El-Haa'equah

Hello humans!

Today I shall reflect on Surah Haaqqah. Al-Haaqqah means 'the inevitable.' But S is scared of people knowing about our life so I have to now put my reflections on a separate blog.

Mkay?

N

Good & Bad

Hello humans!

Today's reflection comes from Surah Tahrim, ayahs 10 and 11.

and

I just told S that Surah Jinn should be Surah #66 of the Quran. Heheh.

Anyway.......

10: Allah presents an example of those who disbelieved: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. They were under two of Our righteous servants but betrayed them, so those prophets did not avail them from Allah at all, and it was said, "Enter the Fire with those who enter."
11: And Allah presents an example of those who believed: the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, "My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise and save me from Pharaoh and his deeds and save me from the wrongdoing people."

[from Quran.com]

You're probably all like, "What in the world can N reflect from these ayahs?"

Well, I can reflect....

Not all good is good and not all bad is bad. As you may have noticed, the bad women are wives of prophets, who are good people. And the wife of Fir'awn is a good Muslim.


Fir'awn is a bad guy. Prophet Nuh and Prophet Lut are good people.

So this shows people not to judge. You shouldn't expect good people to come from good people. Some Muslims are not that good. 

"If you want to study Islam, don't study the Muslims. Islam is perfect; Muslims are not."
-Anon

And not all non-Muslims are bad. Who are the people helping with the hurricanes, the winter-frozen cars on the roads, and homeless people soup kitchens? All the non-Muslims are doing it!! Not a single Muslim! We should all be ashamed of ourselves. Don't judge.

--LIFE UPDATES--


Now, back to life. On Saturday I made raspberry muffins while S and Mom cleaned the kitchen floor like little slefs. Ummi faked an arm muscle pain and so I massaged it.

Yesterday was a normal tennis day. Phew, at least no tiring hiking. At night me, S, and mom attended a Quran recital. The teacher said we had good recitation.

Today was a normal day.

Ummi's teacher EyeRAM is arriving tomorrow after she is done at White Sands. Whenever Whambot says EyeRAM, I think of REM [rapid eye movement].

Me and Whambot spent most of last week murdering ourselves while cleaning the sunroom. We just hope Ummi doesn't go to EyeRAM and be all like,

"Oh and by the way we cleaned the sunroom for you!"

Yeah, what WE are you talking about, huh?!

Anyway, I felt extremely cruel writing that.

We also got a huge floor cleaner. Yesterday all the carpet was wet. S said that it would dry in a few horrs, impersonating that hotel guy we met almost five years ago. I dunno exactly when we moved here but apparently it was somewhere in February.

I'm done here. Buhai.

N

BE ON YOUR GUARD

Hello humans!

Last night's reflection was from Surah Maarij. (If you say Maarij with an American accent, it sounds like a nasty word. [maarij] Yuck. So I warn you to not imitate Americans when saying the name of this surah! XD)

 Ayahs 6 and 7

6: Verily, they see it [the torment] far off.
7: But We see it quite near.

We think the DoJ is going to be far off in the future and we'll be dead by then. But Allah only knows when it will come. It could be even tomorrow. So we have to make sure everything we do is a good deed, and do it with effort. Do the good deeds thoroughly. Basically we should be on our guard, as if a tornado was coming. We should be prepared if the tornado comes. Just like how we should be prepard for the DoJ. It's coming, so be ready.

BE ON YOUR GUARD!!

As Ummi said in response to my reflection, "You know how people have tornado drills and stuff like that. But there's never a Yaumul Qiyamah drill. Imagine if there was a Yaumul Qiyamah drill. Everyone would be too scared to wrong anyone else."

Allah looks at effort, not at amount. Who do you think would get his status raised by Allah, one who does a little number of deeds done with effort, or one who does many effortless deeds?

The former.

