Misconceptions!!

( a speech I wrote recently!! I wanted to save it)

Islam is the most beautiful, perfect religion in this world. I am not saying this because I am a muslim but my god the religion is absoultely beautiful. I am so blessed I get to call myself a muslim. It's origin, it's evolution, the history...everything is facsinating. Sometimes it saddens me or more like frustrates me how islam is ptrayed in today's society. I hate when anyone criticizes Islam and I hate it even more when us muslims do nothing about it. How dare they call Prophet (saws) a pedophile/pimp or any other deragotary names because of his marriages? And how do we just sit there and not remind Aisha (ra) did not conssumate her marriage to Muhammed (saws) until after reaching Puberty. Which is when every girl in Arabia became eligible for marriage!! Our Prophet (saws) married 9 women within 10 years. These marriages were not sexual uniors rather political ones. He was in charge of the Ummah and it was his responsibilty to forge links withi and beyong his community through the only means at his diposal. And guess what that was: MARRIAGE!!!!

---Marriage to Aisha (ra) and Hafsah (ra) linked him to Abu Bakr and Umar (ra). (2 most influential leaders)
--- Umm Salamah-- One of Makkah's most powerful clans--the Makhzum.
--- Sawdah (unattractive widow long past the age of marriage)-- served as an example to the ummah to marry those women in need of financial support.
--- Rayhana (a jew) Banu Qurayza.
--- Mariyah ( a Christian and a copt) political alliance w/ ruler of Egypt.

But nonetheless I can't believe how Muhammed (saws)'s multiple marriages in 10 years shocks people. WHY??? Polygamy was the common thing back then. What should be shocking is his 25 years of monogamy to Khadijah (ra). Now that's shocking and practically unheard of at the time.

My next problem is how Muhammed (saw) is potrayed as barbaric and Islam is supposedly a religion of violence!! We all know how this propaganda started. Anyone who took a course on European history or has the knowledge about the crusades or middle ages know muslims were depicted as the soldiers of the Antichrist in blasphemous occupation of the Holy land (haha, or should we say the silk route to China)..While muslim philosophers, scientists and mathematicians were studying history and determining the scholarship of the future, a belligerant and deeply fractured Holy Roman Empire tried to distinguish itself from the turks who were strangling it from all sides by labeling Islam " the religion of the sword" as though there were an alternative means of territorial expansion beside war at that era. I don't understand when people try to throw history at a muslim's face to prove how violent it was. They always tend to overlook the surrounding. Islam it must be remembered, was bron in an era of grand empires and global conquests, a time in which Byzantines and Sasanians were locked in a permanent state of religious war for territorial expansion. the muslim armies that spread out of the Arabian peninsula simply joined in the exsisiting fracas; they neither created it nor defined it though they quickly dominated it. Despite the common perception in the west, the muslim conquerors didn;t force conversion upon the conquered peoples; indeed they didn't even encourage it. And let's not also overlook the Holy Roman empire had its officially sanctioned and legally enforced version of Christianity, just as the Sasanian Empire had its officially sanctioned and legally enforced version of zoroastrianism. In the Indian subcontinent, Vaisnava kingdoms (devotees of Vishnu and his incarnations) vied with Saiva kngdoms (devotess of Shiva) for territorial control, while in China, Buddhist rulers fought Taoist rulers for political ascendancy. Wow even the peaceful Buddhist fought!! This is how it worked thus every religion was " a religion of the sword". Talking about wars, 1400 years ago the so called violent Islam outlawed the killing of women, children, monks, rabbis, the elderly or any other noncombatant, the mutilation of the dead, rape, molestation, or any other kind of sexual violence during combat; the killing of diplomats, the wanton destruction of property, and the demolition of religious or medical institutions. Please note they were all incorporated into the modern national laws of war.

Let's jump to Jihad. Next time you see someone misuse the word Jihad. Don't just walk away. Enlighten them. Jihad does NOT mean war. The word literally means " a struggle" " a striving" or a great effort" I use it all the time!! Taking care of your parents...cooking for my family is Jihad. Telling the truth or striving to be good when everyone else around you is rotten is Jihad. So don't let westerners or anyone else for that matter think Al- Qaeda or Taliban is doing Jihad. they are misusing the word. And never ever emphathize with them, thinking they are muslims. I am in no position to judge if they are muslim or not. But they are going against the Quran. In surah al Baqarah ayat 190 it states " fight in the way of god, but do not begin hostilities, Allah does not like aggressors". What the Quran doesn't say is oppress your women, like they did. You might as well slap the next person who makes a joke about muslim women. Remind them when they rest of the world viewed women as chattels Islam promoted the rights of the women in a place like arab where girls were buried just for being a girl. Don't let them blame Islam for the way women are treated in some countires. Islam has nothing to do with Jahil's like Taliban and Al- qaeda who doesn't know how to respect their women.

