Fasting in the Month of Ramadan: An overview for those unfamiliar

Hey guys!

I do realize that it's been a very long while since I have been here. What can I say, this summer was a really busy one! I was in NYC for a week, then I was in TN visiting my brother and my sister-in-law because they were about to have their first baby. We all got so busy with getting things ready for my little niece that I barely had time to look in the mirror. And after that, of course, my beautiful and precious niece got here.

On top of that I am starting my freshman year at college this fall, so that had me pretty busy as well. So, my apologies for the big disappearance.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I'll steer towards the topic of this post. For those of you who haven't figured out from the last posts, I am a practicing Muslim. I was born a Muslim and I choose to be one too. (Just clarifying, you know, cause people ask me all the time if I was forced into being a Muslim since I was a kid. o.O Like whaaaaat. This is why we need to promote a better understanding of Islam. No preaching here).

Being a Muslim, the holy month of Ramadan means a lot to me. Since I was one of the very (and I mean, seriously rare species) few Muslims in my school, people were always asking me about Ramadan and what it stands for. So, I thought, why not make a post over here and explain it better to the internet world. I was prompted because the month of Ramadan is going on right now (though it's not always this time of the year but we'll get into that later).

So, let's start with the basics. The month of Ramadan is a very holy month for us Muslims. It is the month in which we fast everyday from sunrise to sunset. During this fast, we cannot eat or drink anything. Not even water. Or toothpaste. Or gum. Or a lollipop. Or...well, you get my point. Nothing. And many people think that's all there is to Ramadan. Starve yourself everyday.

But that's not true. Ramadan is the month of abstaining from all evils. It is a month where you try to purify yourself to the best of your ability. This includes not cussing, not talking bad about people, not indulging in inappropriate sexual activities (*shifty eyes*), not drinking alcohol (although, Muslims aren't allowed to do that anyway. But hey, no one's perfect. Not me. Not you.), not cheating, not stealing, and basically just abstaining from all sins.

So, in this month, you let yourself rise above worldly goods and go through a spiritual experience. It cleanses you, and puts things into perspective.

A lot of people ask that isn't this unhealthy? And why would God want you to starve yourself?

Well, see. It's really not about starving yourself. According to nutritionists and doctors, the diet plan observed in the month of Ramadan is very healthy. It cleanses your digestive system and is very healthy for you. Well, that's if you don't eat yourself to death at sunset, but I don't really see how people can do that because even though it may sound crazytalklike, it is really hard to binge eat after you have been not eating the whole day. It really is, trust me. You think you can eat a camel when it's almost sunset but when you start eating, you find yourself full really fast. Or at least I do. Dunno about you. How about you guys tell me what you do?

Plus, it's a really great way to lose weight. Unless you drench yourself in greasy food. Which is sort of, like, really unhealthy. So, don't. Spread awareness of the No Greasy Food in Ramadan Campaign for me, please!

So, the basics of a day in Ramadan: the sehri and the iftaar. Sehri is what you eat in the morning before sunrise or the Fajr prayer time. You're not required to eat something but it's recommended and healthy. Usually, people like to eat something heavy. Something with a little substance so it can keep giving them energy the whole day but not anything too greasy that it'd make you thirsty the whole day. Things like eggs and other heavy breakfast foods are usually favorite. For me, not so much. I'm really NOT a morning person no matter how hard I try (though I'm starting to wonder, do I really ever try?), I cannot eat too much in the morning. It makes me wanna throw up. So I just down a bowl of cereal and some tea because my philosophy is that I'm gonna get hungry at 12 anyway no matter what I eat. Cause I'm fat like that. Don't judge.

The next comes iftaar. Iftaar is when you break your fast at sunset or after Maghrib prayer time. It is recommended (as it was practiced by Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) himself) to break your fast with dates (that's the fruit not the outing) or water. I personally prefer dates because, well, they're delicious! After that ya eat. Yeah. It's traditional in Pakistan (which is where I hail from) to have fruit salad in iftaar but I'm not too sure about other Muslim cultures. Which I think is pretty cool as fruits are some of the healthiest things to eat.

