To the Greatest Teacher, Muhammad Ali

Mohammad Ali (May he rest in peace)

There is still darkness where light shines. But it bows to the light. 

Submitting in awe at its fiery flames.
Muhammad Ali taught me that.
Even at the top of the ladder, at the top of the game, 

you never forget to help anyone at the first step.
Muhammad Ali taught me that.
A fighter never forgets where he got his energy from. 

Where he came from. To Whom he will return. 

He never forgets he belongs to God.
Muhammad Ali taught me that.
If you can imagine success, you're almost there. 

If you can accept failure, you're almost there. 

If you can get back up, you are there.
Muhammad Ali taught me that.
Put nothing before your faith, 

everything after your dreams, 

and anything is yours.
Muhammad Ali lived that.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
You were a teacher. You are a teacher. 

We're still learning your lessons. 
Thank you.

Social Media and Faith

Everyone knows what the word “selfie” means nowadays, including my grandma and my 7-year-old sister. It’s a picture, usually taken with your cell phone and it can capture your good days, your bad days, and any experience in-between. Looking back, it can also be a way to reflect on how you’ve changed over the years or the places you’ve been to and the sites you’ve seen. It can be a memory you can revisit over and over again whenever you want to reminisce. It’s your personal expression of how you connected with the world.

It sounds harmless and even pretty awesome, right? But what happens when you take this image out of your camera roll and place it into the land of social media? Does its value change? Does your perception of the experience change? Does it affect your future experiences and how you choose to portray them? You’ll notice that no one can answer these questions except yourself. As much as social media emphasizes connection and communication, it can boil down to an internal dialogue we have with ourselves.

You’re probably wondering how we went from a simple idea of a selfie to a complex psychological concept. With the advent of technology and social media, this “Selfie Phenomenon” and the idea of documenting our lives has a marked influence on us, whether we acknowledge it or not. It can begin to affect how we perceive ourselves, how we perceive others, and the motive behind our actions may even begin to change. This is why it is important to understand how we can interact with social media in a manner that is progressive to our lives and not detrimental to our mental health or our faith.

Within the growth of the “Selfie Phenomenon” and the idea of documenting our lives comes a significant consequence of losing touch with an experience itself. As Brother Omar Usman, one of the founding members of Qalam Institute said,

“Social media has enabled a competition of experience.”

It’s no longer the intimate personalized connections we make that give value to our experiences, but rather our ability to display “how much we have done” or “where we have gone”. It’s no longer an experience where we are 100% present, but rather a sort of documentation for someone besides our own self to enjoy. It’s as if we have removed ourselves from the picture, literally. I can say that I have been guilty of this myself—peering through my camera phone, recording the moments, only to return home realizing my camera stood between me and the experience, me and the moment, me and reality. The benefits of technology and social media can be endless, but they can also be detrimental when they take away from what makes us human as they rob us of the sentiments that come from the emotion of an actual experience.

A benefit to the advance of social media is a remarkable opportunity to show the transcendent nature of Islam. The versatility that the religion has, its ability to address all parts of our lives even to this day, and its ability to guide us throughout each experience is truly remarkable. To show us how each of these principles are lived in everyday life, we have the most excellent of all teachers, Prophet Mohammad, Peace be Upon Him. Looking to the Sunnah can give us not only a code for life, but also a guaranteed sense of peace and ease in our hearts. The Prophetic traditions of our Messenger (pbuh) are timeless and can be applied even to our age of social media.

In an effort to provide relevant solutions to the problems we face and also address all types of issues in detail regarding social media and its influence on our faith, a project has been initiated by Brother Omar Usman in coordination with Sheikh AbdulNasir Jangda and Mufti Hussain Kamani and others. One of the first initiatives from this project was publishing an e-book with 40 Hadiths on Social Media. You can check out the project and also access the e-book through the site: http://fiqhofsocial.media. I would like to highlight one of the Hadiths that was discussed within the book: Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said,

“Actions are judged by intentions, so each man will have what he intended. Therefore, he whose migration was to Allah and His messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger. But he whose migration was for some worldly benefit, or for a wife he might marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

Intention is at the core of everything that we do. Often times we think that it is done simply before an action that we do, but it is something that must be checked before, during, and even after the deed is done. We must ask ourselves and assess the reason behind why we post something, how we post something, and what meaning we are trying to convey. Who are we posting this for, what are we trying to achieve? Where are we migrating? Is it towards Allah or towards a worldly benefit?

