Alhamdullilahi Rabil alameen

SubhanAllah. All praise is due to Allah, Who out of mercy and kindness, answers the duas of His slaves and restores hope.

La illah illAllah.

OMG! MSA Battles was awesome. I can’t express how amazing and down to the wire it was. Not the competition, that was insane all on it’s own (seperate story). But the guidance and provisions that came with it!

SubhanAllah, I don’t know where to begin. Rahma had a weird dream of sheep for the sacrifice of Eid,… Hafsa had a dream about leaving school for a trip… and we’re wondering what it could mean. It’s by Allah’s might, that they won battles and the prize, and that these two (and the whole group) of deserving receipients and guests are going to Umrah. I can’t believe it. And the last question, for 500 points, the make or break it- to bring us in the lead by 200, back from negative 300, was a question on the hadith of our beloved Prophet (saw) narrated by Abu Said Al-Khudri: Allah’s Apostle said, “A time will come that the best property of a Muslim will be _____ which he will take on the top of mountains and the places of rainfall (valleys) so as to flee with his religion from afflictions.” Sheep! the answer was Sheep! of ALL things! subhanAllah! (Volume 1, Book 2, Number 18)

After so much dua, from friends and family, to make it easy on Rahma to go to Hajj, this is the gift from Allah. A full fledged ticket and invitation to visit His house of worship. Glory be to Allah, Who opens doors from the most unexpected corners! (I’m remembering Rahma and Hafs crying. subhanAllah!) And the boys made sujood on stage!

How crazy. I’m rambling… subhanAllah, what an honor. I’m at a loss for words. With this win, … hope… wallahi, hope is restored. The weapon of the believer is dua! Allah Hears and Answers the duas of His slaves. It’s true. Allah Hears, and is the Best of Providers.

Alhamdullilah, the Creator and Sustainer of all that He created. What a blessing and provision from Allah. May we continue to praise and worship Him. 

(and I’m so proud of Sufia, Runa, Ali, and Sanjana. MaashaAllah! not to mention Zo. May Allah reward them and the brother or sister who sponsored the tickets). Wow. Who knew that so much would ride on this win? Who knew? Only Allah knew. Alhamdullilahi Rabil alameen.

Allahumma bariklana …

Alhamdullilah. I remember hearing this dua (Allahumma bariklana fi ma razaktana wa qinna adhaban naar) on a CD w/ Imam Anwar a long time ago and tried to memorize it. Working at WIA, we say it every day to our kids during lunch time. It’s only years later, and after facing certain issues, that I’m able to have a better grasp of Imam Anwar’s explanation.

He said that the importance of saying ‘wa qinna adhaban naar’, is to keep you grounded. It’s association to something ideally irrelevant (such as eating) helps bring you back to the reality of what you’re up against. (I’m paraphrasing, it was years ago, and he speaks so much better maashaAllah…) Basically, it helps to solidfy what you’re in this dunya for.

And through this dua, in the simple act of eating, we’re reminded to place our trust in Allah, of our dependency on Him, and to make dua that He saves us from the fire. 

SubhanAllah, we ask Allah to bless for us the food He has provided us with. He subhanu wa ta’ala has placed it before us. And after all the care we went to pick it out; after the money we worked hard to buy it with; He Azza wa Jal, provided it for us. Yet, we still request Him to bless it for us, because there is still the chance the best apple we have chosen with our senses, might be have a hidden poision (i don’t have a better analogy).

And what if we were to regurgitate what we ate? Then we’d think, (i feel sick)…but alhamdullilah- that food wasn’t meant for me. There’s no slack off my back when this happens. I’m glad it’s out of my system.

So why can’t we accept other things in life this easily? In other matters, we fail to adopt this same mentality. Knowing that, since it wasn’t good for us and Allah removed it from us (or us from it), that in it’s absence- there’s still a provision. Good health, the chance of better food arriving, etc.

In other elephant-uous matters (yes I made up a word), we struggle to believe that we’ll eat again. We dwelling on our losses, drown in fear- doubts- and what ifs, and lose hope. La illaha illallah (talking things out really helps).

But we have to remember the latter portion of the dua. ‘wa qinna adhaban naar’. We (i) have to stay grounded. ‘wa qinna adhaban naar’. The paramounts of my troubles melt when I think of not living another day, and the possibility of facing Allah’s punishment, for being ungrateful, self-destructive, and not content w/ His decree. wa eyadhubillah.

