Dear Ummah,

I have not forgotten.

I have not forgotten about Syria,

I have not forgotten about Pakistan,

I have not forgotten about Bosnia,

I have not forgotten about Somalia,

I have not forgotten about China,

I have not forgotten about India,

I have not forgotten about Nigeria,

I have not forgotten about Palestine,

I have not forgotten about Tunisia,

I have not forgotten about Egypt,

I have not forgotten about Libya,

I have not forgotten about Sudan,

I have not forgotten about Iraq,

I have not forgotten about Iran,

I have not forgotten about Yemen,

I have not forgotten about Afghanistan,

I have not forgotten about Bahrain,

I have not forgotten about Chechnya,

I have not forgotten about you my Ummah,

I have not forgotten about you my family,

As I sit in my air conditioned home, you suffer, you strive but I have not forgotten, I pray that Allah raises your ranks in Jannah, may Allah make this test benefit you in the hereafter, I pray that every oppressor meets Al-Muqatim, the one true avenger inshallah! I pray that every person who has spit on you, killed you and oppressed you meet Al-Basir, the one who sees everything, inshallah! I pray that these people who think they are ruling this world meet Al-Malik, the true king, Allah (swt) inshallah! Be patient family, inshallah help will come soon!

Make dua for your family. 

To guys who give halaqahs,

Mashallah you are talented! It takes guts to get the courage to stand above the crowds and speak of Allah, Muhammad (sws) and thing we should be doing. Thank you soooo much for your efforts, May Allah bless you and may your words lead you to jannah.

But there is just one thing…

This is something that every person should work on but the only reason why I’m mentioning it to you is because you are looked upon in the community and you set an example for the youth.

We need to all try to do as we say and say as we do. And only speak of what we do ourselves or at least trying to do sincerely. It would be crazy for me to tell people to be healthy, not to lie, be nice and I’m a big giant fast food eating liar that no wants to be around, right? So when you speak of hijab and talk about all the halal and haram, and you call the girl who is actually doing this ugly or criticize the way she dresses, don’t you think that Is just a little wrong? When you give speeches of how “beautiful” women are by being themselves and how make-up is haram and you marry the girl with the most make-up, don’t you think that is just a little wrong? When you tell the youth that all factors are important but deen is the most important and you bash the girl trying to stay on the deen, don’t you think that is just a little wrong? When you say so much but do little as you say, don’t you think that is a little hypocritical?

I am not trying to bash you but I am telling you because I love you and the works tat you so. I also have a solution!…

Rather than speaking of hijab talk about other issues that are also very pressing in the community and leave the hijab topics to the women, they can handle it, trust me. Plus it sucks as a girl who tries to do exactly what you say which is mostly true and she is treated different then the girl doing the exact opposite.

But Alhamduiallah….

No one is perfect and women are the biggest test for men, it’s hard, I get it but make it easy on yourselves in order to avoid the greatest sin of hypocrisy.

Drop the topic. 

Dear Minorities,

Wake up!

The people who wiped the Indians off the map,

Who started and continue slavery,

Who want to kill all of the Jews,

Who want to annihilate the Muslims,

Who want to rid America of Hispanics,

Who want to ban the Asians,

Are all the same, yet we have minorities fighting each other, the people who put you in the position that you are in as a minority are not affected but others who are in the same boat? If we were in a car heading right into the ocean, would you try to stop the driver or the passenger next to you heading in the same direction?

And just in case you thought this was an “ I hate white people” note, it’s not. To be honest, minorities are more likely to get discriminated against by other minorities than a white person. This is about people hating people solely on the basis of their skin tone which makes you worse than animals. That would be funny if I saw a brown dog treating a spotted dog differently, it would seem ridiculous? I mean the doggy can’t help that he has spots, right? This is the same for people, no one was blessed with their skin color because they were better, it was given to them without choice. It is as if I started my own regime on hair color and considered brown hair better because brown haired people are smarter and more intelligent, of course due to nice hair dyes this won’t work out as great but you see where I’m going?

Why can’t we just accept each other for who we are and roll with it; I used to think that people were generally the same, like the whole “everyone is a human” mumbo jumbo people talk about at peace rallies. But trying to group everyone together as one is not the answer, it is recognizing and appreciating our differences that will solve everything. So being able to be your own culture and accept others. So I can be Hispanic and enjoy the taste of bharyiani without bashing Pakistan, I can be African American and enjoy arroz con leche without speaking about border control.

