new profile pic

Check in

...Over at my other blog, Hejabi in the Heartland.

Thanks!

-RH

Birthday Tea Party

Pinata...
Button, button, who has the button?

And of course the tea party with the Barbie cake.

Yes indeed that is a real porceline tea set with real peppermint tea in one pot, and real raspberry tea in the other! They were able to pour for each other and everything!

I can't believe she's five years old!

Happy birthday sweet angel.

Depression; A Disease of the Nafs or Endogenous?

I have started listening to and taking notes on The Purification of the Heart 17-cd set of lectures by sidi Sheikh Hamza Yusuf. In this series Sheikh Hamza is translating into English and teaching from the text written by a Mauritanian Sheikh who wrote it originally in Arabic.

The suffering of the world is spoken of in term of wars, starvation, hatred, competition, and the struggle of the survival of the fittest. Yet all the suffering of the world originates in the human heart. Every crime committed, every act of oppression, every callous cruelty, and every injustice to the self or others emanates from the hearts of men.The soundest of hearts was the heart of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) who, through his purity and singularity of intention, transformed the world. His teaching remains and the challenge is for each of us to take it and to transform our hearts with it, thereby, transforming the very world in which we live.

Islam has clearly defined that there are several diseases of the heart, which make the human being shrink further and further away from God (ie in a state of sinfulness, whereas being without sin makes the human being closer to God). Things like envy, fear of poverty, using religion as a means for increasing your worldly position, seeking praise from anyone or anything other than God, and miserlyness ...to name just a few.

I have been told by many muslims that depression is not an endogenous physiological "disease" over which the person afflicted by it has no control and the only hope for them would be to take medication; Rather, many folks have stated that depression is a spiritual disease, and that the cure is to get closer to God, delve deeper into Spirituality, and therein one will find the remedy.

I thought all of that was hogwash until I came across this series of Sheikh Hamza's, mashallah!

What is really really helping me, and Sheikh Hamza said it's medicine, and now I believe him, is reciting the

surah Ikhlas ("Purity"- which is said to be equal to one-third of the Quran!) from the Quran three times, three times a day;

Bismillah irahman iraheem;

Qul hol wal aho ahad

Allah hu samad

Lam yaleed wa lam yoolad

Wa lam yakool ahu kufu wan ahad.

Translation

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful.

Say, He is God, the One; God, the Independent and Besought of all.

He begets not, nor is He begotten.

And there is none like unto Him.

as well as the dua' Istikar (please forgive me if I have pronounced any of this Arabic wrong, my intentions are good! As far as I can tell this is the name Hamza Yusuf gave to this dua', however I can't find it online-) three times, three times a day.

Allahumma inni ma'udu bikka

wa 'ana ba'lamu

wa astafiruka min kulli ma la 'alamu. Ameen.

Translation; Oh God I seek refuge in you that I should make shirk (partners)

with you and I am aware of it, and I ask forgiveness for any (shirk that I make)

that I'm not aware of. Amen.

Jezakallah kharian, Sheikh Hamza, and may Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful bless you.

Waiting

In my darkest hour
when the walls are closing in?

When will the healing come?

After I've lost it all
and there's nothing left?

When will the healing come?

I've tried and tried to change
and failed over and over again.

When will the healing come?

I'm such a failure
that I'm unloveable.

When will the healing come?

No chance of success,
I'm just trouble.

When will the healing come?

I can't continue
without support.

When will the healing come?

A marriage broken
All that's left is rubble.

When will the healing come?

When I'm dying Lord
and you're callin' me home?

...When will the healing come?

The Jena Six

Another Truth untold. Unbelieveable!

Shame, shame, shame

"...In honor of men of courage, faith and vision: investors in a glorious dream, of winning the wilderness for the white man...."

"...By that gallant band of axemen pioneers and indian fighters who at the risk and loss of life opened the doors of destiny to the white race in Kentucky and the west."


This plaque simply is mortifying.

It's shameful that things like this are still erect on Government - funded public sites! Yes indeed, payed for by American citizens' tax dollars!

It is placed in Fort Boonesborough State Park here in Kentucky, near the ruins of the original Fort of Daniel Boone, NOT at the reproduction Fort where most tourists come to sightsee.

Generally speaking, I take pride in being able to say that Kentucky is better than Ohio. For one thing, Ohio has too many rules! It seems like a few too many folks who are "guardians" on the Myers-Briggs personality spectrum live in Ohio. Ohio is also where there are just a lot of trashy people. Ohioans always like to pretend like those people are "Appalachians from Kentucky". They have a real denial prob;em, they can't seem to own the fact that trashy people are found pretty much everywhere and the great Buckeye State isn't exempt from that. Hello, can you say "Hamiltucky"???? It ain't in Kentucky my friends, it's in Ohio!

Especially here in my neck of the woods, we are a pretty International mix, with 11% Japanese in my son's elementary school, a lot of Germans and other International people living here because of so many big corporations relocating here. After all, Ohio has too many taxes! And you can't smoke in restaurants in Ohio (not that I do, it's simply the principal of being allowed to do as you wish that I am all for.) Ohio has too daggon many rules.

However, after finding this darn thing, I have to say that
it's embarassing to be living in Kentucky and know that crap like this is still around.

Shame, shame, SHAME!