Where have I been?

This is gonna be an (about me) update. First I want to apologize for not having been taking care of this place like I said I would, but I really got caught up with Ramadan and my studies. My days were composed of:

-Waking for su7oor, reading Quran, praying, reading a little more Quran and maybe some Duaas, sleep

-Wake up, get dressed up, off to uni

-Go immediatly to friend's place for if6ar

-Come home usually about 8 pm, pray Taraweeh

-A bit of studies or surfing on the web and sleep

In the beginning I was able to manage my time well because I did not have a lot of assignments due at Uni, but then they started piling up one by one and ... AHH!

Oh well that part is over with, and Ramadan is over as well =( May Allah accept all our fasting and worship throughout this whole month. The air does not feel the same at all with the Holy Month gone.

And Eid Mubarek! Eid here was on a Monday, but I decided to skip lectures and spend the day under the shade of a tree, eating yummy BBQ with fellow Muslims here hehe.

The most crazy Uni time of the year is creeping up. I have 4 weeks left until I have to

-Hand in Managment Report

-Hand in Design Report

-Finish Usability Project

-Prepare for a presentation

-Design a poster for engineering day

and throw a couple of assignments here and there. May Allah help me through this time. I do admit that I am kinda nervous, but I will do my best and whatever happens I will be satisfied with it. Hehe, inshaAllah Khair =).

THEN ITS BACK HOME! TO MY FAMILY =D

I will do my best to keep this place alive during the next month. Salam Alekoum!

شاهد كيف يصبغون الكتاكيت (الصيصان) - مقطع مؤثر

Title of video --> Watch how they dye/color the chicks.

Warning: if you love animals, be prepared for some heart breaking scenes. I couldn't take watching the video, but just goes to show how heartless so many people are. Harming a helpless creature is FORBIDDEN in Islam. The Shaikh in the video is greatly condemning the act, expressing his disbelief at how the man is treating the chicks as though they are food, dropping into a bowl and mixing them all up.

Amazing Revert Story

An Aussie chap speaks about how he went from being an Atheist to a Muslim.

Pretty funny story hehe.

YouTube Playlist: Amazing Revert Story

Ramadan Kareem

Ramdan is here =D I hope it will be a blessed one for all muslims around the world. May Allah accept our fasting, prayers and good deeds throughout the month, and forgive all of our sins. Ameen.


I'll write up what Ramadan means to me, and I hope it will inspire even a single person out there to live this Blessed Month to it's fullest. Excuse me if I have a preaching tone at any point xD That is not my intention, my intention is to share.

Abu Huraira related that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Whoever fasts during Ramadan with faith and seeking his reward from Allah will have his past sins forgiven. Whoever prays during the nights in Ramadan with faith and seeking his reward from Allah will have his past sins forgiven. And he who passes Lailat al-Qadr in prayer with faith and seeking his reward from Allah will have his past sins forgiven (Bukhari, Muslim).

Every single one of us is truley blessed by Allah, for he has given us the chance to live to another Ramadan. Don't waste this opportunity. This is the month when the door to Paradise is open to mankind, and we can all work our way towards it, inshaAllah.

Living our lives out on this Earth, we come to forget that one day we are going to die. It does not matter what religion you are, if you believe in a god or not, death is certain to every single human being. What's sad is that we do not work for our death, we are instead stuck in this world working super hard for it, while it is nothing compared to what Allah has for us in the next life: Paradise. I used to be one of those persons, and am slowly coming to realize just how big a deal this is.

We worry about the Dunya (life on Earth) saying that we can skip a prayer today no problem, or it's ok to do such a sin it's only minor and after all Allah is forgiving. It doesn't work that way. Allah is indeed forgiving, but only to those who deserve it. How do you know you deserve it? You don't, and neither do I know. Our best deal is to do our best on this Earth in terms of what Allah wants, not what we want. That's what being a muslim means, total submission to Allah's will.

In arabic, a human being is called an "insan". The root of the word translates to forget, and that is what a human is, a forgetful creature. We forgot our main purpose to be put on this Earth, and that is to perform Ibada to Allah. I did not use the word (Worship) in place of (Ibada) because that's not really the correct term to use. Ibada does indeed include worshiping Allah by Salah and reading Quran, but it translates into wider circles. The way you eat can be an Ibada if you do it right. The way you wake up can be an Ibada if you do it right. They way you study can be an Ibada if you do it right.

