Forgetful Jones

Its been almost a week since I have blogged.. I had thought about many things to write about but never had the chance to even jot those thoughts down on a piece of paper... Having no thoughts listed out to write about I am sort of empty handed when I start writing this post...
Its amazing how we talk to ourselves and think things over... and then we just tend to forget them... How many times have you thought of something and then forgotten it?

"To forget is human..." - Me (at least I think so)

Its always easier to forget than it is to remember. Remembering requires more effort than forgetting. Apparantly that's common with nature; earming requires more effort than spending; pulling water from the well requires more effort than drinking... etc...

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Work is tiring... Wish I could just do some managerial stuff, earn good money and find peace...

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Hope the people in Indonesia are doing better after the Earthquake... God what is happenin to this world? Tsunami and now this...

My Dream Came True

This is something I came about recently

Detroit-based African American journalist and PR woman, Angelene McLaren, has been a Muslim for six years. Upon conversion she took the new name Sumayyah bint Joan. Here she records her encounter with Islam.

Ever since I was a little girl, I've always had a profound relationship with God. Even though I was raised a Catholic, with all its ambiguities, contradictions and confusion, I did my best to stay God-focused and not to give in to the teachings of the Church, because even to me as a child, they seemed to go against the grain somehow.

During my high school days, I made a conscious decision to apply myself more thoroughly to my faith. I attended mass twice a day, every day, went to the confessional at least once a week, and did all the ritual practices my priest insisted upon; all in an effort to draw closer to a God. The church failed to me to answer all of life's most pressing questions; who am I, who and what is God, why am I here, and what should be my relationship with this superior being who created the universe? How am I supposed to live my life? Who is my role model, and how should I follow him or her? Why does God need to have a son now, when He was alone in the creation of all that is, and need no partner or intercessor before? My priest was unable to answer my questions, beyond stating that I should have faith, and that it did not all have to make sense as long as my faith was strong enough. This did not satisfy me, and on finishing high school, I left the church and set out on a quest to find the correct way, belief and religion.

I investigated a number of religions in an effort to get rid of this internal emptiness. I practiced Hinduism, Taoism, Zen Buddhism, and in later years even dabbled in White Witchcraft. Now, most people may find this crazy, but you have to understand that I was searching, truly searching, but all these left a void, and just never seemed to fit.

Then one day my sister came to see me and what I saw took me by surprise. She entered the house with a very long dress and was covered from head to toe. Her hair was covered by an opaque scarf and came over her breasts to right above her waist. After asking her why she was dressed like that in the middle of summer when it's at least 85 degrees outside, she explained to me that she was a Muslim.

Now of all the religions I looked into, I never thought of investigating Islam, mainly because there didn't seem to be a lot of information readily available, and because I carried a lot of the Islamic stereotypes in my head, that I now have to deal with in other people. So I left my family and moved to California, still without a religion, or a sound relationship with God. In the beginning a lot of stereotypes about Islam kept me from studying about this religion.

At that point I gave up, and just decided to go with flow, and not worry about it. I did this for two years, and although I found love and got engaged to marry to my college sweetheart; something was still missing. In the back of my mind, there was always that nagging voice that kept telling me that my life was out of order, but I would do my best to ignore it, until one fateful night.

Right before I was due to leave California, and return to my home state to be with my fiancé and begin building our lives together, I had the scariest dream I've ever had in my life. In this dream, two very tall men dressed in white were standing at the foot of my bed. As I looked at them, I thought they were either aliens or angels, I wasn't sure which, but I was very afraid and was trying my utmost to get away from them, but the harder I tried to get away, the closer to them I got. Eventually, we ended up on top of a very high mountain, with a sea beneath us as red as blood and as hot as lava. The two men pointed and instructed me to look into the sea.

What I saw will stay with me until the day I die.

The sea was full of naked people, being turned over and over, like meat being roasted over a fire, and they were screaming, "Help us, help us!" Needless to say, I felt I was getting a fist-hand glimpse of Hell, and I was terrified. I told my fiancé about the dream, and he just laughed and said that I had an overactive imagination, but I couldn't dismiss it so easily.

When I returned to Michigan, I found out that my other sister, and my cousin had also embraced Islam during my absence. This made me curious, so I asked my sister to give me some books to read, and one of the first was, Descriptions of the Hell Fire. Everything that was in my dream was in this book. I was floored.

