And this was the verse in our open book tafseer assignment for which we were told to write down and put up somewhere. So here I reveal the beginnings of this new hobby.

I love pictures hanging on the wall. Interior decorating. I love it. For the past 12 years though, I was not able to fully indulge in it, because our finances do not allow it. I would look at framed pictures of landscape or still life, and silently imagine it dressing the walls inside my home, and such thoughts would bring me such joy. But, every time, I was reminded,

That’s not a necessity right now. Put that dream on the back burner for now, Juli.

And so I did.

Now, alhamdulillah, things are looking up, and these bare walls inside my home are begging to be adorned. New pressing issue. How do I make interior decorating reward -reaping? Reminders on the walls. Beauty and reminder.

No animate things on the walls. But merely a picture would not be enough, would it? Before, it would have been more than enough. Now, not so. It needs to be one of those 2 in 1 things.

And so I came up with the idea of putting Quranic verses and hadeeth on inanimate photos. I even considered buying one of those blown up AlMaghrib posters to put on my wall. Graphic design is the new art.

Thanks to my mother, I found myself tinkering with her beautiful photos, trying to put the words on it. I didn’t intend (because I didn’t realize I could do that) to Photoshop the photos as I was trying to put words on it, but one thing led to another, and I landed myself in an inextricable situation. I was deeply mired in the beauty and wonder of Photoscape. I ogled this, oohed that, ahhed this, and experienced the euphoria of fooling around with increasingly gorgeous subjects. Thus was born these ‘interior decor items’. My babies.

And before I knew it, I was flipping through my Quran, looking for verses that tugged at my heart strings. I even found myself reciting them in salah, with newfound meaning.

This verse, is one of the last 10 verses in Surah Aali Imran, that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam used to recite in qiyam during the last third of the night.

Reflections. When man reflects upon the creation of the heavens and the earth, man comes to the conclusion of the greatness of the Creator; Allah.

Subhaanak. Glory be to You. Exalted are You from that which they say. That such as,

The universe came about on its own.

We will die, and our progeny will live and then die. There is no hereafter.

We lived to create more human beings on earth, so the earth will be populated.

Rabbanaa maa khalaqta haazha baaTtilan

Oh Our Rabb, You did not create this aimlessly.

There is a purpose to all these creations. Everything is a sign of Allah’s might and power. Everything points back to its creator.

La aayaati liulil albaab [Aali Imran 3:190]

Surely are signs for those of understanding.

Those who are ulul albaab (the possessors of understanding) will come to this conclusion.

faqinaa ‘azhaaban Annaar

So save us from the punishment of the Fire

And they come to the realization, and ask to be saved from the Fire.

May we be of the ulul albaab and come to this conclusion and resulting dua each time we lay our eyes on Allah’s creations. Ameen.

Note: For more immersion in the resulting duas, please read the rest of the following verses after this one.

Fear.

Hunger.

Loss of wealth.

Loss of lives.

Loss of fruits.

Of five things Allah says we will surely be tested on in this life.

Some people have so much wealth they live in fear of it all being taken away. Some people are afflicted with fear of being harmed by human, animal or jinn. Some people fear the break up of family. Some fear infidelity. So many fear factors milling about.

While we are strolling the supermarket aisles trying to decide whether we should buy the cage free eggs or the more expensive organic eggs, other people are starving, having to rummage in the garbage for their breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And here I am being too lazy to cook for my family.

In the declining economical situation, some people lose their jobs while others ace that interview and land themselves a brand new job. Allah tests some with loss and others with gain. Yes, that new job is also a test. But we don’t normally see it that way. In this ayah, Allah puts it in the way we always view it; loss of wealth.The Great Depression. People were driven to suicide.

Death of a loved one. Death of a child in the womb. Death of a child via horrible means. Death of parents. Death of a spouse. What  cataclysmic word that is; death.  Something that a living human being has to face either on his person or around him. Either way, the effects and tests arising from it can be quite devastating.

Drought. The Dust Bowl. Flood. Crops wiped off the face of the earth. Our means of subsistence taken away, just like that. Talk about cataclysmic.

