A nice quotation from Dr. Fatimah Nasif - may Allah Preserve her::

“If haya’ is beautiful in a man, it is even more beautiful in a woman. If it is virtuous in a man, it is even more virtuous in a woman, as it only increases her in elegance. So, the pinnacle of good in a woman is her haya’, and the pinnacle of evil in a woman is her boldness and forwardness. Haya’ is the watchful and vigilant protector of her virtue, and is her personal security guard that does not allow for any entity to violate her honor, or to cross into her space. And it is what prevents any filth from residing in an area that has been occupied by virtue. In fact, it separates between these two with all the power and resolve that is possible.”

['Huquq al-Mar'ah wa Wajibatiha fi Daw' al-Kitab was-Sunnah'; p. 116]

I’ve made another blog and I’ll probably be updating that one much more than this one. I’m moving to Egypt temporarily and we’re leaving tomorrow, bi ithnillah. If you’re interested in following me on my journey to study in Cairo, then check out: aliainegypt.muslimpad.com.

Asma’ bint Marthad
radiAllahu `anha

She was a Companion of the Prophet Muhamamd salAllahu `alayhi wa sallam. It is said that an ayah of Qur’an was revealed about her.

She used to take great precaution in preserving her modesty. She complained to the Prophet about male slaves coming into her room and Allah revealed,

O you who have believed, let those whom your right hands possess and those who have not [yet] reached puberty among you ask permission of you [before entering] at three times: before the dawn prayer and when you put aside your clothing [for rest] at noon and after the night prayer. [These are] three times of privacy for you. There is no blame upon you nor upon them beyond these [periods], for they continually circulate among you - some of you, among others. Thus does Allah make clear to you the verses; and Allah is Knowing and Wise. [24:58]

Assalaamu `alaykum,

I have received messages saying that some of you are having trouble viewing my blog. I use Firefox browser and I don’t see anything wrong with the alignment on my screen. If you are experiencing trouble with it, I think it might be because you are using a different browser…I’m not sure why this would happen. I will try to consult one of my blog-savvy friends on this and see if there’s anything I can do to fix it. Until then, download Firefox!

^ T-shirt design from Threadless.com
Cleaning. I don’t enjoy the process but I love the result. There are so many other things we do that are like that. Exercising, studying, cooking (for some), and grooming - to name a few. I’ve noticed that most of the mundane tasks we take on in life are either unenjoyable with good results or enjoyable with bad after-effects.

I can sit in my room and sort through piles of papers and clothing sifting through memory after memory, sneezing from dust, getting overwhelmed at the amount of work before me, all the while hating the process wishing I wasn’t doing it. But afterwards? I feel like I can take on the world! (erm, okay maybe just the closet)..
Then take watching TV for hours or something, you might feel good enjoying a laugh and kicking back, but afterwards? You feel lazy, wishing you didn’t have to enter back into reality, wishing you hadn’t turned it on to begin with.

SubhanAllah, if you look to the prescribed acts of worship though, you’ll notice something sweet. Every single act of worship prescribed for us is something which is not only enjoyable, but also leaves you feeling good afterward. Sure there are hardships in worship such as struggling to maintain concentration in Salah, standing in prayer while your body wants to crumble to the floor, difficulty in memorizing and reading from the Qur’an, pangs of hunger during fasting, not to mention the numerous trials one undergoes in Hajj…

But what’s so beautiful is that while you’re doing those acts of worship, despite the hardship, you still love the fact that you’re doing it. And to top it all off, you’re, insha’Allah, riding high on Eman once you’re done too. You love the process and you love the result. Ladies and gentlemen that sounds like a win-win to me. What more reason to love and enjoy the prescribed acts of worship!

I mean, even though it can be hard and tiring, who would actually sit to read Qur’an or stand to pray extra prayers and think, “I wish I wasn’t doing this”?

I ask Allah to save us from that and to give us tranquility and success through our `Ebadah. Ameen

Recently someone in my family purchased a Macbook and it’s taken me a while to get used to it. I was totally lost when I first turned it on, I knew we had to get Windows on it ASAP. Alhamdulillah the brother who’s behind Phatwa Factory, generously dedicated some of his time to fix it up by installing Bootcamp and Windows along with some other useful software…jazahullah khayr. Now, as he pointed out, we can happily pretend we’re not typing on a ridiculously-priced Fisher Price toy…while enjoying the custom made Phatwa Factory wallpaper:

Recently, most of my free time is spent reading and writing about women in Islam. Alhamdulillah, the more research I do, the more I love Islam and the way it has honored women from the very beginning. The following piece is an excerpt from the book, Human Rights in Islam. It is only a glimpse of what Islam does to protect and honor women:

A woman’s chastity has to be respected and protected under all circumstances, whether she belongs to our own nation or to the nation of an enemy, whether we find her in the wild forest or in a conquered city; whether she is our co-religionist or belongs to some other religion or has no religion at all. A Muslim cannot outrage her under any circumstances. All promiscuous relation- ship has been forbidden to him, irrespective of the status or position of the woman, whether the woman is a willing or an unwilling partner to the act. The words of the Holy Qur’an in this respect are: 

“Do not approach (the bounds of) adultery” (17:32).

Heavy punishment has been prescribed for this crime, and no mitigating circumstances are indicated. Since the violation of the chastity of a woman is forbidden in Islam, a Muslim who perpetrates this crime cannot escape punishment-whether he receives it in this world or in the Hereafter.

 

This concept of the sanctity of chastity and the protection of women can be found nowhere else except in Islam. The armies of the Western powers need the daughters of their own nations to satisfy their carnal appetites even in their own countries, and if they happen to occupy another county, the fate of its womenfolk can better be imagined than described.

But the history of the Muslim, apart from individual lapses, has been free from this crime against womanhood. It has never happened that after the conquest of a foreign country the Muslim army has gone about raping the women of the conquered people, or, in their own country, the government has arranged to provide prostitutes for them.  

I wish we would remember that there is an art and a science to da’wah. Why bother with a person’s “art” when you know that the real problem lies in their “science”…or in their understanding of the science.

When we want to criticize someone’s da’wah, we have to remember to criticize them based on the science and not based on their art. People will all have different styles of da’wah and this is based on their personality when dealing with others and inviting them to Islam. The science, on the other hand, should be the same. We should have the same message, same `Aqeedah and the science of our da’wah should be based on the da’wah of Rasulullah salAllahu `alayhi wa sallam.

When someone contradicts the Qur’an and Sunnah in this regard, that is when the science of their da’wah can be criticized and should be corrected.