O you who believe! Observing As-Saum (the fasting) is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqûn (the pious).[Observing Saum (fasts)] for a fixed number of days, but if any of you is ill or on a journey, the same number (should be made up) from other days. And as for those who can fast with difficulty, (e.g. an old man), they have (a choice either to fast or) to feed a Miskîn (poor person) (for every day). But whoever does good of his own accord, it is better for him. And that you fast is better for you if only you know.The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur’ân, a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong). So whoever of you sights (the crescent on the first night of) the month (of Ramadan i.e. is present at his home), he must observe Saum (fasts) that month, and whoever is ill or on a journey, the same number [of days which one did not observe Saum (fasts) must be made up] from other days. Allâh intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. (He wants that you) must complete the same number (of days), and that you must magnify Allâh [i.e. to say Takbîr (Allâhu Akbar; Allâh is the Most Great] for having guided you so that you may be grateful to Him.

The Holy Quran ( 2:183-185)

May Allah SubhanahuwaTa’ala shower His blessings upon us during this month and forgive our sins and keep us on the right path for the rest of our lives. Ameen.

In the past men were handsome and great (now they are children and dwarfs), but this is merely one of the many facts that demonstrate the disaster of an aging world. The young no longer want to study anything, learning is in decline, the whole world walks on its lead, blind men lead others equally blind and cause them to plunge in the abyss, birds leave the nest before they can fly, the jackass plays the lyre, oxen dance. Mary no longer loves the contemplative life and Martha no longer lover the active life, Leah is sterile, Rachel has a carnal eye, Cato visits brothels, Lucretius becomes a woman. Everything is on the wrong path.

- Umberto Eco. The Name Of The Rose.

Anyway, last night we visited this huge bookstore in Riyadh. And it was like a dream come true! Just imagine looking at those thousands of mouth watering books and the glossy title pages or hard covers or even paperbacks stacked neatly in shelves after shelves after shelves. And all you want to do is to forget everything, and sit on the floor in the midst of all those books and just read till eternity. *sigh*

All this drooling over books in the bookstore reminded me of the time when we were in our Masters final year. In our first semester we were supposed to write one research paper. The class was divided into two groups and the incharge of our group decided to take us down in the basement of the main library of ku. The basement is one hell of a place. It has thousands and thousands and thousands of books! The smell of old paper, the shelves filled with such wisdom, such life, and such calmness that one can spend hours there without paying heed to the passage of time. Our professor asked us to stay close because cellphones don’t catch signals there and if we were lost, we might be lost forever. But seriously, that one basement is the most awesome place in the world.

How can one forget the book fair at KU and the cheap prices they offer. And the expo center book fair! I remember spending eidis at such bookfairs and the frustration of my mum as we(me and my siblings) would come home with shoppers of books, and she would say,’ye kahan rakho ge?’ Well.. I guess all our mothers have the same concerns. Hehe.

Anyway, since Dawood gets hold of everything first, I need to sacrifice my sleep in order to read those books that I’ve bought. I know all of us have crazy reading habits and even after having a baby I keep getting caught in those whirlpools where you just can’t stop reading. I remember one time my father threatened to actually tear and burn one book when he caught me reading in the candle light at around 2 am. Well, I didn’t stop reading I went downstairs and read the rest in the light from my brother’s cell phone! he he.

The most shocking thing is, that they are using grenades, rockets and bombs… it’s a city for God’s sake!

“کسی نے بو   علی سینا سے پوچہا۔ ‘سناوَ دن کیسے گزر رہے ہیں؟’۔
رو پڑے اور جواب دیا۔’
‘اللّھ کی رحمتیں گناہگار یہونے کے باوجود لگاتار مجھ پر برس رہی ہیں۔ سمجھ نہیں آتا کہ میں کس بات پر اس کا شکر ادا کروں۔ کثرت نعمت پر یا اپنے بے انداذہ عیبوں کی پردہ پوشی پر۔”

I was reading this and I couldn’t control the flow of tears from my own eyes because this made me realize how many blessings Allah Ta’ala has showered upon me and yet I fail to thank Him the way it should be done. Not only that, I failed to even realize how much He has given to me and I have been so arrogant to acknowledge His love, His Rehmahs, and His Nemats. I have been sooo blind and soo shallow.

I’m sharing all this because I know this depression and this shadow of sorrow that engulfs me every now and then, someone out there must have been feeling the same way and since it was by Allah’s Grace that I have read the passage in the troubling times and He made me realize how stupid I have been. Might as well, someone might as well gain from it as I have gained from it.

