Good day all round

alhamdulillah
So today I was woke up just after 7 with a text from a friend who delivered her first baby at 5am this morning masha'allah. I pray that they are home soon, cause I wanna meet little Zakariya! Anyways, I obviously went back to sleep after that and woke up around 930 and got ready for my trip into Manchester. I walked the 15 minutes to the bus stop, took the 35 minute bus to the train station, then took the 45 minute train to Manchester. Yeh, it took awhile and it was stressful but oh well. Alhamdulillah I got to Manchester and walked down to the Muslim Youth Foundation mosque for jummah.. its the first congregational jummah Ive been to for awhile, and I have to say it was worth the wait. Yes the sisters were squashed into a smaller than usual space, yes there was a baby crying, but I saw about 3 converts there.. not just pale arabs, they were def converts masha'allah. The speeches (yes 2!) were brilliant about the important of salah and the battle of Uhud in relation to what is going on in Gaza (thats probably the first time that I could actually tell you what I heard in the khutbah *blush*) I even found that there is a sisters entrance masha'allah.. I wouldnt usually like this, but if you have ever been there you will know how uncomfortable it is to walk through the narrow halls with guys either side!

So I prayed Dhuhr and then walked to the agency where I was having the interview, in true me fashion the road I thought it was, wasnt the road.. so I turned up 5 minutes late, then she made me wait another 25 minutes while she did God only knows what. Then it took her another 10 minutes to make a cup of tea, a cup of tea people!!! So she asked me the usual bits about my educational background, the usual random tell me when you showed this quality. I was there for about an hour and after she gave me some useful feedback masha'allah, she mentioned she was putting me in for 2 positions and she was going to phone around some other contacts insha'allah something will come about from this.. so yeh, Im branching out.. no more 'only London' cause that plan looks like its out the window now.

After this I went to pray asr (late) and stayed until maghrib, I forgot how much I missed being surrounded by my brothers and sisters. I get too excited too early though, but I pray that something happens soon though, Im getting sick of it here.. Im very bored!! Im going to stay with my dad for a few days from Sunday, some of you know me well so you know how hard this was for me to ask, but I have to get away from this house!! Im going to head back here on the thursday for my job seekers interview then Im off to London on friday which Im really looking forward to insha'allah, I suppose I have to put up with the sister, but needs must :)

Thats enough from me, just turned tv onto a program called 'around the world in 80 faiths' today hes going to the middle east.. so far so good :)
Peace and salams, Ammena

Would you pray for Palestine??

So my girl Nora has written a post about getting those of you in and around London, UK for a 24 hour prayer virgil for Palestine. Would you be interested? All you need is a prayer mat & a bottle of water for wudu :) If you cant pray there are jobs that would need your helping hand too insha'allah. So please... comment on the blog and let her know your opinion on the event insha'allah