I just wish everyone was content with the being different then everyone else and lived happily ever after, but this is simply a wish, I have to remember we are in the dunya and there is not a place left alone by shaytaan, pretty crazy how he has tricked people to accept his ideology of being better than someone because of their making.

pretty crazy…. 

Dear Summer,

Alhamduiallah, you are a time for fun in the sun and not to mention, no school although school is a blessing within itself. You are a time to catch up on numerous Islamic Lectures and spend more time at the masjid. You are a time to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. You are a time to get a nice tan and spend more time with the fam. I love the summer.

Well, kind of.

 Alhamduiallah, I love every season Allah has granted us, it shows the changes of times and gives life beauty but summer although much enjoyed has a dark side. Along with being a time with the fam and friends, you are also a time for miniskirts, booty shorts, low cut shirts, bikinis, and half naked men and women walking around. To say the least you are fitnah, fitnah, fitnah. Every time you come around  we play that same test, “Power of lowering the gaze” and to the saddest degree we fail miserably as human beings, we fall to our nafs.

Agstafiruallah.

But it is hard when Angelina Jolie, Beyoncé, Brad Pitt, Channing Tatum look-a-likes wearing no clothes are constantly swaying our way. It is hard when we are trying to stay on the right path and for three months everyone else is trying to get us off. But Alhamduiallah, I think I found a potion against you!

The Answer is: the remembrance of Allah

You, Summer, are just an extension of the dunya, an extension of a mirage that seems uber sweet but taste extremely bitter. It is all in our minds, none of this stuff is as appealing as it seems but simply a sweet and sour patch kid without the sweetness. So the next time you say Gazelle or Jacob walking in front of you shaking all of their exteriors, turn away because this is merely a test.

Allah, please protect us from our nafs.  

Dear Dunya,

 You suck.

You are like a mirage, you are beautiful from afar but the closer and closer I get to you, the more I realize how fake you are,

You are like a sour patch kid but you never turn sweet,

You are like a dandelion very beautiful but equally destructive,

You make me laugh as you make me cry.

You are so deceitful.

You make everything so tempting…

I know it is wrong but you make it sizzle like a fresh steak on a grill,

You make the worse of things seem like the best of things

You make sins seem pleasing,

But you know what…

I take it is a challenge, the more you tempt me, the more I will fight.

The more you make sins look pleasing the more good deeds I will perform,

The more spice you add to life, the more prayers I will pray to dampen down the heat,

You are not going to win,

You can catch me slipping but you will never catch me running,

Oh Allah please do not let me be deceived by this dunya and when sin hits my way, please have me run the opposite way.

Have you ever wanted to say something but it can’t come out? or wanted to do something but you can’t find yourself to do it? 

I appreciate you more than you know it, more than a best friend which is why I am soo scared to call you “my best friend”. Allah is my best friend, Muhammad (sws) is my best friend but you are the friend that brings me closer to my best of friends. And my best of friends have the greatest of gifts.

With Allah’s remembrance we find ease and when you meet someone in your life and they bring you to that remembrance, that ease is felt in their presence.

I know this is short, but I can’t type, it is like my feelings have overwhelmed me, it’s weird, because I have had many best friends before, but none of them have brought me this close to the one who has created me.

I hope and I pray that you receive the best of the best, I hope you reside next door to Muhammad (sws), that you have feasts with Musa (AS), and halaqahs with Isa (AS) in Jannah til Firdaus. I hope that you and your family are blessed in this life and the next. I hope that you live happily and never despair of your sins, but enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil.

You don’t see it, but you are a blessing to the ones around you, subhnallah, it reminds me of when the Prophet (sws) asked Allah to help him with the people of Taif, believing that something was wrong with him. You remind me of Musa (AS) when he came back to his people as a Prophet with the sin of his past, you never let the past weigh you down but concentrate on your future. You remind me of Asiya who remained strong although each day the fitnahs got worse. Alhumduiallah, I am blessed to have friend like you.

