The SNA never recovered from its defeat in the Ogaden War. The battles to retake and then defend the Ogaden stripped the Somali armed forces of many troops, much of their equipment, and their Soviet patron. For the next decade, the SNA sought unsuccessfully to improve its capability by relying on a variety of foreign sources, including the United States. The Ogaden War therefore remains the best example of the SNA's ability to mount and sustain conventional military operations.
Before the Ogaden War, the most striking feature of the 23,000-man SNA had been its large armored force, which was equipped with about 250 T-34 and T-54/T-55 Soviet-built medium tanks and more than 300 armored personnel carriers. This equipment gave the SNA a tank force more than three times as large as Ethiopia's. The prewar SAF also was larger than Ethiopia's air force.
In 1976 the SAF had fifty-two combat aircraft, twenty-four of which were Soviet-built supersonic MiG21s . Facing them was an Ethiopian Air Force (EAF) of thirty-five to forty aircraft. Ethiopia also was in the process of acquiring several United States-built Northrop F-5 fighters from Iran. At the outbreak of fighting, Ethiopia had approximately sixteen F5A /Es.
As chaos spread throughout Ethiopia after Haile Selassie's downfall, Mogadishu increased its support to several pro-Somali liberation groups in the Ogaden, the strongest of which was the WSLF. By late 1975, the WSLF had attacked many Ethiopian outposts in the Ogaden. In June 1977, Addis Ababa accused Mogadishu of committing SNA units to the fighting.
Despite considerable evidence to the contrary, Somalia denied this charge and insisted that only "volunteers" had been given leave from the SNA to fight with the WSLF. By late 1977, the combined WSLF-SNA strength in the Ogaden probably approached 50,000, of which 15,000 appeared to be irregulars.
After the Somali government committed the SNA to the Ogaden, the conflict ceased to be a guerrilla action and assumed the form of a conventional war in which armor, mechanized infantry, and air power played decisive roles. The SNA quickly adapted its organization to battlefield realities. The centralized Somali logistics system controlled supplies at battalion level (600- to 1,000-man units) from Mogadishu, an unwieldy arrangement given Somalia's limited transportation and communications network.
To facilitate operations, the logistics center and headquarters for forces fighting in the northern Ogaden moved to Hargeysa, the SNA's northern sector headquarters. Before the war, all Somali ground forces had been organized into battalions. After the conflict started, however, the standard infantry and mechanized infantry unit became the brigade, composed of two to four battalions and having a total strength of 1,200 to 2,000 personnel.
During the summer of 1977, the SNA-WSLF force achieved several victories but also endured some significant defeats. In July 1977, it captured Gode, on the Shabeelle River about 550 kilometers inside Ethiopia, and won control of 60 percent of the Ogaden. By mid-September 1977, Ethiopia conceded that 90 percent of the Ogaden was in Somali hands.
The SNA suffered two setbacks in August when it tried to capture Dire Dawa and Jijiga. The Ethiopian army inflicted heavy losses on the SNA at Dire Dawa after a Somali attack by one tank battalion and a mechanized infantry brigade supported by artillery units. At Jijiga the Somalis lost more than half of their attacking force of three tank battalions, each of which included more than thirty tanks.
Somalia's greatest victory occurred in mid-September 1977 in the second attempt to take Jijiga, when three tank battalions overwhelmed the Ethiopian garrison. After inflicting some heavy losses on Somali armor, Ethiopian troops mutinied and withdrew from the town, leaving its defense to the militia, which was incapable of slowing the Somali advance.
The Ethiopians retreated beyond the strategic Marda Pass, the strongest defensive position between Jijiga and Harer, leaving the SNA in a commanding position within the region. Despite this success, several factors prevented a Somali victory. Somali tank losses had been heavy in the battles around Dire Dawa and Jijiga. Moreover, because the EAF had established air superiority over the SAF, it could harass overextended Somali supply lines with impunity. The onset of the rainy season hampered such air attacks; however, the bad weather also bogged down Somali reinforcements on the dirt roads.
The Soviet Union's decision to abandon Somalia in favor of Ethiopia eventually turned the tide of battle in the Ogaden. From October 1977 through January 1978, about 20,000 WSLF guerrillas and SNA forces pressed attacks on Harer, where nearly 50,000 Ethiopians had regrouped, backed by Soviet-supplied armor and artillery and gradually reinforced by 11,000 Cubans and 1,500 Soviet advisers. Although it fought its way into Harer in November 1977, the SNA lacked the supplies and manpower to capture the city. Subsequently, the Somalis regrouped outside Harer and awaited an Ethiopian counterattack.
As expected, in early February 1978 Ethiopian and Cuban forces launched a two-stage counterattack toward Jijiga. Unexpectedly, however, a column of Cubans and Ethiopians moving north and east crossed the highlands between Jijiga and the Somali border, bypassing Somali troops dug in around the Marda Pass. Thus, the attacking force was able to assault the Somalis from two sides and recapture Jijiga after two days of fighting in which 3,000 Somali troops lost their lives. Within a week, Ethiopia had retaken all of the Ogaden's major towns. On March 9, 1978, Siad Barre recalled the SNA from Ethiopia.
After the SNA withdrawal, the WSLF reverted to guerrilla tactics. By May 1980, the rebels had established control over a significant portion of the Ogaden. Eventually, Ethiopia defeated the WSLF and the few small SNA units that remained in the region after the Somali pullout. In late 1981, however, reports indicated that the WSLF continued to conduct occasional hit-and- run attacks against Ethiopian targets...
Furthermore, in 1974 Ethiopia's imperial government was headed toward collapse. In September of that year a group of military officers deposed Haile Selassie. Conflict ensued among those responsible for his overthrow, and several insurgent groups sought to secede from the erstwhile empire.
Somalia's military buildup, coincident with the turmoil in Ethiopia, temporarily altered the balance of power between the two countries. In 1976-77 Somalia attempted to take advantage of the situation by supporting a guerrilla campaign by the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF), a pro-Somali liberation group in the Ogaden, to seize the Ogaden from Ethiopia. By the late summer of 1977, Somali armored forces and mechanized infantry supported by aircraft had invaded the Ogaden, capturing 60 percent of the disputed territory within several weeks.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union had started supporting the Marxist-Leninist regime that had emerged in Ethiopia while simultaneously attempting to maintain Somalia as a client state. After its attempts at mediation failed, the Soviet Union decided to abandon Somalia. In August 1977, the Soviet Union suspended arms shipments to Siad Barre's regime and accelerated military deliveries to Ethiopia. Three months later, Somalia renounced the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, expelled all Soviet advisers, broke diplomatic relations with Cuba, and ejected all Soviet personnel from Somalia.
Following Moscow's decision to support Addis Ababa, Ethiopia received massive amounts of Soviet arms. Along with Soviet military advisers, about 15,000 Cuban combat troops also arrived. By early 1978, this aid had turned the tide of war in Ethiopia's favor. By March 9, 1978, when Siad Barre announced the withdrawal of the Somali armed forces from the Ogaden, the Somali military had lost 8,000 men--one-third of the SNA, three-quarters of its armored units, and half of the Somali Air Force (SAF).
For all intents and purposes, Ethiopia's victory during the Ogaden War ended Mogadishu's dream of recreating Greater Somalia. Even before the setback in the Ogaden, Siad Barre had relinquished his claim to Djibouti after 95 percent of the voters in that country indicated a preference for independence over incorporation into Somalia. In 1981 Somali-Kenyan relations improved after Siad Barre visited Nairobi and indicated that his government no longer had any claim to Kenyan territory.
In December 1984, Somalia and Kenya signed a pact that pledged both governments to cease hostilities along their common frontier. Subsequently, the level of insurgent activity along the border was minimal. However, the activities of Somali shiftas, or bandits and ivory poachers and the periodic influx of Somali refugees into Kenya continued to strain relations between Mogadishu and Nairobi.
*****
War in the Ogaden: In Addis Ababa, meanwhile, civilian opposition to the military government erupted in urban civil war. On February 11, 1977, Mengistu Haile Mariam was named head of state and chairman of the ruling military council, and throughout 1977 anarchy reigned in the country as the military suppressed its civilian opponents. During this trauma the Somali chose to attack.
The Somalian president, Maxamed Siyaad Barre, was able to muster 35,000 regulars and 15,000 fighters of the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF). His forces began infiltrating into the Ogaden in May-June 1977, and overt warfare began in July. By September 1977 Mogadishu controlled 90 percent of the Ogaden and had followed retreating Ethiopian forces into non-Somali regions of Harerge, Bale, and Sidamo.
