Do you know what is better than charity and fasting and prayer? It is keeping peace and good relations between people, as quarrels and bad feelings destroy mankind.
(via silkchemise)
Source: athoughtfulreminder
The servants of the All-merciful are those who walk upon the earth softly
and who,
when called upon by the ignorant,
say, ‘Peace’;
Source: naasirheydari
These seem to be popular lately, don’t they?
As a Muslim, I do not follow tradition blindly
As a Muslim, I do not conform to new age views without evaluation
As a Muslim, I am constantly self-reflecting
As a Muslim, I give charity and smile to strangers
As a Muslim, I believe in a non-human, non-gendered, unimaginable God
As a Chinese Muslim, I feel unrecognized and isolated by my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters
As a Chinese Muslim, I feel unrecognized and isolated by the American media
As a Chinese Muslim, I feel equally hated by the American media
As a Chinese Muslim, I am thankful to have seen so many different perspectives at my age
As a Chinese Muslim, I feel closer to Allah
As a Muslim artist, I do not have religious ultimatum
As a Muslim artist, I am criticized for not devoting my art to my religion completely and blatantly
As a Muslim artist, I devote myself instead to universal messages in hopes of reaching a wider audience
As a Muslim artist, I fully love and indulge in the visual world created for us by God
As a Muslim artist, I prove people wrong not by shoving my religion in their face, but showing them I am just a person like everyone else
As a Gay Muslim, I believe in love above hate.
As a Gay Muslim, I have been through constant, endless torment for simply loving someone.
As a Gay Muslim, I have become infinitely more compassionate and understanding to others.
As a Gay Muslim, I have found deeper, purer faith in Allah.
As a Gay Muslim, I vow to never let my faith put others in danger, I vow to protect others who are bombarded by blind faith.
This is me.
I am constantly torn
I am always falling
I am sheltered
I am afraid to speak
But I am insanely proud
I am Muslim, and I am not Haraam.
Q:Salaam sister, I want t be an artist but my uncle tells me that drawing people is haraam. Is this true?
Anonymous
Salaam! It’s been a while since I’ve had to tackle this.
A lot of my teenage years were spent researching this problem, because like you, many of my relatives told me off for it.
However, there is no where in the Qur’an that condemns art…I’ve looked.
There are several Hadith that do, but Hadith were passed down by oral tradition for many years before they were recorded in writing, so some of them are not totally viable, in my humble opinion.
But ignoring that for the sake of addressing the matter at hand, the biggest argument against the creation of art is the representation of God, Prophet, and Angels.
Denying drawing and creation of sculptures of the Prophet were a precaution to prevent man-worship, and not creating images “of God” were a precaution against wrongly associating a visual with something that cannot be seen or fully understood by human beings.
Some have even accused me of “attempting to recreate that which Allah created.”
But that is an attack on my imaan, my intention.
Never do I draw in an attempt to recreate anything God has created.
I merely wish to celebrate the beauty of it, and through my art, I praise the world, I worship Allah’s creation, and I find deeper beauty in the visual senses that have been gifted to me by Allah.
I don’t see how it can be Haraam.
Dye me like a Sunset’s answer:
So let me ask you this, anon…
How do you see marriage? Do you not want to get married? Do you not desire it?
Unless you are someone so free of desire you feel that marrying the man or woman of your dreams is something that is forbidden?
So therefore…do you see marriage as an obligation?Would you make a poor man or woman succumb to your obligation?
To what? Live a life full of lies and false feelings?Because desire is wrong, correct?
A “pure and perfect” marriage, therefore, cannot have desire.You could not desire your husband or wife at all.It would be impure.
And what about children?Are you going to adopt? Because heaven forbid your sexual needs or actions.
Unless you think sex is justified by being in a straight relationship?You think only straight relationships are capable of pure, romantic feelings and pure, romantic sexual intercourse?
You think being Gay is purely about sex?
And not about the deep, spiritual, emotional, intellectual connection with someone who happens to be of the same gender?Or are you so daft as to think that sex is such a horrible sin that can only be justified by having children as some sort of responsibility and punishment?
I cannot understand your logic, anon, I simply can’t.
And then you have the gall to tell me:
“But knowing that God is your creator, and God knows what is good or bad for us, even better than ourselves”
Yet you come and tell me what is or isn’t good?
Are you God?
Do I bow my head five times a day or more for you?
Do I cry to you?
Do I long for your guidance and fear and love you?
Was I created by you?
Was I created FOR you?
You have no place to tell me what is good or bad.
I’ll spare you my thoughts on your poorly misplaced sex-change comments, because I’ve lost the patience to poke more holes in your logic.
May Allah guide your future and give you more compassion, may Allah give you insight, not that which you seek, but that which you need.
