September 2015 by Al-Bayyan

Issue 6

The UIC MSA Publication

For the sake of Allah.

September 2015

Al-Bayyan

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Yasmeen Omar, senior Benish Siddiqui, freshman Fazila Vhora, senior Maryam Muhammad, grad Zamia Siddiqui, senior Shereen Abdeljabbar, alumni Nuha Abdelrahim, sophomore Helema Abdeljabar, sophomore Sarah Basheer, sophomore

Introduction

AssalamuAlaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu â&#x20AC;&#x201C; By the grace of Allah (SWT) we have been blessed with another school year. Alhamdullilah, thus far it has been nothing but a success, and that would not be possible without your endless support and help! Welcome to all Freshmen and Transfers! We are looking forward to getting to know you all and to sharing a spectacular year, God-willing. The MSA will hold some of your fondest and most beloved memories. As many of you may already know, college is generally a time of indescribable transformation. hope, failures and successes, doubt and realization, confusion and enlightenment. By taking the good times with the bad is how we all truly mature, for nothing grows strong and sturdy without seeing both rain and shine. What is most important is that you know that here, you have a family that is always willing to weather the storms right alongside with you. Here, we strive to love and serve one another. Here, we grow together. The UIC MSA is beyond grateful to have compassionate and kind members that always welcome one another with grace and honor. It is with great pleasure that we have the opportunity to serve you all. May Allah (SWT) continue to bless you all and this MSA with His great Mercy and endless blessings, and may He always keep us successful. With Gratitute, Asal & Zamaan MSA Co-Presidents

Poetry

If inertia is the physical resistance of an object to stay in its current state of motion Then maybe it explains why my mind won’t stop thinking of every letter you ever spoke to me Maybe that’s why my eyes keep wandering over to meet your green glances Maybe that’s why my heart continues to thump against my chest whenever I hear your name And maybe, just maybe, we tried making love into a science not realizing it was a form of art Not realizing that it can’t be measured or calculated or observed or studied That it comes in a spectrum of colors, blended in a lively harmony It represents the vivaciousness and passion within us It isn’t concrete and isolated but for some reason, you were. And I couldn’t break you open to spill the colors trapped inside of you But you managed to drown mine with your black and white mentality And somewhere along the way, we both became a bland shade of gray: neither a science nor an art

The world can be a dark place

We lose sight of the truth Sincerity isn’t always there Yet the light seems to shine on He knew this from the start We strive to please You Your good emanates in our hearts A mother’s love for her child Love that cannot be repaid Helping those less fortunate In order to receive Your shade Loving brothers and sisters Surrounded by the best You overlook our shortcomings I’m realizing we are blessed Those days have come Where diseases run rampant Plaguing our hearts, our minds But we know You are not absent We aim to praise You In times changing like seasons Going to live our lives For all the right reasons For the Right Reasons ABB

First Law Mennat Gharib

Happy moments, sad moments Good moments, bad moments

You Will be Free!

That’s all that life is Some periods of time Don’t get too attached It’ll be more than a crime …against yourself…. Don’t you see the deception? This dunya is a limit to our human perception We’re told of the akhirah Cuz there’s more after this But we’re quick to cheer YOLO and even quicker to dismiss… The fact that We will be held accountable

May be insurmountable

in dunya with care I know life’s tough But don’t drown in despair For as long as you have Him At no point will you break Remind yourself that what you do You do, for His sake. For His Sake Anonymous

I Promise you. The day Will Come, For it is written under the stars you gaze at and the moon you live beneath. It will Come! For all the Songs Are to be Sung, And Drums To be Drummed

When there Will be On the morning, The morning With the Red keys That sets The chained free. From the rocks To the Olive trees And the roses To the bees For the day Will come, I promise you, Just you Wait and Untitled Anonymous

The day will come When the Ancient speak from the Tongue While the Young are As one. Oh, You will see. We will be At peace By the Willow trees, See.

