Hygiene

I sit behind a guy in one of my classes, and I can smell his WELL NEAR SINFUL B.O from THREE. ROWS. BACK. I would also like to mention, there is no real air circulation in that room. He smells so bad, HIS OWN SCENT WANTS TO GET AWAY FROM HIM.


THANK GOD, we have rules in place to prevent us from smelling like that:


1) Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri: The Prophet said, "Ghusl (taking a bath) on Friday is compulsory for everyMuslim reaching the age of puberty."  (Bukhari, Book #12, Hadith #817)


2) Narrated Abu Said: I testify that Allah's Apostle said, "The taking of a bath on Friday is compulsory for every male Muslim who has attained the age of puberty and (also) the cleaning of his teeth with Siwak, and the using of perfume if it is available." Amr (a sub-narrator) said, "I confirm that the taking of a bath is compulsory, but as for the Siwak and the using of perfume, Allah knows better whether it is obligatory or not, but according to the Hadith it is as above.")  (Bukhari, Book #13, Hadith #5)


3) Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said "We are the last (to come amongst the nations) but (will be) the foremost on the Day of Resurrection. They were given the Holy Scripture before us and we were given the Quran after them. And this was the day (Friday) about which they differed and Allah gave us the guidance (for that). So tomorrow (i.e. Saturday) is the Jews' (day), and the day after tomorrow (i.e. Sunday) is the Christians'." The Prophet (p.b.u.h) remained silent (for a while) and then said, "It is obligatory for everyMuslim that he should take a bath once in seven days, when he should wash his head and body." Narrated Abu Huraira through different narrators that the Prophet said, "It is Allah's right on every Muslim that he should take a bath (at least) once in seven days."  (Bukhari, Book #13, Hadith #21)


4) Narrated 'Aisha: An Ansari woman asked the Prophet how to take a bath after finishing from the menses. He replied, "Take a piece a cloth perfumed with musk and clean the private parts with it thrice." The Prophet felt shy and turned his face. So pulled her to me and told her what the Prophet meant.  (Bukhari, Book #6, Hadith#312)


5) Narrated 'Azra bin Thabit Al-Ansari: When I went to Thumama bin 'Abdullah, he gave me some perfumeand said that Anas would not reject the gifts of perfume. Anas said: The Prophet used not to reject the gifts of perfume.  (Bukhari, Book #47, Hadith #756)


6) Abu Malik at-Ash'ari reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: cleanliness is half of faith and al-Hamdu Liliah (Praise be to Allah) fills the scale, and Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah) and al-Hamdu Liliah (Praise be to Allah) fill upwhat is between the heavens and the earth, and prayer is a light, and charity is proof (of one's faith) and endurance is a brightness and the Holy Qur'an is a proof on your behalf or against you. All men go out early in the morning and sell themselves, thereby setting themselves free or destroying themselves.  (Bukhari, Book #002, Hadith #0432)


7) The Prophet was said to love 3 things; Women (his wives), Perfume, and Salat. (can't find source :( )


But the list goes on and on, and I know it only says "every friday" but we are fortunate to live in a place where we have water, HOT water, and SOAP, and shampoo every day!! I REALLY don't think that showering every day is going to get filed under "extravagance". Especially when the alternative offends everyone around you!

Khanzab

So there you are, doing your duhur,  you're making your way through your prayer, coming up from sujuud and into the second rukaa. You start going through your Al Fatiha and deciding which Surat your going to recite, but you can't for the life of you remember where you heard that line before. You know, the one....some guy was saying it....he was in a movie, and you think there was a motorcycle chase. Man, motorcycle chases are awesome, but they're so unrealistic. I wonder how hard it is to get a motorcycle licence. How would the instructor teach you? Would they sit behind you? That would be so awkward. I'm pretty awkward, I should fix that. I wonder if I should whiten my teeth today? I don't even know if those white strips are working, maybe I should stop drinking coffee, I heard it stains teeth. Aw man, I want Timmies now! I think I'll get a cup after this....wait...how did I get here? Okay, my head was on the ground....then I came up...I'm sitting now..so I must have done two bows....so now I recite Tashhaddud..no...I need to go down one more time...what if I don't? should I just add another rukaa? Or do the prostrations of forgetfulness? maybe I should just start over....no I don't need to...




If you said yes (come on, I know you have :P ), then YOU my friend, have had a good little chat with your fiend and mine: Khanzab. Khanzab is a devil responsible for screwing over our prayers. Distracting us with stuff until we have no idea how many rukaa's we've prayed. AND MAN IS IT IRRITATING. 


So what do you do? How do you cast him out? Well, according to this hadith:


“Oh Rasūlullah! The Shaytān comes between me and my prayers and my recitation, confusing me therein.” Rasūlullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “That is a shaytān that is called khanzab¹. If he affects you seek refuge in Allah  from him and spit drily to your left three times.” The companion said, I did that and Allāh took him away from me.
(Narrated by Muslim, 4083)


you simply spit on your left 3 times. Now, I'm not going to argue with hadith, that's what it says, okay try that. Personally, I have my own little techniques. 


THIS IS MY OWN INFORMATION, THIS IS WHAT I DO, IT HAS NO BASIS IN RELIGION, SO I DON'T GUARANTEE IT'S RIGHT AND WON'T GET YOU IN TROUBLE WITH THE LORD.


Technique 1) My first technique to keep my count during prayers was just that. As I start each rukaa, I imagine a number drawn in a strange way. Some way I'll remember (for rukaa 4, the 4 was usually the Fantastic 4 symbol :P). That way, if I lost count, I would just remember the numbers I've thought of and how they looked.