After watching Ethiopian events in 1975-76, the Soviet Union concluded that the revolution would lead to the establishment of an authentic Marxist-Leninist state and that, for geopolitical purposes, it was wise to transfer Soviet interests to Ethiopia. To this end, Moscow secretly promised the Derg military aid on condition that it renounce the alliance with the United States. Mengistu, believing that the Soviet Union's revolutionary history of national reconstruction was in keeping with Ethiopia's political goals, closed down the U.S. military mission and the communications centre in April 1977. In September, Moscow suspended all military aid to the aggressor, began openly to deliver weapons to Addis Ababa, and reassigned military advisers from Somalia to Ethiopia.
This Soviet volte-face also gained Ethiopia important support from North Korea, which trained a People's Militia, and from Cuba and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, which provided infantry, pilots, and armoured units. By March 1978, Ethiopia and its allies regained control over the Ogaden.
Mengistu's government was unable to resolve the Eritrean problem, however, and expended large amounts of wealth and manpower on the conflict while rebellion spread to other parts of Ethiopia. Similarly, Siyaad proved unable to return the Ogaden to Somalian rule, and the people grew restive; in northern Somalia, rebels destroyed administrative centres and took over major towns. Both Ethiopia and Somalia had followed ruinous socialist policies of economic development, and they were unable to surmount droughts and famines that afflicted the Horn during the 1980s. In 1988 Siyaad and Mengistu agreed to withdraw their armies from possible confrontation in the Ogaden.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
A Matter of Pride
A group of Somali ladies walk into a mosque. They are all beautiful physical examples of Muslim women. They are fully covered, some even in face veils with gloves with Jilbabs, Khymars and even abiyas over. They are the perfect picture of Islam.
They make beautiful salat, and even more beautiful recitation. As they are about to leave, one of them looks to a sister who is praying in the masjid and thinks, "So and so should not call herself Muslim, for she does not even wear hijab, except when she comes to masjid."
This woman has harmed herself. Islam is certainly the physical - outward appearance. It is a very valid and significant part of the deen, but it is also the heart and the behavior and the soul. This woman may not have backbitten the woman who was not a muhajibah, because she did not actually say anything, but she has done something much more dangerous, much worse.
Arrogance and pride have affected her. She has allowed the practices that she does, for Allah's sake, to make her feel she is superior or even safe. No one has a guarantee. We do our best to please Allah, but we all have to rely on Allah's Mercy. Also, we can not judge who is going to be saved from the fire. We do not know what Allah will do, so to look down on one who does not practice as we do is arrogance, and we must avoid it. ma garateen walaal
Our Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) observed: He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride shall not enter Paradise.
A person (amongst his hearers) said: Verily a person loves that his dress should be fine, and his shoes should be fine. He (the Prophet) remarked: Verily, Allah is Graceful and He loves Grace. Pride is disdaining the truth (out of self-conceit) and contempt for the people. [Sahih Muslim; 1: #164].
Some of our beloved Prophet's companions (radiAllahu anhum) used to fear so much that they were not doing enough that they would sometimes faint from fear of Allah, while they were spending the nights praying and the days fasting and devoting their lives to Allah. Who are we to think we have a guarantee?
In the previous hadith, Rasul-Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) is clearly warning us that we have no right to look down on one another. No matter what. Even if the person is a sinner, we have no right. Look to the example of the adulterous man being punished. The man had confessed and been stoned to death.
"...Then the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) heard one of his companions saying to another: Look at this man whose fault was concealed by Allah but who would not leave the matter alone, so that he was stoned like a dog.
He said nothing to them but walked on for a time till he came to the corpse of an ass with its legs in the air. He asked: Where are so and so? They said: Here we are, Apostle of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam)! He said: Go down and eat some of this ass's corpse. They replied: Apostle of Allah! Who can eat any of this? He said: The dishonor you have just shown to your brother is more serious than eating some of it. By Him in Whose hand my soul is, he is now among the rivers of Paradise and plunging into them.
Sunan Abu Dawud; 38; # 4414].
Look to this example. The man had committed a major sin. He had confessed to the sin. Yet, his repentance for that sin was sincere. We must not judge others because they sin, for that is for Allah Only. We can give out the punishments that Allah has mandated, and then leave it to Allah to forgive them or not.
We can not decide. We are not privy to what is in the heart. We can talk to the one who is not doing something Islam mandates, like hijab or beard or avoiding music or whatever, but we can not even try to believe that we are better than they are. For we do not know their circumstances or what is in their hearts or even their fates. That is for Allah.
Look to the example of the prostitute [dhilo]. If we had seen her in the street, what would we have thought of her? Yet she was granted Paradise for a small deed she did.
Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) narrated: Allah's Apostle said, "A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave he because of that."
[Sahih al-Bukhari; 4: 54 #538].
We can not be happy with her sins, but we must teach her, maybe punish her, but we should not abuse her, nor should we be certain that we are so much better than her. Furthermore, we should take the time to befriend those who we see committing sins, if we can. The person may simply be ignorant of the correct Islamic practices. We should try to teach them and maybe gain something ourselves from this effort. It may be that this person has something to offer you in the way of goodness.
Let me add, I am constantly shocked by stories of Muslims looking down on others because of factors like race and national origin or because they are poor or even because they are rich. The most problem we are facing as muslims is qabyaalad that destroyed our great country, subxaanalaah
I have seen some Somali women looking down on the convert Americans because, perhaps, they were not virgins before accepting Islam. Yet, many of these same women are stronger in their faith after accepting Islam than the women who look down upon them. I have seen some Pakistani's look down to a Muslim because he is black. Yet this black man is more Allah-fearing than those looking down on him.
I have seen Somali Muslims looking to the rich American muslims and Arabs's and reviling them because they not SEE them giving money to those in need, yet none of us knows what is secretly done by them. We have to stop being so self - righteous. We, as Muslims, are consistently seeking ways to alienate each other, when we should be seeking to help one another Allah says:
"... help one another in goodness and piety, and do not help one another in sin and aggression; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah; surely Allah is severe in requiting (evil)."
[5: 2]
When we are harsh with one another, when we look down on one another, we may be pushing the weaker of us to commit more sin. Think about it. Would you accept advice from one that looks down on you or insults you? Of course not.
We must respect and like someone to take advice from him or her. No matter how bad the actions of the Muslim seem to us, we must never think we are so much better that we have the right to insult or even look down upon anyone. Look to the example of our merciful Prophet:
A Bedouin came and passed urine in one corner of the mosque. The people shouted at him but the Prophet stopped them till he finished urinating. The Prophet ordered them to spill a bucket of water over that place and they did so.
[Sahih al-Bukhari; 1; 4 #221].
The Muslims shouted at him, they were abusive, but the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) in his great mercy and wisdom, knew that this is not the way to teach. My old teacher, Sheekh Ahmed farah, once told me, "Teach, do not preach for the people like explanation, not confrontation." These are wise words.
We need to think about what we think and say so that we can actually help each other, not tear each other down. There is none amongst us who can claim to be perfect. There is none amongst us who can guarantee that he/she will enter Jannah with no trial or punishment. We must not try to usurp the role of Allah by passing judgement on one another.
Pride is dangerous. Look to the caution of rasul-Allah. We have to avoid feeling proud, even of our Islam.
Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, "Allah will not look on the Day of Judgment at him who drags his robe (behind him) out of pride." Abu Bakr said "One side of my robe slacks down unless I get very cautious about it." Allah's Apostle said, "But you do not do that with a pride." [Sahih al-Bukhari; 5, 57 #17].
Pride and arrogance are the tools of Shaytan. When he was told to prostrate to Adam, and he refused, it became his undoing. Allah (awj) says, "And behold, We said to the angels: "Bow down to Adam" and they bowed down. Not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: He was of those who reject Faith."
[2: 34]
Also, if you see this in you, beware of trying to justify yourself. Look to the example of Shaytan and his justifications when Allah questioned him about his refusal to prostrate
He (Allah) said: "What hindered you so that you did not prostrate when I commanded you? He said: I am better than he: You have created me of fire, while him You create of dust. He said: Then get forth from this (state), for it does not befit you to behave proudly therein. Go forth, therefore, surely you are of those degraded."
[7: 12-13]
We can not allow ourselves to fall into this horrible trap from Shaytan. We can not allow ourselves to think we are better, for the sin of pride is great.
Allah says,"And when it is said to him, guard against (the punishment of) Allah; pride carries him off to sin, therefore hell is sufficient for him; and certainly it is an evil resting place."[2: 206]
So, my Somali brothers and sisters: Next time you see someone who is doing wrong, either in appearance or action, think twice before you think you are better. ma garateen walaalyaal.
Go to the person, if you can, with friendship and gentleness. Advise. Do not assume the worst. Give him or her seventy excuses for the sin, and try to help him/her to understand the evil involved.
