Hijabi Beginner: Having Doubts?

When you realise that you should be adhering to the laws of hijab (and if you are a practising Muslimah, you will sooner or later, Insha'Allah), you can suddenly find a million questions and contradictions to prevent you from wearing it and we all know who that's from.. If you are currently in this predicament, then this video that I found on you tube might make things seem simpler, afterall the concept of hijab is a very simple one but it's choosing to follow it that's the hurdle:

Why should I wear the Hijaab?

This is a good question and there is a beautiful answer! Allaah has commanded us with every action that is good for us and prohibited us from performing every action that is bad for us. Allaah orders the Muslim woman to wear the hijaab when she steps out of the security of her home or when in the presence of strange men. So to wear the hijaab is a source of great good for you – the Muslim woman - for many reasons. Among them:


You please Allaah. You are obeying the commands of your Lord when you wear the hijaab and you can expect great rewards in return.

 
It is Allaah’s protection of your natural beauty. You are too precious to be "on display" for each man to see.

It is Allaah’s preservation of your chastity.

Allaah purifies your heart and mind through the hijaab.

Allaah beautifies your inner and outer countenance with hijaab. Outwardly your hijaab reflects innocence, purity, modesty, shyness, serenity, contentment and obedience to your Lord. Inwardly you cultivate the same.

Allaah defines your femininity through the hijaab. You are a woman who respects her womanhood. Allaah wants you to be respected by others, and for you to respect yourself.

Allaah raises your dignity through the hijaab. When a strange man looks at you, he respects you because he sees that you respect yourself.

Allaah protects your honour 100% through your hijaab. Men do not gaze at you in a sensual way, they do not approach you in a sensual way, and neither do they speak to you in a sensual way. Rather, a man holds you in high esteem and that is just by one glance at you!

Allaah gives you nobility through the hijaab. You are noble not degraded because you covered not naked.

Allaah demonstrates your equality as a Muslim woman through the hijaab. Your Lord bestows upon you equal worth as your male counterpart, and gives you a host of beautiful rights and liberties. You express your acceptance of these unique rights by putting on the hijaab.

Allaah defines your role as a Muslim woman through the hijaab. You are a someone with important duties.


Dear Muslim sister! Come towards the gates of Paradise with us! Fulfill your duties towards Allaah, put on your adornment - put on your hijaab, and race towards Jannah (Paradise) by doing all good actions. You should agree by now that wearing hijaab is extremely beneficial – it must be - because Allaah only commands what is good…


…and believe me dear sister, it is good to obey the commands of your Lord…

"Their reward is with their Lord: Gardens of Eden underneath which rivers flow wherein they will dwell for ever; Allaah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him; this is (in store) for whoever fears his Lord." [Sooratul-Bayyinah 98:8]

source: troid.org

Outfit Ideas: A Smart Jilbab

I loove this look! If anyone knows where you can get jilbabs like this online or in London, please let me know :D

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Exercise Tailored to a Hijab

THE first time Julia Shearson rode her bike after converting to Islam seven years ago, her headscarf became stuck in the wheel.
She lost her balance, and by the time she got going again she was met with stares as she whizzed along, arms and legs draped in loose clothing, her scarf billowing in the breeze.
“You have to overcome the looks,” said Ms. Shearson, 43, the executive director of the Cleveland chapter of the Council on American-Islam Relations. “It’s already hard enough to exercise, and if you look different ... it’s even harder.”
As a Muslim woman in the United States, Ms. Shearson has found it difficult to stay fit while adhering to her religious principles about modesty. Islam does not restrict women from exercising — in fact all Muslims are urged to take care of their bodies through healthy eating and exercise — but women face a special set of challenges in a culture of co-ed gyms and skimpy workout wear.
Many pious Muslim women in the United States, like Ms. Shearson, wear hijab in public, loose garments that cover their hair and body, which can hinder movement and add to discomfort during exercise. Women may show their hair, arms and legs up to the knees in front of other women.
Muslim women are often limited in their choice of activity, as well. Some believe that certain yoga chants, for example, are forbidden, as well as certain poses like sun salutations (Muslims are supposed to worship only Allah). For the sake of modesty, working out around men is discouraged.
That modesty can be a benefit and a liability. On the one hand, Muslim women are spared some of the body-image issues that other women face; on the other, that freedom can be a detriment to their physical well-being.

