My Twenty Minute Identity

As I walked into the Titanic Exhibit today, the man who checked my ticket handed me my boarding pass. ‘boarding pass?’ I thought… ‘to an exhibit?’ Little did I know for the next twenty minutes I would not be living under the name that my Father had given me at birth, rather I would be reliving the life of the woman on my boarding pass.

I began to become acquainted with my new name, although at first i was a bit confused to as to what it really was. On the pass it said: “Passenger Name: Mrs. Ernest E. Nye (Elizabeth Ramell)”…..Ernest..? Isnt that a guys name? How can I live a life, even if for only twenty minutes, of a guy. Then i realized….my name is Elizabeth..but these people aboard the Titanic had not been touched with the beauty of Islam. Elizabeth Ramell had to live a life of being the property of her husband, not even being known by her name…rather by her husbands. Anyways… I moved on trying to get a feel for the life of this woman I was to be for the next short part of my life. She had to ride second class, not first, not a big deal….i do that all the time…Reading on I saw facts about her traggic life, although only 29 she had to deal with death after death of those she loved so dearly…She must have been quite sad..what with no Islam to help her get over her losses. Alhamdulilah, I had become acquainted with her, so I decided to move on, and enter into the realm of the Titanic and see the real scraps they left behind.

Indestructible, or so they thought. I, Elizabeth Ramell, had been told that’s what it was. No one could break it…no one could tear it down “not even God himself”. Had this not been Elizabeth Ramell speaking she might have taken that as a warning….and hated this blasphemous statement, too bad Elizabeth Ramell was Elizabeth Ramell.... I walked from display to display putting myself in this Woman’s shoes….minus the alcohol…I can’t even bring myself to imagine that part. Traveling alone the terror of the sound and rumble that the impact, into the ice berg, caused flew through my veins. “Death…me? Am I to go join my loved ones? I’m not ready…i’ll change…i must save myself!” I thought the same thing most of the people on that boat must have thought….. We began running, screaming, praying to God to save us. I kept thinking ‘we uttered the most horrible words…said God could not sink this boat, and now God was going to sink this boat and we were going to go down with it!’ I saw the nearest lifeboat…and prayed they let me on. They did. I jumped in, fighting off cowardly men and women who couldnt wait their turn to take my seat near the floor. Hopefully I’d be rescued…Hopefully I wouldnt join those in the water….those who were….before my eyes…dying.

Snapping back to reality i walked forward towards two walls covered in names. Survivors…and other than survivors.

First Class: 199 Saved; 130 Dead

Second Class: 119 Saved; 166 Dead

Third Class: 183 Saved; 527 Dead

Crew: 212 Saved; 698 Dead

Would my temporary identity be one of those among the 119 Saved from second class…or those to be left at sea….to feed the fish? I started reading through the many names on that wall, first the dead. Name after name I read until i got through the 166, without finding my name. Every name was strange to me. People I have never met, and people that are not remembered except by having their name written on this wall. I couldnt help but think about how these people were facing something greater than the ship they were on, greater than the wreck they died in. Imagine facing the One who knows everything you have EVER done, without exception. . Seeing that my twenty minute identity was not on the Death list, I moved on to read the survivors, I found the name.

She lived. Yes, Elizabeth Ramell was rescued but rescued from what? Rescued from going forward to meet her Lord, to face the fact that without islam she had wasted her entire life. Rescued from that meeting….so that she could continue to live her life..continue to disobey Allah ..continue to live without islam.

What about me? Yes the real me, not Elizabeth. Me. The me that never even saw the real Titanic. The me that never lived through a near death experience. The me that was walking through a exhibit in near by Houston….. living in a make-believe world. What will be my fate? When will I die? Will I be ready…for there will come a day..where I am nothing more than a name in this dunya..soon to be forgotten, and I must prepare.

Take heed of the signs that were left for us. Take heed of the lessons derived from the people that came before us.

wa Alhamdulilahi rabb al Alameen.

Words that Ring in My Head

When I’m sitting on the sidelines watching my friends chat their lives away with guys, trying to find a place to sit where I cant be seen. Trying to find someone to chill with who wont invite a guy over to join the convo….The words ring in my head.

