Random Happenings

Thursday: Pre-Eid

On Thursday, there was an akikah for someboddy's baby. Coincidentally, it was the same day before Eid. So, after all the eating and most of the people left, me, S, and some of our friends helped decorate the masjid for Eid. We put up the lights is the musalla and the hall. We put streamers over the windows. It was very hard work. While me, S, R, and Keela were doing the lights in the hallway, Keela's brother Zak came and helped a little bit. He got a sticker (goat head) stuck in his sock and he told me to get it out because he was too chicken. Then he asked me if I got henna. I said not yet. But then I saw S getting it, and so I did too. After I got it, I continued with the lights. It was hard 'cause I didn't want to mess up my henna. My hair was all messy and I had to ask Ummi to tuck my hair back inside my tudong. When we were all done, we played in the musalla. R, Keela, and Keela's sister Nabeel were gliding and sliding in the musalla with their socks. Keela's mom took a picture of us (S, me, R, Keela and Nabeel). Then, we left. We went to Albertsons and bought some food for the visitors. We got ice cream, cookies, and Go-Gurt.

Friday: Eid

I woke up like a few minutes before Fajr and I was like wondering if I could go back to sleep or not. Then, after a while, I heard the water being turned on upstairs, and so I knew that daddy was awake. Then, I got ready t'go. I couldn't find the dress, btw, so I had to be tradishunal, much to your disappointment. Then, when we were all ready to go, we went outside. Ummi told us to stand in front of the garage so she could take pictures. We were all worried about the cars passing by and wondering why ugly people in nice clothes were standing in front of a garage like poor peeps, and a ninja was taking pictures of them. XD.

So then we went to the masjid. People were fillin' up the masjid like ants to crumbs. R wasn't there yet, and Mnr wasn't either. So we sat fatly, watching people hug each other and listening to the takbir. And watching the weird, smelly kids. Pretty soon R came in. Her clothes were so JUICY. They were white and turquoise with millions of sequins. Even her socks matched.

(Unfortunately, I couldn't find my pink socks, so I had to wear my blue ones, and they didn't match at all with my pink baju krong.) Then, it was time for the salat. Me and Z went to the kitchen so he could eat, and we watched R's mom Sry do an activity with the little kids. They watched Take Me to the Ka'aba. Then they played a game. Then, my long lost friends came late for the prayer. (Their names are Nr and Hb.) Then I took Z out to the playground.

Pretty soon the prayer was over, and people came pouring to eat. Me, S, and R played at the playground and talked about henna and stuff like that. While I was waiting for Ummi to be done talking and for Abi to be finished drinking tea or something, I sat in the van with the door open and listened to a nasheed that I recorded on my camera. :D Then we went home.

Sandy's dad was supposed to come to our house so we could follow him to the farm. He took like a million years. He finally came. He led us to  place where there were millions of potholes and loads of flying dust. At the farm, nobody was there to supervise us. We took a look at the sheep and the pigs (blech!) and the chicken chickens. There was this teenage chick that escaped from the coop by a hole in the wire door. Abi tried to get it back through the hole by opening it more and saying, "Sini, sini, sini!" But of course chickens don't understand human language, and Malay at that, so it just ran away in fright. Pretty soon all the men came and they chose some good sheep. The only sheep there that wasn't scared of humans was the big black one with big horns. Sadly, we slaughtered it. I took a video of the first sheep to be slaughtered. S thought it was sick and nasty. But me, I could watch without wincing a smidgen, like I said twelve posts ago. I was planning to take videos of the other ones being slaughtered but then I changed my mind.

Finally, after sitting in the van being cold, Abu Yaz (Sandy's dad) said to Abi, "You can go now, F. You have kids." And I silently said, "YAY! Thanks, Sandy's dad." and S chuckled. So we went home, and I slept on the way.
Abi and Ummi cut the meat for a long time. I saw Ummi smashing chicken with the flat side of the knife to make it look more appetizing, as that's how they do nasi ayam in Maleesia.

