Update: April 29, 2011

Assalamu alaykum!

Today was a good day. Since Central London was crawling with people today thanks to the royal wedding, it was decided it would be a great day for a picnic – so long as the rain chose not to fall. Well, the rain stayed in the skies, so bright and early we rose to prepare a small meal for a noon picnic: chicken and butter sandwiches, potato chips (or crisps as they call them here), fresh fruit, and juice.

With the food made and packed away, we set off for a large, obscure park less than a 15 minute walk from the house. When we reached the park, our first activity was cricket which I have never played before. Now, there is no sport – maybe with the exception of badminton and archery – that I’m at all good in. Today I added cricket to the long list of sports I can’t play.

I will admit it is much easier to hit the ball in cricket than it is in baseball or softball…a definite advantage in having a bigger bat. Yet, even with that advantage I managed to hit the ball only half the time; still better than my batting average in baseball! Supposedly my hits increased as time went on, but I think that was simply a statement said to up my moral. My bowling abilities are a bit better, although they certainly wouldn’t stand up to the professional level.

Abandoning the game after about an hour or so, we began walking around the park. The park we were in is a huge park by London standards and is full of trees and waterways. With spring in full swing, the birds were twittering away in the vibrant green foliage of the trees. The air was heavy with the heady smell of flowering trees and bushes.

We found a perfect spot to eat off the beaten trail near a small stream, spread out our blanket, and sat down to enjoy our simple lunch. Except for the occasional passerby and the sound of traffic from the main highway outside the park, it was quiet and enjoyable. The food was pretty good too.

After the food was consumed, we began walking around all the waterways. The park used to be an estate owned by some important person who had several fancy, ornamental ponds created on the lands. Now everything is overgrown with trees and undergrowth so nothing is very ornamental anymore.

There are tons of water birds who call the park home: mallards, Canada geese, a couple Egyptian geese, coots, moorhens, cormorants, tufted ducks, and a single swan. We had some leftover bread from the sandwiches, so we had brought that along with to feed the birds. In one part of the park, far from the main gathering place of the birds, a Canada goose started following us. I finally stopped and gave it some bread because it wouldn’t leave us alone.

Finally we reached the main gathering place. The birds are smart and they know you have bread when they see or hear a bread bag. So as soon as they saw us, the mallards and geese swam over to us. The Canada geese are not afraid to come right up to people and take food from their hands. However, they aren’t very nice about it and my fingers got bit a few times.

But the single Egyptian goose that was hanging around surprised me a bit. He/she also came right up to me for some bread. Yet, while the geese and ducks were going a bit crazy over the bread, the Egyptian goose carefully took the bread from my fingers. It’s like it had manners! I have never seen a bird take food so nicely, and I wished I had taken more bread with.

The Egyptian goose who was ever so polite!

Anyway, after the duck/goose feeding episode, we returned home. The rest of the day wasn’t very exciting; I watched a couple things about the wedding, uploaded some photos on deviantART, and then did some cleaning. Nothing too trilling.

But enough about my day. While I have managed to post a few things in the past few weeks or so, I haven’t posted much. Insha’Allah I hope to post a bit more in the upcoming week or two. I have a few great topics for posts: the proposed male circumcision ban in San Francisco, implementation of Shari’ah law in the US, and a couple others I can’t remember right now. I just need the motivation to actually write them!

Well, that’s all for me. I hope you had a great Friday and have an equally great weekend!

Fee amanillah!

Iman

The Royal Wedding

As the 29^th approaches, news websites are filled with tidbits and articles about the upcoming royal wedding. All the sites I visit regularly to read the news – with the exception of Pakistan’s English-language Dawn – always have something about the wedding. And being in the UK, I’ve of course heard much about it in other ways too. But, as it has nothing to do with anything I’m interested in, I’ve mostly been ignoring the issue.

However, I came across an interesting video on the US version of CNN this morning. Here’s the link: http://us.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/04/26/exp.arena.royal.wedding.choudary.cnn?hpt=C2

For those of you who might not want to watch the video, let me sum it up. In the short interview, Anjem Choudary warns that the royal celebrations are a potential target for terror attacks. The interviewer asks him if he is actually planning to bring violence to the event. Choudary answers, ‘We are going to use the platform on the 29^th of April to show the world that the Muslims will never remain silent when the British and the American government are committing atrocities against them. If we can use this platform to withdraw the troops from Muslim countries to stop atrocities being committed against our brethren around the world, then we will do so no matter if it’s a wedding or a funeral. We will take every opportunity to support our brothers and sisters around the world and to save innocent lives.’

