Alhamdulillah

Since Thanksgiving and Eid al-Adha basically overlap this year, I've been pondering quite a bit over both of them. I realized, just now in fact, how similar Eid al-Adha is to Thanksgiving. Ibrahim, peace be upon him, was asked to sacrifice his beloved son as a sign of devotion to ALLAH (swt). As difficult as this was (I can't imagine being asked to kill your own child), Ibrahim chose to obey ALLAH, knowing that ALLAH knew best. When ALLAH saw that Ibrahim was obedient and strong enough in his iman to give up his precious son, He told Ibrahim that he didn't have to sacrifice his son and sent an animal in his place for slaughter. To commemorate this event, and to thank ALLAH for His Great Mercy to Ibrahim, we Muslims celebrate Eid. Eid al-Adha can be seen as one big Thanksgiving Day to ALLAH for everything He does for us. In honor of Eid al-Adha and Thanksgiving, I would like to give a brief list of things I am thankful for:

-my family
-my friends
-my educational opportunities at my awesome college
-the food that I have and the fact that I have never gone hungry
-my clothes
-my electronics
-my good health
-animals
-the Muslim chaplain at my college, who has helped me so much with increasing my Islamic knowledge
-the community at my masjid, who make me so proud to be a part of this ummah and serve as great examples of Muslims in America
-the human body and its amazing systems
-sleep
-my beloved deen of Islam

For all these things and everything else in the world, I thank ALLAH. Thank You so much, ALLAH, for everything You do for me and the world. Please help me remain faithful in You forever, and please keep me on Sirat al-Mustaqeem, and let my body, heart and soul never stop praising You. AMEEN!

Eid Mubarak everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving! <3

Y'all's Eid Plans?

Salaam alaikum ladies (and gents)!

Insha'Allah you're all doing well. It's finally Friday, Alhamdulillah, and only one week until Eid!!

Now the question that has been asked a bazillion times before: "What are you doing for Eid?"

Unfortunately, I will not be able to celebrate Eid this year. It is during my Thanksgiving break, meaning I will be at home. Because my parents do not know that I am Muslim, and I cannot let them know right now, I can't go to the masjid for Eid prayers or do anything festive. It's frustrating/disappointing to think about, since I would more than anything like to be at school with my pals celebrating, while instead I am in a position where I can't even acknowledge it. Alhamdulillah, I will get to spend time with my two best friends that I haven't seen in months, so that will be my celebration. I'll make them go out to dinner with me or something.

What about you guys? Have you gotten new clothes? Are you preparing awesome food/going to other people's houses for awesome food and companionship? Will you take advantage of the Black Friday sales to go shopping after prayers? (sounds like my kind of holiday, food and shopping!)

A big thank you to all my followers for reading my posts! It really means a lot to me. :)

Until next time, salaam alaikum, and remember to take advantage of these first ten days of Dhu al-Hijjah!

Clothes I Would Actually Wear

Salaam alaikum!

I know I said that my next post would be about the situation with my family, but I am feeling lazy/more in the mood to write about clothes. :)

Alhamdulillah, I started wearing hijab in January of 2009. Before I converted I gradually replaced all my t-shirts and shorts with long pants, long sleeved shirts, and long skirts (not so many long skirts, though, since my mom hates them and said I couldn't wear them more than twice a week). When I got to college, I realized that hijab is more than just wearing a headscarf, which is what I thought all along. Even though my sleeves and pants were long, they still weren't really hijab-appropriate; they were both pretty tight and showed off too much of my shape. I started to throw short dresses on over my shirts and jeans, and made sure the headscarf was a little longer. As time has passed, I've been wearing more skirts, wider pants, and longer dresses and coats. Someday, Insha'Allah, I would like to wear jilbab all the time over my other clothes because I believe this is the way ALLAH wants me to dress. I can't make any major wardrobe changes now (I am a jobless college student, after all), so Alhamdulillah I am making due with the clothes I already have and two jilbabs that I recently bought.

If playing/winning the lottery was halal (or if I found another huge source of money without actually having to work for it), here are the clothes I would blow my money on (these and many other things, surely):

http://www.myhijabshop.com/images/blackHoodAbaya3.jpg

Really casual, just as I like it, and it looks super comfortable.

javascript:CaricaFoto('http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/shukr_2080_5758366')

A corduroy jilbab is on the top of my list of clothing items to buy. It never goes out of style.

http://hijabistyleseeking.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/wo3002-vintage-wash-2-inset.jpg

Denim jilbabs are also on the top of my list.

Anything from Shukr, really. I am all about plain, classic styles, and Shukr fits it perfectly. I'm not too fond of satin abayas with all the bling on them; give me cotton and denim anyday.

More later, Insha'Allah.

FIRST!

Salaam alaikum, peace be upon you all!

After being a devoted blog follower/creeper for quite some time now, I decided it was finally time to start my own online diary. Please do subscribe if you're so inclined. Although the title of my blog suggests otherwise, I'll try to be as interesting as possible, Insha'Allah (GOD willing).