I can’t say it enough, May Allah bless you and your family, and inshallah, may you continue to be my friend until the day we die, and maybe, just, maybe you can invite me to your feasts with the Prophets? (INSHALLAH)

My heart aches for you, it really does.
History is repeating itself, over and over and over again.
What is happening to you happend to people before you.
And just know, that every harm, any torture that’s inflicted on you does not go unnoticed.
There will come a day, when all the Pharohs of the past, all the Gaddafi’s and the Bashar Assad’s will be questioned for the crimes that were committed to you
And what was your crime?
Proclaiming, testifying that there is no other God but Allah?
SubhanAllah, remain strong on the shahadah and keep prostrating to the Creator alone,
May Allah raise your ranks a thousand fold, help you die shaheed, raise you up with noor upon noor.
You remind me of the people of the ditch that Allah talks about in Surah Burooj,
when Allah says:

“Cursed were the People of the Ditch. Of fire fed with fuel. When they sat by it. And they witnessed what they were doing against the believers. And they had no fault except that they believed in Allah, the Almighty, Worthy of all praise! To Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth! And Allah is Witness over everything.” [85:4-9]

Who were the people of the Ditch? There was a king who ordered ditches to be dug, with flames kindles in them. According to Ibn Katheer’s tafseer: “…the king said, “Whoever abandons his religion, let him go, and whoever does not, throw him into the fire.” They were struggling and scuffling in the fire, until a woman and her baby whom she was breast feeding came and it was as if she was being somewhat hesitant of falling into the fire, so her baby said to her, “Be patient mother! For verily, you are following the truth!”) Muslim also recorded this Hadith at the end of the Sahih.”

SubhanAllah! Stay firm in your Deen.
Stay firm on the truth. You are in forever in my duas.
May your tears, your pain, your suffering be eased
And become a means to the gates of Jannah
where there is no pain, where there are no tears
and suffering just doesn’t exist
Allahuma Ameen

You know me better than I know myself.
You are closer to me than any one else.
You know every breath I breathe and every sneeze I sneeze
You know my entire rizq and my life and my death
There is nothing hidden nothing secret from you
But ya Rab, I just want to enter those gates
so everything can be worth it, just need to get Home back to You.
Sometimes I just want to leave every single rope I’m connected to
I want to sometimes just leave and go far away
in an empty place, barren, where I can just breathe
Where I can sit and stare at the stars,
Silence, away from every worry and task
Just to reflect on every blessings, on my journey, on You
But we weren’t made to have fun, we weren’t made to sit
If I searched for rest here, it would be fruitless
Rest and peace, and happiness and eternity belongs with You
So ya Rab, we are all just toiling and it makes me think…

“Imam Ahmad was asked, “When is there rest?” He answered, “When you put your foot in Paradise you will find rest.”

Ya Rab, just let me enter those gates
inshaa’Allah & Ameen.

I’ve been observing recently that hayaa’ in speech is slowly getting lost.
This is a reminder for myself before anyone because this is something that I struggle with as well.
But our Ummah is becoming more and more harsh with one another.
We claim to love the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wasalam and we claim to follow his sunnah,
but then we publicly humiliate our own brethern. We publicly pass rude, offensive comments by them.
We slander our own blood, we curse them, we eat their flesh through our words.
What kind of love is that?

Sometimes when it comes to Islamic work or community activism whether it may be at school or masajid or MSA’s,
I’ve noticed that some people think that being harsh and rude and assertive
is the way to change, that being harsh is the way to create change but wrong.
Allah is telling his Messenger, salla Allahu alayhi wasalam in Surah Ali-Imran that,
“So by mercy from Allah , [O Muhammad], you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude [in speech] and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah . Indeed, Allah loves those who rely [upon Him].”[3:159]
Allah is reminding his Messenger, salla Allahu alayhi wasalam that the people would leave if he had been rude and harsh. When Allah is telling this to the most perfect of creation, where do you think we stand?

SubhanAllah. Why do we feel like we need to start an argument and a fight over every single small thing? If we don’t agree, well that’s because every one of us is different. Allah created “Abdullah” as ‘Abdullah’ and ‘Adam’ as ‘Adam’ so why do we start fights cause of petty differences. Every little issue isnt something to create a world war over. If someone is asking you that they don’t like something you’re doing, out of respect, out of good manners, if its something small just…stop. There is no need to bring out and start questioning them to bring out the exact ayah and the exact hadith and etc etc. What kind of manners is that? SubhanAllah.

Our Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wasalam, was so kind even to those that threw trash at him, how do we justify creating just rifts with our own bretheren? When someone is going through something tough, why do we feel like we need to make them feel stupid cause we don’t see things like that? Why do feel like we need to make someone feel inferior if our levels of religiosity are not the same? Why are we always so harsh, so jerk-like when Islam should make us soft, should make our hearts soft which should reflect from us?

This a reminder to myself first. Whether this is occuring in families, or friends, or masajids, or MSA’s or communities, this is a dilemma that we need to tackle inshaa’Allah.