I think I said enough. My only request is stand up. The world we live in today everyone knows about Islam but they have no clue what it is about. They know nothing about our beliefs,values, and rich history. Teach them. It's called Dawah people!!! As a muslim it is your responsibility to spread the beautiful message by Allah and his prophet (saw). What are they compared to us?? Mathematics, science, Philosophy are fields we once dominated. Look at our architects. We are the founders of universities. I am a sucker for stories. I love disney but Arabian nights/ 1001 nights are out of this world. We are just as good as they are if not better! We hold the most beautiful book Quran in our hand compared to other religious texts that are filled with contradictions. So be grateful you are part of this beautiful religion called Islam. A religion where everyone is considered brother and sister. Where smiling upon a brother and sister is considered charity. A religion in which we greet each other by saying "peace be upon you" . So stay united. Don't give it a bad name. Defend it as much as you can. Be proud and spread the message. Jazakallahu khair. May Allah guide us all. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmat-ullahi wabrakatoh.

ps: If you haven't read the the book " no god but God" by Reza Aslan. Try it!! I am reading it right now. It's a excellent book.

a reflection of the inner me

These days as much I love writing how I feel I just can't seem to put in the right words. This seemed to make me feel better!

I want to be a Princess.

I want time to stop so I don't turn 18.

I want go far away and do something crazy.

A thousand word at a glance

Mi Madre

My mom hates me. I know I am saying the ultimate teenager line but she hates me. She really has a problem with me being happy. If I laugh too much she has a problem. She starts whining about how I don't care about any of the problems we are going through. She yells at me for everything. She lectures me 24 hours. She has a problem with everything I do. I can't even put my finger on my lips because according to her it's a bad thing. I am 18 years old and she is ready to send me away to college but she can't even let me put my finger on my lips. She wouldn't let me get a job because she is afraid guys would swallow me ( thanks mom I do have that effect on the male species) but seriously!!!! But she doesn't mind me going away from her and I guess she trusts me enough to be safe. Same goes for my dad who has a problem with me putting my hair down ( I know my hair is beautiful enough to tempt a saint) but seriously again. But he too also wants to send me away to Harvard. So back to my mom everything my little brother does wrong it's my fault. I can't even yell at him, he doesn't listen to anything I say. She never yells at him but when he does something wrong it's my fault. Uhh from now on I will take notes on everything she does wrong. So when my brother ends up in prison I won't forget anything I needed to say to her. I am so angry. I love her so much but I dislike her too. I am so angry if it was upto me I will send both her and my brother to rehab with Britney Spears. Because they need it more than her. Good night!

what's wrong with me?

