I am SO over…

-T-mobile. Gosh I can’t WAIT to get out of this contract.

-Abayas. Okay, maybe not all abayas but I just don’t see too many that I like. Lately, they all look the same to me. I need something snazzy without being glittery.

-Articles, radio programs, documentaries, books and television programs with titles like “behind the veil.” I was surprised to see that some Muslims have adopted the title for lectures on women in Islam. Are we really serious?

-Lectures about the position of women in Islam. Especially ones given by brothers…

– My Google-stalking love. Sorry Cham. I will miss you, you”ll be in my heart forever. 🙂

-Going up to complete [Muslim] strangers and telling them that something they did, said, or are wearing is haram then walking away. Not that I ever did anything like that to someone to begin with. BUT I am SO OVER people approaching me or witnessing people approach someone else. Again, enough already!

-Reggaeton. Nuff said!

-Quran and Hadith wars. You know, when Muslims fight one another over “what Allah says” using ayat and ahadith. Over it!

-Muslims trying to convert each other to their ideology. One of the things I like about the group of sisters I hang out with is that we respect one another’s views (alhamdulillah). This is not to be confused with letting a friend completely fall off the path. Despite what some people think, there are many ideas Muslims can support one another on.

-The Twin Cities. I’ve actually been over it for a while now but I seem to be getting worse. The whole concept of this place (including Minnesota nice) is lacking.

What are you over? (And you can’t say my blog, lol).

Anbody from Rhode Island?

Has anyone been there? I would love to hear your feedback. Insha’allah I will be there soon and I would like to know what places I should see, restaurants to eat at and of course, where’s the best place to go for Jumah. Let me know. 🙂

On Dalia Mogahed’s appointment to Obama’s advisory council

This afternoon, one of my Facebook friends sent me this LA Times article about President Obama’s appointment of Dalia Mogahed to his Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships advisory council. As many of my readers know, I don’t usually post on politics for a number of reasons. (One of them being my skepticism towards politicians and their double speak- but I digress). The article caught my attention because I had the pleasure of attending one of Ms. Mogahed’s presentations based on the book she co-authored along with John Esposito. She did a wonderful job of presenting her research and answering the audiences’ questions. I was able to ask her questions about her work with Gallup Poll and what she and her team plan to do in terms of highlighting the American Muslim experience.

But on to the article…I had trouble with a few of the terms and one of the phrases. For instance:

Dalia Mogahed, a veiled Egyptian American…

Why must we point out the obvious? We all see the picture of Ms. Mogahed. We can see that she is wearing hijab. Yes, it is quite the compliment that a hijab-wearing Muslimah has been appointed to the council but do we need to focus on the scarf? Maybe it’s just me…

Recently, she co-wrote the book “Who Speaks for Islam?” with John Esposito, an American political science professor who has been criticized by some as an Islamic apologist.

(emphasis mine)

Islamic apologist? Don’t really care for the term. It’s often used as a way to disparage anyone who attempts to discuss Islam, Muslims or Islamic principles in a favorable light. The person can’t be speaking from experience, research or years of Islamic education, only from the standpoint of an apologist. (Note the sarcasm). Why did El-Hennawy, the article’s author, feel it was necessary to point out that some consider John Esposito an Islamic apologist? Was it to discredit him, Dalia Mogahed, their work or all of thee above? Hmm…

Yet, Mogahed’s declaration that her loyalty goes first to the United States, published Monday in an interview with Al Masry al Youm, disappointed some people. “I wish your loyalty was to your Islam first, Egypt second and your Arabism third and then to anything else,” wrote a reader identifying himself as the Tiger of Arabs. “I am afraid that they might make a fool out of you and use you as a cover for policies that don’t serve Egypt and the Arab and Muslim world.”

Are people really serious? I would assume- and again, maybe it’s just me- that Ms. Mogahed has loyalty to Islam. She has spent much of her time conducting research, presenting her findings around the country, and writing on the subject of Islam and Muslims. Does she explicitly have to say that she has loyalty to Islam? (Or Egypt or Arabs?) C’mon people. Dalia Mogahed is one woman with a big task in front of her. She is not going to be the next Khalif or the Secretary of State. Can we give the woman a chance and see what she can do before we offer up criticisms?

Three things I’m sick of:

(1) Muslims with simplistic, myopic views of Islam and the world.

(2) Muslims trying to dictate what someone else’s priorities should be based on their simplistic, myopic view of Islam and the world.

(3) Muslims placing an extraordinary amount of pressure onto other Muslims (especially women!) to be the model of Islam (and Muslims). You must say what they want you to say, behave as they want you to behave and smile while doing it. Kinda like being Miss Muslim USA.

UGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!