We will surely be tested, and Allah uses this lam that means ‘definitely’. No running away from it. Shows us just how incapable we are, huh? We can’t even control what happens to us, despite fantasies and dreams of human beings defying ‘Mother Nature’ depicted in movies with the ‘Armageddon’ theme.

So, no question about it. We will be tested. It’s just a matter of when, and what kind of test. And herein comes the second part of the verse.

Glad tidings to the patient, who when struck with calamity, says,

Inna lillaahi wainna ilaihi raaji’oon.

Indeed to Allah we belong and unto Him is our return.

And this is upon the first blow of the calamity, not after wailing, blaming others, cursing others, and trying to commit suicide.

And one of the duas that really touched my heart, one that I have immersed myself in, is the dua of Umm Salaamah, when she faced the test of death; the death of her beloved husband.

Allahuma’ jurnee fee muSseebati wakhluflee khairun minhaa

Oh Allah, recompense me for my calamity and replace it for me with something better.

And she did indeed get something better in replacement of her husband; marriage to the prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam.

As for me, what is apparent to the replacement of Baby J, is maybe Baby Zoa, but that is only what I can see, and that may not even be all of it or might not even be it. Only Allah knows. It may not even be tangible. And in that lies the beauty of it all.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. In the depths of my heart, I hope that the khairun minhaa (something better than it) is baytul 7hamd (the house of praise).That’s way better, isn’t it?

Abu Sinan said: I buried my son Sinan and Abu Talhah al-Khulaani was sitting at the graveside. When I wanted to leave, he took my hand and said, “Shall I not give you some glad tidings, O Abu Sinan?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Al-Dahhaak ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn ‘Arzab narrated to me from Abu Moosa al-Ash’ari that the Messenger of Allah said: “When someone’s child dies, Allah says to His angels, ‘You have taken the child of My slave.’ They say, ‘Yes.’ He says, ‘You have taken the apple of his eye.’ They say, ‘Yes.’ He says, ‘What did My slave say?’ They say, ‘He praised you and said “Innaa lillaahi wa inna ilayhi raaji’oon (Verily to Allah we belong and unto Him is our return).’ Allah says, ‘Then build for My slave a house in Paradise and call it the house of praise.’” [Tirmidhi]

And I promise, this is the last for tonight! I had resolved to sleep early tonight, but that resolution has gone to the dogs.

wa daaniyatan alayhim zdhilaaluhaa wazdhullilat quTtoofuhaa tazdhleela.

For the longest time I had trouble remembering that this verse is supposed to come after the verse before it. Even as I pore over the translation, I can’t quite master the meaning since I have not yet learned the roots of most of the words here, but the translation (for now) is enough to make me stop and imagine this scenario in Jannah.

It immediately brings to mind the sweaty prodding one has to go through in order to get one’s hands at some high dangling fruits. I’m talking about Malaysian fruits such as Rambutan, and … (my poor excuse – I haven’t been back for so long, I don’t quite remember what fruits hang so high that we have to use these long poles armed with metal hooks at the end to pry the bunches of fruits off the branches). It’s hard work. You can strain your neck from looking way up high and at the same time maneuver that arduously long pole up and down, left and right just right so the hook will wrap itself around the main stem of a bunch of dangling fruits, and all you have to do is give it a firm tug. If you’re lucky, you may be rewarded with a scattering of fruits on the ground. If not, you have to try again.

I can’t wait until we study this verse and get into word analysis and tafseer. For now though, the understanding is that, we don’t have to do the maneuver and tug in Jannah. The fruits will lower themselves willingly just within your reach. How cool is that? Spared from neck strain, sweaty underarms, and measly amounts of fruits which may turn out rotten or not yet ripe. Ahhh…something to look forward to…

And true to my promise, I am leaving this darned computer and retiring to bed. But before I go, I have to say that this is so far my most ever favoritest (grammar police please stay away) interior decor item (that’s what I call them), courtesy of my mother’s photography skills. She had deleted this photo, so I was only able to get it from her blog, thus the resolution was not that high. That forced me to play around with it and oil painting was the perfect choice for that. Changed the color saturation, and everything was set. It also reminds me of my grandfather, my mother’s father, whom I adored. he was an art teacher, and I still can recall him guiding me with watercolor painting when I visited him during my childhood. All artistic abilities I have to honestly attribute to my mother’s side of the family. Apparently, artistic ability runs deep and dominant throughout generations, as I see them also manifested in my progeny. Subhanallah.

