It’s time to breathe every breath with conviction. Like you’ve earned them. The fight you’ve been fighting everyday for as long as you can remember. It seems to never end. And when hope of a finale comes it’s only dampened by the realisation that this particular fight was only a prequel to what is soon coming. So breathe, rest and prepare for the next round.
It’s time to take a breath. A sigh of relief creeps between your lips and you know in that moment, the moment where all stands still and a peace creeps in just before that waft of air escapes your lips and your shoulders slouch down and the rest of you tenses to take what’s coming, you are stronger than anyone had ever thought you could possibly be. Sometimes you think you’re weak but how could you be if you’re still standing?
And then you know. There is no running, no escape. It’s time to grab your heart and face your next battle. An alcoholic father, an addiction, an abusive husband, the stresses and strains of everyday life. They never cease to find us. No matter how far we run. So it’s time to breathe a breath that surges oxygen to awaken every dormant ounce of strength in you. Breathe and feel that peace before everything in you gets ready to fight.
Category: Uncategorized
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Breathe. (because everything will be okay).
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(Source: http://mk-ultra1.com/) -
(Source: http://mk-ultra1.com/) -
Moon and Star (Part I)
Look at the below image, then read the prayer that follows…consider it for a while, visualise it in your head, and then answer the questions that follow:
Lovely Goddess of the bow!
Lovely Goddess of the arrows!
Of all hounds and of all hunting
Thou who wakest in starry heaven
When the sun is sunk in slumber
Thou with moon upon they forehead,
Who the chase by night preferrest
Unto hunting in the daylight,
With thy nymphs unto the music
Of the horn-thyself the huntress,
And most powerful: I pray thee
Think, although but for an instant,
Upon us who pray unto thee!- Would you, as a Muslim, pray to this woman for your needs?
- Would you bow to her, at her feet, or perhaps rest your forehead on her hands in worship?
- From a different perspective, would you perform your salaah in a church that is still decorated with statues and crucifixes?
If you answered ‘No’ to all the above, and I pray that you did, then why are we so complacent about praying in a masjid that has the very same symbol of this same woman proudly placed at the top of the dome and minaret, incorporated into the logos and letterheads, embellished in sand blasted designs on the glass doors and windows, and intricately woven into the designs of our musallahs/carpets?
There is no doubt about the origins of the moon and star in Islam. It has no place. Period! It was never used during the time of the noble prophet (SAW), nor was it used for hundreds of years after his demise. It was first used by the Ottoman army after their conquering of the city of Constantinople and it was adopted as a symbol of the army, along with the star of King Richard who was celebrated in Constantinople before the Muslims took control.
Before the 14th century, the crescent and star does not seem to have been associated with Islam at all, and appears in Christian iconography.[20] [21] ~ Wikipedia
Another article worth quoting states:
Incidentally, the ‘Golden Age of Islam’ that we all reminisce so passionately about came to a close about the mid-l5th century with the fall of Spain and the invasion of the Mongols. This was about the same time that ‘the star and crescent’ started to be hoisted up as the banner or representation of Muslims. We’ve never been able to regain that greatness again. Coincidence? ~ Rafael Narbaez Jr.
Yet, we now have this most despicable of symbols embellishing the minarets of the most sacred sites of Islam, namely the Harams, and we have ignorant Muslims from around the world using pictures of these designs as justification for the installation of these same pagan symbols on mosques that are being built today. And during all of this, our impotent Ulama are saying that they agree that it has no place in Islam, but that they would prefer to deal with the matter subtly so as not to upset the community!
So I ask you again, would you bow down before a cross, or a statue of Mary or Jesus?
Then why do you bow down before a pagan goddess? Or do you believe that in this case intention outweighs practice?
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Today in the masjid at dhuhr time, one of the men forgot to switch their mobile phone to silent, so in the middle of the salaah it rang out with a very melodiously inappropriate tone. Given how long it rang, there obviously wasn’t much urgency on the part of the man to silence it. He eventually did, and in the next rakaah it rang again…and again with little urgency to silence it. And again, just before the salaah was completed, or perhaps moments after, it rang again. And again, no urgency to silence it.
So it was inevitable that someone would feel the need to speak out against it, at which point an elderly man sitting on a chair in the last row performing his salaah shouted out at the man asking him to switch it off and to ‘get his head sorted out’. Some found this amusing, others didn’t notice, and perhaps others, like me, found this disappointing. I wonder if either of those men realised that at that point they both had become the personification of two of the signs of the hour? One I believe is the raising of the voice in the masjid, and the other being the playing of music in the masjid.
But here’s the clincher for me. Both men were fully adorned in the Sunnah dress code, including traditional ‘kurta’ or cloak, head covering as well as full fist-length beards. These are supposed to be ambassadors of Islam, and representatives of Rasulullah (SAW) given their choice to imitate his appearance as closely as possible. But instead, their behaviour was anything but that. Which further affirms my contention with Muslims as having become ritualistic followers rather than true believers.
The same kurta-clad men are the ones that drive horribly on the roads, park people in at the masjid during Jumu’ah salaah and swindle their way through business in trying to avoid paying legitimate taxes, or trying to under cut their fellow Muslim business owners. This is of course a generalisation, but unfortunately my experiences to the contrary has been the exception, and definitely not the norm.
This is just one of the reasons why I have packed away my own kurtas, I’ve stopped wearing specifically Islamic dress on a Friday to the office, and I maintain my beard to a length that is beyond a designer ‘face’ beard, but not quite a fist length either. And I do this deliberately and with conviction in the hope that InshaAllah I may be able to realise the principles of the teachings of our beloved Messenger of Allah (SAW), rather than to succumb to the ritualistic mockery that has overtaken the actions of too many Muslims these days.
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The window to the soul…it never lies