Technique 2) Count something. for me, it was usually corners of the prayer mat, but if there's something within your immediate field of view (specs of dust on the carpet, or something that doesn't require you to look around a whole lot). Again, if I lost count of the numbers of rukaa's, I'd just look for the things I counted.


Technique 3) This is my newest one, and probably the least likely to get you in trouble. In your mind, ask for a different thing in each rukaa, and each time you bow. For example, in rukaa 1 maybe ask for help improving your character, in 2: forgiveness, 3: cheesecake, 4: get out of debt. And stick with it, only change them up every few months (or after you've got what you asked for). That way you'll learn that if you just finished asking for cheescake, you're heading into rukaa 4. 


Good luck! 

Islamic Pins!

A little while ago I started thinking: "How many people pass me by? how many potential friendships do I miss? Simply because people can't tell I'm muslim?"

Now you're probably thinking, oh Th3luba you silly person, who can't tell you're muslim? My answer: EVERYONE. You see, as it happens, despite being raised muslim, I don't look it. AT ALL. One of my parents is of European descent and it looks like I got all their genes. (Fortunately, I was provided with a fantastic set of tanning genes from my other parent, so I suppose it balances out....or maybe not. But I digress..) I'll meet people and first they'll say "You're muslim!?" their next question is then "When did you convert?" And I die a little inside. SO, I decided to make myself a nice little pin to let people know I'm muslim! 

Nothing fancy, seriously. In fact, it couldn't be less fancy. The first pin I made was out of a bottle cap, a coke can tab, a safety pin, tape and a crescent moon and star printed on a bit of paper. The second one I made is a green moon and star on a white piece of paper, taped to a proper pin. I also made a pin that says "Born Muslim" which I keep on my backpack. 

So far the only person (who wasn't one of my friends) who noticed was a sweet old lady that didn't know what the symbol meant any more than she deduced I was muslim because my sister was (and she knew my sister. ) But we live in hope.....and I haven't been wearing it for very long, or around very far (I go to my college in university, and home. So I don't meet anyone new very often)

But I did a little online search for islamic pins and came across this website which has a few, rather entertaining ones!

http://www.zazzle.ca/islam+buttons

now some of the have to do with Obama and support for him, but there are some neat ones that say stuff like  "Relax! I'm Muslim!" or "Islam; all the cool kids are doing it!" or "Muslims wanted: it's a tough job but the retirement plan is unbelievable!" 

There was one on another site I thought was really funny, it said "Don't Panic! I'm Islamic!" Wear THAT through the airport! :P

So if you're like me and whiter than the untouched snow, looking to stand out to your muslim brethren or sistren (new word), why not try a pin! 

Supplication after Recitation

Before this weeks post, I would like to mention that uni is starting to tighten it's grip around my throat and I've run out of buffer articles. I'm going to try my best to keep updating every friday, but if I miss a day, don't crucify me. haha, crucify. Religious humor. ANYWAY.


I was browsing through the book "The Ways of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW)" by Arif Billah, Dr. Muhamad Abdul Hai Aarfi (GREAT book by the way, I recommend it) when I came upon a section titled:


Du'a (supplication) at the Time of Completing the Recitation of the Quran Receives an Answer


It goes on to say that it is reported in traditions that a special mercy of Allah (SWT) descends at the time when one completes the recitation of the Quran, and that it was the usual practice of the companions that, upon completion of Quranic Recitation, they would sit and pray together. Sayyidina Hasan (RA) would even go and bring his family members to join him in prayer. 


So I figured, hey! That sounds like a good idea! And started reciting. I read it out loud, from transliterated arabic (i.e english lettering of the arabic pronunciation), but you'll probably get a more points if you read it in arabic from arabic text. I finished in about 30 days (new high score! Actually, only high score. I've never actually read it front to back in any language before). Upon completion, I sat down and made my supplications. I finished it so quickly, because I had something very specific in mind that I wanted to ask for, and in case you were wondering, yes, my supplication did get answered. :P

It's a Woman's (next) World

WHAT. THE HECK. So APPARENTLY doing the stuff a wife is expected to do is worth as much as going to juma, congregational and funeral prayers, visiting the sick, performing Hajj and Umra, and FIGHTING IN JIHAD. I doth quote:

Asma (RA) reported that she approached the Prophet (SAW) on behalf of woman and mentioned that men excelled women due to their participation in Friday and congregational prayers, visiting the sick, attending funeral prayers, performing the Hajj and Umra, and due to their participation in Jihad. The Prophet (SAW) replied: "Go and inform the women that their beautification for their husbands, discharging their rights, seeking their pleasure and obeying them is equal in reward (to the above mentioned acts) of men" [Kanz-ul-Amaal] (Taken from DailyHadith App for Iphone)

So, while guys are out their, risking their necks jihad, or standing in rows for long periods of time, shoulder to shoulder with Bashir Big Beard and Tareq Turban, or sitting on the floor as their lower extremities slowly lose feeling listening to an Imam lecture on for an hour, women can sit at home, put on their makeup and make themselves even prettier while watching T.V, maybe do some chores with a youtube video playing on the counter, perhaps prepare a snack for their hubbies and themselves or do whatever else was asked of them AND GET THE SAME REWARD. 

"But Th3luba you chauvinist!" you may exclaim "we have to do what our husbands tell us to do! How is that fair?" To which I wittily respond "See last weeks post. And really, 70 years (if even that) of being a good wife pretty much gets you an ETERNITY of bliss. Some guys never even SEE a jihad, let alone participate in one, and all you have to do is keep us happy (it's not hard, it really isn't. We have two moods: hungry and....let's call it cuddly (for the kiddies sake)) so enough complaining; go give your man a hug and swap it for a Palace in Paradise."