Before I comment on the above statement and the interview in general, let me say a little about Anjem Choudary as I’m sure few know much about him. In fact, I did not know he existed until a few days ago when I came across another, unrelated, video on YouTube. Born and raised in England, the Pakistani Briton is what officials label a radical Muslim activist. He has been a part of several pro-Islam groups: al-Muhajiroun (banned in the UK), Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah (successor to al-Muhajiroun), Al Ghurabaa (also banned in the UK), and Islam4UK (surprise! banned in the UK as well). According to Wikipedia, Choudary ‘is a vocal critic of the UK's involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has praised the terrorists involved in the attacks of 11 September 2001, and 7 July 2005.’ Anjem Choudary is also a very big supporter of implementing Shari’ah law in the UK.

Currently, he is a member of the group known as Muslims against Crusades. The group was planning to ‘wreak havoc at the royal celebration’ and warned other Muslims to stay away from the festivities. Their website calls for ‘an overthrow of the tyranny of Queen Elizabeth II.’

Now, back to the interview. Do I agree with these views? Do I think the Muslims against Crusades group is right to ‘wreak havoc’ at the upcoming wedding?

Absolutely not.

In fact, I happen to be in the majority. Alhamdulillah very few of the UK’s Muslims support Anjem Choudary and his views.

Yes, it is true that countries such as the UK and the US are committing atrocities in Muslims countries. Many innocent Muslims – men, women, children – have died at the hands of foreign soldiers.

How many soldiers have died since September 11^th, 2001?

According to iCasualties.org, a little under 5,000.

How many innocent Muslims have died since that fateful day?

I couldn’t find an estimate from a reliable source, but I can guarantee you it is far more than 5,000. And there are probably millions who are suffering because of the actions of these foreign militaries whether it is because they are/were injured, they lost family, they lost their homes and livelihood, or for some other reason.

So yes, the US’s, UK’s, and other countries’ presence in Muslim countries is rarely good for Muslims there. As Muslims we should care and protect our brethren at all costs. Our Ummah is like one body; even if only one teeny, tiny part is pricked with a needle, we should feel it as a group.

However, violence is NOT the way to go about fixing this issue and removing troops from Muslim countries. For one, Muslims are obliged to stay within the bounds of the law in whichever country they reside in. In other words, Muslims can protest peacefully while they can’t bring about any sort of violence.

I am a big supporter of peace and working things out in a non-violent manner via dialogue. It does hurt me and sadden me to hear what my fellow Muslims are enduring in countries occupied by foreign forces, but I try to keep in mind that what these foreign powers are doing is good. Drastic, violent measures on my part will do little to help those suffering. As someone recently out it, all we can do is follow the command of Allah and pray for ease; the rest lies in His hands.

Muslims like Anjem Choudary are one of the reasons the regular Muslim is seen as someone to be wary of, someone who might be a threat. Unfortunately the media concentrates on these radical Muslims rather than the average Muslims, the ones who do not agree with the views of the more extreme Muslims. But, that’s a topic for another post insha’Allah.

There is good news though. The spokesperson for Muslims against Crusades, Abu Abbas, has reported that the group has abandoned plans to protest. Allahu akbar!

I pray Allah subhana wa ta'ala protects the royal couple, the royal family, and all in attendance on this joyous occasion! And I hope Prince William and the soon-to-be-Princess Cathrine have a long-lasting marriage full of happiness and joy!

Music in Islam

I used to listen to music a lot. In fact, a lot is probably an understatement. I wore out my first iPod in less than two years because I listened to music so much (either that or I dropped it on the floor one too many times). My iTunes library currently contains 2,200 songs. Probably not nearly the biggest music library out there, but it is big enough.

However, since I have become a Muslim, I have slowly weaned myself from listening to music.

See, in Islam, music is prohibited to a certain extent. The Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wassalam said in a well-known hadith, ‘From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments, as lawful.’

The definition of music here is specifically instrumental sound. For the most part, simple singing is fine. Men are forbidden from listening to adult females signing, but that is the only restriction. Females are more than welcome to sing, just not in such a way that a non-related man can hear her.

So what’s permissible? Well, anything besides instruments and adult female singers. Allah made human nature such that it loves music. Therefore, it is not banned but is regulated by banning harmful aspects

Yet, nothing is ever that easy. Of course there is a difference of opinion among Muslim scholars as to what is permissible and what isn’t. A few say no instrument at all is allowable; there can only be singing and human voices. Others, probably the majority, say use of a duff (a tambourine-like frame drum sans bangles) is permissible. Then there are some who allow synthesized or digitally remastered music. Lastly, there are a few who agree musical instruments are fine so long as the content of the song is permissible.