The days leading to the big bang

So, now I have time to sit down and tell you all about the last few days of my life.. alhamdulillah its been so much fun and highly rememberable. It all started on Monday, I moved to night shift of sunday night so finished work at 7am monday morning. I actually finished an hour early and went straight to sleep to be woken at just after 11 by a friend who was shocked to find me still asleep. Anyways, she was phoning to tell me she could make it to visit me in the evening with another friend, alhamdulillah so we set about organising and left it at that. I eventually got hold of my other friend who was the driver and everything was set... so I set about tidying my place. It bugs me sometimes that I really need a kick up the bum and the prospect of visitors to tidy my place :( but oh well.. so I tidied, went out for snacks and arrived back to finish cleaning the bathroom. I was washing the dishes when I got a phone call from them telling me they were slightly lost, but still only about 10mins away from mine which was a shock cause it was around 630 when I had been expecting to meet them at the masjid for iftar. So they got here, we broke our fast at the mosque, prayed maghrib then went to East side Marios for food :D Then we went back to the mosque for isha and taraweeh masha'allah. I bumped into a friend who I have been spending lots of time at the mosque with and my friend (the one who woke me up) also bumped into a unknown mutual friend masha'allah.. small world us muslims live in ;) After taraweeh we headed back to my place for treats and henna :D these pictures are from the day after :) my feet and Nadias hand masha'allah. we woke up for suhoor, was nice to share it with someone else, I havent had that at all this year so was good to finish the month off with such memories alhamdulillah. Then we went back to sleep and woke up around 1pm lol... we prayed dhuhr and then the girls left to drive back home. I had things to sort out here and drove over later on, getting to there about 430ish I think it was. While they had been at mine I went through Eid outfits with them and decided on a pink dress I had recently worn, had only worn it once before and not for work but I needed a hijab that went properly cause they one I had worn last didnt totally go (stripes and pattern!) so I needed a plain cherry coloured hijab and I knew exactly the right place in Square One to find it. Nadia told me she would meet me there when I dropped by to pray asr at her place, so I set off in search of a scarf. I also needed a new long white sleeved shirt, so decided to pop into H&M for it :) shouldnt have done that lol :D I looked in the sales racks and found a gorgeous dress for just over $20... yes not in my usual price range but it was nice masha'allah :D anyways, i found a black top to go underneath and tried it on... loved it!! now the issue was the hijab, either I could go with the purples in the dress or a black chiffon one (which i hadnt brought with me) so i phoned nadia to ask her... she eventually came to the shops and I showed her the outfit and told her the options on the hijab, she (and her sister) agreed it should be purple so I picked up a normal scarf from H&M and here is the finishing combination (as well as black flip flops from Old Navy) I totally wasnt intending on buying a new outfit but Im glad I did, made the day seem all the more special and as it will be my final Eid in Canada for awhile I wanted to remember it.
So I stayed at Nadias for the evening and in the morning she went to ISNA for the Eid salah and I went to the Rogers centre, via second cup :) I had a great few hours there alhamdulillah, there were soo many people although not that many that I knew which made a change. I saw a few people but hung around with my friend there, the sister who I went to Vancouver with masha'allah. We had fun, I made it to the first Eid salah which I thought I was going to miss because of over turned lorries on the Gardiner, numerous tourist buses on Spadina and full car parks outside the centre but alhamdulillah I made it. I left about 2pm and picked up Nadia for some lunch fun at bombay chopsticks, we used to always eat here (its halal, even though we are both vegetarian!) and we havent been for years, although she told me she was there the other day lol. We were rushed (got there at 250 and they kept the place open until 340 for us (supposed to close at 3pm) alhamdulillah. However, it was good.. and we met a few other girls there too which was nice masha'allah, a great ending to the day. I dropped Nadia off at home with an 'insha'allah' to see her over the weekend at a few parties and I drove home... peacefully happy and definately relaxed alhamdulillah.
When I got home, it was a different story, I got back to a message on my answering machine from my landlord telling me I have to give 2 months notice in to my apartment :( so I will have to pay 1 more months rent and I will have the place officially until the end of November even though I have no intention of actually being in the country. I also received a letter about my speeding ticket court date, now let me explain how it works here cause everyone Ive talked to in UK about this gets confused. So I was caught speeding, end of.. there is no, 'I wasnt speeding' here.. u are caught!! however, there are companies who deal with purely speeding tickets on the promise of reduced points and fine for a fee. Points over here = higher insurance, and after 2 write offs my insurance is high enough. I was intending on leaving the country when I got the ticket anyways, but contesting it meant it wouldnt show up on the insurance renewal until the next year when the whole thing was finished. Anyways, I got a letter from them telling me that they have reviewed my file and I have to be there..... now originally she said it would be in my best interest! So this got the light bulbs flashing. I had intended on telling them I had to fly home for a family emergency but everyway I look at it there are problems. The court date is November 12th.. yes people, Im supposed to fly November 4th!!! I spoke with bro A and he thinks its best if I stay and get it finalised and sorted... he also said it isnt a good idea to look at flights for the same day, which means looking at 2 weeks after originally planned :( So Im looking at the flights and seeing a few problems but all will be ok insha'allah.. I prayed istikharah and now Im trying to get in touch with the lawyer to ask her how long will i need to be here after the date to have everything sorted. The flight prices are extremely cheaper for these dates and if they wont give me a refund Im thinking to go first class seeing as I have already paid out the money for it, oh wait.. i havent... doh!! I paid just over $600 before they went up to $850, the first class ticket is just under $800 with 20kg extra for hand luggage and 15kgs extra for carry on.. hmm, just looking at prices for extra luggage, they say $20 per kilo so for the extra 20kg i would normally pay $400, this way Im paying less than $200 but would I use it all? Im taking 2 suitcases so I think it would be worth it in the end.. plus Im taking my snow board and boots back too.. yeh I think i will insha'allah if i get this ticket... Just didnt really want to stay any later, but I guess with the apartment, I will have somewhere to stay and I can stay working a little later too... just have to talk to the lawyer I guess... so plans on hold for time being insha'allah.
Well, thats my eventful Eid masha'allah :D insha'allah you all had a great time and remembered those around the world having not so much a great time during this season. Allahu alim
Peace and salams, Ammena

