Promises

Promises i made many
Returned to me were few
Oh darling, what my heart already agrees to
Must never need a promise to keep it true
I won’t apologize ever again
Sorry, i am not sorry
Elusive i was, i always will be
Sinfully accused, i am indifferent to any glory

Kids

How do you define happiness?! If you notice, it Isn’t one whole day or even one complete hour of happiness. it’s just that very moment and instance where your Insides feel a surge of excitement for any reason. It may last longer but it’s only that one instance that I personally define happiness as. That is enough of a reason to value and treasure the people things or moments that may help you live through these brief instances. Happiness is also when you forget about everything else. especially something that’s stuck in your heart like an arrow. I am not a big fan of kids tbh. no one would believe that. They are actually truly ..nvm..I am actually very impatient. but out of general courtesy I don’t mind spending time with them also because I believe this is my happiness. That’s my general opinion on kids. but then I have my favorites. These are my first cousins. I’d do anything for them just out of love no matter what age they reach. Maybe because I’ve picked them up as newborns and now seeing them all grown up just melts my heart. I still don’t like any other kids though. esp if they’re ever mine. haha xD and by liking I mean, I won’t spend my time on them.

 

Colors

You told her red means love,

so when she bled at the oppression,

she thought its love

you told her blue is the water,

so when she cried a million tears,

she felt her thirst quench

you told her yellow is the falling of leaves,
so she wore yellow forgetting about the spring
you told her, black is for the mourning
so she wore black for the rest of her life
you told her white brings bad luck to the alive
so she stopped wearing white often

you forgot to tell her though
that colors, all of them, define only what you see
that without red, blue and yellow
black can never be
the light within her
is greater than the magic of light
which makes you see
the colors your mind defined and then you let it be
blessed to see the colors around
Aren’t we blessed further?

Beyond our eyes, is our mind

So don’t you ever wilfully fall for perjure!

Reminder to self

Let not your hopes ever waver

Put your strength to test

Through the storms you will,

Come out even braver

For after every night

A day will always come

As the sun will shine

Say goodbye to the blight

Put your faith to test

Hold on a little longer

Wait for the kun fa ya kun

Indeed, He knows the best!!!!

 

 

Conscience

Brilliantly lit, hidden away

You see it not, but you feel it sway

The very thought can bring unease

Whole in piece serves no peace

Rings less, it has not died

It has stayed with in, deep inside

Peep inside, a world your own

Shine through in what you’ve shown

The “it’s time to get up” phase

In any and every failure of any kind, you’ll go through three main phases.

The first, of course would go something like “I FAILED”, “I SUCK” , “MY LIFE IS OVER”, “I DON’T DESERVE HAPPINESS”, “LEAVE ME ALONE” and etc. This phase is called the “hit you right in the face” phase. Yep, i made that up. Of course it’s still true, come onn! Here you’ll bash yourself for every possible mistake you’ve done in life but the one in question. Not to forget you’ll deliberately think about everyone who did something ugly to you to subconsciously bag up some sympathy for your own self. Should i mention how much you’ll cry? no? okay. (but you will)

Moving on to the next phase. This I call the “bitter sweet phase”. Now that you’ve finally made peace with what has happened, you’ll feel a strong urge to go for it again, or for something new and prove to yourself(actually, to the world) that you can do it! Here you’ll suddenly transform into a problem solver. Or at least you’ll feel like one and do all you can to clean the mess. As much as you think the stimulus to make it work reached the threshold potential, you will still at times feel like you need a bucket full of shit to dig yourself into. In short, you’ll be delusional and hardworking but unmotivated and self abasing..all at the same time.

The third and the final phase is the “it’s time to get up” phase. This is literally the opposite of the first one. Where in the first one you thought about whatever wrong has been done to you, here you’ll think of whatever wrong you’ve done to others. Where you thought you suck and you are useless, now you’ll think you can do it because you’re awesome(also because such thoughts are the need of the hour now) and where you cried, now you’ll find yourself paying no heed whatsoever to any of your emotions.
This is my personal favorite phase. The train of realization runs through all these phases, but this is where it loads off most of its loot. You’ll be a far better person by this stage and realize your true potentials at this stage.

Failures are a blessing. And a greater blessing if they happened to you before you reached the practical world. ( I didn’t make that one up, i swear)
There are many other factors. Don’t be too curious to know and stage yourself up for a failure. Let it find its way to you 😉 we will all go through failures, losses and disappointments many a times in life, I can guarantee that. And we all have the ingredients to cater for the wreckage it causes., I also guarantee that.

-Fi Aman Allah

What modesty really means in Islam (1400 years later)

Islam is one of the youngest religions practiced on the face of earth till this date and on wards.  I live in an Islamic country (or so it was supposed to be) where most women do cover. If not a face veil, an headscarf. If not with friends and family, definitely in public markets. I mean a casual dupatta on head is quite common a scene here in Pakistan. The only difference is, Pakistan is a secular state. It doesn’t impose Pardah on its women. Rest aside, whatever happens behind closed doors; happens behind closed doors.