Do not expect a change. Just advise. Leave any changes to Allah. The person may get angry or try to dispute with you. Do not fall to this trick of Shaytan. Just leave him/her with the evidences from Allah's book and the authentic sunnah, and let it be. It is for them to accept or reject, and your job will be done. But do not leave them thinking yourself superior.
Also, next time you see someone from another culture or background, do not judge them based on your preconceived notions about that group. See the individual. Talk to him/her. It may be that they will have some advice that will benefit you. It may be that while you may dress more Islamicly, they have better Islamic manners than you do.
Do not assume that because you look more like a Muslim that you are the better Muslim. This pride and haughtiness you feel, may be your undoing. Fear Allah, brothers and sisters. Fear Allah, and give each Muslim his due.
As I have said many times before, the most evil and wretched amongst us is better than the best of the non-Muslims, and it is our job to advise each other to bring each other up from the darkness and filth of sin to the light and cleanliness of obeying Allah.
O Allah make us love one another.
O Allah, make us help one another.
O Allah prevent us from hurting one another.
O Allah make us truly brothers and sisters.
Make us one body, one heart.
Ameen.
They make beautiful salat, and even more beautiful recitation. As they are about to leave, one of them looks to a sister who is praying in the masjid and thinks, "So and so should not call herself Muslim, for she does not even wear hijab, except when she comes to masjid."
This woman has harmed herself. Islam is certainly the physical - outward appearance. It is a very valid and significant part of the deen, but it is also the heart and the behavior and the soul. This woman may not have backbitten the woman who was not a muhajibah, because she did not actually say anything, but she has done something much more dangerous, much worse.
Arrogance and pride have affected her. She has allowed the practices that she does, for Allah's sake, to make her feel she is superior or even safe. No one has a guarantee. We do our best to please Allah, but we all have to rely on Allah's Mercy. Also, we can not judge who is going to be saved from the fire. We do not know what Allah will do, so to look down on one who does not practice as we do is arrogance, and we must avoid it. ma garateen walaal
Our Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) observed: He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride shall not enter Paradise.
A person (amongst his hearers) said: Verily a person loves that his dress should be fine, and his shoes should be fine. He (the Prophet) remarked: Verily, Allah is Graceful and He loves Grace. Pride is disdaining the truth (out of self-conceit) and contempt for the people. [Sahih Muslim; 1: #164].
Some of our beloved Prophet's companions (radiAllahu anhum) used to fear so much that they were not doing enough that they would sometimes faint from fear of Allah, while they were spending the nights praying and the days fasting and devoting their lives to Allah. Who are we to think we have a guarantee?
In the previous hadith, Rasul-Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) is clearly warning us that we have no right to look down on one another. No matter what. Even if the person is a sinner, we have no right. Look to the example of the adulterous man being punished. The man had confessed and been stoned to death.
"...Then the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) heard one of his companions saying to another: Look at this man whose fault was concealed by Allah but who would not leave the matter alone, so that he was stoned like a dog.
He said nothing to them but walked on for a time till he came to the corpse of an ass with its legs in the air. He asked: Where are so and so? They said: Here we are, Apostle of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam)! He said: Go down and eat some of this ass's corpse. They replied: Apostle of Allah! Who can eat any of this? He said: The dishonor you have just shown to your brother is more serious than eating some of it. By Him in Whose hand my soul is, he is now among the rivers of Paradise and plunging into them.
Sunan Abu Dawud; 38; # 4414].
Look to this example. The man had committed a major sin. He had confessed to the sin. Yet, his repentance for that sin was sincere. We must not judge others because they sin, for that is for Allah Only. We can give out the punishments that Allah has mandated, and then leave it to Allah to forgive them or not.
We can not decide. We are not privy to what is in the heart. We can talk to the one who is not doing something Islam mandates, like hijab or beard or avoiding music or whatever, but we can not even try to believe that we are better than they are. For we do not know their circumstances or what is in their hearts or even their fates. That is for Allah.
Look to the example of the prostitute [dhilo]. If we had seen her in the street, what would we have thought of her? Yet she was granted Paradise for a small deed she did.
Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) narrated: Allah's Apostle said, "A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave he because of that."
[Sahih al-Bukhari; 4: 54 #538].
We can not be happy with her sins, but we must teach her, maybe punish her, but we should not abuse her, nor should we be certain that we are so much better than her. Furthermore, we should take the time to befriend those who we see committing sins, if we can. The person may simply be ignorant of the correct Islamic practices. We should try to teach them and maybe gain something ourselves from this effort. It may be that this person has something to offer you in the way of goodness.
Let me add, I am constantly shocked by stories of Muslims looking down on others because of factors like race and national origin or because they are poor or even because they are rich. The most problem we are facing as muslims is qabyaalad that destroyed our great country, subxaanalaah
I have seen some Somali women looking down on the convert Americans because, perhaps, they were not virgins before accepting Islam. Yet, many of these same women are stronger in their faith after accepting Islam than the women who look down upon them. I have seen some Pakistani's look down to a Muslim because he is black. Yet this black man is more Allah-fearing than those looking down on him.
I have seen Somali Muslims looking to the rich American muslims and Arabs's and reviling them because they not SEE them giving money to those in need, yet none of us knows what is secretly done by them. We have to stop being so self - righteous. We, as Muslims, are consistently seeking ways to alienate each other, when we should be seeking to help one another Allah says:
"... help one another in goodness and piety, and do not help one another in sin and aggression; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah; surely Allah is severe in requiting (evil)."
[5: 2]
When we are harsh with one another, when we look down on one another, we may be pushing the weaker of us to commit more sin. Think about it. Would you accept advice from one that looks down on you or insults you? Of course not.
We must respect and like someone to take advice from him or her. No matter how bad the actions of the Muslim seem to us, we must never think we are so much better that we have the right to insult or even look down upon anyone. Look to the example of our merciful Prophet:
A Bedouin came and passed urine in one corner of the mosque. The people shouted at him but the Prophet stopped them till he finished urinating. The Prophet ordered them to spill a bucket of water over that place and they did so.
[Sahih al-Bukhari; 1; 4 #221].
The Muslims shouted at him, they were abusive, but the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) in his great mercy and wisdom, knew that this is not the way to teach. My old teacher, Sheekh Ahmed farah, once told me, "Teach, do not preach for the people like explanation, not confrontation." These are wise words.
We need to think about what we think and say so that we can actually help each other, not tear each other down. There is none amongst us who can claim to be perfect. There is none amongst us who can guarantee that he/she will enter Jannah with no trial or punishment. We must not try to usurp the role of Allah by passing judgement on one another.
Pride is dangerous. Look to the caution of rasul-Allah. We have to avoid feeling proud, even of our Islam.
Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, "Allah will not look on the Day of Judgment at him who drags his robe (behind him) out of pride." Abu Bakr said "One side of my robe slacks down unless I get very cautious about it." Allah's Apostle said, "But you do not do that with a pride." [Sahih al-Bukhari; 5, 57 #17].
Pride and arrogance are the tools of Shaytan. When he was told to prostrate to Adam, and he refused, it became his undoing. Allah (awj) says, "And behold, We said to the angels: "Bow down to Adam" and they bowed down. Not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: He was of those who reject Faith."
[2: 34]
Also, if you see this in you, beware of trying to justify yourself. Look to the example of Shaytan and his justifications when Allah questioned him about his refusal to prostrate
He (Allah) said: "What hindered you so that you did not prostrate when I commanded you? He said: I am better than he: You have created me of fire, while him You create of dust. He said: Then get forth from this (state), for it does not befit you to behave proudly therein. Go forth, therefore, surely you are of those degraded."
[7: 12-13]
We can not allow ourselves to fall into this horrible trap from Shaytan. We can not allow ourselves to think we are better, for the sin of pride is great.
Allah says,"And when it is said to him, guard against (the punishment of) Allah; pride carries him off to sin, therefore hell is sufficient for him; and certainly it is an evil resting place."[2: 206]
So, my Somali brothers and sisters: Next time you see someone who is doing wrong, either in appearance or action, think twice before you think you are better. ma garateen walaalyaal.
Go to the person, if you can, with friendship and gentleness. Advise. Do not assume the worst. Give him or her seventy excuses for the sin, and try to help him/her to understand the evil involved.
Do not expect a change. Just advise. Leave any changes to Allah. The person may get angry or try to dispute with you. Do not fall to this trick of Shaytan. Just leave him/her with the evidences from Allah's book and the authentic sunnah, and let it be. It is for them to accept or reject, and your job will be done. But do not leave them thinking yourself superior.
Also, next time you see someone from another culture or background, do not judge them based on your preconceived notions about that group. See the individual. Talk to him/her. It may be that they will have some advice that will benefit you. It may be that while you may dress more Islamicly, they have better Islamic manners than you do.
