The past is non-existant

By brooding over the past and its tragedies, one exhibits a form of insanity - a kind of sickeness tat destroys resolve to live for the present moment. Those who have a firm purpose have filed away and forgotten occurrences of the past, which will never again see light, since they occupy such a dark place in the recesses of the mind. Episodes of the past are finished with; sadness cannot make things right, and depression will never bring the past back to life. This is because the past is non-existent.
Do not live in the nightmare of former times or under the shade of what you have missed. Save yourself from the ghostly apparition of the past. Do you think that you can return the sun to its place of rising, the baby to its mother's womb, milk to the udder or tears to the eye? By constantly dwelling on the past and its happenings, you place yourself in a very frightful and tragic state of mind.
Reading too much into the past is a waste of the present. When Allah mentioned the affairs of the previous nations, He the Exalted, said:

That was a nation who has passed away (Quran 2:134)

Former days are gone and done with, and you benefit nothing by carrying out an autopsy over them, by turning back the wheels of history.
The person who lives in the past is like someone who tries to saw sawdust. Of old, they used to say "Do not remove the dead from their graves."
Our tragedy is that we are incapable of dealing with the present: neglecting our beautiful castles, we wail over dilapidated buildings. If every man and every jinn were to try jointly to bring back the past, they would most certainly fail. Everything on earth marches forward, preparing for a new season - and so should you.

- 'Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni (Don't Be Sad)

This is more of a reminder for myself than anything. Often times its hard to look forward in times of difficulty and get on with life (at least it is for me). However, I am going to make this my Ramadan goal...to march forward like everything else on earth and prepare for what's next instead of worrying about what has already happened...INSHA'ALLAH.

Please remember me, my family and the Muslim Ummah in your dua this Ramadan.

Spring of my heart

O Allah, I am Your slave and the son of your male slave and the son of your female slave. My forehead is in your hand. Your judgment upon me is assured and Your decree concerning me is just.
I ask You by every name that You have named Yourself with, revealed in Your book, taught anyone of Your creation, or kept unto Yourself in the knowledge of the unseen that is with You, to make the Quran the spring of my heart, and the light of my chest, the banisher of my sadness, and the reliever of my distress.

AMEEN

(Taken from the Fortress of a Muslim)

I love nature....

I have always had this amazing relationship with nature. I am often overtaken with awe at the beauty of Allah's (SWT) creation from trees of different colors, fields of flowers, snow-capped mountains and even hills that are covered with lush green grass over a backdrop of overcast skies with just a touch of moisture to add some mist to your car window. Sometimes this beauty hinders my ability to drive safely because I am so inclined to stare with a smile on my face and "subhan'Allah" on my lips that I forget that I share the road with thousands of people in a rush to get to work and in the mood to deal with Sunday drivers like myself.
I enjoy sitting in empty fields, alone, free to contemplate and reflect on life and even talk to myself without having to worry about who hears me - except, of course, my creator. I feel like anyone who lives in what my father calls a "concrete jungle" needs to get away every now and again to be able to give himself the time to enjoy the beauty of nature, such beauty softens the heart. I mean, bring an amazing architect and sure, he can build and absolutely breath-taking building, but bring the most experienced land scrapers and none of them can even come close to creating something as beautiful as what Allah (SWT) Himself creates.
Not too long ago, I drove down to a local desert (not the one pictured above...that is somewhere in the Middle East). I prayed maghrib there. As my forehead hit the sand while I was in sujood, I couldn't help but think about the Prophet (SAW) and the Sahaba (RA) and how they prayed in the middle of the desert and a chill went down my back. I had the same feeling a while back when I was in the Middle East. Oh, how I wish I was there. When I spent time in the desert in the Middle East, I watched the sunset thinking subhan'Allah the Prophets (AS) could have walked through this very desert, the sahaba (RA) could have rode their camels through here. And when it got dark, I thought about how I had full service on my cell phone and then thought about how the Prophets (AS) really had nothing of the sort.
As the sun disappeared and the sky got pitch black, I was unable to see my hand as I held it out in front of my face. I got that stomach drop feeling you get when you take the first drop of a rollercoaster - subhan'Allah when the prophet (SAW) traveled in the night during the Hijrah, it was pitch black and he didn't have a cell phone or any other communicating device. The amount of sacrifice the Prophets (AS) and Sahaba (RA) made for the deen is absolutely unsurpassable - its a shame that we sin on a daily basis and often do not represent Islam as we should. It breaks my heart - and unfortunately I am as guilty as anyone.

Lost my touch?

Its been a while. I've been meaning to come by numerous times to type up a little rant about how my life is going. There have been times that I've started writing and just didn't like the sound of things, or just wasn't feeling like writing and simply closed my browser and walked away with a large number of written out posts that are lacking substance and have no ending. I think I've contracted some form of writer's block. Perhaps I am simply lacking the motivation to write? Lately, my life has been rather uneventful - it can be a good thing and it could be a bad thing...I still haven't decided what it is.

For the past (I don't know how many) weeks, I've been left to do a lot of thinking about life and its outcomes. Good thinking - I think. I am not angry, sad, mad, depressed or any of those adjectives...I am content. Alhamdulilah.

Since my last post, which seems like ages ago, I have pulled away from a lot of people and though it may sound like a bad thing, I think it served for the best. It has allowed me to reflect on me or at least that's what I'm telling myself. However, I have found that even with all this pulling away and reflection I am unable to really accurately put my feelings to paper (my only source of outlet), perhaps they are too abstract to make sense even to me? Come to think of it, they really are just a huge blob of thoughts that circle in my brain waiting for escape but are much to crazy to share. I dunno.

