a month after your commitment of salah. I remember Allah SWT honoring you as a beautiful role model and representative to Muslimahs all over the globe as a newly defined Riham Osman.

I am a witness to this hadith qudsi that if you come to Allah SWT walking, He will come to you running.

   Allah SWT says; “If you come to Me walking, I will come to you running.”

All we have to do is take that one step. "

Accepting Our Creator's Qadr

   Among the most difficult realizations we must come to in life is realizing that we really don't have control over our fate. We go about our lives and everything seems to be going fine...then all of a sudden, life takes a left turn. This is what life is all about. No matter how great of a person we are, we will be tested and things will seem like they're going really bad and will never get better. That's where faith steps in. We have to trust in Allah and know that beyond a shadow of a doubt, He has a greater plan for us. Allah loves us more than our own parents and He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows every decision we're going to make before we even think about it. He therefore knows the future and although in the moment, something seems so perfect for us, it won't be best for us later on in life.

   Allah tests those whom He loves. When we feel like we are truly being tested, we shouldn't shut down and feel like the world has turned their back on us. We must be patient and accept Allah's qadr. This is one of those moments in life where we can do nothing but leave everything up to Allah swt. We don't know what's right or what is wrong for us. Only He does, so in realizing that, we will God Willing feel content with what ever decision He has made for us. There's a sense of peace that comes with understanding that our fate is not in our hands, but in Allah's hands. 

Keep firm in prayer and remain steadfast in patience because inshAllah, in the end, everything will work out even better than we had imagined

The Dependable [Al-Wakil]

Photo Credit: Me

"If you depend on Allah with due reliance, He would certainly give you provision as He gives it the birds who go forth hungry in the morning and return with a full belly at dusk." [Tirmidhi]
Allah swt has 99 names and subhanAllah, one of His names is The Trustee/The Dependable. Allah is the One you can go to with all your troubles, fears, doubts, complaints, etc. Whatever it may be, Allah knows and He is The All-Hearing. He doesn't simply listen to our complaints, He truly hears them. When we feel lost in all our problems, remember that Allah will help us get through them if we just go to Him. Allah is the only one who will help us through whatever we're going through, even if at the time the situation seems hopeless.

"Your Lord says, 'Call on Me; I will respond to you.'" (al-Mu'min: 60)

If it is so easy to call on Allah for help, then why do we hesitate to seek Him? At times, we place our dependence on others besides Allah. We forget that if any hardship is intended upon us, it won't happen without the Will of Allah and if any relief is intended up on us, it also won't happen without the Will of Allah. Just like the hadith states, if we place our trust in Allah swt like the birds, Allah will take care of us and all our needs. 

Rick Perry, Man of Faith

             
What do you guys think about this?
I would like to ask Mr. Perry if he would allow Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, etc. to also openly pray in schools. If the answer is yes, then I am with him, but if not then I can't agree with his plan. If Christians are allowed to pray in school and openly celebrate Christmas , then every other student should be allowed to do the same, regardless of his/her religion. I think we have a crisis in America where people are so afraid to openly discuss religion in institutions. I think if we truly allow religious freedom in school, then as a nation we would be much stronger. True coexistence would be more attainable. If we all live by "To you be your religion, and to me my religion," [Quran: 109:6] imagine the possibilities.

Tips & Tricks for Maintaining High Imaan

We've all gone through periods in our lives where we feel we have no time for ourselves, our family, friends, and even sadly for Allah swt. Life is all about balance and no matter what we're going through, the most important factor in our life should always be our Creator. Allah swt created us to worship Him. 

[And I (Allâh) created not the jinns and humans except they should worship Me (Alone).] Quran 51:56

If our main purpose in life is to worship Allah, then every time we decide to skip a prayer or two, we are not fulfilling our purpose in life. This makes me question, where are our priorities. If Allah is not our top priority, then we have issues. Without Allah we simply would not exist, so we owe it to ourselves and to our Creator to fulfill our responsibilities towards Him. I came up with five tips that will inshAllah make it easier for us to maintain our imaan no matter if we're at school, with our families, or behind a desk at work.