Some of you might be wondering why music is prohibited in Islam. The reason is rather simple. For some, music becomes a source of solace instead of Allah. When they are down, music brings the up temporarily, like a drug. The Qur’an, the word of Allah filled with guidance, should play that role, not music. A heart filled with music has no room for the words of Allah. They begin to depend upon the music and the Creator. Ibn Taymiyyah, a scholar of the past, once said that music is like alcohol to the soul.

And so, the twenty or more songs out of my 2,200 that I now listen exclusively to are nasheeds. What is a nasheed? Nasheeds are sort of the Islamic equivalent of Christian hymns. As defined by Wikipedia, nasheeds ‘are moral, religious songs sung in various melodies by some Muslims of today without any musical instruments.’ Nasheeds can be sung in any language: Arabic, English, Spanish, German, you name it. Most are probably sung in Arabic as Arabic is the language of Islam, but language is not a defining feature.

Following are some examples of nasheeds. The first two are Arabic while the last two are in English.

However, there are also many other types of permissible and religious music in Islam. This includes madih nabawi (Arabic hymns praising the prophet Muhammad), Mawlid music (performed for the birthday of Muhammad, in various regional styles), manzuma (moral songs performed in Ethiopia), and hamds (songs in praise of Allah).

Another relatively common type of religious music in Islam is termed naat. There are two basic definitions of what exactly a naat is. Many Muslims will say naats and nasheeds are one and the same, the only difference being what language the term originates from: nasheed, Arabic; naat, Urdu. Many others define naats as songs specifically praising the Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wassalam. In this way, the last nasheed above could be considered a naat as well. The following song, which is perhaps my favorite, would also be considered a naat.

Now, what to do with the 2,180 songs I don't listen to anymore?

My First Abaya!

Today was an exciting day!

Well, maybe not all of it. I spent most of the morning doing nothing. The afternoon wasn’t much more thrilling. I took a walk through a nearby park which was filled with picnickers, kite fliers, and cricketers.

Then, the person I was with suggested we amble down a nearby street, Wilmslow Road. I’m currently in Manchester, which, like London, is very ethnically diverse – especially the part of the city I’m staying in. Over ten percent of the population is South Asia; over half of that 10% is Pakistani.

Wilmslow Road reflects this large percentage of South Asian peoples. Restaurants with Urdu written on their fronts line the road; posters advertise the delicious dishes being served inside. Customers sit outside in the lovely weather, some puffing away on a hookah. The savory smells of curry and whatnot fill the air, setting one’s mouth watering no matter how hungry they are. Several store windows are filled with mannequins displaying saris and shalwaar kameez, the bright colors and shimmering sequins catching one’s eyes. Urdu music escapes from stores and filters onto the street. The person I was with, who is from Pakistan, made the comment that walking Wilmslow Road is like being back home.

Near the end, just before the store fronts turn to a park, we came across an Islamic bookstore. I can’t remember the name, but I suppose that’s not very important. Anyway, the two of us stepped into the store – simply out of boredom…we weren’t looking for anything. I was drawn to the back of the shop where a small section was closed off. Hanging on the walls were several abayas.

For those of you who do not know what an abaya is, it is essentially a long, robe-like over garment some Muslim women wear as part of hijab, or Islamic modest dress. Traditional abayas are black, and some have a bit of embroidery or other work. They cover the whole body except for the face, hands, and feet. The term is Arabic for ‘cloak,’ and abayas are the national dress of Saudi Arabia.

I have often thought about buying an abaya and have often found myself perusing websites selling such dress. Personally, I don’t see it as being necessary to wear an abaya; rather it’s a way to maintain one’s modesty and be more modest. Yes, it is important to cover one’s self, but that can be achieved with a skirt or something else. However, I had never brought myself to actually purchase an abaya. I’m the sort of person who likes to actually handle what I’m planning on buying, touching it and trying it on.

I won’t bore you with the details, but I went into that store out of interest and boredom and left with a nice, new abaya in hand.

That was certainly the highlight of my day and possibly the highlight of my week. Yet, it’s hard to say why. Wearing an abaya does not necessarily mean I’m a better Muslim; what good is the outside if the inside is lacking? And, as I said before, I don’t believe Muslim women must wear an abaya so long as they are covering themselves in some other way.

Instead, I think it not only shows modesty but also helps keep a sister’s iman in check. Long ago, I talked to a Muslim lady who wore an abaya whenever she stepped foot outside her home, and I asked why she wore an abaya. Her answer was simple: it made her feel closer to Allah subhana wa ta'ala as well as changing her character for the better. I’m not sure if the same will happen for me, but the hope is there that it might insha’Allah.

But, whatever the reason why I was excited, I am very happy I decided to buy an abaya. Currently, I only wear jeans and kurtis – not always the most modest of dress. Insha’Allah wearing an abaya will please Allah and will mean more reward for me.

I can’t wait to wear it!