What Ive been up to

Assalamalikum girls,

sorry I havent been around much lately... never seem to find the time to write a proper blog, insha'allah I will try more in the future. So its Friday, alhamdulillah... i have 2 1/2hrs left on work then its the weekend yay!!! and let me tell you what Ive been up to. Not much really when I think about it, on tuesday I met up with a friend here where I live.. its a funny story actually, when I came for my interview here there were 2 women in the foyer, they asked why I was here.. and after me telling them, for an interview, they handed me a leaflet about their company (a job agency) I flicked through the leaflet and at the back there was the introductions page with all the people who work for the company.. I spotted a girl in hijab, alhamdulillah I thought, so there are muslims around here. Then I started working here and my friend where I used to live put me in touch with a friend she had from uni who lives in this city. So we chat, and decide to meet.. to cut a long story short, her uncle was the president of that mosque that 'kicked me out' and she was actually the girl on the flyer.. small world alhamdulillah.

Then Wednesday i went back to that big shopping centre to look at one of the shops that always have a sale in smaller clothes, so I can stock up on jumpers, cheap tshirts and stuff alhamdulillah. I also popped into the Istitch shop, I think thats what its called, its just an adjustment place for clothes, and finally put in a dress I bought from shukr last year.. its massive on me and ive had so much stress with the company.. I think some of you will remember my blogs about it. Anyways, I finally put it in, and I picked it up the next day alhamdulillah its soo much better.. insha'allah if i wash it, it should shrink a little in the length too.

Since me & Laylah got together last week, Ive been looking out for an mp3 player.. I was checking out ebay for ages, and finally found one alhamdulillah. This isnt mine.. but its the same model, 30 GB I bought mine for $99 US, so including posting it came to around $119 so about 65pounds I think it was. Which im really impressed with, im just waiting for it now.. so insha'allah once I get it, Ill let ya know the condition and if i love it Laylah has already gotten ready to give me the quran and an audio of 'purification of the heart' may Allah (swt) reward her for her efforts. And i have tons of lectures on cd that I will put in, and insha'allah i can put some nasheeds in too.. and download some bits.. Im sooo excited

Anyways, yesterday I went to chat with one of the girls i work with, I sat down and we chatted. Then she asked me how long my hair was, and that started everything off.. she was asking me how I came to Islam and bits and bobs, she told me she likes to hear it from me cause I sound so at peace because... Im smiling when I talk about it, I never realised this.. but yes I do, alhamdulillah. She told me her & her husband always have discussions about christianity and that he was interested to read the quran, I told her.. I have a few at home so if you want I can bring one in.. she was shocked, 'a few?' she asked... lol, its funny.. I have 1 bible and about 5 different qurans, each different sizes, layouts and contents for what I need. I have a big arabic, english, transliteration one, a small english/arabic pocket size (for travelling) a few english ones from different translators and a easily readable english/arabic one (my first one, whom onemuslimah thinks looks like a bible... maybe thats why i liked it as a non-muslim) So I bought an english one in for her today, as well as 'the brief guide to understanding islam' book and a little book called 'jesus in Islam' insha'allah her family will enjoy them... I just dont know whether to give them to her today... dont want to seem too pushy.

I was supposed to go for my laser hair removal on my legs tomorrow, but my mum decided she wanted me to be at hers as early as possible tomorrow... so i had to cancel, then I thought... no... and wanted to redo it, but she had already filled in my slot with someone else.. so unless I get a cancellation this week, Im getting it done next saturday insha'allah... so Ill let you all know how it goes, insha'allah. Remember me in your duaa

Last thing to say.. sorry this has been a long one... Im meeting up with Laylah in Toronto on sunday insha'allah... although we are yet to decide what we are doing well thats me all over really. Insha'allah we will have fun whatever we do... ok, im off back to work now. Take care girls, keep in touch

Fi amenallah, Ammena

Thursday

Assalamalikum girls... ok so thursday, I know Im a little late but i havent really had time to sit here and post about it. So I woke up on thursday awaiting a txt from Laylah to say we were still going to get together, alas there was no text this was at 8am, so I put my alarm on for 9 and decided to sleep a little longer. Then about 5mins later my phone vibrates, its from laylah apologising for sleeping in and telling me shes on her way. So we txt back and forth with name of train station and questions about times and stuff, I will cut this shorter. Eventually Im on my way to pick her up from the train station and she calls to tell me shes about 15mins away from the station still on the motorway... so I tell her thats cool, Im stuck in a little traffic.. so I get to the train station at around 1010am i think it was and I drive to the doors (the trains are out at the mo, but it wasnt good weather) but she wasnt there.. so I park the car opposite the bus area and start to send her a text, then a taxi pulls into the carpark with someone sat in the back, I knew it was her.. so I followed the taxi to the main waiting area and pulled up. I think she knew it was me too alhamdulillah, so she got in and away we went. She told me the taxi had broke down just as she put the phone down.. but alhamdulillah we were there are going to have a few good hours insha'allah.

