The Situation of Iraqi Refugees (Source: International Rescue Committee)

IRC Commission on Iraqi Refugees: Statement of the Commissioners

A major humanitarian crisis, largely hidden and ignored, is engulfing Syria and Jordan.

Iraqis of different religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds have been fleeing dea.th, kidnapping, and protracted vio.lence. Because they are not huddled in camps these refugees do not get the attention and help the deserve from the U.S. and the international community. Many have been severely traumatized and lead deperate lives in Damascus and Amman. Compounding the problem, some reporting has perpetuated myths that they are wealthy or more recently that the crisis is abating and they are beginning to return to their homes in Iraq.

Neither the U.S. nor the rest of the world is paying sufficient heed: external help provided by regional countries and major international donors has been half-hearted and woefully insufficient.

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Give me information NOT opinions and CITE your source(s)!

Remember back in high school and college when the teacher or professor would ask you to write a paper on a topic and then remind you to cite your sources? Well, I’m doing the same thing. Except in this case I am talking about giving information about Islam.

Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate your attempt(s) to guide me in my deen by enlightening me with information about Islam. However, being as neither of us are Sheikhs, I’m asking that you cite your source when you give information to me about Islam.

E.g. According to Surah “X”, Ayat “Y”, it says that one must “Z”;

According to “A” Hadith “B” says “C”;

Or Sheikh “X” said “Y” at “Z” Lecture.

Do you know what I mean?

Here are a few things I’d like clarified that have been told to me as fact or opinion or a little of both:

You must hold your fingers to your shoulders not to your ears during Takbir.

You should not pray while wearing socks.

You can pray while wearing socks.

All photos/images are haraam.

Photos are OK but you cannot wear or display any living thing.

You can wear or display any living thing as long as it does not have a face on it.

All music is haraam.

Music is fine is long as it is a Nasheed.

Music is fine as long as there is no singing.

Music is fine as long as there are no musical instruments.

As you can see, I have been given different and sometimes contradictory information on various topics relating to Islam. So please, if you want to clarify any of the above for me, than please do so. Just make sure to site your sources.

Jazak Allah Khair,
Hadiya

My rant on the ignorance of Islam in the popular culture

Ok. Some things have to be said. It is well known that “fiction” is: A literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.

However, just for fun can our popular authors try and research a topic before writing about it? I’m talking about fiction books that contain stories involving Islam and Muslims. Here are a few misconceptions that I would like to clear up that the writer of The Bourne Betrayal and The Bourne Legacy has written about Islam.

1.) Muslims do not drink alcohol! Alcohol is haraam. Therefore it is fraudulent to have the so called Muslim character drinking vodka and toasting for success in his or her ter.rorist goal.

2.) A good single Muslim man (or woman) does not have a g.irlfriend (or boyfriend in a woman’s case). S.ex outside of marriage is considered haraam and a sin.

3.) The standard greeting for Muslims is: One person says Asalaamu Alaikum. And the other person replies Walaikum Asalaam. Not one person says La ilaha illallah with the other person repeating it back to him.

4.) The term for some one who practices the religion of Islam is Muslim not “Islamic”. E.g. His mother is Muslim…is correct. It is not correct to say…His mother is “Islamic”.

5.) The term Sufi and Sunni are not two words for the same thing. There are many Sunnis who are not Sufis.

6.) Orthodox Islam does not oppress women or keep women down.

7.) Shahadah is not a synomym for “telling the truth”

8.) Muslims who practice Islam according to the teachings of Muhammed ibn Abd-Whahab do not identify themselves as “Wahhabi”. That is a label that was put on this group of Muslims by Western society.

9.) The form of Islam that is practiced in Saudi Arabia is not considered to be the correct or orthodox form of Islam by all Muslims.

10.) Christians and Jews are not considered to be “infidels” in Islam. They are considered “People of the Book” and that they believe in the same God that Muslims believe in. All Allah means in Arabic is the one God.

11.) A Sheikh would never embrace a woman (Muslim or not) who is outside of his immediate family. He would not be her mahram so embracing such a woman would be haraam.

12.) A good Muslim would never force his wife to convert to Islam. Coercion into religion is against the teachings of Islam.

13.) And of course we have the biggest and most obvious fact of them all (for those who wish to not wallow in stereotypes and ignorance…All Muslims are not ter.rorists!!!
Believing this stereotype is the same as equating all Christians with the ideals of David Koresh or believing that is part of the Christian religion to blow up abortion clinics.