“We don’t have the external motivation that non-Muslim women have,” said Mubarakha Ibrahim, 33, a certified personal trainer and owner of Balance fitness in New Haven, a personal training studio catering to women. “There is no little black dress to fit into, no bathing suit. When you pass through a mirror or glass you’re not looking to see ‘Is my tummy tucked in? Do I look good in these jeans?’ You’re looking to see if you’re covered.”
After gaining 50 pounds while pregnant with her first child, Ms. Ibrahim studied exercise and nutrition, and became certified through the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America. In 2006 she opened her studio, which offers a safe environment for women to exercise (she says she has more orthodox Jewish clients, who also adhere to rules of modesty).
Ms. Ibrahim said she would like to see exercise become as natural a part of a Muslim woman’s life as praying.
In July, about 120 women from around the country attended Ms. Ibrahim’s third annual Fit Muslimah Health and Fitness Summit in New Haven. She offered yoga, kickboxing, water aerobics and core conditioning classes alongside workshops on weight loss, nutrition, cancer prevention and diabetes at the two-day, women-only event. She plans to hold another one in Atlanta in February.
“An important part of your spirituality is your health,” said Tayyibah Taylor, publisher of Azizah, a magazine for Muslim women, and co-sponsor of the summit meeting. “You can’t really consider yourself in good health if all parts of your being are not healthy — your body, your mind and your soul. It’s a complete package.”
This is especially true now, during Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting from dawn until sunset. “The Muslim prayer is the most physical prayer — the sitting, bowing, bending,” said Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. “The physicality of our prayer forces us to create flexibility in our body.”
But how to mix one’s physical and spiritual needs with practicality? Some Muslim-Americans go to women-only gyms like Curves, which has thousands of branches across the country. And some gyms and Y.M.C.A.’s offer gender-segregated areas, hours or days.
Other women, like Umm Sahir Ameer, a 27-year-old student in Shaker Heights, Ohio, take matters into their own hands. Last year, Ms. Ameer started the Muslimah Strive Running-Walking Group so she and 12 of her friends could exercise together.
“I wanted to establish this group as a way to further unite Muslim women in my community while gaining physical endurance,” she said.
Those who do work out in co-ed gyms have learned to make accommodations in their clothing. Loretta Riggs, 40, an educational coach in Pittsburgh, started exercising two years ago after divorcing her husband. She wears a scarf made of spandex, long-sleeved Under Armour shirts and Adidas or Puma pants.
“Some women don’t think you should be working out in a co-ed gym,” she said, “but I’m around men all the time in my workplace, when I take my kids to the park, when I walk outside.”
She added: “Why would I deprive myself of being healthy because I am a Muslim and I choose to cover? It’s very important to take care of myself.”
Mariam Abdelgawad, 21, a math teacher in San Jose, Calif., said that in high school she played hockey, soccer and ran track and field, all while wearing hijab.
But today she works out at home, since there are no female-only gyms in her neighborhood. Her parents, with whom she lives, have a treadmill, elliptical machine and Pilates equipment, as well as weights. She exercises about three times a week, but said she missed the camaraderie of the gym.
Though working out at home is convenient, she said, it is also very easy to procrastinate and not do it. “I don’t have all the options that a gym would have,” she said.
Swimming also poses problems. Although some Muslim women have been known to hop in the water in their street clothes, this can be cumbersome for a workout. The burqini — a one-piece outfit that resembles a scuba wet suit — has received a lot of attention in recent months (most notably in France, where a young woman was banned from wearing one at a pool), but it tends to be too form-fitting for some women.
“I tried it once, and it sticks to your body,” said Marwa Abdelhaleem, a 26-year-old teacher in Toronto who started a female-only swimming group to avoid the burqini question. “It’s really fitted. I wouldn’t wear it in public.”
Ms. Ibrahim, however, is more focused on the private.
“One of the ideas I promote is that when you are married and you take off your clothing, your husband should not be like, ‘You should put this back on,’ ” Ms. Ibrahim said. “Even if you wear a burqa, you should be bikini-ready. You should feel comfortable and sexy in your own skin.”

source:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/health/nutrition/10fitness.html?_r=2

Beautiful 100% Silk Hijabs on ebay ,only $14.99 Free Shipping

Don't miss this deal!!!!!

