Alhamdulillah- an event Stony Brook MSA held on April 7th- called Scarves for Solidarity - made it to the pages of Newsday:

Stony Brook Student Exercise Tackles Predjudice Head-On

A mixed faith group challenged their beliefs and understanding of the Muslim experience in a program aimed at combating prejudice.

Photos by Bob Giglione

Students at Stony Brook University learn many things, but on a recent evening some learned a real-life lesson in how it feels to be a victim of discrimination. A Muslim woman walks into a bakery wearing a hijab, a head covering that symbolizes a commitment to piety and identifies women as followers of Islam. The sales clerk refuses to serve her and continually taunts her about her appearance. Some customers are outraged and speak out on her behalf, but the majority of them do nothing. This scene could be real, but it actually was part of a television show, and the clerk and Muslim woman were actors.

“What Would You Do,” seen on ABC’s Primetime show, gauges people’s reactions — capturing on film whether they will or will not step in to right an injustice. On April 7, it was presented by the Muslim Student’s Association and the Women’s Gender Resources Center at a solidarity event called Scarves for Solidarity.

The initiative to celebrate diversity and combat stereotypes, attended by Stony Brook University President Shirley Strum Kenny, is part of Newsday’s FutureCorps, an initiative engaging local students in meaningful community service.

“We fast, raise money and donate it to charities,” said MSA President Yaser Rad. “The purpose was to get non-Muslim women to wear head scarves and be in their shoes for one day. Money will be donated to a battered women’s shelter.”

About one-third of those gathered were non-Muslims. Junior Anna Holland usually wears a scarf around her neck, but tonight she wore her scarf around her head to show solidarity with Muslim women.

Sophomore Aarti Sheth, also a non-Muslim wearing a hijab, said, “The movie really touched me. It was so real and that’s why it was so scary and upsetting.” Lindsay Bernard, a junior, said, “I wanted to show my support for Muslim women and the challenges of wearing the hijab every day. It’s a small price to pay.” Chaplain Sanaa Nadim said, “Muslim women are a sisterhood and part and parcel of the American fabric. We are lawyers, teachers and so much more. It is essential that they stand together as a whole.”

—By Lynn Zawacki

Source.

A beautiful rendition by Talib al Habib

Bismillah.

I apologize for the hiatus. This has surely been a busy few months for both Lena and myself. Insha’Allah I’ll get around to posting something soon! (And Lena, if you’re out there.. maybe you’ll come back to posting too!)

This a story with a really cute message- subhanAllah.

A young man had been to Wednesday Night Class of Quranic Studies. The teacher had shared about listening to Allah and obeying Allah through intuition.

The young man couldn’t help but wonder, ‘Does Allah still speak to people through intuition?’ After Lessons, he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message.

Several different ones talked about how Allah had led them in different ways and that at the end you’ll know it was Allah(SWT) Who has directed you.

It was about ten o’clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, ‘Allah…If you still speak to people, speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey.’

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, ‘Allah is that you?’ He didn’t get a reply and started on toward home.

But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk came into his head. ‘Okay, Allah, in case that is you, I will buy the milk.’ It didn’t seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home.

As he passed Seventh Street , he again felt the urge, ‘Turn Down that street.’ This is crazy he thought, and drove on past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street ..

At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, ‘Okay, Allah, I will.’ He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop.

He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi-commercial area of town. It wasn’t the best but it wasn’t the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed.

Again, he sensed something, ‘Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street.’ The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat. Allah, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid.’

Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk. Finally, he opened the door, ‘Okay Allah(SWT), if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something, but if they don’t answer right away, I am out of here.’ He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man’s voice yelled out, ‘Who is it? What do you want?’ Then the door opened before the young man could get away.

The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn’t seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. ‘What is it?’ The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, ‘Here, I brought this to you.’

The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking and half crying, ‘We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn’t have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking Allah(SWT) to show me how to get some milk.’

His wife in the kitchen yelled out, ‘I ask him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?’

The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man’s hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face.

He knew that Allah (SWT) still answers prayers.

We all know that everything is written and recorded for us in our books. The angles write everything we say. Well, when a servant of Allah(swt) says the following duaa:

ياربنا لك الحمد كما
ينبغى لجلال وجهك و لعظيم سلطانك

Ya Rabbana, lakal hamdu, Kama Yambaghy, Lijalali Wajhika Wa Aztheemi Sultanik.

Oh Allah, Thanks and gratitude be to You, as much as your magnificence and great authority ought to deserve.

The angels are stumped as to what to write. Why do the angels not know how to write this?

