Eid Mubarak!

The Muslim ummah is once again active with festivities to celebrate the Eids of Adha, Ghadir, and Mubahila! As we are busy getting dressed up for the occasions, exchanging wishes, and spending time with family and friends, it is important to remember to do so in a halal manner and to remember the Almighty.

Not only does the holy month of pilgrimage bring the opportunities to earn more blessings than during other months, but it also brings the joys of the three Eids. Thus we have special days in which we aim to improve our spiritual status through prayers, and days which are spent in celebrations. But the two concepts are not separate; rather, even on Eid, we need to keep our spirituality in mind.

Sure, we go to the mosque, perform Eid prayers, and listen to the sermon – but what about everything else? During the rest of the day of celebrations, it is vital to be constantly aware of Allah's presence at all times.

As the Shias of Imam Ali (peace be upon him), we must strive to live the way he taught us, and among the many beautiful values he has spoken of, the Imam stressed on piety: God-consciousness. To be conscious of Allah's presence is to also be aware of our own insignificance and to attribute all that is positive to Him. We are never alone in what we do, and therefore, everything which is good is only thanks to Him.

Getting back to the Eid celebrations – we often use terms in our daily lives which trace things back to Allah rather than taking the credit for it ourselves. Don't forget to remember Him on Eid as well! So you saved enough money to pay for sacrificing on Eid? Alhamdulillah! Isn't the crowd huge? Subhan'Allah! You wore a beautiful new outfit for Eid? Masha'Allah! If we truly understand the meanings when using those words, then we remind ourselves of the fact that Allah controls everything, and we recognize that none of what we do is the sole reason for its doing.

Besides adding words in our speech that inspire piety, it is also important to be pious in everything else we say – because no matter what the size of the crowd on Eid, tongues will definitely be working overtime! However, remembering the presence of the Almighty will make it easier to "think before you speak". Are the words about to be uttered going to cause any good? Is it something that wouldn't be embarrassing to repeat later on? Will the words please Allah? If not, then refrain from saying it!

Eid is a time to give our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters special wishes and gifts. The gifts come in many different forms: a card, a prayer, food, clothes, or perhaps an object. The key point is that the gifts do not have to be anything extravagant; rather, they should be according to each person's God-given abilities. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his progeny) has even said, "If you have nothing to give, give a kind word or even just an affectionate smile." It is the intention that matters. Being conscious of His presence when deciding what to give prevents us from making a show of our gift. It purifies our desire to give only for the sake of pleasing Allah.
After the celebratory gatherings at the mosque, everyone has their own plans: some spend time with the extended family members, some with friends – but even in those situations, it is essential to keep in mind Allah's presence and our purpose of getting closer to Him. Different people have different standards when it comes to what extent they choose to live in a halal manner. So when making the decision whether to accompany someone to a gathering, just remember the saying of Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (peace be upon him): "Piety is that Allah does not miss you in the place where He has commanded you to be, and does not see (find) you where He has forbidden you from."

Of course, there is also the "dressing up" aspect of Eid. Wearing beautiful new clothes on Eid is a recommended act in Islam, and in the context of segregated gatherings, there is nothing wrong in dressing up fancily. However, the moments between when we step out of the house and into the ladies'/gents' side of the mosque are important as well. Proper hijab – in terms of clothing as well as behavior – must be observed.

After the events at the masjid, anytime that there is interaction between non-Mahram individuals is a time when it is even more necessary to be conscious of Allah's presence. The interaction must be respectable, and the attire must also be in line with the rulings of Hijab. Sometimes you hear the "It's only one day" excuse in reference to not observing Hijab – but that is one entire day in which Allah is being forgotten!

In sermon number 16 of Nahj al-Balagha, Imam Ali has said: "Beware that sins are like unruly horses on whom their riders have been placed and their reins have been let loose, so that they would jump with them in Hell. Beware that piety is like trained horses on whom the riders have been placed with the reins in their hands, so that they would take the riders to Heaven. There is right and wrong and there are followers for each. If wrong dominates, it has (always) in the past been so, and if truth goes down, that too has often occurred. It seldom happens that a thing that lags behind comes forward."