Such blessings, Alhamdulillah. May we use these abilities in His cause. Ameen.

I love my mother for sharing her beautifully taken photos with me, upon my request. And I love my mother because she is my mother.

I will later bore you with how all this started, inshaallah, but for now, I will let my train of thought take over.

The Arabic word, birr is what is translated as righteousness/reward in this verse. Birr is from the word barr, which means land. The land is pregnant with a variety of flora and fauna, and so the word birr, sometimes translated as righteousness, other times translated as reward, depending on the context of the verse, carries with it a plethora of good.

In this ayah, from what I understand, it can mean either one. But that is not what hooks me about this verse. The last part of it reels me in like a fascinated wide-eyed fish.

‘of that which you love’.

Time. Children. Health. Wealth. Husband. Parents. Those little cute whimsical bowls you bought because they were on sale and you couldn’t resist their pastel colors. Those fabrics you thought would look great as curtains you have yet to make.

Selflessness. Well-wishing. Sharing. Spreading the good. This is what Islam is about. You will never attain righteousness until you spend of that which you love, be it your money, your time, your talent, your skill in the way of Allah. You will never attain the reward until you spend of that which you love, be it your health, your family in the way of Allah.

How can one spend one’s family? Using family time in the way of Allah can be one way. A weekend that is usually spent going for a family picnic is spent attending a community event instead, such as a fundraising event for a new masjid.

How to use one’s skill/talent? If you are tech savvy, spend some time and skill helping build a dawah website or anything of the like.

Don’t limit yourselves to those examples. My brain is fried. Those are the ones I can come up with for now.

Community service. Giving and sharing. The good, the blessings, these are all supposed to be shared with everyone. Don’t hoard those candies. Share them. Spread the sweets.

I found a new hobby. As shortlived as it was (lasted about 2-3 days), it’s one that I think I will revisit as a reward to checking off items on my To Do List. Its short lifespan was due to an incurrence of more items on my To Do list. I look forward to indulging in this again soon. I hope, inshaallah.

This verse struck me when I read it in Arabic and then the meaning in English. Fahjurhum. When I first read it, I couldn’t figure out what the root was, and how it was related to the translation ‘leave/avoid’. However, few days later, lo and behold, we happened to study this word in surah An Nisaa in class. The root is ha jeem ra, the same root for hijrah (emigrate).

Beautiful indeed, subhanallah.

It is a fact, that no matter what you do, tongues will wag, either in your favor or against you. Thus it makes no sense to do things simply to please people, because as the folktale of the father, son, and donkey tells us, you can’t please everyone.

Sometimes, when you do something, you get a backlash, or you manage to somehow trigger incessant tongue wagging either behind you or right in your face. Not pleasant. What to do?

fahjurhum hajran jameela. Avoid them with gracious avoidance. One can leave unfavorable company in two ways.

One :

“You guys can bad mouth me all you want! I’m done with all of you! Good riddance!”

Two:

“Please excuse me. I have to go.”

It is obvious which one is hajran jameela. I love how manners, good manners, good conduct always makes its way in the Quran to us. Subhanallah!

Now where shall I put this up in the house?

The last ten nights of Ramadan are upon us and we’re halfway through these last ten nights. I’ve always been enamored by the last ten nights from a young age, and I particularly remember the low hanging sun disc glowing soft amber in the morning sky as I strolled to school about 18 years ago.

It is my personal on going goal to improve each Ramadan, and alhamdulillah this year’s Ramadan is a completely different experience than last year’s. Guess what made that huge of a difference?

The absence of the stupid box. The mere absence of it makes such a significant difference! The mere presence of it has given me much unneeded inner stress and it has also become a source of conflict either internally or externally, but we were only able to completely get rid of it with this move to New Mexico.