Alhamdullilah for this dua and the complex treasures gained while eating at WIA. Alhamdullilah for everything.                                                     

No Waliyy other than Allah, the Exalted

And you would have seen the sun, when it rose, declining to the right from their Cave, and when it set, turning away from them to the left, while they lay in the midst of the Cave. That is of the signs of Allah. He whom Allah guides, is rightly guided; but he whom He sends astray, for him you will find no guiding friend to lead him. (18:17)

http://trueword.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/tafsir-surah-kahf-ayah-17-18/

: Allah takes care of our needs

: Allah ta’ala says,

<<ذَ‌ٰلِك مِنْ آيَاتِ اللَّهِ>>- That is from the ayaat of Allah! Their leaving of the people and going to the cave, the location of the cave, the sun inclining away, the sun not reaching them, the heat not burning them, the open space of the cave, all of this are miraculous signs of Allah’s Qudrah: His Power and Might. This story was not a mere coincidence, they did not just fall upon the cave, randomly found it to be an open space, the sun just happened to not fall upon them when they were sleeping, rather Allah ta’ala made it all happen for them. This is how Allah helps those who stand up for His cause. This is the mercy of Allah in action.

: وَلِيًّا- Waliyy is a special type of friend, who expresses the will to help to you and support you. A waliyy is a friend that you turn to for help, protection and support. Hidaayah (guidance) is only from Allah ta’ala, and not even the messengers can guide whom they wish. Allah ta’ala is the One who guided these youth, their guidance was not from any other source. And as it was mentioned earlier, guidance is given only to those who desire it.

: Gaining the mercy of Allah

Why did Allah bestow His Mercy upon them? Because they had emaan, they acted on their emaan and they completely relied upon Allah.

The lesson? If you put your emaan first, act on it and completely rely on Allah, Allah will make things happen for you.

If you are sincere to Allah, if you sacrifice for Allah, He ta’ala will facilitate your way, make arrangements for you, and spread His Mercy for you through ways you can never imagine.

The method to my madness

This is for Amin’s “co-worker” who keeps up with my blog and wanted to know the method to my madness. Well, I can’t lie in real life and I have a rapid imagination of the worst things to come. So, I take real life situations, and fudge them up a little. Since I overanalyze almost everything, I naturally draw parallels between stories and embarrassing situations that have happened to me. Alhamdullilah, I have a pretty loyal following, ahahahahahah- what a joke! I force ppl to listen to my stories, and they ask for more. I’m usually the butt of the joke, but that doesn’t bother me.

So that’s how I roll.
When I can manage to write, I do, and when I don’t, i hate myself for it. I’m working on that part with the help of a dear friend

Aminal, hope that suffices your “co-workers” inquiry. If your “co-worker” wants to cop my style for “his” future book that “his” wife endorses, I’ll sue. hahaha! i’m not joking.

The Deception of the Red Army, pt. dos

Thursday: 7:15 am.
bam bam bam bam bam
Startled out of sleep, Yalda couldn’t believe her ears. “Impossible,” she thought.

bam bam bam bam bam
The brigade of forceful pecks echoed from under her window.

“This can not be happening.” She jumped out of bed, and anxiously propped open her window, slowly tugging the screen, afraid that the woodpecker might attack her precious face.
“Caw Caw!” she yelled hoping it would scare them away, but the bird rushed back.

bam bam bam bam bam
Unable to sleep, she threw a round orange box, a reluctant gift given to her by her best friend, the infamous Orangutan, Liyana, at the window. With its smack, silence.

bam bam bam bam bam
Yalda ran to the bay window in the living room and drew the curtains. An assortment of one inch potholes were randomly knitched along the side of her house. As she stared into the jungle that was once her backyard, little red heads began to appear from between the leaves. Hordes of woodpeckers flew from the underneath the bay window and stationed themselves like diligent soldiers. To the left were a pair poised on a fence. To the right, were three woodpeckers waiting for their next move. And perched atop the very home she defended, smack dab in the heart of her bay window, was the couple she grew to admire. The King and Queen of the Red Army.

The Deception of the Red Army

Maybe they smelled it in the air. Maybe they’re protesting my story about their distant relatives, the Finches. Maybe they’re a warning from Allah to take heed and support ones parent. alhamdullilah, either way, the Red Army, aka the woodpeckers outside my home, are relentless monsters. I got the hint, and now, it’s on.

It’s like they read our mind, and didn’t even care! la illaha illAllah! Here’s what has transpired over the last few days.