Then the guests started coming after Maghrib. Auntie Saleem and Kylie came first. Kylie had a broken arm because of his daftness. Then Amunay came. Amunay is one of the coordinators for the Muslim Girls Club. Amunay left early 'cause she was scared about leaving her kids (Suheidi, Lulu, and Yasser) at home alone. Kylie played with H violently. After a while, Muhee, Hal, and Akeely came. Then Tonio, Noha, and Mstfa came. Me, S, H, Z, Kylie, and Mstfa played on the carpet. Mstfa tugged H's hair and pinched Kylie's nose. It was hilarious. Then everyone started to leave. Muhee, Hal, and Akeely left first. Then Auntie Saleem and Kylie left. Lastly, Tonio, Noha and Mstfa left.

Saturday: Post-Eid

I was the first to wake up. The living room was all nice and yellow, and everything was silent. I ate some cookies. Then Z woke up and we made bracelets. Pretty soon Abi woke up and said, "Siap Z! We're going to Chucky!" I told Z to get ready, but he said he didn't wanna go. Pala HOTAK n'kau! (That's Malay. I dunno what it means, but mommy says it and it's funny.)

I ran into my room and said to S, "Wake up, S, if you wanna go da Chuck!"
I ran into H's room and said to H, "Wake up, H, if you wanna go da Chuck!"

Next thing I knew we were in the van driving to the mall. We played at Chucky Cheeses for a bit 'cause H had a soccer game at 1:00 or something. The first thing I played was a bowling game. Then I played a football game.  I was slightly good at it. Then I put two tokens in a basket ball game that was broken and I had to ask the people to get it out.

All too soon, we three used up all our tokens. Boohoo! We fed our tickets to the ticket thingy and got prizes, then left.


The End.

The Virtues of Zhul Hijjah

Ummi assigned us all an assignment to do for Zhul Hijjah. S has to find the ayah in the Quran about Hajj; I have to find the virtue of Zhul Hijjah, and H has to do something that I forgot. Our works are all due tomorrow, which is Thursday. So my works is here, right in my amazing blog. So there.

The Virtues of Zhul Hijjah

FASTING: The Prophet sallAllahu 'allayhi wa sallam said, "whoever fasts the day of Arafat will have his sins expiated for two years (the past year and the coming year)."

Do not cut hair or nails during the ten days if you are the one slaughtering the animal. This is for men of course.

You can recite the takbir during all the ten days, at all times, day or night until the Eid prayer.

There. Done.

Resources: http://theclearsunnah.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/the-virtues-of-dhul-hijjah/
http://www.allaahuakbar.net/eid/virtues_of_the_first_ten_days.htm

N aka Light aka Kitty Kid

Eid al-Adha

Eid al-Adha, insha'Allah will be next week on Friday! Ummi has an Islamic calendar, and it says just that! On my Gregorian calendar, it says it will be on Thursday, beginning at sundown. Yay. We get to celebrate it at sundown. How fun does that sound? xD Personally, I can't wait! Here's my bragging right: I can watch an animal be slaughtered without wincing, closing my eyes, or crying. But silently inside I feel REALLY sorry for the animal.

Here's a nasheed video about Hajj.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=dILMQJubax4&feature=endscreen

N, aka Light, Nurd, or Kitty Kid

Yay! It's My Birthday Today!

Today is October 1st, and today I am the age that is equal to 7 x 2. I am in a hotel right now in Oklahoma City. We started traveling on Friday, September 28 and went to Dallas, TX for a class by Omar Suleiman. The class was called Behind the Scenes. We got there for free Friday. Only me, H, and Abi were taking it, because apparently S had to study for her class or something, and Ummi was too busy with her class. So apparently some people have a lot of classes going on here.

Anyway, the class was kinda boring but Omar Suleiman made a lot of jokes at least. H and I drew a lot in our books, which made Abi scream, but at least some of the drawings were relevant. On Sunday, which was the last day of class, we left. We left right after the class ended. Well, we left after we had our last pee. Oklahoma was three hours away, which is quite surprising.