Ohh, I need to take a martial arts class!

When some Muslim hater or some unwanted person tries to attack me (may Allah forbid, Ameen). I’d love to be able to do this:

Personally, I think all sisters need to take self defense. We no longer have an atmosphere where Muslim women are considered hands-off. When I first took shahadah it was nothing but respect for Muslim women because people knew if they messed with us they’d have to deal with the brothers. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore…

In Celebration of the “Black Sheikh”

As many of you have seen by now, there was an article posted in the New York Times touting and celebrating the Saudi King Abdullah’s appointment of a “Black Sheikh.” Some Muslims have also been celebrating the idea and saying mashallah. However, there were many statements in the article that gave me pause and definitely raised my eyebrows. Fortunately, I didn’t have to spend the greater part of my evening picking apart the article because my homeboy already wrote about it and I most certainly concur.

Check out Mr. Catchings’ here.

Discuss.

My People, My People (SMH)

This guy came into the Probation Office a couple days ago wearing one of those “I wish you were here” or “R.I.P.” tee shirts. You know, the ones that some people in the hood wear with the picture of a relative or friend who passed away? It usually has the person’s picture and their nickname on it. Well, this guy had his fallen homeboy’s picture on it but above the picture in bold, white block letters were the words “FOR MY NIGGA.” 😮 I couldn’t believe someone would actually walk around with those words boldly printed across their chest. My co-workers and I did a double take. We joked about kidnapping him, knocking him out and him waking up to find himself in a different shirt. Meanwhile, we’d burn the old one.

I have truly seen it all now…

Watch the video (it’s actually kinda sad):

*sigh* My people, my people. 😦

Random Vlog

I Saw the Weirdest Thing Today

I was driving this morning with my mom and I saw the weirdest thing. A strange bird-like creature was standing in front of a car that was waiting at a red light. It was flexing its wings and staring at the people in the car. I was in the left lane but as traffic slowed down I asked my mom what kind of animal it was. She said it was a turkey. “A Turkey?” I asked. “What is it doing in the city?” She shrugged.

After dropping my mom off, on my way home, I was looking for it. Sure enough, I saw it stretching out its neck, peering into traffic. Once again when someone stopped at the light, it walked into the road and stood in front the person’s car. I was fumbling with my cell phone, trying to take picture of it. Unfortunately, I was out of memory and didn’t have time to delete a picture before the light changed. 😦

What a weird thing…

Adding to my “The Benefits of Hijab…” Post

I would suggest some of you take a look at this article written by Darah M. Rateb over at altmuslim. It’s called “The dehijabization phenomenon.” What struck me the most about the article are the following quotes which are in line with what I have discussed several times on this blog:

Many others [hijabis] grew exhausted of the ‘out-of-place’ feeling they had- either because they were in a majority non-Muslim country, where the hijab was viewed as dehumanizing, or because they were in a Muslim majority country which, as a consequence of Westernisation, increasingly viewed the hijab as ‘unsophisticated’ or a sign of poor education.

and this one:

With that kind of ‘Muslim uniform’ in the 21st century comes a sad if unintentional reality – the individual Muslim woman is simply aggregated into one big, undifferentiated lump, leaving her just as objectified as the “sexually liberated” non-Muslim Western woman. Many, whether in the West or in the Muslim world, choose to give her uneasy glares and glances, while boxing her as an “oppressed woman”, who has the inability to do anything unless it is explicitly related to Islam.

The flip side of the coin is that because of the same obsession with the cloth and not its meaning, Muslims in general will demand that any Muslim woman in a hijab not simply be Muslim, but morph into an infallible angel. In this regard, the blame falls much more on the Muslim than the non-Muslim, for the Muslim should know that nowhere in the Islamic tradition is the hijab a sign of perfect character. Rather, it is the fulfillment of an Islamic duty – just like many others.

Ooh, someone out there is feelin’ me!!! I promised myself that I wouldn’t post anything else about hijab (because, frankly I’m tired of talking about, lol) but once I came across this article I couldn’t resist posting it.

Let’s discuss…

Today is a bad day…blah

Sometimes If feel like cussing. Other times I feel like screaming. More often then not I want to tell some people what I REALLY think of them. I am not a violent or explosive person but some people work my last nerve. They should be glad I’m Muslim. (They should also be thankful that I’m disciplined). If it weren’t for Islam and a little Tai Chi I might’ve caught a case today.

I don’t consider myself “hood” or “street” but I have elements of it running through my veins. (And how could I not coming from the south side of Chicago?) I guess what I’m really trying to say is that some people just don’t know how close they’ve come to getting their ass kicked. (Yep, I said ass…sue me). I’ve had a bad day.

That’s all.