Lately, not just a headscarf or niqab( face veil) but most of the Islamic teachings have been moulded to suit each’s convenience and desires, to fit in the comfort zone most others live in. Shockingly, but the victims are the Muslims and so are the culprits. I won’t go down the road talking about what’s obligatory and what isn’t. To you your version, to me mine. Yes, sadly and deeply grieving but yes there are versions of Islam now.

Islam isn’t as strict as some of us make it seem. Our society is knee deep involved in disgusting issues for the sole reason of us forgetting about Allah’s commandments but even more because we forgot about the right intention. In the struggle of restoring something that has been lost down the road of modernization and advancement, Islamic scholars or your average Islamic aunty next door come out to look as extremists and “Strange” looking people. Feminists talk about the freedom the “oppressed” women must have and the so assumed “oppressed” women feel like it’s their fundamental right to cover what is, by all means, their body, their face and their hair. Contradiction, hmmm. A word not at all Alien in Islamic history.

For most young girls, head scarf is a normal thing they take on from their mothers who took on from their’s. The purpose may or may not be told to them but the basic definitely isn’t. This gives rise to certain diverse characters in our society. Which is why you’d observe how non Islamic these same women turn out to be later in life(i.e they don’t divert from the habitual head cover but dress/act immodestly) or take off the piece of clothing on their head from scratch, at every and any opportunity they find. This is because the same women who wore something under the label of Islamic obligation at an age where obedience is not rare and looking yourself in the mirror is, found herself less appealing and “oppressed” in her own eyes later on. Clearly, she has to do something which most others, even most other Muslim women don’t choose to do. That’s one part of the big population. The other are women who are baffled about the purpose because they were told it will not attract bad eyes but it still does, and it won’t get you raped, but it still does. The product of such confusion is a woman who’s fearful of what she wants to do, but is too oppressed with what society would think or if she will indeed end up upsetting her God. Then there are women who have due to whatever circumstances or exposure developed an ideology that this is in fact an act of misogyny. Lastly, but most importantly are those who most feminists ignore(because they have no bones to chase here) and most Muslims misunderstand. These are women who never covered. Never have and probably never will. Like i said, going down the slippery road of telling you what’s obligatory and what isn’t, is a mistake i don’t plan on doing today.

The idea of feminism most women raise the flag in support of has interfered with the basic teachings of Islam. I strongly believe that Islamic patriarchy is not Islamic patriarchy but instead the wrong understanding of Islamic teachings. Whilst i rant about what’s head on colliding with something it shouldn’t, i can’t help but mention the apparent dooming fate most women fall under. The reason isn’t ISLAM or PATRIARCHAL ISLAM. The cause is the weak personality building of our young girls and sadly, the society we find ourselves living in, is very helpful to add to the problem. Are we sure that the daughters we are trying to protect aren’t instead at a higher risk of falling under the label of oppressed? Not because you told them to cover, but because you didn’t tell them to do it to please God but instead to not avert bad eyes to them. Not because you didn’t let them study in co education, but because you didn’t talk to them  either. Not because their interaction with non mehrams(men besides your father, brother and immediate uncles etc) was limited, but because you made them curious of how it would be otherwise. Hands down, women turn out fine as hell without male interaction or any interaction at all, given that you built them up. Same goes for the men. Islam is all about submission. To Allah. AND NOT TO THE SOCIETAL STANDARDS.

I don’t mind thinking men are superior than women. They are the protectors of women in the society that has sadly given rise to certain men who prioritize their desires and are mislead by the first sentence of this paragraph. God knows, and God knows well, that a woman can protect herself in ways men can not imagine. But in a men dominated society which hasn’t developed in the recent years but is like so since the start of time, a woman not only feels safe but has a backup strength by her side. Physically, men are the protectors of women. At this point on wards, many a roads open up. Men think to themselves; “PROTECTORS? sure, let’s hit her because she is amongst the weaker lot to show supremacy” or “Let’s hit her so she shuts up” Do you see what fans the fire? A woman is always told to compromise unless she wants a divorce and never get married again because society deems so. It strengthens the marriage they say, but shatters the women, they never mention. Where Islam says men are the protectors of women, Allah taala  also deems the separation permissible under mental and physical abuse on both ends. Why do we take that freedom away? It must be celebrated as one celebrates when you remove a cancer from the body. It is also grieving to see that fellow women play a significant part in all of this.