Now moving on to another question I get asked a lot. Why do we fast? What's the purpose of Ramadan? I believe I answered part of that question earlier. It's to cleanse yourself and rise above worldly goods. But also adding to that, it's a humbling experience. Not being able to eat or drink the whole day is not easy. It's something, although you can get a little used to, you'll always struggle with. It's never easy to give up on such luxuries which is why it gives you a new perspective and understanding. When you realize what it's like to not have certain things that you take for granted, you look at things differently. It makes you appreciate what you have and your blessings. It also helps you understand what it's like to be poor and not as blessed. That, to me, is a very nice experience. It's sort of like a slap in the face. Although I don't usually enjoy slap-in-the-face's, this is something to be slapped in the face for. Even though you're really not being slapped in the face. Wait, what? *confuses herself* Anyway.

Last but not the least, when exactly is Ramadan? Hmm. So, now, the Muslim year is a little different from our usual years. Muslim calendar is lunar-based. Which means that Muslim months move around on our regular calendar. So, it's safe to say that there is not definite month in which Ramadan takes place. Instead, it changes every year. It goes back by 10 days (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong) every year. So, where Ramadan started August 11th this year, it will start 10 days earlier next year.

The month of Ramadan is also the month of revelations as it was in this month that the Quran was released to Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), which makes it all the more special to Muslims.

So, I think I've pretty much covered everything I was wanting to cover. Though, sometimes my brain fails me; in that case, I shall edit later with anything more I have to add.

Also, this is not meant to be a preaching post, just a post to help spread more of understanding of what Ramadan is. I hate preaching. It gets me. I hate it when people preach you and shove their views down your throats trying to get you to believe in what they want. It's seriously so freaking annoying I don't even know what to do with myself. I personally believe in educating people about what you believe in and why you believe in it. The rest is their decision. I'm pretty sure since they're humans just like you, they're intelligent enough to make their own decisions. Unless you're preaching your pets. In which case, well, go right ahead. Although they just might not understand what you're trying to tell them. Anyway, those people have a right to choose what they believe in just as much as you do. You don't own them, no matter how much you want to. *more shifty eyes*

Anyway, that's it for this post. Hope I was able to help people understand more what Ramadan is and why it's so important to Muslims. If I missed anything or messed anything, feel free to comment about it. :)

Loves n hugs,

Amna.

P.S.: Ugh. I really hate how this thing won't let me post my favorite types of smileys coz they mess with the stupid HTML thing. MY posts aren't complete without my smileyfaces. v_v

Young Afghan Brides Flogged for Escaping: Inhuman act

LINK TO NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/world/asia/31flogging.html

What is wrong with the people in this world? Seriously. I can't seem to go a day without asking that question anymore.

This is the 21st freaking century. We're educated people here. Please educate your idiotic, twisted minds! Not that any of those would be reading this anyway. Though I seriously wish they would! Because when reading this article, I had the strongest desire and urge to go to that village, get a belt 10 times stronger, and beat each of those people present 80 times. On their rear ends. Then have them sit on a heated frying pan. Without any clothes. Then, electrocute them. And throw them in a den of lions.

If these people really think they are some sort of religious leaders, somebody needs to shake the reality into their pea-sized brains. They are not religious leaders, they are The Barbaric Idiotic Organization for Morons leaders.

Now that I have let some of my steam off, I would like to add a brief account of what happened for all those who haven't read or don't want to read the attacked article. Basically, two girls (ages 13 and 14) from the village of Gardan-i-Top in the province of Ghor were forced into marriage to much older men. They both managed to escape, dressed as boys. However, their bus was stopped at a checkpoint in the western Herat province. They expected the police officer to be on their side since the law was too. However, the dim-witted (yes, I just did) police officer recognized that they were girls and sent them back to their village. Bravo points for you there, little moron friend.

