Category Archives: Reflections

How to be a Master Scheduler

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 Mona UmIbrahim on the pulpit.

The keys to successfully managing your home lies in creating Master Lists. Read about the importance of managing your home in this previous entry: Benefits of Scheduling. You can create these on paper first, then copy onto the computer so you can print them out as needed, or start off from the beginning on the computer, but don’t forget to print it and put it where you’ll notice it. I wanted to post my files but my blog is not showing the files properly. I can send you some or all the files by email if you need more help than what i’ve explained below.

1. Master Meal List: a list of all possible dinner meals. Group by meat, chicken, fish, vegetarian etc. If you also cook for breakfast and or lunch, you may need a meal list for those meals as well. For me i only cook breakfast on the weekends, during the week it’s cereal and milk. For lunch, i have a weekly schedule where every monday is mac & cheese, every tuesday is pizza, every wed is sandwiches etc. Refer to the Master Meal List when making the menu for the week.

I only ask of God

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At Yes, “she” speaks- I only ask of God, He won’t let me be indifferent to the suffering

Just like any other day of the week, walking home from University. Look up, look across and I see a crowd. I walk to the crowd. The crowd are watching. Watching him. Watching him real hard. I look at them. I then look at him. It’s silent. Everyone’s silent, except him.

He screams: “Kill me. Please.” Everyone else still pitch silent. They stare. “Don’t watch me, just slay me, please,” he says. Paul Sherlock, a weak, indignant homeless man.

He looks as though he’s already dead but alive in appearance. “I’ve lost my wife, my children, my work, my home; there’s nothing left for me in this world. I might as well be dead, and rot in hell” he says.

On the Credit Crunch

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Imam Suhaib Webb published an article on the Credit Crunch, and the possibility of  Islamic finance as an alternative by Andrew Booso.

Now I do not doubt that a Galbraithian approach to capitalism – as argued by Stephen Dunn in the Guardian comment pages on 15 October 2008 – would have largely averted the current disaster, by God’s will. However, I would contend that the nature of the beast dictates that the values of Galbraith will, on most occasions, be overthrown by the greed factor inherent in the essential make-up. Thus when Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Britain, wants to invoke for the markets the ‘values’ that it cannot generate itself, but which are values of ‘fairness, stewardship [and] cooperation’ derived from those ‘learned in families, neighbourhoods and communities and developed in the relationships we enjoy as a society’ (Telegraph online, 18 October 2008) – then we must question whether our knowledge of these factors supports the notion of capitalism now being refined for the better. Or is this just another of the endless cycles – as outlined by Dunn – that capitalism thrusts upon us from time to time, and we are simply required to bear?

Unsurprisingly, some Islamic-minded economists have set out a more just and stable method of banking within the current system. Nevertheless, the conventional banking system has largely ignored such proposals for numerous reasons, unless it means a piecemeal development of a limited number of products that allow the main actors to gain the wealth of Muslims. The nature of such a scenario means that the tail is truly only ever wagged by the dog, as dictated by the dog.

The passing of Imam W.D. Mohammed

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Via Manrilla Blog:

It is my pleasure to present a most erudite article regarding not only the passing of Imam WD Mohammed [may Allah grant him Paradise] but a clarion call to entire America Muslim community as to the milestone we’ve reached and where we ought to be heading. Enjoy.

Imâm W. D. Mohammed and The Third Resurrection
by Sherman Abd al-Hakim Jackson

Dua Power! Prayers for Ramadan & Happiness

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I am surprised that we have yet to plug DuaPower.com on Ijtema… but alhamdulillah, here we go!

Here at DuaPower.com, we strive to bring to you without any compromise the best, well known and authentic duas you can ever find. Using the latest technology, to show you the beauty of reading, memorising and using these divine supplications.

At the moment, they have two dua packs available for free download & dissemination:

Gate of ar-Rayyan – a pamphlet with all of the duas from the authentic Sunnah for Ramadan.

Muslim Prayers of Happiness – a pamphlet of all the duas from the authentic Sunnah for times of distress, sorrow and anxiety.

Educating the Muslim Female

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A recent Ijtema post linked to a story of a Muslimah in her quest to secure education. On the other side of the world, Asmaa ponders over a seemingly Catch-22 situation involving education and societal expectations and raises a lot of questions in the process:

In university, I was indoctrinated with the notion of individuality, empowerment and self-determination. I was taught that what and who I wanted to be, was completely in my hands. So I made myself in those four years, out of a combination of valuable personal relationships and classroom education.

For example, if a woman of education reaches her late 20′s and is still unmarried, it seems there is suddenly a “too-empowered” stigma attached to her name. It’s as though marriage defines women, and without it we are unnatural. I do not deny there is a natural desire for partnership, but I question our community’s perception of what a woman is without it.

I often feel frustrated being in a Muslim family. I’m not proud of these frustrations of mine. Believe me, it’s a conflicting and negative feeling to have. (Perhaps the phenomenon is also found in non-Muslim families, but I speak from experience only.)

Though we’ve been taught to make decisions on our own, I find that being female and Muslim sometimes means some of our decision are made for us, and not by us. And thus there can only be one product of that: an ever-increasing frustration with the situations we find ourselves in.

Indigenous “Traditionalism”

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Marc takes a look at the place Traditionalism occupies in contemporary Muslim circles, the authority it tends to legitimize and makes a case for developing an equivalent indigenous to North America. He brings up some very pertinent questions in a sharp analysis:

There is a peculiar handshake between the parties of tradition and authority. Those who are seated are or have seated themselves as the key masters and gate keepers of tradition grant themselves a great deal of authority. An authority, that once imbibed by the target audience, is not easy to regurgitate. Its authority rises from the idea that tradition cannot be made but rather bestowed. Those that wish to belong can only do so as long as there are invited. It is precisely this type of exclusiveness that many of the traditionalists are offering American Muslims. Ensconced in the robes of this vernacular, calls towards Traditional Islam continue to rise. But we must ask ourselves: to what, for what, and by whom are we being called?

Let me state again for the record that I am not against the idea of tradition. In fact, I have talked, written and in general, worked towards the formation of a viable Muslim culture in America in my own small way.

He then contends that the Traditionalism many look up to today in America is out of touch with reality because of an unfortunate mismatch in defining prerequisites:

And yet, one of the claims of tradition is that it is supposed to be grounded. Grounded in some sort of existential, historical narrative. So what, precisely, is the current trend of Traditional Islam grounded in? The theme of being out of touch is central to my critique of Traditional Islam [not to be confused with the intellectual tradition of Islam]. At least in the way it is marketed and packaged. By disarming its adherents of any means of agency, a homegrown, authentic articulation of Islam, driven by a healthy, grounded American Muslim culture, can never develop. Part of this syndrome is due to the fact that many of the institutions of Traditional Islam are out of touch with the development of such a culture. In fact, it may not even be an agenda point.

Food for thought!