Ramadhan 27

So I stayed at the masjid last night... working nights tonight, just got out shower.. wanted to share this video with you from fajr salah this morning and will update blog later insha'allah

Ramadhan 20

yesterday was a big day alhamdulillah, well yesterday after iftar was a big day :D although not technically a day, big enough to be called one. I started earlier than maghrib though when I was trying to find out from a friend where the iftar was that I had been invited too. Alhamdulillah I found out and it was at my mosque :) so I set off a little early as asked and wondered how it would be. I prayed a little before going in and eventually found Mohammed the man I work with after being told, 'the ladies are in there' I smiled shyly and thanked the tall young gentleman who had sternly told me this. As I walked into the room off the main corridor i noticed the number of tables and was shocked at how many there were, I hadnt expected this to be only me & his family, but i hadnt expected around 20 tables full. Then I made a little prayer and asked that they be rewarded for putting this on, insha'allah. I immediately spotted Mohammed as he walked over to me, and pulled (although not literally) me to meet his daughter, who would introduce me to her mother and s-i-l, and his 2 sons soon after. Masha'allah, they are such a cute family all together working to help the community.
As I stood around not knowing quite what to do I suddenly felt back in Bradford, the whole room was full of pakistanis (not that there is anything wrong with that masha'allah) and I suddenly felt like the odd one out :P I was aware of ppl watching me and aware that I couldnt understand the majority of the conversations around me. I was extremely grateful for the adhan for maghrib as I was handed a plate with a samosa & 2 pitted dates on, also a cup of what i thought was milk but to my surprise it had a sweet aroma almost like mango.. im sure someone will tell me what i drank :) it was nice.. I was also grateful to be able to pray too with all the ladies. I also bumped into a lady I have seen frequently at taraweeh and some ladies I met when I went to the 1 and only quran arabic class at the other masjid.
I walked back down to the eating area to looks of confusion, I actually expected someone to tell me this was invitation only, but noone did alhamdulillah. I pulled funny faces with a few kids there and then it was time to line up for food. Plate full of spicy chick peas & salad for me :( thats why i dont like big functions like this.. there is never anything for the vegetarians to eat.. the rice was cooked with lamb and the potatoes with some sort of meat too :( Allahu alim. I ended up sitting on a table with another odd person :) a nice black lady by the name of mariam masha'allah. The other lady (from taraweeh) joined us too and we had good conversations alhamdulillah. Then everyone was leaving for home, I thanked my hosts daughter and told her to pass on my thanks to her dad and arranged to meet up one weekend with our mutual friend insha'allah.
Walking out I was trying to decide whether to stay at the masjid for taraweeh or go home, when I found a voice message on my phone from a girl i met at taraweeh last year alhamdulillah. She was coming over tonight and was still unsure whether to stay the night, we talked and I decided to go home to pick up a few bits... the bad thing was, by the time I got home i had missed the adhan for isha so totally forgot about it until i was in the midst of the taraweeh salah.
Anyways, we prayed the 20 rakahs alhamdulillah and the witr salah too then sat down to read quran. I gave her a present of a stitching I had made a while ago for her and we chatted a little. But mostly we read and prayed... i ended up leaving probably about 1230 with her and it felt good.. a real boost of iman alhamdulillah.
So what do u say to someone who reminds you, after having had such a good experience at the masjid, that you should find and read the ahadith about the best place for a woman to pray :( Allahu alim