We must strive to be among those who do not lag behind, and to be the riders who are guided by piety. In our happiness of celebrating the Eids, let us re-affirm our belief in the teachings of Islam by heightening our awareness of Allah's presence. When we say the special takbir, let it be that we say it with strong conviction and true piety.

Eid Mubarak!

(From www.islamicinsights.com )

The Elixir of Love

The Persian poets called love the "elixir" (iksir). The alchemists believed that there existed a material in the world which they called the "elixir" or "the philosopher's stone" (kimiya) which could change one matter into another matter, and they searched after this for centuries. The poets took over the use of this terminology and said that the real "elixir" which has the power of transformation is love, because it is love which can transmute a substance. Love, absolutely, is the "elixir" and has the properties of the philosopher's stone, which changes one nature into another, and people also are different natures.

People are mines, like gold-mines and silver-mines

It is love which makes the heart a heart, and if there is no love, there is no heart, just clay and water.

Every heart that is not aflame is no heart;
A frozen heart is nothing but a handful of clay.

O God! Give me a breast that sets ablaze,
And in that breast a heart, and that heart consumed with fire.
-From Vahshi Kirmani, Iranian poet (991/1583)

One of the effects of love is power; love is the power of glory, it makes the coward courageous.
A hen will keep its wings folded by its side as long as it is alone. It will strut about quite peaceably, looking about to find small worms to swallow. It will start at the slightest noise, and not stand its ground even in front of the weakest child. But when the same hen has chickens, love takes up its dwelling at the centre of its being and its character completely changes. The wings which were folded by its side are now lowered in a sign of preparation for defence, it assumes an aggressive posture, even the sound of its clucking becomes stronger and more courageous. Previously it fled at the possibility of danger, but now it attacks where there is that possibility, and it attacks bravely. This is love which displays the frightened hen in the form of a valiant animal.

Love makes the heavy and lazy nimble and cunning, and even makes the slow-witted astute. A boy and girl neither of whom, when they were single, found themselves thinking about anything except what was directly related to their own persons, see that they have become concerned about the fate of another being for the first time as soon as they fall in love and set up a family environment. The radius of their wants extends; and when they become parents, their spirit completely changes. That heavy and lazy adolescent boy has now become active and mobile, and that girl who used not to get out of her bedclothes even during the day moves like lightning when she hears the cry of her child in the cradle. What is this power which has so galvanised the languor and weariness in these two young people? It is nothing but love.

It is love which turns the miser into a benefactor, and an impatient and intolerant person into someone with endurance and tolerance. It is love which gave the selfish bird which collected grain only with itself in mind and looked only after itself, the form of a generous creature which calls for its chickens when it finds a grain of corn; or which, by some wonderful power, makes the mother, who was until yesterday a spoiled child who just ate and slept and was irritable and impatient, persevering and forbearing when faced with hunger, lack of sleep and dishevelment, which gives her the patience to endure the hardships of motherhood.

"The nightingale learnt its song by the favour of the rose,
otherwise there would not have been
Any of this song and music fashioned from its beak. "
(Hafiz)

Although the favour of the rose is, if we attend only to the words, a matter outside the existence of the nightingale, it is in fact nothing but the force of love itself.

"Do you imagine that Majnun became deranged (majnun)
by himself?

It was the glance of Layla that transported him among the stars."
(`Al'amah Taba'taba'i)

Love awakens sleeping powers, and frees chained and fettered forces, just like the splitting of the atom and the freeing of atomic power. It fires with inspiration and builds heroes - how many poets, philosophers and artists there have been who were created by a strong and powerful love.

In the spirit, the effect of love is in terms of its development and thriving; in the body, in terms of melting and decomposition. The effect of love in the body is the complete opposite of what it is in the spirit. In the body love is the cause of ruination, and the reason for pallor and emaciation in the body, for indisposition and disorder in the digestive and the nervous systems. Perhaps all the effects which it has in the body are destructive; but in connection with the spirit it is not so - it depends on the object of love and how the person responds to that object. Leaving aside its social effects, it is predominantly perfecting in the spirit and the individual, because it produces strength, compassion, serenity, singleness of purpose, and determination; it abolishes weakness, meanness, annoyance, uncollectedness and dullness. It removes the confusions which are called dassa in the Qur'an (91:10), meaning adulterations of purity with impurity, destroys deceit and purifies the cheat.

