Free-writing here again to spill my thoughts...

Everywhere around me, I see young women, girls, ladies, older women, etc. constantly trying to portray and imitate whatever they see in the media and sell themselves short.  I totally understand the pressures of society on looks, lifestyle, and all that stuff that goes accordingly.  I just wonder about this at times and its very heartbreaking.  Why are our women trying to be just females?  In a Maya Angelou book, I remember a point she made when her fiancee called her a female and she pointed out that she is a woman.  Female is a gender, a sex--but being a woman is different. All females are not women, but every woman is a female.  Many females degrade themselves, selling their souls for the sake of attention and totally losing themselves.  It makes me sad, as each of these people have so much potential to be amazing women, get sucked into false images and interpretations.  Why are our young women trying to be like the girls on MTV or Magazines, rather than trying to be inspired by Mother Teresa, Maya Angelou, Lauryn Hill, or tons of other women?  I could totally of course bring the Divine aspect and faith, asking why we couldn't be modern day imitators of Mary or Khadijah, Fatima, etc.(may He bless them all) but this is just a surfaced sketch pertaining to people of various backgrounds and faiths or those that may not even know much of a religion or history.  

Granted our men have a huge part in this disease--but I'm not here to beat that point to death, as it has timelessly been discussed and addressed...Our idea of womanhood, femininity and respect has totally become so distorted that we are blind to it.  I'm tired of hearing chicks quoting lines from females on reality shows who are known for being extremely loose or destructive--how many know positive quotes or something that is enlightening or inspiring? 

When it comes to the garbage on the radio, commercials on TV that can't be avoided if the television is on or the internet and magazines, "sex sells"...Our males eat it right up of course and females see that and think its the only way to get to a 'man'...Boy...what a delusion.  It is a constant cycle of destructive perversion, disrespect and lack of decency.  Where have we come to and where are we going?

(sigh) I had to get that off my chest...

Books, I love you...

I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set,
I go in the other room and read a book. ~Groucho Marx

"To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting." ~Edmund Burke

Random thought...

Isn't it amazing how the rose too bows its' head in submission to its Creator and lets itself die in love? Subhan'Allah...

(I found this picture online and just added some spice to it.)

I took a famous picture of Malcolm and just enhanced it w/ a touch of my own taste. May he rest in peace.

Tell me, is sugar sweeter
Or He who makes sugar cane?
Beauty of the moon is better
Or He who makes it wax and wane?
-Rumi- "Divan E Shams"

I love this picture, it is also the cover of one of my books...I'll just go ahead and pretend that is me lol

(I wish).

The sky shattered across the velvet sky tonight.

She looked up,

knowing that nothing will be as it was.

I hope my library will grow to be this big one day God willing...

found this online...so beautiful.. mash'Allah

My little brother is 10 years old and an amazing poet, mashAllah. He has compiled a small book of his poetry and is beautiful on the inside as much as he is on the outside.  I cannot imagine what a profound impact he could have on earth by the time he's my age.  The Creator has truly blessed him with an amazing heart, mind and spirit. May He protect him and increase him, Ameen.


Amir has a reading/writing class and he informed me that they are studying Langston Hughes.  Langston has some great poetry and one of my favorite places to hang out is built in his honor.  I'll be taking my brother there soon, as he is excited to do anything and everything that has to do with poetry and right now, Langston Hughes.  :)  You should google Langston to learn more about him. 


Amir has memorized a few of his poems within the past few days, amazingly and below is his favorite of them all:  (the first part is in the pictures and the 2nd part is below it)

...Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow."

Perhaps...

I was a damsel in distress,

 dressed in a knight’s shining armor.

I fought my own battles and carried a sword behind my skirt.

I said I didn’t need someone to rescue me.

But…

Now the armor has become too heavy

Or maybe I’ve become weak.

It could be that somewhere deep down inside,

Beyond the layers of walls,

There is a princess trapped in this dungeon,

Waiting to be rescued…

Perhaps.

-MaryamNoori-

My heart bled into life's cup
And you were not there with me,

You said you would be.



 -MaryamNoori-

Your grief for what you've lost lifts a mirror
up to where you're bravely working.
Expecting the worst, you look, and instead,
here's the joyful face you've been longing to see.
Your hand opens and closes, and opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open
you would be paralyzed.
Your deepest presence
is in every small contraction and expansion,
the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated
as bird wings.Rumi

Ahmed Hussain, you are greatly missed...

Ahmed was a great friend, mentor, guide and teacher for myself as well as many Muslims. He was a person of beauty, light and inspiration. Anyone who met him knew that he was no ordinary person. He was an example of great character and spiritual strength. His journey was a short one int his life but one filled with an abundance of charisma, laughter, knowledge and love. He taught me a lot about life and Divine love for the Creator and His beautiful Creation. He had over hundreds of books, which I wish I could keep, but it will be donated to a masjid and a library will be built in his name. Please help support this cause. Sadaqa Al-Jariya is something we need in this life and more in the next. When you do good, you receive double of it in return. So make a move and help knowledge spread insh'Allah (God willing). Check out the blog and there is a link within to donate to his cause.

blog: http://ahmedhussainlife.blogspot.com 


website for donations: www.ahmedhussain.org 

What was in that candle's light
that opened and consumed me so quickly?
Come back, my friend.
The form of our love is not a created form.
Nothing can help me but that beauty.
There was a dawn I remember when my soul
heard something from your soul.
I drank water from your spring,
and felt the current take me.
~Rumi~

I can't describe my reaction to this, for there are no words that could do justice...subhanAllah..

I want to be where your bare foot walks,
because maybe before you step, you'll look at the ground.
I want that blessing.
*Rumi*

"You and I have spoken all these words

but for the way we have to go,

words are no preparation.

I have one small drop of knowing in my soul.

Let it dissolve in your ocean."

-Rumi-

Subhan'Allah--what a profound example!


"The way of love is not a subtle argument.
The door there is devastation.
Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom.
How do they learn it?
They fall, and falling, they're given wings."
-Rumi-

"People change...mad things rearrange..." - LH

"Still waitin for love to come...and turn it all around..."

"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it." - Margaret Fuller

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.
-Buddha

Buddha

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.

All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.

However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and appreciates them, one is free of fear.

I'm a soldier of love,
Every day and night

I'm soldier of love
All the days of my life

I've been torn up inside (oh!)
I've been left behind (oh!)
So I ride
I have the will to survive

In the wild wild west,
Trying my hardest
Doing my best
To stay alive

I am love's soldier!

I wait for the sound

I know that love will come
Turn it all around

I'm a soldier of love
Every day and night...

(Lyrics from song by Sade)

Love is a river. Drink from it.
-Rumi-

A rose's rarest essence lives in the thorn.
~Rumi

There is a channel between voice and presence,

A way where information flows.

In disciplined silence the channel opens.

With wandering talk, it closes.

Rumi

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo,
but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you
when the limo breaks down."
- Oprah Winfrey


I really like this quote, as it can be relative on so many levels.
People always want to be with you at your best, but there are few in the world
that will be there to help you at your worst.  This is a shout out to all the people who love truly and care deeply for their loved one(s).

                  "Life is a double-edged sword
                I'm still learnin how to hold..."
                                          -MaryamNoori-