As you see, these again are things we can only answer within ourselves. Within this process of assessing what and how we post things, I see a hidden blessing. The fruits of this blessing can be attained when we realize that every action we do, even posting on social media, can be a means of getting closer to Allah, a means of purifying ourselves, and a means of attaining reward we might not even imagine possible. When we attach our motivation to the pleasure of Allah (swt), even social media can be means of improving our connection with the One who made everything that we do possible. In this we realize that everything we do must be active and not passive. Our intentions must be checked often and our motives must be assessed constantly. We are kept alive in this way, we are connected to the present in this way, and we realize our purpose in this way.

When we are constantly connected to Allah (swt), our connections online will even serve as ways to potentially strengthen this One true connection. Whether it’s before we engage in an activity or after and what we post or what we discuss, when we follow the morals and values of our Prophet (pbuh), our path will be illuminated with rewards and opportunities we never could have imagined. Instead of letting social media desensitize us from our experiences, let it keep us alive by way of our intentions. Let them be a sense of connection, not merely with the world, but with the One Who created it.

I myself am striving to implement these things within my use of social media, and I write this hoping to keep my own self accountable with how I use it. I pray that Allāh helps us keep our intentions for Him and brings us back to the correct way and forgives us if we fall short to anything other than this. I pray that we use the things we are blessed with to connect to Allah (swt), ameen.

All you got is N:0W

An Arab poet once said, “The past is lost forever, and that which is hoped for is from the unseen, so all that you have is the present hour.” The past is never to return, the future is yet to come, and so we are left with the present day—this present moment. Time is something so often discussed and so often checked. Time is the first thing that pops up on your phone screen, it’s the one that hangs on almost every wall, the one that some even tie to their wrists. Time controls our nights and days; without time the day would not turn into night and the night would not turn into day. We know how time is counted and we know what time brings, yet why do we often find ourselves “running out of time” or feeling like there “ aren't enough hours in the day”? These questions can only be answered when we realize what time really is, how we should perceive it, and how we should manage it. What is time to a Muslim? In today’s society we often hear the phrase “time is money”, but is that really what it is? For when our time is done, will money be there to save us? Truly for a Muslim, time is not money, time is Allah. Abu Hurayra reported: I heard Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) saying: "Allah the exalted and Glorious said: The son of Adam abuses Time, whereas I am The Time. In my hand are the days and the nights”. This means that whatever occurs during the night or during the day-throughout time in general-happens only by Allah’s will and His design; according to His knowledge and by His decree in which no one else has any share. Whatever Allah wills to be will happen and whatever He wills not to, shall never be. For this reason, we should never curse time, we should never be angered by the way that things turn out, and we should always be conscious that Allah is the one who disposes of the affairs that unfold in time. This should be our mindset when we deal with time.

                Now that we know what time really is, we must perceive it in the correct manner; this is through looking at the lenses of solely the present day, the present hour, and the present moment. Being preoccupied with the past and dragging past woes into the present will only bring an unstable and unsound mind. At the same time, being anxious over events in the future only adds worry and stress. Rest assured that your Lord who provided you with solutions to yesterday can similarly provide for what is to come tomorrow.  And so, look to the present moment. Let events flow in their predestined path and have faith in Allah’s timings. “Do not cross the bridge until you reach it”—tomorrow has yet to arrive and you have the present moment to prepare for it.

                In knowing what time is and with what lenses to look at it, we still have to realize that we are “managers “of our time. It will run its predestined path, but it is the requirement of each of us to put in effort at every moment. Every day should be seen as one goal. The Prophet (pbuh) said, “When the morning comes upon you, then do not expect to see the evening, and when you see the night, do not expect to see the morning.” Do not have lofty and long term goals but rather short term appropriate goals that you can accomplish and surpass within the day. Expect death at any moment and do your best in doing good deeds. With this mindset, you will be able to concentrate and spend all of your energies on being productive each day. If I told you today was your last day to live, how would you spend the day? This should be our mindset every day. Pray like it is your last prayer every time. Respect your parents as if you will not be seeing them tomorrow. Live for the present moment and find comfort in the fact that what has been planned for you has been planned by the Best of Planners. Avoid fretting about the future, forget about the pains of the past, and embrace this present moment. In the remembrance of Allah you will find joy in your time and in His obedience you will find reassurance. Don’t think about when you can start to make changes, the time is N:OW.   

An Easy Game of Tic Tac Toe?