After the long, terrible three hours in the van, we got there. Our hotel was called Sheraton. We have to go to OK City (it isn't really okay at all) because Abi has a conference there. While waiting in the van for Abi to get our room, we saw some weird people out the back window. I saw a smelly kid peering into the hotel, and there were some weird dancing people. Somebody took the keys of a woman's car and drove it into the parking garage.

The beds are white and the bathroom is white, and the sink is too high. There is orange shampoo, yellow conditioner, yellow bar soaps, and white lotion. Very descriptive, right? Yes, well, anyway, I must tell you how my birthday went.

At somewhere around 3:00, we left the hotel. We had to be back at 4:00 because of Abi's conference. We went on a water taxi, and the tupA' water taxi driver asked the passengers if they had an October birthday today. Ummi stared at me meaningfully, but I don't like to talk muchly, so I remained silent. :D But a smelly person on the taxi named Angela had an October 1st birthday, so good for her. When we went under a bridge, the driver tupA'ly sang the birthday song along with the other tupA' passengers.

"Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy BIRTHday, undear unangelic Angela,
HAPPY birthday TO YOOOUU!"

After the tupA' taxi ride, we went to a souvenir shop. I bought some earrings for me, myself and I. And S too. S got lame ol' silver butterfly ones, and I got big, dangly blue and purple ones with a silver star on each. Then we went to peachwave, a frozen yogurt place. There was a thingy for that if it was your birthday today, you got to get a 16oz cup of frozen yogurt for free. And the weight didn't matter. So isn't that great? Yeah, so S and H told me to get a lot of frozen yogurt since it was free and all. I got what I thought was enough, but they told me to get more, so I hesitantly did. And then, I got loads of toppings. I got strawberries, white chocolate chips, Rolo candy, Skittles, rainbow sprinkles, and strawberry sauce. How good does that sound?!

Anyway, here's where something really eventful happened. They (mom, dad, S, H, and Z) left me in that place to finish off, (and who told me to get a lot?!) and I left the gift bag with the earrings in it in there! We were already walking back to the hotel when I suddenly remembered. So I gasped loudly and everybody stared at me oddly. Well, John and H did. So I told them the problem, and then John told mom, and then dad walked back to that place with me to get it.

So yeah, that's how my birthday went. Mom was playing Montezuma (a game like Bejeweled) on the iPad, and H and Z were playing with her, and then suddenly, mom lashed out at H because he was being annoying.

"Ahh, go a-WAY lah! I'm gonna play by myself. You're not helping!" :D

Then me, Z, and H surrounded mom helped her, but she didn't appreciate it. She said, "Okay, you all be VERY quiet. And don't mention any colors or you will distract me! GOH!"

So we tried to be quiet, but somehow H managed to say something, so the punishment was that mom played another one. But we all couldn't help ourselves, so mom played another one. We managed to
stay quiet and finally it was Z's turn. Then it was my turn, and then H 's. He didn't play Montezuma, though. He played Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja.

Oh yes. When it was my turn, mom chased H and JS around the hotel room with her spit. Mom - a human goat? Correct.

A few hours later, dad came back for his conference, and then Maghrib came, and dinner, and now I'm on one of the white beds typing this post on the iPad.

N

The Competition

It wasn't how I expected it to be.

It was cacat.

Well, first of course, we went to the masjid. On the way, we picked up Abi and he sat in the backseat with me and Z. Then we got to the masjid. Abi took some time to get out of the van from the backseat.

Ummi, S, Z and I went into the women's side and sat down in the musalla. In a few minutes people came, and after the khutbah we prayed, obv, and then people started getting ready for the judging. It was in the cole ole classroom. Me and Sandy were participating. My other friend R was not in because she decided to let others have a chance. o_o

So first, a girl went, and then another girl went, and then it was Sandy's turn. Apparently after some tussling, it seemed to me she was nervous. So like, she went, and then it was my turn. I read the surah while sweating quite badly. Then I was done and went to mom and S and Joycie who were all grinning.

"You did good!" they said.

"Not my best," I said.