Just like a science fair. You choose the project that has been done with the most care, with no signs of lazily glazed glue or torn construction paper or ugly handwriting. Some people prefer looks to personalities and character. Like at a cake fair, or flower fair, or anything fair-y. But fairies don't exist, so never mind.

One time, in the year 2008, we thought we were going to die Muslims. Here's the story.

[credit goes to mom because she originally wrote it]

If you're a little too lazy to go click on that link and read the story in my Mom's words, then I shall write it here for you.

WE'LL DIE MUSLIMS

rewritten by N

Mother's Day turned out a gloomy one in 2008. The tornado alarm went off.

"But it's not Wednesday!" S said. [Tornado drill was usually on Wednesday at that time. Dunno if they still do it now.]

We turned on the TV and looked at the weather channel. The storm range was in our state, but not in our town. It was above us.

H suggested we take cover.

"No, we have to pray Dhuhr first," said Mom.

How exciting was that?! A tornado, coming our way!

H suggested we take our money with us if a tornado was to come and we had to hide and everything was destroyed.

Well, I didn't want to have my cat toys destroyed [because at that time they were my most prized possessions] so I got my pillow and all my cats and brought them to the little jacket closet under the stairs, what we called the 'office' because it used to be Ummi's old sewing office.

The tornado did not come. A little bittersweet moment for us kids.

H said that S had a good dream about a tornado. "Maybe that means we'll die Muslims!" he said.

Later at night S said, "Today was Mother's Day. Maybe Allah sent the tornado because He was angry at them."

"For what?" Ummi said.

"For celebrating Mother's Day."

Mom was rendered speechless at S's stttraiking words.

THE END

N

Prophet Yunus

Hello humans!

This reflection is a day late as well, from Surah Qalam. Most likely I won't be able to finish it tonight. I'll do half or a quarter now.

Then be patient for the decision of your Lord, [O Muhammad], and be not like the companion of the fish when he called out while he was distressed.

 This says to agree with Allah's decree even if you don't agree with it, because Allah knows best. Be not like the companion of the fish, i.e. Prophet Yunus.

BIOGRAPHY - PROPHET YUNUS
Prophet Yunus carried out the message to his people, but they didn't listen. They were all like, "Vhat ees zees nonsense?!" Exasperated, Prophet Yunus went to the shipdock and asked for a ride. He was allowed. The ship ride was alright until a storm hit the ship. The captain said, "We must throw someone off to stop this storm!" Prophet Yunus knew it was he who caused the storm kinda, and he volunteered to be thrown off. So he was thrown off, and was swallowed by a whale. Eee, scary. Prophet Yunus asked for repentance to Allah in the whale. Allah accepted Yunus' repentance and told the whale to let Yunus go in the shore. Then He made a plant grow over Yunus to cover him. So yeah, after that the people found him and then believed in him.

The moral of this story, or rather, ayah, is to be patient. This is a very good lesson for me because I'm a very impatient person.
--
TRAVELING:
Air:-

Me: Ughhh I'm tired of sitting! When's our flight? I'm hungry! Can I open the cooler? When will Abi be back with the ticket? I need to pee! [Etc.]
Road:-
Me: Geez when will we get there? My legs hurt in this position of sitting for like a million hours. I want to eat. I am gonna mandi when we get to the hotel. I feel disgusting. [Etc.]
--
COOKING/REHEATING FOOD:
Me: *puts a pot on stove*
Me: *walks away*
Ummi: EH N! STIR THE POT! IT WILL BURN! DON'T LEAVE IT! YOU GUYS ALWAYS LEAVE THINGS ON THE STOVE!!
{Excuse me mom, but one of us is NOT ALL of us. Who agrees?}
Me: *walks back and stirs*
Me: *walks around in circles in kitchen and stirs*
Me: Aahhh just HURRY UP AND HEAT! Why are you making scary sizzling sounds if you aren't even hot yet?
--
IN CROWDS:
Me: MOVE IT!! I NEED TO FOLLOW MY FAMILY BEFORE I LOSE THEM! JUST UNDERSTAND THIS; THEY ALWAYS ABANDON ME IN CROWDS!!
Me: *impatiently shoves past person* *mutters: sorry*
Me: Glad I got out of that.
--
Yeah, s'what I do on Eid. :D

So here's a morally story based on this morally ayah.

