That Awkward Moment When

There's a funny website called http://thatawkwardmoment.net/ which is just filled with sentences that go:

That awkward moment when... *insert awkward moment*

As I sat in the Masjid one friday, I thought to myself, I bet there are a lot of awkward moments in Islam and in our daily lives! Let's see if I can name a few (can you figure out the references?)

That awkward moment when you're the only one not bowing to God's creation, as ordered.
That awkward moment when you, a virgin, are told you're about to have a baby.
That awkward moment when you lose wuduu in the middle of a congregational prayer and have to excuse yourself.
That awkward moment when you have to dodge the hug because male/female interaction is a no-no.
That awkward moment when you get up too early for fajr.
That awkward moment when you go to collect someone's soul and they give you a black eye.
That awkward moment when that shallow pool turns out to be glass.
That awkward moment when you go back to God to ask Him to reduce the number of prayers. Again.
That awkward moment when you realize the guy you've been working for for a hundred+ years has been dead for a while.
That awkward moment when you miscount the number of takbeers during Eid prayer.
That awkward moment when you can't remember if you prayed 3 or 4 rukaas
That awkward moment when you suddenly realize you are naked.
That awkward moment when you're told to take your little band of believers and leave a town of sodomy, but your wife has to stay.
That awkward moment when you go to deliver God's message and His chosen Prophet flees in terror.
That awkward moment when you can't pay the ransom for breaking fast because you and the Prophet (SAW) ARE the poorest guys you know.
That awkward moment when you hit the head of the guy behind you with your bum when returning from rukuu.
That awkward moment when you decide to read the ingredients after taking a bite and you realize it has gelatin in it.
That awkward moment when you come back and realize the people you fought to save have started worshipping a statue.

What other awkward moments have there been/are there in our deen?

The Most Effective Method for Learning a Language

I read an excellent website called Lifehacker fairly regularly, and I came across an article on learning another language. You can find the article here:

http://lifehacker.com/5839401/the-most-effective-method-for-learning-a-language-alone

Basically what it says to do, is get a hold of a book and audio that goes with it. Like an audiobook, but get the text version too. Sit down with a pen and notebook, and play the audiobook (the recommend using an application called Audacity to do this because it has the ability to repeat sections of audio). After each section you listen to, write down as best you can what you heard. Then, use the book to check yourself and repeat as necessary. They explain the benefits of this technique in the article so take a look if you're interested.

I'm a little embarrassed to say that for a split second I thought to myself "Where can I find an arabic audio book with the text to match?" Where indeed. :P

3 Elements of Personal Prayer

*updates might be a bit infrequent, as I've returned to school again*


Over summer I started reading some Quran, and I realized that there are 3 things we need to be doing on a regular basis


1) Being grateful to Allah (SWT)
2) Praising Allah (SWT)
3) Seeking forgiveness from Allah (SWT)


Being grateful


In the Mohsin Khan translation of the Quran, the word "grateful" appears 22 times. Yeah I know some of those times are in explanations (Mohsin likes his parenthetical explanations) but still, it started to stand out:


O you who believe (in the Oneness of Allah - Islamic Monotheism)! Eat of the lawful things that We have provided you with, and be grateful to Allah, if it is indeed He Whom you worship. (2:172)


....Allah intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. (He wants that you) must complete the same number (of days), and that you must magnify Allah [i.e. to say Takbir (Allahu Akbar; Allah is the Most Great] for having guided you so that you may be grateful to Him. (2:185)




Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is no more than a Messenger, and indeed (many) Messengers have passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you then turn back on your heels (as disbelievers)? And he who turns back on his heels, not the least harm will he do to Allah; and Allah will give reward to those who are grateful. (3:144)


And on and on. So one ought to pepper their days with "Alhumdlillah's", over little things like the light turning green, or not so little things like not tripping over your socks and plunging headfirst down the stairs and into Azrael's open arms. 


