A glimpse of the beauty of Islam.

This is a beautiful story which goes to show a glimpse of the beauty of Islam.

     Taher(my hubby) prays at a mosque every night at 1am.,these are special prayers performed especially in Ramadan.During one of these prayer sessions Taher happened to notice a blind,frail,old man praying beside him,Taher offered him a chair and the old man thanked Taher and sat and prayed till the end.
    After the prayers Taher stepped out of the mosque and proceeded to give alms to the poor waiting outside and found the blind old man among the beggars.Taher was a bit shocked to see the old man begging because he was neatly dressed and appeared clean,but then in Islam one cannot stand in prayer unclean,cannot be causing inconvenience to others.Then Taher gave him some money and returned home.
    The next day too the old man stood in prayer in Taher's row and Taher fetched him a chair again and since the prayers are long,there's a break in between,during the break Taher and the old man chatted about the rains,the government,grave sins etc.,just small talk....when the prayer didn't resume even after a while the old man took a watch out from his pocket,Taher was taken aback upon seeing the watch,he thought to himself that the old man must've fooled him,maybe the old man could see but was pretending to be blind for alms.While Taher was still processing this in his head,the old man pressed a button on his watch and the watch told the time out loud.....Taher was relieved to know that the old man was not fooling him,he was blind afterall.Taher enquired about the watch and learnt that it was gifted to the old man two years ago by another person he met in the same mosque.
Taher is going to the mosque still but the old man doesn't wait in a line to get alms from him and Taher still fetches him the chair.When Taher told me about the old man,his watch and their chats i couldn't help crying at their bonding over prayers,these two couldn't have met elsewhere.
Such a beautiful thing,that in prayer all stand in the same row,Allah doesn't discriminate between the rich and poor.Islam preaches charity to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.It's obligatory upon Muslims to give away a certain percentage of our profits to our poor brothers,infact fasting in Ramadan is more about understanding the conditions of our poor brothers and sisters who have no food to eat or water to drink,fasting makes us humbly aware of the plight of someone who hasn't had a proper meal.It makes us realise the wrong in wasting food and indulging in gluttony.When we learn that we can live on less food we consume less,hence there's more food to go around.
Interests on Principal amounts while borrowing money is unacceptable in Islam because of the very reason that the poor(borrower) gets poorer with each passing month and the rich(lender) gets richer,this increases gap between the two,hence.
It's also obligatory upon Muslims to see to the well being of our neighbours and be there for them,always,see if they have food on their table today.
Islam preaches equality and emphasises on the fact that in order to keep the world running smoothly we all need to realise that all have major roles to play,the world needs balance between riches to function properly.
Contrary to the belief that women are oppressed in Islam,there are rights only women in Islam enjoy,here again Islam preaches that both the man and woman have equally important roles to play to run the family smoothly.

So many more beautiful things Islam is about.This was just a glimpse of the beauty of Islam.Islam is beautiful,perfect,flawless,but i can't say the same about Muslims.That's what we have to do,become perfect Muslims,strive towards being the perfect Muslim.This should be my ultimate goal.I'm working on that, i know it might take forever, for now I feel blessed and honoured and proud to be a Muslim,i hope this joy everyone gets to know,Ameen.                                                                                                  pic.courtesy:www.nocompulsion.com

Of Blessings and Longings.

Ramadan is when i miss my brother the most, we are pretty close but can't meet up often because we live in different cities.Iftar,the meal when we break fast after abstaining from food and water from dawn to sunset is when i think of him.Sunsets make me sad and nostalgic,to add to that my brother isn't with me when i'm breaking my fast,which is supposed to be a family affair,i feel a void.

Iftar,the word itself conjures up an image of a family sitting in front of food prepared by the mother, waiting for the sirens to ring,children enthusiastically trying to help lay the table,giggling away as they do that.Such a beautiful scene.My brother and i don't have childhood memories like these.In our memories,when were little,Ramadan was nothing special.It was a time when we couldn't visit our maternal Grandmom's home because my mother didn't want us to disturb her Ramadan routine and also not to zap her energy. But my Grandpa used to bring us a milk can full(about a gallon or more) of SheerKorma first thing in the morning on Eid,and this memory is by far,the most beautiful thing related to Ramadan.Everything else related to Islam was distant to us. 

My Dad was a Hindu and my Mom a Muslim. We grew up mostly with our Dad's side of the family,spending only about two weeks with my Mom's parents and our maternal cousins during the summer holidays.That was the only time we'd get to know a little about Islam,but it didn't appeal to me much then.Obviously, because i didn't understand it.The Islamic traditions in India are mostly innovations,influenced much by the Hindu culture,that must have made me feel like there's not much difference between the two religions.So,i remained detached from Islam and so did my brother.But ofcourse things are different now,with the Internet and the efforts of many people,the Sub Continent too has been waking up to the true religion,there is awareness about what's original and what's innovated/added, and that's a good thing.

