Once upon a time I woke up...

Small Kindnesses

2008-12-30T15:50:44Z

In the name of God, most merciful, most kind
Have you seen him who denies the Recompense?
That is he who repulses the orphan harshly,
And urges not the feeding of the poor,
So woe unto the worshippers,
Who are forgetful in their prayer,
Those who do good deeds only to be seen (of men),
And refuse Al-Ma'uon (small kindnesses).
- Chapter 107 of the Qur'an: Al Ma'un (Small Kindnesses)

Originally I was going to post this surah (chapter) of the Qur'an and then go straight on to talk about the Islamic conference I went to this weekend, but after reading an article about what's going on in Gaza I'd like to mention that first.

"As I write this, Israeli jets are bombing the areas of Zeitoun and Rimal in central Gaza City. The family I am staying with has moved into the internal corridor of their home to shelter from the bombing. The windows nearly blew out just five minutes ago as a massive explosion rocked the house. Apache’s are hovering above us, whilst F16s sear overhead.

UN radio reports say one blast was a target close to the main gate of Al Shifa hospital – Gaza and Palestine’s largest medical facility. Another was a plastics factory. More bombs continue to pound the Strip.

Sirens are wailing on the streets outside. Regular power cuts that plunge the city into blackness every night and tonight is no exception. Only perhaps tonight it is the darkest night people have seen here in their lifetimes.

Over 220 people have been killed and over 400 injured through attacks that shocked the strip in the space 15 minutes. Hospitals are overloaded and unable to cope. These attacks come on top of existing conditions of humanitarian crisis: a lack of medicines, bread, flour, gas, electricity, fuel and freedom of movement..." - By Ewa Jasiewicz – Gaza City (28/12/08 - The death toll is now over 360)

I'm ashamed to say I don't know anywhere near enough about the Israel-Palestine conflict. I know Palestinians, I've grown up with people around me talking about the issue, but I know very little. I wanted to link you to some kind of informational source but it's difficult to find unbiased ones. News sources in the west (e.g. The BBC, Fox, CNN...) aren't giving the full story and Arab news sources are biased in the other way. Please bare that in mind when you're looking at articles or listening to the news.

I'm not asking you to go out to Palestine and start bandaging wounds, or to become poliicians and resolve the conflict yourselves. You don't even have to leave your computer.

Three Ways to Help Without Leaving Your Seat

1. Speak out with petitions: There are plenty of petitions online you can sign to express your... disagreement with the conflict. Here's just one ('We, the undersigned, express our utmost concern and condemnation of the current Israeli massacre of the Palestinian people in Gaza...')

2. Speak out with letters: Here is a letter-writing campaign which has three ready made letters for the BBC, Fox News and CNN. All you have to do is copy and paste them into a form and sign your name. Although I recommend reading them too!

3. Donate towards the help efforts: "Gaza remains under strict economic sanctions which have cut off food and fuel supplies. The consequent electrical power cuts and destruction of the already weakened economy has bought further suffering to all of Gaza's inhabitants. The closure of borders and inability of Gaza's sick and infirm to travel for medical care has caused numerous lives to be lost." (Muslim Hands) - This isn't even about the recent attacks, just daily life.
Most of us are blessed enough to have everything we need and mainly use our money on things we 'want'. You're poor in the west if you don't own a computer or more than 3 pairs of shoes. But in so many other parts of the world being poor means having nothing. So surely we can spare something. There's a saying of the Prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings be upon him): "Money will never descrease because of charity"
There are so many charities that are collecting to help the people affected by the attacks (and by the restrictions caused by the conflict in general). Every little helps!
Human Appeal International (UK), Islamic Relief (UK, USA, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Sweden, Malaysia, South Africa, Canada), Free Gaza (Paypal), UNRAWA

better off with things that can't be locked at all

2008-09-15T18:02:45Z

"By the bright morning hours
and the night when it is still
your Lord has not abandoned you
nor does He hate you.

The last will be better for you than the First.
Your Lord will soon give to you and you will be satisfied.

Did he not find you orphaned and shelter you?
Did he not find you wandering and guide you?
Did he not find you impoverished and enrich you?