“For the Sake of Allah” Project

Pray Tahajjud everyday. I promise to work hard this semester and never go back to what you know alone… I love you Allah. To try my best to make salat a priority. I promise Him, The One who holds my soul in His hand, that I will try my best to truth and light fully, to come back to Him and be His loyal servant. I promise to treat people with grace and honor. And get upon the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW). I promise to take care of myself. To return myself in the best condition possible, to You. Pray Tahajjud at least 4 times a week, and stay up until shurouq after fajr. Dear God, Please forgive my sin and help me be successful in the future, I promise I’ll do good. I will try to keep His remembrance on my tongue and in my actions as much as I can. I promise to love and serve all of my brothers and sisters as the Kings and Queens they truly are. I promise to continue to follow the right path and do every action with the intention for Him.

I promise to accept and trust whatever you have written for me, even if it’s something that I do not necessarily understand or want. You are the best of planners! To forgive and forget even when it hurts. To help others even when it means leaving the comfort of my shadow.

in Chicago and to do well on my GRE, if You will. To humble myself, and recognize and act on right that those around me have (family, friends, and strangers). I make a promise, not just to myself but to Allah. I make this promise to pray all my prayers on time inshallah and try to have khushu’aa in my salah. I hope to never give in to those desires again, and I have begged for your help in keeping with that goal, but failed many times. I promise now to never despair of your forgiveness if I should ever give in again. I will always turn to You.

“For the Sake of Allah” was a project imagined by Imanie Eldably in September 2015. She with their promises to Allah. These were some of the promises that were collected.

Leave Anonymous

Leave something, or perhaps someone, for the sake of Allah, but never leave Allah for anything. By abandoning something for His sake and pleasure, you will ultimately be compensated with something much better. Never lose hope and think that you are alone. Every time you feel helpless, or that you cannot get rid of doing a bad deed, seek Allah’s help, beseech Him, and He will aid you. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an, “If Allah should aid you, no one can overcome you; but if He should forsake you, who is there that can aid you after Him? In Allah then, let the Believers put their trust” [3:160]. the adornments of this worldly life, of this dunya, when your concerns are all about tancing from the mosques, Quranic recitation, and all other forms of ibaadah, you lah and perform righteous deeds for His sake. Whatever worldly pleasures you attain in this life, no matter how great or abundant, they will never satisfy you beAllah. Success and happiness can sometimes be blocked due to a sin we’re not giving up; that’s why, let us repent to Allah, the Most Merciful and seek His help and deeds that are Islamically correct and pleasing to the Lord!

I promise to devote myself to Him only, and try to be a better person, daughter, and sister. Almost 300 days ago, I promised to You that I will quit watching pornography and quit masturbating. I never did after that. I hope it stays this way forever.

weeks at UIC. This is what they had to say.

We also asked UIC Students what is the laziest thing that they have ever done?

I went to my discussion an hour late. About three minutes later I realized I was in the wrong class and awkwardly walked out. Amna Ali

My brothers and I had a rule growing up that if someone is standing and you ask them for water they had to get you water so we’d either stay on the couch for

Called my sister from her room to come to my room and turn on the fan for me, even though it was right in front of me. Dirty looks were received. Kiran Fatima

get from one place to another.

Anytime I have to babysit, I just turn on a movie for them. Ain’t nobody got time to play with these little kids. Anonymous

asked her if I could do extra work for her class. She looked at me and said, “Who are you? Yunus Syed

Farooq Chaudhry

Nothing. Get it? Anonymous Skipped class because I didn’t feel like

two and a half hours due to a bad partner. As soon as my TA signed the lab, I gave him a big hug and told him he’s the greatest TA in the universe for waiting for us. Taha Sharif

One time my 8yr old sister wanted to act like Cinderella. So we played along as her evil step sisters. We got her to mop the our phones. The next day she wanted to be an evil step sister. Fazila Vhora

Aamna Ghafoor

I’m too lazy to take out all the utensils from the dishwasher so they usually get washed over and over again. Anonymous

This guy woke up from his nap, gave us

Didn’t feel like moving towards my laptop so I used my toes to scroll down.

Usually when it’s my turn to mop, I just

which one of us was getting a PhD, freestyled, then tried to get us to follow him on SoundCloud all within like 3 min.

