The things I have learnt as a Muslimah

Salaams my dear readers... I haven't written anything for at least a year and I am so glad to have managed to get myself back here. The past 18 months have been very interesting for me, I''ve managed to push my career to somewhere a lot closer to my goals, with Allah s guidance alhamdulillah.

I have had some incredible things come my way, including being invited to donate an outfit to the Museum of London as it illustrates the change in muslim fashion today. SubhanAllah. I will have to create an entire entry on the matter though as it isn't what brought me here today.

I recently found myself pondering over the changes I have seen in myself since turning to Islam and how , many of these aspects may be surprising and unexpected.

The first noticeable change for me has been with my fashion and clothing. Being a muslimah has made me prouder of being female. It has empowered me emotionally to connect with my feminine side. I hadn't really thought of this until I was actually looking at the outfits I was donating to Museum of London. I noticed a vast array of creams, pinks, pastels, sheer fabrics, lace and pearls. Some very feminine items. The funny part is I used to hate pink with a passion. I didn't hate it on others or in nature but I didn't want it associated to me. Why? I think partly because I am blonde. I didn't want to fall into the stereotype of a Barbie doll. I didn't want to be missjudged as stupid or superficial. So I stayed very clear away from the colour. 

Somehow, now that I am Muslim, I have come to love pink. One reason is that with a headscarf I can never be associated to a barbie again, I have stood up to my beliefs and shown the intellect behind it. The second reason is that under my headscarf, my hair can be whatever colour I want, if people want to judge me, it will be on my Hijab and nothing else. The fact I am now also a wife has helped me channel my feeling of being a woman in the truest sense of the word. Alhamdulillah, I feel really blessed . I have also gained the understanding that my body belongs to Allah, and this has made me respect myself more. I am taking greater care of it. 

An other aspect of me which has changed is my interest in politics and speaking up for women rights and for the missrepresented . I am not an argumentative person and put me in a group of more than 4 people and I go quiet. However, with Islam, I have grown more passionate about certain issues and have found myself wanting to make a stand against injustices. It's also made me want to get into politics and help create a better environment for Britons. We have sat back and watched to government shred the economy to pieces, along with our trust in them and the environment.

I guess the right way to phrase this is that Islam has empowered me and given me the confidence to be myself. 5 years ago I would have been incapable of speaking in public. 2 months ago I spoke to just under a hundred sisters about using the prophet muhammad (peace be upon him) as a role model to help inspire our youth. 

The newest aspect of my development has been to realisation of how green I am willing and trying for my life to be. Mainly inspired by May s issue of Sisters Magazine about the Green lifestyle... I got so excited reading all these articles about looking after the earth, recycling and responsible homing. I have devoured the magazines' articles and this has inspired me for my next talk at Turning Point Inshallah.  

Do I miss anything from my life before or the old me?

No

Do I crave anything I haven't got?

Yes, two things. Motherhood and a better practice of my faith Inshallah things which will come in good time. 

I am looking forward to the other paths this journey will uncover....

Speak soon sisters :) 

Salaam alaikum 

Can I be a practising Muslimah and have a career, here in the UK?

Assalam Walaikum sisters!

I've been thinking about the subject of work recently, as a Muslim, as a revert and as a British woman.

I got made redundant last month. After months of feeling financially unsafe and of work becoming more and more uncertain for 2013, my boss did what she had to do, and let go of some of her staff. That meant me.

I didn't feel that upset, to be honest, mashallah. I saw this sudden change as a blessing. For well over a year now, I had been thinking of a career change. I wanted something that allowed me to practice my faith, keep to my values, yet allow my creativity to be expressed.

I am seeing this as a sign of encouragement from Allah, subhannallah, to be brave and push myself to aim higher and gain greater achievements.

Although I am still unsure which direction to take, I have had some ideas.
But actually it isn't an easy and straight forward decision for reverts to Islam. There are many things to consider that we would not have had to think about before.

Will I be able to pray? Will I be working in a Hallal environment? Will I be ok to wear my headscarf there? Will I be regarded as good as any other employee?

To add to the equation, I have only ever worked and wanted to work in the media. How can I combine all of this together?

Inshallah.... That is the only Duah that comes to my mind.

We can sit and fret and worry, or we can leave it to the hands of Allah. It is quite a difficult thing to do, and further more difficult thing to explain to our families, being non- muslims, often non believers. They want us to succeed and cannot comprehend such as 'laid-back' attitude as they would see it.

But it isn't about being laid back, we will have to job search, apply for jobs, go to dozens of interviews. It is the outcome of all of these which we leave upon Allah to guide us with.

What I have noticed about a lot of sisters I have met over the past 2 years is an incredible sense of entrepreneurship. Mashallah.

Well, thinking about it, starting your own business that you can run from home is probably the easiest way to work as a muslimah. You chose your hours, you can pray when you want to, you keep to your principles and you do not have to worry about wearing your hijab or niqab. SubhanAllah.

And the Prophets' own wife (saw), Khadijah, is one of the most inspiring people to look up to in that prospect. She was a business woman of her own right, she ran her own business and was very successful, mashallah.

Inshallah, my next post will be about her and how we can aspire to be more like her Inshallah.

Swap shop

Sisters
Salams to all of you!! After months of preparations I am finally married- al hamdullilah!
The swap sale will be taking place Saturday at 11am so please do email me to say you will be coming!
I will email back with an address for you!
The clothes we will collect will be donated to centre point which have agreed to take the clothes at one of their centres in london. Centre point is a charity that provides for teenaged who are homeless. Look up their website, alhamdullilah, it's really inspiring!
I hope to see you all Saturday sisters!! And remember it is an opportunity for dawah as it is an interfaith event!
Salam to you all!

Salam World

Salam!
A new social network is starting to make ripples in the muslim world... SalamWorld, a hallal network for brothers and sisters!
I can't wait to see it come to life in the UK inshallah...
Check it out!
http://salamworld.com/home.php

Norbury park masjid

Just wanted to share a picture of our trip to norbury park earlier today, where they set up an outside masjid for brothers and sisters (separate). It was a blessed experience, really recommend it to anyone in south west London!

Olympics and Ramadan

Salams,

What  I wanted to talk about today is actually something that has been a discussion subject that you can’t have missed this year… The Olympics!

After 4 years of gradual build up, we are almost done with the first part, with only to Paralympics to look forward to.

I have to say I have enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Our whole city has transformed… I find it even quieter than usual!

But for our brothers and sisters competing this year, during Ramadan, this must have been a challenge!

Did you know around 3000 of the athletes are practicing Muslims! 3000! Subhanallah! Some of them decided to keep the fast for as long as they could, some will catch up with their lost days later on in the year. Indeed there is a quote in the Qu’ran, and forgive me for not being able to give you the exact quote, which explains that one is not obliged to fast if travelling, as long as they are caught up with later on.

This year has been even more inspiring as Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Qatar had its first female Olympians ever allowed to compete.

Surely you will have heard of the debate around the Saudi Judo athlete who was almost not allowed to compete because of her hijab.

Anyway, I just wanted to reflect upon the achievements reached this Ramadan for these athletes, Alhamdulillah .

And to finish this entry I just wanted to repeat a quote I read on Twitter by a brother last week. (sorry I will get better at giving the correct sources)

“This Ramadan, the Olympics are taking place. They are competing for Gold. We are competing for our place in Jannah”

I wanted to also share this funny image with you, showing the differences of cultures in the Olympics.

And finally look out for some of our sisters and their achievements here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183262/Olympics-2012-The-Muslim-women-overcame-odds-make-London.html