100 % pure Silk Hijabs ,scarves
Scarves are very light and soft . 

colors  :Red ,blue ,pink/maroon 


The size of the scarves is very generous.
 Scarf measures 68" x 20"

Silk is always expensive .

You will not find better deal then this .

 Click on the link to see this listing 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300361489751&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT  

 

Battle over face veil brewing in Egypt

Its really hard to tell what's going on exactly about Niqab issue in Egypt .Media here is so twisted and ridiculous .This article I saw on Yahoo news today http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091102/lf_nm_life/us_egypt_niqab has completely wrong explanation of Niqab and Muslims in Egypt and Saudi Arabia .The Media only expresses their Western views ,covering the reality ..

For example,they saying Saudi Arabia following Wahabi views and wearing Niqab is from Wahabi teachings.

Let me first explain you that there is no such a thing as Wahabism and there are no Muslims who call themselves Wahabis ,Wahabis is a western term created by Media ..

Also I really ask my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters to be careful when you use this word and calling others wahabis,because Al Wahab is one of the names of Allah Subhana wa Taala ,which means Bestower  .

I also ask everyone to educate yourself about who was Imam Wahab ,before you start calling others names .He was only a man who was following Tawheed (Monotheism) and revived Sunnah(way of the Prophet,peace be upon him).

I recommend some articles here 

http://www.turntoislam.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39897&highlight=Wahabism

Question:
Is there a religious sect called 'wahhabi' ?

Answer:
There is no such sect with this name. Rather this is just a nick name that the people of falsehood have branded it on the people who uphold the truth, the people of tawheed (Oneness of Allaah in everything). And this name they refer it to Shaykh Muhammad ibn AbdulWahhab, may Allaah have mercy on him. And he is a great Imaam from the Imaams of who brought religious rectification in the lands of Najd. 1 Thus he called to going back and establishing Tawheed (after people were into shirk) and reviving the methodology of the Salaf (pious predecessors). In this effort of his; the clan of Saud helped him until they managed to relinquish and remove almost all the shirk and bid'a (innovations), like calling on the dead people in the graves, and extremism in praising other humans. Thus all of the lands of Najd returned to Tawheed (Oneness of Allaah in everything) and Ikhlaas (sincerity in worshipping of Allaah) May Allaah have mercy on them and reward them greatly.

Shaykh Muhammad Khalil Harras  

Now ,about a Niqab .Let me remind you something .All the wives of the Prophet ,peace be upon him,used to wear a Niqab(face veil) .We call them Mothers of the believers .They are best example for us ,that we should follow .Then how ,can we as Muslims be against something that our Mothers did ? Why there are so many Muslims out there ,WHO HATE NIQAB ,and say it is not from Islam  .Why there are so many Muslim women ,who wear Hijab,but look down on Niqabi sisters? Shouldn't we be ashamed? No Muslim should look down upon another Muslim ?Have we forgot it?

I understand everyone has their own views .Yes ,there are many who don't support Niqab ,that's fine ,but at least don't speak against it ! It is others choise.At the end it is Allah Who will judge us all.Have you forgot ?

 I personally believe that Niqab is not obligatory ,but is Mustahab(preferrable).This is my personal opinion.

I do agree that Muslim women don't have to cover their faces in front of female students.I don't know what's exactly is going on in Egypt ,because the Media ,as I said is very twisted .If anyone from that part of the world can enlighten me I will really appreciate it .

 Please leave your comments !!!!

This is the article on yahoo .Please speak out ,please post your comments ,please defend your sisters in Islam.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091102/lf_nm_life/us_egypt_niqab

 

I Tried Out Abaya ^-^

So yesterday, we went out and I decided to give abaya a go and not to keep putting it off as I knew we would be going to the mosque as well at some point during the outing. I really liked it and didn't have to worry about if my jeans were too tight or have to constantly pull my dress down while walking along a busy street. I felt like I was properly doing my bit to wear hijab and got to wear skinny jeans at the same time, win win situation! Here's roughly what I wore, I put it with a Turkish styled hijab because (no offence..) but even though I'm Arabic I didn't want to look like an Arab wannabe (as I know a black abaya is not the only form of jilbab).. they are kind of everywhere.. :P lol.

Abaya by Zaenab