Do not assume that because you look more like a Muslim that you are the better Muslim. This pride and haughtiness you feel, may be your undoing. Fear Allah, brothers and sisters. Fear Allah, and give each Muslim his due.
As I have said many times before, the most evil and wretched amongst us is better than the best of the non-Muslims, and it is our job to advise each other to bring each other up from the darkness and filth of sin to the light and cleanliness of obeying Allah.
O Allah make us love one another.
O Allah, make us help one another.
O Allah prevent us from hurting one another.
O Allah make us truly brothers and sisters.
Make us one body, one heart.
Ameen.
Copying With Problems
Who does not have problems? Bal Farta taag dee. Problems are a part of life. If it were not for distance and separation, people would never know the joy of meeting and reunion. If it were not for poverty, people would not know wealth. And if it were not for sorrow, people would not know joy. dhib iyo raaxo ma kala haraan dee
In this manner, Allah has permitted the world to be a place of passage, where pleasure is accompanied by pain and laughter by tears, a world where the degree and severity of suffering is commensurate to the degree of happiness a person feels when that suffering goes away. soo run ma ahan dee
Every home has its problems, as does every office, corporation, and country. Every soul is afflicted with its own inner problems. When a person knows that his own self does not comply with what he wants from it and does not fulfill his expectations, and that it often shames him and disappoints him unbearably, then what can he possibly expect from others?
What can he hope to expect from the difficulties that arise from social interactions, whether they occur within a family setting, or among neighbors, or between colleagues and business partners, or with those who he meets on the road?
In spite of all this, the goodness, companionship, and human welfare that social interactions bring about can never be attained by a person who lives in isolation. The evils brought about by seclusion are far greater than the discomfort that comes from dealing with others.
How many people have tried to solve their problems by cutting off their dealings with others and going into seclusion? They seek to treat their ailments with something that is a sickness itself. They wind up longing to return to the very circumstances that they had so much detested before.
A woman feels that she can not stand to live with her husband's behavior [oo ah nin dabeecad xun] any more and sees divorce as the only solution. Then when she gets what she wants, she feels like she is going to die of loneliness and starts to think of a way to undo what she had done. it is too late abaayo miskiin dheh.
An employee feels he can not bear his job any longer so he quits his job. After a while, though, he starts looking for people to intercede on his behalf as he repeatedly tries to get his job back.
This is why it is not sensible to hastily resort to severing ties, thinking that this is going to get to the root of the problem and make it just go away. This course of action can possibly cause much more suffering than before.
Specialists in problem management have set down the following practical steps for dealing with one's problems. These steps can be summarized as follows:
1. Perceiving and recognizing the problem.
2. Defining the problem correctly.
3. Research, examination, and fact finding, with a focus on pinpointing causes.
4. Setting down alternatives and options, then evaluating them and weighing their pros and cons.
5. Determining the option that will provide the best solution to the problem.
These steps can only be put into practice by a person who can approach his problems with a calm, level head. Reactions that are spontaneous and overemotional only serve to cloud a person's judgment, making it seem that the only solution is to completely divorce oneself from the source of the problem and with everything that in any way relates to it.
The problem could actually come from the deep within a person's character or personal history and cannot be simply shrugged off. It could also come from unavoidable circumstances outside of that person's control.
Often we besiege ourselves with problems and difficulties. This is not to say that those problems are not real. They definitely are. But we often have many good ways of getting around them. We do not have to dwell on them. We need to seek the help of Allah and cling hard to the firm handhold that He provides, repeating the words: "You alone we worship and You alone we beseech for help."
[surah al-Fatihah]
One of the supplications that the Prophets of old used to make goes as follows:
"O Allah! Yours is the praise. You are the one whose help we seek. You are the one on whom we rely. Yours is the aid that we seek. There is no might and no strength except with Allah, the High and Mighty."
We can look at our problems as they really are and strive to get rid of them or at least minimize them, without letting them suffocate us or hold us back. Our problems must not make us stop working and living productive lives. We can also defer some problems that we cannot solve at the present time and wait for Allah, in whose hands rest all affairs, to relieve us of them
It is related from Ibn Mas'ud that Allah's Messenger (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said:
"The best form of worship is to wait for relief."
At the same time, there can be no doubt that expecting relief from Allah is a form of worship, since it is part of being patient. This brings to our attention an important yet often overlooked fact - that many problems can be solved, but not by jumping ahead of things. They must be approached one step at a time.
Haste can lead to making our problems more deeply entrenched than they were before. Sometimes the best solution is to postpone action and be patient until the right opportunity comes along for a solution to be sought.
Patience ama samir, then, is necessary in all cases. Therefore, we have been encouraged - actually commanded - to be patient. The word patience, in all of its morphological forms, comes in the Qur'an about 103 times.
Without patience to beautify our deeds, our efforts come to nothing. This is what Umar (radiAllahu anhu) meant when he said: "We found the best of our lives in patience."
[Sahih al-Bukhari #6104]
We can solve some problems with Allah's help, and we can minimize others. As for those problems for which we cannot find a solution, we can do our best to accommodate them. If a person were to take a small square, no bigger than the palm of his hand, and place it right in front of his eye, that small square would completely block his vision.
The same thing can be said of problems when we make them larger than they actually are and give over to them a good share of our lives, thoughts, and feelings so they become a serious impediment to our moving forward and living productively.
The classical Arabian poet Mutanabbih writes:
The eye of a small person makes small things look large
And the eye of a great person makes great calamities look small.
And When a man grows accustomed to dwelling in the fear of death
Its arrival becomes the easiest possible event.
Without the least doubt, a person is going to face difficulties from his family, sometimes because they are worried about him, and sometimes because they are angry with him for violating their norms and customs, and sometimes because they love him, as love can bring about its own stresses.
He is going to face difficulties from society, from his school or university, from his job, and from the people he chooses to interact with. Moreover, he is going to have to deal with difficulties emanating from within himself. Within him will be tendencies pulling him to do good and others pulling him to do evil. It will be as if his own inner condition is saying to him: "Why is it that I call you to salvation, yet you call me to the Fire?"
At the same time, this person, by way of supplication ama duco badan, devotion in prayer, and humility, will find Allah's help and support, and Allah will bless him the strength of will that he needs. He will also find help and support from his believing brethren who follow the same path.
Even when a problem springs from the inner depths of our being, we still must not let it bring us down. We must start afresh, take an assessment of our injuries, and bring our scattered wishes together. Then we must keep our eyes on the future instead of always looking back.
Is not Allah the one who is Oft Forgiving and accepts our repentance? Are not we human beings all prone to error? Our hearts can be cleansed with the knowledge that Allah is forgiving and by keeping hope before us.
We must leave our vanities and base passions aside so they will not kill our souls. A believer takes refuge in his Lord and keeps the company of people who will help him overcome the obstacles along the way and help him to strengthen his resolve and his commitment. If he pulls himself up every time he stumbles, he will surely arrive.
My Somali brothers and sisters let's be patient and stick with Allah subhana watacaalaa and ask His help and forgiveness when we face problems that we cannot easily. May allah show us the right path and help us overcome all the problems we face day in day out. Ameen.
In this manner, Allah has permitted the world to be a place of passage, where pleasure is accompanied by pain and laughter by tears, a world where the degree and severity of suffering is commensurate to the degree of happiness a person feels when that suffering goes away. soo run ma ahan dee
Every home has its problems, as does every office, corporation, and country. Every soul is afflicted with its own inner problems. When a person knows that his own self does not comply with what he wants from it and does not fulfill his expectations, and that it often shames him and disappoints him unbearably, then what can he possibly expect from others?
What can he hope to expect from the difficulties that arise from social interactions, whether they occur within a family setting, or among neighbors, or between colleagues and business partners, or with those who he meets on the road?
In spite of all this, the goodness, companionship, and human welfare that social interactions bring about can never be attained by a person who lives in isolation. The evils brought about by seclusion are far greater than the discomfort that comes from dealing with others.
How many people have tried to solve their problems by cutting off their dealings with others and going into seclusion? They seek to treat their ailments with something that is a sickness itself. They wind up longing to return to the very circumstances that they had so much detested before.
A woman feels that she can not stand to live with her husband's behavior [oo ah nin dabeecad xun] any more and sees divorce as the only solution. Then when she gets what she wants, she feels like she is going to die of loneliness and starts to think of a way to undo what she had done. it is too late abaayo miskiin dheh.
An employee feels he can not bear his job any longer so he quits his job. After a while, though, he starts looking for people to intercede on his behalf as he repeatedly tries to get his job back.
This is why it is not sensible to hastily resort to severing ties, thinking that this is going to get to the root of the problem and make it just go away. This course of action can possibly cause much more suffering than before.