Not to say it was not without any problems, though. There were problems. We were even offered a free TV, bigger and better than the one we had before we moved. Hubs told the offerer that I don’t want it. The offerer didn’t back down, but instead offered it to me personally again. Subhanallah. These things really come at you persistently, don’t they? I refused the offer. Not without resistance though. That was my first test of being posed the glaring question of

“Why don’t you want a TV?”

Sounds familiarly like,

“Why do you homeschool?” or “Why don’t you send your children to school?”

Ahhh…I never truly expected this test, seriously. I just thought that getting rid of the TV is just that. That it was more of an inner struggle for me, not so much an external test like this.

I responded and was met with a smile. It ended like that. Alhamdulillah.

I have to say that no TV upped the quality of our lifestyle rather significantly indeed, and Oh Allah, please preserve this goodness and blessing and increase us in it. Ameen!

This morning, as I read the below hadith in my inbox, something hit me hard. Last ten nights. Forgiveness. ‘Afw. Allah’s mercy. Allah’s forgiveness. It hit me hard. It truly did. Imagine a human being, someone whom you love dearly saying to you,

“Whatever you did, let’s forget about it. I forgive you. I don’t mind.”

And this ‘crime’ you did to that human being is truly heinous. Heinous, horrible indeed. Too horrible that you would hang your head in utter shame just from thinking about it. And this person comes to you with this kind of mercy. The tingle, the surge of gratitude, love. That’s what hit.

Now imagine this coming from your Creator. The One who knows you inside out. Who knows what you are thinking even before you think it. Who knows what you’re going to email even before you strike the keyboard. Who knows what blog post you are going to compose even before you click ‘New Post’. Who knows your intentions in composing such a post. Who knows you more than your parents do, and your parents were the one who changed your diapers and dealt with your tantrums and adolescence. This Creator knows you more than that.

It hit me hard. That’s what it did.

Hadith Qudsi, Allah said: O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind.
O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you.
O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great at it.
- Saheeh. Related by at-Tirmidhi.

Especially for sisters, there is also a class on Paltalk conducted by Br Wisam’s wife, Sr. Menahal.

It is accessible online and via phone.

Online: Paltalk -> Religion -> Islam -> 104 sisters

Phone:

Conference Dial-in Number: (616) 347-8100

Participant Access Code: 584696#

For replay (available throughout the day until the next day’s lecture):

Conference Playback Number: (616) 347-8199

Participant Access Code: 584696#

It seems that my life has taken a turn ever since we moved to New Mexico. I have been grappling with this change for the last 5 plus months now, and to be completely honest, it has had me going bananas, yoyo, up the wall and back down in a crazed manner.

Some people, especially women, claim that,

I can’t just stay at home. I need to go out and do stuff! I can’t stay home and do nothing!

I agree. You can’t stay home and do nothing. You stay home and you have more on your hands than if you are outside the home. Now, that, is referring to housework, assuming you don’t have domestic help that is. Domestic help to me, all these years, is a foreign concept, though I grew up with it. I personally loath it, though I won’t mind having it during my stress times. In this world of cyberspace, staying home gives us a lot of new possibilities. I know, I know. Some may say,

“Get a life!”

But seriously, when you do dawah work, you can do a lot on the internet. And I mean a lot. Especially when you have children, and are also homeschooling.

You see, my life prior to New Mexico was steeped in solitary confinement by complete choice. I love staying home. Some days, you really have to come and drag me by the tails of my hijab to attend social functions. It’s not that I abhor social functions, I just need that push. When I attend them, I enjoy them, but to take that initiative is like scrubbing a year old grease from your abandoned broiler pan.

I dabbled in writing, blogging, participated in community projects via online contribution, and of course homeschooled my three children, while managing to have babies later on. My life never required me to be esponsible for other people’s children before.

