I’m in the midst of the annual grand tour of wisconsin, thanksgiving edition. No substantive posts until I get home on Sunday probably. But I made this ahead of time, just so ya’ll wouldn’t get squeaky deprivation like I’m currently suffering.
Last year, on the day before Arafat, I visited the Saint Paul Humane Society and fell in love with a fat orange cat named Mitze. I planned on bringing AbuS back the next day to meet her and take her home inshaAllah, so I put a deposit and a 24 hour hold on her. The day of Arafat brought an awful snow storm and I was afraid we would lose our deposit and my kitty. Alhamdulilah, Allah (swt) saw fit to allow us to make it safely there, where AbuS found Mitze to be acceptable. We adopted her right then and there and brought her home, where she quickly filled her role at queen of the apartment. The next morning, we went to eid prayers and I stayed home from work for the rest of the day with my new best friend.
It’s one (hijri) year later, and still I love her more each day. On this blessed day that is both a festival of Allah (swt) and of giving thanks, I thank Allah (swt) for all the blessings I have in my life – first and foremost Islam, AbuS and my Squeaky Deak. Thank you Allah (swt) for everything.
Did you know that Switzerland only granted women the right to vote in 1971?
:o
Muslim majority countries that gave women the right to vote before Switzerland did. I’d venture to guess that this is around the same time men were granted the right to vote in most of these countries as well:
- North Yemen (1970)
- South Yemen (1967)
- Afghanistan (1965)
- Sudan (1964)
- Libya (1964)
- Morocco (1963)
- Iran (1963)
- Algeria (1962)
- Mauritania (1961)
- Sierra Leone (1961)
- The Gambia (1960)
- Tunisia (1959)
- Brunei (1959)
- Guinea (1958)
- Burkina Faso (1958)
- Malaysia (1957)
- Egypt (1956)
- Mali (1956)
- Comoros (1956)
- Iraq (1948)
- Niger (1948)
- Djibouti (1946)
- Pakistan (1947)
Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we’ve no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
The air is dipping from crisp to frigid. The days are getting shorter and the nights longer. It’s dark when I leave for work, and dark when I get home.
Abu Nu’aym (ra) records in his Hilyat al-Awliya that Ubayd ibn. ‘Umayr (ra) the beloved Prophet (saws) said*:
It used to be said when winter came: O people of the Quran, the night has become long so you can pray (more) and the day has become short for you to fast.
So with that I recind my prior griping about the winter (for the time being at least) and say – BRING IT ON!
*I am not sure of the sahih-ness of this hadith. But, even if it isn’t sound, it’s still darn good advice.
The sign stated, “Jesus died and rose and lives for you. What did Allah do.”
Um, only created the universe, the world and everything in it, including you. Duh.
On her ’round the world adventure of a few years back, my sister spent some time in a thai cooking school. When she returned, she imparted upon me the basics of thai cooking (and her recipe book). When I came upon this recipe in my newest cookbook find (alhamdulilah for the public library) The Curry Book, I looked for the important components of thai cooking – sweet, sour, spicy and salty. Yup, they’re all there, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s a good thai recipe :)
This is agreat iftar, if you can tolerate spicy. You have some protein that will stick in your belly, fruit in the coconut milk, plenty of vegetables and some easy to process starch that will give you a pick me up. All that’s missing is dairy, but next time I’m going to experiment and see if I can substitute half yogurt for the coconut milk to reduce the fat content.
Panaeng Beef Curry with Peanuts
- 3 T vegetable oil
- 2 T panaeng or red curry paste (if you’re making this for someone who’s not a spice fan, either get a known mild curry paste or use just 1 T. Most store bought curry pastes I’ve used have been very spicy. Or, if you’re really adventurous, make your own and use a milder chili)
- 3/4 pound thinly sliced beef, cut into 2 inch strips
- 1 14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk, divided
- 2 T fish sauce (can substitute soy sauce)
- 1 T palm sugar (recipe says you can also use brown sugar, but if you’re going to cook thai food, get some palm sugar. It’s really unsubstitutable)
- 1/3 cup dry roasted salted peanuts, finley chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced into long thin strips (I used a 1 lb bag of frozen stir fry veggies, defrosted. There is plenty of sauce for a whole heck of a lt of veggies, even beyond a whole bag)
- fresh basil sprigs
- fresh lime leaves cut into strips
In a large frying pan over medium heat, combine the oil and the curry paste. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, adjusting the heat to keep the paste sizzling gently without popping and splashing, and mashing and craping the paste to soften and warm it. Add the beef and cook 2 or 3 minutes, seperating the pieces to coat them with the paste and brown them evenly.