Specialists in problem management have set down the following practical steps for dealing with one's problems. These steps can be summarized as follows:
1. Perceiving and recognizing the problem.
2. Defining the problem correctly.
3. Research, examination, and fact finding, with a focus on pinpointing causes.
4. Setting down alternatives and options, then evaluating them and weighing their pros and cons.
5. Determining the option that will provide the best solution to the problem.
These steps can only be put into practice by a person who can approach his problems with a calm, level head. Reactions that are spontaneous and overemotional only serve to cloud a person's judgment, making it seem that the only solution is to completely divorce oneself from the source of the problem and with everything that in any way relates to it.
The problem could actually come from the deep within a person's character or personal history and cannot be simply shrugged off. It could also come from unavoidable circumstances outside of that person's control.
Often we besiege ourselves with problems and difficulties. This is not to say that those problems are not real. They definitely are. But we often have many good ways of getting around them. We do not have to dwell on them. We need to seek the help of Allah and cling hard to the firm handhold that He provides, repeating the words: "You alone we worship and You alone we beseech for help."
[surah al-Fatihah]
One of the supplications that the Prophets of old used to make goes as follows:
"O Allah! Yours is the praise. You are the one whose help we seek. You are the one on whom we rely. Yours is the aid that we seek. There is no might and no strength except with Allah, the High and Mighty."
We can look at our problems as they really are and strive to get rid of them or at least minimize them, without letting them suffocate us or hold us back. Our problems must not make us stop working and living productive lives. We can also defer some problems that we cannot solve at the present time and wait for Allah, in whose hands rest all affairs, to relieve us of them
It is related from Ibn Mas'ud that Allah's Messenger (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said:
"The best form of worship is to wait for relief."
At the same time, there can be no doubt that expecting relief from Allah is a form of worship, since it is part of being patient. This brings to our attention an important yet often overlooked fact - that many problems can be solved, but not by jumping ahead of things. They must be approached one step at a time.
Haste can lead to making our problems more deeply entrenched than they were before. Sometimes the best solution is to postpone action and be patient until the right opportunity comes along for a solution to be sought.
Patience ama samir, then, is necessary in all cases. Therefore, we have been encouraged - actually commanded - to be patient. The word patience, in all of its morphological forms, comes in the Qur'an about 103 times.
Without patience to beautify our deeds, our efforts come to nothing. This is what Umar (radiAllahu anhu) meant when he said: "We found the best of our lives in patience."
[Sahih al-Bukhari #6104]
We can solve some problems with Allah's help, and we can minimize others. As for those problems for which we cannot find a solution, we can do our best to accommodate them. If a person were to take a small square, no bigger than the palm of his hand, and place it right in front of his eye, that small square would completely block his vision.
The same thing can be said of problems when we make them larger than they actually are and give over to them a good share of our lives, thoughts, and feelings so they become a serious impediment to our moving forward and living productively.
The classical Arabian poet Mutanabbih writes:
The eye of a small person makes small things look large
And the eye of a great person makes great calamities look small.
And When a man grows accustomed to dwelling in the fear of death
Its arrival becomes the easiest possible event.
Without the least doubt, a person is going to face difficulties from his family, sometimes because they are worried about him, and sometimes because they are angry with him for violating their norms and customs, and sometimes because they love him, as love can bring about its own stresses.
He is going to face difficulties from society, from his school or university, from his job, and from the people he chooses to interact with. Moreover, he is going to have to deal with difficulties emanating from within himself. Within him will be tendencies pulling him to do good and others pulling him to do evil. It will be as if his own inner condition is saying to him: "Why is it that I call you to salvation, yet you call me to the Fire?"
At the same time, this person, by way of supplication ama duco badan, devotion in prayer, and humility, will find Allah's help and support, and Allah will bless him the strength of will that he needs. He will also find help and support from his believing brethren who follow the same path.
Even when a problem springs from the inner depths of our being, we still must not let it bring us down. We must start afresh, take an assessment of our injuries, and bring our scattered wishes together. Then we must keep our eyes on the future instead of always looking back.
Is not Allah the one who is Oft Forgiving and accepts our repentance? Are not we human beings all prone to error? Our hearts can be cleansed with the knowledge that Allah is forgiving and by keeping hope before us.
We must leave our vanities and base passions aside so they will not kill our souls. A believer takes refuge in his Lord and keeps the company of people who will help him overcome the obstacles along the way and help him to strengthen his resolve and his commitment. If he pulls himself up every time he stumbles, he will surely arrive.
My Somali brothers and sisters let's be patient and stick with Allah subhana watacaalaa and ask His help and forgiveness when we face problems that we cannot easily. May allah show us the right path and help us overcome all the problems we face day in day out. Ameen.
Bad Company
Have you ever thought about the people you hang around i.e. your friends (your homees!). Who are they? You may well ask why should I question the people who I associate with! Well the answer is really quite simple. Your friends play an important part of your life. They can influence you, make you do things that you'd probably never have dreamt of doing before, and they can affect your lifestyle too. There is a well known proverb which goes "show me your friends and I will tell you what you are".
Who are your friends ama saaxiibadaa? Are they druggies, clubbers, drinkers and drunkards, fornicators, adulterers, gamblers etc? What ambitions do they have in life? Where are they heading? The answer may be "So what? I don’t really care who they are as long as we have a good time."
Getting to the Point
Your friends are your friends for a reason, whether this be because of your money, who you are (your status), because they are alone or they see you as someone who knows how to enjoy himself, or perhaps they want a ‘joke and some coke’.
The Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said: "You are in your friends' religion. Therefore you should note with whom you are making friends".
As Muslims our aim in life is different from the rest, we want to get into paradise and to guard ourselves from Hell. We are here to worship and obey Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala). Allah Ta'ala has placed upon us an honourable duty, which is to be the leaders of the world by spreading the message of Islam.
Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) says in the Qur'an: "You are the best community evolved for mankind, you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and you believe in Allah."
[surah ali' Imran; 3:109]
Our friends and company could either be an obstacle in our way by being helpers in our downfall to Hell, or they could be a source of help and support by making it easier for us to reach Paradise, which is the true life, the eternal life and a life full of enjoyment.
Allah says in the Qur'an: "On the day when the wrongdoer gnaws his hands, he will say; Ah! would that I had chosen the straight way with the messenger of Allah! Alas for me! Would that I had never taken such one for a friend! He verily led me astray from the reminder after it had reached me. Satan was ever the deserter of man."
[surah Furqan; 27-29]
Choosing Your Friends
If your aim was to be an athlete, a sports personality, then you would try to be with people who also want to become athletes or those who are already athletes. You would learn from them, train with them, go to the sport center and even hang around with them, in fact you would try to do all that you can to achieve your goal.
Similarly as Muslims our goal is Paradise and not Hell. Therefore it only seems logical that we should try to arrange our life and activities to be around those who also share the same goal and at the same time stay away from those who have chosen another way, those who are forgetful, wicked and commit sins. A true friend shows you success in this world and the hereafter whereas a misguided friend is trickery and cunning.
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) has given us some advice when choosing friends: The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) was asked: "Who is the person that can be the best friend"! He replied: "He who helps you when you remember God and reminds you when you forget him". He was then asked: "and which friend is the worst?" To which he replied: >"He who does not help you when you remember God and does not remind you when you forget Him".
How many of your friends remind you to pray when you’re busy with work or just playing? How many of your friends make you forget Allah and take you away from Him by keeping you occupied with something or asking you to indulge in a sinful act: "let’s go and checkout the club bro! ... let’s take some weed". These friends are not your real friends; they will desert you when you are in need.
Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) says: "Friends on that day will be enemies to each other except those who kept their duty (to Allah). O my slaves! For you there is no fear this day nor shall you grieve"
[surah Zukhruf:67-68]
Friends are those who love you not for who you are or what you have but purely for Allah. Those who are with you in times of happiness and also in sadness. They help you in preference to themselves.
Umar ibn Al-Khattab (radiAllahu anhu) states that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said: "There will be some slaves of Allah who will be neither from the prophets or martyrs but on account of their high position before Allah the prophets and martyrs will envy them.
The people asked who will these be? The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) replied those persons who loved each other for the pleasure of Allah Ta'ala even though there was no blood relation, they give their wealth to one another. By God, from their faces light will shine and they will be riding the light. When the people will be shuddering with fear, they will have no fear and when the people will be sad they will have no sorrow."[Abu Dawud]
Who are your friends ama saaxiibadaa? Are they druggies, clubbers, drinkers and drunkards, fornicators, adulterers, gamblers etc? What ambitions do they have in life? Where are they heading? The answer may be "So what? I don’t really care who they are as long as we have a good time."
Getting to the Point
Your friends are your friends for a reason, whether this be because of your money, who you are (your status), because they are alone or they see you as someone who knows how to enjoy himself, or perhaps they want a ‘joke and some coke’.
The Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said: "You are in your friends' religion. Therefore you should note with whom you are making friends".
As Muslims our aim in life is different from the rest, we want to get into paradise and to guard ourselves from Hell. We are here to worship and obey Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala). Allah Ta'ala has placed upon us an honourable duty, which is to be the leaders of the world by spreading the message of Islam.
Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) says in the Qur'an: "You are the best community evolved for mankind, you enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and you believe in Allah."
[surah ali' Imran; 3:109]
Our friends and company could either be an obstacle in our way by being helpers in our downfall to Hell, or they could be a source of help and support by making it easier for us to reach Paradise, which is the true life, the eternal life and a life full of enjoyment.
Allah says in the Qur'an: "On the day when the wrongdoer gnaws his hands, he will say; Ah! would that I had chosen the straight way with the messenger of Allah! Alas for me! Would that I had never taken such one for a friend! He verily led me astray from the reminder after it had reached me. Satan was ever the deserter of man."
[surah Furqan; 27-29]
Choosing Your Friends
If your aim was to be an athlete, a sports personality, then you would try to be with people who also want to become athletes or those who are already athletes. You would learn from them, train with them, go to the sport center and even hang around with them, in fact you would try to do all that you can to achieve your goal.
Similarly as Muslims our goal is Paradise and not Hell. Therefore it only seems logical that we should try to arrange our life and activities to be around those who also share the same goal and at the same time stay away from those who have chosen another way, those who are forgetful, wicked and commit sins. A true friend shows you success in this world and the hereafter whereas a misguided friend is trickery and cunning.
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) has given us some advice when choosing friends: The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) was asked: "Who is the person that can be the best friend"! He replied: "He who helps you when you remember God and reminds you when you forget him". He was then asked: "and which friend is the worst?" To which he replied: >"He who does not help you when you remember God and does not remind you when you forget Him".
How many of your friends remind you to pray when you’re busy with work or just playing? How many of your friends make you forget Allah and take you away from Him by keeping you occupied with something or asking you to indulge in a sinful act: "let’s go and checkout the club bro! ... let’s take some weed". These friends are not your real friends; they will desert you when you are in need.
Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) says: "Friends on that day will be enemies to each other except those who kept their duty (to Allah). O my slaves! For you there is no fear this day nor shall you grieve"
[surah Zukhruf:67-68]
Friends are those who love you not for who you are or what you have but purely for Allah. Those who are with you in times of happiness and also in sadness. They help you in preference to themselves.
Umar ibn Al-Khattab (radiAllahu anhu) states that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said: "There will be some slaves of Allah who will be neither from the prophets or martyrs but on account of their high position before Allah the prophets and martyrs will envy them.
The people asked who will these be? The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) replied those persons who loved each other for the pleasure of Allah Ta'ala even though there was no blood relation, they give their wealth to one another. By God, from their faces light will shine and they will be riding the light. When the people will be shuddering with fear, they will have no fear and when the people will be sad they will have no sorrow."[Abu Dawud]
Let us Forgive and Forget
Do you hate someone? Do you really hate someone? You haven't spoken to him for a while? You've been blaming him? You're not the only one; the Muslim Ummah today is diseased with this to the extent that almost every Muslim knows another Muslim who he hates. The Ummah is like a building with the Muslims as it's bricks, brotherhood is the cement. Without forgiveness you cannot have brotherhood.
OK then, he wronged you. He deceived you. He backbited you. He lied to you. But even in these extreme situations the Qur'an and the Hadith teach us that we have to forgive others (especially those who hurt us the most) if we wish to earn the forgiveness of Allah on the day of judgement.
We have all committed many sins, made many mistakes and no doubt we have wronged others, we have deceived others, we have backbited others and no doubt we have lied to others. So what makes us focus onto brothers' and sisters' errors while we remain unconscious of our own. Not to forgive is like to live in arrogance, and ignorance of our own shortcomings.
Forgiveness is linked with piety and God-consciousness, is there anybody who is not without sin? Is there anybody who can be arrogant enough to say that he does not need to forgive? Do we not know that Allah forgives those who forgive others? Therefore, we should realise the difficulties of others and forgive them.
Allah says in the Qur'an: "Be quick in the forgiveness from your Lord, and pardon (all) men - for Allah loves those who do good."[Surah ali Imran; 3:133-134]
And we know that Allah Himself is Ar-Rahmaan (the Most Compassionate) and Ar-Raheem (the Most Merciful) and that His Mercy is infinite, and that no matter the sin (except shirk) Allah is always willing to answer the person's call for forgiveness. In fact Allah loves the tear drop that falls from the eye of one who sincerely seeks the forgiveness of his Lord.
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) once asked his companions; "Do you know what will cause you to have high walled palaces in Paradise (as a symbol of great reward) and will cause you to be raised by God?" When they replied in the negative, he said,
"To be forgiving and to control yourself in the face of provocation, to give justice to the person who was unfair and unjust to you, to give to someone even though he did not give to you when you were in need and to keep connection with someone who may not have reciprocated your concern."
Similarly the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said that the best of people are those who are slow to get angry and quick to forgive. On the other hand the worst of people are those, he said who get angry quickly but are slow to forgive.
The characteristic that makes a person most likely to forgive is the purity of his or her heart. Apologies must be accepted, the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said that: "Whoever apologises to his brother and that apology is not accepted, then the person who refuses to accept the apology bears the sin of one who takes the property of another unjustly.
And the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) also said that:"The doors of the Garden are open on Monday and Thursday. Every Muslim slave who does not associate anything with Allah is forgiven except for the man who has enmity between him and his brother. It is said, 'Leave those two until they have made a reconciliation. Leave those two until they have made a reconciliation.'"
If we look at the example and the character of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) we can see that he was always forgiving and never showed enmity to anyone except those who waged war against him.
There was an old lady who used to throw rubbish in his way every day, on one occasion she did not throw rubbish in the street, so he decided to go and see what was the matter. She was ill in bed, to her amazement, the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) came to see her and find out about her.
She accepted Islam. This is the example of the man whom we claim to follow. Thumamah, as the chief of his tribe had killed many Muslims. On his travels, he was caught by the Muslim soldiers and was taken to the Prophet's masjid and tied to one of the pillars. The Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) commanded his companions to untie him and give him the best food.
The Messenger of God (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) was indeed a mercy for the worlds. We should similarly be merciful with each other. First of all, we ourselves should not do anything to upset our brothers and sisters (because this is in itself a part of mercy) and then we should forgive those who have upset us or made us angry. We will never be a strong ummah if we are not able to forgive walaalaheena
Some might say that to forgive is a sign of weakness and humiliation, and for them it is better to be strong and preserve their honor. But honor in the eyes of Allah lies in forgiveness.
"But indeed if any shows patience and forgives that would truly be an exercise of courageous will and resolution in the conduct of affairs."
[surah 42:43]
If we are to be really strong then we have to be strong against Shaytaan and forgive our brothers and sisters, and in this way maybe Allah will decide insha-Allah to forgive ourselves for our many mistakes." ...honour in the eyes of Allah lies in forgiveness....."
OK then, he wronged you. He deceived you. He backbited you. He lied to you. But even in these extreme situations the Qur'an and the Hadith teach us that we have to forgive others (especially those who hurt us the most) if we wish to earn the forgiveness of Allah on the day of judgement.
We have all committed many sins, made many mistakes and no doubt we have wronged others, we have deceived others, we have backbited others and no doubt we have lied to others. So what makes us focus onto brothers' and sisters' errors while we remain unconscious of our own. Not to forgive is like to live in arrogance, and ignorance of our own shortcomings.
Forgiveness is linked with piety and God-consciousness, is there anybody who is not without sin? Is there anybody who can be arrogant enough to say that he does not need to forgive? Do we not know that Allah forgives those who forgive others? Therefore, we should realise the difficulties of others and forgive them.
Allah says in the Qur'an: "Be quick in the forgiveness from your Lord, and pardon (all) men - for Allah loves those who do good."[Surah ali Imran; 3:133-134]
And we know that Allah Himself is Ar-Rahmaan (the Most Compassionate) and Ar-Raheem (the Most Merciful) and that His Mercy is infinite, and that no matter the sin (except shirk) Allah is always willing to answer the person's call for forgiveness. In fact Allah loves the tear drop that falls from the eye of one who sincerely seeks the forgiveness of his Lord.
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) once asked his companions; "Do you know what will cause you to have high walled palaces in Paradise (as a symbol of great reward) and will cause you to be raised by God?" When they replied in the negative, he said,
"To be forgiving and to control yourself in the face of provocation, to give justice to the person who was unfair and unjust to you, to give to someone even though he did not give to you when you were in need and to keep connection with someone who may not have reciprocated your concern."
