Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts

Sunday, April 17, 2011

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.

Friday, April 15, 2011

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.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

10 Oldest Mosques in the World

01. Quba Mosque, Saudi Arabia
First Built: 622
The designation of the oldest mosque in the world requires careful use of definitions, and must be divided into two parts, the oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, and the oldest in the sense of oldest mosque congregation. Even here, there is the distinction between old mosque buildings that have been in continuous use as mosques, and those that have been converted to other purposes; and between buildings that have been in continuous use as mosques and those that were shuttered for many decades. In terms of congregations, they are distinguished between early established congregations that have been in continuous existence, and early congregations that ceased to exist (wikipedia). 09 More after the break...
02. Al-Masjid al-Nabawi, Saudi Arabia
First Built: 622

03. Masjid al-Qiblatain, Saudi Arabia

First Built: 623

04. Jawatha Mosque, Saudi Arabia

First Built: 629

05.
Masjid al-Haram, Saudi Arabia

First Built: 638

06. Great Mosque of Kufa, Iraq

First Built: 639

07.
Mosque of Uqba, Tunisia

First Built: 670

08.
Imam Hussain Mosque, Iraq

First Built: 680

09.
Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem

First Built: 705

10.
Al-Zaytuna Mosque, Tunisia

First Built: 709

Via—Link

Thursday, January 6, 2011

They Have Not Abandoned It...

I received this by email and if you feel like sharing it with others, you can surely do that. I hope you like it! I could say nothing but Subhan'Allah after watching the photos.

Do you pray? No? How come?

 The elderly have not abandoned it

 Women have not abandoned it

Children have not abandoned it

              

On the roads, they have not abandoned it

                 

In corrupt countries, they have not abandoned it


In the forests and jungles, they have not abandoned it


In the midst of ruins and destruction, they have not abandoned it

             


Under the bombings, they have not abandoned it

 
Under the rain, they have not abandoned it

             

On the stairs, they have not abandoned it


 

On top of car roofs, they have not abandoned it


In train stations, they have not abandoned it


In planes, they have not abandoned it

              

On the snow, they have not abandoned it


On the beaches and on boats, they have not abandoned it

      UNDER WATER, they have not abandoned it.
He is under water diving, it's his work …

he can’t leave his job undone…but he can’t lose the FAJAR PRAYER…

so he prayed underwater’ SubhanAllah !!!.


Before they are captured, they have not abandoned it


And after they are captured, they have not abandoned it

 The disabled have not abandoned it

      


So why would you not pray?

Oh Allah, make us among those who have khushoo’ (concentration) in their prayers,
those who are continually observing their prayers and are heedful of them
and those who guard their prayers.
Ameen!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

An Amazing Dream & Flying Trains

“And they planned a plan, and We planned a plan, while they perceived not.” (Qur’an 27:50)

http://bluenred.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/la-musica-dreams/

Subhan'Allah!
I always found dreams very interesting and from the age of 12, I've read books about dream interpretation by C. Jung and other dream-litterature, to understand how I could learn to interpret my dreams. There are so many different approaches to dream interpretation and with time, I think I've found my own way with a mixture of all these different approaches... Anyway, the most important thing in understanding your dreams, is that it somehow makes sense to you! I don't believe it will help you much if you dream about horses, for example, and look up that word in a so-called "dream-dictionary" and see the few meanings of a horse! I don't believe you can put labels on the symbolic reality of your unconsciousness like that! Maybe it can give you some hints, but what works best for me is my immediate reaction and immediate emotions connected to the dream I just had! What are the first things I link to the dream? Experiences from my life, thoughts, emotions, people etc.
Although I think dreams are very personal, I would like to share this dream I just had, with you, 'cause for me it also makes very much sense in an Islamic way (and not just personally) :)

Bismillah.

I was on a train on my way to visit family in Germany. My mom called me and we talked until the connection suddenly fell out. I noticed, while looking out of the window, that the train had suddenly elevated from the earth and was flying like an airplane! I was very surprised and I also got angry with one of the ladies working on the train, 'cause this wasn't part of the plan! We should've been in Germany within a few hours and now we were suddenly going somewhere else!!
Finally I reached my mom on the phone again and told her what was going on. When we were about to land I met three German guys that I thought I could perhaps hang out with and also a girl showed up. I packed all my stuff in a hurry and very clumsily too! The lady from the train told me we were in Virginia and were going to be here for three days! Virginia! I'd never been so far from home and to the USA and was both excited and a bit worried something would happen to me here, so far away from my family.
The train drove like a car through the crowded streets. My mom told me that they often experience sudden and heavy rain in Virginia, and I could also already see dark clouds approaching! This was going to be an exciting trip indeed! I would try finding a hotel with the little money I got and hopefully everything would be alright and I could soon go to Germany!