Tic Tack Toe, three in a row. Just match the three symbols, X or O, and you're a winner I always thought. Notice a pattern and fill in the blanks, it's one of the easiest games I always thought. But play the game now with any intellectual mind, and you'll find a once too simple game something almost impossible to win. Cat's game, they call it. Life is a cat's game: you win some and you lose some and sometimes the winner isn't immediately known. It's not always as easy as filling in the last O--sometimes life places that O before you do and you have to find a way around it. Sometimes someone finds the pattern before you. Sometimes it's harder than just filling in the blank. But, ultimately, you win if you don't think you lose. Love the game. Appreciate the blessings that surround your day to day struggles and remember that life can be simple if you make it so. Remember you destination and your commitment to Allah, and you'll notice that the struggles in your life are either a lesson or a blessing--two things that you can ultimately benefit from. So if you find yourself frustrated by the events in your life or those happening around the world, remember that beauty can be found when we follow the simple instructions that God has given us. They are the answer to every puzzle. No matter the conflict, love the One who can give you strength to get through it all and have faith that Allah is on your side. Love what's around you. After all, it is XOXO.

Jelly Beans

Green. Yellow. Pink. Blue. Lime green. Popcorn yellow. Bubble gum pink. Sky blue. One Bag. 100 jelly beans in a heterogeneous mixture. To look for a color? To scavenger for a flavor? Or to to let the odds determine your experience? A true parallel to the day-to-day socializing occurrence. The friends you make, the acquaintances you encounter, the differing personalities you come across--they were all meant to cross paths with you and somehow affect your story, even if for just a page from the book that makes up your life. Never burn bridges and close doors of potential friendship. Don't judge the jelly bean by its color, don't continue to pick the one you always enjoy. Step out of your comfort zone; keep an open mind. Pick a jelly bean while closing your eyes. You never know, the "mystery" bean might surprise you.

We are Ants

A small hardworking ant: so minuscule to the human eye, yet so vital in its natural functions. A player on a large team, but an individual in its survival. Most of the time, we too are ants-so carried away with the busy work, the day to day tasks, the collecting of things, so busy that we often can’t see the big picture. Like ants on a beautifully designed carpet, we scurry on not knowing that we are walking on beauty, simply because we cannot see the full design yet. It’s important we take a second and look around: to remember the destination and to remember that where we are is truly beautiful, in the present moment and in the greater picture…if we just took the time to reflect. So don’t just hear what's around you, listen. Don’t just look, see. Be a hard working ant, but remember you have the capability of looking at the big picture.

Ego Amongst the Dead

Narrated Abu al-Darda: “Worship God as if you see Him, and count your ego amongst the dead, and beware of the supplication of the oppressed." (Quoted by al-Tabarani) In this hadith, we can learn a wide variety of things varying from conquering the ego to detaching from the world and its desires. In the first line we see what is described as “ihsan” or worshiping God as if we see Him. This level of spiritual excellence is not something easily achieved. In order to see God everywhere, one must not see oneself anymore. This means, we must extinguish our concupiscent desires and detach from the world in a humbling manner. Only by eliminating our egos and remembering our graves, can we begin to journey on this path towards “ihsan”. Before reaching this level, we must perfect the levels before it. Preceding “ihsan” are the levels of “Islam” and “Iman”. Islam involves the basics: practicing the five pillars sincerely and testifying that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad (pbuh) is his Messenger. In order to reach “Iman”, a deeper degree of acknowledgment is required. “Iman” is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe in divine destiny, both the good and the evil thereof. In all of this, the Muslim is aware that life is a test: that we will be held accountable for our actions and that the Angels on our shoulders record all of our deeds. The level discussed in this hadith however, is the highest level of spiritual excellence: worshiping God as if you see Him. This means you are aware that although you do not see Allah (swt), He sees you.This is the level of righteousness, the level of perfection, the level of doing and saying the ultimate good, the level of I'hsan. As Muslims, we must always strive to reach this level of Faith. And the easiest way to do so is to detach from the world and “count our ego amongst the dead”. By doing so, we forget our selfish desires and we focus on praising the One who created us, the One who sees all that we do. Whoever purifies his character will extinguish jealousy, hatred, greed, anger, pride and all the other maladies of the soul from his heart. Once the heart is pure, it will illuminate all that you see and do. With the recent events in Syria and all over the world, many have asked, “what can I do?!” and “why is there so much hate?” Eliminating these evil things, believe it or not, starts with you. If you want to eliminate all that his dark in the world, cleans your heart until it is able to provide light for the darkness and hope for despair. If you want to eliminate the hate in the world, start by loving for your brother what you love for yourself. Dua is a powerful tool that can help you reach this level of “ihsan”. We must remember to pray for the oppressed, detach from the world, and purify our hearts from impure desires…surely then we will find peace.      