After that it was the little kids' turn. Hl went and read Surah Ikhlas, and then another kid named Dani read Surah Lahab and Nas. They were quite good, actually. After that, me, Sandy, and R went outside. S came out later with Z. S and Sandy talked together under the tree and me and R went on the swings. Then it was time to leave. We had some trouble thinking if we should leave H there or not, because he was being judged after Asr...so S called Abi and Abi said to just leave H there. After a bit mroe confusion we did leave him there. Then we came home.

And now my tummy is churning and growling. And my arm is still fuzzy.

N

11:00 AM

We have to get ready to go to Jooma in like mebbe 1 hour. The Quran competition judging is after Jooma prayer. I practiced my Naba this morning and I got no mistakes, so I should be good.

Don't getcher hopes up....

It is now 11:02. This post took approximately 2 mins to type. Time flies by.

Amazed by the Quran

Well, yesterday I came back from Irving, TX. There was a convention held there on Saturday. There were three speakers: Abdul-Nasir Jangda, Nouman Ali Khan (who we all refer to as The Kiddist), and Suhaib Webb.
Their lectures were mostly about being amazed by the Quran. I slept somewhere in between, maybe during Nouman's lecture.
After the whole thing was done, we checked out the booths that were selling stuff. I got a red Bayyinah long sleeved shirt in size M for free.
We met some Malaysians and went to their house. It was super-fancy. The food was da BOMB. Rice, chicken nuggets, beef, pita bread, salad, and mangoes.
Our hotel was nice. There was a green couch, which was also a pull-out bed, and a queen bed. The bathroom was kind of big, and the shower was nice. The bar soap was kind of nasty looking. It was brown with darker brown spots in it. We came back on Sunday night.

N

Yay! Summer!

New Things:
Summer classes, friendship bracelets, and traveling. Oh, and I also have something to tell you about Ramadan this year.

My summer class is kinda cacat*. It is called Reader's Theatre. Tomorrow is the last week of it. The play is on Thursday. What we exactly do is we do a play based on a book. It is from 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM. At the end of the day, we get snacks. Wahoo.

The friendship bracelets all started last Sunday. The person who takes us to volunteer at the animal shelter took us to an office and we made friendship bracelets. And today she took us again.

We are going to Dallas this Friday for a class. Our hotel has a stove and the beds are nine minutes apart, driving. We are coming back on Sunday or Monday.

As for Ramadan, Mom has planned something extremely amazing for us to do for Ramadan this year. We are going to study the history of Islam in some countries. We're going to make small mannequins and put clothing on them. Then, on Eid, we might make a pinata and give out treat bags at the masjid!

Catch you later,
N
_______________________________________________
*Cacat is the Malay word for 'lame'. It is pronounced, "Cha-chat."

Five Pictorials...again

I have to make five pictorials again! But this time on quotes, not ayahs. And my reflections on all five. Isn't that a pity?

Probably you wouldn't think so.

Reflections must be a paragraph long.

-Newr-

Jannah is already on its way. Don't do anything that will stop it. Whenever I think of Jannah, I always think of walking on the bridge, and being cleansed before entering Jannah, and all that. So, if Jannah is already as close as your shoelace, better watch out. That's close enough.
I always think of Jannah as a beach, with people frolicking around in their houses.

Isn't this one a beauty? Like I said in the previous reflection, Jannah is already as close as your shoelace. But so is Hellfire. Yikes. I always think I'm going to go to Hellfire, because I'm mean, rude, and spiteful. I know J-Ski and H will immediately agree, but let's push them aside and get on with it.

Keep on making du'a! Allah is shy of the dua of a da'ee. To become a da'ee, just keep making du'a. But be patient.

Another beauty. Treat your parents with love and care and you will be paid back by your kids, only if you're planning to have any. Don't laugh.

You smell! Just kidding. Mukhlisan means to purify yourself, and Mukhlasan means to be praised by someone. So purify yourself, and maybe you'll be praised by somebody.

"Ohh, you're so clean!"

If anybody says that to you, please say that they're smelly. Then tell me that you did that. J-ski and H, you are not involved.

Reflection on Yaseen Ayah #32

Here we are again. I have to write my reflection on an ayah in Surah Yaseen that really struck me.

