Egyptian Gumbo

Bismillah,

It’s time to offer a different type of analysis of an already huge story.

As most of you have heard, Why Islam has been under a lot of heat lately because of their attempt to do dawah on New York subways. The goal is to place ads within the subways that provoke thought with those who see the ads thus, drawing them to their website where they can learn more about Islam. The controversy? The controversy arises with the sponsors of the ads and some bigoted republican, Peter King, who is calling on the Metropolitan Transit Authority to take down the ads claiming Sheikh Siraj Wahaj, a supporter of the ads, is “linked to terrorism.”

I thought it was time for me to do my research and analyze the subway controversy.

As I was doing my research the first place I went to look for information was WhyIslam.org. To my surprise they had nothing on their Web site mentioning anything about the controversy.

This in turn, provoked me to write this post offering my advise to both Why Islam and anyone else who may be put in the situation of crisis communication (may Allah protect us from this):

1. Information on Web site*

From a public relations perspective, not having information on the website is not a very good idea. So far, it seems Why Islam has really defended themselves well, mashaAllah. However, in crisis communication you should always provide outsiders with information.

I understand that millions of people must have gone– and are still going– to the Web site. And I also understand the over all goal is to educate the public about Islam. However, know that millions of reporters are also going to the Web site looking for any information about the controversy and looking for any statements from the organization. This is perhaps the first place a reporter looks. So my advice to Why Islam is to place a section on the Web site with a statement about the controversy, and any other information debunking myths surrounding the crisis situation.

If you don’t already have a communications director get a PR person to write the pieces that will go up on your Web site. This is extremely important for the credibility of your company. The way it looks as of now is that there is something shady that no one wants to talk about.

May Allah make it easy on all those involved.

2. Get people to write letters to the editor (opinion pieces), in defense of the ads.

Get public figures to back you up and support you. I saw that the mayor was not against the ads saying that if people wanted to spread Islam, they are protected by free speech. When writing press releases or opinion pieces one should mention these big public figures and their stance with your campaign. It will build your credibility, and get you more public support.

The most important aspect of this is to get people who are well informed and preferably people from your communication/PR department to write any press releases or other statements that will be sent to major media.

3. Always have a calm and collected spokesperson.

The general image of Muslims today is that they are violent and always angry. Having a spokesperson who is both eloquent in speech but not someone who gets angry easily is the way to go. CAIR does a great job of this with their spokesperson, Ibrahim Hooper. He knows when to be tough when he needs to, but he’s also not raging with anger.

The video with Br. Azeem Khan was a great example of this as well:

4. Be proactive, not reactive. Take advantage of the media blitz.

This is hard with crisis communication, only because you have to be reactive to the issue that has just ensued. However, be prepared and minimize the possibility of the situation getting any bigger.

Be prepared for anything they might throw at you. With the media spotlight on you, do more dawah activities and work. Make pseudo events and invite media to your events, give back to the community and during Ramadan give lots of food to the poor.  This should all of course be done purely for the sake of Allah, but there is no problem using this opportunity for spreading Islam by inviting the media. This can be done in various communities sponsored by Why Islam. And each locality can invite the media of that area to attend an iftaar or any other event sponsored by Why Islam.

5. Build good relations with reporters, and get contact information.

Not all reporters are out to make you look bad. Be nice and courteous with them and exchange contact information. Let them know that if anything new happens you’ll call them to report on it. That way anytime you have a major event in the future, you build a good relationship and can have a nice story about Islam run in the paper or on the news.

6. Pray istikhara before making any moves.

This is especially important for Muslims because we may think that we will say something that will make the situation better, but wallahu alem things get turned on us very quickly and easily. Seek Allah’s help in everything that you do and put your trust in Him alone.

For anyone in a crisis communication situation, be sure to follow these few guidelines of many.

We ask Allah ‘az wa jal to make it easy on the Muslims everywhere, and to give us success in this life and the hereafter, ameen.

Wallahu ta’ala alem.

—-

*If anyone is wondering why I wrote “Web site” rather than “website”then this is because this is the way it is written in Associated Press style.

This post is for everyone who wants to start a blog or wants to improve the traffic to their (already existing) blog.

And no, no my friends, this is not going to be a tutorial on how to set a blog up. Rather, this post is dedicated to the writing tips needed to make your blog successful. I will be teaching many many writing techniques in my media writing class, inshaAllah.  Here’s a taste:

1. Fear Allah in everything you write. Take naseeha from others.

I’ve posted things up and taken things down several times. And I’ll probably continue to do this once I realize a mistake. Humble yourself, and realize you’ll be held accountable for everything.

2. Have a theme.

When people come to your blog they should know exactly what type of topics they can expect to see. Of course you can veer off and talk about other topics. However, people like certainty. People who come to my blog know that I will never write about celebrity gossip. Rather, they can expect to see posts about media, Islam, culture and more. Differentiate yourself from all other blogs out there.

3. Write in an organized fashion.

ofen timez i c peoples write lik dis and i’z wants to bring dem back 2 skool.

