Al-Nur: Volume 11 | Issue 2

al-Nur THE NEWSLETTER OF

THE MUSLIM STUDENTS ’ ASSOCIATION AND

THE MUSLIM WOMEN OF MARYLAND

by Lena M. Hassen and Ikhlaas M. Hassen

Eid Mubarak! In the night of the last,

when the full moon has once again risen,

after the holy month of Rama-dan has passed,

Now that we’ve fasted and done extra good deeds,

We celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the two Eids!

This is the time when Mus-lims share

Love and happiness every-where.

Put on your best perfume and wear your best clothes,

Visit a beautiful mosque with its pretty decorations. Pray Eid Salah and listen to

Eid Khutbah,

And give each other pre-sents to share your Ni’mah! Thank ALLAH for the bless-ings He gave you,

Thank ALLAH for grant-

ing you your needs, Say Alhumdulillah, for He prescribed us these Eids, And continue to perform

good deeds.

May the peace of Allah and joys of Eid be with everyone, Eid Mubarak to all my be-loved Brothers and Sisters in

Islam!

Inside this Issue

the Light the Light

ISSUE 11 VOLUME 2 SHAWWAL 7, 1428 - OCTOBER 19, 2007

“...Light upon light! Allah guides to his light whomsoever he pleases, and Allah sets forth parables for men, and Allah knows all things full well.” [Holy Qur’an]

HistoryHistoryHistory

Founded in 1969, the Muslim Students' Association

is an organization dedicated to serving the Muslim

students on campus and educating the campus com-munity about Islam and Muslims. We carry out Is-

lamic activities, sponsor social, community service,

and charity events, and strengthens relations and

understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Political Action & Current Events Page 3

Quran & Spiritual Reflections Page 4

Personal Experiences Page 5

Hadith/Duaa of the Week Page 7

The Never Ending Story Page 9

Creative Writing Page 10

How-to Column Page 8

Contact Us! Please send your creative submissions, comments, and suggest ions to msa.nur@gmail .com or v is it www.msaumd.org

MSA Events Page 2

msa events

al-Nur Volume 11, Issue 2

Page 2

Before our father Adam was created as the first human being, the angels were confused as to what good his children would serve. As we are taught in the Holy Qur’an: “And behold, when your Lord said to the an-gels, ‘Verily, I shall create on earth a vicegerent. They said, will You create therein those that will create mischief and commit blood-shed, while we glorify and praise You, and hold You most holy? He said, ‘Verily, I know that which you do not know.’” Indeed, the angels had captured immense truth in their statement. Entirely free from error and fully committed in devotion to Allah, the angels are ceaselessly engaged in prayer until they arise on the Day of Judgment, say-ing “Glory be to Allah, we have not worshipped You as You deserve to be wor-shipped.” What could hu-manity possibly offer that is superior to the angels? What could justify the im-mense evil that would oc-cur at the hands of the children of Adam and Eve? Among the divine wisdom that the angels did not compre-hend was there was, from among humanity, to arise the very great-est of Allah’s devotional servants. While there are many who would make the wretched choice, others would choose piety and righteous-ness under no compulsion – and thus attain a status even higher

than the pure and noble angels. Do you remember in the Night of Ascension, that the great angel Gabriel (Jibreel) stopped at a cer-tain point, while the Prophet Mu-hammad (saw) was allowed to proceed further? The Prophet (saw) he had attained a status higher than one of the most re-

spected angels. And do you recall that the angels were commanded to bow before your father, Adam? Such is the honor bestowed upon humanity by Allah. Yet, great honor does not come without great responsibility – and great consequences. Look at the first part of the verse: hu-manity was given charge of the care of this earth. You and I, by selection and by name, were or-dered to bring this earth a little

closer to the way Allah ordained for it to function. Through sincere worship, a call to righteousness, and selfless service, we were en-trusted with the well-being of the world. We are literally vicege-rents, agents, representatives – we are Ambassadors of Allah. Perhaps you are startled by my choice of vocabulary, yet I

