Blueberry Muffins are delicious!

Blueberry muffins are a delicious treat for suhoor, so if you sisters can get up early enough make your families or yourself some muffins. My Mom made them for my family this morning complete with oatmeal. Very filling, and I'm not even hungry yet. Ramadan went very quickly! We only have 11/12 days left depending on the sighting of the moon, alhamdulilah! I got this really pretty Cinderella-copy baby blue dress. It's so pretty, but now I need a nice cardigan, hijab, socks, jewelry, and a hijab. Insha allah on Saturday I will be doing henna to make money for those things, and a few gifts.

Speaking of gifts, I knit my friend A a pair of fingerless gloves. I can't find the name of the pattern I used to give you an idea of what they look like, but they are so pretty. I really want to keep them for myself. Lol. They are a soft lime green with a lime green bow. Then I made my mother a cowl, scarf, shawl thing. It's the Irish Hiking Scarf but I knit it on big needles so that it could be 3-in-1. Next I'm knitting my little sister a Zig Zag Trellis Scarf. Insha allah I will have that finished before Eid if I work hard enough. I still have to knit a few pairs of slippers, some more fingerless gloves, and maybe another scarf if I have time. If not, I'll just buy the rest of the gifts that I have to give.

We have been going to Iftar night at the masjid every Saturday and Sunday. There is so much good food there, the sisters in my community really know how to cook! I have so much fun when I go. My friends are always there, and we have a table reserved for us that we sit at every Iftar Night. Alhamdulilah, I have amazing friends. This Ramadan is going way too quickly. I'm getting used to breaking my fast and fasting so much that it doesn't really feel like anything anymore. These days of Ramadan are like clock work. A typical day for me, get up for suhoor, make fajr, read quran, go do school work, make zuhr, take hour nap, clean house, prepare iftar, more qu'ran/arabic, exercise, Isha/Taraweeh, bed time. Then it starts all over again.

The Qu'ran reading is going great. I'm still memorizing surah al-Fajr. It's a beautiful surah, but it's taking me awhile to memorize it. My younger brother has memorized more of it than I have, but we all work at different paces. Speaking of learning, school started yesterday so I'm doubly busy.

This Ramadan has been amazing for me so far! I love Ramadan, I love being Muslim! Alhamdulilah! May Allah bless and guide us all! -Nisa

The big day/Ramadan preperations

Tomorrow is the big day of our (my friends and I) big speech at a bigger masjid. I believe I told you ladies before that we will not be going to the really big masjid where we were supposed to go, but a doctor will be speaking so the people who asked us to speak switched it to a masjid smaller than the original, but bigger than ours. Alhamdulilah, we will have the honor of speaking either way. We will be speaking about the Wives of the Prophet instead of hijab. Everyone else speaking at the conference will be lecturing on Ramadan. Insha allah, I really hope everything goes well. I'm nervous, but super excited. We also have to cook something to bring, and we have no idea what to cook! Oh nooooo! Insha allah, I will probably wear my blue abaya to the conference because blue looks really nice on me. :D I love blue and pink clothing!

Have any of you begun preparing for Ramadan in any sort of way? The most that my family has been doing is preparing breakfast/dinner menu's for the four weeks of Ramadan, switching around schedules, deciding what to do for Eid gifts, and fasting on Mondays and Thursdays. We will probably be going to Iftar nights on Saturdays and Sundays at our local masjid. Everyone will have to cook something and bring it. Or, we can send something to the masjid for those that will be there. Either way, I'll be spending time with my friends and family during the holiest time of the year! Alhamdulilah! My family and I will also take turns reading the Qu'ran in the morning while we are cooking breakfast so that insha allah we will finish the entire Qu'ran before Eid day. I am knitting a scarf as a gift to give to someone, and I have plenty of other things on my list that I need to start knitting! I also need to find an Eid outfit, and I have no idea what it will be. So, how does your family prepare for Ramadan? Insha allah I will try to blog everyday of Ramadan, because I love documenting these things. It will be something to go back and read during next years Ramadan. Let the count down to Ramadan begin, I am fully prepared to bring myself closer to Allah, to finish the Qu'ran, and to spend time with family and friends! May Allah bless and reward us all! ~Nisa

Hey, you big, fat backbiter!