When you write on your blog, actually write in a professional manner. No one wants to decider code on your blog; It requires too much from your audience. It will make your audience reluctant to read more than the first paragraph of your post. Also, be mindful of grammar, punctuation and the over-all appearance of your post.

4. Pay attention to your headlines and leads.

The most important parts of an article are the headlines and the leads (hooks) to your stories.

You have to try to catch people’s attention in the very beginning if you expect them to read more. The lead is the very first paragraph to your article. It should generally give the readers an idea of what the whole post will be about. It can be in the form of a story, an anecdote, or even just facts. I will cover these in depth in my class, inshaAllah.

5. Write in inverted pyramid style.

Start with the most important information. As the article goes down the information becomes less and less important. This is flexible for blogs. But it’s definitely a useful way to write and get your point across fast. This is something every journalist does, and likewise it works well with blogs too.

6.  Have a unique outlook on different topics.

If you want to write about a subject that many other people have written about or you would like to write about a general topic, offer a new outlook or perspective to the topic at hand. No one wants to read things that they’ve heard in other places — unless they are Islamic reminders. However, even with Islamic reminders sometimes it’s nice to give real examples of the topic at hand. This in turn, will help the reader identify with the topic and open way for dialog/discussion. Also, include some of your personality in your theme and the style in which you write.

7. Include pictures with your post.

For every post, include at least one picture. If you’re post becomes lengthy, it gives the eyes a break from all the words if you include pictures thus making it more visually appealing for people to continue to read until the bottom of your post.

8. Don’t start off with questions or quotes.

One rule in journalism is that we never start articles with questions or quotes. There are rare exceptions to this rule. If you ever decide to start off with a question, the only time it’s acceptable is if you answer it immediately after you ask it. Again, don’t demand too much from your readers.

9. Write on an 8th grade level.

This really depends on your audience. If your target audience is a specialized group of people this could be different. But try avoiding jargon and gobbledygook. Write in a manner in which all people 13 and up can understand. (This is another journalistic rule.)

10. Interact in in the comments section.

If you want to make your blog interactive, the best way to do this is for you yourself to interact with those who come to your site. Your blog will not be warm and welcoming if you do not answer people’s questions and contribute to the discussion.

I hope these were helpful, and inshaAllah I will be covering many, many more writing tips and techniques in my media writing class later this year, inshaAllah.

Use these techniques and watch your traffic grow. Use Alexa.com to check your progress every once in a while. This will show you what number your website ranks against all the other websites in the world. The more traffic and people linking to your blog, the higher your rank.

And lastly, write things that you think will be of benefit to people.

Wallahu Alem.

Brought to you by Minbar Media.

BBC News printed this article which I find pretty interesting and shocking. Particularly the last two sentences of the article:

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7514567.stm

The young film-maker told the BBC she was repeatedly groped in broad daylight by a van driver in a Cairo traffic jam as she walked on the pavement.

His behaviour made her so angry she ran after the van and held on to the side mirror to force the driver to stop so she could take him to a police station.

She was equally shocked by the attitude of other passers-by. Some tried to dissuade her from going to the police - others blamed her for what she was wearing (a baggy sports outfit).

In the end, after a tussle with the man that lasted for more than one hour, the strong-willed Ms Ostath dragged the man to the police station.

But even there, police officers refused to open an investigation and insisted on the presence of her father despite the fact that she is not a minor - she is 26.

Impudent allegation

After Noha’s story was published in the Badeel daily, editor-in-chief Muhammad El Sayyed Said wrote that the behaviour of the crowd was characteristic of oppressed societies, where the majority identified with the oppressor.

He blamed the increase in sexual harassment on what he said were “three decades of incitement against women” from the pulpits of some of Egypt’s mosques.

“This verbal incitement is based on the extremely sordid and impudent allegation that our women are not modestly dressed. This was, and still is, a flagrant lie, used to justify violence against women in the name of religion.”

The British foreign office says Egypt is one of the countries with the highest number of cases reported to embassy staff regarding sexual offences against visiting women.

It warns them to be extra cautious in public places especially when alone because of the risks.

Ms Abou El-Qoumsan says Egyptians need to re-evaluate their value system and school curricula and to ensure that the rule of law prevails and prevents offenders and criminals walking free because of a breakdown of basic notions of right and wrong.

Thanks to surveys like this, one encounters an endless number of newspaper articles reflecting the feeling that Egypt is in the grip of a moral crisis.

Perhaps nothing illustrates Egypt’s loss of a moral compass than the responses of some men in the ECWR study.

Some said they harassed a woman simply because they were bored. One who abused a woman wearing the niqab said she must be beautiful, or hiding something.

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The study fails to mention the fact that most women in Egypt don’t wear proper hijab. They wear tight clothes, do their make-up and have half of their arms (and sometimes hair) also showing.

Hijab is an accessory for most girls in Egypt.

Egyptian authorities are useless. They don’t do anything. They give you a ticket when you stop your car somewhere for five minutes to wait for someone, and then they don’t give tickets to people who speed or those who don’t wear seat belts. The funny (not-so-funny) thing about the authorities in Egypt is that THEY are the ones that harass girls in the streets the most!

