Empty Stomach, Full Heart

The Best Example

ummamirah — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:26:11 +0000

Asalaamu Alaikum,

There is a Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad(saw) that says (yes I’m paraphrasing) that we as Muslims should be the best example to man in the dunya. As a mother it’s sometimes HARD to squeeze in memorable acts of kindness for your kids to see. This past weekend was Humanitarian Day in Baltimore, MD and in Washington, DC. I went to Baltimore because I knew the coordinators there. It was nice. I helped out where I could. I had to take the baby because, well there was no one to watch her.

On Sunday I went to an iftar at JHU that my sorority’s chapter was sponsoring. I’d never been there so I trekked back up to Baltimore with my two kids to participate in another ‘act of kindness’ that weekend. Amirah helped at JHU, she was the official ‘Bread Server’. Masha~Allah she did a great job.

I pray that at MOST I have been a good example of a good muslimah and human being to my kids.

Ma Salaama

Ummie A

Islamic Relief: Humanitarian Day 2007

Ify Okoye — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:22:00 +0000

Islamic Relief USA is having their 6th annual Humanitarian Day event on September 29-30th in 19 cities across the United States. In sha Allah, a group of us are going together from the Dar us Salaam community in College Park, Maryland by metro to Washington DC to volunteer, feel free to join in the effort this Ramadan. For more information click on the link below:

Humanitarian Day 2007

From the Storehouse: Join Islamic Relief for Humanitarian Day

Ramadan is a Reminder to Help Local Communities

Ify Okoye — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:20:42 +0000

The Muslim Community Center (MCC) in Silver Spring, Maryland and the All Dulles Area Muslim Society Center (ADAMS) in Sterling, Virigina are profiled in this rather positive article from the State Department for their year-round charitable and outreach efforts to the larger community.

USInfo: For U.S. Muslims, Ramadan is a Reminder to Help Local Communities

Faith Social Services

Ify Okoye — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:19:25 +0000

FAITH Social Services in Virginia launched their annual Herndon without Hunger program to hand out food items to people of all faiths and ethnicities that need them last weekend and the program continues each Saturday afternoon in Ramadan. A group of sisters and I carpooled over there today to volunteer and alhamdulillah there was a good turnout.

FAITH also has an iftar program which allows you to sponsor iftars for an individual or a family throughout the month of Ramadan.

Take this moment to donate to FAITH’s Iftaar Program
Your donation will provide iftaar meals for the needy

Donating $40 provides 1 adult his/her iftaar meals during Ramadhan.
$120 provides iftaar for a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids under 10).

Make your check payable to “FAITH” with “Iftaar Program” written in the memo line.

Mail to:
FAITH
500 Grove Street
Suite 210
Herndon, VA 20170

May Allah Ta’ala grant us mercy, forgiveness, and freedom from the fire. Ameen.

Ramadan Mubarak!!

ummamirah — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 02:57:17 +0000

Asalaam alaikum,

And so the moon has been sited, the days are longer and the nights are shorter. Those who believe wait reverently on the signs of Allah(swt) to dictate their days and nights. It is a new year, a new opportunity to revel in the many blessings He(swt) has set forth for us in these short twenty-nine or thirty days. Shaytan is held back so our real nefs come out to play. With each day we grow physically weaker but spiritually stronger.

Oh how I long to participate.

Umm Amirah

I’ll Miss You

Ify Okoye — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 13:28:33 +0000

This poem is given out at a local masjid every year on Eid al-Fitr:

I’ll Miss You

Every year you come and go
Begging Allah because you know

He will give you and ease your pain
Help you through and keep you sane.

But after this month is through
Some will go back to what they do.

At this time the floors are wet (with tears)
Because each night you place is set.

Itikaf, rocking, reciting
The rest of the year the angels are writing.

You call on your Lord with a vigor unseen
Until Ramadan comes again, your worship will not be as keen.

Now we will shop and deplete our funds
After begging Allah for that very one.

No Qiyamul Layl
No Suhoors

I’ll miss your pleas
Until next time they’ll be no more.

I guess I’ll see you again next year,
If the angel takes you, I hope on you will be no fear.

I’ll see you the next time you need Allah,

I’ll Miss You

Author…
The Masjid

Don’t Be A Chimp…

amani — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 03:33:55 +0000

When I was younger my father always used to tell me this story about a Muslim brother he once knew that had a chimp as a pet. But this chimp was no ordinary chimpanzee. This chimp could pray. According to my father, the brother had taught his pet how to do wudhu(cleansing) and how to raise his hands in takbeer as soon as he heard the words Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest). My siblings and I would always get a kick out of my father’s descrptions of the chimp splashing around in the water while performing wudhu, and how he could do all of the movements of Salat from takbeer to salaams. I still wonder if the story is true or not, my father has a way with tall tales, but now I realize whether it is true or not, there is a moral to the story.

That chimp was only mimicking what he saw others doing. As an animal, he didn’t understand the meaning behind the movements, or why he was performing them. Animals have their own form of worship, and as humans we have ours. But think about it…how often have you allowed yourself to become the chimp in your worship? How often have you simply gone through the motions without any reflection? How often have you allowed the problems and trials of this world to eliminate the khushu from your salat? We’re all guilty of it, I’m afraid.

