AbezAbez Is... 50% White, 50 % Pakistani, Muslim Hijab-wearing type female, Daughter of Momma, Sister of Owlie Wife of HF, Momma of Khalid, a special little boy with Autism, and Iman, a special little girl with especially big hair, Writer, Graphic Designer, Editor, Freelancer, Blogger, Inhaler of Chocolate
Right Brain Left Brain Islam poetry
Mortal Wounds BebeFiles Husbandfiles

 
My sister, De Owl

My Husband, who never updates!

Mona, who I don't visit enough

Hemlock, who I don't hug enough

Baji, the orginal robot monkey pirate

Prometheus, who buts brains to blog about Autism

Socrates, a blogger with Asperger's

Jo, a funnier Autism mom with a great blog

Autism Watch-  for logic-based information

ASAT- Assosciation for Science in Autism Treatments

Quack Watch- for current news and info on all sort of medical treatments

Expat Women Blog Directory

My Cousin- really, he's my cousin.  Wish he would update more.

 
 
 
 

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

To a new Muslim and an old friend.

AssalamuAlaikum Luv!!!

I would have replied earlier but I've been meaning to sit down and really, really reply with all me brains to ye. However, seeing as how I'm never going to have all of something that I never had, heh, I'll just begin.

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, welcome to Islam luv, and welcome to all the same questions and the confusions and sometimes doubts that we all have. *hugs* Faith is never a surety. If it were, they wouldn't call it faith, they would call it 'Duh,' and the test we're all taking right now would be rigged. :p

About the severity of hell: You may not know this, but for every single time that hell is mentioned in the Qur'an, heaven is mentioned. They are referred to in equal numbers, and correspondingly, hell is as awful as heaven is amazing.

The severity of hell is scary, you're right, and it may seem harsh because we think 'who really deserves that?' We forget a few things though.

"When God decreed Creation He pledged Himself by writing in His book which is laid down with Him: My mercy prevails over my wrath." -Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) Hadith Qudsi Number 1.

First, God promises, He has pledged Himself in fact, that His Mercy will be stronger than His wrath. That said, God, who is the best of Judges, and the knower of everything, knows who really, really deserves Wrath with a capital W. I may be mistaken, and Allah knows best, but a few types of people come to mind. (those who order genocide, murderers of entire nations, warlords, tyrants, mass murderers, unrepentant child molesters, etc.) I'd type out the name of a specific German WWII personality, but only God can judge people.

Now, because God is the best Judge, you have to trust that no one, absolutely no one will get hell who didn't deserve it. After all, what reason have you to doubt God's word? Has He ever lied to us? No. God speaks only the truth, and God says hell is severe but nowhere does He say that people will be treated undeservedly harsh. Alhamdulillah. In fact, many many people will be treated undeservedly gently, and they'll get into heaven because God's Mercy prevails over his wrath. Take this Hadith Qudsi (I'll explain what a Hadith Qudsi is in a sec.)

"A man from among those who were before you was called to account. Nothing in the way of good was found in him except that he used to have dealings with people, and being well-to-do, he would order his servants to let off the man in straightened circumstances [from repaying a debt.] He (the Prophet) said that Allah said: We are worthier than you of that (generosity) Let him off."

Imagine that, a guy who has no good deeds at all, nothing good in him found at all, except that he would forgive poor people who owed him debts. So God released him from his debt of sin. There's also a hadith that mentions a prostitute who, seeing a thirsty dog standing at a well, fills her slipper full of water and gives it to the dog. For that kindness, God forgave her sins and granted her paradise.

God makes it ridiculously easy for man to earn blessings, "Allah has written down the good deeds and the bad ones. Then He explained it [by saying that] he who has intended a good deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as one full good deed, but if he has intended and done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds to seven hundred times, or many times over. But, if he has intended a bad deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down as one full good deed, but if he has intended it and done it, Allah writes it down as one bad deed." -Hadith Qudsi 16

So here's the breakdown-

1. You intend to do something good, you get the full blessings of having done it regardless of whether it gets done.{bonus!}
2. You actually go through with it, and the deed is written for you as ten good deeds, or seven hundred, or however many times over Allah wants to multiply it for you. {bonus!}

3. If you intend a bad deed but then change you mind, you actually get a full good deed. {bonus!}
4. if you intend a bad deed and do it, it counts as just one bad deed. Just one. No multiplying. Allah is overwhelmingly generous in his Mercy, but perfectly Just in his punishment. You'll be rewarded many times over for doing one nice thing, and only penalized once for doing one bad thing. {fair}

Even having sinned, God makes being forgiven wonderfully easy. Forgiveness, called Taubah in Arabic, has four steps.

