And just why do you wear that Hijab thing?

A lot of people ask me if it's not tough to wear the Hijab. Or on how I bear the heat in the layers of cloth around me. And I agree. It is not the easiest of things to follow. No it is not. But I only reason that not all 'right' things are necessarily 'easy'.

For that I draw on my childhood experiences in the examination halls. Cheating and copying (in exams) were never like 'BIG' sins. It was the unsaid rule that while you nobody 'copied' for the entire paper, a sneak or two here and there was after all, only human. Many times the examiners also shared the same belief. So cheats usually ruled the roost during the exams. And no, you didn't have to be a 'poor' student for that. The good students joined in the party; the right answer to a 'fill-in-the-blank' question could get you that precious one mark needed to top the class. Well that was the story always, year after year even through college.

But you know what? Alhamdulilah, we siblings RESISTED. Mum always told us that Allah was watching and while she was the toughest taskmaster when it came to academics- always RIGOROUSLY pushing us to reach the top, she despised dishonesty. She made it loud and clear: her children weren't going to be paltry thieves, selling their souls for a few marks. (Of course she made life tough if we missed those marks because of lack of efforts though! lol)

But does it become 'easy' to be honest about your work "JUST BECAUSE MOM TOLD US TO"? Darn, it's the TOUGHEST thing! When all around you people are sneaking, whispering, passing little 'chits' with answers in them...sigh! It is confounding. And then the mockery: "Oooooh! Miss Goody Two Shoes! Raja Harischandra's heir apparent! What's God gonna punish you for just a mark?"

And oh, God save you if you refuse to 'help' someone during the exams!
Scene One
Girl:"Psst!"
Me:"What?"
Girl:"What's the answer to Question number 3?"
Me:"Don't know." (Returns to own work)

Scene Two
I will cut it short: you are the VAMP of the class- selfish, proud, unhelpful and then some more grudges against you.

Scene Three
You try to make sense to your friends. Try telling them that you are NOT all that prepared yourself, but would rather not cheat. And then they come up with theories like 'God will bless us if we help each other', 'God understands; he will forgive', 'Between justice and mercy you must choose mercy', blah, blah, blah. Did they not hear of the Quranic verses that God will punish them if they construe a lie about him?

As a teacher I am faced with more than just raised eye brows when I snatch away the answer papers of kids caught cheating. Sigh. As I said, the 'right' thing is not necessarily the 'easiest'.

I draw this analogy whenever I am asked about the difficulty level in donning the Hijab. Oh yes, it does get hot. And yeah, I feel like showing my designer outfits, dangling chandelier earrings and done up hair at social dos too. Sometimes I even given in to the devil, I must confess; but I try to do as much as I can. But there are other benefits too. When we sacrifice something for Allah, he sends mercies on us in ways we least expect. And it ain't THAT difficult either. After a while you get used to it. And there is the satisfaction of having done the 'right' thing. Plus, who says you need to look 'bad' in a Hijab? I take active part in designing my stuff and I think it's pretty elegant and dignified (not to mention smart), Alhamdulilah. So there. I will end with this beautiful little poem that I found on the net. Don't know the source, but so endearing, and I guess it pretty much sums it all :)

You look at me and call me oppressed,

Simply because of the way I'm dressed,
You know me not for what's inside,
You judge the clothing I wear with pride
My body's not for your eyes to hold,
You must speak to my mind, not my feminine mold,
I'm an individual, I'm no mans slave,
It's Allahs pleasure that I only crave
I have a voice so I will be heard,
For in my heart I carry His word,
"O ye women, wrap close your cloak,
So you won't be bothered by ignorant folk"
Man doesn't tell me to dress this way,
It's a Law from God that I obey,
Oppressed is something I'm truly NOT,
For liberation is what I've got
It was given to me many years ago,
With the right to prosper, the right to grow
I can climb moutains or cross the seas,
Expand my mind in all degrees
For God Himself gave us LIB-ER-TY
When He sent Islam,
To You and Me...