The first place I took her to was the islamic bookstore which I think she was wanting to go to the most. When we got there, there was a bike outside and only when trying to open the door did I realise it was closed, oh course!!! We were about 15mins early, then a guy came over.. oldish guy and started chatting to us, asking us about the black stone in Mecca. He told us for many years he has had this pull from Islam alhamdulillah and while passing the row of shops the rain poured down so he took shelter then only realised it was an islamic store when he was looking around. So he wanted to check the store out, but we were still waiting for them to open it, we probably waited till about 1040am when he commented, im giving him 4 more minutes then i have to go. I whispered to Laylah that if he left without getting into the shop I was going to have words with the guy Alhamdulillah it never got to that, because i kept asking him questions and he probably stayed for another 10mins, which was long enough cause then the guy turned up. So he wandered around and left with promise to come back for a few books, insha'allah, insha'allah.

So in the shop Laylah bought loads.. still cant get over it sis!!! i bought a new hijab, and a few books on quran and tawheed which are quite good alhamdulillah. Then a guy came in and was chatting to the dude who opened the shop for ages... he even pulled up a chair, I think they were doing business... then we eventually decided to pay, after around 1hr in the shop.. i love shopping with Laylah so we got talking to the guy... youll never guess who it was.. it was the main musician from the Fletcher valve drummers who have helped to produce Dawud Wharnsby Ali's latest cd masha'allah, he was a really cool down to earth guy. He was telling us that they just came back from touring the UK, yes he picked up on the accent as they all seem to. So we chatted about the UK, and i noticed he was holding the cd but in a different casing, I told him i liked that one better.. the flatter case, with the cardboard cover rather than the plastic cd case... so I asked him if they sold that here, apparently it was the UK version.. well that was it, I had to have it then yeh i know... Anyways, I got it alhamdulillah, this song was the main reason I wanted it, I heard it quite a few months ago and loved the sound.. this clip doesnt really do the whole song much justice but I still like it.



After we finished with the shop we went for something to eat, so I took Laylah to a halal chinese near where I used to live called Bombay chopsticks.. they had an afternoon special on so we filled up.. yummy, and i took the rest home for food while i was at work (i actually used it the next day cause i forgot we had pizza ordered for us that evening) After that which was about 120pm I took Laylah back to the train station.. i wanted to do so much more with her, but Allahu alim..... insha'allah next time we can do it earlier and spend some time at 2nd cup before the shop opens, and im taking your cards next time Ok.. well this is another song that really touched my heart on the album, usually I cant stand hearing songs about hijab because well as Im sure youve all realised you dont hear many girls singing, and really what does a man know about hijab... but masha'allah this song is really good, and he definately hits a few strings with me. Lemme know what you think girls.



And thats me for this evening... alhamdulillah I had such a good time, and now im going to go read somemore. Looking forward to the comments, take care girls and keep in touch.

Fi amenallah, Ammena

Hair

Assalamalikum girls,

so my day so far.. well I woke up earlier today, although not as early as planned finally got up around 920am... had a shower then sorted myself out for an appointment. Yes I finally did it girls, I went to see about laser hair removal. Its a little expensive, but Im thinking to draw it out from my UK account so then Im only really taking out half heehee. There is an offer on at the moment for buying 2 and get 2 free, so Im going to get my underarms and legs done insha'allah. The lady reckons I wont need as many on my legs because the hair is so fine, she did a patch test and I will say it hurt a little. Its like waxing, but for longer because they are in one spot for longer than with the waxing. You could smell the burning hair and of course there was a little blood, you could even hear the clicking of when it found a hair to burn. Was quite interesting to experience, Im worried what Im going to do for all the time though, I think Ill def get them done different days, not each leg... the underarms and the legs, cause I think the underarm will hurt more, and they even do your leg down to ur toes, which I thought was amusing. So Im going to see how the patch test looks tomorrow afternoon and book it in. Can u imagine... no more worries about hair in the 2 main areas.. now I have to worry about bikini line, so obviously cant have anyone doing that which sucks, cause I used to get that waxed. It is expensive like I said, but I feel that in the long run it will be well worth it, especially the emotional issue of not having to prepare myself blah blah insha'allah.