2) Praising Allah (SWT)


Now a quick search of "praise" in the Quran doesn't turn up many ayat telling us to praise Allah, but we do get a bunch of Ayat reminding us how Allah (SWT) is "worthy of all praise". This also falls under the "keep a remembering tongue" category of stuff we ought to be doing. Personally, I find this one a little tricky. I can't toss out a "subhanAllah" at a magnificent sunset or upon reading about how bees can boil a hornet when defending their hive. It's not that I'm proud, it's just that when I say it, I feel like I'm saying it just to show off...it feels very unnatural. So, I do it the good old fashioned robotic way, with TECHNOLOGY! :D I whip out my iPhone and iSubha app and go to town after my prayers. 


3) Seeking forgivness


Of all the 3, this is probably the one we should be doing the most. Getting rewards is fine and dandy, but we're just hindering ourselves by not asking forgiveness. We could think of asking forgiveness like earning reward in that we're no longer using our good deeds to nullify bad ones since the bad ones are being taken out entirely. The key element in seeking forgiveness however, is regret. We need to truly regret what we did and not want to do it again. We might do it again, but that's okay sinccne and it gets hard to ask for forgiveness when sometimes we can pretty much bet the farm we'll do it again, still, we live in hope. 


I found this on a forum (http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?258973-When-does-Allah-stop-forgiving-a-person-who-keeps-repeating-the-same-sin)


Al-Bukhaari (7507) and Muslim (2758) narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that his Lord said: “My slave commits sin, then he says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ Then he commits sin again, and says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ Then he commits sin again, and says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ …”


Which is reassuring (but not an excuse to keep sinning, mind you)


In summary though, these 3 practices are just ways of making sure we have all our bases covered. 

That Pretty Much Sums it Up. :D

Qamar Deen iPhone App

The latest revision of iQuran added an option to log your reading. However, it said it needed another app called Qamar Deen in order to do this. So I looked for it, and it's actually a pretty awesome app.

Qamar Deen
by Batoul Apps
Price: Free
http://qamardeen.com/

This little app helps you keep track of 4 things:
your prayers, your fasting, your charity, and your Quran readings.


It's very simple and easy to use, and it can be integrated with iQuran by Guidedways.

Prayers:

The Good: When you do a prayer, you open the app, and go to the Prayers tab and tap the appropriate prayer (choose from Fajr, Duha, Duhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha, Witr). A little menu will pop up and you can pick from 6 options (or less depending on the prayer):
Jama'a + Sunnah, Jama'a, Alone + sunnah, Alone, late or not set.

The Bad: No complaints here. You can even change your gender so that the image is of a hijabi instead!

Fasting:
The Good: It's the same way, go to the date, tap the screen, choose which applies: Fareedah (An obligatory fast, pretty much only available for Ramadan), Sunnah, Qada (for a missed/broken day of fasting), Kaffarah (for repaying a day of fast that one botched by having intercourse (fun tip: it's apparently supposed to be 60 days of continuous fast or feeding of poor people)), and Nazr (a vowed fast).
The Bad: You cannot adjust the hijri date. Today, it is Ramadan the 26th where I am, as well as being August the 26th. The app however believes it to be Ramadan the 27th.

Quran:
The Good: If you are using iQuran by Guidedways, simply tap and hold on the last ayat you read and select "log". Qamar Deen will open and show you the ayat, chapter and number of ayat read since either the last time you logged, or the beginning of the Quran (if you just started). That's for your daily readings, but it also has an option for you to log extra readings!
The Bad: The extra readings can only add full chapters, as opposed to chapters and ayats. It would have been nice if they had made it go: Extra readings: From X:Y to U:V instead.

Sadaqah:
The Good: The format is the same, pick your day, tap the screen, choose the charity. Now, obviously it cannot include every type of charity, but it does include the main ones: Money, food, clothes, other, but it also includes effort and even a smile! You can also select all that apply.
The Bad: You cant specify how much of something you gave, but that's probably a good thing. Charity is charity.