My best friend is usually the one person who can decipher my thoughts and feelings when I can't understand them for myself. She usually can just hear the tone in my voice when discussing a certain topic and can automatically understand my feelings. As if the physical distance wasn't enough, I feel as though we are farther away from each other as the time passes by. I suppose marriage does that - it changes all the relationships you've ever had. Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. So for now, its me and you! I'll try to make as much sense as possible.

Until next time, remember me in your duas.

My little Angel

Subhan'Allah the past few weeks have been like excruciating torture to me. The combination of my academic struggles and the whirlwind of feelings I call my emotions has just made this big jumbled up mess. To top it all off my best friend is in some far off land where the phone lines and electricity cut out frequently and when they actually do work, the time change makes calling at an appropriate hour very difficult. I've gotten to the point where I just don't want to see or speak to anyone and just disappear into non-existence only when that actually happens I long for someone to talk to. Humans! They're never happy. This blog comes in handy when you want to talk to someone and be non-existant at the same time, but I must admit, having a real human with real responses would be ideal (sorry guys).

Just as I thought things could not possibly get more depressing than they already are, I was assigned a patient - a tiny little boy (six weeks old) who's face I cannot get out of my face and who's cry I constantly hear. I think of him when I feel down, and suddenly my life seems perfect. This little innocent baby was abused by his father who allegedly stepped on his head and caused major bleeding and swelling in the brain which in turn caused some major neuro changes in this boy. What's more depressing is that mom was nowhere to be seen or heard from. When I would go in and assess him or give him meds he would cry this weak cry and the sound of that defenseless cry tore at my heart strings. How could anyone even think to do such a horrible thing to such a small defenseless child? What would possibly trigger a person to something like this? A child this age deserves to be loved, he deserves to be held in his mothers hands and be fed either by breast or bottle - NOT a tube!! This child needs to be smouthered in kisses, not swaddled and left in a crib to cry alone and not be heard.

I found my ears to listen :) He deserves to be held, so when I'm free and have nothing to do, I sit in his room, in the rocking chair and hold him. While I am not allowed to kiss him due to hospital regulations, I cuddle him and talk to him and tell him how I feel and he listens, I know he does because he looks me square in the eye - I'm sure he doesn't understand a word I'm saying, but who cares? I wonder sometimes if sane, awake, oriented adults understand what I'm saying.

While I sit there and play mommy, I wonder what he's thinking. I wonder how he would smile if he was allowed to be a healthy child like he was born, how instead of crying he would coo like a normal baby. Why bring a child into this world if you're not going to love it?

This little angel of mine makes my pittiful life look like absolute perfection.

I think I'm slipping

Since this whole Mr. Possibility thing has been over, I've been doing a lot of thinking. For those of you who know me (from my blog...which is quite an accurate indicator of me), you are well aware of my belief that all things happen for a reason. I am an individual that likes to see the good in every situation despite its bitterness. That being said, I am happy in a dreary kind of way. However, with that happiness came a sort of realization that I will take as a wake up call of sorts. Remember when I said I thought I was compromising my faith? I think I have in a sense and I'm scared! I need an Iman Rush stat! Before my time became occupied with telephone conversations and emails and formal dinners at his parents house or mine, I spent my time at the masjid as much as possible, even if it was just very quick to stop by and make salah. I want to point out that I am not blaming him...its all my fault (well shaytan played a huge role in too).

I just feel like I've hit this point of disconnect. I mean I still pray and all that good stuff (alhamdulilah), but sometimes it feels like this combination of words and actions - I'm missing the kushoo..and I wish it would come back really quick.


I dunno...I just feel empty...help.

It's over.

I think the title says it all....its over - with Mr. Possibility, that is.

In a sense I'm happy, but at the same time I'm saddened that things didn't end up as anticipated by my friends and my family. These past couple of months have been somewhat of an eye opener for me and despite the disappointment, I'm glad I experienced it. I've learned a lot.

I want to start off by saying that I don't hate him (Alhamdulilah) and I don't think that he's a bad person either, he's just not the person for me. Subhan'Allah, its so funny how all this time during out "courtship" if that's what you want to call it, I looked for ways this could work and I saw the good in our relationship (not that it was bad), and then yesterday while I was praying Isha, it dawned on me - I'm not happy and I definitely am not myself. I know a lot of it is contributed to my work load and my busy schedule and the fact that I'm really never home and when I am, I'm working on this assingment and that project, etc. But I have also noticed that there's a bigger change - I rarely smile and I cry too much (totally not my personality).

And its not just that either. I'm the type of person that finds the beauty in Allah (SWT) creation. I admire the beauty of the sky, the ocean, the wind and just about everything else. It gives me an Iman rush. The couple times that I have had such a conversation with him about the beauty of the moon or how much I enjoy nature and how it just amazes me, etc. He kind of just answers with the affirmative and thats the end of the discussion and then we're back to "so what are your plans for the weekend?"

I thought that I could push him to change, but I feel like I'm being pulled in the other direction and it scares me. I don't really think the strength of my faith is something that I'm willing to tamper with even if it will land me a lifetime partner. I need someone who wants to be a better Muslim, someone who pushes me to be a better Muslim. I mean its good to have fun and what not but there's more to life than just fun and games. I need someone who shares the same life goals as I do - I'm not sure if I make sense or not, but I just had to get it off my chest in hopes that someone understands me.