Book Recommendation

This post is going to be an offshoot of one I wrote a while back about niqab. It seems to have come up again a few times, and I wanted to share a book that I read that helped me make my decision about it being an obligation to veil.

The book is called Four Essays on the Obligation of Veiling and contains 4 essays by some of the best scholars of our time: Bin Baaz, Uthaimeen, Fawzaan and Madkhalee.

The first time I read this book it set for me what my obligations were in relation to hijab. I could not doubt it anymore. The proofs were too strong. I've just started to re-read it and I wanted to share a part that I really found interesting from the essay by Uthaimeen:

Ibn Umar reported that the Prophet Salallahu Alayhi Wa Salam said 'Whoever trail his garment out of pride, Allah will not look at him on the day of Judgement.' So Umm Salamah asked 'Then what should the women do with the hems of their dresses?' The Prophet said 'Let them extend their hems the length of a hand span.' She said 'But their feet would still be exposed.' So he replied 'Then let them extend it a forearm's length and no more.' (reported by Abu Dawood)

There is evidence in this hadeeth that a woman is obligated to cover her feet. This was a well known matter amongst the Sahaabiyaat. Without a doubt, the foot is less a place of fitnah than the face and hands. Thus, warning against something that is a lesser danger also consists of a warning against what is greater and superior than it, based on the wisdom of the Last Revelation. Would it obligate the covering of an area that is less of a place of fitnah, and allow the exposing of that which is a greater area of fitnah? Indeed this a clear contradiction that is not possible for the wisdom of Allah and his legislation.

So if anyone has an interest to study the obligation further please consider this book as a good place to start.

Visiting home

Last week, I went to Vermont to visit my mom and sister. I took my son with me and we had a very nice time. My son really behaved the entire time and was very sweet, which made it even better.

On Thursday I drove up to visit my sister and we went out shopping and had a great time. At one point she was going to take me to the only halal restaurant around so she asked if she could wear a scarf too! We had a great time trying to get it on her in the car (tiny Jetta), we laughed so hard that we were crying. Finally we got it on and went looking for the place but never found it. :( Instead we got some Chinese food and she kept it on when she went in to get it. It was really sweet of her to be so supportive. May Allah guide her to the right path.

I'll be going up again this weekend to go to a craft show with mom. I love those things and its something really cool that we can do together. It gives us a chance to talk and laugh. When I was up there last week, we had that same conversation where she tells me that she never prays to Jesus, but only to God, and that she thinks communion is gross! Its a start I guess. I am always trying to tell her about Islam, and do my best to show her the truth.

And to top it off, here are some pictures of the sunset off of my moms front deck. Alhamdulilah!

Venting

I read a lot of blogs. I've narrowed myself down to the ones that don't drive me insane. The ones that drive me insane are usually feminist drivel from Muslimahs that want to put gender before Islam and announce it to the world through their pretentious articles written on topics that only degrade women, not lift them up.

Most of the blogs I read are by intelligent Muslim women who are strict on their deen. They are strong, smart and knowledgeable about Islam. These are the sisters that I take comfort in. We share ideals and learn from each other. These are the things that keep me going. Knowing there are sisters out there that think like I do and support me as I support them.

Now comes the venting part. I know that my viewpoints are considered 'strict' to some, but it drives me crazy to no end when people try to blame me for them. They are not MY opinions, they are the opinions of some of the top scholars of Islam. The next question I always get is 'who do you think the top scholars are?', and when I reply, I just get people saying that they are too strict as well. It makes me crazy when people try to find every conceivable way to make questionable actions allowed, and then turn around and call me strict for following Quran and Sunnah.

Now on to my next rant topic. Fashion. I find it very sad that more muslimahs write about what cute outfit they put together than about issues that Muslims face today. If I see one more polyvore outfit with skin tight jeans, an overly loud tight shirt covered by an equally loud fitted jacket, I'll scream (oh yes, and add the insane 5 inch high heel shoes in some ridiculous color). Why are we so obsessed with looking cute? That is reserved for our husbands and family, not for the rest of the world. If some spent half the time they do on their clothes on learning their deen they might be better off.

Now for the disclaimer. This was a rant. I was venting. I'm allowed that right? These are the kinds of things that you say in your head all the time but don't dare say out loud. I'm not looking for a fight, or any nasty comments, so just save it. Sometimes I just need to get it out, and I did.

Sometimes I Forget

Friday was a busy day for us. Both my husband and I had a day off and so did my son. We all went to Jummah... it was totally packed! After Jummah we gave a brother and his wife a ride home and went to a sisters house to fix a hole in her wall. Once we were done with that we had an apartment building to go see.

We agreed to check out this building for a friend of ours from New York. He is thinking of buying an apartment building here and wanted our opinion before he drove the 3 hours to get here to see it himself.

The building had 10 units, fully rented. Not the best neighborhood, but it was ok. Right across from an elementary school. I've never had to 'look at a building' before so when I realized that we were going to go into occupied apartments to look around I felt awful! What an invasion of privacy! Now here is where the forgetting part comes in.

I am so used to the way I dress that I sometimes forget that it may be shocking for other people. The first apartment we went to was fine, the family was very nice, but the kids looked terrified of me. oops. The next apartment we went to look at would not let us in. The realtor showing us the place told me to stay out of site until the next apartment occupant agreed to let us in... I hid around the corner. That felt so strange. Once they opened the door and I came around the corner they looked so shocked. This part of town is mainly Hispanic and therefore Catholic so I'm sure they were not too pleased to see me, but I tried my best to be polite and show a good example.

So, this in comparison to my craft show day was quite a vast difference. Inshallah I got the chance at the apartment building to show these people that I'm not scary at all (and neither is my giant thobe wearing husband). I can show them that I love my family, I laugh, I talk to my son like a normal mother and I have manners.