time

Quantum Barakah

“All right, everyone. Let’s recite Surah Al-Asr before we finish class,” I announced to thirteen pairs of brown eyes staring up at me. In unison, the chorus of excited third-graders began to read the Surah. One little girl in a puffy white coat and gauzy blue hijab leapt up in excitement, waving her hands grandiosely as she recited the Surah. The boy sitting next to her saw this as a challenge; grinning, he increased his voice three octaves to try and overshadow her. By the time the Surah was...

07 February 2012 | Time | barakah, blessings, hours, kids, purity, Quran, time | 2 Comments

Painting Time

I’m wasting colours, painting time, Throwing the pen in the air, Slicing okra in the orange-faded Kitchen, watching the thirds tessellate Like broken stencils in the colander. The metal fades, so I drag the blinds And unscroll the curtains to see rain Slipping down the windows. The Song? Tapestries of water Drops, puddles, oceans, casting lullabies, I try to follow - but my voice dies, They whisper the tune until I forget. Everything turns to dust: I can tell you I will, not when, There are shapes in the shadows,...

13 December 2011 | Time | colors, dangerous, death, fighting, painting, shadows. colours, time, world | 5 Comments

Living Life to the Fullest

Last week, my sister and I went out for a walk and began to discuss our experiences at school. I loved speaking to her since I could talk to her about just about anything, and knew she wouldn’t tell anybody else about our conversations. This time, I told her about a previous teacher of mine whom I recently found out was diagnosed with cancer. I explained just how amazing of a woman this teacher was, Masha’Allah, and told my sister about all of the things that she had already...

11 December 2011 | Passion | cancer, fullest, life, Quran, time | 7 Comments

Don’t Inform Me

This is a rant. This is a rant of a young man angry at the age he lives in. In this anger, there is not harshness; rather it is an anger of understanding. An understanding of the age that I live in. And the age that I live in is the age of information. Information blasts our eardrums, stimulates our pupils, and invades our brains each second of our days. Dazed, we take in all we can from each screen presented to us: the TVs and the PCs, the...

24 August 2011 | Activism | character, experience, information, minds, rant, time | 13 Comments

The Extra Mile

Ever wondered what was the difference between an ordinary person and an extraordinary person? It’s just that one remained ordinary, while the other went the extra mile, making him extraordinary. Sounds too simple to be true? Take a quick look at the famous personalities around us. Whether they are famous in the field of politics, sports, acting, or any other prolific career, they usually got there by simply putting in the extra time that others didn’t. In politics, anybody can theoretically run for an elected position, yet we only...

04 April 2010 | Activism | extra mile, good enough, islamic activism, islamic cause, laziness, syndromes, time, Ummah | 18 Comments

Get Your Game On

Ever since I was young, my parents never allowed me to get a game console. Never. Whether it be Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Sega Genesis, PS1, PS2, PS3, XBox, Xbox 360, or anything else, I was never allowed to play these at home. This made it really hard while in elementary and middle school because practically everybody at school had one type of game console or another, and most conversations pivoted on the newest games that would come out. I tried convincing my parents numerous times to let...

01 April 2010 | Activism | game, game consoles, luxuries, Masjid, money, muslim families, poor, Ramadan, social services, time, Zakah | 21 Comments

The Outlook of Young Imam An-Nawawi

When Imam Nawawi was young, he used to be pursued by the children of his town as they continually asked him to join them in their games. They used to sneer, jeer, and try every conceivable method to get him to join, but he used to break away from them crying while saying, “Allah did not create me to play” 1 This was Imam An-Nawawi’s outlook on life from a very young age. Yes, in our times, we would consider it to be bizarre and unusual if a kid...

14 January 2010 | Activism | An-Nawawi, cruise, Jannah, life, Paradise, play, time, urgency, Youth | 4 Comments

The Ummah Timer

Just a few days ago, Algeria and Egypt had a neck-to-neck competition to see who would qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Players were stoned, people were held hostage, and there was general pandemonium…over a soccer game. What was most striking about this game was that these teams were both representing Muslim-majority Arab countries but yet, we saw so much enmity. Even putting all the hatred and enmity aside, it is amazing just to see the millions of Muslims that tuned in to watch the show. Shaykh Muhammad AlShareef...

21 November 2009 | Activism | Algeria, butterfly effect, Egypt, honor, Kansas, time, Ummah, World Cup | 10 Comments