Monthly Archives: August 2007

Gem

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An-Nawwas bin Sam’an (radiyallahu anhu) reported that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said:

“Righteousness is good character, and sin is that which wavers in your heart and which you do not want people to know about.” [Muslim]

According to Wabisah bin Ma’bad, (radiyallahu anhu), who said: I came to the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) and he said:

“You have come to ask about righteousness?” “Yes,” I answered. He said: “Consult your heart. Righteousness is that about which the soul feels tranquil and the heart feels tranquil, Continue reading →

How Not To Use the Contact Me Page

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Please do not contact me if you are mentally unstable or just immature and want to talk to someone to make yourself feel significant because I’m not the one for that, I’m going to tell you like it is or just ignore you and then you may feel worse.

Please do not contact me if you want me to make salaatul istikhara for you or someone in your family that is looking to get married. A bit of advice, do it yourself and watch this lecture by Abdulbary Yahya on istikhara called Divine GPS: The Inner Dimension of Salaatul Istikhara.

Please do not contact me if Islam to you is about laypeople seeking out the faults of the people of knowledge so that you can boycott them except for a few select people that you claim to have access to only through translations of a tele-link and hurt only yourself and those that listen to you by your actions.

Please do not contact me if you have some crazy 419 scheme where you think you need my help to obtain a bazillion dollars.

The Masajid around Seattle

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We spent two and a half weeks in the Seattle, Washington area this summer. The weather and geography were gorgeous and just perfect for hijabis. The sky is a marvelous blue, much bluer than anything we have here in Maryland. At night the low temperatures were in the 50′s and during the day, the highs were in the 70′s.

Cruising up and down the highway there is the Olympic mountain range with its crown jewel, the majestic 14,000 foot snow covered peak of Mount Rainier, and the Cascade mountain range on the other side. Beneath you are the many lakes from Lake Washington to Lake Union to the ferries on Puget Sound and so many fantastic parks with amazing greenery. A bit farther out on the Olympic peninsula lies the great logging roads, tree farms and huge swaths of clear-cut trees, rainforest, hiking trails, and the beaches on the Pacific Ocean.

I’ve been up and down the East Coast and as far west as Chicago but the beauty of the landscape in the state of Washington has no equal in my limited experience traveling through the States.

While we were in the Seattle area, we went masjid-hopping to get a feel of the flavor of the Muslim community and I came away with a feeling of thankfulness for living in the DC metro area where the community is diverse, vibrant, and we are mostly spoiled for choice in choosing which masjid to frequent.

The first week, we went to jumuah at a masjid with a minaret. The parking situation was almost non-existent so we parked a couple blocks up on the side of the road and walked back to the masjid. Continue reading →

Travel Tips for Everyone including Religious Minorities

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I used to work for the Transportation Security Administration while in hijab so I stuck out like a sore thumb but alhamdulillah some Jewish sisters fought for the right to wear skirts and I fought for the right to wear religious headgear particularly hijab and we were successful.

On August 4, 2007, TSA changed their policy on religious headgear which unlike any other hats or baseball caps still do not need to be removed but give the screener at the walk-through metal detector (WTMD) the prerogative to refer an individual wearing religious headgear for additional secondary screening usually for closer eye inspection and a hand-held metal detector search with a limited pat-down of the headgear even if the individual did not alarm in the walk-through metal detector.

I flew a few weeks ago from Sea-Tac in Seattle to Reagan National in DC and did not encounter any issues with my hijab although a female screener did pat down my lower legs under my jilbab.

General Tips for Religious Minorities and the General Public at the Security Checkpoint:

Take everything metal (I mean everything, keys, cell phone, pager, coins, etc are metal) out of your pockets and put them in your carry-on bag, not at the front of the line but while you are waiting to get to the front. You do not need one of those little white plastics bowls or the gray tubs for your small metal objects. Keep your boarding pass handy because it might be checked again while you undergo the screening process.

Take off your shoes without complaint. If you think the floor is too dirty for your pristine feet then wear socks. It doesn’t matter if this or that airport or another screener in the same airport didn’t ask you to take off shoes, if you are told to remove your shoes, do so. Continue reading →

Case Dismissed

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I went to minor traffic court yesterday to plead my case for what I considered an unfair parking ticket.

I live close to Al Huda School in College Park and to the Greenbelt Metro Station and so there is restricted parking on most of the streets in the area and there are small signs posted to that effect. The signs at one end of the street differ from the signs as you get closer to the Metro and the restricted timings vary at either end of the street.

So on the day we went to sign the lease, we parked our cars and decided to go together in one car to the leasing agent’s office. While we were there the leasing agent told us that in order to park in front of the house we would need to take our copy of the lease to the parking permit office to obtain the parking permits for our cars.

After signing the lease, we got home and there was a ticket on my car. Continue reading →

Dave Chappelle at the Masjid

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Dave Chappelle at Dar al HijrahThe comedian Dave Chappelle a DC native has been seen recently in and around the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Virginia with increasing regularity which has created a buzz in some Muslim circles.

We live in a culture that values celebrity so for some Muslims this idea that a famous person with what I suppose is mainstream attraction although I’m not really sure what group forms the core fan base of support for Chappelle is an exciting development.

From Wikipedia: In 1998, Chappelle converted to Islam. He told Time Magazine in a May 2005 interview, “I don’t normally talk about my religion publicly because I don’t want people to associate me and my flaws with this beautiful thing. And I believe it is beautiful if you learn it the right way.”[11]

I remember a statement from one of our teachers, Br. Muhammad Alshareef in which he mentioned that when a person converts to Islam, Islam is not in need of that person, Islam does not gain or increase in honor from that single person entering into the religion, all izza (honor, glory, nobility) is for that person that has now been blessed with the religion of Islam. Continue reading →