Wind of Change

Assalaam Alaikum sisters!

I hope you are doing well and are at the best of iman, insha'Allah!

I am taking a bigger break from computers than I intented, but I don't think it's that bad at all although I know it increases the amount of posts from you lovely sisters that I didn't read or comment on... My apologies!

Allah says: “Truly, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” 
(Quran 13:11)

It seems like changes are happening for many sisters and brothers at the moment. At least I see it on quite a few blogs: Sisters are making important changes in their lives with the goal to achieve (more) peace, contentment, nearness to Allah (swt) and to get to know their deen better. Alhamdulillah, the same things are happening at my place. Recently I have had more time to look at my own stuck patterns and convictions and have had a lot of a-ha-moments, Alhamdulillah. It's so dangerous if we stop reflecting and if we don't try to make our hearts become cleaner and increase our nearness to Allah (swt)...

My husband and I are starting to read more Arabic together, he teaches me and his daughter more about Islam and we want to study the Qur'an together. As a Muslim I find it really essential that you learn Arabic so you can study the Qur'an and unlock the beautiful secrets in it. Without the understanding of the many meanings of the words in Arabic, I don't think I will benefit a 100% from the Qur'an and I would be sad to die without having known the Qur'an in it's many facets!

This Ramadan we have planned to meet 3 times a week with another family - and eveybody else who wants to join in - and read Qur'an, become better at Tajweed, get to know our deen better, make Dhikr etc. Insha'Allah it will be beneficial!! The days we don't meet up with the others, we will do all these things together (my husband and I), insha'Allah.

I pray that all sisters and brothers who are trying to make positive changes in their lives and try to get closer to Allah (swt) will succeed and will eventually feel peace and contentment in their hearts. It's a big challenge being a human in this world and there are so many ways to approach it!

"And remember the Name of your Rubb and devote yourself to Him with a complete devotion."

(Quran 73:8)

Take care dear sisters!! And let me know what changes you are going through lately? (If you feel like sharing them <3)

Jummah Mubarak

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.

[al Noor 24:35]

Dear sisters!

Jummah Mubarak to all of you!
I'm going to clean the house today, study, attend Jummah, buy groceries, study, cook, study... :-) Insha'Allah.

I wish you a beautiful day! I leave you with Surah al Jummah:

He Gives Life & Causes Death

Dear sisters,

I hope you're all in good health and imaan.

I had a lovely day and am off to bed after posting this. I thank Allah (swt) for His continuous guidance, for giving me hope, strength and imaan and for giving me so many beautiful memories to collect. I also thank Him that I am still here, although I do find life quite difficult at times.

We never know, if we're going to be here tomorrow. Our heart can stop beating at any second...only Allah (swt) knows the time.

"Indeed, to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; He gives life and causes death. And you have not besides Allah any protector or any helper."

[Qur'an 9:116]

And insha'Allah we will die with a content heart and soul full of imaan.

There is a dua, which if you make it your last speech before going to sleep and you die that night, you’ll die on faith...:

Narrated Al-Bara ‘bin ‘Azib:

The Prophet said to me, “Whenever you go to bed perform ablution like that for the prayer, lie on your right side and say, “Allahumma aslamtu wajhi ilaika, wa fauwadtu amri ilaika, wa alja’tu Zahri ilaika raghbatan wa rahbatan ilaika. La Malja’ wa la manja minka illa ilaika. Allahumma amantu bikitabika-l-ladhi anzalta wa bina-biyika-l ladhi arsalta."

 (O Allah! I surrender to You and entrust all my affairs to You and depend upon You for Your Blessings both with hope and fear of You. There is no fleeing from You, and there is no place of protection and safety except with You O Allah! I believe in Your Book (the Qur’an) which You have revealed and in Your Prophet (Muhammad) whom You have sent). Then if you die on that very night, you will die with faith (i.e. or the religion of Islam).

Let the aforesaid words be your last utterance (before sleep). ”I repeated it before the Prophet and when I reached “Allahumma amantu bikitabika-l-ladhi anzalta (O Allah I believe in Your Book which You have revealed).” I said, “Wa-rasulika (and your Apostle).” The Prophet said, “No, (but say): ‘Wanabiyika-l-ladhi arsalta (Your Prophet whom You have sent), instead.”

