Goodbye 2006!
Last year was an eventful year.
On a personal note, everything that had happened to me throughout 2006 was beneficial.
The events that take place in your life, be they good, bad or ugly should come down to the lessons you have learned from them.. so that in the future you'll know how to deal with similar events.
The outlines of my year:
Gained experience.
Made new friends.
Travelled to the UK and Egypt.
Became more aware of the events taking place around me.
Learned more about my religion.
Got in touch with my spiritual side.
Started writing.
Started to pray regularly and read Quran.
Lost a family member.
Gained weight.
My new year's resolutions:
Become more punctual with my prayers.
Read Quran more often and memorize at least one juz'u.
Strengthen my bond with Allah, my creator and make du'aa more often.
Lose weight.
Grow long hair.
Study more.
Work on my temper, mood swings & other peronality flaws.
Learn to cook.
Learn Sudanese dancing.
Write more.
Gain more awareness on the events taking place in the world (read newspapers more often), and spread my share of awareness to others.
Happy New Year to all.
May 2007 be a prosperous year for us all, with less crime, less war and more love.
& to my fellow Sudanese, Happy Independence Day!
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Execution of Saddam Hussein
It's the first day of Eid El-Adha, and the first thing you see on TV is Saddam's execution, long awaited by millions of people.
Okay, he was a war criminal. He earned his death penalty.
But for his execution to be performed by Americans, and on a day where Muslims are supposed to be celebrating.. Isn't that an insult to the Iraqis themselves? Or perhaps they're overlooking it since they're too busy celebrating Saddam's death and final downfall?
I don't know.
It saddens me that the cruelty of the US government has reached such an extent. On Eid.. really?
Anyway.
We'll never know where Saddam is right now..
It's a fact that if a Muslim is killed by a non-Muslim it automatically makes him/her a martyr. But does that case apply on Saddam?
He was killed by non-Muslims, and alot of people are now considering him a martyr.. but how can anyone be sure though?
He's had his share of killing, massacres and torturing of his own people.. will Allah overlook what he's done in his life just because he was killed by non-Muslims?
I am clueless, & I don't know whether I should be making dua'a for him.
Allah is the only one who can judge.
May Allah give the Iraqis the strength to recover the doings of Saddam.
PS- Read Drima's interesting point of view on Saddam's execution.
Okay, he was a war criminal. He earned his death penalty.
But for his execution to be performed by Americans, and on a day where Muslims are supposed to be celebrating.. Isn't that an insult to the Iraqis themselves? Or perhaps they're overlooking it since they're too busy celebrating Saddam's death and final downfall?
I don't know.
It saddens me that the cruelty of the US government has reached such an extent. On Eid.. really?
Anyway.
We'll never know where Saddam is right now..
It's a fact that if a Muslim is killed by a non-Muslim it automatically makes him/her a martyr. But does that case apply on Saddam?
He was killed by non-Muslims, and alot of people are now considering him a martyr.. but how can anyone be sure though?
He's had his share of killing, massacres and torturing of his own people.. will Allah overlook what he's done in his life just because he was killed by non-Muslims?
I am clueless, & I don't know whether I should be making dua'a for him.
Allah is the only one who can judge.
May Allah give the Iraqis the strength to recover the doings of Saddam.
PS- Read Drima's interesting point of view on Saddam's execution.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Eid Mubarak!
Today is such a special day. It's a Friday and it's also the "standing on Arafa" day. It's known that if you fast on this very holy day, your sins from the previous year and the next will insha'allah be forgiven. A bonus to that is that it's a Friday, the Eid of all Muslims.
For those of us fasting, may Allah accept.
Tomorrow is EID! Finally, a holiday (that I needed badly).
Eids have their own taste here in Sudan.. everybody's celebrating. Children getting Eideya (Eid money from parents & family), wearing their new Eid clothes, buying candy and toys.
As a child, I've always loved Eid. I used to fold my new clothes and place them neatly beside my bed the night before Eid as I anxiously lay on my bed, wide awake, waiting for morning to come. It's funny how I thought that Eid was a person (sort of like a Santa?) who came every year to make little children happy.