A night of prayer

alhamdulillah I made it to the masjid tonight for the whole taraweeh prayers... ok, ok, I got there late and only caught the end of the first 8 which I made up for while the imam did a short talk but alhamdulillah stayed for the whole night, and witr too :D masha'allah.. I also got the chance to take a few pics too :D enjoy the vid I took too. Tomorrow insha'allah Im going for an 'invitation only' iftar :) had to get that in cause I only just found out and it makes me feel special. One of the guys I work with, he invited me last week :) so Im really looking forward to that insha'allah

I also did a little shopping today and finally found a bolero cardigan to go with the 2 dresses I bought off ebay. I was really looking for a jacket, but I found this and I think it would work well with a normal length jacket over the top. Im just thinking weather wise, it wouldnt be suitable to wear only this but a normal jacket would look silly on its own especially when Im inside. So this way I can take the jacket off, and still be covered alhamdulillah. Also bought a dress on sale for $4 :) yeh, I know... I said I wouldnt shop anymore, but its all stocking up for the move insha'allah

First post on Grateful to Allah blog :)

Alhamdulillah, I finally did it... Ive been listed as a contributor to this blog for quite awhile now, but never really found anything inspiration to share with the readers... after taraweeh prayers last night I got it :) masha'allah.

Resignation notice

Yup, it officially became official today after my boss sent out the notice to the whole of the company. Phew, it was hard.. I wasnt expecting the response I got from people, all good obviously saying they would miss me, asking why I was going all the usual questions. I got a thank you from a big boss for giving so much notice in, so Im glad I did that, everyone understood where I was coming from when I said I needed to use the degree I was in debt for! lol... Its been a nice day, and here are some comments I got

How sad for us. Although I don’t see you much I love your sense of humour. I
wish you all the best.

I’m very happy to see that you have new plans and you’re going back home. I will
always remember when I met you first time and I asked you from which country you
were, I was surprised to hear UK because I wanted to hear the name of an exotic
country. I’m still laughing about my awkwardness! Take care about you, you doing
a good job!! All the best in you new projects

These were emails, and I also got a nice comment from someone who used to work on the afternoon shift with me, but now we are on opposite contintental shifts so I dont see her much. However today she has swapped with a girl who went on emergency MAT leave on tuesday. So we were just chatting about it and she said she would miss me being around, that Im a breath of fresh air and fun to chat to, so I just said, well I will be visiting... you know what she said? well even if you dont, it was God's blessing to have met you in the first place... subhanallah :) you never know how much you truly touch someone until you are faced with the prospect of splitting up. I nearly cried :) ok.. well not that much, but it was touching alhamdulillah.
Im just looking around on the net to see when I will insha'allah be starting fasting this year. Looks like committee of North America say the 1st, although the moon wont actually be spotted then.. think I will phone the masjid and see what their recording says lol... well, Im working this weekend... only got 1 more hour left then Im off home to wait for my friend. We are going to the veggie restaurant and gonna have super girlie chats over food :) insha'allah, will be nice to sit with her and grumble about all things life like its been awhile since Ive done it. Peace and salams, Ammena

This weekend

I had such a nice weekend with a new friend :) we decided to drive to the Busker festival in Toronto and it was amazing. We parked up around 3ish and stayed till around 8pm and I had such a good time.. I really needed to get out of Cambridge and I havent been to anything like that in downtown for so long now, almost makes me want to move to Toronto... ok, not that much! lol.. but makes me look forward to moving to London, so arty :) and i need things to keep my time busy as you all know :D so here are a few pictures of me, and the group of people I ended up with :D I had such fun.. it was such a good day, then we went for food afterwards and I got home late.. but all fun and games :D

Pics: 1. At the end of the stalls in one direction, you can see the people in the bottom of the pic
2. Some of the stalls, and a small number of people that were there on the day 3. One of the street performers all the way from Vancouver Island, BC :D 4. water fountain near the milk pic (see pic 6) 5. me by the previous mentioned skyscrapers 6. the milk pic.. we were trying to be natural.. which took 4 shots and this is the best in my opinion 7. Hungarian guy with puppets (was good) 8. french moving lady person :D

The good thing about being...

