Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Getting to know you.

Let's jump right into it.

EXERCISE
Today I had/have a headache and no time to exercise later (see ISLAM) so I decided to go for a walk on my lunch break. It was awesome. I know that word is overused, but I don't care.


Here's a photojourney of what I did:

I walked on stuff I had only seen from my car before: 





















I walked through a ball field and got up close to a thing to see what the backside looks like and was pretty impressed:

Innovation rocks. As long as it's not in the religion.
















I said hi to several people along the way:




















I communed with nature. Turkeys have a right to free access to literature too!

Over here, by the three trees!
 
I know what you're thinking.
No, he didn't catch the bus in time.


All in all, it was 20 minutes of radness. I get annoyed with myself when I realize I have worked in this neighborhood for two whole years and have walked around in it less than a dozen times. Sad sauce! But this blog is about moving forward, not dwelling on should-a, would-a, could-as.

UPDATE 3/22: I forgot the health tip! This will not be the last time. Here's my tip of the day (for yesterday): Get out of your chair/off your couch/away from your computer and just walk around, even inside your house/apartment/hole in the wall for 20 minutes. It's an oldie but a goodie.

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ISLAM
I've been going to a weekly halaqa (Islamic study group) on a pretty durn regular basis for about 4 years now. Alhamdulillah. All praise is due to Allah. It's usually taught by Hatem al-Haj, a now-local scholar, pediatrician and university dean, etc. He's amazing and I can attribute a giant portion of what I have learned to his classes. May Allah bless him for his dedication, which involves driving two hours each way from his home to teach us every week.

Right now Sh. Hatem is traveling so we have a stand-in speaker for two weeks. Br. Mohammad Soussi gave an excellent talk tonight on manners in Islam. It wasn't the usual stuff about how to talk to people, language, dress etc. It was some hard-hitting reminders for us in order of importance:


Manners with Allah (azza wa jal)

  • Don't associate anything with Him, even your following your desires can be shirk! Great example about how "Money is like a disease we don't even know we have".
  • Thank Him for everything. You don't know how good you have it. "How many people in 3rd world countries have even seen a PICTURE of a buffet?" Here's one:

Manners with the Prophet (salli Allahu alayhi wa sallam)

  • Dismissing things like growing one's beard as "just a Sunnah" is in essence, dismissing the order of Allah to follow Him and His messenger. "Sisters really take one for the team by wearing hijab."
Go, girl!

Manners with each other

  • Love for your brother (or sister) what you love for yourself. "Sisters, don't look at another lady's new husband and say, Dang, how did she get HIM?!"
  • Be someone they can count on. Wonderful reminder of the story of when Abubakar (radhi Allahu anhu) let himself be bit by a snake to protect the Prophet and didn't move a muscle despite the pain just so he wouldn't wake him while he was sleeping with his head on his lap. "Which of us can say we have a friend like that?"
  • Don't transgress each other. "There are people here in the West who call the authorities to report lies about their brothers just to get them arrested. Audhu billah."
Whoa. I wrote a lot. Again. Sorry! There was so much more but this is getting crazy-long. I hope you can join us next week for "Manners of the Sahaba (companions of the Prophet). It will be streaming live from this website

Good night!



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