Anonymous

it look wet. Anonymous

Anonymous

When I’m in bed, I’ll call my brother from his room to close my door. Anonymous

Despair in Light of Evil Ayah Chehade

A child sweeps up on shore- dead. Other children starve to death in several parts of the world for lack of basic water. A man murders his wife and his children. Another shooting at a school. Another suicide. Another child is raped. Another death and terror. It’s exhausting- almost as if we’ve become desensitized to headlines like these. These tragedies are draining. They take patience. The truth is, there are moments in your life when your soul suddenly exhausts itself. You wake up one morning and don’t feel like making any ‘change.’ “Change isn’t going to happen- we’re all screwed; humanity sucks,” you mentally mutter. And to some degree, it feels true. To some degree, you believe that any

goodness you contribute to this universe purposeless. Discrimination still persists. Corruption still runs rampant. Oppression remains… right? But what we don’t realize is that we are judged by our individual acts. There is no such thing as one single act. Every act is one domino block in a whole line of dominoes scattered across continents and social-virtual networks and the brains and hearts of thousands. One smile adds happiness to one person’s day and that is the cause – whether they know it or not- for a host of decisions and interactions that ripple across whole groups of people. I’ve heard people say things to me like, “I hate the

world. I’ve given up on it.” But wait, did God not put humanity –and better yet, believing individuals- on Earth to be his vicegerents- his “khulafa’”? To spread the message and reap goodness? Are we not giving up on this responsibility if we, altobreath positivity into?? Yes, destruction and oppression and heedlessness are rampant in the world. But when we resort to negativity and despair, we only contribute to the problem. you can’t turn evil into good by allowing that evil to fester within your heart as well. You are either a light or a darkness in this world- if you want to make change, you

(continued on page 9)

Doing It for My Country Lilian Maali

I have always felt that I came with a great amount of hope for the future. During some of my summers I would go back to Palestine (my true home). I visited the trees, the people, the culture, the religions, all living amongst oppression. Because I have an American passport, I am allowed to go to the Israeli part of Palestine. Being able to go to Jerusalem and praying at the Aqsa is such a blessing and I really love to soak up the moment; blood has been spilt because of this beautiful mosque. The whole concept of oppression angers me; I don’t understand how a group of people can become so powerful, take people's homes from them, then take their land, and then change the name of the country! Another thing that angers me is the ignorance people have about this whole situation. How would you like if someone

took your house and said, “move now or you will get killed”. What about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? The struggle Palestinians go through is indescribable but there is one thing I constantly see within each of them… hope. The hope meter is sky high, actually probably a little bit above the moon. The odds are never in our favor, but we don’t let any of that stop us. We protest, and speak up against the oppression! Being Palestinian taught me to never settle for something you don’t want. Push yourself to your full potential and go after what your true dream is. Meet your goals and don’t let anyone or anything stop you. I do everything for my country, in the sake of Allah, I protest, and bring awareness all for my people and the hope of seeing better days. When I go back to Palestine, I see the sruggle of the people but I know it is

for the sake of Allah. Even though we may rank up more in casualties, and our guns aren’t loaded, one thing the opposing side will never have is faith in Allah.

the way they wanted me to act. I did everything for them, how can they see me as nothing? How can they not be grateful for how much I tried? Then I had a spine shivering moment… is this how You feel? Oh Allah, is this how you feel with us? When Your Majesty has given us the very breath we breathe with, the beating heart we feel with, the fully-functioning brain to think with, could this be how you feel when we don’t return the love and thankfulness to You? I cried because I was a fool for being so naïve, for directing my energy to pleasing the wrong thing, but I cried even more when I realized that all the failure I had was Him trying to help me, STILL. He was trying to help me when I did not even respect His honor to think of Him as the only one I should be pleasing: the Creator, NOT His creation. This whole time while I was being ignored by others the way I ignored Him- I was STILL part of His beautiful master plan- when I didn’t even have the audacity to have Him in mine. That is why I cried.

His mercy is so great it instantly healed all voids in me. The search of wanting to feel worthy ended that night as my worth was already established when He came to save me from my distress. All these years I was trying to get people to see something in me, when He saw it in me all this time, or else He wouldn’t have made me fail in such a way that brought me back to Him. I made a promise that night that I

see the truth and see how no one is on our side but Allah. I will leave you with a quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” To anyone who is struggling with anything, all the countries where there is war, people being killed for being who they are and to all my Palestinians and Syrians, keep your head up; the bright future is peeking through the door.