I remember when I was younger I didn’t take prayer seriously. I guess I didn’t get the “point.” I didn’t understand Arabic, and the words of Qur’an meant nothing to me, may Allah forgive me. It wasn’t until I actually started learning the meaning behind the words and the movements that I began to recognize the importance of them. Now whenever I pray, I try to remember that I am bowing down to my Creator. I try to remind myself of the meanings behind the words and to recite them as though I am in Allah’s presence. However, I’m not perfect. Sometimes, I catch myself rushing through my prayers without any reflection. It saddens me…

Let me give you a parable…imagine that you were making love to your spouse, and the whole time you knew he/she was thinking about Beyonce or Brad Pitt? Wouldn’t that remove all of the love and affection from the act? In a way, that’s what we’re doing when we allow worldly matters to take up our thoughts while we are in prayer.

Each month we move further from Allah (swt). Each month we move closer towards the haram and further away from the halal. We rely on Ramadan to bring us back, to bring us closer to Allah(swt). We depend on Ramadan to remind us of Allah’s mercy, to show us what we are capable of. Now that Ramadan is coming to a close, let’s make an intention to not allow ourselves to continue to be the chimp. Let’s put our full selves, mind, body, and spirit, into our worship. Let’s give Allah(swt) all that our Creator is due. May Allah make it easy for us, inshallah….

Taraweeh

Ify Okoye — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 03:19:17 +0000

Sometimes in the taraweeh, it just hits you.

And your heart softens, and you repent and ask for forgiveness, and you feel all alone in that sea of people, and you sometimes think you are the most sinful person out there but then you remember that the mercy of Allah is vast.

And sometimes you cry but you are not embarrassed because you are too concerned about your part in the hereafter and your relationship with Allah to worry about what the people around you might think.

Some sisters came to the masjid one day and I asked them where they were from. They told me which masjid and that the reason they came all the way over to our masjid was because they weren’t able to get a qari this year. SubhanAllah, and at our masjid we have more than half a dozen brothers that can lead on any given night. Alhamdulillah, we are very blessed.

I could not imagine Ramadan without the taraweeh. It is in the long rakah of standing, when my feet are beginning to feel uncomfortable, and maybe it’s a bit too hot, or my nose is running (always starts running in the first rakah) that I feel closest to the spirit of the month of the Quran. I feel my heart being cleansed of the dark spots caused by my sins. It is a purification, a time to seek repentance, and time to reflect upon the blessings I have been given. The greatest blessing after my life, is my Islam or perhaps it’s the other way around.

May Allah protect and have mercy on all of the memorizers of the Quran that led us in the taraweeh.

Time on’s on Who’s side?

ummamirah — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 00:22:37 +0000

On Sunday I went to ADAMSCenter out in VA to listen to Shayk Hamza and Imam Zaid Shakur give a talk about Ramadan. I was a great opportunity to hear from these two great American scholars and be reminded of the duties and blessings of this most beautiful of months. Imam Zaid struck a cord with me this time when he spoke about time and how we spend it. Not just during the month of Ramadan but in general. Now we know that TV is not haram, regardless of what some ‘people’ may think. But it can be labeled as makruh: something that is looked down upon. It neither puts us IN the hellfire, NOR does it pull us away from it. So yes the Discovery channel might have a great show on about lions, but what ELSE could I be doing, especially when it comes to protecting my soul. I could make my prayers on time, I could dthiker to Allah (swt), and I could read Koran in ARABIC (the harder the struggle the more the blessings-70 times over during Ramadan). Basically I could be doing something MUCH better with my time than this 30 minutes or an hour of T.V. It makes you wonder…does Allah (swt) take breaks from our needs. When your making dua’, does HE turn his attention to OTHER requests? Makes you think…and try to find better things to do with all this time I have.

Reveling in the Rahmah

ummamirah — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 16:25:36 +0000

Allah (swt) is a great RABB. He gives us so much and then so much more. I’m sure your wondering what I’m talking about. Well he gives us soooooooo many avenues to Jennah and so few avenues to Jehannah. During this blessed month of Ramadan Shaytan is on ‘lock down’, but he gives us fasting and praying as a way to save ourselves. I’m finding it hard to connect with the purpose of Ramadan this year because I’m 6 months pregnant. I wonder if I’m MISSING something. Then I’m reminded of Allah(swt)’s Rahmah :

183: O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard against evil.
184: For a certain number of days. But whoever among you is sick or on a journey, (he shall fast) a (like) number of other days. And those who find it extremely hard may effect
redemption by feeding a poor man. So whoever does good spontaneously, it is better for him; and that you fast is better for you if you know.
Surah Al-Baqarah

So I go to the masjid with my daughter on weekends, pray my prayers on time, read Qu’ran and make desserts for the masjid’s and or personal iftar’s I attend. I do good deeds, and I pray that what I’ve done was good enough. I pray that they were done to the best of my ability with the BEST intentions. I make up my time during pregnancy and nursing by fasting half of the time and feeding people at the iftar’s I host in my home. I love to make people happy with food, I guess that’s why my desserts went like HOT CAKES last Saturday at the masjid. I pray that they all enjoyed it, while I bask in the rahmah.