Similarly the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said that the best of people are those who are slow to get angry and quick to forgive. On the other hand the worst of people are those, he said who get angry quickly but are slow to forgive.
The characteristic that makes a person most likely to forgive is the purity of his or her heart. Apologies must be accepted, the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said that: "Whoever apologises to his brother and that apology is not accepted, then the person who refuses to accept the apology bears the sin of one who takes the property of another unjustly.
And the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) also said that:"The doors of the Garden are open on Monday and Thursday. Every Muslim slave who does not associate anything with Allah is forgiven except for the man who has enmity between him and his brother. It is said, 'Leave those two until they have made a reconciliation. Leave those two until they have made a reconciliation.'"
If we look at the example and the character of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) we can see that he was always forgiving and never showed enmity to anyone except those who waged war against him.
There was an old lady who used to throw rubbish in his way every day, on one occasion she did not throw rubbish in the street, so he decided to go and see what was the matter. She was ill in bed, to her amazement, the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) came to see her and find out about her.
She accepted Islam. This is the example of the man whom we claim to follow. Thumamah, as the chief of his tribe had killed many Muslims. On his travels, he was caught by the Muslim soldiers and was taken to the Prophet's masjid and tied to one of the pillars. The Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) commanded his companions to untie him and give him the best food.
The Messenger of God (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) was indeed a mercy for the worlds. We should similarly be merciful with each other. First of all, we ourselves should not do anything to upset our brothers and sisters (because this is in itself a part of mercy) and then we should forgive those who have upset us or made us angry. We will never be a strong ummah if we are not able to forgive walaalaheena
Some might say that to forgive is a sign of weakness and humiliation, and for them it is better to be strong and preserve their honor. But honor in the eyes of Allah lies in forgiveness.
"But indeed if any shows patience and forgives that would truly be an exercise of courageous will and resolution in the conduct of affairs."
[surah 42:43]
If we are to be really strong then we have to be strong against Shaytaan and forgive our brothers and sisters, and in this way maybe Allah will decide insha-Allah to forgive ourselves for our many mistakes." ...honour in the eyes of Allah lies in forgiveness....."
Mulsim Brotherhood
It is related by Abu Musa Ash'ari (radiAllahu anhu) that The Messengerof Allah 
said "The connection between Muslims is like that of a strong building - one part strengthens another." The Prophet then showed this by interlocking the fingers of one hand with those of the other (that muslims should remain united and combined - thereby streghthening one another). mansha alaah walaalayaal aan isqabsano oon oon is dhexgalno kala qaybsanaantana iska dayno.
In the above hadith, by enlikening Muslim unity to a strong building, the Holy Prophet has in effect urged the Ummah to form a fortress by uniting where each Muslim will be a "brick" and the closeness and coherence amongst Muslims should be like that of bricks in a building. He then demonstrated, interlocking the fingers of both hands that the Muslims should remain together and blend into a single body. taa Somaliya waa iloobeen oo dagaal iyo qabyaalad bey ka doorbideen
In a hadith, narrated by Nu'man ibn Bashir (radiALlahu anhu) the Prophetis reported to have said that "The Muslims (the Ummah) are like the limbs of a man, where if the eye hurts the whole body feels pain and if the head hurts, the whole body feels pain and suffering."
This hadith, also seeks to emphasize the desired unity of the Ummah. "All for one and one for all" should be the Muslims' motto. They should be prepared to assist one another and even share the sorrows and problems of each other.
In fact, in yet another hadith mention is made of the fact that just as it is necessary for a believer (muslim) to be loyal and devoted to Allah, the Holy Prophet,the Holy Qur'an and the Islamic government; it is an essential condition, for being a faithful Believer, not to remain indifferent to the difficulties and problems of the Muslims but to take a genuine interest in them.
As related by Huzaifah (radiAllahu anhu) the Prophetsaid "Whoever does not take an interest in the affairs and problems of the Muslims, he is not of them. And whoever's state is such that, each morning and evening, he is not loyal and earnest to Allah, his Apostle, His Book, the Islamic ruler and towards the Muslims, as a whole, he is not of them."
The Holy Prophetwas so stem with regards to the mutual relationship of Muslims, that he even took pledges for brotherly feeling and sincerity towards. all muslims.
It is related by Jabir ibn Abdullah (radiAllahu anhu) that he said "I had taken a pledge at the hand of Rasuluilah to observe Swallah (prayers), to pay Zakah (charity due) and to be a sincere well-wisher of every Muslim." The Fact that the Prophet took the pledge or promise from the companions, for being a sincere well - wisher of the Muslims together with that of observing Swalaah and Zakah which are important pillars of Islam - shows the importance attached by him to the matter.
Besides the general kind treatment, brotherly love etc. to be extended to fellow Muslims, there are certain specific rights and claims to be fulfilled. It is related by Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) that the Prophetsaid, "There are five claims of a Muslim upon a Muslim: to return his greetings when he greets; to visit him when he falls ill; to attend his funeral; to accept his invitation to a meal and to pray for him, when he sneezes, by saying'yarhamukallah'(May the mercy of Allah be on you)." [Note that another hadith mentions six claims of one Muslim upon another]
The five things mentioned in the hadith a reacts which not only give expression to, but also promote brotherly feelings between Muslims and therefore special attention should be paid to them. In another report, some other acts are specified too-which shows that the claims described here are by way of example only and not conclusive.
Anas (radiAllahu anhu) reports that Rasulullahonce said "I swear by the Holy Being in whose power my life is, any one of you cannot be a true believer unless he desires for his fellow-brother what he desires for himself."
To feel earnestly for a Muslim brother, to the extent of preferring for him what one prefers for oneself has been classed as a prerequisite for complete faith. So, anyone who claims to be a Muslim, but is lacking in this aspect, he in fact does not possess the reality of Faith (iman).
A principal feature of the Holy Prophet 's teachings is the emphasis upon every class, group or individual to fulfil the rights of others, with a full sense of responsiblity, and consider it a source of good fortune in both worlds.
May Allah the Almighty grant us all, the understanding and the guidance to fulfil our rights and duties to one anottyer, in the manner that has been explained to us by the Holy Prophet and may He create the bond of true and Sincere Unity betiween us all. Ameen.
said "The connection between Muslims is like that of a strong building - one part strengthens another." The Prophet then showed this by interlocking the fingers of one hand with those of the other (that muslims should remain united and combined - thereby streghthening one another). mansha alaah walaalayaal aan isqabsano oon oon is dhexgalno kala qaybsanaantana iska dayno.In the above hadith, by enlikening Muslim unity to a strong building, the Holy Prophet has in effect urged the Ummah to form a fortress by uniting where each Muslim will be a "brick" and the closeness and coherence amongst Muslims should be like that of bricks in a building. He then demonstrated, interlocking the fingers of both hands that the Muslims should remain together and blend into a single body. taa Somaliya waa iloobeen oo dagaal iyo qabyaalad bey ka doorbideen
In a hadith, narrated by Nu'man ibn Bashir (radiALlahu anhu) the Prophet
is reported to have said that "The Muslims (the Ummah) are like the limbs of a man, where if the eye hurts the whole body feels pain and if the head hurts, the whole body feels pain and suffering." This hadith, also seeks to emphasize the desired unity of the Ummah. "All for one and one for all" should be the Muslims' motto. They should be prepared to assist one another and even share the sorrows and problems of each other.
In fact, in yet another hadith mention is made of the fact that just as it is necessary for a believer (muslim) to be loyal and devoted to Allah, the Holy Prophet,the Holy Qur'an and the Islamic government; it is an essential condition, for being a faithful Believer, not to remain indifferent to the difficulties and problems of the Muslims but to take a genuine interest in them.
As related by Huzaifah (radiAllahu anhu) the Prophet
said "Whoever does not take an interest in the affairs and problems of the Muslims, he is not of them. And whoever's state is such that, each morning and evening, he is not loyal and earnest to Allah, his Apostle, His Book, the Islamic ruler and towards the Muslims, as a whole, he is not of them." The Holy Prophet
was so stem with regards to the mutual relationship of Muslims, that he even took pledges for brotherly feeling and sincerity towards. all muslims. It is related by Jabir ibn Abdullah (radiAllahu anhu) that he said "I had taken a pledge at the hand of Rasuluilah to observe Swallah (prayers), to pay Zakah (charity due) and to be a sincere well-wisher of every Muslim." The Fact that the Prophet
took the pledge or promise from the companions, for being a sincere well - wisher of the Muslims together with that of observing Swalaah and Zakah which are important pillars of Islam - shows the importance attached by him to the matter. Besides the general kind treatment, brotherly love etc. to be extended to fellow Muslims, there are certain specific rights and claims to be fulfilled. It is related by Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) that the Prophet
said, "There are five claims of a Muslim upon a Muslim: to return his greetings when he greets; to visit him when he falls ill; to attend his funeral; to accept his invitation to a meal and to pray for him, when he sneezes, by saying'yarhamukallah'(May the mercy of Allah be on you)." [Note that another hadith mentions six claims of one Muslim upon another]The five things mentioned in the hadith a reacts which not only give expression to, but also promote brotherly feelings between Muslims and therefore special attention should be paid to them. In another report, some other acts are specified too-which shows that the claims described here are by way of example only and not conclusive.