By the way the train must have looked something like this. Hehe:


When I woke up, I knew this dream was referring to the fact that we always have so many plans, but because Allah (swt) plans too, we will never know where life is bringing us! The past few days I've had exactly these experiences. I planned stuff and none of it happened according to my plan. I hoped and I prayed, but obviously it was not meant for me to be the way I wished! And in these times, where we experience distress or confusion, frustration, anger, sadness because we feel, we don't get what we think we need... Allah (swt) is always there and is taking care of everything.
And I thank Allah (swt) for my dreams and for the way they inspire me.
If I didn't understand it well enough before, Allah (swt) might have given me this dream, so that I will understand, that I cannot control everything (like the train I'm on in the dream). I just have to let go of my resistance and see the positive things about my journey through life (in the dream: coming to Virginia instead of Germany) and accept where life brings me and grow personally and spiritually through that. And trust Allah (swt) always!
Another little thing: It's interesting that I arrived in Virginia! And take a look at the meaning of the word "virgin" (apart from it meaning that you haven't had sexual intercourse yet): Pure; undefiled; unmixed; fresh; new; as, virgin soil; virgin gold. (Source: http://thinkexist.com/dictionary/meaning/virgin/ ). And now imagine that you could enter a state of being pure, undefiled, fresh, new, when life challenges you or brings you to somewhere you really hadn't expected. At least I think that could help me in just allowing Allah's (swt) plans with me and putting all my trust and my time in Him! Subhan'Allah. Another symbol from the dream that could stress this exact way of approaching life, is the heavy rain coming up. I see rain as a symbol of water that washes everything and purifies it - i.e. removing dirt or other distracting things/things blurring your vision, which in this case could be my emotions, comfusing thoughts etc.
Keep in mind that this is just my immediate interpretation of the dream and definitely isn't all it was meant to tell me, but here I just shared the most important parts of it :) and of course this dream dreamed by somebody else would probably have a completely different meaning!!


Feel free to comment on dream interpretation, dreams in general or whatever you feel like :)
Bye bye and take care!! :) 

Friday, November 19, 2010

Duaa of Friday & "osm" Blog-link

I think we need a Duaa of Friday, don't we? :)

Enjoy it dear sisters! Bismillah:

 


Before I go I need to tell you about this osm (awesome) blog! I found it this morning and absolutely love it - especially the beautiful and cute pictures, masha'Allah!
Take a look yourself and read about Table manners in Islam, Celebration of Eid ul-Adha, 5 basic duties of a Muslim and much more (new articles every Sunday):

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Reminder of the Day of 'Arafah

Today it's the 7th of Dhul-Hijjah...
Here a little more about the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah and the day of 'Arafah (the 9th of Dhul-Hijjah):
The first days of Dhul-Hijjah are the days of Hajj, which include the Day of `Arafah, the peak of Hajj; it is the focal point when the pilgrims gather in the plain of `Arafah. Such a mammoth gathering of Muslims supplicating to Allah is bound to have all-pervasive effects on the whole world; Allah has promised an answer for those who gather on the plain of `Arafah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) exhorted the non-pilgrims to spend these days in as much devotion as possible. This means that we must show spiritual solidarity with the pilgrims. The Prophet (saws) is reported to have said, “There are no days that are dearer to Allah in respect of devoting oneself to devotion and worship than the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah.”
 He is also reported to have said, “Fasting on the day of `Arafah expiates sins of two years, the past and future.”
 

It is very beneficial to repeatedly say: “La illaha illa Allah, wahdahu la sharik la, lahu al-mulk wa lahu al-hamd, wa Huwa ‘ala kul shayy’in Qadir.” This is related in many ahadith.
Ibn ‘Abbas said, “Whosoever reads Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad (Chapter 112 of the Quran) 1,000 times on the Day of ‘Arafah will be given whatever he/she asks for. The best thing to occupy oneself with during this day is du’a. Narrated Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari, may Allah be pleased with him, “They are days in which du’a is not turned back. How would du’a be turned back during these days when the Day of ‘Arafah is amongst them, which was narrated as being the best day in the world?” [Ibn Hibban in his Sahih collection].