"The spiritual way ruins the body,
And, after having ruined it, restores it to prosperity:
O happy the soul who, for love and ecstasy,
Gave up hearth and home, wealth and riches,
Ruined the house for the sake of the golden treasure,
And with that same treasure rebuilt it better;
Cut off the water and cleansed the river-bed,
Then caused drinking-water to flow in the river-bed;
Cleft the skin and drew out the iron point -
Then fresh skin grew over it.
The perfect ones who are aware of the secret of reality
Are in ecstasy, bewildered, intoxicated and deranged with love.
Not bewildered in such wise that his back is towards Him,
But so bewildered that (they are) drowned and intoxicated with the Beloved."

(Adapted from Nicholson's translation of Rumi, Mathnavi, bk. 1)

============================================================

(Extract from Chapter 3 of the book "Polarization Around the Character of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib" ) by Murtadha Mutahhari...

Lesson for all times...

SERMON 148
Before his (Imam Ali [as]'s ) passing away
(Last will)

O' people. Every one has to meet what he wishes to avoid by running away. Death is the place to which life is driving. To run away from it means to catch it. How many days did I spend in searching for the secret of this matter, but Allah did not allow save its concealment. Alas! It is a treasured knowledge. As for my last will, it is that concerning Allah, do not believe in a partner for Him, and concerning Muhammad (p.b.u.h.a.h.p.), do not disregard his Sunnah. Keep these two pillars and burn these two lamps. Till you are not divided, no evil will come to you. Every one of you has to bear his own burden. It has been kept light for the ignorant. Allah is Merciful. Faith is straight. The leader (Prophet) is the holder of knowledge. Yesterday I was with you; today I have become the object of a lesson for you, and tomorrow I shall leave you. Allah may forgive me and you.

If the foot remains firm in this slippery place, well and good. But if the foot slips, this is because we are under the shade of branches, the passing of the winds and the canopy of the clouds whose layers are dispersed in the sky, and whose traces disappeared in the earth. I was your neighbour. My body kept you company for some days and shortly you will find just an empty body of mine which would be stationary after (all its) movement and silent after speech so that my calmness, the closing of my eyes, and the stillness of my limbs may provide you counsel, because it is more of a counsel for those who take a lesson (from it) than eloquent speech and a ready word. I am departing from you like one who is eager to meet (someone). Tomorrow you will look at my days, then my inner side will be disclosed to you and you will understand me after the vacation of my place and its occupation by someone else.

-Nahjal Balaagha (Peak of Eloquence-- Contains Sermons, Letters and Sayings by The Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Talib)

15th Ramadan- The Birth of Imam Hasan (a.s)

On the fifteenth of the holy month of Ramadhan, in the third year after Hijrah (migration), the Prophetic house announced the birth of the first grandson of the Prophet [s]. This good news was given to the Chosen Prophet [s]. A look of joy covered his noble face and happiness flooded his heart. He hastened to the house of his daughter, the chaste Zahra, to communicate his congratulations and show his delight.

The blessed newborn baby was taken to him, in the arms of Um-Salamah, or in another version, Asma', daughter of Umays. The Prophet [s] received him with the whole of his pure existence. He carried him in his arms. He kissed him and pressed him to his chest. Then he said the call to prayer (adhan) in his right ear and recited the call to begin the prayer (iqamah) in his left ear. The first voice that embraced the newborn's hearing and entity was, thus, the voice of right.
The Holy Prophet [s] turned to Imam Ali [a] and asked him:

"What name did you give my son?"

"I wouldn't precede you in doing it," Imam Ali [a] replied.

