But..I'm Not Pure Enough.

Bismillah,

How many of us feel like religion is sacred? How many of us feel like we're not good enough?

Some of you reading this are thinking how stupid that sounds. "Oh, what  a petty excuse!", you might be thinking, right?

Well, for one, I don't believe in calling peoples emotions and thoughts and feelings stupid or acting as if they are less then. And secondly if this is the way people feel, it needs to addressed - with a solution, not a complaint.

Think about it - Allah is perfect to the point that no imperfection can come near to Him. And He is the one who tells us to pray and fast and wear Hijab, right? So these things are pretty important. They are definitely sacred.

And me, you - well we're just not so sacred. We sometimes do bad things, say bad things, think bad things. If you think about it, some people would say we're just bad people... right?

But lets think about it ----

When you have a headache - what do you do?

Do you dump all of your Tylenol and Motrin down the toilet and run into a room full of screaming children?

I mean, I guess its possible that some person or another might do that... but any person with even an ounce of common sense would not do that. They would avoid the noise to the best of their abilities and probably take a Tylenol or two, right?

Do you see where I'm going with all of this?

If you have an illness - you seek to fix it... You take the medicine. You take the prescriptions given to you.

Well same with life, same with our spiritual/religious ills. When we are feeling lost, when we're feeling low, when we feel like we're losing touch with Allah - these are all sicknesses. And we have prescriptions, to heal us.

Don't turn away from Allah during your times of hardship, but rather turn to Allah. Allah gave us prayer as our medicine. Allah gave us fasting as our medicine. Allah gave us the Qur'an as our medicine. Allah gave us our hijab as our medicine. Take the medicine Allah has given to you - don't flush it down the toilet.

Salaam Wa Rahmah

Principles To Live By

Stop! Look both ways! Turn right! Go Straight!
                              -Imam Matin

When you are about to do something, stop for a minute.

Look both ways. What are the pros and cons? What good could come from it? What about the bad?

After you think about the consequences and weigh it all out - make the right choice. Turn right.
Then just go straight. Don't turn here and there. Be strong. Don't let yourself fall. 

Take some time before you make any choice - Is it a good idea? If so, than do it. If not, don't do it.
Hold tight to your morals and values. Write your own story. Be unique. Do Good.

A Book Worth Reading

Bismillah

You know what guys, we're all going to die one day. Every single one of us. And when we die, how are people going to remember us? When they hear our names, what images - what memories - what is going to pop into their heads? What kind of stories are our great-great-grandkids going to hear about us?
    And lets fast forward a little bit. When we're standing there on the Day OF Judgment, how are we going to feel standing there with Allah and with all of our brothers and sisters in humanity - watching every deed we've ever done - all the good, all the bad. All the worthless things you wasted your time doing. All the amazing, world changing things you did.
 
You are in control of the pen. You are the author of your story. Make it one that is actually worth reading. You are going to have lazy days, you are going to have bad days and you are gonna mess up sometimes. That is also part of a book worth reading. But realize that you have a purpose. Allah put you here on Earth for a reason. Discover that reason. And go for it.

Make it a book worth reading. A story worth being told.

A Poem

Misplaced Gazes,
Unfortunate phases
You know that its wrong
So you try to be strong
But often you fall short
And to blindness you resort.
The blindness of love, blindness from parts of reality.
And sadly, once you take your first glance, you'll never be free.

You might try and try
And you'll definitely cry
You want to be strong
And you know that its wrong
You don't want to love, but you refuse to hate.
You often feel like no one can relate
It's constantly fogging your mind
So I advise you...marriage is your cure and in it, peace you shall find.
-----Alexandria Potter

Lights:Camera:Action

Islam is based on three principles: Iman, Islam and Ihsan - Belief, Practice and spirituality. In order to properly understand our religion, we must understand these three principles. And in order to completely understand these principles, we must understand each in the context of the others.
   
  Belief/Iman is like a map. Islam/Practice is like a journey. Ihsan/Spirituality is like the destination.

Belief gives us meaning in our life. It answers questions like - 'Why are we even here?', 'How did we get here?', 'Where are we going?', 'Is this it?', 'What about after we die?' - and questions such as these. The map gives you direction. Purpose. Meaning. And so you must follow this map. Let it take you somewhere. Let it guide you on your journey.

Journey... You have a map. So you may now begin your journey. And this journey is practice. Islam. Fulfilling your requirements of being a good Muslim. Islam is the journey we are on. We are seeking to always improve and move closer to Allah (glorified be He).

And finally the destination. You had a map and you went on your journey - so now to finally arrive at a destination. As a Muslim, we are on a journey to get closer to Allah and to earn His pleasure. So our destination must be His pleasure in us and being near to Him. Being able to see His Face (subhanahu wa ta'ala). Being in paradise. Being able to soak eternally in His rewards. And this is where we seek to end.

If we get our map. We study our map enough that we can understand it and it can actually take us somewhere. If we begin our journey and we remain steadfast on our path. If we do our best to follow the directions and when we get lost once in a while, we stop and ask for directions and do what we can to get back on track. And if we keep our eyes on the prize, our intentions set, and our heart firm on our destination. InshaAllah (if God allows), we will surely make it to our destination - Allahs pleasure.