Now, I find myself mired in this very responsibility, all because I feel it is a sense of responsibility I should embrace wholeheartedly. Why? Because of this:

The best of you is he who learns the Quran and teaches it. (Bukhari, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa’i, Ibn Maajah)

I am teaching individual lessons, Sunday school and group sessions, especially this summer. With everything I am already doing from before, I had somewhat planned for my life here in New Mexico. Since we knew that there is a dearth of Islamic classes in town, I decided to enroll in Taleem Quran (which subhanallah, came at an amazingly perfect time) which will e my occupation for the next three and more years, inshaallah. I have to say that that in itself i truly an occupation. Assuming that my life is the same as before, my time would be duly filled already. Add the teaching that I’m doing to that, my plate, which has always been greedily filled, is overflowing. And that, is the reason why I am now considering taking a hiatus in freelancing. Technically, I will probably still be ‘writing’ or rather, blogging, because that has become somewhat second nature. I am the kind of person who needs an outlet in the form of writing.

I have loved freelancing with SISTERS. I still do. I still want to. But realistically, I don’t know if it’s good for myself and my family to continue doing so. This is not an easy decision to make, and as of yet, I have not yet made istikharah about it, so it’s not finalized. Hubs recently told me I can just let him know if I want to start freelancing for another magazine I tried to write for years ago, because he has the contact info. But I found that my heart is not so inclined right now, because of all this teaching I’m doing. My ultimate goal in writing is not freelancing, but I have loved it, and I feel that it has given me great benefits in my writing. I didn’t do it for money, which probably makes it even harder to give up. Hubs, the closest to me, who could see the stress I am and was under, continues to encourage me to freelance. He suggests that I tweak my method of teaching so that the burden is not all on me. And I did think to myself, when mulling over all this,

Maybe I just need to manage my time better.

Then again, there is that concept of stretching oneself too thin (Oh, I wish! (literally)), and I think I have done exactly so. Burn out. Another concept. I truly honestly am obviously still grappling with this.

So, a hiatus or no hiatus?

In Call Me Okaasan, there is an essay of mine titled ‘So Are You Malaysian or American?’ that talks about this very breakfast item that is my all time favorite. Recently, I managed to whip up the typical accompaniment, Sambal Ikan Bilis, consisting of cleaned tiny anchovies (thanks to my two kids) for the Nasi Lemak. Due to Baby Zoa’s allergies, I had stayed away from any seafood during the period of nursing. But now that the suckling period is officiallay over, I am back to my usual diet.

My son, my chatterbox, whom I have introduced very early in the essay, had remarked,

“This tastes like Nasi Lemak!”

and to that, my oldest daughter retorted, somewhat snortingly,

“It IS Nasi Lemak.”

“No, I’m just saying that it’s made right!”

A compliment from my Malaysian American and Malayrican. (That’s what they called themselves)

If it’s one thing that adds to my width and unfortunately not length, it would be this breakfast item. (And trust me, after reverting back to my normal diet, there are a lot of things that add to my width!) Alhamdulillah I’m not dilligent or motivated enough to whip this up every morning as a staple breakfast, regardless of my love for it.

I can go on and on about Nasi Lemak. I can make an ode about it. But I think I will let the photos do the talking, or rather, writing.

Nasi Lemak, translated explanatorily as Rice Cooked in Coconut Milk. Translation does not do it justice. So many things lost in translation. Nasi Lemak. I’ll leave it at that.

]]> http://juliherman.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/nasi-lemak/feed/ 2 juliherman ikanbilistiltJH laukNLJH nasilemakJH http://juliherman.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/book-review-by-guest-writer/ http://juliherman.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/book-review-by-guest-writer/#comments Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:02:04 +0000 juliherman http://juliherman.wordpress.com/?p=505 ]]>

LET US REMEMBER ALLAH FOR THE WONDER OF HIS CREATION

By DR.SAFIAH OSMAN

Review written by : Zurina Ismail

This is my good deed for the day.

Safiah’s coffee table book is a book of poems that is embellished with lots of pictures. It is a book for which all proceeds from its sale will go to orphans and to children living in extreme poverty wherever or whoever they may be.

I have been taking a particularly long time to come up with a review for this book simply because poems aren’t my thing and I really had no idea where or how to begin. However when it was presented to me by the writer along with a request to review I just had to find a way around it.

