During Ramadan I wanted to write but never found the time, so here is a little update of what has been going on with me.
I started back to school teaching. It was right at the start of Ramadan so for the first few weeks of school I was tired and so were the kids. I am finally on Eid break and enjoying the quiet.
My henna business has been going slow but good. I had a chance to do a woman's event with another henna artist and it was great to meet her. The only drawback was that it was totally non Muslim. When I arrived, I checked in with the front desk to find out where I should go. Once I found my friend I excused myself to go pray and break fast. When I came back she told me that the event organizers had come over and asked her if I was going to wear 'that' the entire time, meaning my veil. My friend told me when I got back what was said. At the time I laughed it off, but the more I thought about it the more it made me angry. There were women there with various body parts hanging out for all to see, but because I was covered I was a problem? Other than that little issue things went fine and I had some great conversations with the ladies that I did do henna for. They all had questions about Islam and it was nice to share my art and give dawah at the same time.
On Eid day, we went to the early salat at the masjid. It was totally packed, I could not even get in and prayed in the hallway. Towards the end a few sisters came out early. One was wearing a sari with her somach showing... I just about died, but didn't say anything.... I was too shocked to even get a word out. After that a bunch of us went to IHOP for breakfast. The girls were at one table and the boys at another. It was so nice and peaceful to just be with all of these muslims talking about our Ramadan experiences and having yummy food! After that my husband and I went to the Eid carnival to set up to vend. He was selling books for hudastore.com and of course I was doing henna. We did well and were busy the whole time. I was sad to see so many sisters not covered but what can I do. I had one young lady come to me for henna and she was not covered at all, and wearing tight revealing clothing. As she was getting henna some of her other girl friends and some young men were making so much noise in the tent next to us. Then some of the boys came over to see what she was doing. I told them (nicely) that as young muslim men they needed to back about 10 feet off of this beautiful young girl and lower their gaze. They all laughed and talked about being told off by the niqabi! I then asked the young lady when she was going to cover, and she said soon inshallah. Now all of this was done in fun with them, nothing accusatory or rude, so it was a nice chance to give dawah to some young brothers and sister that obviously needed it.
So now I have a week off and so does my husband. We are going to take our son to the zoo tomorrow inshallah... If I have any fun stories from that i'll let you know. :)
4 comments:
Salaam alaikum. Sister, I too was shocked at the way some sisters dressed and behaved at the Eid prayer. I have never seen so much skin in all my life. I was ashamed. And in my masjid, no one, I mean *no one* listened to the khutba. Everyone started getting up and taking pictures, talking and laughing loudly, to the point that I didn't hear a single word. Inshallah, our ummah will come to its senses soon.
As-salaamu 'Alaikum wa Rahmatu Allahi wa Barakatuh,
Only two things come to mind:
Subhana'Allah and Al7amdulillah. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do?
Keep up the good work ukhti. May Allah ta'ala reward you.
BTW, at 'Eid prayer, I noticed I was the only womn to throw back on my niqaab when we left the women's section....and in fact, many/most of the ladies snatched off their hijaab immediately after prayer...Subhana Allah
Salam aleikom! Eid mubarak to you and your family. I was really missing your posts, glad you have a break. I'm not surprised by the lack of clothes. Eid prayers are now the 'runway' for some ppl sad to say. Alhumdulillah our imaam told everyone at the jummah khutbah if you are not going to observe proper hijab do not come at all and cause a fitnah for the brothers. alhumdulillah we didnt have too many sisters uncovered (maybe 2? we are a small but strong community alhumdulillah)only problem we had was with the sisters chatting during the Eid khutbah :(
Salaam,
I hope your Ramadan was full of reward and blessings. Sister I was wondering if you could give me some advice on how you dealt with your family during your conversion. I am having problems with mine and it is causing me inner conflict. Thanks very much. May Allah be with you always.
K
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