.. a noticeable muslim is.... the comments you get from other people

Her: youre looking very sunny today

I was wearing yellow :D

Me: yeh, I was tired this morning so needed a colour to brighten myself up
Her: (laughing) nice, but I like it when you wear your sparkles, your blig :D

hilarious :D makes me feel good to be around non muslims when they have a favourite hijab of mine, masha'allah

Conversion story

84 year old British man accepts Islam, masha'allah

This makes me think about my grandad, he isnt that old but he is in his 70s masha'allah. Makes me wonder if I told him about my religion if he would look into things like this man did. I remember him telling me that he had been to church with my auntie (who became a catholic to marry her present husband) which shocked me because he had never been a religious person.. I pray that things will be easy for this man and for all of our older relatives who do not have Islam as their religion.

Cambridge community

2 things happened to me today that helped lift my spirits of the muslims I am surrounded by, alhamdulillah.
The first: there are a few halal stores in Cambridge, i dont really go to them for obvious reasons (I dont eat meat) but occassionally I pop into one of them for certain things, like phone cards and halal marshmallows. Today I decided to pop in for a phone card, they dont generally stock up on the ones I use but I found one that gives me 200mins to Canada & UK for $1 which is pretty good.. the only bad thing is that it has to be used within 1 week from when you first use it.. thats what I dont like! but I thought I would give it a try so I asked for 5 and he told me that I should take 1 and just try it (like its food or something, bless him) So I agreed, instantly feeling stupid because I only had my debit card with me, I dont like carrying around cash. He told me he didnt take cards for the phone cards, because he had to pay 12c each time to use the machine and he didnt make 12c on the card, which I totally understand. He asked, dont you have a loonie ($1 coin; like 'a quid' in UK) Im like.. no, I dont carry money, I just have my card. He tells me, ok, you take this and see if you like it and next time youre in you can pay for the card. I was so gobsmacked at the trust of this guy masha'allah, may Allah (swt) reward him for his thoughts and intentions :D
The second: I just went out to do some work on one of our looms, Im looking around for the guy who fixed it after knowing I saw him in a certain area. Then I find him, praying.. at the back of a shut down loom on a cover that covers the fabric with his earplugs in (its very loud!), I instantly feel a weight being lifted from me.. I dont know why. I turn away and stand around waiting when I catch eyes with one of the girls who puts her hands together to signal that he is praying.. I nod and smile. Its funny how everyone when talking about prayer their hands instantly move to how christians pray in the church, with both hands together and fingers pointing to the sky :)

Just wanted to share that all with you :) alhamdulillah

Update

What with my break from the net, Ive been able to do some concentrating on me alhamdulillah. Today I woke up late :( but I was able to get out and hunt for a long sleeved white top Ive been looking for for ages :) on my 4th shop, can you believe it took that long to find that essential? alhamdulillah its been found, and now Im wearing it under my $1 dress from bluenotes ;P Anyways, I got home and have really got stuck into my current stitching project. Ive decided I want to make a big piece for each of my closest friends... so you may be on the list :P The one Im working on at the moment I just have to finish the border, Im nearly finished with a big shahada man too, which I dont know what to do with since I was told this might actually be haram, any thoughts or comments? Finally I finished learning my surah :D alhamdulillah, surah al-ma'un, Im so happy to have that finally finished, and it actually wasnt that hard as I had expected just because its 7 verses.
Ooh, I just ordered some books off my wishlist too :D one thousand splendid suns, eat, pray, love and footsteps :D so im excited to receive those hopefully the last week in march :D Also I booked the car for going to visit my friend in Ottawa next weekend, so something in the future to look forward to insha'allah

I did it! On my own!