mean every letter of it quite deliber-ately. Look again at the verse above – you find that you are a khalifa of Allah on earth. It is true that we are far from perfect, and it is also true that Allah, ex-alted and magnificent, is free from any needs or any shortcomings. Yet this does not preclude

that the Almighty has given an-gels many trusts and assignments although He is in no need of their service. Similarly, it does not pre-clude that Allah entrusted you with a higher and greater assign-ment. Dear brother, dear sister: let me then emphasize the great task placed before us. Let this verse shed new light upon each of your decisions and actions. Think

(Continued on page 5)

by Mohamed Abutaleb

I Am Islam: Ambassadors of Allah


Page 3

political action & current events

by Anonymous

To Vote or Not to Vote, That is the Question Presidential primary elec-tions are around the corner - are you prepared to vote? Does it seem like sometimes you just can’t seem to find the time to reg-ister to vote? Or anyways, is there even a presiden-tial candi-date out there wor-thy of your support? Do these bob-ble head pol it i cians even care about half the issues they are ad-vocating for or against? I mean either way we’re still going to be in Iraq, the PATRIOT Act is still going to invade our private lives, and the resolution to go to war with Iran is already in Congress…and if these issues don’t concern you anyways, then you have other problems on your hands, don’t you think? So…is there a candi-date unlike the others? One that will take a chance to do the right thing…maybe… The candidates criticize the Bush administration’s war in Iraq, enactment of the PATRIOT Act, and dealings with Iran. But do these candidates really offer us a better alternative? Barrack Obama has said that he would bomb Paki-stan to fight terrorism. Hillary Clinton has refused to give a con-crete stance on the major issues; meaning we really don’t know what to expect from her in office. One republican candidate,

Senator Tancredo, thinks that the most reasonable course of action in response to another terrorist attack would be to bomb Mecca and Medina. All of these candi-

dates supported the PA-TRIOT Act’s initial enact-ment, and regardless of any criticisms they may have of it, they continue to support its reauthoriza-tion. These candidates also supported the inva-sion of Iraq, and are pushing for greater sanc-tions on Iran. Is there anybody that seems a little bit sane? Don’t give up the

search just yet…there might still be hope. There are a few candi-dates out there, while they may not be getting as much spotlight as the others that seem to be get-ting the right idea on foreign/domestic policy. Congressman Dennis Kucinich from Ohio is running for a second time in the Democratic primaries. Congressman Ron Paul from Texas is running in the Repub-lic primaries. Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul are the only presiden-tial candidates who voted against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Kucinich and Ron Paul were the only congressmen against the Rothman-Kirk Resolution, which calls on the UN to charge Ahmed-nijad with violation of the geno-cide convention after his remarks about the holocaust. Dennis

Kucinich even went so far as to say that Ahmednijad was mis-translated and that he never called on for the destruction of Israel. Kucinich voted against the Patriot Act and has been very out-spoken about his views on Iraq saying that the US is involved in an illegal occupation. In 2004, Kucinich signed a letter of solidar-ity with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez; and has advocated the abolition of nuclear weapons calling on the US to be a leader in a unilateral disarmament. This article isn’t supposed to be about telling you who to vote for, but that you SHOULD VOTE. That with a little bit of re-search, we may find a candidate that has the answers we are look-ing for. While it might seem like the elections are a lost cause, as you can see, there are a few can-didates out there that know what they are doing and are not afraid

to voice their opin-ions. Be-cause not voting is not doing anything; and living in the m o s t powerfu l country in

the world, even if it doesn’t make a difference, make an effort to change what we find unjust. It is our intentions and actions that matter. So please VOTE and get others to VOTE.


Page 4

quran & spiritual reflections

by Khuram Zaman

The Etiquettes of Fiqh

In Arabic, Shariah means the

clear, well-trodden path to water.

