And now for something somewhat different

This has been pulling at me to write about here lately, and I think I will go ahead and tackle the subject. This issue of open air urinals in men's restrooms. Who decided that men don't need privacy? This seems, to me at least, as a very odd sign of masculine insecurity. Why must men prove that they are able to relieve themselves in this manner? This is completely ridiculous. And, to compound matters, there is the issue of placement of said apparati. They are invariably right in front of the door. This is definitely not the best of locations.

Now, for those of us that like to be alone when we go to the restroom, why must we be subject to this? I know that there is no way women would allow this to happen in their restrooms. Even for non-Muslims this isn't the ideal situation. I really think that we should speak out against these kind of things. When we go to the restroom there is proper ettiquette that needs to be observed, and having this visual afront is not part of it.

Humanism

What makes us human, all too tragically human? Our ability to, even in our weakest of moments, rise above ourselves. We, as humans, are able to take what we are, and make the decision to be other than that. No beast is able to do this. Mere animals are as they are, and nothing more. They are only able to change through what is external to them. We, however, are able to make the conscious decision to change. When we make that decision, we always have two options. We can either rise above ourselves and shine, or we can lower ourselves. We must always keep this in mind. We must make that decision at all times. We can never falter. We must continue to strive in the way of Allah, and never look to the left or the right. We must head steadfast on the straight path. Continue to climb! Rise! Become what you were meant to become.

What kind of friend are you?

I've been pondering over this question lately...and it really has me thinking. But, before one can answer any question certain terms must be defined. So first, lets ask what we mean by a friend. I would say that we definitely do not mean anyone who would be a bad influence, as anyone who would lead you astray cannot be your friend. We also must agree that a friend of utility is no friend at all. So what are the qualities of a friend that we are looking for? When we talk about friends, we assume that they are friends for our own sake. A friend is someone who seeks the good for you. He is there for you no matter what, and is always willing to take you back. He gives, and expects nothing in return. He only wants what is best for you, and is pleased when you are pleased.


We must ask ourselves if we live up to these qualities, which are only a few. Do we portray these to our brothers and sisters? More importantly, do we portray these qualities to Allah? Allah most certainly has these attributes; and what better friend than He? Allah gives us our very being, and we can give nothing in return. He is always there to accept our repentance, but we always turn away. When it comes time to defend what is Allah's we shrink up. When Allah asks of us we procrastinate. This is no friend indeed. We then wonder why bad things happen in our lives. If we are unwilling to be the friend of Allah, then who do we have? Nobody can provide anything, except by the will of Allah. When we squander His bounties we have no room for complaint when things come up short. So, we must ask ourselves this one simple question. What kind of friend are you?

Retaliation

With the release of the latest slander against Islam, whose name I will not even mention, I have become reflective on our state as an Ummah. We are the Ummah of the Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and as such we are supposed to follow his example. I must question whether or not we are doing this in this time. What did our beloved Prophet do when the ignorant would accost him? We all know the story of the man who came to the Prophet and demanded more of the spoils of war. Did the Prophet snap back at him? No. When Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, stood up to defend the Prophet, did he allow it? No. Instead, the Prophet gave the bedouin what he demanded was due to him. Now, what resulted from that? The bedouin accepted Islam.

What do we do when we are accosted? Do we ask the attacker what right of theirs we have violated? No. We stand up ready to attack, just as Umar had done. Someone speaks poorly about Islam out of sheer ignorance, and because they feel threatened, and we attack back. The truth is manifest from error. We should rely upon Allah, not on what meager actions we think will help. When we attack our accuser, we only confirm what they are saying. Instead of advocating inane boycotts of a whole nation, maybe we should ask our accuser what we can do to help the situation. The Prophet was always more willing to be wronged than to wrong another. The examples are clear. We should really study the example mentioned above, as well as the treaty of Hudaybia. The Prophet want to make sure that people, even non-Muslims, got their due. This is our duty. We must give people their due, even if we wrong ourselves in the situation.

There is, of course, a caveat in the above. We cannot violate our Deen in fulfilling the rights of other people. If they demand that we do something haram, then we cannot budge on this issue. If they demand that we leave an obligation, then we cannot budge on this issue. However, if they demand that we have short changed them in some way, then we must make it right. And most importantly, we must do it out of love and concern.