Anyway, just thought I’d add this to previous discussions. Wallahul musta’an.

During my first few days here in Egypt I went out with my cousin and her friend Lena* to this beautiful restaurant over-looking the beach. It was the first time I met Lena. She was sweet, kind and polite — she also happened to be a hijabi.

We went out and had a great time. I don’t know if i’ll see her again any time soon. But I was happy my cousin had such wonderful friends, mashaAllah.

Two days later, I’m with my cousin in the car stuck in traffic and she tells me “Did you know Lena took off her hijab?” I was like, “When? You mean a couple of years ago?”She replied, “No… I mean like yesterday. She’s been wearing it for seven years now.”

I was baffled. The thought of going out without my hijab after putting it on - especially for so long- is unthinkable to me. Not only because 1.  I do it for the sake of Allah, but 2. Because it would make me feel so exposed and naked without it.

I proceeded to tell my cousin that the intention probably wasn’t right from the beginning. After all, a lot of people in Egypt do it because of culture, not religion. But my cousin refuted that and told me that she was very sincere when she put it on and Lena told her that she wore it for the sake of Allah.

But WHY? What is the reason a person takes off their hijab if we know it is fard and we know that we are doing it to please Allah? What are the possible reasons that we might take off our hijabs?

Not everyone who takes off their hijab does so because they never had the right intention. And not everyone takes it off because they have low self-esteem or family pressure.

But still the question lingers… why? What is missing in our lives that we feel will be fulfilled with taking off our hijabs? One answer?

The love and attention of people, whether we know it consciously or subconsciously.

Allah ‘az wa jal says in surat Al-Baqarah:

“And of mankind are some who take (for worship) others besides Allah as rivals (to Allah). They love them as they love Allah. But those who believe, love Allah more (than anything else). If only, those who do wrong could see, when they will see the torment, that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah is Severe in punishment”

It’s seeking love from other than Allah. It’s obeying (worshiping) society and desires and leaving the worship of Allah ‘az wa jal.

And wallahi dear sisters, it is this seeking of filling the void in the heart in places other than with Allah that brings a person to the edge of a very steep cliff — a cliff that can lead to a person’s spiritual death.

What we truly miss in our hearts that needs fulfilling, is the love of Allah.

Dear sisters, whether we’ve never worn hijab at all or recently have decided to take it off, first, know that we do not judge anyone and what another’s heart contains. The hearts belong to Allah and no one can know what is in another person’s heart other than Allah. There are girls who wear hijab and commit shirk with Allah. And in the eyes of Allah they are nothing.

Second, know that Allah ‘az wa jal says in His noble book:

“Say: “O Ibadee (My slaves) who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, verily Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

It does not matter what people think of us. If you feel, since you’ve taken off your hijab, people have judged you, then know that Allah ‘az wa jal is the one who will judge between people on the day of judgment. So what matters is what Allah ‘az wa jal thinks about you. And we should not seek love and attention from people before we seek it from Allah. Truly if you seek the love of Allah, then you will follow what Allah has sent with Muhammad Salallahu alayhi wa sallam and in turn you will gain the love of Allah and feel it in your hearts and be fully content.

As Allah ‘az wa jal says,

“Say (Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam): ‘If you really love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you. He will forgive your sins and Allah is the Oft-Forgiving, Most-Merciful.’”

Third, every girl who starts to wear hijab late in her life always goes through this stage in which she thinks about what it will be like to “never go out with her hair done again.” I know many sisters who set a time period of when they will start to wear hijab. They tell themselves, “I’m going to start wearing hijab FOR SURE, inshaAllah, when Ramadan starts.” (Hopefully Allah allows them to live that long.)

And we want to enjoy their time while we can before we actually commit to wear the hijab and never take it off.

Subhanallah, we know what you are going through, sisters. But know that while we think that we are “enjoying your time before commitment,” we will soon regret that time we spent before committing to hijab.

When you do something purely for the sake of Allah, then you regret all the times you didn’t do it.

It’s like a Muslim who starts to pray later in life, they soon regret all the times they didn’t pray when they were supposed to.

Allah ‘az wa jal clearly gives us an order in the Quran to wear our hijabs, and who has more right to be obeyed and fully submitted to other than the one who created us, nurishes and provides for us? No one.

Allah ‘az wa jal orders the believing women surat An-Nur to:

“…not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent (like both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer palms of hands or one eye or dress like veil, gloves, headcover, apron), and to draw their veils all over Juyoobihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms)…”

We all say that we want to get closer to Allah. And it’s always about taking that next step. Everyone deep down knows what that next step is in their life, whether it’s actually doing something or even just refraining from one particular sin.

“Taking Off Hijab Syndrome” or “Didn’t Start Wearing Hijab Yet Syndrome” have cures. And that cure is found only with Allah. Seek help from Allah more than you would seek help from a doctor for a fatal disease. Because even doctors cannot cure diseases without the will of Allah.