The Morally Story Based on a Morally Ayah
by Morally N
--
N was baking muffins in the kitchen. She was sifting flour over a bowl. Sifting flour was very tiring. What was the difference between scooped flour and sifted flour? N knew it, but seriously! It took so much time and muscle. N had man muscles

There was about a cup of unsifted flour left in the sieve, but N was DONE. Her hands, muscles and feet hurt, and she wondered why she even wanted to bake that day. She dumped the unsifted flour into the bowl and added the butter and all the other stuff. She put the batter inside the cupcake liners and put the tray in the oven.

The loud oven timer went off. BEEEEEEEEEEP!!

N took the tray of muffins out to cool. When they were cooled, N tried one.

Aaaaauuuuugghhh. It was like, as hard as the top of a brownie. Why is it like this? N wondered. She thought back to her actions and remembered that darned flour that had to be sifted.

Ugh! I should have sifted it if I wanted them to turn out right. Well, now I've just wasted so much time and ingredients.
--
Did y'all learn something from this morally story? You actually get two things from it. Be patient, and you won't waste anything. As in the story, N was not patient and she wasted ingredients and money. And her strength as well.

See y'all tomorrow! Looks like I finished this in time. Forgot about what I wrote all the way up there about finishign a quarter or half tonight. Guess I type fast.

N

It is Nice.

Hello humans!

Isn't it nice to get a break from reading all of my silly reflections that should go on a different blog? I have some updates!

Friday, 7 February 2014, I had an eye appointment. I chose new glasses that will arrive on the 26th. They're blue and pink and purple and are full frame, and metal. In the eye place lobby, a movie called The Croods came on. It's daft. The eye nurse was daft too. He gave me what he called a 'giant spoon' and he said he was done 'torturing me.' To be honest I think the doctor tortured me more than he did. When he was going to take pictures of my eyes, he said, "I've never done this before."

I stared disbelievingly at him.

"Just kidding, I've done it before."
...
"Now, are you ready to see the amazing pictures of your eyes?"

FACEPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALM!!!

On Saturday, I made lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting with S.They were really good and a success too. AR had two and said I should start a baking business. But I'm not a pro.

My H2T class ended Monday, 10 Feb 2014.

N

Water....WATER!!!

Hello humans!

This reflection comes from ayah 30 of Surah al-Mulk. It is the last ayah of Surah al-Mulk, talks about water, and my reflection on it is a day late.

Say: Tell me! If all your water were to be sunk away, who then can supply you with flowing spring water?

If you're not very smart, you're probably thinking, "How can all the water in the world go away? There is so much of it and it is so deep. It can never sink away! And why is N writing a post on this water ayah anyway? It can't ever relate to our lives!"

Comment: You're not wise, kid...e_e

If you're average, you're probably thinking, "Well, it is possible for all water to leave the Earth. An explanation is droughts. And even if all water does go away, can't we dig in the ground to get it?"

Comment: Well, who's your God, sir?

If you're very smart, you are thinking, "Allah does what He pleases, subhanallah. We must utilize our given rizq wisely."

Comment: Yes, lady. Correct. ^-^

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WELL, I can relate to this very well.

The Story of No Water

based on a true story

by N

 ~PROLOGUE~

"Mom! Z's wasting water!" N yelled.

"Z! Don't waste the water!" Ummi yelled when she heard water going on at a blast in the bathroom downstairs.

Z meekly turned down the amount of water at the sink. Ummi went downstairs and called Z. Z came.

"Z, don't waste water. If you waste too much, Allah might TAKE away the water, and then you wont have water anymore! You can't drink, mandi, or kencing. Haaa, you don't want that, do you?"