So as for orphans, do not oppress them,
and as for beggars, do not berate them.
And as for the blessing of your Lord, speak out."
Surah Ad-Duha (Chapter of The Bright Morning Hours), The Qur'an

That's just one translation. There are many. Because Arabic is such a complex language English doesn't really do it justice. Here's another and here's another with some interpretation.

This morning I was all ready to go out and have a productive day and I realised I didn't have my keys. I looked and looked but they weren't in any of my usual key places. I'm not the type of person to just drop them anywhere so I was clueless as to where they could be. I checked on the floor around the places I usually put them, in my bags, in places I would never put them... no keys.

I know that when my Mum can't find something she reads a certain dua (prayer) or surah (chapter of the Qur'an) or something so when I phoned to wish her happy birthday I asked. She recommended Surah Ad-Duha. I remembered the beginning of it but not the whole thing so I did a search online and relearned it. Then I got my English translation of the Qur'an and read it to see what it meant. I have to admit, Qur'anic verses usually go over my head. I know they're special but I just can't properly understand them. The language is too rich for me to really get it. But this, excuse the cheese, really touched me. It's like it answered my prayers. And not just the keys thing.

I really need to do that more often. Look further into the Qur'an and find connections with it because without that it's just words. The Qur'an is the heart of my religion and I hardly know it. I hope this is the beginning of something.

miss_tesco @ 2006-06-07T17:43:00

2006-06-07T16:45:03Z

Weird habits you have/things you do: Once you are tagged you MUST write an entry about 6 weird habits/things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next six people to be tagged and list their names.

01. I sort all my felt-tips, crayons, pencil crayons into order. They go yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, green, brown, grey, black. They have to. They just do.

02. Despite the fact that there's nothing wrong with the cutlery in my house I only use one set of the teaspoons. We have a few mixed sets see because we lose them constantly. Anyway I just got into a habit of using one of the sets and now I can't use the others. I just can't bring myself to.

03. I seem to think everyone cares about kitchen things as much as I do. I have my favourite mugs and so on, so if I'm making tea and I'm angry at someone I give them a mug that I don't like as much. But I then feel pathetic and feel like karma is gunna pay me back so most of the time I change my mind and then give them a better mug. If I feel very guilty I may even give myself a rubbish cup as punishment. I do this less now I told someone about it though.

04. I don't call someone a friend unless I am certain they consider me as a friend. I am completely paranoid abut being too clingy and pressuring people into thinking they have to like me or be nice to me. It also works with other things too. I treat people how they treat me, I don't trust people if they don't trust me and I most definitely do not confide in people unless they have confided in me first! This often means I hardly have any friends but that's ok.

05. I listen to new songs/albums twice with my Last.fm plug-in disabled before I switch it on so it can register. There is actually some reasoning behind it. Firstly, a lot of my favourite artists have been listened to to death so I don't listen to them much anymore hence they aren't/weren't particularily high on my Scrobbler list. Then I'd get a new album from another artist and I'd listen to it, sometimes a lot just so it would grow on me, and then they would appear really high on my charts. So basically, artists I didn't like all that much were my 12th on my Top Artists chart. I got annoyed and so made an 'only on the third listen'ing rule.

06. When I'm bored or in bed and can't sleep, I write LJ entries in my head. Usually they're things I wouldn't want people to read or they're just very rambley. Every once in a while I post part of my practiced entry but it never really makes me feel any better. I don't know if I like people realising how neurotic I am about things that matter. This however, I don't mind so much. It's not so private. Mugs, felt-tips... all the good stuff.

Tagging:
01. zoosag
02. whyistherainbow
03. _offkey
04. just_ragdoll
05. havens
06. i_eaticons

Oh my jeebs I'm a freak. I'm sure there are a billion more weird things but there's the first six that came to mind. I like this meme though because it's something I've thought about a lot.

Goodies Community

2005-12-10T11:08:57Z

Me and nudeslip have been working on:

_buyanewsoul
A community that distributes goodies, such as graphics, icons and music downloads. All graphics and such are free and posted as public. Music, however, is posted as friend only (so friend us!). A couple of music recommendations (including downloads) have already been posted and some gorgeous icons by nudeslip. It is most likely that music will be posted frequently if I have anything to do with it (which I do, woo!).

Mmmmm music, yes?

Friends Only

2005-03-07T16:43:57Z

Get your goodie goodness over at _buyanewsoul

Comment to be added and I'll see what I can do :)