Take the first step and Allah will help you take care of the rest inshaAllah. He will take care of all the people who have ever judged you, he will take care of your beauty and most of Allah he will take care of that void in your heart.

Wallahu alem. May Allah ‘az wa jal guide us to the path that leads to seeing His Face in Jannah, and may Allah make it easy for all our sisters. Ameen.

________________________________________________________________________________________

* Real names were not used.

The follow are just some of the observations I’ve made over the years, and I think it’ll be a great preparation for those who have yet to visit Egypt :). I think you guys who come to Masr regularly will agree:

1. “Is this Halal or Haram?”

Anyone who asks a fiqh question will start off by saying “I heard so and so…” and then follow it up with “Is this halal or is it haram?”

It could be the most indepth question, but in the end “howa dah halal wala haram?”

2. Everyone is a “scholar” on T.V.

Believe it or not most Egyptians enjoy watching religious programming on T.V. Usually the people will call in the show, ask their “Is this halal or haram” question and you will have the sheiookh answer the question. The problem? The problem lies when there are TOO many of these shows on, and a VARIETY of different views and the people at home watching listen attentively for the rulings and make up their mind by the random sheikh or sheikha on T.V.

3. If you see graffiti you have to remember Allah.

The weirdest thing about graffiti on the walls in Egypt is that most of them are deen reminders. So you’ll see things spray painted on walls that say “Ithkur Allah- remember Allah” or you’ll see “La illaha il Allah” and anything else that if you read and repeat will give you good deeds. Someone should tell them that spray painting good things on other people’s property doesn’t make it right.

(Allahu Akbar spray-painted on thing construction site thingy in Alexandria)

4. There is always urine, stool, vomit or spit on any street or sidewalk.

It’s bad enough when you actually catch a hobo do it in public and you run away from disturbance. But when you’re randomly taking your walks on the beach (cournaish) and you can’t enjoy the scenery of the ocean because you have to look to where you are walking for fear of stepping on something disgusting… it’s a problem.

(Believe it or not i ACTUALLY had a picture for this, but decided to be kind to my readers and not post it up. Haha.)

5. There is always just this “one sheikh of al-Azhar”

Anytime you try to tell someone the evidence behind why something is wrong, they will always reply, “But the sheikh of al-Azhar said so and so.” If you ask them the name of that “one sheikh” they can never tell you.

6. You will always see sunflower seeds or any other type of seeds on the ground.

It doesn’t matter where you are. You know you’re in Egypt when there is “lib” all over the streets.

7. Every man in Egypt has the same B.O. smell.

One of the first signs you’re in Egypt is when you step off the plane and smell that wonderful Egyptian B.O.

I’m guessing because everyone pretty much eats “fool and taymiyyah” every day that’s why their sweat all smells the same. InshaAllah one of my goals is to raise national awareness of deodorant here in Masr… put my PR skills to work.

8. The masajid can be normal buildings but the minaret has to be absolutely beautiful.

MashaAllah one of the most amazing things to look at is the skyline. Because towering above all the buildings are the minarets of the masajid. But when you look at the masjid itself, most of the times it’s just a normal building. Pretty cool.

9. Some of the best Quran reciters are here.

There are too many amazing voices here to count. MashaAllah, if you want to pray in jamma3ah you can be assured that at least one of the masajid on your street has an amazing qari.

10. Honk if you feel like it.

Everyone who drives in Egypt honks for no reason. If you’re stuck in traffic, people will honk and hold for 10 seconds and think that that will actually make a difference in the cars moving.

Someone once told me that honking in Egypt in like a language, you can say “sabah el-khair (good morning)” and “Go to hell” all by honking. Haha.

11. One person per square inch.

Especially in summer time, Egypt is CROWDED. Whether you are in Cairo or Alexandria get ready to see oceans of people who apparently never go to sleep. My cousin’s friend’s mom, came to visit them in Alexandria during Eid (she happened to be Palestinian). Her reaction to the crowd of people in the streets was, “Yowm Al-Hashr… Egyptians are ready.”

12. Every taxi is unique.

Taxi drivers LOVE to decorate their taxis to be differentiated from all the rest. You will see everything from skulls, girly stuffed bears, to lights and stickers all over the place. But one thing in common, is that a taxi will ALWAYS have something funny written on it (mostly things you can make fun of.)

Yesterday, I saw a bumper sticker that stated: “Of course I don’t have cash, I’m MARRIED.”

13. They’re not trying to commit suicide, they are just crossing the street.

Sometime I wonder if some of the people crossing the crazy streets here are TRYING to commit suicide. My heart drops every time a person does a James Bond move and crosses in front of our car. Sad thing is, they are really ABOUT to get hit! It’s not some thing that you have to get used to… it’s just that they are really about to die.

I will post pictures and videos soon, inshaAllah.

She said she felt like dying when things didn’t go exactly how she wanted. I’ve known the sister for a long time now. She always seemed like she knew her bounds; like she knew Allah ‘az wa jal. But soon, all of what was inside her would come out and no one was expecting it.