Z's eyes widened. "Aaaaa!" he wailed, voice rising.

"Lol," said N.

--

It was a summer afternoon in July, and S was washing dishes. After soaping a dish, she turned on the faucet to rinse the soaped dish. But no water came out of the faucet.

"Ummi!" S yelled. "The faucet isn't working!"

"Ha?" Ummi yelled back, and thundered downstairs like a hippo in a water war.

"The water won't come out," S said.

"Alamak!" said Ummi.

Ummi called Abi to settle the matter, and Abi took the hose from outside and stuck it through the kitchen window. "We're gonna have to use that for a couple days," he said.

S rinsed the dish.

The next day, the kids filled the cooler with all the containers in the house they had. Then Abi drove everybody to the masjid. The masjid still had water, so all the containers were filled with the masjid's water.

The rest of the days were like that, using the masjid's water from the containers. Finally, the water came back on again.

N remembered that time Ummi had told Z about wasting water. Sheesh. Scary. Wasting too much water really did cause water loss. But at least it was in their house only.

"See Z, this is what happens when you waste water, Z," Ummi told Z.

--

That is based on a true story. Happened somewhere in 2011, I believe. I don't remember exactly how we found out, but we did have not water for a couple days, and we did go fill many containers with the masjid's water. I don't remember how we showered, but maybe the water loss lasted for a moment only. Don't remember. 

This ayah can also apply to light loss and blackouts and powerouts. We've had many of these, and the most recent blackout we've had that I can remember was in July of last year. If you want the real story, see this.

So don't waste and take advantage of what you have, because Allah may take it away from you anytime. This includes your life.

N

Noses

Hello humans!

I asked Z about noses yesterday, because I am still shocked at the fact that he noticed my nose was bigger than any other person's nose.

I asked him if S's nose was big.

"No."

"Ummi's?"

"No!"

"Abi's?"

"Ya! ...no no."

"Yours?"

"NOO!"

"H's?"

"Ya, ya."

"Mine?"

"Yaaa!!"

"So you only think mine and H's noses are big?"

"Ya! No no no. H's nose is just BIG, but yo' nose is VAWY big."

Okay...

N

Yolo....yes or no?

Hello humans!

 Today's reflection is from ayah 10 in Sourate el-Mounaafeqoune. (The Hippocritts)

وَأَنفِقُواْ مِن مَّا رَزَقۡنَـٰكُم مِّن قَبۡلِ أَن يَأۡتِىَ أَحَدَكُمُ ٱلۡمَوۡتُ فَيَقُولَ رَبِّ لَوۡلَآ أَخَّرۡتَنِىٓ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍ۬ قَرِيبٍ۬ فَأَصَّدَّقَ وَأَكُن مِّنَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحِينَ (١٠)

(Credit: Quran Explorer)

10. And spend out of what We have 

given you before death comes 

to one of you, so that he 

should say: My Lord! why didst 

Thou not respite me to a 

near term, so thought I 

should have given alms and 

been the doers of good deeds?

This ayah shows you how short life really is. As they all say...

"Life is too short to frown,"

and "YOLO." (You Only Live Once)

Well, yeah. But YOLO isn't true. The truth is You Only Live Twice. And the second life is eternal.

Life is very long. Our life, no matter how long we live, be it even 200 years, is just a tiny dot on the lifeline, as Mom put it. Like how a little scar on your arm is nothing as long as the rest of your body is healthy. Or to be simpler, a little dot on the number line. Numbers go on forever. The alphabet just has 26 letters. But numbers can go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and.....etc. Like life, until Allah chooses to end it.

We never know when Allah chooses to end our lives, so we have to make sure we put effort in every one of our actions. Say you were randomly invited to a party of non-Muslims, and the time for 'Asr came in. You tell the party host that you need to pray. The host goes all like,

"No way, boy. You can do that later when you leave, man. Forget that and enjoy the fun, dude! YOLO, y'know!"

