Your salat on the Day of Judgment

Riyad as-Salihin (The Meadows of the Righteous) - 193. Chapter: On the command to persevere in the prescribed prayers and the strongest prohibition against abandoning them

1081. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The first action which the slave will be called to account for on the Day of Rising is his prayer. If it is in order, he will have success and win through. If it is not in order, he will be disappointed and lose out. If any of his obligatory prayers are lacking, the Lord, the Mighty and Exalted, will say, 'See if My slave has any supererogatory actions and use them to complete his obligatory prayer.' Then the rest of his actions will be assessed in the same way." [at-Tirmidhi]

Masjid Smear Campaign

Scary scary shit happening these days. Read about how an islamophobe goes undercover at Dar al Hijrah in Virginia, and makes shahada (!) to "expose" their "true intentions." Both Tariq Nelson's and Umar Lee's blogs has eye witness, first hand accounts of the incident.

Washed away

Abu Hurairahu (ra) reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) saying, "Say, if there were a river at the door of one of you in which he takes a bath five times a day, would any soiling remain on him?'' They replied, "No soiling would left on him.'' He (saws) said, '' That is the five Salat. Allah obliterates all sins as a result of performing them.''

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

Shafi'i salat video

To watch for later. Work is cracking down on watching videos.

Kindness

'A'isha (ra) reported Allah's Apostle (saws) as saying: Kindness is not to be found in anything but that it adds to its beauty and it is not withdrawn from anything but it makes it defective.

Muslim

Common Ground

I tried to avoid the commotion surrounding the cartoons of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws) last year. I refused to talk about it on message boards, tried to avoid reading or listening to it in the news, and ducked every time my husband tried to bring it up in conversation.

I've become less tolerant to conflict and debate as I've aged, and now (at the ripe ol age of 25), I would rather just have a friendly exchange of ideas, and not a knock down drag out fight. Unfortunately online, most friendly exchanges quickly become nasty, and I knew that this event certainly lent itself to incivility, so as such, I avoided it.

Now, with some distance from the whole affair, I've made an exception. From Sidi Mas'ud's blog:

About the video: The film is a window into the efforts of various communities as they struggle to overcome the challenges brought about by the Danish Cartoon Crisis. It brings to screen a rare glimpse into a multi-cultural approach to conflict resolution. Common Ground reveals that when faced with international challenges and conflict, diversity of origin and differences in cosmology are unique tools to discover our prospects of human potential and cooperation.

Please help us promote the film by checking out the website and passing it on to your friends and family. The film is scheduled for an international TV broadcast and a DVD release. Before the DVD launch there will be special screenings of the film in several countries (apart from the festivals), so stay tuned to the website for local screening info., the international TV broadcast schedule, and DVD release dates.

We appreciate your support!

The Common Ground film crew, Mustafa Davis, Ilyas Curtis, Tashi (Abu Bakr) Gellek

http://www.commongroundfilm.com/

Tariq Ramadan on Public Radio

PRI's the World had Tariq Ramadan on last night in response to a segment they had with Paul Berman, who had apparently criticized Mr. Ramadan. It's an ok interview, but without a lot of substance. However, the very end is the most telling. He says something to the effect that when people interview him, they're constantly asking him to condemn this, condemn that, to say what Islam is not, but that it would be better if we spend time talking about what Islam IS. Oh how I wish that could be the case.

In a previous post, I linked to an excellent lecture by Mr. Ramadan, with a lot more substance, and taking a positive, not a "is not" approach to Islam. If you haven't listened to it, make time and listen.

More for my ipod

Svend at Akram's Razor posted a link to the MAS Mediacast site. It looks like they have dozens of excellent lectures just waiting to be downloaded to my ipod. This should be a welcome change to my steady diet of NPR I've been on for weeks.

Remembrance in Green

Yesterday, I ran along a nature path by my house. There are trees on either side, growing up, shading the path, creating a tunnel of soft green shade. There was something almost mystical about it that tugged at my heart as I trotted underneath the crown of leaves.

Then, today, I stumbled upon this - the green prayer. SubhanAllah, imagine that! inshaAllah I'll try it in the future. I already try to listen to the Qur'an once a week while on a run. Now, I can pause my music for a bit and remember Allah (swt).

Remembrance of God is a living method of perpetual prayer. It is not necessary to lock yourself away from the world, rather the world of God's creations is an arena of meditation that serves to remind us of Him at every turn. He is the creator of all.

One of the best methods of cultivating remembrance of God (dhikr) is to associate His Name with the colour green. Green is the traditional colour of the Holy Prophet Muhammad - may Allah be pleased with him and grant him peace. In the practise of remembrance we can connect this colour - the colour of nature - with the gentle, internal invocation of the Creator.

1. Establish the invocation of the Divine Name (Allah) in your heart. Allah... Allah... Allah...
2. Go for a walk every day. Maintain the invocation in the heart as you walk.
3. Associate the invocation with the colour green. Associate it with the green foliage of trees and grass and the green of nature as you go for your daily walk.

Eventually, the colour green will remind you of the Divine Name. Whenever you encounter the colour green your heart will automatically begin to cry out "Allah! Allah! Allah! Allah!..."

The Dhikr is a prayer of nature. It celebrates nature as the creation of Allah. When you are strolling through a park, when walking in a forest or enjoying the peace of a garden, the verdant vegetation of nature will remind you of God.

This is one of the best ways to practise Dhikr (remembrance). Establish Dhikr as the best of habits. Establish Dhikr as the habit of your heart. Whenever you see the colour green have your heart return to God.

And all the [beauty of] many hues which He has created for you on earth: in this, behold, there is a message for people who [are willing to] take it to heart! (Quran 16:13)

Not the path by my house, but a pretty forest path never the less. inshaAllah I'll bring a camera on a run sometime and take a picture

Scarves for the active hijabi

Ok, I'm trying hard not to get tooooo excited here. As I've blogged about in the past, it's a constant struggle to find modest clothes to run in. Finding a scarf that doesn't overheat my head has been the hardest. I'm currently using a light cotton scarf that breathes, but it keeps all the sweat in, rather than wicking it away like specialty fabrics do. So at the end of a run, my head is soaking, yuck!

I even tried to make my own al amirah out of an old running shirt, but alas, after I cut the fabric, I remember I couldn't sew.


But, those days of worrying may be behind me. I came across a website from Canada this morning called Queendom Hijabs. According to their website:

We cater to the active woman, the one who runs the marathons, hits the gym, goes to school, holds her job, all while still looking modest and stylish. The focus is on function. We want each hijab to move with you without having to re-adjust and restyle.

Oooo, it's almost too good to be true! The only thing I'm worried about is that they look kinda short, and I need a scarf that provides funner coverage in the collar bone area. Since I wear larger men's shirts for modesty reasons, the neck hole is usually larger, and I have a hard time finding scarves that stay put and cover. But, I suppose I could always sew the neck hole smaller. Even someone who can't sew couldn't screw that up right?


*updated* I ordered this one:




Runner's fit


Fits all
Modern crisp and clean
Light
Absorbant layer undeneath crown
Complements your sports clothing



Well, I'm not sure about the last once, since my pants are gray and my shirt is black, but it will definately lighten things up a bit.

I may also get this one that's advertised as highly breathable later on.

I asked the site owner about the length of the scarves, and she said that they're longer than they appear in the picture. It should be long enough to cover the top of the chest down to the top of the boosoms area, so inshaAllah that will be good enough to cover the large neck holes of my running shirts.

*happy dance*