It is the fuel for An-Nafs al-Ammarah bis-soo’ (the self that is inclined to evil), and it is the disease of An-Nafs al-Mutma’innah (the self with complete rest & satisfaction).

It is Al-Hawaa.

Fatima* had been wanting to marry this brother for a long time but she was scared of what her father would say. When the day came to tell her father and he refused, her hidden shirk had become apparent. She was committing shirk Al-mahabah.

She cried until she fell asleep from exhaustion. She wanted nothing more than to die. Fatima had grown obsessed over the months and no one knew about it. She kept saying that she wants nothing more than to marry the brother.

But what about Jannah? What about seeing Allah’s face?

Fatima had been living on the edge. Not in terms of lifestyle, but the edge of the fold of Islam.

Al-Hawaa, or desires, is not something that is disliked in and of itself. But it is the extremes that become despised. In fact, because it is rare to find someone that seeks to strike a balance in his desires,  Allah ‘az wa jal only mentions hawaa in the Quran when He dispraises it. And there are only very few instances in the sunnah when the term is used in a positive manner.

Sisters tend to over think and over analyze situations. It’s in our nature. And truly that is where some of the dangers of shirk al-mahabah lies. The more a person thinks about a desire, the more obsessed they become with it. And the more obsessed a person is, the more they want to break free from it but find themselves unable to do so.

Ibnul Qayyim describes this person: “He is like a bird that was deceived by a grain of wheat, neither was he able to get it, nor was he able to free himself from the trap he got caught in.”

Perhaps the most profound statement in all of Imam Ibnul Qayyim’s chapter on the dispraise of Al-Hawaa was the anaology he used when describing how man can be more astray than animals when it comes to desire, as Allah ‘az wa jal says in surat Al-Furqaan:

Have you (O Muhammad SAW) seen him who has taken as his ilah (god) his own desire? Would you then be a Wakeel (a disposer of his affairs or a watcher) over him?

Or do you think that most of them hear or understand? They are only like cattle; nay, they are even farther astray from the Path. (i.e. even worst than cattle).

To which imam Ibnul Qayyim said, “An animal takes a share of enjoyment in the taste of food, drinks, and sexual relations that is not attainable by man, and that it lives a comfortable life free from thought and worry. Hence it is driven to its slaughtering place preoccupied with its lusts due to the lack of knowledge about the consequences.” (Whereas man is given reason and intellect therefore man follows his desires to his doom, and is therefore even more astray than cattle.)

Hawaa linguistically means fell down. And the one who indulges in their desires in excess of what is desired by Allah, is only preparing himself to fall on his face.

I am given the opportunity to teach sisters, the youth, at our masjid. And one common thread is the reality of sisters and their obsessions. And the dangers of shirk al-mahabah are very real and very common. And although most people don’t realize it that they have elements of it. I realized that weakness in a person’s iman can be caused by this type of shirk, because the heart wants and yearns for other than Allah, thus causing a person to be unhappy and ultimately lowering their iman.

I’m sure many of you reading this know a case of someone who has gone crazy over another person, or “can’t live without” a certain food or drink to the extent that it not only makes their soul sick, but also their body.

Let every person look to his or her heart to see if this is the case with them. And know that it can all be solved with the help of Allah ‘az wa jal– by getting closer to him and distancing yourself enough from that which you love, whether that be food, drink or love.

Just a friendly reminder. Wallahu alem.

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*real name not used.

For more on the topic of Al-Hawaa, please read “A chapter on The Dispraise of Al-Hawaa (Desire)” By Imam Ibnul Qayyim, prepared by sheik Saleh As-Saleh, rahmitullahi 3alayhom.

The following is a feature story I wrote last year. Until today, I continue to think about her story:

LSU custodian escapes bombs and lives to tell story

BATON ROUGE, La. - Oct. 18, 2007- To some, the rug in the living room is just for decoration. To others it’s there to keep their feet warm against the cold tiles. To Maryam Ghulam-Ali* it’s a constant reminder her terrifying past struggles.

She leaves for work everyday when her five kids come back from class. Some may see her inside the LSU engineering buildings cleaning after 3 p.m.

Most of those who see her would never be able to tell she lived what some would call a horror movie. Behind that big smile with dimpled cheeks, is a face of deep sadness for the past and fear for what the future holds.

Ghulam-Ali’s smile slowly faded as she began telling her story of her journey from war-torn Afghanistan to Baton Rouge, La.

She recalled when the Communist and the Taliban began fighting in the early 90s. “News started spreading that there was a group of so-called good Muslims that came to save us from the communist regime,” she said.

That is when the people of Afghanistan started to realize the same people they assumed would save them were the people they were now trying to escape from.

“There were bombs everywhere. A lot of people stealing things and the Taliban and Communist would kidnap girls and rape them,” she said.

“We always would hear how the girls would send letters home to tell their parents of their ware bouts, but the parents could never go to their daughters because of the danger involved in doing so.”

