Lady Breeze

Muhammad Ali’s story meant a lot for me - beyond the boxing he spent a lifetime preparing to meet God, and was dedicated to a path of Tassawuf, to the inward path of Love. He believed that the secret of God is revealed through the knowledge of Love. Ali strived to become a truly beautiful human being; following the Tassawuf wisdom that ‘The outer beauty of a person must merge with the inner beaut y and become one. This is the source of true beauty.’ He was most certainly such a human being, and was once asked: “What would you like people to think about you when you’re gone?”. He responded that he would like people to say: ‘He took a few cups of love. He took one table spoon of patience. One table spoon, tea-spoon of generosity. One pint of kindness. He took one quart of laughter. One pinch of concern. And then he mixed willingness with happiness. He added lots of faith. And he stirred it up well. Then he spread it over a span of a lifetime. And he served it to each and every deservi...

I often get into debates with people about women in Islam. How we dress. How we don’t dress. What we think or don’t think or should-be-thinking. I get into debates about feminism. What it is and what it isn’t. I think I’ve spawned permanent foes because I don’t care to apply the label, feminist, to describe myself. (I’m not one for labels, sorry. But if it’s even required of me, “Muslim woman” suits me just fine.) But if we could agree for a moment that there exists a pure definition of the word feminist to mean: awesomely fierce to the millionth degree, then I’d like to introduce you to Islam’s first feminist. Her name is Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. She was the wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him.) And she is one of the people that I think about when I face or debate issues surrounding women today. Khadija’s existence precedes mine by more than 1,400 years; and, if I can at the very least, continuously strive to emulate her character, I will consider mysel...

اللهمّ بلغنا سماع التراويح ودعوات المصلين ودموع الخاشعين وختم القرآن ، اللهمّ بلغنا عشر الرحمة وعشر المغفرة وبلغنا برضاك عشر العتق من النيران، اللهمّ اجعلنا ممّن يناديهم المنادي يوم القيامة : لكمُ النعيم سرمداً ، تحيون ولا تموتون أبداً اللهمّ اغفر لموتانا وارحمهم و إن توفّيتنا فارحمنا برحمتك الواسعة وارزقنا أجر الصائمين