And so you listen. You miss Maghrib. You miss Isha. Then, as you carpool with your drunk friends on the way home, you get in a car crash on the way home and you are one not among the survivors, unfortunately. 

So you die. And the last prayer you did, Dhuhr, was not even performed correctly. It was rushed, with no khushu'. 

Scary, isn't it? You've got to make every deed of yours perfect, because you may die any second, and be mindful of what you say. If you talk too much you might be talking before you die and the last word you say may not be very beneficial to you. You want a full good deed book on the DoJ, do you not? You know that feeling of regret when you've done something wrong and you know it? It's not a good feeling.

Now that I hope and think you've got my point, I will entertain you with a story. You all love my stories, don't you?

THE STORY

(original title, right?)

It was a breezy Thursday in March, and N was at the computer, nervously typing her last answer in for the virtual biology quiz. Then she clicked Submit. 

Ughhhh, thought N. Lind's probably gonna scream and give me a bad grade and stuff. And that was my last attempt.

 N waved off the thought and closed the virtual class site tab. The class site only allowed two attempts on the quizzes. Huh. Only two chances is a little risky.

Two days later, on Saturday, N went again to the class site. Results were shown on Saturdays, and N was quite concerned about her reulsts. That quiz was thirty questions plus, and N hadn't really studied.

N clicked on the quiz and braced herself for the results.

She stared.

Yikes.

18.25 out of 35.00.

N screamed, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" (in her head, of course. because someone upstairs was sleeping.)

That grade was terrible, although her first attempt grade was even worse. It was 9.00 out of 35.00.

But still! N had already used up both of her attempts and she had no more. 

I should have studied, I should have studied. And I should have done it thoroughly, N thought over and over.

The poor damsel in distress was overcome by regret, and she could do nothing about it. 

SHE HAD NO MORE CHANCES.

THE END

So, studying for a quiz is like you living your life and doing good deeds, praying, being nice to your siblings (koff), etc. The quiz is life itself. Submitting your results is you dying and Allah is looking over all the deeds you did whilst living. Looking at your grade is looking at your book on the DoJ. 

Most importantly, YOU HAVE NO MORE CHANCES. No going back. Life goes on, people grow up, die, and new ones come into the world. Some are forgotten, some remembered depending on what they did while living. There is no goign back. We learn this every day. You can't redo or undo something you did. Like, if you move your arm, you can move it back, but moving your arm already happened. You can't erase that movement from your list of actions with that arm you moved.

That's all I've got for today, humans.

N

PS: I hate my story today. Tomorrow I will choose a much better ayah to reflect on and I WILL provide a story, if I live tomorrow. Inscyeaaaaa'Allah.

Merchandise ain't No Nothing

Hello humans!

 Today's ayah is from Sourate el-Gomoa, ayah 11.

And when they see some merchandise or some amusement they disperse headlong to it, and leave you (Muhammad SAW) standing [while delivering the Jumu'ah khutbah]. Say "That which Allah has is better than any amusement or merchandise! And Allah is the Best of Providers."

This ayah is based on an event in Muslim history. I learned this in the Fiqh of Chillin' class. Prophet Muhammad SAW was giving a khutbah and then there was the sound of a duff playing outside. It was a merchant selling food. All the people listening to the khutbah ran to get the food because at that time there was like a drought or no food or something. Only one man stayed, and I think it was Abu Bakr or some other person. Thus this ayah was revealed.

NOW, BACK TO US...

How can we tie this to our life?

 Put Allah before yourself and everything else. Here's an example, story-form.

It was a steaming hot Monday in June.

Z was spinning around in the living room, humming happily while everybody else minded their own business in their rooms. Then suddenly, the spinning Z's hand whizzed by a vase of snapdragon flowers. The vase tipped and fell to the ground. Dirt was all over the floor and among them, the snapdragons.

Oh no! Z thought. Good thing it fell on the carpet.