"Nor would I precede my Lord," averred the Prophet [s]. [3]

No sooner did this short dialogue take place between the Messenger [s] and his trustee, about the name of the new baby, than the Divine, Holy revelation came to the Messenger of Allah [s] telling him that Allah, the Glorified, had named the baby, Hasan. [4]
That was the first phase of the Islamic rituals in honouring Imam Hasan [a], the noble baby.
====================================================
REFERENCES
[3] . Ibid., p.120.
[4] Tawfeeq Abu-Alam, Ahlul Bayt/Imam Hasan, 1st ed., 1970, p.264. Al-Majalis al-Saniyyah (Bright Assemblies), vol.2, Sayyid Muhsin al-Ameen al-Amili, Life of Imam Hasan [a].

How Allah joins two true Hearts! :)

A BEAUTIFUL POEM!

Let me tell you a love story unlike any you have heard

According to modern standards the tale seems absurd

It's about a boy who held a girl in very high regard

Her modesty and shyness made him fall really hard

The story didn't begin at prom or any other school dance

It took place after the first and only legal glance

He caught glimpse of the girl after his math class

But he lowered his gaze whenever she walked past

Everyone around him encouraged him to flirt

But he didn't want to drag her reputation through the mud

It's by short skirts and makeup that most boys get impressed

But the reason he fell for the girl was how modestly she dressed

He had the urge to talk to her, but all the urges he ignored

Instead he turned to prayer and asked help from his Lord

He thought of her voice and recalled the soft-spoken sound

How she was focused and mature unlike the other girls around

One day when going home he saw what he had most feared

And he couldn't help the flow of a few tears onto his beard

He saw the girl with a boy, them walking hand in hand

And the sadness in his heart he felt he couldn't understand

In his aching and dreary mood he drove to the mosque that day

He realized there was nothing he could do except to just pray

The Imam spoke about the marriage of Ali and the Prophet's daughter

Then he ended his speech about how Hussain was denied water

The boy felt comfort in what he had heard

So, he dedicated his time to God and His immaculate words

From that day on it was the love of Allah he would seek

He grew into the man who would recite Dua Kumayl every week

One day his mother told of a girl to whom he should get married

He felt he was ready, because old feelings were long buried

To his astonishment it was the girl with whom he once fell in love

What a pleasant surprise he had received from above

When talking he asked who the guy was with her that he had seen

She told him her older brother who took her and this is what u have seen

She told him how she noticed his humility whenever he walked by

She thought about him for years when she moved away that July

She said she liked him for the proper akhlaq that he observed

And how he treated her like a lady, with the respect a girl deserves

When she was listening to Du'a Kumayl one day she recognized the voice

Then she went to her father and told him of her choice

Her father said taking the proposal would make him very glad

Because he heard of the reputation the great reciter had

So, the boy and girl finally chose each other as their spouse

And this story ends with their nikah in God's house

:)

The Month of Ramadan iss here! :D

FASTING

There's hidden sweetness in the stomach's emptiness.
We are lutes, no more, no less.
If the soundboxis stuffed full of anything, no music.
If the brain and belly are burning clean with fasting,
every moment a new song comes out of the fire.
The fog clears,
and new energy makes you run up the steps in front of you.
Be emptier and cry like reed instruments cry.
Emptier, write secrets with the reed pen.
When you're full of food and drink,
Satan sitswhere your spirit should,
an ugly metal statuein place of the Kaaba.
When you fast, good habits gather like friends who want to help.
Fasting is Solomon's ring.
Don't give it to some illusion and lose your power,
but even if you have,
if you've lost all will and control,
they come back when you fast,
like soldiers appearingout of the ground,
pennants flying above them.
A table descends to your tents,
Jesus' table.
Expect to see it, when you fast,
this tablespread with other food,
better than the broth of cabbages.

-Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi(Ghazal No. 1739 from the Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi)

COMMENTRY BY IVAN.M. GRANGER
There's hidden sweetness in the stomach's emptiness.
We are lutes, no more, no less.
If the soundboxis stuffed full of anything, no music.

I thought something on fasting might be appropriate at the beginning of Ramadan. Ramadan is the holy month when devout Muslims fast from sunup to sundown as a way to deepen their communion with God.