Take care sisters and brothers and I wish you a beautiful day tomorrow, insha'Allah <3

He Made Possible the Impossible

Subhan'Allah, He did it again. He answered my prayers and made possible the impossible. Alhamdulillah.

I wrote in my last post that my husband and I were going to attend a "non-firmation" this Saturday. My husband and I have been together for almost 4 years and I tell you; those 4 years have not been easy, when it comes to my family accepting my husband :-/ (because of various reasons -like Islam...). It's been a battle! And I was fearing that the party yesterday would be like the other ones, where my husband doesn't feel included at all and my closest family doesn't really talk to him.

But Alhamdulillah, He answered my duaas and my husband told me today that yesterday was the first time that he felt that my family (at least some of it) was his family too! Alhamdulillah. My mother invited us to their place next Sunday and I pray that it will be a positive experience for us, 'cause until now, there hasn't been many and I get all anxious, when we have to see my parents or other family. Please make duaa for us -- that the warmth in my family will increase and my husband will feel accepted and welcome. Insha'Allah. And "Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity" (2:286).

This morning I read some of Surah Al-Imran and was especially moved by the following, which I feel is so true and powerful indeed:

قُلِ اللَّهُمَّ مَالِكَ الْمُلْكِ تُؤْتِي الْمُلْكَ مَن تَشَاء وَتَنزِعُ الْمُلْكَ مِمَّن تَشَاء وَتُعِزُّ مَن تَشَاء وَتُذِلُّ مَن تَشَاء بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُ إِنَّكَ عَلَىَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ﴿

Say, `O Allâh! the Lord of all power, You grant power to whomsoever You will and take away power from whomsoever You please, and confer honour and dignity on whomsoever You will and disgrace whomsoever You will. All good lies in Your hand. Verily, You are the Possessor of full power to do all You will, (3 : 26)


تُولِجُ اللَّيْلَ فِي الْنَّهَارِ وَتُولِجُ النَّهَارَ فِي اللَّيْلِ وَتُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَتُخْرِجُ الَمَيَّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ وَتَرْزُقُ مَن تَشَاء بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ ﴿٢٧

You cause the night to merge into the day and cause the day to merge into the night, and bring forth the living from the dead and bring forth the dead from the living, and provide (all sorts of provisions) to whomsoever You will without measure.' (3: 27 )

Yesterday was a reminder for me of the power of duaa and how Allah (swt) is always there and that we never know, what will come! The impossible can become possible by His Will.

Following Intuition & Wishing a Great Weekend

I had a lovely day today and I hope you sisters did too!

Alhamdulillah I've become a bit better (at least this week) at following my intuition :-) Like earlier today, when I was going out to buy some food, I thought the man in the restaurant wasn't that friendly and I didn't have the best feeling about it. So I went outside and without thinking, my legs guided me to a hidden Islamic store, close to the masjid. I'd just been there once before, some time ago. I went inside, not sure about what I was doing there. Two brothers were working there, with two little children playing around. The brothers greeted me very friendly (don't you also just love the Islamic greeting (Assalaam 'Alaikum)? It's so beautiful, Alhamdulillah) :-) I asked for a Qur'an in Arabic, so I can improve my Arabic reading skills and this beautiful one below immediately spoke to me:

The brother said "Masha'Allah" when I told him that I needed to buy this Qur'an :-) What a great thing to follow your intuition :-) I also cherish the pure and respectful interaction there can be between Muslim brothers and sisters. If the brother and the sister has a good heart/good intentions, there'll be no flirting or anything like that, like you see in so many other interactions between the two sexes, astaghfirullah.

Alhamdulillah for a lovely day. And now I'm at home, after having cleaned the whole house and eaten Pakistani food with my husband and stepdaugher, sitting on the bed with the laptop and a cup of Chinese tea next to me.


I wish you all a wonderful weekend! We'll be going to a big "non-firmation" of my nephew tomorrow. Insha'Allah it'll be a good experience - it sadly isn't always a good experience being with my whole family... Oh well.
Take care all of you.

Gratitude & Happiness

Photo source: http://blog.rbkdesign.com/page/2/

Hello my dear Blogger-sisters!

