I do await the day.
The day my foot touches the soil,
That I choose to walk on.
For if I choose to come back,
And I will,
It’ll be on my own accord.
Not the dotted lines I followed.
Respecting my being,
Is much more important
Than following a plan.
A plan–
I neither had a say,
Nor an opinion in.
I suppose it wouldn’t have mattered anyways.
-N.S
23-08-2017
The sun never thinks of shining
The wolf with its unquestioning howl
So I don’t question my purpose either
I shine because God Wills it
and I howl because I can
Unapologetically
Four feet of silk wrapped around my head
The color of cream
Pinned to perfection
Smooth at the base of my neck
My hijab, my beautiful veil.
Worn firmly, worn proudly,
Worn unapologetically
No one can tell you what to feel
or what they didn’t make you feel
Those are yours alone,
own them well
And own them unapologetically
So I walk like I have angels on my sides
Because I do
And I act like I have God guiding me
Because I do
Your feet are yours
Your path is not mine
I can’t make you swim,
when you own wings
So fly as you will,
wings spread widely,
proudly, and unapologetically
And every morning before I leave
My hands move in instinct motions
Wrapping a layer of gratefulness
A layer of humility
And a pin for worship
-N.S
———————————
August 3rd, 2009 was when I chose to wear hijab, This poem is to celebrate my 8th proud year of this decision✌
Sometimes the eyes reveal.
Not what’s on the tongue,
Nor what you already know,
Or have heard.
The eyes–
They often reveal something hidden,
Tucked away,
Neglected.
In that dusty spot on the heart.
Away from the prying eyes of the world.
For the world judges,
And misjudges.
But worst of all,
You do the same for yourself.
When you look in those eyes,
Sometimes you just know.
You see it, you can’t explain it,
But you just know.
& you let it go.
-N.S
Why is it always the woman
who has to compromise,
settle,
bargain her beliefs,
bend her values,
& sell her faith
to be seen as a “Good Woman”
I don’t care for that title.
I’d rather be sane,
comfortable in my skin,
at peace with my mind,
values in tact.
Everything I do is for my God.
If that offends you–
so be it.
Hearing “no” creates character,
which you can use a bit of.
مع سلامة و الله معاك
-N.S
Gems
You cry about emotions you never had,
Write about feelings you never knew,
And thirst for what you don’t even know.
You pretend you had it all this time,
Claim you have always known the truth,
Even when you know you’re wrong.
You desire what they have
Not knowing,
or being bothered to care
That God has a gem for you
And the rest have gotten
stones.
-N.S
“All the while you were hurting, One was waiting. Waiting patiently for the opportunity to come when He could deliver you away from this pain. All the while you were accumulating in pain, accumulating stains on your heart, burying it deeper, and deeper, until it couldn’t breathe any longer, until it screamed for someone to help, and One was waiting. Waiting to liberate your heart, and bring it to ease and send to it tranquility and serenity.”
Full article: Source of Mercy.
Imagine if life contains two buttons: “Help” and “Thank You”.
The “Help” button contains services where we could pour our heart out, ask for help, get help (may not be direct and immediate), is completely confidential and has an unlimited amount of uses.
The “Thank You” button has similar features, but instead of asking for help, we give thanks for anything we want. This too, is completely confidential, and has unlimited amount of uses.
Now as human beings, we are never truly satisfied with what we have, and always seek out to get more, so naturally we abuse the “Help” button. But like a bank, we cannot expect to continuously take out money without putting some in. But for some reason, we expect life to do that. Actually no, we expect God to make us all rich and beautiful, and to live the simplest of lives, and when things don’t go as planned we become upset and depressed and blame God. And when things are going smooth, and there are no bumps in our roads, we forget God, and think how much of a life I have made, how successful I have become, how all those A’s I’m receiving are from my hard work, and the “Thank You” button sits there with dust piling on top due to its lack of use.
The reality is many of us only remember God in our times of need and desperation; when we face struggles, or when we want something immensely. Of course, by all means He is the one we should turn to, but how many of us go back to God after our struggle to thank Him? To take a single moment out of our crazy hectic schedules and to ask for nothing but say Alhamdulilah (praise to Allah). Life may be simple to some, and difficult to others, but regardless of our situation-we have plenty to be thankful for.