And He is the most Forgiving, and I pray that He forgives me. Ameen.

“Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest”

The kind of news items appeared soon after were much of a laughing stock for the US.  As the pictures were said to be fake, then there was this DNA test results, which take 48 hours to come out, just sprang from the scene. Plus the much hasted burial at the sea. All these things leave hundreds of questions unanswered.

There are people who are saying that he is the one man who has hijacked our beloved religion the most in the past millennium or so. Just a question to all those people out there, was it just him or even the political leaders of the Muslim world. I mean has he done much damage or has the “enlightened moderation” done more damage. When 9/11 happened and when Mulla Omer proposed to have a fair trial in a neutral country then, why did US back out from it? When the whole 9/11 sham has been exposed, okay… forget it. Was it fair on the part of US to bomb thousands of innocent civilians just to get one man killed?

Osama bin Laden went to Afghanistan two weeks after the Russian invasion, and America jumped in two years after the invasion, how can one be sure if Osama was trained and sent there by the US who knew from day one that Afghanis with few arms and almost no technology will stand their ground and keep Russia at bay for a couple of years without their help and later they’d jump in to help them first hand.

No matter what the outside world says, all I am going to say is there sure is something about those handful of people who (unlike our army, politicians and leaders), are still fighting the US and NATO troops with fewer arms and almost no technology. I side with them who live in caves, fight them and have stood their ground for ten years. US and NATO having all the technology in the world, still lacks that one thing which drags them into psychological downfalls and they commit heinous crimes against poor civilians; keeping part of their bodies as trophies, killing for no reason, sexually harassing people before shooting them countless times in their heads! Bravo!

Last but not the least, US now is saying again and again that they got clues from Guantanamo prisoners. And that be to justify all the various ways of torture they put to practice against the prisoners there. wow! How can one ever forget Abu Ghraib prison and what happened there. This is how US thinks justice should be done by treating the rest of the world like worms. They still think we, Muslims, are cannibals, whiteman’s burden that can never learn the art of being human.

For Muslims out there, read the article of Orya Maqbool Jaan. And remember this is the time when we will be tested and our eimaan would be put to test. I pray to Allah that may He keep us on the right path and may be stand our ground till the moment death seize us. Ameen

All I want to say is, I read this Hadeeth in Sahih Bukhari. I don’t have the book right now with me, or else I would have given the reference. When it rained before the battle of Badr, there were Muslims amoung the lines who said that such and such star appeared at such time that is why it rained, the Prophet (SAW) said that these people have committed shirk because they believed in the movements of stars as they did not say that it is Allah Subhanahu Wa Taala who sends down rain from the skies.

Many people would say that we don’t believe in such things but what is the harm in listening to all this or reading zodiac signs and stuff. The thing is when people get desperate and they cannot see a possible solution to their problems, then they fall prey to such things as these start to give them hope instead of Faith in Allah Subhanahu Wa Taala. And not only that there are people out there who easily fall prey to such things as their eimaan is not that strong, if Pakistan would have won the match, all these people would have easily switched their eimaan and that be without even knowing that it is gone.

One other thing that was shocking to me was what I saw on the recorded programs today. One was that of Jawed Chaudhry, in which he was talking to all these fortune tellers as if they hold an important position in the whole affair. I mean I had respect for him earlier but now… The second program that was quite disturbing for a person like me was “har lamha Purjosh”. The infamous Dr. Liaqat Hussain was sitting on the same panel as that of the fortune tellers. Now this is something that one can call subliminal message being passed out on to the general public. Dr. Hussain’s presence there legitimatized the fortune telling business and the astronomy for a lot of people who have weak faith. And there is a huge viewership of Dr. Hussain, to all those people who follow him blindly, this message has been passed out onto them that it is okay to follow all these predictions, and the astronomy business. These are not mere coincidences that these programs were held and these fortune- telling- people were given so much importance in recent programs and shows.

This only shows how the media is playing with the faith and eimaan of the people. I do not watch these programs, it was a mere coincidence that my husband was watching them and I sat down to see what was happening, and this is what I was shocked to see. Many of you would say that whatever, we don’t believe it and all but there are kids, youngsters watching these programs, their minds are easy to mold, so this is alarming and shouldn’t be taken lightly!

But who am I kidding? If our media was soo responsible, it wouldn’t have promoted all the bad things in our society!