He began to clean it up, but at that moment, Z heard S coming out of her room. Z's eyes widened and he hid in the sunroom. He peeked at S through the sliding door.

"Who knocked the vase down?!" S yelled. "My best snapdragons!"

N came out of her room as well. "No one's out here. Maybe it fell by itself?"

"Couldn't have! It was square in the middle of the table, not at the edge! Someone for sure knocked it off!" S said.

"Well, Abi's at work, H is at the masjid and Mom is upstairs," N said. "There's nobody else except..."

"Z!" they both yelled at once.

"Oh no," Z whispered to himself. "I'm busted."

N and S came into the sunroom and saw Z. "Z!" S said. "Did you knock my vase down?"

Z didn't want to talk. He knew, if he told the truth, S was going to smack him and tell him to clean up the dirt on the floor and possibly buy more snapdragon seeds with his own money, if the situation got really bad.

On the other hand, if he lied, S would leave him alone.

Then Z thought deeper. What would the outcome be if he told the truth and got yelled at and smacked and all that other horridness? He for sure didn't want to get smacked. But the he remembered what Ummi had said about telling the truth and lying.

"Lying is a major sin, Z. If you lie, you get no reward, and your deed scale on the Day of Judgement will be heavier on the bad deed side. But if you tell the truth, you will get lots of reward for owning up and tolerating the yells and smacks you may get. And everything will be better in the future. Remember that."

Z decided to own up. Anyway, S and N already suspected it was him, and there was so much evidence why it could be him. They didn't have a cat, so Z couldn't use that old 'the cat knocked it down' excuse. So Z stood up straight and said, "Yes, S. I knocked it down. I was spinning around and hit it and it fell."

S's angry face got angrier. "Well, go clean it up, cow!" she yelled, and - yes she did - smacked him. 

Well, Z had to clean it up, and cry, and use $5.49 from his wallet to buy more snapdragon seeds. He had to plant them, water them, put them in the sun, and care for the snapdragons until they grew as big as the ones before. Life was, most of the time, terrible for Z and he almost wished he had not told the truth about spinning.

Two weeks later, Z and his brother and sisters entered a draw to win a laptop. The day after, a package was dropped at the front door, addressed to Z. He'd won the draw!

Z cheered, and as he did, he thought about the time he'd knocked the vase down and the aftermath. Since that day everything had been terrible for him, but today something wonderful happened.

This is the doing of Allah, Z thought. He made everything better for me, just because I told the truth.

And he knew it.

~♦~

If you tell the truth and endure all the consequences, most of which are not pleasant, everything will be better in the end, because remember, the dunya is only temporary. Sure, the smacking and yelling will only be for a short moment of time. It can easily be forgotten over the years. People grow up and die. Their dunya life is over once they die. But the Akhirah is endless. Would you rather lie and be safe now, and get a heavy bad deed scale in the Hereafter, or would you prefer to tell the truth, endure the bad consequences, but get a heavy good deed scale in the Hereafter?

Your Choice.

N

Hypocrisy

Hello humans!

Another reflection.

Sourah es-Saffe, ayahs TEW and THWEE.

 

O you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do?

 

Great is hatred in the sight of Allah that you say what you do not do.

These ayahs show the importance of why hypocrisy is forbidden. You can't tell someone to do something until you've done it yourself. 

So like...

"N, why don't you do your dhikr? Seriously!" said S after Asr prayer.
 "Okay, I'll do it," said N agitatedly.
S grinned to herself because she herself didn't do dhikr.
H stared at S. "You don't even do it yourself, S!"
"Eeeiiiish. Don't preach what you don't practice lah S," said Ummi.

[This is not based on a true story.]

When N got to the masjid she slammed everyone and sat down. Then, fortunately for N, Mar came. "Hi N!" she said and was going to sit down when....

"Go pray your Tahiyatul Masjid, Mar," N said.

"Oops," said Mar. Then she went to go do her Tahiyatul Masjid.

N did not know that what she had done was wrong.

N