1) Increase your remembrance of Allah

Whenever you are in line at the grocery store, walking to or from class, or just relaxing make dhikr (remembrance). Say Bismillah, Alhamdulilah, SubhanAllah, or AstakhfaraAllah. Remembering Allah is such an easy task. You don't need to pull out your prayer beads to make dhikr. It really is very simple and you're gonna be thankful later. On the Day of Judgement when you have all these hasanats (rewards) coming in inshAllah, you're gonna wonder where they came from and you're gonna be glad you spent your free time making remembrance . 

If you have an ipod, fill it up with Quran and Islamic lectures. Click this link for Amazing Lectures! Whenever you have free time simply press play and you will instantly remember Allah. Remembering Allah makes it easier to stay away from haram. Think about it this way. If you were to say Bismillah before everything you do, do you think you would commit as many sins. Imagine saying Bismillah then stealing. It's not likely you would do that. Remembering Allah at all times during the day keeps shaytan away and it keeps you focused on the end goal, which is jannat inshAllah. 

2) Don't miss your prayers

"Don't forget to pray today because Allah didn't forget to wake you up this morning." 

This quote is a great motivator whenever you feel lazy or negligent of your prayers. It was reported in a hadith that, "The difference between a believer and non-believer is prayer." Not only is prayer an obligation upon every Muslim, but it is also beneficial to us. It helps keep us focused and it draws us closer to Allah. When you're life is getting really hectic, prayer is the best thing to do. "The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor." Imagine if you had an exam or if you were having family problems. That duaa you made after your prayer could make all your problems go away. SubhanAllah, Allah is The Allah Hearing. He loves to answer our prayers. All we have to do is ask. Everything you want from this duniya that is halal and good for you, seek it through Allah and He inshAllah will make it happen if it's best for you. 

3) Increase your khushu (concentration) during Prayer

Life can get busy and hectic, but the last thing we should do is bring that craziness into our salat (prayers). When it's time to pray, that time is for Allah and no one else. We shouldn't rush through our prayers or think about what we're gonna do after we're done. A good way to increase your concentration is to begin focusing before you say "Allahu Akbar." When you're washing for prayer, focus on the task at hand. Afterwards, try to not talk, just focus and begin your prayer. 

-     4) Surround yourself with good company

In an authentic hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (saws) said: "A person is likely to follow the faith of his friend, so look whom you befriend." 
If your friends don't remind you of Allah, then it's going to be very difficult to increase your imaan or faith. Especially in places where temptation is everywhere, the best thing we can do for ourselves is to have good friends. We need friends that are going to encourage us to pray and to stay away from the things Allah has made forbidden to us. If we choose those that are misguided as our friends then that will just give shaytan easy access to us. 

5) Remember death often

For many people, in particular the youth, it's normal to not remember death often or at all. We're taught to think about death later on in life and to enjoy the present and live it up to the fullest. That's not the way a Muslim should think. A Muslim should remember death often because that is their ultimate destination. 
In sourat al Ankaboot (the spider) verse 57, Allah says: "Everyone shall taste death. Then unto Us you shall be returned." If it is clear that we will all die eventually, then why do we live our lives as though we're going to live forever? 

Why Make Time for Allah?

As promised, I finally wrote my first legit post in a long time. I led a sister's halaqa on Friday and I thought I would share with you what we discussed. The topic was why should we make time for Allah. The sisters at the halaqa were all college students and as college students it's easy to get distracted by this world and to forget to make time for Allah S.W.T. Even if you're not a college student, try to apply this to your life and inshAllah this can be a reminder that no matter where we are, whether it's in the office, at school, or at home, we should always make time for our Creator.

