“What happened to the Ummah once known so well?”

 

On March 20, 2011 I took part in a protest at Downtown. It was  an urgent protest organized by our Mosque’s imam for the mass killing happening in Bahrain. Masha' Allah majority of the Muslims of the city were there. There were people from different cultures, who spoke different languages, who had a different skin tone from one another, who had families living in Bahrain, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India. Some of us didn’t know anything about each other, but we all had one thing in common. Our belief. Our faith. Our hope. Our sympathy. Our tears. Most importantly, our voice against the genocide of the Shi’a Muslims in Bahrain. I went to the protest, pretty clueless as to what I was protesting for. I knew I was standing up against the injustice being done to the people in Bahrain, but I did not have a full background on what exactly was going on there. When all us protesters arrived at Downtown, I saw videos and heard horrible news that kept me awake for some nights. Frankly enough, these videos and stories were not shared by the local or even national news channels. I’m not going to share all the stories, or the most horrible videos with you but I will share one that is has become the symbol for the injustice being done in Bahrain.

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For those of you who don’t know, the population of Bahrain is less than a million. That is a small amount compared to other countries that hold well over a million people. Sixty percent of the population there is Shi’a. The population that has now become a target of a systematic genocide! There is no revolution. It is not the same as it is in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia where people fought or are fighting for the change of the government and the political system. Where some heads were broken to bring about a change. What we see now in Bahrain is a cleansing of the Shi’a [the majority] population of a country. It is not a civil war, like the media has been repeatedly saying it is. In order to have a civil war or any kind of a war you need  opposing countries to fight each other with weapons and armed forces. What kind of civil war is it when one of the parties has no army or weapons to fight with? When all they carry are the national flags of Bahrain and roses. It is absolutely disgusting to see a injustice flooded upon all the innocent people in Bahrain, and not be able to do anything about it! That guilt of being so far away from all the injustice and being so well off here in the West has led me to write this post. To raise awareness in every way I can about THE BRUTAL MASSACRE. THE MASS GENOCIDE. THE SECTARIAN CLEANSING happening in Bahrain.

Please take a moment to read and watch the video.

Thank you.

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I found the following video on Splendid sky’s blog. It was shocking and yet truly inspiring and I thank Splendid sky for sharing it. The video is of the daughter of a nurse and a Quran reciter in Bahrain who like many other nurses and doctors was kidnapped, tortured in the most brutal manner and eventually killed. And to completely erase any sign of humanity from their foreheads, the oppressing army and for the lack of a better word, haters drove cars over the dead body of Martyr Abdul Al Rasul Hasan Ali Al Hujairi. These doctors and nurses are being tracked down and arrested in hospitals, some of them while in the Operation room performing operations on injured protesters. They are charged with being human and treating the injured protesters. There are many doctors and nurses in Bahrain that are missing.

There are many many more videos and articles out there that show the brutality of the Saudi and Bahraini regime. The government of Bahrain, in ally with their “friends”, the other governments in the Gulf are set upon bringing a Shi’a holocaust in Bahrain. There are human rights being violated. The majority innocent population is being massacred openly by their own government. Doctors and Nurses are being kidnapped and killed. Yet, there is no sign of the Non-governmental entities. The human rights organizations, the medical associations, the nursing associations haven’t taken a step against this injustice. Not to say that they have not spoken about it, but where are they in the scene? Surely, they are desperately needed. They are looked upon to speak out for the innocent people losing their lives day by day. The US  and other countries have warned their citizens living in Bahrain to evacuate immediately because of the civil unrest. If they can ask their own citizens to evacuate, why can’t they make a statement about the wrong doings of the governments?  Is it because Bahrain has no ‘oil’ to offer them like the Saudis? Or maybe, because they’re too scared to stand up against Saudi Arabia [which is openly taking part in this Massacre] because they might ban the oil from going to the US. So they let thousands of innocent lives tortured, injured and killed daily. It reminds me of the beautiful quote I once heard: “The day we stop fighting for each other is the moment we lose our humanity”

I think the story of Martyr Abdul Al Rasul Hasan Ali Al Hujairi questions the Man kind loud and clear. It calls upon the mankind, especially the Muslim Ummah to take a stand against this Sectarian cleansing before Bahrain turns into another Bosnia, or Palestine. There isn’t more I have to say about this other than to ask you to please pray and raise awareness of the issue in Bahrain. Also, please visit Splendid Sky’s page for more information on the protest in Bahrain and another heart stopping story of nurse Bahiya Al-Aradi. She has also become the symbol of the brutality that the Shi’a of Bahrain are faced with daily.