I really don't understand what's wrong with me. I know I am under a lot of stress here but that's not what's bugging me. What's bugging me is that why aren't my stress bothering me. Everytime I think I have figured everything out I am wrong. I was so happy thinking " yay I finally know who I am " but Nooo. I am more confused than ever. I didn't go to school yesterday or today. My parents didn't even know I wasn't at school yesterday not because I was skipping or anything, because I was just sleeping in my room ,and they didn't bother to check ,and I did't feel like calling them at work and telling them . So today I left a note on my door saying " I DIDN'T GO TO SCHOOL, DON'T WAKE ME UP PLEASE". Okay so I understand the green marker I wrote with was fading but they still didn't check. But my dad came home few sec ago and I told him.
Recently I realized how healthy my lifestyle is. I mean I don't drink soda ( errm maybe 2 a month), I am not that into chocolate or candy either. I recently started hating Chinese food and I despise fried chicken. I also stopped going to McDonald's. I nibble on carrots and apples while I read my books or on the phone for hours. I drink lots of water and green tea without any sugar. I try to hit the gym atleast 2 times a week and I love it. And on regular days I dance for atleast an hour. And the funny thing is those weren't really my decisions, they just happened. I didn't decide to hate fried chicken that's just the way it is. Thank you Allah !! May be that's why my stress doesn't bother me.
Next thing GUYS! Well after a year and some months of my longest relationship with the only bengali guy in my life I decided to call it quits. I really cared about him and from what I know I even loved him. But love is one thing I have yet to understand so maybe I am wrong. He loved me so much and it bothered me. I really didn't like the fact he made me the center of his world and expected the same from me. I finally realized I could never make him happy because in order to do that I have to make myself very very unhappy. He was a wonderful guy that's why I had to save him. I understand to a third person I might be the evil witch but when I loved him I had the full plan of marrying him and have kids the total bangla style. Little did I know it was so not going to work out. Beside my parents wouldn't have agreed anyways. Then after the breakup I realized how much I miss the old love of my life Alex. I was crazy about that guy for 3 years. But we never took the relationship anywhere. I knew I liked him way too much but can't be with him because I am bengali. And good Bengali girls only marry Bengali guys. So we just flirted for 3 years. He never asked me out till I fell in love with some other guy. WHAT A JERK! So I rejected him even though it really hurt me I had to be faithful. After I broke up with my boyfriend he came back and gave me a piece of his mind. And the truth was he loved me but he couldn't take it anywhere because I wouldn't let him. I felt so horrible that day. I always cried thinking he was being a pimp and it's all his fault and suddenly I realized the fault was all mine. So that episode ended. Then I totally swore off guys. No more guys till my mom and dad pick someone for my marriage.Then I met this total heartstopping gorgeous guy in order to get him I flirted with his friend who ended up liking me and I kind of like him too. then I met a third guy who is just the sweetest and nicest guy and he makes me smile and he makes me cry. I cry when I can't see him and I smile when I do. I can't help smiling at him right infront of my parents and I can't help flirting with him right infront of my parents. And the greatest thing about it is my mom and dad don't say anything. Because usually if I am standing close to a guy....just a random guy they question me about it. And then threaten to lock me up and not let me go far away for college. But this guy, even my mom showers him with one compliment after another. The good thing is he is muslim even though he is not bengali. The other two are non-muslims so the relationship couldn't go anywhere anyways. I don't what's going to happen in the future but I don't want to do anything wrong. I don't want to make my parents unhappy, don't want to make Allah unhappy. I think I am being very picky with guys. When I marry ( which will be in 3-4 yrs) I want to marry a very handsome very sexy rich bengali guy, who has class. I want him to be intelligent. He has to be very proud of his culture and his religion. He totally has to know how to pray, read quran and hadith so we can discuss them. Even if he really doesn't know I would like it if he wanted to know. I am not that religious even though I know it's wrong. So I hope the guy is a positive influence on me. He has to be passionate about the stuff he does ( like his hobby, sports or his career). I want him to be ambitious. It would be a real great bonus for me if he knew forbes top ten.So he knows who we have to beat in order to get on that chart. Because it's time for Bill Gates and Melinda Gates to come down so Me and Mr. Right can be the super couple. He has to be athletic and it would be nice if he played any other sports beside cricket. I wish he would do something other bengali guys don't like surf or rock climb or be a frat boy or be a shakespeare literature nerd. He has to have a great smile . So when I get really mad at him I would still realize how lucky I am to have such a goodlooking husband. He is irreplacable. He has to be open minded. So even when he doesn't like my idea he wouldn't put me down. And he has to be a good person. No lying, I want him to be brave enough to tell me what he did wrong because that's important to me. No disrespecting other people. But I think a little arrogance in a guy is just so hot. But only when he is worth it. And he has to love me enough to build me that dream house I designed .Which will include an indoor gym so no one gets out of shape . And last but not least he has to love my family(mom, dad, bro & sis) just the way I would love his. It's very important he gets along with my dad and little brother so they can watch world cup soccer together along with his Dad if he is interested. AND OFCOURSE be the greatest dad to the beautiful kids we have. I know these are impossible but they are so important to me. They are so so so so so so so so so so important to me. I would never be happy knowing the guy I married doesn't possess one of those qualities. I never want to look down on my husband. I have to be sure he is good enough for me. I might sound very very concieted but it's my life. I am not dress shopping or anything. I am picking someone to spend the rest of my life with. Someone who I have to live with, share my house(his house) with, share my bed with and let's not forget the kids okay. I have never felt more immature and lost but compromising on picking the right guy is just WRONG. It's injustice.

well......

So finally I have a blog. I don't know why I started again.But I really love writing about useless stuff. Oh my god if my sister doesn't shut up I think I might kill her. I really do wonder what is the safest way to kill so I won't go to jail. Some fat guy told me I should kill someone with ice since the ice would melt. Yeah thanks moron. The ice would only turn to water and if it evaporates I am sure the stain will still remain.
LoL My sister is complaining about my mom not waking up when the alarm goes off. She was almost late today because of that. It's funny my mom has never been the mom to wake up early and make us breakfast. Not that I complain or anything. I mean 1st of all I don't really believe in that "oh it's a woman's job "thing. Second she is almost as spoiled as us. But what I find really amusing about this situation is she says she wakes up even at the softest noise how can she sleep through that hideous alarm. My room is half a mile away from her and I even heard it. It literally took her a minute to turn the alarm off. And just a question why are all the alarms so scary. I mean my alarm is so loud I am very close to having a heartattack every morning except the weekends ofcourse.
Okay just when I thought my sister was done talking she just started again. This time about guys . I will write about guy some other that's a too big of a topic.