It Was Always You Anonymous

I have always been on the mission to feel like I belong. Like a piece of play-dough, mold. I didn’t mind all of the pieces of me I had to lessen—or even worse—let go of, just so I can be what was needed of me. Don’t we all want to be accepted just how we are, without any compromising, without the tampering of the soul? Well, I was determined. So determined that I was willing to risk the development of my true self and do JUST that: compromise. I tampered with my soul to so many degrees because my need to feel wanted was greater than wanting to want myself as I was. Had I known what that determination yielded to I would’ve never started this heart-aching, disappointing, exhausting journey. someone I was not. I was too “fat” for the “skinny” group. Too nerdy for the “cool” crowd. Too much of a “sheikha” for the “yolo” kids. How could it be? I was their spitting image. I talked the way they talked, thought the way they thought, acted

accepts me and who I will always want to seek pleasure from alone, and that was Him. I let it go, and redirected my mission. I no longer want to belong anywhere; I want to belong to myself, and from this day forth, I only belong to You.

Let It Go Asal Wahdan

The past is gone forever, brooding about what was and what could have been will only keep you from living in the present. The biggest human tragedy is, arguably, our incapacity to deal with the present. We neglect the intricate beauty of the roses by wailing over the ungranted wish of a dandelion. For the sake of Allah, let it go. Do not let the realm of the past take over your thoughts. Do not let the pressure of the future carry you away. The future is a kingdom of the unseen, obsessing over dreams and preoccupying yourself of what could come will only keep you from experiencing the sweetness of the moment. What good is it to dwell upon the unknown taste of tomorrow when you can embrace the sweetness of today. For the sake of Allah, let it go. Be gentle with yourself, everything that has gentleness has beauty. Remem-

bering God Almighty is having a calm and peaceful heart. Turn to Him and depend

And when Allah intends for a people ill, there is no repelling it. And there is not for them besides Him any patron.” [13:11] More so, we understand that everything in this universe- including the evil

In this case, and in all cases, only Allah has access to this retrospect. How would we be able to understand everything? As much as others try to complicate it, we have a very simply role here on Earth. To believe and worship God and enjoin good and forbid evil. We are judged on simply that and the extent to which we strove for those things. Indeed, as Allah SWT says, “And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority.” They said, “Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?” Allah said, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know.” [2:30] And surely, nothing will reach you without God’s command. And nothing will be taken from you without God’s command. So go out there and down hat you can with full trust in God and a renewed sense of understanding for what seems to be a despondent Earth. And God knows best.

life as He has given it to you and do not dwell on the “ideal life”. Live your reality

Inspired by “Don’t Be Sad” by Aaidh Ibn Abdullah Al-Qarni

Despair in Light of Evil (continued)

type.) Granted, anger can be useful in fumust always remember that we will be judged by our individual acts. What did you do about what you’ve seen or heard or learned? Will you turn it into some posiany chances to mobilize towards good? Will you allow yourself to become a static victim of tragedy- bitter, hopeless, and stationary? It’s up to you. Every generation has been given challenges. Every era of Humanity’s existence came with a wave of ‘fasad’ and malevolence. At the same time however, each era came with good people who fought against these forces. Our relationship with Allah is one that acknowledges Him as our sole provider. The One force in this Universe that He created that can deliver us from the evil we have wrought here. “For each one are successive [angels] before and behind him who protect him by the decree of Allah. Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.

often mistake as monotony are threads woven into a massive plan. “The sun and the moon [move] by precise calculation, snd the stars and trees prostrate. And the heaven He raised and imposed the balance. That you not transgress within the balance. And estabcient the balance.” [55:5-9] We have a power we must exercise- the power to make decisions and try to understand the weight of these decisions. It helps to understand that we cannot possibly know everything. We are tiny an eternal and omnipotent God. As Rumi once put it, we are like ants scurrying on a giant intricate rug, trying to make sense of the patterns below our tiny feet. But these patterns are only comprehensible for those who look at them in retrospect.