“He who hears a Muslim calling out: “Oh Muslims come to my rescue.” He who hears a distress call of other brothers and sisters of the same faith but does not respond to him, has nothing to do with Islam.”

             -- Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

Yours Truly

“The bittersweet between my teeth. Trying to find the in-between. Fall back in love eventually…”

 

 

If I was to stop you from what you were doing at the moment. Offer you a pen and a paper. Ask you to list down all the memorable moments in your life starting from the most memorable. Which one would be your first? Would it be:

1. Your sweet sixteenth?
2. Your eighteenth?
3. Your twenty-first?
4. Your Graduation ceremony?
5. Your high school prom?
6. Your Graduation from College/University?
7. The moment you were proposed?
8. Your wedding day?
9. The moment you held your child for the first time?
10. Your child’s first birthday?

The list can go on and on and on. These are the most common and paradoxically special moments I could think of from the top of my head. Maybe you’re looking at that list and going, “Yeah! one of those would definitely be my number one!” or perhaps you’re a bit like me and sitting there shaking your head saying, “Nah! None of those are even close to what my most memorable moment was!”. There are two reasons why none of those moments would be on my list:

Numero Uno: From number 2 till 10 have not happened yet. I am 2 months away from number 2 *Insert happy dance here* and three months away from 4 and 5 *insert another happy dance here*. So you can probably guess that number 6-10 is not happening anytime soon and I can’t put them on my list. Having said that, some years from now, maybe some of those events will be on my list. Who knows.

Numero Dos is going to be the reason I’m writing this post.

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When I was five, life was about learning how to tie your shoe lace. It was about aiming to eat an ice cream cone without creating a messy ice-cream beard around your mouth. It was about learning to balance your self on a bicycle [which I never learned ]. It was about going swimming on the weekends and rearranging the doll house. Back then, the biggest challenge was making friends at school. The biggest thrill was starting school for the first time. Life seemed to always revolved around the toys, candy, cartoons, the birthday party and birthday presents. The biggest lesson to learn was to share. To say Please and Thank you. The focus was to unleash your creativity. Learn how to hand write. Learn how to draw shapes. Learn how to stay within the boundaries when coloring. Learn how to smile. Learn how to laugh. Learn how to just be happy. You’re probably wondering, Why is this girl always writing about childhood. First this and then that and now this? The truth is, that these little bits and pieces of childhood all collage together to be the number one on my list.

When I or maybe even you, boarded the Grow up-mature-experience express, we left behind those little things. And like a picture looks faint from a distance, so do these memories. That is because, we get too caught up remembering other special moments like ones from the list of ten. Those moments are special no doubt! However, the collage of the small and basic things you learn as a five year old just prove that “it is the little things sometimes that really count”. My life between six to seventeen had some really memorable moments too. Some of which aren’t too pretty to picture but shaped shaped my identity nonetheless. But those moments are acknowledged by everyone because of their huge impact. Parents, friends, sibling will all remember my Graduation and my first birthday. I can count on them to capture those moments into still frames and stage them in the living room and bedrooms. But It’s the thought of the faded memories that formed twelve years ago which draw a strange smile across my face. Yet, sometimes the smile fades away as quickly as fog on a mirror.

The truth is that I will most likely add Graduation to my list of memorable moments. Three months from now when I walk across the stage in front of thousands of people in my gown and tasselled cap and receive my diploma, it will be captured by many cameras. It will be the appreciation of success. It will remind me that I still have a long road ahead to, through and out of university. It will be a moment to hear the sound of cheers and applauses and watch the sea of flashing camera lights and proud smiles. But when you turn your head and look at the picture from a different angle, it will also be a longer distance away from the faint memories that date back to twelve years ago. Such thoughts about the past and the future linger around in my head 24/7. It eventually leads to the long nights of lying in bed taking trips inside my head. Going back and forth between the most wonderful past and the most thrilling upcoming future. The first steps into a KG class and the final steps off the stage on Graduation day play like a film in my head that is on a constant playback. All the while a swarm of butterflies seem to be partying it up in my stomach.

I guess it is just one of those times when being in the present is like standing on an edge, or crossing a narrow and unstable bridge. To just live in the moment and enjoy what’s left of the high school career because ‘you will never be younger than you already are’ is much harder than it looks. The fear of falling and the fear of letting go both play with you at the same time and the fun doesn’t last very long does it?

