Patience is a Virtue

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem

“Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. Who say, when afflicted with calamity: “To Allah We belong, and to Him is our return.” They are those on whom (Descend) blessings from Allah, and Mercy, and they are the ones that receive guidance.” –Al-Baqarah, Verses 155-157

This is what I thought of when I read this article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8219814.stm

and this one… http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10728.shtml

and this one… http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8206184.stm

and this one… http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8137206.stm

The list could go on and on. Every day Muslims are faced with challenges–whether its wearing Hijab when you’re not allowed to or it’s something of a more serious matter. Let’s face it, the Muslim Ummah, or global community, is at odds with the rest of the world a good chunk of time. We always hear that we should be patient and pray to Allah (SWT), but the fact of the matter is that we are not asked to consider the matter of being patient: It is demanded of us.

A prime example of this is found in Prophet Ibrahim’s (AS) story, when he was ordered to leave Haajer and the newly born Isma’il in a deserted valley known at the time as Bacca (later to be known as Makkah). When she discovered that Allah (SWT) had ordered it, she did not doubt Ibrahim’s decision to take her out to the valley. She even reassured Ibrahim that if Allah ordered it, then there would be “khair” or good in it.

Another example is when Ibrahim (AS) was told to sacrifice his eldest son Isma’il in a dream. The significance of this story is that he was ordered to sacrifice the blessing that was given to him in old age after he thought he would not be granted any children. He again, pursued it even though he doubted his own strength in completing the task. And the young boy again reassured his father that if Allah willed it, only good could come from it.

These stories are just a few that were mentioned to preface the book In the Footsteps of the Prophet, by Tariq Ramadan. He goes on further to make a point that no Prophet was tested with such extreme test and they were not given some Divine reassurance. The men never doubted Allah’s will, they doubted their strength and ability to complete the task at hand. Doubt of self does not equate doubt of the Creator.

We should critically examine the tests of the Prophets’ and understand the lessons embedded within them. The tests that they were given were tests that no normal human being could bear, which only indicated their importance in history. There is a hasan hadith that states, ““If Allah Loves a people, He tests them.” (Tirmidhi, 4/2396). If Allah did not love His Prophets, would he test them to the extremes? Which the question can then be expanded upon us: If Allah did not love us, would he test us with things that we believe we cannot bear?

Each and every time one of us have been tested with something in life, to the point where we believe we cannot bear it, we are presented with a set of choices. The choices we make, whether we realize or not will impact us for the rest of our lives. It makes us who we are and develops our sense of being. When we rely on Allah (SWT) alone in our endeavors, we set ourselves up for success, even though we may not feel like it at the time.

Another way to look at it is to look at the course of nature–as humans, we can only see so far. And even then the train of thought is based on a certain order of events and situations, we cannot guarantee any of them. I think the most interesting thing is to track our decision making process in a flow chart and realize how HUGE it can become and the long term effects that we cannot list. A friend told me once that we cannot look at time as a straight line, rather that it is fluid and based on a set of choices that we make (and yes, Walter said it in “Fringe” too). This all plays into the context of patience, if we are not patient to see the results of our choices then we only limit ourselves and what we do. To have patience, faith, and pure conviction in our decisions will lead us to become more confident in who we are and remain steadfast on a path that will lead to success.

I Want To Be A Superhero

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem

I want to be a superhero. I want to solve all the world’s problems. I want world peace. I want children all over the world, regardless of race, gender, religion, or culture to grow up without fear or pain. I want them all to have food, all day long, and have fun…of course have an education as well.

Did I add I want a cape to go along with that? And flying abilities would definitely be necessary.

In reality, these are all dreams. But hey, who can blame me for dreaming? Well..not everything is a dream–today I was told essentially I was a superhero to someone. Let me give you the background story…

Last year, I was asked..okay maybe not asked, but “coerced” (in a good way of course) to teach Sunday School at my local mosque. To be honest, I was apprehensive about teaching, especially when I was told I would be teaching first grade Quran memorization and Quranic arabic. That year I was MSA President at my university, a Biochemistry major in my Junior year, working on top of that, and many more things that I can’t even begin to remember. So trust me when I say, my plate was full and I was just topping it off.