Back at the little village, there was a little so-called trial of the girls. Local mullahs and a former warlord who rules the village, Fazil Ahad Khan were present. The spectators consisted of men in camouflage uniforms who watched and videotaped the floggings. A local mullah struck both the girls, giving them 40 lashes each with a leather strap. He was striking them hard enough that he hurt his own wrist once. Personally, I hope you burn in hell, dude.

Neither girls made a single noise throughout these lashes, although one's face was streaked with tears. Brave girls. There strength makes me smile.

If anyone is ready to challenge me and say that these floggings were deserved and this is a totally normal act under the light of Islam is not even worthy of a dignified response from me. Instead I shall greet them with a boiling saucepan to their faces or maybe 40 leather strap lashes?

No. This is not in any way, shape, or form an Islamic act. No where in the rules of Islam would this kind of barbaric act ever be condoned. Instead this would be a highly punishable act. And I hope these barbaric morons will meet their justice in a seriously painful way some day.

The girls were considered divorced by the mullah and sent back to their family. I can only hope that they will be treated better. But my hope is weighed down by the fact that their families are the ones who forced them into marriage in the first place. God help these idiotic morons.

You know, I'm glad I actually have somewhere to let all this steam off. I just really hope this post can make its way to these idiots I refer to. And someday I can actually go into these places and help my fellow sisters. Ameen.

Love,

Amna.

Gaza Flotilla Raid: Another sad happening

Hiya there.

So, this morning I read about the whole Israeli raid at Gaza. Both sides are saying that the other initiated the attack. What I can't understand is why a bunch of journalists would attack soldiers? Doesn't make sense. And I'm not even trying to be biased here, trust me. Anyhow, we don't know what exactly happened. Although I have read on different sources that there are some video accounts of what happened. I just hope that the U.N. investigates this and comes to a conclusion soon.

I don't care who started it and who killed who. This whole fighting on that poor place needs to stop. Why can't people stop killing each other? I don't understand why people aren't happy with what they already have. I just wish both Palestine and Israel would come to an agreement and settle this. So many innocent lives have been taken in this stupid egotistical struggle for power.

In my opinion, the Gaza blockade is just inhumane. I neither know nor care what the Hamas has been doing there, but whatever it is, it's not the poor Palestinian citizen's fault. Why are they going through this? Have all of these so called world leaders thought about the poor children there? What they have to put up with? Nobody seems to care about what sort of circumstances these poor kids are growing up in. No wonder kids from both sides grow up to hate each other. It's because of the circumstances they grow up in. And add on top of it that they are told all this sorrow is because the other side is evil. How hard would it be to hate the other side and blame them for your sorrows?

It's just really sad to hear about all this death and destruction. It's been so long that people don't even think much of the number of people dying there everyday. You know it's depressingly sad when that happens. I shudder to think what it would be like to live in such a place. I just wish somebody would lock the two leaders in the room and tell them to talk it out like real men. Sheesh. So many lives are not worth wasting on the ego problems of the leader. All they do themselves is sit on their high chairs and give orders to keep their ego intact while all the poor soldiers are the ones falling on both sides.

This war has been going on too long. Somebody needs to shake these leaders and tell them to get over it. I may not be a super knowledgeable scholar or something, but I know this much: there is no religion on this earth that in its truthfulness supports violence or war. If it does then people must have interpreted it wrong.

Anyways, this is all I had to say about this so far. I hope this conflict can come to an end soon and somebody can put some sense into these pigheaded leaders. With that said, I hope all those fallen in this attack and the ones preceding it rest in peace. And I hope God gives patience to their families and those injured.

Love,

Amna.

How to make a McDonalds McGriddle: Amna style

Yeah. Random, I know. But I was just thinking about making another one and thought why not post the recipe? I would just like to add here that I am not a McDonalds employee or anything. This isn't in any way, shape, or form the official McDonalds recipe or anything. I'm just a McGriddle lover without a car or the ability to wake up early in the morning.

So, I just looked at a couple of pictures of McGriddles remembered some contents from memory and figured this out. So, this is how I put together a McGriddle at home when I'm not able to go outside and have one.