A Little Lost Some Sister

When I think of the possibility of telling those around me of the deep, dark truth… I feel paralyzed. than our parents did. For a lot of us, when our parents were our age they were still learning about the basics of Islam and

things that were wrong so that they could raise their kids in the way that is right. Now here we are in this huge melting pot and we’ve run into numerous difthe rope of Allah (swt) we’ve come across a ton of new weights on our shoulders, making it harder and harder to hold on. We are in a time where we are trying to “out-religion” one another. Much Islam bro. This, however, is only what people can see. What they don’t see is us sleeping through Fajr and waking up that morning, realizing that we missed Fajr, and thinking that the day is ruined because of that so we’ll just have to try again tomorrow, not bothering to make up Fajr at all. People appearance. They don’t see the internal struggle between who we want to be and who we see when we look in the mirror.

We see the worst of ourselves, and our lack of faith eats us up inside. Yet we can’t seem to change our ways. “But the path of sin was so comforting, so well tread, so easy to slip down into quiet numbness.” I really wish it wasn’t so true. When people look at me they don’t see the real me at all. I have gone from weeks to months without praying a single prayer. I haven’t even gone through anything substantial to cause this. I haven’t lost anyone close to me, haven’t been diagnosed with anything, I haven’t been struck by poverty of the slightest degree. Perhaps my soul is broken. Many of you reading this know me yet knowing this about me would shock you to no end. I wish I could explain it, but what can I say? There is no justifying what I am. I am a sinner. The very statement sends a shock to my heart, a stabbing pain in my chest. But we must face it. Because if we are truly honest with ourselves, then can begin the tional gap, to regain the spiritual strength that has been diminished over the years. If you can relate to me at all then I’ve got good news for you. Allah (swt) doesn’t

want us to fail. He wants us to succeed, and more than that, He is willing to help us out even more than what we ask of Him. If we ask Him to help us pray on time, He’ll answer overwhelmingly so. If we ask Him to help us lower our judgment of one another, He’ll listen. If we ask Him to help us with our own addictions, He will make Because when you are being completely honest with yourself, brutally so, you are being honest with Allah (swt). You are removing every strip of hardness from your soul, removing the binding, and laying out the skeleton for Allah (swt) to see you for who you truly are. And guess what? Most of the time, who you really are not as bad as who you see in the mirror. All Allah (swt) wants from us is merely to ask. When we ask, He answers. Take it from me, your sister. It has been a very rough few years for me in regaining what I have lost. On the outside, you won’t see any of this. But in the inside…my soul is broken.

mend.

Footprints of Jannah Fazila Vhora

Imam Baqy Ibn Makhlad (may Allah have mercy on him): The Story of a True Student Imam Baqy Ibn Makhlad was born in Spain in the year 201 A.H (after Hijrah: the Prophet’s (PBUH) migration to Medina). At the age of 20 he traveled to Baghdad on foot for the sole purpose of meeting Imam Ahmad ibn Hambal (may Allah have mercy on him), one of the greatest Islamic jurists and scholars of hadith of his time. When Imam Baqy arrived at Baghdad, he was saddened to hear of a sanction on Imam Ahmad, banning him from teaching any lessons. Determined to meet him at any cost, Imam Baqy went out in search of the house of Imam Ahmad. After many inquiries, he found Imam Ahmad’s

house and tapped on the door. When he came out, Imam Baqy said to him: “I am a man who is far away from town. I am a student of hadith and I have undertaken this journey to specially to Imam Ahmad was surprised to know that such a man travelled so far alone just to learn from him. Imam Ahmad said, more beloved to me than to assist a perthe sanctions that you may have heard of.” Imam Baqy replied, “Of course, but come here. Nobody knows me so if you

permit I will come every day in the clothes of a beggar and call out at the door like they normally call out. Then you could come to this passage and if you narrate to me only one hadith a day it would be sufAnd so, the young Imam Baqy used to take a stick in his hand, wrap a cloth around his head, put paper and ink in his sleeve, go to the door of Imam Ahmad and call out like the beggars would. There upon, Imam Ahmad would come to the passage and narrate to him a few ahadith. In this manner, he collected approximately 300 ahadith. Just think about it. At 20 years old, an age full of whims, desires, and whatnot, (continues on page 11)