So I began reading and reading, and going to lectures and asking questions, and the more I learned about Islam, the more my head and heart told me that this was what I was looking or all along. I had made up my mind to embrace Islam, but I had one small problem, my fiancé.

He was adamant that he was not going to be a Muslim, so I had to choose between the man I loved, and doing what I knew in my heart was right. Allah, SWT, says that if you say you truly believe in Him and His Messenger, (peace be upon him), He will test you, and this was my test.

Despite the great amount of pain it caused me at the time, I did choose Islam over my fiancé. That was almost six years ago, and Allah has since blessed me with a wonderful husband who loves Him and Messenger, and a beautiful son. Allah says for all who truly want guidance, He will lead them from darkness into light; and I know that is what He did for me.

Sumayyah Bint Joan
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Excerpts from an interview with Sumayyah bint Joan

Your family background
My family is from the island of Jamaica, and they immigrated to the US when I was six. My father, unhappy with the corruption of American society, sent us back to Jamaica to attend school, and I spent the school years there, and our holidays in America.

Education
I attended elementary school and high school in Jamaica. I then went on to the University of Michigan, where I studied Mass Communications. I am currently working towards my Masters in Mass Communications and Journalism. I also hold professional diplomas in Print Journalism, Broadcast Journalism, Photojournalism, Community and Media Relations, Electronic News Gathering and Newspaper Layout and Design.

Family's reaction to your conversion to Islam
I was the third of my mother's children to accept Islam, and although she was surprised, she did not treat me with any animosity, she felt as long as I was happy, she was happy.

A little about your husband
My sister's husband had a very good friend, who in turn had a very good friend (my husband) and he mentioned to my sister's husband that he had a friend who was looking to get married, and that's how it came about.

The books that had major impact on you.
I read many books before accepting Islam, and I had carried a copy of the Qur'an for about six years with me before I actually decided to sit down and read it. The Qur'an, the True Religion by Abu Ameenah, The Description of the Hellfire, The Description of the Paradise, and a slew of books by Ahmad Deedat.

How about your Dawah work?
My dawah efforts have been concentrated on the writings that I do for Islamic magazines like Islamic Voice and Al Jumuah magazine. I feel comfortable doing dawah that way and will continue to do so, insha' Allah.Common stereotypes that you encounteredThe most common stereotypes that I have to deal with, is the myth that because I wear full hijab, I am not educated, I am unsophisticated and I am oppressed. I hate this. But when I speak to people, and they find that I can string together a coherent sentence, they are at first surprised, but then they see the error of their ways. A lot of the problems, is because we Muslims have allowed outside forces to define who we are. Until we take the microphone and start telling people about Islam and the Muslims, they will always carry around the wrong ideas, based only on ignorance.Prospects for Islam in AmericaAmerica needs Islam. This country is so a-moral, that it boggles the mind, but the people are searching. The problem is that the majority of the Muslims who are here, are here for the dunya, and not for dawah, so you'll see the Muslims acting just like the disbelievers. So until the Muslims start loving Islam and come to grips with their responsibility to the rest of the mankind, things will only get worse. But despite our lackadaisical attitudes, Islam is growing here at a tremendous rate, and it shows no sign of slowing down.

Taken from: http://www.islamfortoday.com/angelene.htm

The week has ended and two days of vacation (i.e. no work) have almost begun. Its amazing that we always wait for the weekend to come. Its more amazing that we want it to come more because we don't want to do anything. But of course not all weekends are empty.

Last weekend I went on a road trip. Its sort of my favorite past-time (driving). I sometimes wish there was a road to everywhere in this world and I could be the only one who has driven on every street. Fantasies can be misleading.

That reminds me... I used to play a game called Final Fantasy... Lovely game... Nice story to it too... I wonder if they can make these kind of games more like reality... Or maybe I should start this kind of game...

In any case, weekend seems to be the only time where I can look back on the past 5 days and reflect. Being able to understand and being able to see the past are very important for planning for the future. In other words, you can only know (at least to an extent) what will happen in the future by completely understanding the past.

"The past moulds the future" - Wonder if anybody has already said that...

Accidents

Accidents do happen.. and they seem to happen a bit too frequently... especially when you least expect them...

That reminds me of something that happened quite a long time ago with my cousin... my cousin had destroyed something and when you would ask him he would say no he didn't do anything wrong.... but when you ask him whether he did it accidentally he would accept that he had done it... Quite an interesting statement from a very young kid...