How many times have you sat around in the masjid or just at home on the cellphone bored? You start a conversation with your friend, and you talk about what you did over the weekend. The conversation slowly starts to die until your friend says;

"Hey, remember that really tall girl at the masjid?"

There are two types of back biting, the haraam and the halaal. I am going to address the haraam. Many Muslim girls and women do not actually realize they are backbiting until it is pointed out. Talking about how messy your sisters hijab looked, how bad her kids are, or how big that pimple was on sister Fatimah's face was are all forms are haraam backbiting. The excuse that, "No, it's not backbiting...I would say it to her face!" So why didn't you say it to her face when you were talking and laughing with her at the masjid on Sunday? Why wait until Tuesday afternoon to say something about it to someone else? The worst form of backbiting is making fun of someone behind their back to make someone else laugh!

"Jameelah smells like onions cause her Mama cooks Spanish Rice! Hahahaha!"

Do you not know what Allah says of backbiting, gossiping, and slander?

O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, in deeds some suspicions are sins. And spy not neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear God, verily, God is the one who accepts repentance, Most Merciful. (Surah al-Hujurat ayah 12)

Backbiting is like eating the (human!) flesh of your brother or sister who is dead! How disgusting and repulsive is that? If backbiting is so hateful, why did you tell Amina that Sarah's fingers were bony and skinny? Even though sometimes you may not mean to backbite, you do. We all do. No one is perfect, yet we should try our hardest to avoid it. If you are bored, and you have nothing to talk about...you shouldn't invite people over to your house. That's where backbiting and gossiping usually stems from. Boredom. Keep yourself usefully active in the Muslim community, or talk about the future...anything except for someone else when they aren't present to defend themselves. This doesn't exclude non-muslims! Just because someone you are talking about is not Muslim, doesn't give you the right to talk about them!

Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: "Who protects his tongue from unlawful utterances and his private parts from illegal sexual intercourse, I shall guarantee him entrance into Paradise." (Bukhari and Muslim)

This is An-Nisa reminding you just in case you forgot! (Hehe Baba Ali!) May Allah bless and guide us all! ~ Nisa

You can't tell me that I'm wrong!

*Bismillah*

I am very, very, very upset to say that I have found this the case with a few blogs by young Muslim women out in blogosphere. They blog that they are going to do something haraam (proven by authentic hadith...etc), and then they tell their readers to not refute them! They say not to shoot hadiths or anything of the like at them. I'm sorry sisters, but if I see you doing something wrong; like it or not I'm going to tell you about it! If a Muslim sees another Muslim doing something wrong, and we don't say anything about it; we are also in the wrong. Why? Because we stood there watching you give into Shaitans whisperings. It's like standing by watching a Muslim steal a piece of candy (small as it is) from a store, and not say anything about it. The thing is that, it's not like you don't know what you are doing is wrong. You just don't like to be told that you are wrong, and that is a bad trait to have. To me it is just another form of arrogance; not liking to be told that you are wrong.

"When you see an evil act you have to stop it with your hand. If you can't, then at least speak out against it with your tongue. If you can't, then at least you have to hate it with all your heart. And this is the weakest of faith." - Prophet Muhammad (Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Number 79:)

If you don't like to be told that what you are doing is wrong, don't post it at all. No one wants to hear of your sinning if you KNOW that what you are doing is wrong. Because when you say; "Yeah, I'm going to slap on this load of bright makeup, and skinny jeans...DUN TELL ME THAT THIS IS HARAM CUS I DUN CARE!" really makes me want to throw the Qu'ran and Hadith in your face. However, I can't do that. I have to have adaab too. I have to correct you in a kind, understanding manner. I have to have hadith, and Qu'ran to back up my refutes. No, we shouldn't go around become the haraam police and saying "this is haraam, HARAAAM!!!". That's not the way to correct someone. We shouldn't be nit-picks and pick at everything someone is doing. Sometimes they don't know that what they are doing is wrong. We shouldn't correct people in a nasty way. Subhanallah! Subhanallah! I have seen so many Muslim's correct each other in such rude ways!! That is not the way to do things!

