“Alhamdulillah”

Ill say it, recently, things havent been going so well. I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but to quote a good friend of mine:

“Wow, ure kinda cursed.slightly..”

So yeh things have been pretty up and down lately. But ive begun to realize one thing; the power of the word ‘Alhamdulillah’.

Think about it like this; what reason do you not have to say Alhamdulillah? Are you living in a war-torn country? Do you have to suffer the wrath of Malnutrition? Are you afraid to leave your home because a stray bullet may hit you? Are you so hungry to the point of Starvation? Are you so thirsty that you may fall over from dehydration? Are you so beaten down that you have no strength to stay and fight?

Then Congratulations, you are better off that 2/3’s of this world’s population; Go ahead and get your ‘Alhamdulillah’ on..

As quoted by Sheikh Khalid Yasin, whom I had the wonderful opportunity to speak to last night; 

“Even the population of Americans on welfare have more assets than 60% of the population of the 14 OPEC countries that happen to be Muslim. Those of us here on welfare have 3 color-tv’s, you have 2 cars, you have 2 dvd players, you have an iPod, a computer, a laptop, you have a king size bed, your children have their own bed, the brothers got on $300 Kicks, the sisters got on Gucci Bags and the best of scarves from around the world. The fact is that animals get better healthcare treatment in this country, then the humans do in Muslim Countries.”

Subhanallah; tell me your not lucky?

You are truly blessed two-fold. From society, you are blessed, and Subhanallah, from Religion, you are blessed.

1) You are truly blessed for being in a country that allows you the highest level of civil liberties and constitutional freedom, a country where you

can say whatever you like about the ruler, without fear of being attacked for voicing your opinions. 

2) You are blessed to be in a religion that is like Google Earth; your religion has provided you an insight on everything that has ever been created:

Example: The Quran forbids you from eating the flesh of a pig. Today modern medicine has shown scientific evidence that the sodium level in the flesh 

of that certain animal is so high that it is unhealthy to eat and has shown to be the cause of heart-attacks. Subhanallah.

You are blessed to be in a religion that has shielded you from the pot-holes of this society and has acted like guard protecting you from doing all thatis toxic to your body, mind and soul.

Sure, we all have troubles, we all have problems, we all live paycheck to paycheck, and as Tyra Banks taught us: We are all that much closer

to being homeless. But lets just stop for 1 minute and take an example from Allah: 

“Innallah Ma’As Sabireen” – “Verily God is with the Patient;” Is God with You? Why not?: You live in a country which provides you the opportunity to build yourself out of nothing, and a religion

that gives you everything without asking for anything; so go on and get your ‘Alhamdulillah’ on and see what a difference it can make for you.

Zamin.

Cool Links

Summer is a busy busy time for the MT Team. While we’re working on outputting an extremely hot and amazing new line (from 3 different timezones so bear with us ), here are some links to entertain and educate.

- Muslim Fashionista: Fashion Designer Rabia Z brings Muslimah modest and stylish fashions to the international runway. watch the video: http://current.com/items/89001365_islamic_fashionista

- Raef Band: This group won the MAS Youth Voices for Change National Talent Competition and opened for the national Outlandish tour this past month. http://www.raefmusic.com/ 

- Also, I attended the ALIM Summer Program last summer and it was truly an amazing experience. It’s from  July 13th till August 9 in Livonia, Michigan. This years theme is “Think Outside the Box” and the speakers that are there are very knowledgable, inspiring and relevant –  the best part is that they are still accepting applicants so go register!! check it out at www.AlimProgram.com (its something you’ll never regret!)

Until next time! (inshallah)

-norra

Muslims and Jobs

On my way home last week from summer school (which rocks, btw; new love: Economics), I was listening to NPR’s Talk of the Nation. The topic was about the current job market and recent grads. I have a while until I graduate, and I have a bunch of friends who have graduated college or are even just graduating high school and are trying to decide on a major. I think as Muslims, we need to expand, greatly. Of course we do…but How? and Why?

MashaAllah, as we alll know there are many many Muslims in the health and human services field. There is also your share of engineers, lawyers, and businessmen as well. So in all honesty, these days, many times its all about the prestige and the money. Of course it is, and its valid as well, people need money to live, sure. But to grow culturally within the context of Islam and American, we need to leave our comfort zones. We can’t just keep talking about that, and keep sending our kids to med school.

Some amazing examples of Muslim Americans, of which I had the chance to see at a MYNA Youth day in my city of Toledo on May 17 (Shoutout to Linda!), Singer/Songwriter Dawud Wharnsby Ali and Pianist Idris Phillips, Comedian/Filmmaker Baba Ali and Nasheed group Native Deen and Spoken Word artist Mark Gonzalez (not Muslim, but an honorary one were all present. They all gave workshops (with the exception of Baba Ali) about what they do and shared with the audience how they too, can express themselves. Let me tell you though, it was an amazing group of individuals, mashaAllah, that know exactly what they are doing, why they are doing it and excel greatly at what they do. They all encouraged the youth to go out and express themselves, as Muslims and as Americans, and to be proud of being Muslim American. And as Imam Johari Abdulmalik pointed out, there is no clash between the two but rather, they compliment each other. We just have both in us, and we’re cool with that.

Although all these youth loved all the speakers and the workshops, I wondered how many would actually go home to their parents and tell them they want a degree in the liberal arts…or, music, art or history. Or something that is culturally accepted for their gender (education for men and law for women) Or God forbid, just not in the medical field, but rather something they have a passion for.

One of the guests on the Talk of the Nation was author David J. Rosen. He wrote a book titled “What’s That Job and How the Hell Do I Get It?: The Inside Scoop on More Than 50 Cool Jobs from People Who Actually Have Them”.  I haven’t read the book yet but I plan on checking it out soon inshaAllah.

Rosen works at an advertising agency, I believe, and noticed how people always asked him what he did to get where he is, and what he does all day. So he took the initiative to interview 100 people in over 50 different jobs and detailed how to get there, and what they do all day, for a living. People called in with their Dream Jobs, and Rosen would give them an idea of what they have to do to get there. One of his main points was networking. Network, Network, Network. Meet people that know some people that know some people. He mentioned that thanks to the internet, social networking is easier than ever, aka Facebook. Although the show was aimed at recent grads, it led me to thinking how this can be applied to Muslims, all around the world.

What areas can muslim kids who are graduating from high school consider? The Arts. Liberal Arts, such as History, Communication, Journalism, Fine Arts, Visual Communiation, Film, among many others! And Business! (of course, no bias there We need more women in business. There is a total of 4 girls in my summer microeconomics class, out of about 24 people. As a friend said, there must not be enough women who want to take over the world!

There are many ways you can make a living, and as Imam Zaid Shakir once mentioned at the Zaytuna Minara Program in Dayton, Ohio, said: We don’t need more doctors or lawyers, we need people who are good at what they do (paraphrased).

If anyone needs any advice about any of the non-traditional careers I listed, please feel free to contact me(nora@muslimtees.com) where I will do my best to help or at least hook you up with someone who can.

 

-nora