Divided we stand, United we fall...

I am not much of a politics person but I just happened to come across a recent article by Thomas Friedman. I usually avoid reading him-for several reasons. I find him blatantly biased against the Islamic world and well, he has a certain talent with the written word that makes even his ludicrous neo-imperialist ideology seem fair seeming to a naive outsider. But there's something that we might learn from him. When he laughs at the growing divide amongst Muslims themselves, it's time to sit up and take notice. Not because he's saying so. But because our Prophet (PBUH) never meant us to be like this. We have Hadeeth quoting Muhammed (PBUH) that the whole Ummat should be like one single body-so that even if a finger is in pain, the whole of the body should agonize over it. It makes sense even if you are not much a believer of the Hadeeth tradition, doesn't it?
Why are we are silent over the rising sectarian violence that's raging in Iraq then? The problem is that we have divided ourselves-we have forgotten the Book and grabbed false messiahs for our salvation. Why the Sunni-Muslim divide in the first place? Both the sects believe in Muhammed (PBUH) and his Prophethood, but both fail to realize that he neither went by the name of either 'Shia' or 'Sunni'. These are inventions of generations that came much later.
Why must we fall on innovative interpretations of Islam when it's all so clear in the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet?
The question is: why are we searching for alternate identities when all they are serving is growing sectarianism? Is it serving any purpose? Why are we so skeptical about just following the Quran and the Prophet? Why do we need the 'add-ons' so much when Allah Himself proclaims in the Quran: "This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed MY favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as religion." (5:4) Why the thirst for 'improvisations' in the divine message, when they can only imperfect at their best, because they are so human?
It's sad how we divide ourselves over something as small as who was the Prophet's successor AFTER his death-a time when Islam was already a complete entity, as we see from the verse from the Quran. While that may be a serious issue indeed, is it serious enough to demand a re-interpretation of our entire religion? Is it serious enough for us to be divided like this for centuries on end? Is it serious enough to give us the right to kill our own brethren? How can we allow the killing of either sect by members of another when Allah condemns the unjust killing of any life:
" For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind." (5:32)
and elsewhere:
"...And that ye slay not the life which Allah hath made sacred, save in the course of justice. This He hath command you, in order that ye may discern." (6:151)
and yet again:
"And slay not the life which Allah hath forbidden save with right. Whoso is slain wrongfully, We have given power unto his heir, but let him not commit excess in slaying. Lo! he will be helped." (17:33)
We say we kill in the name of Islam when Islam requires us to have a VERY just cause to kill; we say we take the Quran to be the word of Allah and yet we flout it in the name of religiosity.
I admit these are tough times, but that shouldn't be reason enough to forget the divine word, no? In fact this is just the time to bond even more firmly, to Allah and to all our brothers in faith. If Islam means 'peace' let us not violate it, except for a cause justified by Allah-for instance when one has to punished for murder or other such sin-and killing another because you don't like him or his leader cannot in any way be defined as justice.
And may better sense prevail. And may Allah unify this broken Ummat again towards Him. Ameen.

The distance between us and Allah...

"The distance between us and Allah is the length of our desires; the shorter this length, the closer we are to Allah"

I quote my cousin here. Sometimes youngsters can amaze you with the wisdom they exhibit. My young cousin deeply impressed me with his ideas when we interacted last week. He told me to read some Quran-said that we soon realize then that if we have our Eeman with us, it is not the end of the world yet.
"Maybe some good will come of this." That was the refrain in the story he narrated to me. An old farmer keeps telling that to himself every morning as his only sheep, only goat and only dog are devoured by a hungry wolf in three consecutive nights. The fourth night the entire village is raided by dacoits who rob all the villagers of all their possessions but spare the old farmer's house thinking that since he had no live stock, he would be too poor to have anything worth robbing. There was some good in an apparent evil. But it requires immense amount of faith to believe in that till the good actually begins to show. Sub-hanallah. May Allah always give us enough patience to believe in His wisdom and power till the difficult times tide over. Ameen