I have been missing you and I am soooo extremely happy to have holidays now after having finished my bachelor project and attending an exam yesterday. Insha'Allah I will pass both tasks! :)

I have lots of wonderful plans for my holidays, like learning more Arabic, visiting my family and friends, cleaning up everything in our apartment and giving things I don't need to charity. I will watch movies that make me feel good, eat what I love to eat, exercise, be in company I love, pray, make duaa, read Qur'an, feel love and happiness. YAY. I'm seriously on a journey to feel more pure happiness in my life! I want to use this year to change into an even happier content person, insha'Allah and as much as possible, do things that make me feel good.

You can join in if you want. Focus on good feeling thoughs, do things that feel good and if you feel bad, try to be grateful for things you already have in your life that can make you feel better. Insha'Allah :) It's truly good for the heart, body, mind and soul be grateful and happy inside.

And remember this:
This verse, together with many others, gives the good tidings that Allah (swt) rewards those who remain grateful to their Creator:

And remember! Your Lord caused to be declared (publicly): “If you are grateful, I will increase My favours to you. But if you show ingratitude, truly, My punishment is terrible indeed.” (Abraham, 7)

Dhul-Hijjah is Here

Assalaam 'Alaikum!

The blessed 10 days and nights are here and I would like to share this with you:

Hafsah reported, “There are five things that the Messenger (saws) never abandoned: fasting the day of ‘Ashurah, fasting the [first] 10 [days of Dhul-Hijjah], fasting 3 days of every month and praying two rak’aah before the dawn prayer.” [Related by Ahmad and an-Nasa'i].

Abu Hurairah relates that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said, “There are no days more loved to Allah for you to worship Him therein than the ten days of Dhul Hijja. Fasting any day during it is equivalent to fasting one year and to offer salatul tahajjud (late-night prayer) during one of its nights is like performing the late night prayer on the night of power. [i.e., Lailatul Qadr].” [Related by at-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, and al-Baihaqi]

I got this here where you can read the whole article. Else there are lots of other articles online and books too, if you have any of those.

Insha'Allah you may get the most out of these incredible ten days, sisters and brothers in Islam!

Seeking Refuge from Shaitaan

اعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم

'A'oothu bilahe minashaitan arajeem.'
(I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed devil)

Alhamdulillah, it's been a good day. I'm still a busy bee and can count on that until the beginning of Januar 2011, where I'll have finished my exams and hopefully passed them, insha'Allah!

I guess one of the main reasons that this was a good day is that I offered my prayers on time and also took time to read in The Noble Qur'an. When I opened it, I first read this:

"Seek help through patience and Salah; truly it is extremely difficult except for the humble true believers." (2:45)

"Oh you who believe! Seek help through patience and Salah. Truly, Allah is with those who are patient." (2:153)
Surely Allah (swt) knows best!

Alhamdulillah! Our Salah is so important (not to forget: the 2nd pillar of Islam!). Of course you all know that, but still there are some sisters and brothers among us (including myself) who sometimes don't get to offer all the daily prayers - or at least not always on time... Like this weekend, where I was super busy: one of the days I didn't offer my prayers and I tell you, I think that was the reason why my day was not good at all and nothing fell easily into place and thoughts and worries and bad mood overwhelmed me. Shaitaan loves this indeed...

I found these short movies on YouTube and like them quite a bit. I hope you like them too. At least they are small reminders:

And these two I liked too:

and

Take care dear muslimahs!!

A Blessed Morning & The Beautiful 99 Names of Allah (swt)

Assalaam 'Aleikum and good morning dear sisters!

I am having a wonderful morning, alhamdulillah, and I hope you too! And did you hear that Tony Blair's sister-in-law embraced Islam? Alhamdulillah. I thought that was interesting news! (Normally I don't read the news - too depressing!).

Here's how my morning has been this far:

Getting up for fajr, caressing my rabbit, opening the window to smell this autumn morning and listen to the blackbird outside always welcoming the morning, masha'Allah.

Then I sat down to read the Qur'an a little.

Afterwards I prepared a cup of rose tea (I love rose tea!!) and sat down next to my rabbit with my labtop to listen to a recitation of Allah's (swt) 99 names. I'll post it below. It's very beautiful, masha'Allah.