Thanks for reading!
Yours Truly

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Title: Song ‘Young blood’ by The naked and Famous

“There’s a sparkle in your eye that shines right through you and approaches me”

 

 

Every Sunday I volunteer at the Mosque’s Sunday school. My usual jobs are to take the attendance of the students as they walk in to the mosque and help out the Principal with any paper work she needs me to do. Last Sunday, I was asked to substitute for the Kindergarten class because their teacher was sick. Okay! This is going to sound absolutely horrible, but I have never been happier about hearing about someone’s illness! Only because it meant that I get to spend an hour with the little ones! . Stoked with excitement I drove to mosque, and found out that the Grade one class teacher had a special activity planned for Kindergarten and her class. They had recently been learning about the creation of Allah (swt) and on Sunday they did an arts and crafts activity. They coloured a diagram of a fish and cut it out in their fish shapes, and I helped them hook their fishiees on the blue sea I created on the bulletin board using blue tissue paper. Later on, I showed them a book I found in the library, about all sorts of fish that live in the sea. They were quite amazed by some of the names, like Tiger fish and Blue glass guppy etc. There was one name that stood out the most: The black Veil Tail fish. I read that one out loud to them with a tone of confusion and slight amusement and they all broke out into laughter. I wondered who really names these fish? Anyways, I turned the page and went on to showing them other fish in the sea with weird names. Three pages into the book and they had seen so many strange names of fish that when they saw a diver swimming along with the fish, one of the kindergarten girls commented, “Oh look! there’s a human fish!”. And the class broke out into laughter once again.

 

Yours Truly x =)

“It’s a simple idea. But, I don’t think it’s a small one”

 

I have seen many inspirational pictures, videos and movies in my life, and I have read or heard amazing stories that have motivated m, and I keep a list of them all. You have already seen some of the pictures from my collection of Inspirations and Motivations, so I thought I’d share a video for a change. This is by far one of the best videos I have seen, and I hope all you lovely people watch it too and take from it something special.

Do you have a Lollipop moment?

 

Yours Truly  sharing her inspiration =) x

“And there is one for you, and you and you…”

 

 

 

I plead guilty!

I have been given a blogger award twice already and I have yet to pass it on. . So, before the guilt takes over and takes me down without further adieu I shall thank the beautiful people who awarded me The Versatile Blogger” award and “The Stylish Blogger” award and pass it on to another set of lovely bloggers who most certainly deserve it. Also, I am going to combine the two award giving in one post, since the  steps are pretty similar for each one. Here goes…

1. 

Dear Zainab and Nas,

A million thanks to you for giving me The Stylish Blogger Award & The Versatile Blogger Award. It means a LOT coming from such  great writers as yourselves. I hope to continue reading your blogs which always make me smile because you both write ever so beautifully!

ps. Nas: Yours has been overdue for MONTHS I know, Forgive me…?

2. Seven things about Moi:

• I can’t stand Mattar (peas). I dislike anything with peas in it.
• I  have a crazy fan love for Johnny Depp. Only one of my friends knows exactly how crazy I am, he likes to think that “Johnny Depp lives under my bed”, and I don’t blame him for thinking that.
• Every time my sister and I plan to bake chocolate chip cookies, she and I end up eating most of the dough.
• The thing I hate most in this world is Soccer(football). Always have and always will and to my friend who thinks he can convert me into a soccer lover should not keep his hopes up too high.
• I am a twilight fan. *insert dramatic music here*. I admire the author’s work but I’m not a crazy fanatic who refuses to date anyone who doesn’t sparkle under the sun like like Edward, or howls like Jacob.
• I love the color purple, I wish to have a purple wedding dress, but I do admire red as well, so I might stick to a red wedding dress.
• I love going for long walks after sunset, because I love watching the street lights. All sorts of them.

3. And here it is…Seven Bloggers who deserve both these lovely awards. The order is completely random. Drum roll please…

1. Nas [Closing Pandora's Box ] If you haven’t read his blogs, click on the link and go LOL, Learn, Ponder and Enjoy.
2. [[[ x Smiley x ]]] [╚» š ρ α я к ℓ ι n g š м ι ℓ є š «╝ ] I was reading one of her blogs once, and my sister popped up behind me and read a couple lines. She goes, “Who’s this author?,  I wanna read her books”. Nuff said.
3. рεяfεcтℓγ▪ιмpзяfзcт  [Just Another Part of My Past ] Her blogs are very beautifully written, and keep you well interested.
4. Furree Katt [The Jackky Bhagnani Obsession ] She is so cute! She was one of my first followers, and has the most knowledge on Jackky Bhagnani, probably more than Jackky Bhagnani himself! 
5. Sara [ Sweet Serenity ] I have only recently started following her blogs, and she amazes me with her style of writing.
6. ¤•˚Zαìήαβ˚•¤ [Dummy Escape ] This is a blog that I have been following for quite sometime and the way she writes is very interesting and keeps the reader hooked!
7. SaJ [Bleargh! ] He is an awesome writer, and he shares my hate for peas which automatically makes him worthy of these awards.