Islamically, it is used to refer to

the matters of religion that God

has legislated for His servants.

Just as water is vital to human

life, so the clarity and uprightness

of Shariah is the means of life for

souls and minds. The sources of

the Shariah are: the Qur’an, the

example of the Prophet Muham-

mad (saws), scholarly consensus

(ijma), and analogical reasoning

(qiyas)

The Shariah covers all aspects of

human life. Classical Shariah

manuals are often divided into

four parts:

1. laws relating to personal acts

of worship (ibadah)

2. laws relating to commercial

dealings (mu’amalat)

3. laws relating to marriage and

divorce

4. laws relating to crimes and

punishments (hudood)

The Shari’ah is considered a

mercy to mankind. It promotes

the welfare of humans by fulfilling

necessities, needs, and comforts.

As a Muslim, you may come

across problems that you didn’t

have to face before. For example,

how do you pray salah on an air-

plane? One of the conditions for

salah is to face in the direction of

the Ka’aba. However, since an air-

plane travels very fast, it may be

difficult to determine the direction

of the Ka’aba, which may actually

shift while you pray salah. What

would you do in this situation?

You have several options: (a) fol-

low your desires, (b) follow your

own independent choice, or (c)

follow the opinions of a scholar.

With regards to the first

choice, following your desires, this

is something that is strictly pro-

hibited in Islam. We do not do

things in Islam because they “feel

good.” We do them because it is

the command of Allah (swt). In

the Qur’an, Allah (swt) prohibits

us from following our desires and

commands us to obey him (Qu’ran

5:48-49).The Qur’an is the

Speech of Allah (swt), so when He

commands us to do something, it

becomes obligatory to obey.

There are many other examples in

the Qur’an where Allah (swt) com-

mands us not to follow our desires

but to follow the Shari’ah. Thus,

when deducing rulings, we

shouldn’t make up things just be-

cause it is easy or fun.

The second option is to

make up your own opinion. This

option is just as bad as the first.

Here is a hadeeth that explains

why:

Jabir said, "We were on a

journey and one of us got injured.

Later, he had a wet dream. He

asked his companions, 'Can I per-

form tayammum?' They said, 'No,

not if you have water.' He per-

formed ghusl and died. When they

came to the Messenger of Allah,

they informed him of what had

transpired. He said, 'They killed

him, Allah will kill them. Do you

not ask if you do not know? The

rescue of the ignorant person is

the question. He could have per-

formed tayammum and dropped

water on his wound or wrapped it

with something and wipe over the

wrapping, and wash the rest of his

body." This is related by Abu

Dawud, Ibn Majah, ad-Daraqutni

and Ibn as-Sakin, who said it is

sahih.

In this hadeeth, several

Sahabah (ra) gave some bad ad-

vice based upon their own opinion

which resulted in the death of a

person. This made the Prophet

(saws) very upset. He asked them

“Do you not ask if you do not

know?” So whenever we come

across a situation where we don’t

know what to do Islamically, the

Prophet (saws) instructed us to

ask those who do know.

Who are those people who know?

These people who know are re-

ferred to as the ‘Ulema (singular:

Alim). Allah (swt) in the Qur’an

instructs the Muslims that a small

group of them should study the

deen. “. . . if a contingent from

every expedition remained behind

in order to understand religion

(Deen), and so that they could

admonish their people when they

return to them (from war) that

thus they (may learn to) guard

themselves (against evil).” (Surah


no more of your actions as being reflective of only yourself, rather, imagine your deeds reflecting upon Islam. Visualize yourself as an Ambassador of Allah. Sister, whether you have begun practic-ing hijab or not, you are the sym-bol that the world now associates with Islam. Your actions, words, and demeanor will either convince the world that the Muslim woman is the oppressed, exploited person most believe her to be – or that she is instead the pinnacle of what humanity should strive to be. Brother, if many imagine a Muslim to be backwards, greedy, and spiteful to all that is good, then through your actions this will ei-