When I’m listening to the painful words that prove that I am no where near to what this society classifies as “normal” and that i have taken a turn for “extreme”…The words ring in my head.

When I walk through the halls of America, with every eye turning to see what ’strange thing’ just walked in…The words ring in my head.

When the women at the masajid make it a point to tell me mother her only daughter will never get married because of the niqab she sports across her face….The words ring my head

The words that give me comfort and remind me of the reward in store in sha Allah .

بَدَأَ الإِسْلامُ غَرِيبًا ، وَسَيَعُودُ كَمَا بَدَأَ غَرِيبًا ، فَطُوبَى لِلْغُرَبَاءِ

“Islam began as something strange and will revert to being strange as it began, so give glad tidings to the strangers.”

Fa Toubaa lil-Ghurabaa.

wa Alhamdulilah rab Al-alameen.

Have You Thanked Allah?

by Ibn Al-Qayyim

Taken from "Uddat as-Sâbireen wa Dhâkirat ash-Shâkireen"

Salmân al-Fârsî radhiyAllahu anhu said:

"There was a man who was given many of the luxuries of this world, and then they were taken away from him. But he continued to praise and thank Allâh until everything had been taken from him, even his bed. And then he still praised and thanked Allâh. Another man, who had also been given many of the luxuries of this world asked him, 'What are you praising and thanking Allâh for?' The man said, 'I am praising and thanking Him for blessings which, if others asked me to give them to them in return for all that they have, I would never give them up.' 'What can they be?' asked the second man. 'Can't you see?' asked the first man. 'I have my eyesight, my tongue, my hands, my feet...'"

Layth ibn Abî Burdah said:

'When Allâh gathers people on the Day of Judgement, He will remind them of His blessings. One of His slaves will say: "Remind me of something," and Allâh will say: "Remember when you faced such-and-such adversity, and you prayed to Me, so I relieved you of it. Remember when you were travelling in such and-such a place, and you asked Me to give you a travelling companion, and I did so... Remember when you asked for the hand of so-and-so the daughter of so-and-so, and others also asked for her hand, so I gave her to you to marry; and kept the others away." His slave will be standing before his Lord, Who will remind him of His many blessings.'" Then the narrator of this story (Layth) wept and said, "I hope that no one will stand before his Lord in this way, because the one who does so will be punished." (i.e. if Allâh has to point out that which should be obvious, this is a sign of a person's ingratitude, and he will be punished.)

A man of knowledge said:

"The blessing of Allâh to us in keeping the luxuries of this world away from us is greater than the blessing of that which he has given us, because Allah did not like His Prophet to have the luxuries of this world. So I prefer to live in the manner which Allâh preferred for His Prophet than to live a life which He disliked for him."

Ibn Abi'd-Dunyâ said:

"It was narrated to me that some scholars said: 'The scholar should praise Allâh for having deprived him of the luxuries of this life, in the same way that he should praise Him for what He has bestowed upon him. How can you compare the blessings and luxuries for which he will be accountable to the deprivation of luxuries which is a relief from being tested, and which keeps his mind free to worship and remember Allâh? So he should give thanks to Allâh for all of that.'"

A man said to Abû Hâzim:

"What is the gratitude of the eyes?" He said, "If you see good things, you speak about them, and if you see bad things, you keep quiet about it." He asked, "What is the gratitude of the ears?" He said, "If you hear something good, you accept it, and if you hear something bad, you reject it." Then he asked, "What is the gratitude of the hands?" He said, "Do not take what which does not belong to you, and do not hold back from paying the dues of Allâh (zakât)." Then he asked, "What is the gratitude of the head?" He said: "To have knowledge in it." Then he asked, "What is the gratitude of one's private parts?"

He quoted:

"'Who guard their private parts, except from those joined to them in the marriage bond, or (the captives) whom their right hands possess – for (in their case) they are free from blame, but those whose desires exceed those limits are transgressors'" (al-Mu'minûn 23:5-7).

Ibn Abi'd-Dunyâ mentioned that Dâwûd (peace be upon Him) asked Allâh: "What is the least of Your blessings?" Allâh revealed to him: "O Dâwûd, take a breath." Dâwûd did so, and Allâh told him: "This is the least of My blessings on you."