Fasting is something we're not too comfortable with in the affluent West. Even though Christianity and Judaism also have rich, ancient traditions of fasting, we often don't have a real sense of what spirituality has to do with food -- or its avoidance. We tend to take a rather intellectual approach to spirituality. Even in modern New Age teachings, we have the notion that all we have to do is change our thinking and transformation occurs. But the results of that approach are often spotty. One reason is that mind is much more than thoughts, and transforming the mind requires deeper work. Thoughts are built on ingrained energetic patterns. For real transformation to occur, we have to get down to those foundational patterns. Very often this requires not merely changing one's thoughts, but tunneling beneath them. This is the purpose of deeper spiritual practice.

Fasting is a simple, universal, and powerful way to clear the mind and confront those more fundamental energies in the awareness.But why? What does food have to do with any of this? We are not two things, a mind separate from a body, or even a mind that inhabits a body. The mind and body interpenetrate one another. If your body is injured, that physical pain demands attention, affecting the awareness. The state of the body impacts the clarity and focus of the mind. Feeding the body pure, healthy foods in general, and periodically allowing it to rest from the exhausting work of digestion can profoundly free up energies for the awareness to tap into.

Here's something else you won't hear much: Food is a drug. Every food is a narcotic. Does that sound bizarre to you? I don't mean that foods are literally hallucinogenic. But every single thing you put into your mouth, affects consciousness in some way. We use food to control emotions. We use food shift mood and change awareness. Think of the way we grab a pint of ice cream from the freezer after a terrible breakup. Everything, even a salad, affects consciousness in some way. The resulting psychic shift after eating something can be relatively positive or relatively negative. It can help you to feel solid and grounded or expanded and open. It can tantalize the senses and flood us with feelings of satiation or leave us frustrated. None of this is necessarily bad, but we must understand how profoundly food affects awareness, and utilize food wisely... and sometimes not to consume food at all.

A fascinating thing happens when you fast as part of a spiritual practice: After you ease past the initial psychic tension and your body moves through any detox discomforts -- the mind naturally settles and grows quiet. So much of the agitation of the mind arises from the foods we eat. Recognizing this, food and fasting becomes an important part of spiritual practice.

The fog clears,
and new energy makes you run up the steps in front of you.

The first few times I tried to do just a one day fast, I was frankly terrified. I knew intellectually that a healthy human body can go for days without food, no problem. Many times in the past I had forgotten to eat breakfast, and it was no big deal, but on a day when I intentionally decided to fast, I'd be sweating and panicky by mid morning. It took me a while to understand that fasting, even a mild fast, is a confrontation with death. It is the willingness to temporarily abandon that constant hunt to satisfy every desire by attempting to slough off the fundamental hunger for food. How do you just have a desire and sit with it, without attempting to immediately satisfy it? That's a pretty frightening question, when you really ask it.

With a little practice, you discover that what we often assume is physical hunger is actually mental hunger. For well-fed Westerners, it can take days, literally days, for true physical hunger to arise. The hunger we feel when we miss a couple of meals is really just mental habit, the reflexive desire to use food in order to regulate consciousness and control emotion. Follow that reflex to its root, and we find it originating from the ever-fearful ego, which is endlessly attempting to reinforce its fragile construction of a limited self inside a limited world by keeping the mind perpetually agitated.

Fasting, used carefully, with balance, and as part of a larger spiritual practice, becomes a way to help identify and unseat the despotic ego.

This is why fasting is practiced in all religions. You don't have to be a Muslim to fast. You don't even have to have a religious "faith." Just try it sometime, for a day, for half a day, wrestle your way through, and see what happens in you.

Be emptier and cry like reed instruments cry.
Emptier, write secrets with the reed pen.

Ivan M Granger is an American Poet and owns a website dedicated to Poems.

Said Jesus the son of Mary:
"O Allah our Lord! Send down to us a table spread with
nourishment from heaven which should be to us an
ever-recurring happiness, for
the first of us and for the last of us, a sign
from Thee; and give us
sustenance, for Thou art the Best Sustainer."
(-The Noble Qur'an 5:114)

For You and Because of You...