ther be reinforced or exposed for the fallacy that it has always been. The task is great, but the reward is greater – success and tranquility in this world, and Heaven and the contentment of Allah in one to come. Let me leave you with this: there was a tribe who, like us, had become complacent in their concern for Islam, who had momentarily for-gotten the great trust of an Am-bassador of Allah. A select few words were hurriedly scribbled and sent in a letter to them. They read: “From Al-Muthanna ibn Haritha to Banu Bakr: Do not em-

barrass the Muslims.” Perhaps the shortest letter in history, yet it

had its desired effect plus more. Thus do I share these same words with you today. Dear friends, do not embarrass the Muslims. Rather, hold your heads high and grant us honor – with your stud-ies, your professions, your charac-ter, your worship, even with as little as a caring smile. Remem-ber the One you represent – for you are, after all, an Ambassador of Allah. I Am Islam: Footsteps on the

Journey Within is a lecture and

discussion series held on select days throughout the year at the University of Maryland. To join the listserv or for any inquiries, e-mail [email protected].

(Continued from page 2)


Page 5

I Am Islam: Ambassadors of Allah

“Oh my Allah. What was

that?” I remember screaming. My

voice echoed against the cold mar-

ble walls of the minaret as I quickly

started to run down the spiral steps

trying to fig-

ure out what

was going

on. I was at

the campus masjid of the Islamic

University of Malaysia were I had

been studying as part of a study

abroad program for 2 months along

with 15 other youth. Going up the

minaret was going to be the last

adventure of our trip since we were

heading back home in a week.

My question was directed at the

fact that I had just seen what

seemed like a piece of cardboard fly

down through the center of the spi-

ral staircase and heard screams

coming from the top. I turned to

one of the brothers standing on the

opposite side of the stairs from me

waiting for an answer and the ex-

pression on his face was so fear

stricken that without any words, I

knew what had happened. All he

kept saying to me was “don’t look

down” as he ran off to call our

group leader. After a few seconds

of hesitation and panic of not know-

ing what to do, I forced myself to

look over the ledge. The cardboard

like thing I had just seen flying

down through the center of the spi-

ral stairs was actually a 16 year old

brother, Luqman, falling down 54

stories from the top of the minaret

to the bottom floor of the masjid.

For those of you

who were at the

MSA meeting on

Friday, the trip

to the cemetery was a wake up call

to us all. I realized that the last

time I had been to one was to bury

Luqman over a year ago, on the

other side of the world. How could I

have ever forgotten that night? It

wasn’t Luqman I had forgotten, I

remember him clearly. His crazy

afro hair, his love for playing

pranks on people and his need to


personal experiences

by Sumayyah Taufique

Remembrance of Death

“For those of you who were at the MSA meeting on Fri-day, the trip to the cemetery was a wake up all to us all.”

always see a smile on everyone’s

face. What I had forgotten was

how quickly all that was taken

away from us, how fast death

came and changed our lives.

We’ve all hear the imam say “pray

as if its your last prayer” before

each salah but not once did

any of us think that the isha

prayer we prayed 30 minutes

before the accident was really

going to be the last for one of

us.

The janazah took place

after Asr the next day. Reality

struck as I watched his body

being lowered into the

ground, the first burial I ever

witnessed. I had heard and

spoken the words “Inna lilahi

wa inna ilayhi rajioon” (to Al-

lah we belong and to him we re-

turn) often, but for the first time I

truly understood and felt their

meaning. Luqman had been called

back by Allah, a calling neither he

nor anyone else could delay or

stop. We like to think that we

have control over our lives, control

over what we’ll do tomorrow,

where we’ll be the next hour and

then bam. We’re standing at a fu-

neral, watching the person we had

class with yesterday wrapped in a

white cloth being lowered into the

ground. Is life really this fragile?