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

A bedouin urinated in the mosque and the people ran to (beat) him. Allah's Apostle said, "Do not interrupt his urination (i.e. let him finish)." Then the Prophet asked for a tumbler of water and poured the water over the place of urine. [Bukhari]

and another version from Sahih Muslim:

Anas ibn Maalik, who said:

“Whilst we were in the mosque with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), a Bedouin came and stood urinating in the mosque. The Companions of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, ‘Stop it! Stop it!’ But the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, ‘Do not interrupt him; leave him alone.’ So they left him until he had finished urinating, then the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) called him and said to him, ‘In these mosques it is not right to do anything like urinating or defecating; they are only for remembering Allaah, praying and reading Qur`aan,’ or words to that effect. Then he commanded a man who was there to bring a bucket of water and throw it over the (urine), and he did so.” (Saheeh Muslim, no. 285).

Do you see how in that hadith something that the people wanted to attack the man for his doing something (wrong), and the prophet was kind about it? He solved the problem quickly, and maturely. He didn't get all in his face saying; HARAAM! So yeah brothers and sisters, correct your Muslim sisters and brothers correctly. For those that do know they are doing something wrong and don't like it pointed out...then please for the sake of Allah; stop what you are doing! Stop telling your fellow Muslims to not correct you! Stop it! Don't BLOG about something that you KNOW you are doing is haraam. We may not be Allah, but we are here to help guide you towards what is RIGHT.

In conclusion, sometimes taking the advice that you are given is better for you. I am not directing this towards anyone, I am simply making a statement. I am speaking out. Yes, I know how hard it is (especially as a young woman) to avoid doing some things. However, when you tell someone not to refute you; you are only making yourself seem arrogant, and wrong in two ways. One way because you sinned (or you are going to), and two because you know you sinned. You may tell us to let Allah deal with you, but Allah put us Muslims, parents, teachers, imam's, sheiks, and elders to help guide you. Do you really, truly want to answer to Allah for something that could have been easily avoided, and that a Muslim gave you advice on? Seriously? I'm sorry if I offended anyone with this post, but I have to state the truth. Usually I am the one who tells people things that no one else will say...and most of the time its the truth. May Allah bless and guide us all. - Nisa

My favorite surahs

*Bismiallah*

My favorite surahs from the Holy Qu'ran:

1. Al-Araf recited by Ziyad Patel (BEAUTIFUL!)

2. Al-Muzammil recited by Ziyad Patel

3. Al-Qadr recited by Mishary Al-afasy

4. Ayatul Kursi recited by Al-Ghamdi

5. At-Takathur recited by Mishary Al-afasy

My favorite Qari's are mainly Ziyad Patel & Mishary Al-afasy. It's weird,I won't listen to anyone else recite the Qu'ran other than them. Ziyad Patel has a beautiful voice, and so does Mishary Al-afasy. :) Alhamdulilah. I love listening to the Qu'ran. There is nothing more beautiful than it. Even the most beautiful voices of the artist who make music can never compare to it. The words of Allah, think about it. The very direct words from Allah. It's just amazing. Allahu akbar. Masha' Allah, I can't get enough of reading & listening to it. Insha allah I will become a hafiza. So far, I have to finish up the last Juz. It shouldn't take me very long. :) I can't wait untill I remember the entire Qu'ran. Alhamdulilah. May Allah bless & Guide us All. -Nisa