My Reflection

Whenever I see ayahs like this, I always think of myself standing in a group of millions of naked people, waiting for the Day of Judgement to begin. Then I'll have to walk on the bridge that's as sharp as a sword and thin as a strand of hair. And my mom told me that Allah will show us a kind of a movie of each of our lives. It will display our thoughts and actions. How embarrassing.

Barrier Pictorial

Just made this because I thought my previous one was ugly.
~Newr~

Surah Yaseen Pictorials

I went to a lecture in Phoenix about Surah Yaseen, and my mom suggested that we do pictorials of ayahs in Surah Yaseen. She said we could either make one graphic design, or five pictorials. And you can see what I chose.

Top to Bottom:
Ayah 35
Ayah 59
Ayah 21
Ayah 9
Ayah 11

-Newr-

Eid Al-Adha

On Eid Al-Adha this year, we went to the masjid to pray. Then we ate. I ate a donut. After that we went home and changed our clothes so we could go to the farm. At the farm, we slaughtered four sheep and a ram. There was a nice cat there, a white cat with a ginger muzzle and tail. I think it was partly Siamese. There was a Siamese kitten there, and I think it was the cat's kitten. Anyway, after that we went to visit people. We went to a Singaporian's house. A boy there scared my little brother with a Halloween mask.

The People of Taqwa

Doors

This one's ugly. No yelling.

Seerah - Battle of Tabuk

No Mushrik is allowed at Masjid ul-Haram (Makkah). If you have trust in Allah, He will protect you. If you have taqwa and believe in Allah, He will provide you with rizq that you never expected. Fight those who don't believe in Allah and the Last Day. The battle of Tabuk was the last battle that Rasulullah SAW fought before he died.

Seerah

The Muslims saw a tree that the Mushriks hung their swords on. The Mushriks thought doing that would give them blessings. The Muslims asked Rasulullah SAW if they could have a tree like that too.
Allah promises us ease after difficulty.
Angels are soldiers of Allah.
May Allah put peace and tranquility on Rasulullah SAW and his followers.
someone was going to strike a muslim. A man saw and came behind him and hit him. then he squeezed him and he felt death.
~Newr~

Islamic History

Abdullah bin Masud’s legs were skinny. The sahaba laughed at them. Muhammad said, “Why are you laughing at his legs? They are going to be very heavy on the scale on the Day of Judgement.” I don’t see what’s so funny about skinny legs. It’s better than having big fat legs.
Abu Sufyan was going to become a Muslim. He said, “Ash hadu an La ilaha illa Allah.” Muhammad said, “Say that I am the Messenger of Allah.” Abu Sufyan said, “There is something in my heart that is stopping me to do so.” Someone said, “Abu Sufyan, say it before you get persecuted.” So Abu Sufyan said it.
Newr

Islamic History

Abu Sufyan went to the house of his daughter Umm Habibah. Abu Sufyan saw a rug on the floor and was going to sit on it, but Umm Habibah pulled it away and rolled it up. Abu Sufyan said, "I don't know if that rug is not fit for me, or if I'm not fit for that rug." She said, "This rug belongs to Rasulullah SAW and you are a dirty mushrik!"

Newr

Friday and Saturday Plans

This Friday we're going to the masjid for a bake sale provided by a Muslim Girls' Club. (For more info about the club, please go to muslimaatrus.blogspot.com.) H is selling at the men's side, and Skina, I, and some other people are selling at the womens' side. The proceeds go to Muslims Without Borders or Islamic Relief.
My mom's friend is going to have a baby, so we're planning a baby surprise for her. We're making...a DIAPER cake. *Gag* Some girls are coming to our house to make it. But at the masjid there's also a picnic...sadly I can't go because of the girly diaper cake.
So today my mom is making pandan chiffon cake. I think she's making a red one too, with sirap. And on Monday and Tuesday, she made Chocolate Lemon Biscotti. H is making donuts and malawah.
Skina made a banner for the men's table, I made one for the women's.
Might put pictures up.

Newr