1. stop the sin
2. feel sorry
3. resolve not to do it again
4. make up for it if possible (if you have stolen, give it back, etc.)

As long as you sincerely apologize for something, you are forgiven, and it doesn't matter if you, out of error, fall into the same thing again. God's forgiveness and mercy are without limit for those who seek them.

"O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind.

O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of me, I would forgive you.

O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it." [as great as the earth] Hadith Qudsi 34

Ah yes, a Hadith is a saying of the Prophet, and Qudsi means 'Sacred,' and is used to refer to things the Prophet said that God said directly. I highly recommend picking up a copy of 40 Hadith Qudsi. That's the name of the book, it's fairly easy to find in any Islamic bookstore, and I know the one in F-8 markaz, right around Szabist university has it. If you can't find one lemme know and be ten to seven hundred times happy to send you one. ;)

It's true, in spite of God's Mercy, some people will make it to hell. After all, God can only forgive you for the sins you sought forgiveness for. What do you do with a person who dies unrepentant and proud of the hurt they've done to other people? If you reward the good then you must punish the bad, such is justice. Even so, consider:

"There will come out of the Hell-fire he who has said There is no god but Allah, and who has in his heart goodness weighing a barley-corn. then there will come out of the Hell-fire he who has said There is no god but Allah, and who has in his heart goodness weighing a grain of wheat, then there will come out of the Hell-fire he who has said There is no god but Allah, and who has in his heart goodness weighing an atom." Hadith Qudsi 36

Note: the word Allah is not a proper name. It is simply God with a capital G in Arabic. What does it take to get out of hell once you've fulfilled your term? Faith in God and an atom's worth of goodness. Alhamdulillah.

Faith is hard, yeah. It's hard for all of us luv. Everyone has questions and only God has all the answers. In the mean time, we're here to help one another and assuage our smaller doubts with the greater certainties: God created us and nurtures us and expects us to be grateful to Him and good to one another.

The first verse of the Qur'an, Surah Fatiha, is often called 'The Essence of the Qur'an,' because it sums everything up so beautifully. All Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, the Merciful, the Beneficent, Master of the Day of Judgment. Thee alone do we worship and thee alone do we seek help from. Guide us along the path that is straight; the path of those who have earned your Mercy, not that of those who have earned your wrath and gone astray.

[Praise is due to God. God, please guide us to righteousness.]

I know it's taken me way too long to get back to you. Aniraz told me about your email after I got back from a weekend trip and I was so happy for you darling, and I am, I really am praying for you. I want you to find peace and strength and happiness. I'm here for you, please, ask me any question at all, doesn't matter, because chances are I've had the same ones. It's taken me years to work things out, but if I can save you the time of having to search for the answers yourself then I can save you trouble that I wish I didn't have to go through, because those spots of trouble weakened my faith for a while before God helped me through with comfort and answers. (yeah, I'm a bad little infidel.)

Remember luv, God always hears the prayer of one who calls on Him, and when you call on God, He speaks your name, and if you reach out to Him, He comes to you at speed.*

Love, Love, Love

-Zeba

*I am as My servant thinks I am. I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assemble better than it. And if he draws near to Me an arm's length, I draw near to him a fathom's length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed. -Hadith Qudsi 15

Labels:

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Married Life: A Mighty Battle

I put an apple into HF's lunch this morning. It was dutiful and stayed where I placed it all through breakfast, but just as HF was getting up to go to work, it escaped. I saw it sitting on the dining table, looking guilty but smug for having evaded captivity, and I picked it up and said to HF, "Honey, this apple rolled out of your bag."

He said, "That's ok, it looked better on the table."

Silly me, and I had blamed the apple.

HF doesn't like fruit. Or excercise. Or peanut butter, all of which are Good For You. Yes, I capitalized Good For You, to emphasize the importance. Fruit is healthy. Excercise is healthy. Peanut butter is just plain yummy. HF is mad I say, maaad!

And yet, he thinks I'm nuts for not eating mangoes. You know, I actually ate a mango once. There was a piece of it in my fruit salad and I accidentally consumed it. Boy, whoever snuck that in there was a mean and evil person. And I don't like mutton when it's on the bone, because it smells funny and I can picture exactly what part of the sheep I'm gnawing on, and I don't like green chilis in the raw, and any animal product other than skeletal muscle does not make it into my diet. No organ meats, thank you. I have enough spare parts of my own.

But I digress. I think I may have to make a deal, like maybe if I eat a mango or something HF will excercise for the rest of his life, or maybe if I eat one raw green chili pepper HF will bring me ice cream and then excercise for the rest of his life. Or maybe if I eat all the peanut butter he won't have to. Yes, I especially like that last one...

It's 5:46, do you know where your brain is? I don't.

 
Expat Women - Helping Women Living Overseas