Favorite Recipes

Asalaamu Alaikum,
In my quest to find a husband I thought it may be helpful if I could learn some more recipes to add to my cooking knowledge. If you have any favorite recipes (from any country, but I am especially a fan of Indian food! Yum! ), please help a sister out and leave a recipe for me.
Jazak Allah Khair,
Hadiya

Mothers Day is an odd time for me

I recently picked up Mothers Day Cards for my two Grandmothers and my Step-Mother and My Sister but not my Mother.

**Please don’t innundate me with anything related to how Mother’s Day is not “Islamic” because it is an American holiday or it is a secular holiday or it is Biddah or whatever. As far as I’m concerned Islam tells us to honor our parents and it seems to me that celebrating Mothers Day is following along that ideal.**

My mother died a few weeks before Mothers Day in 2004 after what we later found out were long and protracted health problems. As she had not discussed them with any of us in the family at length, it came as quite a shock when that fateful Thursday evening in 2004 when I received a phone call from my sister. They’ve found mom.

Without the going into all the nitty-gritty details (because they still make me sad), we had her memorial service the day after Mothers Day, the following month. We had a small tree planted in a local park (at which we had had many family gatherings) which I have since learned that they’ve cut it down. Four years later, I have never been back to the park to see the tree (before it was cut down) and I have yet to look at any old photographs of my mother since that time.

Oddly enough, it was my Mom’s untimely passsing (she had been 3 months shy of her 50th birthday) that compelled me to finally take my Shahadah. I had been studying about Islam for four years and had not done anything about it. When I learned of Allah SWT could take someone from me, so young, I knew I’d best declare my faith lest it was his plan to render my future short as well.

And so, I’ll look on this Mothers Day and think of all the things my Mom has missed: My Shahadah, My getting my Bachelor’s degree, My Sister getting married, My other Sister getting her Bachelor’s degree and starting her Master’s program, My Sister and Brother-in-law having their first child…

I only hope she was and continues to look down at us as we go about our lives, for we carry on, but will always miss her.

Weird….dude.

So I saw the weirdest thing on PBS the other day.

Ok. I admit it. [Me] Hi, My name is Hadiya and I’m a PBS-Junkie. [Everyone Else] Hi Hadiya!

As it turns out, we Americans are made out of corn! Yep. That’s right. Its in practically everything we eat! Ever hear of high fructose corn syrup?

OK, so that’s odd. But who cares, right? Wrong! As it turns out, High Fructose Corn Syrup “provides … calories without offering much in the way of nutrition: no minerals, no vitamins, no fats or proteins and no fiber.” Source: King Corn, PBS

Not on that, but “nutritional studies performed at the Harvard School of Public Health and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association conclude that individuals who drink more than one sugar- or corn-sweetened beverage per day substantially increase their risk of gaining weight and developing diabetes.”
Source: King Corn, PBS

So why is the American diet inundated with corn-sweetened products? Because in the 1970s the U.S. government ended production limits on corn but kept subsidizing corn farmers to grow it despite a market that was already floooded with corn!
Source: King Corn, PBS

Now how does that make sense?

Anyways…
So the next time you’re shopping, puh-lease check the label for High Fructose Corn Syrup. Maybe you can find an alternative product without it.

Just remember, corn/HFCS is in more things than you realize!

Many breaths of fresh air…

After numerous phone calls between my doctor’s office and their medical supply company, I have finally gotten my CPAP machine, Alhamudulillah! Insha’Allah I will be breathing better tonight!

I totally dig this. Please check it out.

Among her usual brillant and insightful posts, Jamerican Muslimah has just posted another good article.

Click here to read it: 8 Things NEVER to Say to your Muslim Co-Worker

Oddly appropriate

I found it oddly appropriate that yesterday after I spewed forth my feelings of anger on to this blog, about the medical establishment that I am current dealing with, PBS ran a documentary on Frontline about the American medical establishment. It showed how the U.S. medical system rates when compared to other democratic countries (the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Switzerland) and how it can be possible to learn from these countries in order to reform Americans’ access to health care (or lack there of).

Click here to watch Sick Around the World online.

I heard back from Brother B

Masha’Allah, I heard back from Brother B and he is still interested in getting to know me. Alhamdulillah!

I suppose this is a lesson that I should not let my low self esteem (i.e. I assumed he wouldn’t want to contact me again after I told him about our differences in size) get the better of me.

I plan to keep emailing him for now, despite my personal paradigm about what size each person should be in a relationship. I figure if I don’t try to get over said personal paradigm, I may be missing out on getting to know a nice person…