THINGS YOU'LL NEED:

- Two pancakes

- A slice of cheese

- An egg

- Pancake syrup

ZE PROCEZZ:

1) First of all, take an egg out in a bowl and beat it. Then, add some salt and pepper according t your taste. I added a pinch of salt and very tiny pinch of crushed black pepper. Then beat it some more.

2) While you're beating the egg, put a frying pan on the stove and add some oil to it. After it is considerably heated, add the egg to it. Push the egg into a rectangle shape while it's still liquidy (get it square if you can, I still haven't perfected that yet). Fry it until it's yellowish-brown (or however you like your omelette).

3) While you're making your omelette (or after it), you can make a couple of pancakes. I personally hate frying pancakes so I just get ready-made pancakes and heat them in the oven.

4) When you're done with you pancake, take one of them and put the slice of cheese on it and put it in the microwave. Heat them for about 10 seconds so the cheese is melted to the pancake. (Caution: This might make the pancake very hot).

5) Now put some syrup on the cheese, put the omelette on top of it (fold it in two if you made the rectangle shape), add some more syrup on the omelette, and put the second pancake slice on top.

6) ENJOY your McGriddle!

I tried it numerous times. And for me, it turned out great! If you don't have pancakes readily available, you could use two slices of bread and cut off the edges. It's not the same but it's close enough.

I hope this helped you guys!

Lovez,

Amna.

Mysterious Good Samaritan rescues Fayette girl, vanishes | ajc.com

Mysterious Good Samaritan rescues Fayette girl, vanishes  | ajc.com


And these are the days people make me smile. How sweet of that man to intervene in the little abduction. Most people just get scared and would drive off, can't say there's anything wrong with that. Maybe they don't wanna put there family in danger. But think of how thankful the little girl or her family would be if you intervened. I just really hope they catch the douche bag who tried to abduct her. What is wrong with these people?

She was a smart girl though for trying to run away and not listening to him. And that is all I have to say about this. I will be looking forward to his capture. :)

Lovez,
Amna.

Old News, New Views: Lawrence Taylor charged with a sexual assault case

Hiya peoples!

I'm sure you all heard when the Ex-NFL star Lawrence Taylor was charged with third-degree rape of a 16-year-old runaway girl forced into prostitution. The news was broken to me by my Econ teacher in our class the day after it hit news channels. We often got into discussions about the latest news hype.

I heard a lot of people mention that maybe he was set-up or that he didn't know the age of the girl. Now let me ask you, if you were a 51-year-old man in a room with a 16-year-old girl, couldn't you tell that the girl was a teenager? Or that the girl was way too young for you?

Reports indicate that the girl was beaten up by her dealer and forced to go into the room. I'm sure a person could tell when a girl was beaten and forced into something. However, he still went ahead and sexually assaulted her. Taylor's lawyer commented that Lawrence did not have any sexual relations with the girl. However, from what I read, a rape-kit was done on the girl and it came back positive.

I'm sure the authorities must have some DNA evidence to be able to charge such a famous personality. But I would just like to say that I am purely disgusted that anybody could act like this. Where's people's respect and dignity? To sexually assault an underage girl. Moreover to force a poor runaway girl into prostitution. It is just sad that people's minds can work this way.

At the same time, a note to girls out there. Don't runaway from home. You don't know what you'll encounter out there. Moreover, don't trust strangers. If there's something going on at home, then talk to someone. Or maybe just call 1-800-RUNAWAY and get some help. Running away is one of the most dangerous thing to do because there's predators out there looking to prey on young, innocent runaways.

Love,
Amna.

13-year-old Yemeni bride, Elham, dies of brutality, everybody moves on: My thoughts

Hiya there, readers.

So, today I approach my post in a serious tone. Jokes, funny comments, and sarcasm aside. This is something I feel very strongly about. I have been a feminist and a human rights advocate as long as I can remember. And sometimes, my faith in humanity just drops miles down.

I will let you know that this isn't exactly current news; it is more than a month old. However, now that I have a blog that I regularly write in, I couldn't NOT mention this.