Stir the coconut milk well and add 1 cup to the frying pan. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat and cook about 10 minutes, adjusting the heat to keep it simmering gently.
Add the remaining coconut milk, fish sauce (or soy sauce), sugar, and peanuts. Cook gently about 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the vegetables and stir them into the curry. Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding salt or sugar as needed.
Serve over a bed of white rice and garnish with basil and lime leaves. I didn’t have either and didn’t notice they were missing.
My box. Go away. I don’t care if you don’t want cat hair all over your tissue paper and wrapping material. It’s got cat hair on it now.
Islam. Cats. Together. What could be better?
Photos from flickr. Click on the photo to go back to the source.
O Allah, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Is this not a beautiful prayer? It’s one of my favorites from my non muslim days, and something I still keep close to my heart. It reminds me of this hadith of the Prophet (saws) that was related to us by Abu al-Abbas Abdullah bin Abbas (ra):
“O young man, I shall teach you some words:
Be mindful of Allah, and Allah will protect you. Be mindful of Allah, and you will find Him in front of you.
If you (have need to) ask, ask of Allah; and if you seek help, seek help from Allah.
Know that even if the Nation were to gather together to benefit you with something, they would not benefit you with anything except that which Allah has already recorded for you, and that if they gather together to harm you with something, they would not be able to harm you with anything except that which Allah has already recorded against you.
The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried.”
Allah (swt) has already written what will happen to us. We seek His help and guidance to determine what it is that has been written, and to accept it. If it is meant for us to act, we should seek His help to act. If it is meant for us not to act, we should seek His help in that too. And in every action or non action, we should seek serenity to accept it.
It is hard, to accept the Qadr and Qada of Allah (swt). Our nafs are selfish. They want only what they think is best for themselves. They are short sighted, and do not see the bigger picture. That bigger picture is Allah (swt). He, who is without time or space, who exists in a reality that our feible little brains cannot even begin to comprehend. What we experience, what we suffer, what we revel in here in this world, is small potatoes compared to Allah (swt) and the akhira.
Our nafs wants to make the world in our image. We want to be able to change anything and everything simply because it is what we want.
But that’s not the way the world works. The world works according to the will of Allah (swt).
Oh Allah, grant me the serenity to know what I cannot change.
Oh Allah, grant me the strength to change what I must
Oh Allah, grant me the wisdom to submit to Your will.
The pictures are by KıRmıZı_(away). Absolutely beautiful.
…and this is one of them. Had my teeth drilled last night for cavities, which made eating anything beyond soup difficult (note to self – do not schedule cavity drilling around iftar time, or on any fasting day for that matter). Today, while the numbness is gone, biting down feels weird. I may have to go back in to see if anything is wrong.
The stoopid youtube thugs video is angering and saddening me every time I think about it.
I haven’t been sleeping well for more than 2 weeks, so I’m a walking zombie.
And I don’t know what to get my siblings for their bday presents. Argh!
No kitty here at work to hug, so here’s some pictures instead of Squeaky and her friend Meow (I am very creative in naming my stuffed animals. There’s also Woof, Mr. Kitty, Teddy and Bucky). Don’t you just want to huggle them both?
There, now I feel a little better :)
…muslim thugs. Young punks with obviously muslim names and thuggish nicknames cavorting around the twin cities, assaulting people at random, pushing little kids down hills, and old men off bicycles. Obviously very proud of their work, they put it on the internet for all to see.
Watch the video at the first link. It makes me so incredibly angry.
So now the question I have is how can we as a community (and this is my community, sadly) come together to stop this idiotic behavior before it starts? While I don’t know these particular young men, I’ve seen their ilk bringing their beefs to the masjid and beating on one another after praying in jamaat.
Police on the trail of attackers shown in YouTube video
A YouTube video of eight young men terrorizing bicyclists and pedestrians — including children and older people — in what appear to be Minneapolis and St. Paul has triggered an investigation by police in both cities.
Edited and set to music, the video shows the group of what appear to be teenagers or young men taking turns saying, “Watch this,” before knocking down victims and running away, laughing.
…
In the video, one of the attackers chases two young children who appear to be walking home from school and shoves one of them down a hill. Another throws something into the face of a convenience store cashier.
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The creator of the video, who posted it online Monday, describes the attackers as “a group of Somali black males pulling pranks on people.”
Arrests pile up in YouTube assault video case
Mohamed Abdi, 19, of Oakdale, and a juvenile are now in custody in St. Paul. Three other juveniles have been arrested in Minneapolis.
