Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A Christian Hijabi Goth

Source
Never thought I'd write those words in the same sentence.. Actually, when I thought I'd seen it all in the hijab world I came across this very interesting video about a Christian goth explaining why she wears the hijab.


Well that's me subscribed! Check out her other videos here.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Understanding Predestination & Free Will

Believing in predestination (qadar) and free will is one of the six articles of faith and possibly the concept that our fallible brains find the most difficult to understand.  Here is a pretty good explanation of how qadar and free will work together:

Uploaded by YouTuber khalifahklothing

I have found that the best way to understand this subject is to make sure you fully understand some basic Islamic concepts:

1. Your existence is to worship Allah (SWT), no more no less.

2. What differs you from animals and angels is your right to choose to worship Allah (SWT), or not.

3. Without Allah's Will, your right to choose would not and cannot exisit.

4. You are given the choice because Allah (SWT) willed for you to have it and He willed for you to have it because He decreed for the creation of a being who has the ability to freely accept or reject it's Creator. Angels accept their creator through knowledge but do not do so freely and have no animalistic desires to fight against. Animals have no higher levels of knowledge or logic but worship Allah (SWT) innately without choice and without being required to fight their animalistic desires. Only man and jinn have been given BOTH logic and desires. We have a God-given right to choose which one we follow.

5. In this life, we choose and Allah (SWT) allows our choice to come about. He knows what choices we will make and He allows us to make them. In short, we actively and freely MAKE our choices in life based on our desires and intentions, by which we will be judged.

6. Allah (SWT) loves those who choose to do good and worship Him and Him alone - some people use this for the argument "if God wants us to do good why couldn't He just make us do good and why is there evil in the world?" The answer is simple: Allah (SWT) has created angels who do nothing BUT worship Him. The purpose of our creation is to choose to worship Allah (SWT) and do good deeds, but how can you choose to do good without first rejecting the opposite, evil? Without evil there would BE no good because "good" would just be the norm and if good was the norm, there would be no choice at all i.e. we would be angels.

I hope that this sort of helps if you were having difficulties understanding this concept. If anyone has any useful information about this subject please post it in the comments.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Statement Scarf*

I have always thought that the "rule" of having to have a "statement" piece in your outfit to make it work is generally not true. Outfits can look good with no statement pieces in them at all. Anyway, that's besides the point because the following look does contain a statement item - the scarf. Wearing a statement scarf is something I have not been keen on doing recently but if you dress it with simple clothes it can look really nice and not too try-hard. 
Aztec Scarf

*A "statement scarf" is not necessarily a scarf that's sparkly/shiny/glittery/tassely/mirrored.. that's just a social-suicide scarf.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Friday, November 25, 2011

Pink & Gold


An unmistakably beautiful combination. I absolutely love the look in this photo so I obviously had to copy it instead of doing microbiology (bleuurrghh..) :P

Pink & Gold


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Avoiding Zina Of The Heart

I have had many discussions with Muslims about whether or not having a crush is haram, and have heard all sorts of opinions. But I think we can safely say that it is not haram since you have little control over your feelings; what you do about it on the other hand, may well be...
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Abu Hurayah reported that Allah's Messenger (S) said:
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"A son of Adam's share of zina has been predestined for him, and he will inevitably fulfill that. Thus the eyes commit zina by looking, the ears commit zina by listening, the tongue commits zina by speaking, the mouth commits zina by talking/kissing, the hands commits zina by acting (or touching) the foot commits zina by walking (toward the sin) the soul wishes and desires and the private part confirms all of that"

[Bukhari and Muslim]

According to this hadith, zina, to some extent is inevitable for man. Islam has told us that the best way to control zina of the heart is to lower the gaze.. prevention being better than cure and all that..
 
"Tell the believing men to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc.). That is purer for them. Verily, Allah is All-Aware of what they do.
And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc).

[Qur'aan, 24: 30-31]

Simple problem, simple solution. But who really does it?