The fact that you are reading this means you have eyes. Imagine walking home from school and just as you’re about to cross a very busy street, God takes away your eyesight for a minute of your entire life-that’s it, a minute! Now tell me how easy and successful you’ll be crossing the street without God’s help. Your breath. What happens if God decided to take away 2 minutes of your breathing? Dizziness, you may faint, and is potentially life threatening, you think you got that on your own?
We may be able to name 10 problems in our lives that upset us; go to God for guidance.
But we have an infinite amount of blessings that make us smile; so go to God and thank Him. 🙂
“None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself”
–Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him)
Three years ago, when I was in Cejep I met this bubbly, adorable, and extremely lovable girl.
Azar Briefkani.
To say it briefly (see what I did there?) she is: amazing, huggable, beautiful, honest, big-hearted, caring, kind, generous, humble, crazy, compassionate, gentle, vicious, sometimes psychotic (out of love), considerate, gorgeous, awesome, open-minded, loving, positive, concerned, encouraging, faithful, fun, trust-worthy, friendly, smiley, joyful, patient, forgiving, thoughtful, hopeful, laughable, optimistic, loyal, insightful, respectful, strong etc…
I had to stop somewhere. I mean, how do you honestly capture someones entire being with words?
Blood or not-when someone is Muslim they become sister or brother and we treat them in such a manner. So you see Azar, I have a very big heart and I love to love people. So I loved you even before I met you simply because of the fact you’re my sister in Islam and humanity.
(This should end the fight between who loves each other more! HA!)
She’s had her up’s and down’s, right’s and left’s, twist and turns, but despite everything-she remained an amazing and faithful friend; always smiling showing her perfect teeth, laughing a laugh so contagious your spirits begin to lift and soon find yourself laughing at the most ridiculous things (like…at me), and I can’t think of a single boring moment when we were together! She brings the stupid side out of me and I love it because I am rather a ridiculous person, and if I can express my stupidity with anyone and not be judged-its Azar.
I can’t even begin to express how encouraging she is. With every small goal I reach-her encouragements are endless. Her hugs are to die for (maybe because we’re both short and I don’t have to feel bad for the other person to bend their back even though I’m on my tippy toes). And I won’t even bother talking about her edible cheeks. She is an incredible friend (in case I didn’t make that clear enough) and alhamdulilah I am so honored and blessed to have met such a beautiful blessing in my life.
Anyways, its 2:30am-and I have procrastinated for far too long, but I hope you understand how much of a friend you mean to me, and how much I love you for the sake of Allah (love could hardly be captured in words though!). When I see you, I will squish you, and wish you a proper happy birthday.
Happy 22nd Birthday my love! ❤
For quite a few years this invisible force would tighten around my throat when it was time to talk about my religion. Yes, my beautiful, perfect, and glorious religion—Islam, and I would dare hesitate.
Shame on me.
Don’t get me wrong-if a teacher spoke falsely about Islam, I would definitely correct them, or if someone asks me a direct question, I would answer. But that’s where the conversation ended, and I would make no effort in trying to continue.
I always had the false impression that my deen was not well enough and so I developed an insecurity about it– that maybe a few more years of working on it I will be a little bit more knowledgeable and will not be so incompetent to speak on behalf of the most beautiful religion in the world. I was afraid that my words would give injustice and thought I would do best to remain silent. But as someone beautifully quoted at a recent workshop; “Do not wait until your deen is perfected to give Da’wah, but rather giving Da’wah is a means of perfecting your deen.”
And this is true—in my Psychology of Education class we learnt that the more you speak about a subject, not only do you retain the information faster, but you end up believing in it more-which makes you more fluent in the subject and would grasp any opportunity to speak about a subject you are so comfortable with.
And how exactly was I supposed to get comfortable with speaking when everything I know is just there, floating around in my brain, with no one benefiting but myself? What excuse would I give to my creator when on the Day of Judgment I will be asked why I didn’t do my duty in giving da’wah? Confidence issue? Nice try Noor…
But this has changed, and I have changed. And this blog post is to remind me that I’m stepping up my game! As long as I have 100% belief that the message I’m trying to convey is the truth, why am I constantly worried about being wrong?
Alhamdulilah for the workshop I attended. I left the room with my confidence boosted, and my love for Islam to soar higher than ever! I am so fortunate to have a religion that gives me peace of mind-it would be selfish to keep it all to myself. 🙂
positive flavors 