The only thought that kept running

through my head was the ayah

"Every soul shall taste death, and

only on the Day of Judgment will

you be given what you earned.

And what is the life of this world

except the enjoyment of decep-

tion." (3:187). If Luqman, a 16

year old, could die so suddenly

without any warning right before

my eyes, what guarantee did I

have from life?

I didn’t know whether to run

away from it or to embrace it. It

seemed bizarre to think of em-

bracing death but running away

from it felt inadequate, as if Lu-

qman’s life would lose some of its

purpose if I just stored his death

in some sorry corner of my mind.

As unfortunate as Luqman’s death

was, I realized that the only way

to honor his life was to be inspired

by his death. We had spent a lot

of time in the classroom while in

Malaysia, learning tajweed, Arabic,

hadeeth, fiqh, aqeedah and

seerah, yet somehow all of that

didn’t feel like enough. His death

gave me the motivation to put all

the knowledge I had gained into

action, to reanalyze my focus in

life and to really question the va-

lidity of my Iman.

We live in a world, in a so-

ciety, whose social and materialis-

tic culture is based on the denial

of death and this notion that we’ll

live forever. We focus on attaining

all the great things in life, the best

education, a high paying job, a

nice car and big home but we for-

get that focusing on the hereafter

will get us both. Anas bin Malik

and Zayd bin Thabit narrated that

the Prophet (S) said “If anyone’s

intention is to seek the hereafter,

Allâh will place his sufficiency in

his heart and order his affairs, and

the world will come to him sub-

missively; but if anyone’s intention

is to seek worldly good Allâh will

place poverty before him

and disorder his affairs,

and only so much of it as

has been ordained for him

will come to

him.” (Tirmidhi 5320;

Ahmad and Darimi).

As Muslims, we don’t con-

sider death to be some-

thing taboo and bizarre to

discuss and think about,

unlike the culture we live

in. The remembrance of

death is a motivational tool

to keep our lives in this world in

check and to prepare ourselves for

the hereafter. Before you do any-

thing, honestly think to yourself if

the action you are about to do is

one you want to be engaging in

when the moment for you to meet

Allah comes. Death reminds us to

renew our intentions and make

everything we do only for the sake

of Allah, it teaches us the essence

of time and how every second

matters, it serves as a reality

check when we get too engrossed

into the dunya and it helps us re-

member that nothing we have will

last forever.

Luqman’s death is not stored in a

sorry corner of my brain but is a

constant guidance throughout my

day. Don’t wait for death to hit

close to home to remember it, re-

member it often and have it be

the tool that not only benefits you

in the hereafter but makes you a

better person in this dunya.


Remembrance of Death


Page 6

al-Taubah : 122) This verse of the

Qur’an clearly states that a group

of Muslims should devote them-

selves to acquiring the knowledge

of the Shari’ah and all others

should consult them for their rul-

ings. Becoming a scholar is not an

easy thing. A student of Imam

Ahmad ibn Hanbal asked him

"When a man has memorized

100,000 hadiths, is he a scholar

of Sacred Law, a faqih?" And he

said, "No." The man asked,

"200,000 then?" And he said,

"No." The man asked, "Then

300,000?" And he said, "No." The

man asked, "400,000?" And

Ahmad gestured with his hand to

signify "about that many". How

many hadeeth do we know? If we

don’t know a single hadeeth or

much Qur’an, how can we possibly

start giving rulings from these two

sources? It is simply not possible

for a person without knowledge to

do so. This is why Allah (swt) and

His Rasul (saws) told us to follow

those who have knowledge.

When someone follows an-

other person in rulings of the

Shari’ah, this is known as

“taqleed.”

Linguistic Definition: Literal:

Taqleed is a verbal noun from the

Arabic root q-l-d which means to

place, to gird, or to adorn with a

necklace.

Shari’ah Definition: The accep-

tance of another’s statement with-

out demanding proof or evidence

on the belief that the statement is

being made in accordance with

fact and proof.