This is where you give the stage to the so called feminists. This is where you ruined Islam. This is your version and your devil. Don’t pour your acts in the bucket of Islamic teachings. Islam is beautiful. It glorifies women. It strengthens her. The woman who is taught Quran in her mother language knows her rights before you can fool her. Whether you’re her husband, father or brother, you don’t dictate what she wears and what she doesn’t. Whether she must laugh in the public or she mustn’t. What was in your hands was her brought up, the thoughts you feed them will show when he/she grows up. A Muslim who loves ALLAH, will abide by all His commandments. Notice how i mentioned love and not fear. Love makes you do things out of your will and satisfaction. Fear only helps you not deviate from the path. Are our teachings really on track to give rise to good Muslim women or are we just creating more ways for men to feel more superior in ways they aren’t? How come our society came to a point where a woman’s life is over when she has premarital sex, intentionally or unintentionally, but a man can get out of it like a hair in oil? How come a woman who dresses up modestly is still looked at with the same lust if that was the purpose it was supposed to serve? Must we go back to the age where not women, but men were taught the right conduct. The Quranic verse where a woman is told to cover(24:31) follows by the commandment to a man who must lower his eyes(24:30). THAT IS, A MAN WAS COMMANDED TO OBSERVE THE PARDAH BEFORE A WOMAN WAS. By all means, interpret the verses with your wisdom. But let us for once, look at our sons and then our daughters. Or at least, look at them both!!! Let us for once, see if we are saving our own women but destroying the women of other houses. Let us build a society that roots for equality of gender in terms of conduct.
In Sha ALLAH.

I aver that a woman cover when she wants to. A man has nothing to do with it. She covers for Allah and in love for Allah, not for a man. And that is the only way she will do it by her own will. I aver that a man guards his modesty the way he wants to, he does it for Allah and in love for Allah, not out of respect for a woman. Before you think of the purpose the commandments will serve, and the consequence of not following them, think and ponder upon why you were born a Muslim and what does it really mean to be a Muslim.
At the end of all, realize that Islamic teachings are supposed to make your life easier on a whole. If they aren’t, you aren’t a)taught the right Islam b)taught the right Islam from the right age and thereby find it difficult to divert from what has now become normal to you. Remember that the best of Judges is Allah taala, and remember that He Judges you on your right intention before you even act on them.

-Fi Aman Allah

choose good over and over again.

Sadly, as humans, we work on the apparent. Which is why, when a person fakes a smile, it works but when a person secretly prays for you, it doesn’t. You’d never realise how depressed or what battles one is fighting as in the first case, and as for the second, you can never measure the amount of care in one’s heart for you unless they post a long paragraph with your best looking picture on any or all social media/s. It sounded pretty unfair to me until recently. Owing to My newly found realization as to the purpose of each of us in this world from the day we are born till the day we take our last breath, the unfair doesn’t really bother me now. To start with, Remember, Assumptions only hurt.
We are born as babies(ofcourse) with almost no insight . That said, a baby doesn’t have a religion or a culture. It isn’t inherited in genes. So let me take this generally from here. If you create a piece of art, let’s say a painting, you would know all about it. You would know the colors you used, the time it took, what would damage the painting, what the painting really means and what purpose shall it, thereby serve. Even more so, because you made it from scratch, you love it dearly too.
The One Who created us, knows us too. He knows our heart, and He knows our mind. Why ? Because He Created us. He put in us all there is. That’s more than enough of a justification to follow the rules a religion teaches us or advises us to follow, considering they aren’t interfered with man’s opinion. However, we always need an explanation, a reinforcement. Some thing like, “Oh really? Science agrees? must be true now” Anyhoo, not going down the religion lane.
Coming back to what I started from, our purpose in life isn’t to earn a doctorate or to help one another. The good things we do, aren’t really a purpose unless they have an intention behind them. You might be the kindest person with the purest heart. You feel the urge to help the needy, to create a difference and you think THAT is your purpose in life. But on the train from one orphanage to the next, the passenger sitting next to you, knows nothing about it. In fact, they think otherwise and made it clear to you. Here is where your intention kicks in. If your intention was to help a needy for the sake of a reward from God, you wouldn’t care what the next person thinks so you’d smile and wait for the ride to end. But if you expect a reward of any kind from them, be it a few words of praise or a goodbye with making a good impression on them, you wouldn’t let any opportunity go by to not unequivocally state your purpose.
The simple scenario can vary almost completely each time. You can end up being very disappointed when you expect anything from a living being.
No one said life is fair though. No one agrees that people are fair either. We assume it so. And Assumptions usually only leave us very disappointed.
Putting it in a nutshell, the good you do here may not always return to you in this world. You might change someone’s life and die with that secret still buried deep in your heart only. Someone can hate you for all of your life while you prayed for their betterment every day. We are humans. We have imperfections and limitations. Next time you pour a thirsty a glass of water, tell them to thank God because you were just a source. You thank God too, cause He made you a source.

Choose Good over and over again, and as a heads up, it is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, you will be surprised how often you would have to fight your instincts you thought didn’t even exist.

-peace out.