Heres a little bit of islamic research about the whole thing found here:

"Part of the body that is considered Awra must not be exposed even in front of Muslim women. A female’s Awra in front of other Muslim women is the same to a man’s Awra from other men, which is from the navel up to and including the knees. (Hidaya, 4/461 & Radd al-Muhtar, 6/371). Therefore, if will be impermissible for other than yourself or your husband to perform the procedure of hair removal in between the navel and knees. It is not permissible to expose one’s Awra except in cases on extreme necessity, such as medication where there is no other alternative."

"Now, this removing of hair may be carried out by using the various means available, such as a razor, cream, powder, wax or any other means, as the main objective is to remove the hair, and not the means used. In al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, the using of lime has been mentioned, thus it indicates the permissibility of using creams. There also seems no hindrance from permanently removing the hair, as the aim is to remove unwanted hair, whether temporarily or permanently"

Tomorrow

Assalamalikum everyone,

so tomorrow is friday, and we all know what that means, JUMMAH.. insha'allah. Im soo excited now that I know where everyone will be and that I wont be on my own for the time I spend there. Ive decided Ill leave my house 1230pm, pray the 2 rakahs for entering the masjid, then sit around.. I might take a new duaa to read or an islamic book with me. Ill pray sunnah 4 rakahs after the adhan and then Ill pray in congregation with my sisters asking for forgiveness from my creator insha'allah. I cant wait. Sis OM.. get ur bum up here, I wanna take u!!!

So yesterday I got told by my shift supervisor, during an interesting conversation about headlice, that I was lucky and didnt have to worry cause I wear the burkah.. I was confused cause i walked into the conversation and after he repeated and explained i didnt have the heart to explain to him. Allahu alim. Just shocked I guess... and pleasantly surprised.

Well i have nearly 2 hrs of work left, and i havent really done much apart from learn things, which is nice... alhamdulillah. So im off now... chat soon. Fi amenallah

My day

Assalamalikum girls, so today it started snowing again.. but it was only little bits, then stopped long enough for me to get the push to go drive to the masjid for jummah. Alhamdulillah once i got there the stuff fell from the sky for ages and I was dreading driving home, but alhamdulillah (again) the stuff hadnt stuck. So for jummah i got there at 1250 ready for the khutba in english as was told by a friend, I waited and he started telling all about all the trials and tests the prophets had been through, the 952 (i think) years Noah (alayhi salam) did dawah for masha'allah. That took me to 130pm, still no sign of anyone other than some young girls from the school, and I noticed alot of people were walking past the area I was sitting in and going up some stairs.. hmm, where do these stairs lead I wondered. So in the end i stopped a young girl and asked her, she told me she thinks thats where the ladies go, so I walked up the stairs passing by many pairs of shoes and eventually came to 2 doors. One of the younger girls went through a door that leaded to a little room, which I came to the conclusion is an area for say... women with children or who arent praying, this room then lead to a massive area, ok I reckon you could prob fit about 150 women there masha'allah, for women to pray that over looks the guys area downstairs. I always thought downstairs was too small, fits about 30 at most. So im all happy and excited, I pray sunnah, because I already prayed my 2 rakah for entering the masjid downstairs. Then i sit back and wait for salah. Masha'allah it was soo nice and im so happy i went, I will insha'allah def make this part of my friday timetable and find out if they have the congregational prayer on the other days too, which they should do shouldnt they??

Anyways, I didnt waste my time while i was sat downstairs on my own, Im currently learning the qunut duaa for witr salah.. Ive learnt the english alhamdulillah.. Im supposed to be learning it with my algeria forum girls and the date was feb 28th, yes its passed and i apologised to Allah for not doing this,, but my intention is still there insha'allah. So, while i was sat around wondering where all these women were disappearing off to i learnt the first 4 lines alhamdulillah... and theres only 5... masha'allah, so insha'allah tonight or this weekend i will finish it all.

Well, I should really be leaving for work about now... but got to get food ready. Insha'allah Ill catch you all soon. Oh and check out my website girls.. got a vote going on, sign the guestbook & got a new timer that lets me know where my visitors are signing in from Fi amenallah