I feel so happy today although the sun isn't shining :) And I feel so grateful too! For being a muslima :) And for meeting so lovely muslimas here at Blogger! And for all the other gifts Allah (swt) daily gives me - may it be the sunrise, the sunset or anything else!! Subhan'Allah! Let us all be grateful for everything that Allah (swt) gave us in this life.

I hope you sisters are doing well too! If you feel like it you're welcome to tell me how your morning was today. I love to get to know you all better :)

Surah Al-Jum'a

Ooh it makes me so happy to see more people following my blog :) You're sweet! :D And I hope you like it here!! Insha'Allah.

My day has been great so far. Jum'a was great - I love the sisters in that mosque, they're so friendly, subhan'Allah. And I'm following my to-do list quite well - some of the tasks just swopped places.. Like I'm first going to clean up now. Hehe.

Take care beautiful muslimas and enjoy the beautiful recitation of Surah Al-Jum'a below :)

With Hardship Comes Ease...

Allahu akbar! Again Allah (swt) showed me how incredibly amazing (too poor words...) He is and how He is always there and always have something for you - when you ask and when you don't...

I was feeling sad and frustrated because of a conversation/discussion with my husband, which again ended up with the conclusion that I never communicate enough. I always try avoiding conflicts and to ask too much of my husband and then of course conflicts arise in the end...

In stead of keeping the discussion going, which I usually would have done, I turned to Allah (swt) in prayer. I really realized then that when I, as a human being, can't sort out something, who is the Only One having the answers to every question?!...

I asked for help in my duaa and then in the Qur'an. Subhan'Allah... He gave me this beautiful answer:

Ramadan Day 29

I'm off to pray isha'a now and read the Qur'an until I'm going to bed.
Subhan'Allah, my sisters in Islam - and in this blogging world - have helped me so much today with their support.
You could actually make some studies on how online communication and support sometimes help people in difficult times!

And sshh, I'll try to find a delicious recipe for ginger cookies which I want to bake for my neighbor and my mother-in-law and put them in beautiful boxes :) I myself love homemade gifts :)

Ramadan Day 16 & Duaa

This evening was my first Iftar alone because my husband was out. It is indeed a blessing to have loved ones or other people you care about to break the fast with.
My day was great. I threw some stuff out that has just been lying around in my closet and I cleaned the apartment and put things in order. I also cleaned and refilled this beautiful rose water sprinkler that my mother-in-law gave us.

Now I'm listening to one of my favorite duaa's, which I want to share with you here. It is the first part out of 2:

 

I hope to be able to go to the Friday-khutba tomorrow. Last week I found this hidden mosque in my city, where the khutba is given in my language :-) A lot of reverts come there.

Oh there are always new things to explore in Islam. New things that I didn't know. Sometimes it irritates me because I feel I know too little, but insha'Allah I will know more and more and Allah will open the necessary doors. I also hope that I will be able to join the Qur'an-lessons every Sunday after the Ramadan. I want to be able to recite the Qur'an, of course.
Today I thought about the fact that when you revert to Islam, it's like falling in love... And I keep falling in love (with Islam) over and over again, masha'Allah!
It's such a beautiful deen.

What do you sisters do to achieve more knowledge about Islam?

Learning to Read the Qur'an

Insha'Allah I will be able to attend a course in learning to read the Qur'an, starting after the Ramadan. I can't wait to be able to read the Qur'an in the original language and insha'Allah also learn to recite it properly one day :)
My local masjid offers lots of different free courses, subhan'Allah. The book above is the one they use to teach us to read Arabic.

Ramadan Day 9

How much I love Ramadan. It's such a blessed month and everything around you and inside you seems to change. All 5 senses seem to become more pure. I don't like being among many non-muslim people during the Ramadan... I like to stay at home, offering my salat five times a day, read the Qu'ran and talk about it with my husband and also going through Allah's 99 beautiful names, Subhan'Allah. I'm thankful for having someone to fast together with (my husband), so we can share our experiences and study Islam together. My family are non-muslims - non-believers and everything about Islam (which they actually seem to have no right knowledge about) seems to scare them. They don't understand why I want to fast and why I became a Muslim, primarily. Insha'Allah He will make them understand one day.
Now I'm going out to get something from the bakery for later. I've been cooking a lot these days, so the refrigeator is booming :)

Have a blessed day, insha'Allah. I hope to hear from some other Muslimahs here some day :)