So remember:
Belief gives us a foundation. Practice tells you what you're responsible for. And if you practice properly, it will be transformative.

Salaam Wa Rahmah

A Poem: In Between

‘In Between’

A Poem

I want to tell you a story ... of a girl lost in between

Living according to the Sunnah or some far-off American dream

Living up to her own expectations or letting shaitan devilishly demolish her scheme

In other words, she has a choice to make - "be normal" or stick to her deen.

Because everyone around her isn’t very accepting of what they have so far seen

You may think it to be easy

I mean she is always happy

And besides how hard could it be to pray,

It’s only five times a day

Then wrap a scarf around her head? It’s really just not that hard!

And only a few other things to complete her fard.

So you overlook the struggles she goes through

But in reality, you would probably cry if you knew.

I mean don't get me wrong

She loves who she is and her faith is very strong

The hope, love, and peace she puts into her song

And her beautiful sense of right and wrong -

But the problem is, she doesn’t know for how long she can still stay strong.

It’s a real struggle at times,

She puts on a 'simple scarf' and people automatically envision crimes

She prays five times a day and Alhamdulillah that brings her peace

But the rest of the time she’s struggling to keep herself in one piece

Because she’s stuck in between.

Trying to make the right choices that will keep her towards Allah's pleasure - firm on her din.

She does it only to please Allah, her creator

But it wouldn't hurt if you lent a comforting word, a dua, or maybe once in a while - simply think of her.

                                                             -Alexandria Potter

You Can’t Sweeten Pepper With A Sprinkle Of Sugar

When we want something, we generally try to do anything we can think of to get it. When I say that, I mean both in the sense of material things as well as “abstract” things - but namely, for the purpose of this article, I am talking about the “abstract” things - and even more specifically, I am referring to those such things, that we, as Muslims, are not supposed to have.
          Maybe you want to listen to that new Justin Beiber album that came out. Maybe you really want to go to the prom this year - I mean come on, it’s your last year in high school and not to mention the whole school is going. Maybe you are really attracted to some guy and you really wish you could go out with him - even as “just friends”. Or maybe you just don’t feel like wearing hijab today. I will stop there, because I hope that you understand what I’m trying to get at here.
           So when we have these desires - when we’re really wanting whatever it is that we are wanting... we tend to do what we can to try and get it. And one of the main ways we go about that is - Making excuses!!!

And that's exactly what I want to talk about in this post.

You know how many times I have been talking to a sister and she tells me how it is okay for her to be talking to brother so-and-so because he’s so religious and they only talk about religious stuff?
You know how many times we say there’s no problem with going to prom because we’re just going to be with friends - dancing and having fun but no guys or anything like that.
You know how many times we turn on some Justin Beiber or Chris Brown or whatever music people are listening to and say that it’s okay because we listen to Qur’an too?
You know how many times a sister has said that she doesn’t have to wear hijab because it doesn’t make her more religious or worse - that she won’t wear it because it makes her feel like a hypocrite because she doesn’t do everything else that she’s supposed to do?
---And many other similar stories---
WAY TOO OFTEN!!!

And these are real things. I didn’t make them up. I’ve really heard every single one of these before.
What I’m trying to say:

We need to wake up and smell a little bit of reality.
Yes temptation fills the air.
But we have to let our desire for Allah - our desire for paradise - overpower that.
We have to be strong.

I know that it’s hard sometimes. And I understand that it’s sometimes hard when you are trying to fit in and be cool and all of that - and still stick to the deen.
But you can’t make something that is haraam into something halal, just because it suites you.
These excuses aren’t fooling anyone - not even ourselves and especially not Allah.
We will still have to answer for these things on the day of judgement.  

So I want to leave you with 3 small things for us to think about - and hopefully implement them in our lives.

1st - Allah is all-knowing, all-wise. Everything He does is out of His wisdom. So although we may not see wisdom behind a command, there is definitely wisdom in it - and if we follow it, it will definitely pay off. And if we don’t follow it, we will definitely see its consequences.  

2nd - Nothing we do - whether it is something good or bad - it doesn't affect Allah. So His telling us to do this or not do that, it's not for His benefit, it is for our benefit. If we pray - it doesn’t benefit Allah - it benefits us. If we don’t pray - it doesn’t harm Allah - it harms us. If we smoke - it doesn’t harm Allah - it harms us. If we don’t wear hijab - it doesn’t harm Allah - it harms us.

3rd - Everything Allah tells us to do or not to do is to protect and preserve 5 inalienable, God given rights for our individual self as well as the whole of mankind and humanity. These 5 rights are - Religion, Life, Honor/Lineage, Intellect and Property.  So when we think about the things we have to do or the things that we can’t do - we should bare in mind that all of these things we have to and can't do are, at the roots, there to preserve these 5 God given rights of every human being. So when you are about to do something - think, will it damage/take away any of these rights from myself or from anyone else: if the answer is no, than it is generally okay to do. If the answer is yes, than it is generally not okay to do.
So remember:


You cannot sweeten pepper just by adding a sprinkle of sugar.