Although the topic of this post is why should we make time for Allah, I would like to look at the question being posed at the opposite side of the spectrum. Why should Allah make time for us? What have we done that makes us so deserving of His blessings?  Do you wanna know why we can’t seem to answer this question? It’s because No matter what we do for Allah, we can never repay Him for all of his blessings. Everything Allah commands us to do is not for Him, it’s all for our benefit. Praying does not benefit Allah, fasting does not benefit Allah, wearing hijab does not benefit Allah. All of this is for our own well being. Allah loves and cares for all His creation. It is only by His mercy that we even exist. The fact that Allah created us should be enough of a reason for us to make time for Him. 

Allah SWT says in the Quran, “And I (Allah) have not created the jinns and humans except they should worship Me.” [51:56]

In this ayah, Allah SWT is telling us that the sole reason He created us is so that we can worship Him. That is why we we’re created! Now, this ayah does not mean that we were created to pray day and night nonstop, and to fast every single day of the week. We are not angels of course, they are perfect while we obviously are not. 

*Anything that we do, when we make our intention to please Allah SWT, can become an act of worship. It’s so amazing when you think about how Allah makes it so easy for us to worship him. Before we study, if we say “bismillah”, suddenly, those 5 hours we spent studying have been considered an act of worship, and we have just fulfilled our purpose in life- worshiping Allah SWT. And this goes for anything, before we eat, when we take out the trash, when we clean, when we greet our sisters with a smiling face- ANYTHING that we do (as long as its halal of course), as long as our intention is pure and sincere, it can be considered an act of worship and Allah SWT rewards us for it inshAllah. We should pray our salat, remember Allah in all that we do, and make duaa that He accepts our deeds. 

New Path

So...I'm thinking about changing the direction of this blog. It is indeed called Beauty of Islam, therefore my goal is to make it exactly that. I remember when I was first starting out in my journey of embracing Islam. Islamic websites and blogs helped me with my struggles and they increased my knowledge about Islam through the great posts they wrote. I hope to be able to do that once more. I feel like I lost sight of the goal of this blog and I haven't been blogging as much as I used to. SubhanAllah, there was a time when I would blog up to 5 times a day, even when I had exams to study for and papers to write. Writing about Islam on this blog isn't only inshAllah beneficial to you, but also to me. I learn so much as I search for hadiths and ayahs from the Quran for my blog posts and it really did give me an imaan boost. I miss that. God willing, I will make a change and Beauty of Islam will be back on track and even stronger then ever!

A Glimpse of a Wonderful Night

Fast-A-Thon 2011

Samara and Zohra

Laughter heals the heart

Aqsa wrapping a scarf on a hijabi challenge participant. We asked non-Muslim women to wear the hijab for the day to raise awareness about the Muslim headscarf. 

Me and Samara <3 p.s. I was super excited to wear my new abaya :).

The boys on the Islamic Student Association executive board.

Mughrib prayer in jama'a 

The ISA family

Fast-A-Thon: Can you last the Fast?

   We did it! My university Islamic Student Association (ISA) had our first big event of the semester:Fast-A-Thon! I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit nervous me and the rest of the executive board weren't gonna be pull it off as well as we wanted it to be. Last minute advertising combined with a quickly approaching event date stressed me out, but alhamdulilah as always by the will of Allah, the event was great minus a few shortcomings. 
   My favorite part of the event was not breaking my fast lol although it should have been, it was seeing all the ISA members, faculty, friends, and university students under one roof enjoying each other's company as they learned about the significance of fasting in Islam. Fast-A-Thon is a banquet the Islamic Student Association put together to raise awareness about the reasons why Muslims fast and to also give people the opportunity to try fasting for the day. 
   The most touching moment of the event was when ISA President Waleed E. conveyed to the audience that although we fasted and got a glimpse of what it felt like to be hungry, we did not fully experience the perpetual fast those less fortunate than us experience. After a long day of fasting, we had a wonderful table full of food awaiting us, unlike those in East Africa that fast for days at a time with either little food or no food at the end of the day. As a visual reminder of the extent to which other are suffering, we showed this video in the hopes of raising awareness about the Famine & Drought currently occurring in Somalia.