Ghulam-Ali’s husband always traveled on the road doing business. At the time when the bombing became more and more intense, she was nine months pregnant. Her husband tried to come back toward the end of her pregnancy term, but couldn’t because the roads were all blocked due to the fighting.

“One night around 7 p.m., I started to get intense stomach pains. I was so scared because I had no one with me. I only had my four young kids in a dark house,” she said.

She told her daughter, Malika Ghulam-Ali, who was only 5 years old at the time to run to the neighbor’s house and get help. Her neighbor came quickly knowing it could have something to do with her pregnancy.

“She was shocked and scared. She told me ‘Why now with all the bombs outside and the roads blocked without doctors?’ I was in so much pain at that time,” said Ghulam-Ali.

Luckily, her neighbor knew of a nurse that lived only two blocks away and hurried to go get her.

“She came with her supplies and a small lantern because of how dark it was. They put plastic under me and a blanket. The nurse gave me a shot, told me to walk for five minutes, and then I lied down and she pushed my stomach and the baby came out.”

Two days later, things got so bad for them in the city of Kabul, that a distant relative of her husband called and told them of their plan to escape to another state in Afghanistan.

Many of her family members had already escaped to Russia, India, Pakistan, and Iran.

“My husband was a business man. He used to drive trucks. So he was always away and we needed to try to escape,” she said.

The plan involved Ghulam-Ali and her four children at the time to walk to a bus station five miles away at the break of dawn to avoid anyone seeing them. It was there that they would meet with her husband’s distant relatives and escape to the state of Baghlam, Afghanistan.

“It was like walking from Wal-Mart on Siegen to the library on Blubonnet.”

Her children at that time were very young Malika ,5, her sister Tahmina ,4, their brother Mustafa ,2, and 3 days old Zahrafshan Ghulam-Ali accompanied their mom on the journey.

“I held Zahrafshan, while my three other kids walked. They were in pain from walking so much and it was extremely difficult but we had to leave. They walked slowly and cried a lot,” she said.

Two hours later they arrived at the bus station, bought their tickets and were on their way.

“We couldn’t take the main roads because they were blocked and too dangerous. So we escaped to Baghlam through the mountains. We went around the mountains until we got there,” She said.

Her family stayed in Baghlam for three years until they re-located to Pakistan because the fighting began to emerge there as well.

The month before they left for Pakistan, Maryam Ghulam-Ali, had her fifth child, Mugtabah.

“During that time, you had the Taliban telling everyone that for three days, no one should go outside or they will be killed. We couldn’t go get water, food or anything else.”

During those three days, it was the last time she heard from her husband. He was away on business and after that no one knew anything about him.

“We don’t know if he got killed or if he was kid-napped or what. We still don’t know if he is alive or not today,” she said.

With five children she had no time to deeply grieve. She just wanted to keep them safe. They escaped to Pakistan.

In Pakistan life was a little better. A local Mosque run by Iraqis took them in and found them an apartment to live in and found the kids jobs. For the next couple of months Malika, Tahmina, and Mustafa would make rugs for a living.

The kids would get trained and later became very skilled at making the rugs. “It was extremely hard work. I was only seven at that time. Malika was 11 years old and Tahmina was 10 years old,” said Mustafa.

“Because I was so young, our boss didn’t pay me. He only paid my sisters. That made me very angry and I went to complain but he hit me on my hands,” said Mustafa.

He went home and told his mother what happened and told her he wanted to quit. “I was so shocked that I went and took my other two kids home and they all quit their job,” Ghulam-Ali said. “We decided to make our own rug business and sell them, and that worked out.”

She pointed to the rugs they made on her living room floor. One was made of soft wool with a lot of calm cream and green colors, while the other was equally exquisite in its beauty.

“I cried a lot during that time because my kids had to work and couldn’t go to school. They also had to take off their shoes and use it as a pillow to sleep on,” she said.

“I don’t cry often, but when I remember some of the things we went through, I have to start crying,” added Mustafa.

It was in Pakistan, she was informed of the UN office. She went there seeking help. She had to take a series of interviews, including health exams for her and her children. At the end of the process they gave her tickets and passports to America.

“I cried so much that day. My kids didn’t know where we were going. And none of us knew English. But I was happy,” she said.

In August 2001 Ghulam-Ali and her five children arrived in Baton Rouge, La. Immigration officers moved her to a small apt. on Brightside Drive with only three spoons, one pillow, and a couch that wreaked so badly it make her children sick. The local mosque on West Chimes Street then stepped in and provided them with everything they needed.

Today, Ghulam-Ali’s five children are in school; the oldest two in college on scholarships, one in high school, and two in middle school. Three of her children have jobs on the side.

The family has an apartment fully furnished with beds for everyone to sleep on and they always come home to food on the table.

Ghulam-Ali will take her citizenship test for the second time this winter after failing the first time due to not knowing what it meant to have the right to bare arms. “I was confused I thought they were talking about bears -like the animal- and their arms,” she said laughingly.

*Not her real last name, so for the purpose of the article I gave her husband’s last name. This article is one year old.