When we say this duaa, and it can be seen from the translation, it is unquantifiable the amount we are thanking Allah (swt), because it is as much as He (swt) ought to deserve, and a number or scale cannot be attached to this. So what do the angels do?

They go up to Allah (swt) and tell Allah(swt), a servant of Yours has something we do not know how to write. Allah(swt) of course knows what we have said, but nonetheless asks the angels what we said. The angels tell Him(swt) the duaa. Allah(swt) then tells the angels to record it exactly as the servant has said and Allah(swt) will reward us when He(swt) meets us on the Day of Judgement.

Isn’t this wonderful to hear? Something as simple as saying this duaa, saying it from our hearts will give us a reward that Allah(swt) will grant us on the Day of Judgement. Imagine that, Allah(swt) will reward us when we see Him(swt) for this small dua that has great meaning! This just shows how wonderful and rewarding this duaa is, and that Allah(swt) is saving our reward for when we meet Him(swt).

Just thought I’d share… Let’s all try to memorize this and start saying it daily. Instead of just saying Alhamdulilah (thanking Allah (swt) once) let us say “Oh Allah, Thanks and gratitude be to You, as  much as your magnificence and great authority ought to deserve.”

-Sent by Sister Soondus

Hadith Source: Sunan Ibn Maja on the authority of Ibn Omar (ra)

A bit ago I posted a link to a mini series that ABC was doing called “What Would You Do?”. It showcased a hijabi being discriminated against in a certain bakery. This video below is the second half and I’ve gotta admit it made me pretty emotional.

So what are the stats?

13 people stood up for the Muslim (some more vehemently than others)

6 people sided with the clerk who was discriminating against her

and

22 people did NOTHING.

I would sincerely hope that more people would stand up when they have the upper hand.

So I happened to click a link that led me to a site affiliated with MTV and it was a bunch of video logs that encouraged activism- especially in this election year. I started to see things about Muslims and found a few cool videos.

The first is one Montclair University’s Hijab Day (Stony Brook is having their Second Annual Scarves for Solidarity day on April 7th insha’Allah- for those interested!):

http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A04000170098DC5C/ 

The second is one the reporter’s experience participating in Hijab Day- her “Hijabi Challenge”

http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A04000170098DEDF/ 

And the last one is about Muslim Americans and their opinions on politics- (I am only linking to part one of two)

http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A01700170098DCFD/ 

Thanks MTV

• Al-Sha’bi used to say: “Among the etiquette of the true scholars is that when they learn something they implement it. At that point, implementation preoccupies them from the people. When they are preoccupied from the people they are sought after. When they are sought after they flee away fearing that they might be cast into tribulation.”
• Hatim al-Asamm used to say: “No one sits to teach sacred knowledge in the mosque except one seeking worldly gain, or one ignorant of the tremendous responsibilities associated with that [station].”
• Fudail b. ‘Iyyad used to say: “If the truthful prophets such as Ishmael and Jesus, peace upon them, were asked about their truthfulness, how about liars like us?”
• Sufyan al-Thawri would usually only allow three people to sit in his circle. One day he noticed that the circle had grown quite large. He stood up, shaken, and exclaimed: “We have been afflicted with pride! I swear by God! If the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Umar, had seen my likes seated in such a gathering he would have made me get up and leave, lamenting: ‘Your likes are not fit to teach.’ ” When Sufyan would sit to relate prophetic traditions, he would sit crossed-legged in a fearful state. If a cloud passed overhead he would remain silent until it went by, saying: “I feared that it might be full of stones which it would unleash against me.”
• Al-Hasan al-Basri passed by Tawus as he was relating prophetic traditions to a large gathering in the Sacred Mosque. Al-Hasan drew near to him and whispered into his ear: “If you are proud to have attracted such a large audience you should get up and leave.” Tawus left immediately.
• Fudail b. ‘Iyad used to say: “As long as a person consciously seeks acceptability from people, he will not be safe from insincerity in his religion.”

“If you see something and you think it’s wrong, do you step in or do you step away? What people say and what they do isn’t always the same…”

An interesting series explores what people really do when confronted with different situations.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Primetime/WhatWouldYouDo/

One WebCast shows a Muslim woman being discriminated against and some customers leave the store refusing business. Others give thumbs up to the rude, offensive person behind the counter and agree that if they owned a business, they’d do the same thing. I think we’d all like to think we’d do the right thing and “stand on the side of the oppressed” but would we silently watch or actually step in?

“Don’t say: ‘O Allah, I have worries.’ Say: ‘O worries, I have Allah.’”