Over a month ago, sometime in April, I was sitting in my Anatomy class. I (for reasons I cannot recall) decided to open the Atlanta Journal-Constitution website. There I spotted an article about a 13-year-old Yemeni child bride's death. I'm sure such a catchy title would have gotten anyone's attention, and me being the strong feminist that I am, it really hit home. I can say this honestly: no news article (that I can recall) has ever affected my this strongly. I cried while reading it, and I could not stop thinking about that poor little girl. I didn't even know what she looked like but the days that followed had me in such a down mood. I would start crying for no reason. Even today, it is really hard for me to write this article without crying and find the write words.

I'm sure all of you are wanting to know the story of the girl, if you haven't already heard it. A couple of months ago, a 13-year-old Yemeni girl called Elham Mahdi Shoi was married off to a 23-year-old man, Abed al-Hikmi. Her Al Hikmi and Elham's brother had an agreement to marry each other's sisters to avoid having to pay the expensive bride-price.

Although I cannot find the article that I read on the AJC website anymore, I still remember the gory details I read. The girl's family had asked Al-Hikmi to not consummate the marriage until she was a little older. However, he was getting frustrated and wanted to prove his "manhood" by consummating the marriage. Elham's family tried to convince her to let him consummate the marriage. A few days after the marriage, Al-Hikmi proceeded to rape Elham, beating her when she resisted. In doing so, he tore her vaginal canal.

Following this, he took Elham to a clinic and asked for them to give her tranquilizers so she wouldn't resist him, but allegedly, they refused. He continued to tie her up and sexually and physically abuse her. Later, he took her back to the clinic because she was unable to stand or walk and was continually bleeding. Dr. Fathiya Haider asked Al-Hikmi to stay away from Elham for at least 10-days as her vaginal cavity was ruptured. However, autopsy reports indicate that he did not follow these directions.

A few days later, Elham died of excessive vaginal bleeding in her mother's arms. Her mother, Nijma Ahmed, commented that before dying, Elham told her that Al-Hikmi had brutally raped and beaten her. She further commented that Elham looked as if she had been butchered.

The last I read of Abed Al-Hikmi was that he was in police custody. I could not find any thing more about what they were going to do with him. In my opinion, he needs to be tortured, raped, and electrocuted. Then he needs to be left stranded in a dessert without any food or water. But then again, that's just my opinion and probably will not be upheld by the courts of law.

According to several news articles, this practice of marrying young girls to older men is common in Yemen. International Human Rights groups have tried to get a law passed about increasing the age at which girls can be married to 17; however, local authorities say this is un-Islamic and have long opposed it.

Being a Muslim girl myself, I don't think that act would be un-Islamic at all. These twisted, sick people completely mold the rules of our religion to what suits there wants. Why don't they read about the part of Islam that says that rape and beating up is haram (disallowed)? Isn't it also in the Quran that a marriage without the actual consent and liking of both of the people involved is considered void. There is accounts of Prophet Mohammad himself rendering a marriage void after a woman told him that she did not want to marry her husband and did not like him. Then, how do these people commit such acts of human rights violation behind the banner of Islam?

Islam is nothing like these people portray it! It is a peaceful religion. And it is because of these twisted, illiterate people that Islam is viewed the way it is by others. So, the next time one of these official says that such a law would be "un-Islamic" I would love for someone to throw in their face that most of the things that are going on under their rule now are HIGHLY un-Islamic as well. They cannot give the name of Islam to something that they want to do.

The story, when the incident first happened, was all over a lot of news websites. But now, that it has been a while, the hype has died down. I'm so disappointed to see that I don't see anyone pursuing the conviction of Abed Al-Hikmi. There is no news about what is being done with him. Have the people just forgotten about the poor, young Elham? Have the Yemeni officials just let it go? If so, that is truly sad. This is one of those things that makes me immensely disappointed in humanity.

It is my hope that this article would prod people to raise their voice. Because I, personally, would love to know what is going to be done with Al-Hikmi now. So, what is your view on this? And please, no bashing the religion. It is not Islam's fault that these uneducated people abuse it's name and twist it's words around to their liking.

Love,

Amna.