Saturday: Yalda and Poppy Seed (aka her dad) were sitting in the living room that afternoon and watched as a single woodpecker worked to build his home out of a dead tree in their back yard.
“Look how hard he’s working dad,” she said innocently in admiration.
“Yeah, we got stop them before they do that to the side of the house,” he warned, but his advice rushed over her head. She ran to the basement and grabbed the video cam to record this amazing view of nature at work. It was all quite inspiring.

Sunday: Rain or shine, the diligent woodpecker was single-handidly crafting his home. Admiration was still visible in Yalda’s eyes.
“Daddy, did you know that the male species of birds have more vibrant colors than the females?” she said as an attempt to impress her father and soften his heart towards the red headed creature.

Monday:
Standing in front of her bay window, she looked on as the woodpecker rested in his new home. His little head stuck out of the hole in the bark, and all was right w/ the world.
“This is how things get done,” she said to herself as a mental note. “You work hard. Keep pushing forward. And then rest!”

Tuesday: Now there are two!
“Wow!!! He worked so hard to make a home for his family, maashaAllah! That’s so amazing! The world makes so much sense! SubhanAllah! And he brought his wife home AFTER he finished it. It’s the sunnah, la illaha illAllah!”
Her thread of narration and observations were expressed to Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala.
Her father was off at work.

Wednesday:
During dinner, the conversation of the ‘Red-bellied Woodpecker, aka Melanerpes carolinus‘, heated up.
“I’ve got to figure out a way to get ride of them,” her father said over a scrump-diddiliumptious dinner.
“You can’t!” she protested. “He’s made his home! He’s innocent! What do you plan on doing? He has a family now!” Yalda asserted, as she cleaned off the dinner table.

While in the kitchen, she heard her sister in law state the same plea, but her father insisted, “I have to! In no time they’ll peck at our home!”
Yalda, who was loading the dishes in the dishwasher, scoffed. (May Allah forgive her- Ameen.) “They already have a home. Plus there’re a million trees outside, they wouldn’t even bother.”

“I support your dad,” said her sister in law as she walked into the kitchen. “They’ll attack the house!”
“Well you were easily swayed.” But deep down inside, Yalda knew that her father’s threat was merely that, just a threat, and the possibility of it coming to light was slim.

Thursday: 7:15 am.
bam bam bam bam bam
Startled out of sleep, Yalda couldn’t believe her ears. “Impossible,” she thought.

bam bam bam bam bam
The brigade of forceful pecks echoed from under her window.

((I’m still in shock. I can’t go on! lol! more to come soon inshaAllah))

Meet the Finches

“Did you feel that?” Fiona asked as she peeked her head out in the darkness of her second story villa.

Fyodor and Fatso who had been sleeping in the lofty cabana hadn’t budged. But Fiona was sure, something, in the dark living room wasn’t right.

Another jolt shook their home.

“What the?” Fatso squaked as he stretched his wings. “Is it morning already?”
“I can’t see the number on my watch,” Fyodor replied with a yawn.

“Wake up! Wake up! Get out! She’s back!” Fiona screamed. In no time, Fyodor, Fiona and Fatso Finch flew around their caged home in protest. Their home bobbed up and down in silence as the cool air swirled around their bodies.

“Quick! Hold on to the branch!” Fiona shouted over their flaps and frantic flying.

All three bird secured themselves to the brown branch that stuck out into the middle of their foyer. Cold, tired, and afraid, the siblings huddled together, unsure of what She might do.

Giant Amazon Water Lily

Everythings always better in a British accent!

Giant Amazon Water Lily
Uploaded by omurap666

Mimsy Lives On!

Alhamdullilah! Mimsy’s a strong character w/ a great story. I’m so blessed to have come by it, alhamdullilah. At work this past Monday I told my patient up to, say… chapter 2, of Mimsy’s story and she loved it!!! We usually share and make up stories during bedtime, she’s so creative maashaAllah (she’s only 11).
So I would purposefully occupy myself with things in the middle of the story (lol-im sooo bad!) to check her level of interest. Let’s just say, I have to come up with chps 3 & 4 by next week!!! YAY! I’m so happy, alhamdullilah. I’m sooo pumped to pursue this. Khair inshaAllah. It’s all by Allah’s mercy and provision.
Thanks for the dua guys!

The Life of Mimsy Me

So, this is the tale of cold hearted mouse who had a greedy love for all things glitter.
I’m so excited to construct him! He sounds like fun/trouble!

more to come inshaAllah!