So this Ramadan, cut out all the bad habits in your life and replace them with Ibadas please. I am not going to watch a single soap opera, instead I will read and/or watch articles related to Islam (and spam it here inshaAllah =P) I will increase my Thikr and Tasbeeh of Allah, and increase my reading of Quran, especially after Witr prayer. I will also pray Taraweeh as well, and increase my overall kushu'. InshaAllah, with the will of Allah.

Think of what you want to achieve this month. Even write a list of things you can make Dua to Allah for.

Abu Huraira related that the Prophet said: Allah the Majestic and Exalted said: "Every deed of man will receive ten to 700 times reward, except Siyam (fasting), for it is for Me and I shall reward it (as I like). There are two occasions of joy for one who fasts: one when he breaks the fast and the other when he will meet his Lord" (Muslim).

As you can notice from this Hadeeth, the reward of fasting is not set like the rewards of other deeds in this life. Instead, it comes from Allah and He will reward us with what He likes. Think about what this means. Imagine the rewards of fasting an entire day with complete kushu'.

Abu Huraira related that Rasulullah said: Many people who fast get nothing from their fast except hunger and thirst, and many people who pray at night get nothing from it except wakefulness (Darimi).

Don't be one of these. Try and understand the essence of this relegion, the concept of total submission to Allah, the concept of Ibada ... and you will most defiantly not be one of these people inshaAllah.

And am falling asleep xD This is way too late a time for me to be up, but I really wanted to write this post. I had a lot more to say, but I learnt today during a Web Usability lecture that generally web surfers hate long chunky pieces of text. They prefer short and concise sentences. I tried my best to deliver that and failed T_T But hey, at least it's not too bad.

Ramadan Kareem!

Amir Sulaiman - She Said I Prefer A Broken Neck

Ok, so this post does not feature a video by a Muslim Scholar, but it features a video by a Muslim Poet.

Amir Sulaiman's poem is amazing. I've lost the number of times I've listened to his performance. It brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard it. To me, the poem speaks on an issue Muslim women, as well as women in general face: dealing with a broken heart.

I once heared a Scholar say that women, as a creation, where given a small portion of the rahma that Allah Subhano wa Talla has on mankind. Rahma is kind of hard to translate to English completely. As a word, it basically means mercy. But it doesn't only entail that. Rahma is when a mother runs to her child, her heart in her throat, after she hears him give out a scream of pain. Rahma is when a sister spends all her money buying her little siblings a present instead of spending the money on herself. Rahma is when a daughter tells her mother to sit down and rest, and that she will do the chores instead, even though she is more tired. Rahma is when a daughter kisses her father's forehead after an argument, and asks his forgiveness, even if the father was in the wrong. Rahma is when a wife asks about the wellbeing of her husband behind his back just to make sure that he is ok, even though they are currently having a fight and are separated.

It isn't just mercy, it's a compassionate feeling that is a part of every women. However, as per what the Scholar said, the experiences a woman goes through in life could erode this rahma, making it disappear slowly day by day till there is nothing left. Emotional pain, not physical pain. He warned men of being a hand in the erosion of a woman's rahma, playing with their emotions. Can you imagine a mother with no compassion for her children, no heart warming smile for them? That scares me lol

So when the girl in the poem says that she prefers a broken neck to another broken heart, I get what she means. Love is more important to her than having a lover. But then, he tells her that it's true that the experiences she might go through is bloody and rough, even the beautiful experience of giving birth leaves a scar on a woman. In life, we go through the rough times but there is always, and I mean ALWAYS light at the end of the tunnel. We may not see it now, we may instead experience pain and gain scars, but one day it won't matter because we will gain absolute happiness and peace, whether it is in this life or the hereafter, by Allah's will.

"…It may be that you hate something when it is good for you and it may be that you love something when it is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not know." (Surat al-Baqara: 216)

However, the part that brought tears to my eyes is when he spoke of his mother. What she did for them, how she cared, and that what he remembered of his childhood was not poverty, but her rahma. It is because of this, he was brought up in a way understanding why a woman would prefer a broken neck to a broken heart.

"But when I think about my childhood, I don't think about poverty
I remember how she hugged me, kissed me, taught me, loved me.
And I know you prefer a broken neck to another broken heart
Broken parts that litter the night sky like stars.
But remember, even the beauty of birth leaves its own scars
And know that you will find your home, right where you are
We will find our homes right where we are."

The energy and compassion that is poured out to someone that is loved by a woman is unlike any force on this earth, and when that someone hurts them ... well i guess you understand. And this is a tiny part of Allah's rahma created within a woman. The Scholar said that if you want to understand the rahma of Allah, watch a mother with her child.

Hope what I am trying to say makes sense lol. Ahh ... I adore this poem xD