Fawzia Salahuddin

When I forget an event from my life, who do I call? (Not ghostbusters!) I call my mother or my sisters. Not my father. Not my brother. When I am need of support, who do I call? I call my women friends. I seek solace in their familiarity and in their company.

Then why is it that when we read 2:282 َٱسْتَشْهِدُوا۟ شَهِيدَيْنِ مِن رِّجَالِكُمْ ۖ فَإِن لَّمْ يَكُونَا رَجُلَيْنِ فَرَجُلٌ وَٱمْرَأَتَانِ مِمَّن تَرْضَوْنَ مِنَ ٱلشُّهَدَآءِ أَن تَضِلَّ إِحْدَىٰهُمَا فَتُذَكِّرَ إِحْدَىٰهُمَا ٱلْأُخْرَىٰ (...so that if one of them errs, then the other can remind her) we immediately don our feminist glasses and our equality cape and start tooting our 'we are more' horn?

Allah SWT in all His wisdom

Some questions for reflection from our ustazaa on ayah 49:1

1. What you you think when you hear يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ 2. What does it mean practically 'to not put yourself ahead of Allah and His messenger'? 3. Why is adab placed before taqwa? 4. What happens emotionally when someone walks ahead of a king? 5. Why end with سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌۭ ?

1. My first reaction is 'That's me' but then I ask 'Is it?' Am I being addressed'? 'Am I a believer'? 'Do I have the characteristics of a believer?' After a second or so of reflection I decide that I may not have the calibre of the believers from our Prophet's era but I strive towards becoming like them by reminding myself of their qualities

Reflecting on 2:2 Our dear ustazaa asked: 1. Why Quran begins with certainty before guidance? 2. Why هُدًۭى لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ instead of يَِهدِي لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ? 3. Why negate doubt before mentioning guidance? 4. What qualities make a person benefit from guidance? 5. Does Taqwa come before or after guidance?

Some humble reflections... 1. Without being absolutely certain in Allah and His infinite love for us and our return to Jannah, guidance will not open for us – our certainty in His love for us brings us closer to claiming the guidance that He provides for us.

2. The word 'هدًى' is a masdar and hence brings masdar attributes of steadiness and NOT being time-bound, whereas 'يهدى', being a f

Subhan Allah - Such a beautiful ayah explaining spousal intimacy. Not once, not twice but 3 times Allah mentions intimacy between spouses using the words ٱلرَّفَثُ (to say things without restriction, to talk sensually, to talk alone and uncensored with your wife) and لِبَاسٌۭ (garments & covers that are extremely close to the body) and تُبَـٰشِرُوهُنَّ ( bashr i.e skin contact). How poetic and elegant is the language of the Quran? To describe the most intimate of relationships in the most elegant of ways. And have you noticed how balanced the ayah is? Allah mentions fasting (spiritual sakina) with spousal intimacy (physical sakina); one in the day and other at night. Why such emphasis on

As a mother of a special needs son I read this ayah alot. It gave me confidence in myself. If Allah choose special needs for me and my son then I must be able to bear this responsibility. I struggled with this alot, but it also brought alot of acceptance, sabr and shukar in my life. It definitely brought me much closer to Allah SWT!

While memorizing Sura Al-A’la I got confused between يَصْلَى in ayah 12 and فَصَلَّىٰ in ayah 15. They both looked the same to me. However, a little digging into Hans Wehr exposed the truth. يَصْلَى in ayah 12 comes from the roots ى, ل, ص (F,M,L) and family 1 and صَلَّىٰ (with a shadda) in ayah 15 comes from the roots و, ل, ص (F,M,L) and from family 2. [word] [meaning] [roots] [family] صَلَى [he/it roast] [صلى] I صَلَّى [he/it pray;worship] [صلو] II What really astonished me was how two words that look almost the same could have such extremely different meanings. This thought led me to think about Habil and Kabil, sons o

Computer games these days have changed from the ones we used to play in the 90s. One major change is that you get banned from the game for ‘x’ minutes or ‘y’ days if you leave the game before it finishes. I am confused. I asked my son about this rule and his reply was it’s because by leaving you spoil the experience for the other players! Much as I understand what he said, my mind still has difficulty understanding the penalization for making the choice to leave. This one gaming rule is revolutionizing the entire concept of choice. I can no longer leave the game, even for a few minutes, for fear of being penalized. How has this entire generation willingly given up their right to freedom

Question posted: The day of judgment is considered the most terrifying event in human existence. What are some of the scenes that scare you the most? May Allah protect us from all of them. Ameen

Sura Haqqa 69

14. وَحُمِلَتِ ٱلْأَرْضُ وَٱلْجِبَالُ فَدُكَّتَا دَكَّةًۭ وَٰحِدَةًۭ when the earth and its mountains are raised high and then crushed with a single blow,

16. وَٱنشَقَّتِ ٱلسَّمَآءُ فَهِىَ يَوْمَئِذٍۢ وَاهِيَةٌۭ The sky will be torn apart on that Day, it will be so frail.

It fills my heart with خوف that the things I know to be constants will become fluff. Standards of existence will become naught. Things that we consider immovable, unchanging will succumb to one command. Such is t