Coming back to my brother and me and Iftar,if i'm not wrong,i'm pretty sure i'm not,my brother and i have spent Iftar together only on five occasions since we both started practising  Islam,which by the way we did in 

different years than each others',and different places too,in different circumstances.Till date i haven't had the time to ask him about what led him to Islam,but i intend to do that soon.

As for my love story with Islam,I can only say that it was destined to,because my Islam is so perfect,free of error.I can say that Islam i found where i least expected to,in a land far away from home,from Islam,in a place,amongst a people not so familiar with the religion.I've always felt like i was destined to embrace Islam,and it had to be away from home,in the solitude,in the turmoil,amidst one of the most difficult times of my life.I was to choose Islam,learn it the hard way,I had to understand it from an outsider's perspective,to find the beauty in it,I was not meant to inherit it.I think i can say the same about my brother.

Like how a compass always points north due to the earth's magnetic field,my heart,mind and soul pointed me in the direction of Islam,like I was always meant to be a Muslim but I had to find it myself.I'm forever grateful to Allah,the Almighty for this love story,Islam's and mine,the story of how i fell in love with the perfection,the balance and the science of Islam after understanding it completely.It has now become the very essence of my existence,like how it should be.I'm also grateful that my brother too has found the peace,the truth.

I miss him still and will think of him every Ramadan day and we'll hopefully make memories of Iftar when he's in town ring the month.And now that we both have beautiful boys,we'll make memories for them to remember when they grow up,hopefully they'll cherish them when we are long gone and hopefully they'll love Islam the same,i know they will,InshaAllah.
For now i'm praying for all my brothers and sisters in Islam and for peace and harmony in the world and peace in my heart,Ameen. ..........meanwhile my heart still longs and feels blessed for the longing and the love

                    ©tab1525.blogspot.com

:that's my parents,me and my brother in the pic. above.

The murderers who never get convicted.....but who cares.

Hyderabad is where i live and i love it,mostly for emotional reasons,because it's my hometown, but i am not very proud of this city or the people who inhabit it.
Ofcourse there are various reasons for that (that's a topic for another day),the most atrocious of all is the pollution.The autos and the buses and the trolleys,the ill maintained bikes and cars,all are the major contributors of air pollution,choking us all to sickness and gradually to death.
Does the auto bhaiya/bus driver and other vehicle owner have any idea how bad the white smoke which his vehicle emits is to the other commuters' health? Does he know that the smoke can cause lung cancer,asthma?Does he have any idea or is he well aware but more concerned about his money than other's health? Does the state of his vehicle not embarass him? Does he not feel guilty?
Why can't the traffic police do anything about it? Why is it solely the Pollution Control Board's responsibility? And if it is,then why are there no Pollution Control Board personnel monitoring the streets,checking the vehicles?Why can't the two departments collaborate to curb pollution? And why can't i thrash the auto bhaiya who's smoke i'm forced to inhale? I want to,because that smoke irritates my eyes, my throat,my lungs,is that not like a physical assault on my organs? I need answers....
      I have to say this,just for you to understand how bad the situation here is,  when i had returned to India after a long time in Japan,my body reacted very badly to the environment,the air,it was treating the pollutants in the air as a foreign invasion and my skin had rashes all over,red and itchy, i had those for weeks, i don't prefer using medicines and also i was pregnant so i didn't want to, the only remedy i thought of was to expose myself more to the pollution,i started going out more and my body eventually stopped reacting,because it now was getting so much of it that the allergens stopped feeling foreign, and i was now more immune to the triggers and  thats how i was healed,   the point of this story being the pathetic condition of the air here when compared to elsewhere,and yes,i am also aware of the fact that there are places worse than our's when it comes to pollution,  say China.
                   One of the reasons why i think the air here is bad is, us,firstly we care a damn about others and we pity the poor,ignore and forgive them for their uncivilness,their careless attitude towards all,we think the poor are not liable for anything,especially civic responsibilities,they are forgiven for whatever measures they take to cut their expenses,even if it means they put cheap oil in their vehicles and poison the air.Seriously? the poor fellow has no money to buy quality fuel or get his vehicle serviced because he is saving up for the booze he needs at night..
I've been to Bengaluru recently,it is not far from Hyderabad but the place is amazing,  traffic jams are frequent because of the narrow roads but there was no white smoke anywhere, whereas in Hyderabad if traffic gets stuck,the whole block will be covered in smog making it difficult to breathe....So,what's the diffetence between Bangaloreans and Hyderabadis,same country, then why such contrast?
           I think the difference is in attitudes, Hyderabad has this "who cares, all's fair,everything works here, i'm not embarassed" attitude while in Bengaluru it is "i'll get my vehicle serviced because it's convenient that way and i'll use quality fuel for a smooth running vehicle and also because i care and also, i don't want to look bad" ...
So,when are we going to adopt this attitude and when are we going to punish those who are making us ill and killing us,slowly but surely and without any remorse.They deserve to be punished,atleast fined and regularly checked so that they don't repeatedly offend...agree?
   I say....let's start the "punish the polluters" campaign....I've thought of a tagline too "Clean Air,My Birthright" ...what do you say??...