What are the causes of accidents? Most of them have to blamed at human error. Accidents from drunk driving for example seem to top the lists.

Others are just natural disasters such as earthquakes. But most of these kind of accidents are prevented by proper planning.

Some accidents on the other hand are just pure n simple coincidence. The big bang for example quoted by some athiests as being just coincidence.

It is amazing how people believe and disbelieve so fast these days. We believe Osama is dead and then all of a sudden there comes a video/audio clip. We believe that Iraq war is a great war to rid the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (in the wrong hands) and then we get to know there were never anything of the like anywhere near the place.

Why are people around the world so biased? Why is there hate? Justice needs to be served and the final justice is quite close.

Mea Culpa...

Plans

I had planned to blog in this morning but I guess plans change...

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" - Forgot who said this

Well I did plan but things didn't quite go the way I wanted them to go... This is a story of most people's lives... Not everything always goes as planned...

But Why?

Planning is always an essential part of life. The depth of one's perception can only be viewed by the person's plan. But how can one develop this depth? One's experience is a mirror of the depth that this person can plan with. The more depth the better the plan... However, there is always something that can go wrong... which is completely out of the perception...

"If something can go wrong, it will go wrong" - Murphy's Law

What can we do to avoid the problems that can erupt?

"Expect the unexpected" - Have no idea who said this either

Faith and belief... Most people say that having faith and belief in oneself is enough to overcome one's problems... I doubt that becuase it is not always true... It is faith and belief in something else that gets us through... Its faith and belief in God...

Have you ever noticed how many times you say God or Jesus or Christ or Pete or holy or any other religious thing for that matter? Its not because you are brought up in a "religious" household but its the fact that you believe (even though you might not act on it) but you do believe and you have faith that if not your plan... then it is definitely God who can help you with the problems that arise...

Wierd as it may seem the word God seems to comfort us... if you haven't noticed yet try closing your eyes and believe that someone powerful is watching you who has the key to everything and then whisper God...

Liked that?

Blackout

Its been a long time since I blogged... Its really because I have been through a phase... A phase that probably everyone goes through at least once in their lives... A phase of blackout...

Now different people experience different kinds of blackouts. For one it might mean a medical condition while for another its just a mood change. For me, however, it was time where I had a chance to look.

I looked at several things... I looked hard and for some wierd reason I felt safe... I felt safe within... and with this feeling I began to reflect... I began to think about my job, my life, my past, my present and my future... I began to think whether all the money I earn and the all the money I spend... what does it mean? I live to earn and spend to live... its a cycle that keeps going on and on and on...

Reminds me of a riddle during my school days... What goes on and on and has an I in the middle?

It is only those people who reflect that can see... The only thing I saw going on in this world was WAR... War on Terror... War on Iraq... War in Afganistan... It reminded me of my college days when we had a debate, the topic "Is war necessary for peace?" or something like that... There were many speeches and rebuttals... The only thing that prevailed in my thoughts was the fact that "War is necessary for Peace" but a war without vision... without faith... without mercy... is in fact not a War but a massacre...

All of us might remember the famous almost-irresistable have-to-watch movie Braveheart... What the guy (Mel Gibson) fought for was FREEDOM which obviously is misinterpreted in many ways. So let me just bring in the picture of Mr. Osama and place it on Mel Gibson... what is so different? Same thought... same vision...

This is getting a bit too far ahead... let me move one step back and go back to the point I originally stated... Not a War but a massacre... A war is usually done with a vision... The War on Terror for example is being carried out (amazingly by several countries - I wonder why they don't call it World War 3) with the vision: "Eradication of Terrorism". That is like saying you want to "Eradicate Burglary". Isn't mugging a for of terrorism? You want to "Eradicate killing of Innocent People"? Since when are the Palestinians not innocent?

A war is also done with faith... As history proves that many a war has been fought with a specific faith/religion being supported in the process...

And finally a war is not a war if there is no mercy... Mercy for the civilians... Mercy for the PoWs... Mercy for the country...

This is just one of the things I saw... and this is what I understood from what I saw... The who understands knows... And I for one... know what the near future lies (although it might not all be correct for nobody can really know the future)... for me and for the world...

I will be starting a new journey... I journey where I will ride on the saddle of patience...