The basis for taqleed is a

Qur’aanic command where Allah

(swt) says “O you who believe!

Follow Allah; follow the Messenger

and those in authority (Amr)

amongst you.” (Surah al-Nisaa:

59) Those in authority (Amr) can

mean either the rulers or the ju-

rists. Abdallah ibn Abbas (radhi

allahu anhu), a companion of the

Prophet (saws) was of the opinion

that the verse was applied to the

jurists. Taqleed was something

that was practiced in the time of

the Prophet (saws) and after his

death. Imam Bukhari

(rahmatullah alayh) mentions that

the people of Madina asked Ibn

'Abbas about a woman who did

tawaf and then started menstruat-

ing. He said to them, "She can

leave [before doing the Farewell

Tawaf]." They said, "We will not

take what you say and abandon

what Zayd said." He said, "When

you arrive in Madina, ask about

it." When they arrived in Madina,

they asked. One of those they

asked was Umm Sulaym and she

mentioned the hadith of Safiyya.”

The Sahabah (ra) did not fol-

low their own desires or use

their own minds but followed

the most knowledgeable per-

son amongst them and did not

even ask for evidences or

proofs because they knew that

they weren’t qualified to inter-

pret them. Another example is

when Abdallah Ibn Abbas (ra) said

"When some authentic person

brings us the fatwa of Ali (ra),

then we will not move from it a

bit.” In fact, out of the hun-

dred thousand or so Sahabah

(ra), only seven of them issued

legal opinions. [Imam] Suyuti,

in Tadrib al-rawi, quotes Ibn

Hazm's report that most of the

Companion's legal opinions

came from only seven of them:

'Umar, 'Ali, Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn

'Umar, Ibn 'Abbas, Zayd ibn

Thabit, and 'A'isha; (ra). If the

majority of the Sahabah (ra) en-

gaged in taqleed without asking

evidence, what about those of us

today who lack their intellect, pi-

ety, and closeness to the Prophet

(saws).

**Stay tuned for the remainder of

this discussion in the next al-Nur!


The Etiquettes of Fiqh

hadith / duaa of the week Submitted by Kadiatu Bah

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah created His creation, and

when He had finished it, ties of kinship got up and said, 'I seek refuge with You from those who sever the ties of kith and kin.' On that, Allah said, 'Will you be satis-

fied if I bestow My favors on those who keep you, and withhold My favors from those who sever you?' On that, ties of kinship said, 'Yes.' Then Allah said, 'So, be it.' "


Page 7


Page 8

how-to column

So, I am now in dee Amrika. In dee Amrika, all dee peoples talking eso funny. I telling my Amrikan friend he needs to espeek like me because I talking dee bery cool vay. Here are esome tips to talking like me, dee FOB:

• All words beginning with “W”

are now pronounced with a “V”

“VHATSSSSS???? You tink her biryani dee better den my vone? All dee peoples vishes dey vere my son so dey could eats my biryani! I vorking eso hard to making you dee good foods and you tink my is dee vorst?”

• Put an unnecessary “the” (or

‘dee’ in the case of a true FOB) in front of literally every other word.

“All dee peoples telling me dat my ecletric blue eshirt is dee eso cool and dee eso hip! In dee estore vhen I esaw dee shirt I esaid “VOW!” Eberytime I vearing dee eshirt I getting all dee compliment from all dee peoples.”

• Words beginning with an “s” are pronounced with

a soft “eh” type sound before it. “ESHUT DOWN right now!!!! Estop argue vith me!!! You dee estupid person and you making dee no esense.”

• Sure a lot of dhesis are Muslims…. but for some

reason FOBs (and their offspring) pretty much butcher Arabic words.