I actually went out on my own today and snowboarded for just under 2 hours. The picture isnt me obviously but its basically what I was doing the whole time :) I must admit I was nervous going their on my own and I go soo lost trying to find the place, it actually took me double the time it was supposed to but oh well. I was nearly ready to just go home when I asked someone who helped me in directions and I found it. It cost $10.75 for the whole day, where I usually pay $20 for a day, not much difference but hey at least I definately went instead of sitting around waiting for a phone call from my friend (who still hasnt got in touch with me, may I add) I got there parked up, wore my Everton hat over my hijab to keep my ears warm, paid for my lift pass and asked a few questions. I was thinking of maybe taking a few official lessons but thought against it at that point in time (u had to turn up an hour earlier and there was a massive queue)
So I headed over to the bunny slopes, theres a magic carpet lift there (just a moving flat carpet) which is soo much easier to use and probably less harmful for me :P At first I was practising going down horizontal to the slopes until I realised that I couldnt move very far before I stopped because of the general gradient of the slope. So I started trying to go down vertical to the slope, which usually scares me because you can end up going really fast. I was trying to learn how to stop, which probably sounds stupid but I think Ive got the hang of it and Im so pleased :) so insha'allah Im going to go a few more times before the season finishes although I dont know what that exactly is :D
I was excited to do it today :P got home just after dhuhr so got in, stripped off (snowpants) and prayed my salah, obviously after getting changed. So insha'allah I will look at my surah in more depth, i have the first 5 verses well and truly sorted and half of the 6th, so insha'allah by the weekend Im hoping to have cracked it and be able to cross it off my list :D

If I could speak

I read this book quite awhile ago now, then I lent it to a friend on boxing day who returned it back to me while at RIS a few days later with plenty of good to say about it. I bought the sequel at the convention and am looking at the third book now insha'allah. So while at RIS I lent it onto another revert friend, who too loved it and asked if she could pass it onto a girl who she worked with. While all my friends were over at the weekend she passed it back to me and told me the girl she had lent the book to took her shahada after the book answered many questions for her. Alhamdulillah, la howla wala qwata illa billah. I just wanted to share that all with you :D

Interview with someone who gives thanks to Allah

City sisters on the Islam Channel

Just came across this website for sisters in UK who have the islam channel on their sky.. looks pretty cool. Check it out and lemme know what you think. A few modern classic, covering ladies showing the world what we as women can do masha'allah, may they be rewarded for their efforts insha'allah

Hijab

yesterday i was talking with a girl at work for about an hour about islam.. i like those talks, if started off me talking about h2b then she asked me all sorts of things about what she had heard about the religion and about things that we do. It was nice to clear her conceptions of the people and the religion that we follow. Anyways one of the things she asked me was if you could be a muslim and not wear the scarf, to which i replied yes but told her it was stated in the quran but, there is no complustion in islam and that we shouldnt judge others because they dont wear the scarf. God knows best what is in their hearts. So then she asked me how I learnt to wear it, how to tie it and pin it safe to which i replied... i actually have no idea, seriously! I remember once driving home before i had converted a wrapped a see through sarong around my head to see how it felt, it was lime green, i must have looked a picture. No wonder i had everyone staring at me! lol... but seriously i dont remember.. I dont know if i have looked at people and figured out how they wore it, but then I remember wearing a scarf i have as a shayla the day that i converted, so i couldnt have noticed much before then. Isnt it funny the things we pick up and take for granted :)

conversation at work

heres another little uplifter I heard today.

One of the girls at work was telling me how she left her debit card at a store in Cambridge, then only realised when she was in a different city at a different store. She drove back to cambridge to the store to find that the card had been put away by the person who served her. She told me she knew she was honest as she wore 'the scarf like me' masha'allah, she said she always sees her when she goes to that store. Im so happy she represented Islam in the correct way. Alhamdulillah :)

Why did God wait until the sixth day to create man?

Why God left man until the sixth day

A group of wise men met together in a castle in Akbar to discuss God’s works; they wanted to know why he had left creating man until the sixth day.

‘He wanted to get the Universe sorted out first so that we could have all its marvels at our disposal,’ said one.

‘He wanted to experiment with animals first so that he wouldn’t make the same mistakes when he created us,’ argued another.

A wise Jew turned up at the meeting. He was told the subject of discussion: ‘In your opinion why did God create man only on the final day?’

‘Very simple,’ said the wise man. ‘So that whenever we were afflicted by pride, we could reflect that, in the Divine scheme, even a mere mosquito had priority over us.’