The first day of class was nervewracking for me, as much as it probably was for the kids. Some of them came in with that apprehensive look on their face, but quickly warmed up as soon as I talked to them. Others were not so quick to warm up, one of them especially broke my heart when he started to tear up. So on the spot I decided to play a game; one that sometimes I wonder why I did…I asked the kids to stand in a circle, tell me their name, and their favorite something (animal, color, car, etc.). My favorite response was from a child named Adam, he told me his name was Adam and his favorite animal was a “cock-a-roach”. I couldn’t even keep a straight face to thank him and move on–all the kids started giggling, except that one little boy with tears in his eyes.

After that game, we played the “Let’s guess how old Sr. Sara is” game. That my friends, was a complete FAILURE! Talk about wanting to make you feel old, never ask kids under the age of 15 how old they think you are. Here is the responses I initially got: 30, 35, 32, 40, 41, 45, etc. And then one student goes “OH OH OH OH!! I KNOW SISTER SARA! I KNOW!!” So I called on him…only to my dismay, he yells “YOU’RE 60 YEARS OLD!!! I KNEW IT!” Sad to say, he was wrong, about 40 years off the mark, but hey what’s 40 years when you’re only 7? The whole class busted out laughing when I pretended to sulk in the corner because they couldn’t guess that I’m 20.

As the semester went on, I started to have more and more kids added to my class. I ended up with about 28 first graders, and without a TA. Did I also mention I taught them for 2 hours STRAIGHT!? Talk about a sore throat! I had some wild children in there–but overall my kids were awesome. I loved them…one of them turned out to be my neighbor! Which when your student comes over to play with your little brother and you have no clue, and walk down in a ratty sweatshirt and sweatpants half asleep…it tends to break that teacher-student bond of “we’re not cool like that”

I had one student that came almost in the middle of the year and she was really shy. Right away I picked up that she was already ahead of the class, which was fine because half my class was ahead and the other half was like wayyyy behind. It balanced out. Her mother used to be in and out of the classroom, one of those awesome involved parents that you could easily talk to without feeling like you were being judged as a teacher. Nonetheless, it was great having parents like that, that took interest in things we were doing and offered to help at any chance. (This is not making any claim on the parents I didn’t see, I’m just appreciating those who I knew of).

The point of this story is this:

Today I went to Sunday School, this year I’m not teaching–I evaluate students from KG-3rd grade on their improvement throughout the year on Quran memorization and reading to make sure we are all working on one curriculum and maintaining it.

And today I found out I was a superhero.

My students; like the shy boy who was crying on the first day of school last year, ran up and hugged me today. The little girl who came in the middle of the year, her mother (who has become a friend of mine) told me today that the reason her daughter came to Sunday School every Sunday last year, was because of me. That same little girl wanted me to have lunch with her today.

I found out I don’t need a cape or flying abilities (though they would be nice) to be a superhero. All I have to do is teach some kids some Quran, which by itself is a miracle and blessing of Allah, and let them try to guess my age from time to time.

Autumn is here!!

So lately, I’ve been really on top of my game. I have homework done (or at least started) 3 days in advance, I’m getting my class reading done every night. This has gotten to the point where I am finished with things before 6 pm some nights..like last night and find myself bored. Which is very rare for me and very exciting for my mom.

Last night she told me that the kitchen was mine for the day (meaning I had to clean it before I went to bed). I figured since I had to clean the kitchen I wanted to contribute to the mess AND since I was hungry I started going through some of my food bloggers and I came across this recipe:  Date Spice Loaf, and thought “Hm…that sounds good.”

If you know anything about me, you know I love dates (the food…), autumn, and baking. Put all three together, add a dash of a busy, occupied mind, and VOILA! I’m having fun. I followed the recipe from Smitten Kitchen pretty closely, except I didn’t have any vanilla extract, nutmeg or of course orange liqueur (for those who do not know, I am Muslim and do not consume an alcoholic beverage–even when in food). So instead of orange liqueur, I used my handy dandy substitution guide from Gourmet Slueth and I coated the dates in fresh squeezed orange juice. I didn’t have any vanilla extract, so I used a DROP of rose water to have a neutral sweet flavor and I just didn’t substitute the nutmeg. I also put walnuts instead of pecans…

Enjoy! I sure did…the batter was so good I licked the bowl…