OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW (DIY)

Asalamualaykum Warahmatullah (Peace be upon you),

How are you?

RAMADAN KAREEM EVERYONE! Ramadan has officially begun. Please keep me in your duas, may Allah make it a successful one for all of us.

SO! I have finally cleaned my room from top to bottom, throwing away old things and clothes and putting back the things that I actually use. 

One of my pet hates is mess and clutter and so it feels amazing to de-clutter, knowing that everything in my room is relevant and necessary. 

I have a magnolia coloured room with accessories that I hope compliment it with bits of brown, beige and light shades of pink. 

I wanted to jazz up my room slightly as it was quiet plain with bits of wall art that wont make my room too busy but will keep it fresh and new. 

(For more information on pricing and customising your own order, email: imanidjer@aol.com)

Here we have brown and beige beeds that are just used to shape my curtains and give them a bit of life. I have a similar thing going on to hold my curtains in place when I decide to open them up.

This is home-made photo frames and design with arabic sayings. It adds to my room giving it a bit of colour as well as being classy. 

This is a home decorated box for multi purposes. It has been hand decorated with a henna type design. Next to it in the colourful buttoned box is my everyday pins and brooches available for immediate use. 

This is just a taster of what the box can be used for. It gives room for jewellery to be spread out so that you can have all your options in sight. 

Another home-made item is this basket. It gives alternate colours which spice up the room and cant be bought in shops. It gives a unique twist to the room without being extremely different to the colour co-ordination of the room. 

These lights are shop bought, and are simple, allowing for light when its dark, especially if I dont want to turn the main light on at the time. It gives the room a slightly girlier look as well as still being mature. 

THE BLESSED MONTH...

Asalamualaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu (Peace and blessings be upon you),

How are you?

Ramadan is now literally around the corner, which if you don't already know, is a blessed month, full of rewards and spirituality.

One of the hardest realisations about ramadan is this idea that it brings us back to 'good' for a month which doesn't always last beyond the month. The approach is always 'oh its ramadan we need to be good' but once ramadan is over, its back to square one. It's almost like we do something good when someone your scared of is around but then we leave the naughty stuff for later when 'noone is watching'.

Ramadan needs to be taken one step at a time. It needs to be understood that its a blessing to even be in a situation where we can partake in ramadan. So many of us take it for granted and are certain that we can improve at a later time. But how can we guarantee that the later time will come.

There are so many annoying things, people, and situations in this world. But we need to try and work around them to make us better people. We can use ramadan as a stepping stool to increase our Imaan and not get so affected by things.

People who annoy you and waste your time, don't give them the time of day to affect you. Ignore them and focus on what you have to do if they try and pull you back be stronger and continue in your way. I feel like I have gotten to the point where I still get angry, people still frustrate me, but I am also beginning to push past those who limit me, who have affected me, who have left me with bad memories, and tried to become better as a result.

May Allah bless us with the upcoming ramadan as a starting point for improvement, as a spring board to leap to faith, as an engine to start our improved life.

We need to stay strong as humans, and only stick by those who help us not hinder us.

Have a lovely Ramadan! Make sure this is your spring board and not just something that needs to be done and is then over. 

TWO FAST YEARS

Asalamualaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu (Peace and Blessings upon you),

How are you?

The time has come where second year of uni is over, where my exams have been completed, assignments and stress are over.

When 'they' say that your years of university are the fastest years, trust me, its true.

I feel like it was this year where I came to uni and met everyone for the first time, and got used to the environment.

Part of me also feels like school was not that long ago as well and that university is just a gap before I go back. Haha.

I think the fact that school/ education can take up so much of your time during your childhood that you become so used to it that you are unsure what to do without it. Before I know it, insha'Allah I would be done with university and looking for something fit for my future.

Life is so temporary that its hard to envision anything.

It is all so crazy.

CULTURE vs. RELIGION

Asalamualaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu,

How are you? It has been a long time since I last posted on my blog. Alhamdullilah exams are finally over, so now I can relax a bit more and hopefully be more regular in posting.

One of the topics I want to address that has been playing on my mind recently is this idea of religion and culture being merged together, creating blurred lines.
I personally think that this is one of the main causes of misunderstanding of Islam, particularly in this world especially in the media.

Religion is a belief system, it allows you to have a set of morals and values that you follow, it gives you a sense of purpose and it gives you hope and information about the world that you may not necessarily find the answer to somewhere else. Culture on the other hand, is a set of traditions which have been marked by man, and is largely influenced by people and their way of life.

There are soo many examples I could give regarding how they become confused, but if you haven't noticed lately, Islam has become this targeted religion that has turned so many people against it (of course not everyone is influenced so easily), and the things that they mention as being 'Islam' is CULTURAL.

Islam doesn't teach pride, yet people are prideful, it doesn't teach aggression, yet people are aggressive, it doesn't teach the killing of men, women and children yet people continue to kill. It teaches you to act in a way that is opposite to how we may naturally react.

ISLAM IS PERFECT, MUSLIMS ARE NOT.

Another huge mix between Islam and religion is ... WEDDINGS.

I cannot express how many times I have seen weddings that are for muslims but they have so much in them which makes me think is this a muslim wedding. Subhanallah, it has always been said that if you start something in the wrong way, then this may affect the future. Islam doesn't teach us to listen to music and dance with the opposite sex, it doesn't teach us to show our hair if we usually cover it, it doesn't teach us to mingle with our non-mahrams.

I understand that my examples may not come across as clear. It is difficult to express something that you feel strongly about in writing just because it doesn't come out the way it makes sense to you.
I mention this only to say that I believe that so many of us do not regard the after life strongly enough to compromise things in this world that we hold dear, including myself. We make mistakes yes, but that is not enough of an excuse to try harder to become better. It is not enough of an excuse to say 'I know its wrong but I am still going to dress a certain way, or do a certain thing', it is just not enough.

We KNOW we are all going to die. Its a given. So WHY do we continue to do the things that we do that we know are wrong? Why do we let our nafs take over.

I know its hard, its never easy, but I just really hate seeing these things happen right in front of me, every where I go and know that I have a responsibility to say it when I don't know how.

Lets just pray that Allah gives us strength to do things responsibly and to get our messages across in a way that is inspiring and not ruthless.

Share your opinions and Insha'Allah we can grow as a society.