My opinion columns turned into a speech. That speech turned into a script. And that script has been turned into a dawah, public service announcement video. (To see the video, keep reading…)

Last year, I wrote and delivered a five minute speech to my public relations class. I decided to take the easy way out of the assignment and decided to take the opportunity for dawah and picked the subject of prejudice to talk about. I chose excerpts from my past opinion columns in The Daily Reveille and made them into my speech.

After delivering the speech one girl came up to me and said, “It really does make me see how ignorant we really are. Especially seeing how it’s only the actions of few that get attributed to your religion.” Others told me it was a successful PR speech because it made them look at their own beliefs about Islam and compare them to my words. I didn’t expect that feedback. Alhamdulillah it was successful, all by the will of Allah. And only Allah has allowed me such opportunities, walhamdulillah.

Meanwhile, I was working on a media kit for Leechon and particularly the upcoming documentary, “Tufaan.” During that time, we came up with the idea of shooting public service announcement videos to put at the beginning of every documentary that Leechon would produce — especially Tufaan, since its primary target audience is non-Muslims. Hence, the idea to use my speech as a script for the PSA emerged.

So we decided to do it much like the format of the “Bear Witness” video that Br. Belal Khan had produced a while back, where every person would read two lines from the script. Here’s the Bear Witness video, which in my opinion is an really nice dawah video:

*video removed because sisters shown in video

Anyway, Br. Ahmed Eid, a brother from NJ who has been working with me and the PR team for quite a while took up the challenge of shooting and editing the video for Leechon. MashaAllah, it turned out great. Although I don’t personally know anyone in the video, I wanted to give a big jazakum Allahu Khairan katheeran for the work and effort you guys put into it. May Allah make it heavy on your scales, ameeeeen. And inshaAllah I look forward to working with you all in the future, bi’ithnillahi ta’ala.

So without further adeiu, our PSA: FREEDOM FROM FEAR

(video removed)

Lastly, in the future I would like to write dawah videos that are not on the defense. Sure there are people who hate Islam, sure there is still a lot of anti-Islamic sentiment around, but I would like to move away from being on the defense to speaking to people in general about Islam. A PSA about “Islam” why they see us prostrating on the floor when we pray, etc.

Good things to come inshaAllah. Give us your feedback and if you like it spread it around inshaAllah.

These past two weeks were stressful for ol’ egyptiangumbo.com, and I’ll tell you why:

I found this really cute video a couple of weeks ago of Kermit the frog and a little cute, adorable girl. I put it up and submitted it to Stumble Upon. I purposely put it under the “Islam” category because my blog is mainly about Islamic topics and they are my target audience.

Some stumblers thought I was “stupid” for doing so, so they changed the tag to the “humor” section. The result?

Hundreds of thousands of new visitors to my blog.

My RSS feed subscriber went from 7,000 to 20,000 then broke from overload. (I’m assuming i have close to 50,000 subscribers now)

And a load of comments came - some good and some bad.

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I’ll be perfectly honest, it caused me a little anxiety. Why? Because I have over thousands of non-Muslims subscribed to my Islamicly themed blog. Why would this cause me stress? Because of everything that I wanted to get away from due to my experience writing columns about Islam in The Daily Reveille, LSU’s student newspaper. Sure there were good comments and bad comments, but the worst part was I had no power at all to respond to those bad comments or defend Islam because of The Reveille’s policy. I worked for them for about a year and a half and I felt that It was a lot of emotional stress and that It wasn’t something I wanted to do again for a while.

Qaddar Allah wa ma sha’a fa3l. As I thought more and more about it, I realized that Allah (God) had given me another opportunity whether I wanted it or not at the moment. To display the true image of Islam, to dispel myths, and to educate others on the true teachings of Islam. I would be truly at loss if I would give up this opportunity that Allah has given me, and if I was ungrateful for it. Perhaps I did something right the first time for Allah to give me the opportunity again.

So what does this mean for egyptiangumbo.com and what does this mean for the new 40,000+ subscribers to my blog; what should they expect?

They should expect me continue my focus on Islamic Media, but to also write more posts about the true nature of Islam.

So for all the new non-Muslims to my blog, this one post is for you:

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It’s amazing how God can lead you to paths you’d never expect; when you least expect it and from avenues you never imagined. Who would have thought that a video of a green character with a hand inside of him would get you to a post about Islam?

Sometimes those random things make all the difference.

Often, you might have this feeling your heart like something is void and missing from your life and you just can’t seem to figure out what it is. Money, food, shelter, love… we could have it all but for some some reason we always seem to want more trying to fulfill something inside of us.

Allah (God) is the sustainer, and it is in the remembrance of him in our lives that not only sustains, but also nourishes and fills our hearts of any voids.

Islam is a very simple and beautiful religion. Everything revolves around one central concept — the belief that there is object worthy of worship, to be fully submitted to, and fully obeyed save Allah.

It’s that simple. We worship the one who created us, sustains us and the one who will resurrect us. We don’t worship the creation. Meaning we do not worship the noble prophets such as Jesus or Muhammad (peace be upon them) nor do we worship celestial objects such as the sun or moon.