For You and Because of You

Only You can fill the Cavity in my Heart
Who can fathom Your Beauty, this Art?
Only You can mend the Incompleteness of my Soul
The Majestic Signs spread across the Earth, is just Part of the Whole
Your Unity is something of which I’m Told
But I’m witnessing it myself, as it is naturally and effortlessly being Unfold
I look around and look within me,
Each cell flittering with Faith, brimming with Belief
Never mind the Ugliness- Temporal Tragedy, Eternal Relief
Build me a firm Fortress, with Guards mighty and Strong
No matter how powerful the World’s Temptation be,
Let vain hopes not lead me Wrong
If You are with me, who can Defeat me?
If you forsake me, who can Help me?
My Stars shining bright, I salute and Greet thee…

My heart beats For You and Because of You…

That Swine!!

Yes! Swine Flu is the talk of the town. Uh.. not town, Globe! Well, and everybody panicking and there are 6 repoted deaths already in India! People are getting anxious and media is minting! I'm gonna wear a mask soon enough probably.. I'm gonna get masks which match the color of my scarves! Actaully that cld be a lil too messy! Or else i cld just just wear a niqab and scare ppl!! hehehahahaha...

In times like these, we could all use some humor! Yea, you could also translate that as my lack of sensitivity, but hey!

THINGS THE MEDIA DIDN'T TELL YOU ABOUT SWINE FLU! :D

***What if there are NO MASKS! ***

- Sign Language!

What if you don't have a mask! Or if the Chemist just ran out of stock!

Solution: Just don't speak! Shut up! Use the Sign Language! It'll also increase your skills. And hey, on your resumé, on the Language section, you can add another language! The SIGN LANGUAGE!! Goodie goood ha... plus, with nobody talking, it'll minimise the Noise Pollution and w'll finally be able to have the Peaceful World we think of!! Hahahahahehehehahahaha...

-Don't Breathe!

On Aastha channel, Swami Ramdev teaches you this Breathless Excercise which is actually beneficial for your Respirtory System, Lungs and some other weird organs of your body! So, you could go breathless! And be Healthy! With no Swine Flu! Ofcourse, if you're breathless for too long, you might die, but hey, we're all gonna die one day, and atleast you'll not be dying of Swine Flu! ;)

-The Oxygen Mask!

You know in hospitals when ppl are rly sick, they wear that Oxygen mask to help them breathe, and in Bollywood movies, the villian sneeks into the hospital room in the cover of the night and cuts off the wire of the Oxygen Mask and the Patient moves up and down and dies! Yea, that Oxygen Mask.. You could use that if there aren't any Surgical Masks available!

Or you could even use the Oxygen system that the Underwater Divers use! You know with the Cylinder and all... Yea, that could be heavy and expensive, but atleast ppl will be loking at you when you walk the street!!

**Some more cool things you could do... **

No to Muah Muah..

Now instead of hugging and kissing and shaking hands with every soul you meet, (as is the norm here) Just don't do it! For Heaven's Sake, it doesn't even appear natural! Everybody knows you call that girl you just hugged outside college a B**** behind her back! Anyway, so if you don't come into physical contact with one hundred people a day, less chances of the germs transmitting to u na! Dahhh.. Let's just say Salaaam to one another! :D Or just Hi! from afar! Doori se hi toh pyaar badhta hai afterall! Ok this getting a lil ewww...

Designer Masks!

With everybody grappling for masks these days, Designers or Stylists could design cool, stylish masks! Normally, one wouldn't care, but there is this huge big chunk of mindless youngies who'd actually go out of their way to look "cool" ! This is a fab Amreen-original tip for all designers who'd want to mint some more! And yea, it's an Amreen-original idea for free!

Yea, thats pretty much I've got..

Cya later alligator!

Khudahafiz!

:)

"Subservient"?? Think again....