Settings:
Like I said, you can't change the hijri date which would have been nice, but you can turn on and off the extra prayers (Duha and Witr), pick your gender (affects the little icon), turn on password protection so your right hand doesn't know what your left is doing ;), turn on arabic mode, and even choose your Quran app (choose from Quran Reader, iQuran, or Al Mus'haf). Also, I just found out that if you turn your device sideways, you'll get a chart of your progress and summaries of your deeds (total prayers, total charitable days, total ayahs read, and total days fasted)!

The aim of the app is to help people see what kind of deeds they're doing and to hopefully encourage them to improve the quality and number. It's an excellent little app, and it's free, so I definitely recommend checking it out.

Were Your Great^(some big number) Grandparents Zombies?

I was reading in that Islamic library App I mentioned about the story of Ezekiel (Hizqeel), and in it there was a little hadith that went like this:


According to Ibn Abbas, there was a place called "Damardan." It's people were inflicted with plague, so they fled, while a group of them who remained in the village perished. The Angel of Death called to the survivors: "Die you all," and they perished. After a long time, a prophet called Ezekiel passed by them and stood wondering over them, twisting his jaws and fingers. Allah (SWT) revealed to him: "Do you want Me to show you how I bring them back to life?" He said: "Yes." His idea was to marvel at the power of Allah (SWT) over them. A voice said to him: "Call: "O you bones, Allah commands you to gather up."" The bones began to fly one to the other until they became skeletons. Then Allah (SWT) revealed to him to say: "Call: "O you bones, Allah (SWT) commands you to put flesh and blood and the clothes in which you had died."" And a voice said: "Allah commands you to call the bodies to rise." And they rose. When they returned to life they said: "Blessed are You O Lord, and all praises are Yours." Ibn 'Abbas reported that the dead who were resurrected were four thousand, while Ibn Salih said they were nine thousand. 


Now there's no mention that after this sign was finished these people died again. They could have gone on to lead healthy normal lives. Maybe even have kids. You know what that means (according to popular culture) many of us could be part zombie! :D

"I Wonder", a Poem

This is a good poem I came across a long time ago, it was taken from The Modern Religion I  WONDER If The Prophet Muhammad visited you, Just for a day or two. If he came unexpectedly, I wonder what you'd do. Oh, I know you'd give your nicest room, To such an honored guest, And all the food you'd serve to him, Would be your very best, And you would keep assuring him, you're glad to have him there, That serving him in your home, Is a joy beyond compare. BUT ... When you see him coming, Would you meet him at the door, With arms outstretched in welcome, To your visitor? OR ... Would you have to change your clothes Before you let him in ? Or hide some magazines And put the Quran where they had been ? Would you still watch R-rated movies, On your TV set ? Or would you rush to switch it off, Before He gets upset ? Would you turn off the radio, And hope He hadn't heard ? And wish you hadn't uttered, That last loud, hasty word ? Would you hide away your music, And instead take Hadith books out ? Could you let him walk right in, or would you rush about ? AND, I wonder ... If the Prophet spent A day or two with you, Would you go right on doing The things you always do ? Would you go right on saying The things you always say ? Would life for you continue As it does from day to day ? Would your family conversation Keep up its usual pace ? And would you find it hard each meal To say a table grace ? Would you keep up each every prayer Without putting on a frown ? And would you always jump up early For prayers at dawn ? Would you sing the songs you always sing And read the books you read ? And let him know the things on which your mind and spirit feed ? Would you take the prophet with you Everywhere you plan to go ? Or, would you, maybe, change your plans, Just for a day or so ? Would you be glad to have him meet your very closest friends? Or, would you hope they'd stay away Until his visit ends? Would you be glad to have him stay Forever on and on? OR ... Would you sigh with great relief, When he at last was gone ? It might be interesting to know The things that you would do If the Prophet Muhammad, in person, came to spend some time with you.