4. DONE! Once again, Thank You to Zainab and Nas once again, for the two awards! I will always be grateful!

Yours Truly =] x

“They say what goes up must come down, but don’t let me fall”

 

 

 

September 24, 2009

“When two things make physical contact, we say they are touching. However, atoms of one object can never touch the atoms of another. You know that an atom is nucleus, positively charged and is surrounded by a cloud of electrons of negative charge. The nuclear force between the two atoms is too strong for the electrons to make contact with the nucleus. There is always space between them. When two atoms are forced into contact a force called electromagnetism prevents electrons from actually making contact with each other. No matter how hard you push two surfaces together, there will always be that space between the electrons”

Mind you, I am more of an English/Human studies type of nerd, so science, especially of the physics and chemistry variety, is not my forte. But that day chemistry felt like it had more to it than just the electronegativity of electrons. The connection might sound vague and for the lack of a better word, stupid but it some how seems to put the puzzle pieces together. It made me think about people. Are humans like that too? No matter how close two people get, maybe there is a wee bit of space between them too. Space that we don’t give up or can’t give up. Or, we are unaware that the space is even there. You could have a very close connection with someone, but maybe, just maybe there will always be space that separates you from them. So, when the person leaves you, why does it feel as if a part of you left with them?

“There you are standing right in front of me. Hold me close, cause I need you to guide me to safety"

 

 

 

You live in the moment with everything that surrounds you.

You stare ahead at everything you have to chase after.

You look back to see what you have left behind.

You find yourself looking at an empty room,

As if it had always been that way.

A major part of being an adult or adolescent is being too focused on the here and now. We live in the moment and our priority is everything that is around us: Work, education, family, bills to pay, tax deadlines, Doctor appointments to name a few. We are also too focused on looking ahead at the future: Graduation, promotion, Salary pay day, up coming meetings etc. Most of our days are filled with day to day errands and activities that we feel obligated to fulfil. That is the ever day life of an adult, and more importantly, it is what the society expects us to do. When we are paying bills, attending 5-6 meetings a day, trying to catch an early train home before rush hour we are surrounded by numerous other adults who are doing the exact same. In this chaotic day to day life full of ‘grown-ups’, there is a special some-one that we ignore. Sometimes we forget that he is even there. The little child that is waiting patiently and silently for us to glance at him. We ignore ourselves.

There was a post shared with you a few months ago, about remembering your childhood that you can read or re-read here. That post talked about remembering one’s childhood and wishing to return to it from time to time. That happens to each and every one of us, no doubt. We all go through those days when the burden of tragic experience is too heavy on our shoulders and we look back nostalgically at the days of sitting  on a porch eating ice-cream without having a care in the world. This post however is about knowing that there is a child within us all the time. A child who like any other child cries when he is lost in a crowded place. The only difference is that we will run to rescue the neglected child in the crowd, whereas the child within us we will sometimes lose on purpose.

Part of growing is to learn and grasp the idea that making responsible decisions require thinking with a mature mind. A mind that is ready to take on the challenges of the future and prepared for any rollercoaster rides. A mind that can think logically, and can comprehend both sides of the problem. One that has had enough experience to be able to predict what is right or wrong. We find it improper to think with the mind-set of a nine year old. The child that only knows what he loves and what he hates. What he finds safe and what he fears. The one that whines ‘that’s not fair!’ when his desires are not fulfilled. The child that keeps his dreams, fantasies and feelings as his priorities. The one that does not care about conforming to society.

That child carries our hopes and desires and dreams. The hopes and dreams that we thought we had long lost somewhere in the past wrapped in our childhood are actually held firmly in the hands of this child. This child is one who remembers us from our innocent years and who probably knows us better than we know ourselves. When we conform to the society and make important decisions, ignoring this child is not the smartest idea. When we cannot decide on what we want, and just go along with what the society wants or what others tell us, we repress this child. If only we would look inside and ask him what he wants he would tell us what we want. The decisions we make are always going to influence us along with people around us, no doubt. However, we sometimes forget that the people we decide for are also capable of making their own decisions and at the end the one who is hurt or benefitted most by our decisions is ourselves. And if that child can influence our decisions by telling us or reminding us of what we want, then he truly deserves to be heard. The roads we travel on is very bumpy and the directions are never written there for us. It is always up to us to direct ourselves to the places we want to go. And as we all know, it’s not always clear to us where it is that we want to go. Maybe some guidance would be useful. Maybe a peak inside would help.

 

 

Yours Truly =] x