'Interesting' individuals on Pt

There are too many of them on pt so just a few outstanding ones :-

~ The so-called Jesus Apostle: This particular woman sent private messages to people claiming herself to be a Jesus's Apostle, sent down by Jesus to complete his revelations. A sister told me about it and I thought it would be great to have a share in this madness but I didn't get a chance to have a chat with her. Later that night, another sister pasted the whole conversation she had with this 'Jesus's Apostle' and honestly, it seemed like she doesn't have a sound mind.

~ The fatwa sister: I have not actually met this person but it has become known on pt that this sister loves giving fatwa-s according to her own whims and desires. Allahu'alam

~ Quranis: These people believe in the Qu'ran only but not the hadeeth. When asked one of them in the room today whether they are muslims, he found it difficult to even say 'yes, I am a muslim!' and instead beat around the bush stating that he believes in the Qu'ran and Allah. According to a brother, he said they are 'modernists' who interprete the Qu'ran their own way. If you read the tafseer of Qu'ran, ahadeeth is important in explaining al-Qu'ran properly.

~ The deceiver: I used to frequent a room that encourages reverts to share their stories about coming to Islaam and there will be this christian guy who would always be in the room. At first, I saw it as him being friendly but weeks later, he accidentally exposed his secret on why he frequents this room a lot. guess? He is training himself to become a christian missionary so that he can try convert Muslims in the middle east to christianity. By being around Muslims often, he can understand how we behave and learn ways to penetrate through us. Allahu musta'an!! May Allah preserve the eemaan of our Muslim brothers and sisters so as to protect themselves from believing the lies and deception of such people, aameeeeeenn.

~ The takfeeris: These people should take a look at their own Deen and improve themselves before they start attacking the faults of other Muslims! Subhna Allah!! Only two days ago, this muslim brother called me (along with a few other brothers and sisters) a kafeer after a misunderstanding. He made assumptions that I was the kafeer's sides during a debate with christians, when I had no knowledge of what was happening in the room!! Astghfirullah!! I wish I had told him on mic to fear Allah because he had slandered and then made takfeer on us.

So yes, welcome to the virtual world where you get all kinds of people, hiding behind the screen with some pretending to be someone they are not; while there are also those with malicious agendas that we don't know of. Be careful of who you befriend on the net sisters.

My niqaab experience

A year ago, I told a sister that wearing niqaab is not for me. Why cover my face when it is not fard? There is no need to, I said. I don’t wish to be extreme in my religion when Islam is easy. Can they even breathe in the niqaab? I doubt it. Can they even see where they are going? I don’t want to bet on it.

A year later, I am thinking otherwise. When I started reading up about the niqaab, I began to understand the wisdom behind it. My perception about the niqaab started to change and also, I began meeting other niqaabi sisters online who would talk about it passionately. I learned a lot about the niqaab from sisters who wear it on a daily basis rather than the media which would paint a negative image of it being oppressive to others.

Two days before Eid, I decided veil my face for the first time when I went to the musolla for iftaar. The whole day when I was in school, the only thing on my mind was how I would look in a niqaab . The thought of wearing niqaab along with the many niqaab pictures that I had it displayed almost everywhere i.e. facebook, msn, handphone, started to overwhelm me. I said to myself, that’s it. I am going to wear it today.

I took the longest black shawl that I had and tried to fashion it into a niqaab. The many failed attempts before were either too tight that it obstructed my breathing or it was so loose that it kept falling off. This time, everything fitted perfectly. I stared at the mirror for a split second and without second thoughts I walked out of the house.

A few months ago when I was trying to get comfortable with wearing abaya when I am out, it would take at least 15 minutes to decide if I should walk out of the house in those ‘sack-like clothes’. We all know how shaitan loves whispering into our ears the minute we decide to do a good deed and we would end up thinking twice on doing it.

I walked out, heads high at first and all prepared to face any criticisms or insults that I was expecting to come my way. I walked across the carpark towards the residential college and the moment I saw students wandering around, I felt my hand creeping up the brooch that held the niqaab together. My heart was pumping rapidly, hands clammy despite the cool breeze.

I gave in. The brooch came off and the niqaab came apart. I guess I wasn’t as strong as I had been when I first left the house. Feeling dejected that I gave into my fears, I walked quickly to the musolla with my face uncovered.

After a few steps, I heard a voice in my head: You are afraid of Allah’s creations. Put your trust in Him.

I worry about people’s opinions when in truth; their opinions don’t and shouldn’t matter much. Only Allah matters and if I am doing it for His sake, then pleasing Him would reap rewards but pleasing people reaps no benefits.

With that, I grabbed the end of the shawl, wrapped it again and pinned it nicely to the side. In the country that I am in at the moment, wearing hijaab can be relatively difficult especially in certain areas where people are quite racist. I had my share of these inane bunch of people who would throw insults about my hijaab and then run off like cowards. So what difference would it make then if I cover myself with extra cloth?

The rest of my walk to the musolla went smoothly and I felt a little more confident with each step I took. I met a few people along the way but I averted my gaze so I cannot really gauge the reaction from them. In any case, I decided that it shouldn’t matter much anyway.

I would love to wear it again if I have the proper niqaab. Alhamdulillah, I am in the process of getting some soon inshallah. I like the feeling of being beneath the veil and not being stared by strange men. I do have a few reservations about wearing it full time because of opposition from family mainly and also other factors like wearing in the workforce in the future. I know that Allah gives rezqi but I am only 50-60% confident about where my direction would be if I wear it full time. Inshallah, time will tell for me.

It would definitely be against the norm of the society but we should remember that our lives revolve around the Qu’ran and sunnah and not the other way round. We do not compromise our beliefs and practises so that we can conform to everyone else.

May Allah make it easy for everyone on His path, Aameen!