Submission

Eid Al-Adha is an important time of year where we as Muslims honor the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his only son Ismail as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to allow him to sacrifice a sheep instead. We all know the beautiful story, but there is so much more than knowledge that we can attain from this story. The story teaches a multitude of lessons and demonstrates ideal qualities of pious Muslims that we should strive to imitate. Indeed it was the greatest test for Ibrahim: to sacrifice his only son, one born to him after reaching old age and longing for a son for a very long time. Even with that, Ibrahim demonstrated willingness to sacrifice all his belongings to God out of faith and humility. This same submission can be seen in Ismail. After being told the news from his father, Ismail, the pious son of a pious father, was committed to submit to God and give up his own life. This is true faith: to trust Allah in all circumstances in life for He always knows best. This story is the epitome of true trust and submission to God which hundreds of Muslims try to live by. So as we go about our daily lives, there will be times when we don’t want to give things up because it may seem difficult. There will be times when the future will scare us and so we cling to the past. By learning to submit to God in all circumstances of our lives, we learn that in the end, God is the best of planners. If what’s ahead scares you, just remember Allah(swt), the Most High, and go forth in your path with confidence. Give up the worldly desires and submit to God alone, the One who gave you life and continues to help you live.  

Today, I got lost.

Eyes on the Destination.

Today, I got lost. It rarely happens these days for us to get lost while driving, but my GPS has been stolen 2 times and my cracked pantech can barely send texts properly. And so, it was just me and the road. When I was first learning to drive I actually used to get lost often...and although I don't get lost as much now I noticed I still do something similarly every time I get lost. I keep driving. I don't pull over and look around. I don't ask anyone for help. I don't stop and think. I just drive. And I get more and more lost. And now that I think about it, I can't help but parallel this to our journey in the dunya. It's easy to keep going on the same path, to ignore the fact that we're lost and continue driving. It's easy to miss those "exits" that are placed so perfectly to help us get back. It takes effort to make that stop: to realize where you are in the world and turn around if you have to. So today I learned that sometimes you have to take your foot of the gas, remember your destination, and just turn around.

“And He found you lost, and guided you” 

[Quran | 93:7] 

100% cotton vs. 100% faith

Alhamdulillah I have been hijabi for about 5 years and I simply can’t imagine my life without the hijab. I have to admit though, when I first wore it I didn’t completely understand why. I knew my mom wore it, I knew my older sister wore it, but most importantly I knew that Allah (swt) had commanded it…and that was enough for me. It all seemed pretty easy until my freshman year. I wrapped one of my favorite scarves as best as I could (I’m still learning how to wrap it lol), and headed off to the bus stop with my sister. It all seemed normal until we came on the bus. We were the first stop to come on and the last stop to be dropped off every day—so everyone knew who we were. I went to Hinsdale Central High School with over 2,000 students and at least 400 freshmen. Of all those 400, it was me and one other who wore the hijab to school. For some reason though, all that didn’t matter.


The hijab somehow gave me a sense of humble confidence. When seniors would stare at me on the bus, I would smile back. When asked by my own teachers “why is it you have to wear that again?” I would simply reply “I don’t HAVE to, I WANT to”. And that alone would leave them speechless until they would be able to return to their questioning. As the years passed, I began to gain more and more appreciation and understanding for the hijab. I began to realize, it’s not a 100% cotton cloth that you wrap around your head; it’s a declaration of what’s IN your head. In Islam the mind of the Muslim is his heart. When you understand the knowledge and beauty behind the hijab, it becomes engraved in your heart and you can’t help but declare it in the form of modesty.


As the years passed, I eventually noticed that the answers I would give my peers were answers I needed to hear myself. Anything I said out of instinct I realized was what I needed to trust all along. There was an instance where I had one teacher that constantly would question my hijab in a joking manner. One day he said, “Sarah, you’re very outgoing why do you have to wear that?”, as he made a circular motion around his head. I told him that in Islam, women are treated like pearls, shielded by a covering and protected from the harms around them; they are not what they appear to be. He simply laughed and told me, “You have a way with your words Sarah”. I wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic or not but I smiled back. Whether I changed his perception of the hijab I’ll never know, but I know for one thing that the experiences I’ve had that are similar to this have made me stronger. And whether the impact I made is big or small, I know I am making people THINK.


By senior year, you could say I was more social than necessary. I made many friends and almost all of them respected the hijab very much. The thing with hijab is, it makes you unique. Some might argue the contrary that we are all conforming to a way of life but the truth is–this way of life is what gives us freedom and individuality. We are judged by our actions, by our words, and not by our physic. By following Allah’s commandment and being a slave to his rules, we gain the freedom of ourselves. It’s a very powerful oxymoron that I find very beautiful. I am still a work in progress and there are many things that I can improve in myself, but I know from experience that hijab can truly make you stronger, I realized that when I found out hijab isn’t 100% cotton, it’s 100% Faith.