So the outlines for the coming Eid days:
Day 1 is a day at my grandmother's, where there will be lots and lots of meat (good or bad?)
Day 2 is a day at my sister's, where there will be just as much meat. It's also New Year's Eve!
Day 3 is finally, a day at my friend's where we will be making our own, meat-free food, and lots of dessert.
(Usually after Eid people don't eat meat for a while!)
Day 4 is a relaxing day at home.
Everyone,
Happy Eid.. Eid Mubarak.. kolo sana winto taybeen!
For those of us fasting, may Allah accept.
Tomorrow is EID! Finally, a holiday (that I needed badly).
Eids have their own taste here in Sudan.. everybody's celebrating. Children getting Eideya (Eid money from parents & family), wearing their new Eid clothes, buying candy and toys.
As a child, I've always loved Eid. I used to fold my new clothes and place them neatly beside my bed the night before Eid as I anxiously lay on my bed, wide awake, waiting for morning to come. It's funny how I thought that Eid was a person (sort of like a Santa?) who came every year to make little children happy.
So the outlines for the coming Eid days:
Day 1 is a day at my grandmother's, where there will be lots and lots of meat (good or bad?)
Day 2 is a day at my sister's, where there will be just as much meat. It's also New Year's Eve!
Day 3 is finally, a day at my friend's where we will be making our own, meat-free food, and lots of dessert.
(Usually after Eid people don't eat meat for a while!)
Day 4 is a relaxing day at home.
Everyone,
Happy Eid.. Eid Mubarak.. kolo sana winto taybeen!
Friday, December 22, 2006
It's the End of the Year..
It's always a difficult task to concede to ourselves the blemishes in our personalities, but the first part of the patching up process is the acknowledgement of one's shortcomings.
With the new year coming along, I'm planning to make a list of resolutions that I shall try my best to comply with.
My flaws and imperfections, as are everybody else's, are multitudinous. So hopefully by the end of this month I will have discerned at least a majority of these personality faulties in an effort to establish another list that could help me start my resolutions' list.
This resolutions' list will compose of the alterations and modifications that I am willing to implement on my personality, and hence I will tenaciously commence this new year -with the help of Allah- with a strong will power and determination and the intention of becoming a better person with better personality aspects and facets.
With the new year coming along, I'm planning to make a list of resolutions that I shall try my best to comply with.
My flaws and imperfections, as are everybody else's, are multitudinous. So hopefully by the end of this month I will have discerned at least a majority of these personality faulties in an effort to establish another list that could help me start my resolutions' list.
This resolutions' list will compose of the alterations and modifications that I am willing to implement on my personality, and hence I will tenaciously commence this new year -with the help of Allah- with a strong will power and determination and the intention of becoming a better person with better personality aspects and facets.
Friday, December 15, 2006
A Prayer for Our Darfurian Brothers & Sisters
Our mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters are being brutally killed.. mercilessly slaughtered.. taken innocent lives from.. forced to face harsh conditions on a daily basis.. impoverished from food and medical care.. deprived from the simple things in life that we take for granted.. coerced to give up the very things that make them human beings.. crying for our help.
Please.. join me on this silent prayer for our people in Darfur.
May Allah ease their pains... Amen.
May Allah wash their tears away... Amen.
May Allah bless the souls of their deceased loved ones... Amen.
May Allah take revenge on their oppressors... Amen.
May Allah give their women strength & courage... Amen.
May Allah watch upon their children... Amen.
May Allah protect their elderly... Amen.
May Allah reward them for their patience & their tolerance... Amen.
May Allah bestow upon them peace & serenity... Amen.
May Allah honor them by granting them Paradise... Amen.
May Allah help them forgive and forget... Amen.
Sami Yusuf's Concert in Khartoum
Yes, Sami Yusuf performed a concert here in Khartoum, Sudan just last night!
Needless to say, his performance was out of the ordinary.. he made the crowd go crazy!
I fell in love with him, his lovely personality and multiple talents definitely caught everyone's attention.. and the audience just wouldn't stop cheering for him. It's amazing how he had everyone saying Allah's name.