Footprints of Jannah (continued)

this young boy left his home and belongings behind just for the sake of knowledge. The food he took from home only lasted a month and sometimes he would not have anything to eat except cabbage leaves that would be thrown away into the garbage. The most beautiful lesson that can be taken from this story is that we should take advantage of the resources available to us and acquire as much knowledge as we possibly can, as well as to relentlessly run down the path of knowledge. Imam

Baqy traveled hundreds of miles, stripped himself of any pride and arrogance by dressing like a beggar, all for the sake of a few ahadith from Imam Ahmad. The only true wealth is wealth of the mind, and by these standards, Imam Baqy became one of the most wealthyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;something we all have the capability to do. Later on, Imam Ahmad would narrate to his students the story of Imam called a student of hadith.â&#x20AC;?

Bonus Reflections Is it for the Sake of Allah? Sumaiya Qazi

When we hear the phrase, “for the sake of Allah,” can our hearts testify that our good deeds are honestly performed only for Allah’s sake? We are well aware that our true purpose in life is to submit to and worship Allah (SWT). The word “Muslim,” in fact, actually means “one who submits,” derived from the Arabic trilateral root letters sīn-lām-mīm, from the same root as ‘Islam’, which, by definition, means surrender and submission (to the one true God). But how many of us can actually say we strive to live our lives on the correct path doing righteous actions for the sake of Allah? We repeatedly come across ayaat in Qur’an that exhort to performing good deeds, like “And those who believe and do righteous good deeds, they are dwellers of paradise, they will dwell therein forever” (2:82). The Arabic terminology used in the Qur’an for “those who perform righteous good deeds” is:

َ ِ‫الص ح‬ ‫ال ات‬ َّ ‫َع مِ ُل وا‬

It not only means to perform righteous good deeds that are in accordance with the Qur’an and Sunnah, but also those that are done sincerely for the sake of Allah. Abu Sa’id al Khudri (Allah be pleased with him) reported Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as saying: “Every servant of Allah who observes fast for a day in the way of Allah, Allah would remove, because of this day, his face farther from the Fire (of Hell)

to the extent of seventy years’ distance” (Sahih Muslim). If the reward for something as simple as a fast done for Allah’s sake is recompensed with such a huge favor as this, what would be of all the other deeds we do for Allah’s sake? In addition, we should not expect any reciprocation from any of Allah’s creation but rather, we should do good deeds only for the sake of Allah, expecting the reward from Him alone. It’s perhaps in our human nature to want to be given credit, to be acknowledged, for every little thing we do. But we should not do good deeds out of arrogance and pride or for recognition and appreciation. People don’t remember—or even acknowledge—all that we have done for them, but Allah does and He is All-Aware of what we do, and He sees, counts and even multiplies the reward for every good thing we do for His sake. Our sole intention then for performing a good deed should be for His sake only, as indeed, every deed done for the sake of people is pointless not only in this life, but in the Hereafter as well. Moreover, many times we may hear a Muslim who has done a favor for another Muslim say, “Oh don’t thank me, just make duaa for me.” Many scholars, however, have explained that this is not correct. Sheikh-ul Islam ibn Taymiyyah (May Allah have mercy upon him) said: “And from the manners of the one who gives to others or spends upon others is that they should not seek a favor based on what they have given, nor should they seek a reward from the creation based upon what they have given. And from the rewards is to request supplication (duaa).” Allah talks about those He has commanded: “And they give food in spite of