May Allah forgive you, and may Allah forgive me for losing my temper.
(I feel like such a tool reblogging myself, but for anyone who wanted this answer on their blog, by all means <3)
Source: iamnotharaam
Gay + Muslim. Destination:Hell?
(This is me sharing some of my experiences as a gay Muslim as part of the ‘I am not Haraam’ project. It centres around my coming out to friends, trigger warning for suicidal thoughts.)
On the 7th of July 2011, with three quarters of a bottle of sambuca down me, I uttered three words I’d never dared to say out loud: I am gay.
In February of last year, I spent an exchange semester at a university in Germany. Within a very short space of time, I had become friends with some beautiful people who taught me so much about life. They showed me what acceptance truly was and what it meant to be happy with who you were as a person.
They accepted my Islam at a time when I started struggling to even call myself a Muslim. It was the first time I’d been away from home for an extended period, and it was the first time I was actually able to talk about my beliefs and my doubts in an environment where I knew I wouldn’t be shut down for speaking my mind. I still kept my secret from them. I became so disenchanted with Islam, a religion I felt was totally against who I was as a person, that I started drinking. I won’t lie, I really did enjoy it. It allowed me to let go of all these walls that I had built up and feel some kind of happiness. I enjoyed partying and walking home when the sun was coming up. But…I still felt kind of empty.
Even when I was laughing and joking, one of my friends would always ask me if I was okay with a look of concern. “Of course”, I’d reply.
I was rebelling. I hated God, I hated Islam, I hated my family and I hated myself. I kept on saying to myself, “if Islam is right, then you’re going to hell anyway for being gay so you might as well have some fun along the way.”
As it came closer and closer to going home, I started retreating into this shell. I desperately wanted to tell my friends that I was gay. I knew they wouldn’t care one iota and my reason for not telling them was purely down to how vain I was. At this time, I’d planned to go back to living a “normal” life once I was home, having an arranged marriage and living a lie forever rather than shaming the family. I didn’t want to tell them I was gay, and then they think badly of me when I went and got married to a girl.
As time went on, I realised how I’d never be able to go through with that plan. It was so disgustingly selfish of me to ruin an innocent person’s life by marrying them and pretending to be someone I wasn’t. It was as this point that I realised that over the last few months, if there was one thing I had learned, it was that everyone deserves a chance of finding happiness. And sometimes, that means having the courage to disappoint other people.
I spent many nights begging a God I didn’t think even existed, to make me straight. I even begged him to kill me. I looked out of my third floor window so many times, just staring down at the ground, wondering if my room was high up enough for me to die if I jumped. I never went through with it, again for the same reason- I didn’t want to bring shame on my family by committing suicide.
So, we come to the evening of the 7th July. We had dinner at a friend’s house and I had planned to come out to my three best friends. I just couldn’t do it. I thought a few drinks might help. Before I knew it, I had polished off the best part of a bottle of sambuca. I was trying so hard not to cry because all I wanted to do was break down and let it all out. The friend who’s house it was kept asking me if I was ok. I said I needed to leave and along with the other two people who lived near me, we left. As we got closer and closer to our homes, I just came out with it, “I’m sorry for getting so drunk, but I’ve been trying to tell you something all night, I am gay.”
They both hugged me, there were tears and we walked arm in arm through campus. We bumped into so many people we knew and I must have hugged ten people on our way home. It almost felt like all these random friends had come out to hug me. One of my friends, the one who always asked me if I was okay, told me that even when I smiled, she always sensed some sadness in my eyes which is why she kept asking me. I guess she was right.
The days after were the happiest of my life. I felt so free and uplifted. At the same time, the impending journey home was weighing on my mind.
The next 10 months of my life were filled with a new philosophy towards religion, new discoveries, a renewed love for God and some rather dark moments. I might talk about that some other time.
This was only one part of my tumultuous journey- arguably the most important- but if there’s one thing I’ve come to terms with over the last year, it’s that it’s not wrong to stand up for your happiness. It’s wrong to give up your dreams in some misplaced show of loyalty and attempt to uphold family honour. Most importantly, I’ve come to accept that whatever my future holds, i will always find a family somewhere who will love me and accept me and that whatever happens, God will always be there for me. My name is Naeem and I am not Haraam.
Naeem, my dear brother…this was amazing to read..
I can’t help but remember the first time I told myself “I’m in love with a girl.”
It was such a scary thing to say…but yes, definitely liberating.
So. Incredibly. Liberating.
The power of admitting that to myself was also the key to rediscovering Islam, I can’t even explain how it works, but it did and I couldn’t be happier for it.
Thank you for sharing… <3
(via iamnotharaam)
Source: amillionexpectations
