Reporting live: Nisa!

I'm sorry sisters about the lack of posts, I've been busy this week! On Saturday my family went to our Muslim family friends house. It was really fun, but we didn't get back until a little late. Then Sunday was family, but we didn't go but I still didn't have access to a computer. It has gotten a little hotter here now, but I can't complain because alhamdulilah; I've had a cool, breezy summer so far! It's just a bit humid now, and always thundering. I like thunder anyway. Insha allah I will have another All Natural Hijabi post for you all tomorrow. May Allah bless and reward us all! ~Nisa

Babies and small children! ♥

I love babies so much, I can describe them in one word. Adorable. Well, if someone asked me to describe babies in one word, I would. However, there's so many more words that I can describe them as. Adorable, fluffy, sweet, cuddly, cute, beautiful, a blessing, and all that mushy jazz. :) My teacher from my masjid just had a baby, and I had watched her baby grow while she was pregnant. It was so weird seeing her baby out of her stomach for the first time. The baby is beautiful (the picture to the left is not her)! I was amazed when I touched one of her perfect little toes. Masha Allah! I love babies so much!
At our masjid, there is a large community of small kids. On Family day events it gets kind of hard to control them all, but my friends & I do a pretty good job of keeping them in check. We play games, talk to them, and cuddle them (even though they aren't our children so we can't keep them! Lol). I cannot wait to get married, finish my schooling, and have myself a baby. Although, I am a little afraid of them growing up. Because when they are 18 you can't cuddle them like that anymore. Then what with all of the terror birth stories, I get really nervous. Other than my little fears, babies are such a reward. Ladies, if you have babies you should be sooo thankful! I am so jealous when I hear that someone is having a baby, but I am also excited for them too. Alhamdulilah.

All I can do for now is play those virtual "baby" games, and play with my baby doll. Lol. Insha allah one of these days I will be blessed with a little one myself. :) May Allah bless and guide us all! -Nisa

July Sisters Youth Conference

On Sunday my best friends, sister, and I had a conference. Before we began the conference, my friends & I helped set up the tables, podium, did henna (I did my Mom, myself, another girl, and Sis double you), and food. Then we talked, and had a little bit of then. When the people finally arrived, we talked about the Wives of the Prophet (saw), as I told you all before. It was great! All of my friends did their essays nicely, even my friend who doesn't speak English very well. She did amazing! This time we stood in the Musallah and spoke to the audience over speaker. Some people took pictures, and some took video recordings, alhamdulilah. Wipe the horrified look of your faces, there were no men. :P Not one, except for some sisters Husband and my friends brother. They stood outside for three hours waiting for us to finish when they didn't have to, subhanallah.

Afterwards we had a bake sale and henna art. My Mom made coconut pound cake and Patti Labelles carrot cake (I do NOT like carrot cake at all, but this cake was delicious! You NEED to try this cake! We didn't add raisins though.) My friend # 1 made home-made brownies and strawberry cake. Friends 2 & 3 made these Moroccan cookies that are made with honey, and strawberry cupcakes (she made 54!). Friend #4's mother burnt whatever she made. Friend #3 and I also did Henna Art. I had brought my portfolio, but she didn't bring hers...so she used one of my patterns. I did one little girl, and she did the little girls sister. When the conference was finished we made Asr, split up the remaining cakes among each working family, and went home. I was so tired! We were going to go to a soccer field to play soccer afterwards, but everyone was too tired, and it was too late!

As for my Henna, insha allah I will be having a Henna Art business because my customers that I do randomly really like my work. Insha allah I may also be doing Henna art for a bride at my masjid! I can't wait!! Next month we will be going to a big masjid that is a bit far away to do another conference on hijab. We are really excited about that too. We were supposed to be doing a speech on hijab at another masjid that is closer, but the sister wants us to do it in front of MEN and women. We were like, no way! So insha allah we we will see. May Allah bless and guide us all! ~Nisa

An-Nisa; oh no!

This coming week at my masjid we are having Girls Youth Gathering. People from other masjids are coming to our masjid, and we have to speak on the topic of the Wives of the Prophet (saw). Last month we put the names of the Wives in to a hat, and picked. I had to write an essay on Zainab bint Jahsh (R.A). I finished writing it last week. I really loved writing about her, she had such a beautiful story! If you ever get the chance, please read up on her. So yeah, I finished my essay and I am to read it on Sunday. I am the MC again (well, I was elected to be a permanent MC for our monthly girls youth gathering). I still have to write up a introduction, and the "quiz" for the end of the conference on the Prophets Wives.

We will have prizes for those that get answers right. Two gift certificates for free henna that costs $8.00's and under (from my bestie and I), hand made hijab pins, and my friends will probably think of some more ideas. That's all going to be in order, but that isn't the problem. The problem is that I'm being forced to learn an ayah (or a few verses) from surah An-Nisa because it has something about Hijab in it. It's really nerve wreaking! Plus, I need lots of practice before reciting in front of people, and lets face it; my voice isn't all that pretty to listen to. Make dua for me, please!

Insha allah, I hope this conference goes well. We are supposed to have a bake sale on that day too, and we are going to be raising money for our masjid again. I think my Mom is making mini cheese cakes and lemon pound cake. My bestie and I will be selling henna art again. I love doing henna art, it's so much fun to watch people smile at what they think is so beautiful on their hands. It makes me really happy inside. Alhamdulilah.

I don't know what I'm wearing this time. My bestie and other friends had planned to dress in green & white together. I don't have anything green and white. So I'll probably wear a black dress, and add color to it. I haven't decided, but whatever I decide I hope it'll be okay. On Saturday we have last minute rehearsal, and we have to organize everything for Sunday.