So dear sisters and brothers in Islam - this was a reminder of the 9th of Dhul-Hijjah! Take care all of you and I hope you spend the day fasting and in remembrance of our Lord, insha'Allah :)

Thursday, November 11, 2010

We "Forget"...


Sisters and brothers in Islam, what is it with us humans? Why do we have to be reminded - over and over again - about (for example) the importance of salah? Why do we take blessings from Allah (swt) for granted? Why do we forget to please Allah (swt)? Why do we forget to be thankful for being muslims? - For our health, for our beautiful children, for the beautiful world, for our friends, for our loved ones.......

Well I have my own answers to these questions - and I'm sure there are many more. It just keeps amazing me that this fact - also when it comes to believing muslims - keeps repeating it self. But perhaps I'm wrong? Allah (swt) knows best.

I would like to share the following wonderful hadith with you:


[Sahih Bukhari : Volume 1, Book 11, Number 624]

Narrated Abu Huraira (Radi Allah Anhu): Allah's Apostle (sal-allahu-alleihi-wasallam) said:
"While a man was going on a way, he saw a thorny branch and removed it from the way and Allah became pleased by his action and forgave him for that."

Then the Prophet (sal-allahu-alleihi-wasallam) said, "Five are martyrs:
1. One who dies of plague,
2. One who dies of an abdominal disease,
3. One who dies of drowning,
4. One who is buried alive (and) dies
5. And One who is killed in Allah's cause."
 
The Prophet (sal-allahu-alleihi-wasallam) further said, "If the people knew the reward for pronouncing the Adhan and for standing in the first row (in the congregational prayer) and found no other way to get it except by drawing lots they would do so.
And if they knew the reward of offering the Zuhr prayer early
(in its stated time), they would race for it.
And if they knew the reward for 'Isha' and Fajr prayers in congregation, they would attend them even if they were to crawl'."

Sunday, November 7, 2010

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!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Conscious of the Unconscious & An Angry Woman


The picture above represents, in my eyes, very well how we humans are - in some ways. So Freud was right about something, when he compared our conscious and our unconscious with an ice mountain. At least I think so and I at times get overwhelved by all the unconscious behaviour and unconscious reactions that I cannot control. I think it's a very positive aspect of a human being, if you're conscious about your unconscious, so to say. And also when you are aware of the fact that you sometimes act in a specific way because of what's hidden in your unconscious. Because if you are aware of that, you'll also be able to take responsibility for your actions more easily! And you'll not blame everything on everybody else - which makes it a lot easier for everyone - although it also eliminates too many excuses to not work with yourself (which of course is good, but it might be a challenge).

I'm very fascinated by people's reactions to things -- and when they're very spontaniously aggressive, for example, I'd say that part of that would be unconscious material popping up. I believe personal issues have their origin in experiences, actions, thoughts from our past and sometimes things "push our bottons" and we react spontaniously. So you can actually find out very much about a person, just by knowing what really pushes their bottons!
That's one of the ways I get to know myself better, my husband and other people close to me.
I can take one example from my workday yesterday. A woman gets utterly annoyed and later almost aggressive, after she was told, that all chicken in Denmark is halal slaughtered (at least almost all chicken is...). She really freaked out loudly saying things like "This is Denmark, this is a Danish country!!!". She was furious. People looked at her, obviously wondering why she reacted like that, when everybody else seemed to not really care about these chicken...
Anyway. I stood there, actually smiling inside(!)... 'cause I know the feeling when something pushes your bottons and you can't control yourself and I know that it often has nothing to do with the subject being talked about or the situation you're in. With psychologic insight, you could dig very deep into that woman's inside and find out what's really the cause of her reaction. It might be a childhood feeling of fear of not being respected or not being important to anyone or anything else!
You'd need to find the roots of those overwhelming feelings and thereby find the cause and loosen up that knot inside (insha'Allah!).
Alhamdulillah that we're muslims! ;) Because Islam can solve everything for you, which you struggle with. And Allah (swt) gave us so many tools to handle and develop our thoughts, dreams, actions, minds, hearts etc.! I'll make duaa for that Danish woman who hates Islam and muslims (- which she said later) because obviously that hate, anger and fear emanates from something else deep inside her. Allahu akbar! But do you see what I mean? By understanding people's reasons for their actions (and your own too!) you'll become better at handling people's aggressions (or other sorts of reactions) and understand that somebody raging out on you perhaps hasn't got anything to do with you, but is about that person's own issues - and vice versa when it comes to yourself.

Have a beautiful day, evening, night or morning my dear sisters in Islam.