love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive, (saying) we feed you only for the sake of Allah alone; we do not want from you any reward or (even) any thanks” (76:8-9). Therefore, we learn that we shouldn’t request any sort of reward, any form of gratitude, or even any supplication from people. Nor should we expect them to return us any favors, rewards or supplications. Our good deeds should be done for Allah alone and seeking His reward only! On the whole, let’s try to ensure our good deeds are done with the right intention, and not to attract attention, as one of the greatest threats to our ibaadah is the threat of insincerity. Allah is All-Aware of what is in the hearts, so let us be sincere when we perform good deeds, lest our deeds become bereft of blessings and stripped of virtue. Everything we do in this life, if not done for the sake of Allah, will only lead to regret and sorrow on the Day of Judgment, where every soul will be taken back and held accountable for the deeds performed in this life. Therefore, let us hasten to do good deeds for Allah’s sake, and observe rays of blessing, happiness and success penetrate into our lives—and if not in this life, then surely the next. Every righteous act done according to the Islamic law and for His sake is an act of worship. We are all humans, and it is not He who is in need of us, but we who are in dire need of Him: “O mankind! It is you who stand in need of Allah, but Allah is Rich (free of all wants and needs), Worthy of All Praise” (35:15). So let us rectify our actions and make it a goal that when we worship and do good deeds, we do it only for Allah’s sake, seeking His reward. May Allah helps us to purify and renew our intentions and may He help us do good deeds in the correct manner to please Him and Him alone, Ameen!

Life and Love Sarah Basheer

In a society of moral horrors and alienation, many of us have had the blessing of becoming Muslim by birth. We’ve had the support of family members to live freely and practice Islam with. And as we grew up to become children and young adults, we followed the practices decreed by our parents and our grandparents before us. But we were burdened, and many of us are still burdened, in a way that many convert Muslims are not, through their unique journey to Islam, testing the waters and coming to the only conclusion, that there is but one way to live. Islam. In a way I feel that a majority of our ummah, especially our youth, are faced with struggles in their adolescence because they come to question the practices and beliefs that they’ve blindly followed without realizing the beauty and benefits. We have a serious problem in that we eventually prioritize our day to day forms of worship to be route trademarks of simply being Muslim by name. It seems the way to teach lazy teenagers to pray and read Qur’an and respect their parents is to hold the promise of hell-fire if they don’t. Islam is a religion of love and promise of success for those who follow it. It is the best lifestyle and it should be governed by the love of Allah (swt), the most merciful, the most kind, whose mercy surpasses his wrath. Islam would not have taken hold in the world without the love that was embodied in the Prophet Muhammad (saw). By understanding that love is the core of our religion, we need to make it our mission to teach the next generation of Muslims in a way that radiates love of the

creator. And before we can teach this we must first live it ourselves. The best way to spark love into our lives is through learning, learning about the prophet Muhammad (saw), learning from his companions, and most importantly learning about our creator. Allah (swt) answers our questions, reconciles our fears and has mapped a way to paradise. Why would be not want to learn about the one who created us, the one who knows everything about us, who has the capacity to forgive our most egregious sins? Even as a Muslim of birth I count myself among the ranks of millions of people who’ve “found” Islam. Because in a way I have. At first I saw the reasoning behind our lifestyle and the things that were forbidden to us. But as I further explored my faith I realized that faith isn’t always meant to be understood in the highest sense. Faith serves to explain the unexplainable and without Allah (swt) we are wandering, lost beings. As a young person, it’s in my nature to question and reason. I’ve secured my faith in Allah (swt) by realizing the pointlessness in putting faith in anything less. Like Goldilocks you may need to try all the wrong possibilities to find the right one. When we are time and time putting our faith in the creation, whether it be our

money, our status, or other beings, we will continue to be disappointed. We depend on useless things like money that can give us no return and we cannot rely on the fickle and inconsistent hearts of human beings too frail to uphold our most desperate needs. Because they will break and the only thing we will find is crushing disappointment. But Allah (swt) is waiting. Waiting for you to pour out your miseries, your fears and worries. Ready to listen and guide. All we need to do is turn to him and find that he will never let us down. Life is a chaotic swirl of unpredictability with no secure foothold. We find ourselves in different places. Wealth and beauty will pass and fade. People come into our lives, take a place in our hearts and then regrettably leave us. There is only one true constant. Allah (swt). Once you put your faith in something true and you find that first return of many, the lifestyle becomes easy and you find yourself drawing closer to him, praising him and realizing this is what you were meant to do all along.

Editors in Chief Fazila Vhora Farooq Chaudhry Staff Writers Abdul Basith Basheer Sarah Basheer Copy Editors Asif Mazhar Lilian Maali Layout Nuha Abdelrahim Ibrahiem Mohammad Creative Direction Noor Abdelrahim

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