“Assamalakum Farida Bhabi. You know, in dee Ramzan my eson alvays going to dee masjid. He go-ings all dee time for dee iftaari and he alvays pray-ing dee taravih and before ebery namaj he doing his wuzu. Mashalah he alvays vearing dee tobe. Alla-Kasam, he eso good Muslim boy.” • Pluralize your words… even if they are singular. “Vhat is dee matters vith you?? Dee estore gibings avay dee free estuffs and you only gets vone? So

many peoples dere, nobodys vould esee you. You no hab to be dee embrassd.”

• Dhesis could make great poets. We’re es-pecially great at rhyming. Check out our

skills: “On dee Eid-teid, after dee dinner-tinner vee alvays eats dee rusogullah. I no lie-tie to you, I makes dee best rusogullah. Oh, and of course den vee have chaa-taa. ” • If you’re Paki, “yaar” comes be-fore and after every other sentence. “Yaar I vent to my friends’ home and he vasn’t dere yaar. Yaar I eso esad, I vanted to see dee Ibrahim bery bad yaar.” • When a FOB is on the phone with somebody it can be difficult to under-stand said FOB. But, it’s all good be-cause FOBs still have ways to com-municate with people. When all else fails, SPELL IT OUT!

“Esir, I telling you my name is dee Mahfruz!!!! I espell for you. M like dee man. A like dee apple. H like dee Henry. F like dee family. R like dee ring. U like dee umbrella. Z like dee zoo.”

• Switch Zs with Js.

“I lowb to go to dee Pijja Huts vit my friends.” • Use random numbers when trying to make a

point. “I vill gib you $2.37 if you can find an Amrikan vho know vhat dee Bangladesh is. In facts, only abouts 33.2546% of dee Amrikans know vhere dee Ban-galdesh is on dee maps.” • Since our Ws are now Vs, our Vs are now Bs. “I lowb vorking at dee Seben Eleben. Eberday I can drink dee coffee for dee free!” **Of course, this list never ends :). Don’t forget to check out the next issue for How to Speak like De Afrikaan FOB!!**

by Sanjana Quasem How-to Espeek Like dee Indian, Bangali, and Pakistani FOB

to Espeek Like dee Indian, Bangali, and Pakistani FOB


Page 9

the never ending story

Allah Will Help Me by Adam Stephenson

It was a bright sunny morning when Brother Hisham woke up to go to the University for his first class. There, he was encountered by Brother Tamer, who asked Hisham for help with some school work. Hisham hap-pily agreed and when Tamer apologized for preventing him from going to class, Hisham said, “Don’t worry, Allah will help me”. After helping Tamer and missing his class, Hisham should have gone to his intramural soccer team’s last-minute practice be-fore their big play-off game. Hisham was the goalie, but he said to himself, “Allah will help me, I don’t need to go to the practice, and instead I’ll read some Qu’ran.” After reading some Qu’ran, Hisham went to the game and failed to block many key shots, resulting in their loss and the end of their season. Later, as the once bright sunny morning started to get cloudy, Hisham thought that this was okay, it was Allah’s will. Then, Hisham went to the campus Mus-allah to pray Salat Al Duhr, be-fore studying for his test that was later that day. Just after they finished, the Imam gave a halaqa which lasted for the duration be-fore his test. He said to himself once again, “Allah will help me,” and he stayed for the entire ha-laqa. When Hisham finally took the test, he could not remember anything he had studied the night night before. He left the test knowing he had done badly, mumbling with his fading faith, “Alhamdulillah, it was Allah’s will.”