Although this book is very much spiritually inclined, particularly by the insertion of verses from the Quran, it deals, however, with the very earthly matters of life. It is a book written with an appreciation of the natural wonders that surround us every day; the wonders of God’s creation. Safiah reminds us of the trees, the mountains, the rivers, the plants and animals that are, like us, fighting to survive in an ever challenging environment. She writes about the threat of global warming, habitat destruction and reminds us on each page and through each poetic line that the beauty of nature and the maintaining of it are in our hands; that the choice is ours to, or not to, preserve the gifts that Allah has given us. She describes us as the inheritors of the Planet Earth.

It goes without saying that the writer is very much a great lover of nature and fears that the environment that we live in today is being threatened by manmade creations that cause disharmony and destruction to the natural order of life that Allah has created for us.

Safiah has taken great pains to bring to life in words and lyrics the natural wonders of our world. She takes our hands and brings us for a walk through the many existing natural phenomena of trees, of mountains, of rivers, of the rainbow, of squirrels, of butterflies, of bees, of rainforests and even of vegetables, nuts, and grains et cetera and attempts to demystify Allah’s creations, by applying to them moral and spiritual values. Safiah conveys that it is these spiritual and moral messages which are inherent in nature that we should listen to because it provides valuable insights to the way that a true believer should conduct his or her life. Safiah uses verses from the Quran to amplify this message throughout her book and her devotion, belief and sincerity is evident.

In each of her poems Safiah describes vividly the physical features of what she sees around her and her thoughts and reflections return constantly to the greatness of Allah, His power and the preciousness of the wonders that He has generously blessed us with. Safiah’s writing are chock-full of imagery and one can’t but help ‘see’ things as animatedly as she sees them.

Safiah has likened the planting of a seed to that of doing a good and charitable deed. She addresses the gravity of honesty, faith, knowledge and clarity of vision in all that we do. Safiah has managed to weave the significance of such desirable traits as these and relate it to nature and the bewildering ways of God so that if only we looked carefully and reflected deeply would we realize the essence and meanings behind all His marvels and creations.

Safiah’s poems are not difficult to interpret as they are no hidden shades and nuances to deal with. They appear quite direct and her message comes across clearly and unambiguously. Hers is a constant expression of her love for nature and thus for the almighty Allah, His generosity particularly to our planet and to us its people. This is the main recurring theme and the consistent thread that runs throughout the book.

Safiah has provided beautiful pictures of all things natural, of rainforests, of coral reefs, of various animals, of mountains and so on to vivify her message and in an attempt to connect the reader to her thoughts visually. The pictures of fruits and vegetables certainly reminded me that we should all go organic, at the least. Although the book may be considered a book of poems there are, however, parts in which poems have given way to prose. Poetry and a lyrical writing style have been used to make her message more memorable, more refreshing, more readable and more acceptable.

It is not hard to realize that Safiah wishes us all to live in constant wonder and amazement and to respect nature because that would in turn mean a respect for the Creator and His greatness. Hers is a book that seeks to remind, to make you ponder, to reflect and to appreciate and respect the world that we live in, its beauty as well as its mysteries. Hers is a book that strives to remind us that we are merely a small part of a greater existence, but with consideration and a little thought in what we do every minute of the day we can do much not just for our world and ourselves but for all other living creatures in turn that inhabit this earth. Hers is a book for reflection.

This book is available at MPH bookstores.

About the author

Dr. Safiah Osman is a graduate of the University of Malaya in education and left for the United States on a Fulbright scholarship. She obtained an M.Sc (Education) from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. She returned as a lecturer in University Malaya and then left to pursue her doctoral programme at State University of New York at Albany. She obtained a M.Sc (Reading) and also a Doctorate in Education (Ed. D) from the same university.

Dr .Safiah was the founder member and first president of the Malaysian Reading Association that is affiliated to the International Reading Association. She was the recipient of the National Union of Graduate Teachers Book Prize and the Mary Ellen Galluci Award given by the American Association of University Women, Washington D.C., USA

Dr. Safiah was a Professor of language Education at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur and later joined University Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia as Professor of Language Education and also held the post of Director for International Relations before her retirement in 2004.