Oh, and remember the speech on hijab my friends and I did? Well, we are invited to TWO masjids because the people liked it so much! Both are really big masjids! However, at one masjid we might do our other speech on Adaab, because we are getting tired of doing the hijab one over and over again. Insha allah, we'll see! May Allah bless and guide us all! ~Nisa

All was well...

*Bismillah*

Last Saturday I went to the conference where I was to speak. I went early to help clean up the masjid, and arrange the food. My Mom made baked macaroni and potato salad...and I almost didn't get any! People started arriving while we were cleaning up, setting up food tables..etc. We were a little behind time when the actual conference started. The theme was about Prophet Muhammad's (saw) life and teachings. It was a pretty good conference, and about five Imam's spoke. The sheik of my masjid told my friends and I that next Sunday (this Sunday) we will have a sort of "quiz show" with maybe prizes (!!!). The lectures were mostly stuff that I knew already because I read the hadith a lot.

After the lectures we finally got to eat. I was starving because I didn't eat lunch before I left home. As we were getting our food, I looked for the food my Mom made. It was almost all gone! Luckily, my friend A saved me some potato salad. ;D I took some BBQ chicken (best BBQ chicken I have had so far!), Moroccan Couscous (that my friends Mom made...yummy! It's in the picture...I'm serious...it looks exactly like that!) , fried fish, corn muffins, Bread pudding, and some other chicken. There was a lot of chicken. Lol. Then after we ate, we did our hijab lecture! The Sisters really liked it! They liked it so much, that we are invited to speak again at a bigger masjid. :D I did henna on three guests at our masjid. So I made $15.00. My friend M did henna on one person. So together we made $20.00. I forgot to say we went up on our prices because people say my designs are pretty extravagant, and everyone wanted to give me a beat down for accidentally charging $5.00 a hand. Hehe. :P Ooops.

Sister1: (staring at my hand) "OOOH!! Who's doing the henna?"

Me: "Well, my friend and I."

Sister 2: "Really?! Mom, Mom...please?!"

Mother of two sisters (thinking):"Hmm...how much?"

Me (spur of moment thoughtbyaccident):" "$5.00 a hand."

Sister1: "Pleeaaase?!"

Mother of two sisters: "Okay, go get the money out of the car..."

Sister2 (runs off): "Kay!"

Sister 1 and Mother start ruffling through my designs I lay out. Both pick the same flower-vine hand design.

Sister 1: "I want it on both hands."

Mother: "Then I'd have to pay $20.00."

Sister1: "Yeah, I know."

Mother: "One hand is enough."

Sister2 comes back with money and needs change...goes off to find maintainer of masjid, Sis double you. Sister2 picks a design of swirls that goes all over the hand.

Sis Double You comes in to see the designs being taken place. She says to the two Sisters and mother;

"That's a $10.00 design you are getting."


I went home at about 9:30 PM. I had been there since 10:00 AM. Up at 8:00 because I had to help cook, and get dressed. There wasn't really a lot of people that I had expected, but there was ENOUGH people. People that I have never seen before in our community. Alhamdulilah, it was a really fun day. Insha allah, this summer for me this year will be really busy, and it will mostly evolve around my masjid...alhamdulilah! Oh, and everyone liked my dress! :) I also have more followers to my blog...Asalaam wa alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone!! May Allah bless and guide us all! ~Nisa

Masjid Cliches, and Welcoming -RAWR!

*Bismiallah*

When you enter a seemingly innocent looking masjid, you suddenly see huddled in seperate groups; Eygptians with the Eygyptians, Morrocans with the Morrocans, African Americans with the African Americans, and Caucasians with the Caucasians. What the heck is wrong with this picture?

In Islam there is supposed to be no such thing as "race". We're all brothers and sisters no matter what color/culture...right? Sadly, this isn't reality, and this isn't the case at my masjid. I go to my masjid every week for my Qu'ran/Arabic classes. I also go to the many events they have, including the Family Day event. When my family first went to the Family Day gathering, it was so cliquish that me, my mom, and sister were literally sitting in a corner by ourselves. Untill I saw a group of four teenaged girls sitting across the room and I went to go talk to them, we were basically not warmly welcomed. It took all my courage because I am very shy to go over and talk to them. Alhamdulilah they were around my age and welcomed me. This was about three or four months ago, and one of those girls is my best friend...and so is her biological sister! The other two girls took a little longer to get used to us because they are so shy. We got to really know them when they went over my best friends house to eat dinner. Pretty cool huh?

At my masjid, newcomers in the Sisters rooms are generally ignored unless they jump up to introduce themselves. Cliches are also formed, but they aren't that bad. Muslims should be open to everyone. This isn't a Highschool, it's a Masjid! We don't group ourselves! We should welcome everyone no matter what their cultures/skin color may be. No matter what language they may speak! Seriously, how do you learn about other people if you stay in your own little bubble? Islam is supposed to destroy classification. We can't classify ourselves, we are all HUMAN. Didn't the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) say in his last sermon that no black is better than a white, and no white is better than a black? Islam doesn't tolerate groupies, let alone racism! We are brother and sisters, not aliens. We can identify to something a non-muslim can't. 

Besides not having cliches, we are supposed to greet those we know, and those we don't know. It's the Sunnah. Now when I go to my masjid and I see people sitting all alone while watching my friends and I laugh like a couple of lunatics, I get up and invite them over. Not only that, but I have encouraged my friends and younger sister to do this. Alhamdulilah. May Allah bless & guide us all. ~ Nisa