As Hisham drove home, he remembered that he had an op-tometrist’s appointment for a pathogen in his eyes, but the misery of the day caused him to use “Allah will help me” as an ex-cuse, and he went straight home. After being alone at home for an hour, Hisham started to find that he was having issues seeing, and soon afterwards his doctor called in a frenzy. Hisham was about to apologize for not making it into his appointment, when the doctor reported to Hisham that his eyes had a complication they did not realize until now, and due to this complication Hisham would go blind unless he got certain antibi-otics immediately. Worried, Hisham uttered, “Alhamdulillah there is still a chance if I come to you immediately.” The doctor said sadly, “No Hisham, it is too late for that, look outside.” Hisham pulled up his shades to find that the once bright sunny morning had changed into a terri-ble cloudy storm, rendering transportation by car impossible. Hisham’s faith had gone down so much now that he could not even praise Allah for being alive. And by the power of Allah, within less than twelve hours Allah had taken Hisham’s once perfect vi-sion from him. As Hisham sor-rowed in this terrible turn, a knock came to the door. Hisham felt his way around his house to the door and opened it. He heard the voice of a man who ad-dressed himself as a police man, telling Hisham to come quick, “there is a flood coming, and we’re evacuating everyone from the area.” With adrenaline

pumping through his body, Hisham said, “No, this house is all that I have left, and Allah will protect me inshallah. I can not leave.” And following this com-ment, in the heat of the moment Hisham did yell with his whole heart the Shahada. The next thing Hisham re-membered was opening his eyes to find that he could see, but he was no longer in his house. He didn’t know where he was. It took Hisham just a minute to re-alize that he had passed away in the flood, and he saw an angel approaching him. Hisham asked the angel, “What happened? I was a devout worshipper of Allah, but he did not protect me.” The angel replied, “Yes he did, Allah did protect you from all the bad things that happened to you dur-ing day of your death. He gave you an opportunity to go to your practice, he gave you an opportu-nity to study for your test, and he gave you an opportunity to pro-tect your health, which would’ve saved your eyes. He even sent to you a police man to save you from death, but you rejected every form of help that Allah sent you. While you replaced Allah’s help with other acts of worship, as the day went on you let the problems of the Dunnyah get to you, thus rejecting Allah’s help when you needed it the most. Through all these self-chosen times of hardship, by your own free will, Allah did test you of your faith for the Day to come. Remember that Allah helps those who help themselves first, and then ask for His help.”


Page 10 T H E M U S L I M S T U D E N T S ’

A S S O C I A T I O N

University of Maryland College Park

Box 44, Stamp Student Union

College Park, MD 20742

[email protected]

www.msaumd.org

President: Sami Zaharna

VP: Adam Stephenson

VP Sis’ Aff.: Namika Zaman

Masjid Aff.: Ridwanur Rah-

man

PR: Adil Zaman

Secretary: Ameer Abutaleb Treasurer: Faten Gharib

President: Maria Khalid

VP: Namika Zaman

Secretary: Shama Sheikh

Treasurer: Sanjana Quasem PR: Nadia El-Hillal

SGA Liaison: Tooba Moham-

med

Newsletter Staff

Editor in Chief Eman Haggag

Co-Editors

Maria Khalid

Nour Al-Muhtasib

Zeynep Ozer

Susan Shatila Manaar Zuhurudeen

Staff Writers:

Mohamed Abutaleb

Kadiatu Bah

Mouhamad Diabate

Lena & Ikhlaas M. Hassen

Nadia El-Hillal

Sanjana Quasem

Ridwanur Rahman

Adam Stephenson Sumayyah Taufique

Habiba Wada

Khurram Zaman

The views and opinions expressed in

al-Nur are solely those of the writers

and do not necessarily reflect the

views and opinions of the editing staff

or of the MSA.

MWM

Muslim Women of Maryland

by Habiba Wada

Dear Mother

creative writing

Dear Mother, You're the one I'm writing to Because I am thankful for all you do I have learned so much from you. You taught me, when I was little, how to talk You also taught me how to walk Not just to walk, but with my head held high You taught me that I could reach the sky if I tried. You taught me to work hard, and hold fast to dreams Everything is not as easy as it may seem But you also taught me "where there's a will, there's a way" And so I strive for the next day. I learned from you that dreams can come true I want you in my dreams, too I love you.

by Nadia El-Hillal

“Eidy” Meeny Miney Moe

Al-Nur: Volume 11 | Issue 2

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