OBJECT OF DESPAIR
A poem by Fahim Firfiray (Abu Omar)

Emma is a lawyer
And so is Aisha too
Colleagues going into court
At circa half past two

Its 1 O'clock right now
They grab a bite before the trial
They chat about this and that
Conversing with a smile

Aisha is in full hijab
With a loose all over suit
Emma's in her business wear
With accessories taboot

Emma's really quite bemused
At Aisha's godly ways
She looks Aisha in the eyes
And very firmly says

You're a smart girl Aisha
Why do you wear that across your hair?
Subjugated by "man"-kind
An object of despair

Take it off my sister
Let your banner be unfurled
Don't blindly follow all around
DECLARE YOUR FREEDOM TO THE WORLD
Aisha is amazed

But not the least bit shy
She bravely puts her milk shake down
And gives Emma the reply

My dear sister Emma,
Why do you dress the way you do?
The skirt you're wearing round your waist,
Is it really you?

Now that we've sat down,

I see you tug it across your thighs,
Do you feel ashamed?
Aware of prying eyes?

I see the way you're sitting,
Both legs joined at the knees,
Who forces you to sit like that?
Do you feel at ease?

I'll tell you who obliges you,
To dress the way you do,
Gucci, Klein and St. Laurent,
All have designs on you!

In the main, its MEN my friend,
Who DICTATE the whims of fashion,
Generating all the garb
To incite the basest passion

"Sex Sells" there is no doubt,
But who buys with such great haste,
The answer is the likes of you,
Because they want to be embraced......

They want to be accepted,
On a level playing field
Sure, with brain and intellect
But with body parts revealed

Intelligence and reason
Are useful by and by
But if you want to make a mark
Stay appealing to the eye

You claim your skirt is office like
A business dress of sorts
Would we not laugh at Tony Blair
If he turned up in shorts?

His could be the poshest pants
Pinstripe from Saville Rowe
But walking round like that my friend
He'd really have to go

Why do you douse yourself with creams
To make your skin so milky?
Why do rip off all your hair
To keep your body silky?

A simple shower's all you need
To stay respectable and clean
The time and money that you spend
Is really quite obscene

Why do you wake up at dawn,
To apply a firm foundation,
Topped with make up and the like,
In one chaotic combination?

And if you should have to leave the house
Devoid of this routine
Why do you feel so insecure
That you should not be seen?

Be free my sister Emma
Escape from your deep mire
Don hijab today my friend
And all Islam's attire

Avoid all those sickly stares
Or whistles from afar
Walk down the street with dignity
Take pride in who you are

Strength lies in anonymity
Be a shadow in the crowd
Until you speak and interact
When your voice will carry loud

You're a smart girl Emma
Wear this across your hair
Don't be subjugated by "man"-kind
An object of despair

To use your very words my friend
Let your banner be unfurled
Don't blindly follow all around
DECLARE YOUR FREEDOM TO THE WORLD!

:D

To know the REAL meaning and significanceabout of the the Hijab (Modest Dress),

Read- The Modest Dress- Martyr Murtadha Mutahhari. Follow the link

WWW.AL-ISLAM.ORG/MODESTDRESS

Each day seems more tiring than the previous. Each day feels worse than the previous. All cuz of my Psycho major! Each day there is even more overload of information, even more studies. And I still haven't recuperated from my vacation mood! Plus, we are captives in our own Freedom of Movement adorned country till 8.40 am - 1.40 pm! We can't even leave the class or enter the class when we want! Ouch, that hurts...

My head aches and I have gotten increasingly whiny! And if i don't reach class atleast 10 mins earlier, I either have to sit at the extreme right or the extreme left!! And that gives me a neck ache as a bonus! But, ah ah! I'm not going to let those white rats inadvertantly establish their prerogative over the pricey middle seats!

Ahhhh... I hate this... Plus, I've to hurry and get all the text books ASAP cuz the overload on my brain will not do load-shedding on its own unless I actually start studying on my own from the text. All other subjects are quite boring indeed. My favorites are Abnormal Psychology and Counselling Psychology! Cool....

Ok bye now, I've work to do...

Khudahafiz!

Au revoir! :D