We believe Jesus was born of a virgin birth to Mary (peace be upon her), but unlike Christianity we neither believe that he is a the son of God nor that he died on the cross.

Muslims believe that God is so high above having partners or children. Jesus, like all other prophets of God, came with the exact same message as all the other prophets — to worship Allah alone and to do good deeds and abstain from the bad so you can attain paradise.

To be a Muslim simply means to submit oneself to God. If someone believes in these six items of faith, they would be a Muslim:

1. To believe that there is no object worthy of worship save Allah, and the Muhammad is His messenger.

2. Belief in the angels.

3. Belief in all the prophets of Allah, starting from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Joseph, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses , David, Jesus, Muhammad and all other prophets in between.

4. Belief in all the books that came before. Meaning, we as Muslims have to believe in the Gospels and the Torah (among the other divinely revealed books) that they were sent by Allah to His messengers. However, we must also believe and only follow the Quran. The Quran is the last book revealed by Allah to the last messenger, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him.) The reason we follow the Quran only, and not the other books, is because the Quran remains the true word of God. It has not been altered by man since the time it was revealed.

5. Belief in the last day; belief in the day of judgment. That a person will be held accountable for everything they did in this life before Allah, and will either be destined to paradise or destined to hellfire.

6. And belief in preordainment.

If a person believes in these six simple concepts, they are Muslim.

And once a person is a Muslim there are five pillars of Islam that must be followed:

1. To testify that there is no object worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and final messenger.
2. Pray five times a day- at their appointed times
3. Fast the holy month of Ramadan
4. Give Alms (compulsory Charity)– 2.5% of yearly savings (if above a certain quota)
5. Make pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) at least once in your life IF you have the means (i.e. money, transportation, accommodation, etc.)

And it’s as simple as that. Islam does not get more complicated than these beliefs and actions. It’s all about doing the things required of us and abstaining from sins to the best of our ability.

I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have. I hope you will enjoy the content of my blog, and if anyone wants to ask privately about anything, feel free to email me at the email address in the “contact” section of my blog.

Bismillah,

His eyes had mischief in them. He looked like he was on the beach all day long. I was with my cousin and her friend getting gelato ice cream from this famous place in Alexandria that sits right across the street from the ocean. It’s the type of shop where you just park and have waiters come to your car and you sit in your car and eat. With sand covering his feet he walked toward my rolled down window.

I was getting ready to pay so I had my wallet in my lap. I see he has some beach items in his hands. He came up to me and asked if I wanted to buy them from him. We all declined. He was selling toys for kids. He insisted, but he kept looking into my eyes. My cousin Asmaa replies, “As you can see, we don’t have kids. What would we do with them?”

View of Mediterranean Sea with an umbrella blowing in the wind from Le Prince, a restaurant I went to today in Alexandria.

I looked down at my lap and realized why this 7-year-old boy was mischievously smiling at me. I had my wallet in my lap with some American dollars showing. I couldn’t help but laugh. The kid was mashaAllah adorable. His face, the way he tried to persuade us was just too cute to let go. So I told him to wait while I gave him some money. I pulled out two Egyptian pounds. He takes them, puts them in his pocket, pauses and then says, “No I want one of THOSE.”

“What? You want WHAT exactly? A Dollar?” I asked. “Yes.” He replied. So I agree, give him a dollar and tell him it’s worth about 5 Egyptian pounds. Next thing I know he yelled, “MUHAMMAD!” And goes running to tell his little friends to tell them what had just happened. Right then is when I realized we were about to get mobbed by a bunch of kids — so we jetted off.

MashaAllah, I don’t think I’ll ever forget his smile. Poverty here really gets to you. It was funny because my cousin was telling me how one of her professors at AUC (American University of Cairo) when he has to turn in something if for any reason and it’s past deadline he always jokes and says he could always use the “Third-World Excuse.” You know the excuse where you say since you live in a third-world country, everything always “comes late” and communication is “not that great.”

Then it hit me, “We’re in a third-world country…” The images here are enough to make you cry. An ayah from Surat Ya-Sin came to me:

“And when it is said to them: ‘Spend of that with which Allah has provided you,’ those who disbelieve say to those who believe: ‘Shall we feed those whom, if Allah willed, He (Himself) would have fed? You are only in a plain error.’”

Allah ‘az wa jal could have indeed made everyone rich in this world. But there is hikmah (wisdom) that only Allah knows why such things are done. But one thing is for sure, I wouldn’t have felt so humbled and grateful to Allah if I never saw these images or interacted with the people.

My cousin was also telling me how one time she went to this bakery and wanted a piece of cheesecake she saw on display. She ordered it and the woman behind the counter told her it was sold out. My cousin asked her about the one that was in the display, and the woman told her that wasn’t for sale, that it’s “just for display.” My cousin ordered something else but was very bothered and asked the woman what she would do with it to which she simply shrugged and told her “throw it away.”

Wallahul musta’an.