It was definitely a night to remember..
Thanks Sami for showing everybody a magnificent time.
Update: I met Sami tonight (Dec 17th) at the Hilton. As I expected, he was the most modest and humble person ever. We had a nice conversation, he was extremely polite and finally we got our picture taken together :)
PS - I also met his wife, who is a very beautiful woman (mashallah).. God bless them both.
Monday, December 11, 2006
States of Melancholy
What's happening to the world nowadays?
Islam is being trashed, and it's been hijacked by people who claim to be religious scholars when fact of the matter is that they don't know the first thing about Islam.
People writing books about the problems with Islam?... Islam is perfect, it has no flaws.. no matter how hard this fact is for some people to accept. It's the fact that it's got practitioners who are representing it in a negative manner that's got people questioning Islam.
Have you seen some of the videos about Islam on youtube? Most are just wrong representations of Islam, the religion of Peace not violence.
We've got all sorts of people saying all sorts of things about Islam, and sadly some of these people are Muslims and are unfortunately conveying our religion in such a misleading fashion.
And just exactly how could Islam equal terrorism when the word Islam is derived from the word "peace"?
Wars all over the place. People are dying and losing their loved ones, while the ones responsible are sitting at home with their families.
Governmental conflicts resulting in mass damage and significant loss of innocent lives. Crippled children permanently scarred both emotionally and physically, and possibly orphanized.
Where is the love?
Prejudice and biasing based on ethnic backgrounds of individuals.
Is lighter skin really a label for superiority? Just exactly how primitive is our thinking these days?
Poverty in some parts of the world, and in other parts people are feasting on all types of foods and neglecting the needy.
Diseases with no cures.
Domestic violence.
Child abuse.
Sexism.
Incest.
Greed.
Ignorance.
Soooooo much more.
What has become of the world?
We're supposed to be living in a modern age, where appropriate approaches are supposed to be implemented in order to get to the roots of each and every problem and thereby solve it.
But this isn't what happening... I just don't understand.
Where is the humanity?
The above & more just never cease to bring me to my states of depression knowing that no matter what I do none of them will actually vanish.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
My Childhood Initiative
As a child I've always known that when I grow up I was going to contribute to society by doing something vastly significant, something weighty and momentous. I didn't know what that 'something' was, I just knew it had to be done. After graduating from high school back in 2003 I decided to pursue my college education in Sudan, where I returned after years of living abroad and got to know more about my beautiful Sudanese culture and therein fell in love with my country all over again.
But the things that have been happening in my beloved country, all the blood baths and all the killing of innocent people, are what made me remember the promise I made to myself years ago. That 'significant thing' I've always had an urge to accomplish now descended to merely something trivial I still feel earnestly committed to implement-as a Sudanese and as a Muslim. This sudden diminishing of my childhood dream was mainly due to the fact that I was oblivious of the incidents taking place in my country... this unawareness escalated with time only the end product was my fierce denial, which is why until now the vision of that 'thing' is still vague and blurry to me, as I am still clueless. If you are clueless about what's going on around you, how can you help make things better?
What gave me a head start to create my own blog was principally reading blogs of my fellow Sudanese, as well as coming across the Darfur Awareness [We Blog for Darfur] link where I finally saw a beginning for me to aspire to the attainment of my childhood initiative.
But the things that have been happening in my beloved country, all the blood baths and all the killing of innocent people, are what made me remember the promise I made to myself years ago. That 'significant thing' I've always had an urge to accomplish now descended to merely something trivial I still feel earnestly committed to implement-as a Sudanese and as a Muslim. This sudden diminishing of my childhood dream was mainly due to the fact that I was oblivious of the incidents taking place in my country... this unawareness escalated with time only the end product was my fierce denial, which is why until now the vision of that 'thing' is still vague and blurry to me, as I am still clueless. If you are clueless about what's going on around you, how can you help make things better?
What gave me a head start to create my own blog was principally reading blogs of my fellow Sudanese, as well as coming across the Darfur Awareness [We Blog for Darfur] link where I finally saw a beginning for me to aspire to the attainment of my childhood initiative.
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