Islamophobia in America

"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"

Praise be to He, protector of Man of faith.

This morning, after sahur, I was sitting in the study room drinking a cup of water when I noticed the latest issue of TIME addressing the topic of Islamophobia in America. I mean, I am aware that such a sentiment exists in the West but for TIME to create a dedicated front cover article on it, I think it deserves some discussion.

The problem seemed to be aggravated by the proposal to build a Muslim cultural centre and mosque, two blocks away from Ground Zero in New York. As many of us are aware, Ground Zero would refer to the location of the 9/11 attacks. Some are arguing that to build a mosque there would reflect insensitivity towards the families of those killed in the attack. Some of the more lurid questions regarding this proposal include: "Will there be any weapons or military training at the mosque?"

Astagfiruallahalazim... And the 46% of the general American public also believe that Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage non-violence towards believers.

I have to say that while I am relatively far from the situation in America, this news saddens me. And it makes me grateful that at least in Singapore, we do not have protestors outside our mosques and Muslims here are allowed to proudly claim they are Muslims without fearing defamation or assault etc.

Last semester I took a module on the History of Islam and we also touched upon current day issues such as the above; Islamism, Islamophobia, Islamist- all these are nouns coined only in this 21st century and force the noun Islam to coexist with all these other affixes that do not do justice to itself.

If our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w were to be here to see the world today, I think he would be both happy and sad. Happy in that his ummah has spread even further than the Middle East to all parts of the world; growing larger than any of the kaum of the Prophets before him. But he would be sad too when he sees the state of Iman his ummah is in... which is further weakened by the hostilities and violence propagated by both muslims and non muslims towards each other.

We have let our Prophet, the al-muallim down and we should all be ashamed of ourselves.

Wallahualam Bissawab.

Adventure Saturday!

"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"

Although it was a long, hot and humid day, I seemed to get alot of things done and 2/3 of it was spent on ibadah. Alhamdulillah...

Speaking of Alhamdulillah... today me and Hubtobe were exploring mosques and chanced upon Masjid Omar Kampong Melaka, near Havelock Road and it is so beautiful and so clean and so comfortable... almost like my other favourite mosque- Abdul Hamid Mosque. Oh yeah, and when I entered the female prayer room and saw that it was fully air conditioned, I smsed Hubtobe and said 'Hurray!' to which he chided me "Mane keSyukuran? Bukan cakap Hurray..." (where's your sense of gratefulness... not say hurray)

Ooops... I was just so happy and excited that I was going to enjoy peace and quiet in a comfortable mosque that I forgot for a moment. Apparently they've revamped the place and it looks really lovely now. Here's a photo I took from Wikipedia:



Prior to our visit to this mosque, we went to Funan to get Hubtobe's antivirus for his computer. It's been quite some time since we walked in town and especially now that it's Ramadan, walking in town isn't such a good thing. Hubtobe mentioned that town is not really a muslim-friendly place. Yes there is Al-Falah mosque and other musollah's here and there but the people who crowd the streets can really challenge one's iman.

I think for him, he has to lower his gaze more than I do because the women on the streets are quite scantily clad at times and it's hard to keep your eyes on the floor especially in a crowded area. Unlike me, I'm quite oblivious to my surroundings at times. Heh heh.

Well... that aside... I'm so happy I finally got a new foundation powder, eyeliner and lipstick (basic makeup really). I seem to have lost mine somehow. Hubtobe helped to choose the lipstick colour. He was so funny and so choosy! I prefered the neutral tones but he said he wanted something red and an image of a pin-up girl came to my head. But eventually we compromised to a colour called chestnut that was a mix of reddish brown. =)

Alright, to top it all, we did terawih at Masjid Sultan... it was lovely... The second Imam drove me to tears. Well... sniffles more like it. I was touched by his rendition of the surahs. He sounded like the Imam from Al-Khair though. Plus Masjid Sultan is spacious and it wasn't so crowded. I know its best if the mosque is filled to the brim... but sometimes I appreciate some space too... coz we always end up sitting on each other's feet during tahiyat akhir. -laughs-

Well... a day with Hubtobe is always a day well spent and although I'm really tired from all the walking and standing, I am grateful that Allah has given me the strength and the health to still persevere through the day. Alhamdullillah.

Also, at the end of the day, I know you know, Lihub Billah...