Anas (radiAllahu anhu) reports that Rasulullah
once said "I swear by the Holy Being in whose power my life is, any one of you cannot be a true believer unless he desires for his fellow-brother what he desires for himself."To feel earnestly for a Muslim brother, to the extent of preferring for him what one prefers for oneself has been classed as a prerequisite for complete faith. So, anyone who claims to be a Muslim, but is lacking in this aspect, he in fact does not possess the reality of Faith (iman).
A principal feature of the Holy Prophet 's teachings is the emphasis upon every class, group or individual to fulfil the rights of others, with a full sense of responsiblity, and consider it a source of good fortune in both worlds.
May Allah the Almighty grant us all, the understanding and the guidance to fulfil our rights and duties to one anottyer, in the manner that has been explained to us by the Holy Prophet and may He create the bond of true and Sincere Unity betiween us all. Ameen.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
How To Keep Your Girlfriend Coming Back
Having got it right the first time around, you have to make sure you keep the momentum going. Check out these cool gift ideas to make sure your saaxiibtaa keeps coming back for more. laakiin bakheyl ha noqonin saaxiib ee gabadha sii wax kasta.
So you have managed to establish a bond with your girlfriend ama saaxiibtaa the first time around. Now comes the more difficult part of giving her follow up gifts that will ensure she is yours for keeps wliaagaba dee.
Go shopping with her and let her buy her own gift, waxba ha u dooran dee. This is a good way to indicate that you are a person who respects her choice. Be honest in your opinion especially when it comes to clothes, but avoid criticizing her in too blatant a manner,ma garatey waryaah.
Surprise her with a piece of traditional jewelry you picked up on your last trip. Avoid buying the more contemporary pieces yourself unless you are very sure of her choice. waa digniin ogooda
Drop in a card to say ‘I love you’ adiga si toos ah u eegaya indhaheeda bilicsan. eCards and text messages besides, the old fashioned card has a definite advantage over its modern cousins – it can be displayed over the mantelpiece or hugged at leisure, so give your girlfriend the chance to do it! woow dheh deee
Simple will always remain in fashion. Find out what she really likes and make your gift ideas accordingly. If she likes red, for instance, take her to a restaurant that has purely red settings, or get her red lingerie, assuming you have reached that level of intimacy. waa haddi kale u kaadi waryaah wax yar
A DVD of love songs is sure to keep her thinking of you whenever she has time on her hands, from relaxing in her home to driving to work. There are fantastic collections available, and you won’t have to work too hard to select the songs yourself. gandha yar yar hees somali ma wada yaqaanaan ee ogaada.
And last but not the least keep those chocolates and bouquets of roses coming, whatever other gifts you may keep giving her. From complete gifts in themselves for your first date, these are now useful add-ones that will cement your place in her heart.
You can now graduate to giving her best bouquet of red roses that will make her heart melt and bring a smile to her lips whenever she thinks of you. kiss hadaad weydo ha caroonin waryaah ee mar kale dee.
So you have managed to establish a bond with your girlfriend ama saaxiibtaa the first time around. Now comes the more difficult part of giving her follow up gifts that will ensure she is yours for keeps wliaagaba dee.
Go shopping with her and let her buy her own gift, waxba ha u dooran dee. This is a good way to indicate that you are a person who respects her choice. Be honest in your opinion especially when it comes to clothes, but avoid criticizing her in too blatant a manner,ma garatey waryaah.
Surprise her with a piece of traditional jewelry you picked up on your last trip. Avoid buying the more contemporary pieces yourself unless you are very sure of her choice. waa digniin ogooda
Drop in a card to say ‘I love you’ adiga si toos ah u eegaya indhaheeda bilicsan. eCards and text messages besides, the old fashioned card has a definite advantage over its modern cousins – it can be displayed over the mantelpiece or hugged at leisure, so give your girlfriend the chance to do it! woow dheh deee
Simple will always remain in fashion. Find out what she really likes and make your gift ideas accordingly. If she likes red, for instance, take her to a restaurant that has purely red settings, or get her red lingerie, assuming you have reached that level of intimacy. waa haddi kale u kaadi waryaah wax yar
A DVD of love songs is sure to keep her thinking of you whenever she has time on her hands, from relaxing in her home to driving to work. There are fantastic collections available, and you won’t have to work too hard to select the songs yourself. gandha yar yar hees somali ma wada yaqaanaan ee ogaada.
And last but not the least keep those chocolates and bouquets of roses coming, whatever other gifts you may keep giving her. From complete gifts in themselves for your first date, these are now useful add-ones that will cement your place in her heart.
You can now graduate to giving her best bouquet of red roses that will make her heart melt and bring a smile to her lips whenever she thinks of you. kiss hadaad weydo ha caroonin waryaah ee mar kale dee.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Thinking of You Macaan
Safia's face faded into the gray winter light of the sitting room. She dozed in the armchair that Jamal had bought for her on their fortieth anniversary. The room was warm and quiet. Outside it was snowing lightly.At a quarter past one the mailman turned the corner onto Allen Street.
He was behind on his route, not because of the snow, but because it was Valentine's Day and there was more mail than usual. He passed Safia's house without looking up. Twenty minutes later he climbed back into his truck and drove off
Safia stirred when she heard the mail truck pull away, then took off her glasses and wipe her mouth and eyes with the handkerchief she always carried in her sleeve. She pushed herself up using the arm of the chair for support, straightened slowly and smoothed the lap of her dark green housedress.
Her slippers made a soft, shuffling sound on the bare floor as she walked to the kitchen. She stopped at the sink to wash the two dishes she had left on the counter after lunch. Then she filled a plastic cup halfway with water and took her pills. It was one forty-five.
There was a rocker in the sitting room by the front window. Safia eased herself into it. In a half-hour the children would be passing by on their way home from school. Safia waited, rocking and watching the snow.
The boys came first, as always, runnng and calling out things Safia could not hear. Today they were making snowball as they went, throwing them at one another. One snowball missed and smackd hard into Safia's window. She jerked backward, and the rocker slipped off the edge of her oval rag rug.
The girl dilly-dallied after the boys, in twos and threes, cupping their mittened hands over their mouths and giggling. Safia wonder if they were telling each other about the valentines they had received at school. One pretty girl with long brown hair stopped and pointed to her face behind the drapes, suddenly self-consious. When she looked out again, the boys and girls were gone. It was cold by the window, but she stayed there watching the snow conver the children's footprints
A florist's truck turned onto Allen Street. Safia followed it with her eyes. It was moving slowly. Twice it stopped and started again. Then the driver pulled up in front of Mrs. Halima's house next door and parked.Who would be sending Mrs. Haaji flowers? Safia wondered. Her daughter in Wisconsin? Or her brother? No, her brother was very ill. It was probably her daughter. How nice of her.
Flowers made Safia think of Jamal and, for a moment, she let the aching memory fill her. Tomorrow was the fifteenth. Eight months since his death.
The flower mans was knocking at Mrs. Haaji's front door. He carried a long white and green box and a clipboard. No one seemed to be answering. Of course! It was Friday - Mrs. Halima quilted at the mosque on Friday afternoons. the delivery man looked around, then started toward Safia's house.
Safia shoved herself out of the rocker and stood close to the drapes. The man knocked. Her hands trembled as she straightened her hair. She reached her front hall on the third knock.
"Yes?" she said, peering around a slightly opened door. "Good afternoon, ma'am," the man said loudly. "Would you take a delivery for your neighbor?"
"Yes," Safia answered, pulling the door wide open. "Where would you like me to put them?" the man asked politely as he strode in.
"In the kitchen, please. On the table." The man looked big to Safia. She could hardly see his face between his green cap and full beard. Safia was glad he left quickly, and she locked the door after him.
The box was as long as the kitchen table. Safia drew near to it and bent over to read the lettering: "Ogaden'S Flowers for Every Occasion." The rich smell of roses engulfed her. She closed her eyes and took slower breaths, imagining yellow roses. Jamal had always chosen yellow. "To my sunshine," he would say, presenting the extravagant bouquet. He would laugh delightedly, kiss her on the forehead, then take her hands in his and sing to her "You Are My Sunshine."
It's was five o'clock when Mrs. Haaji knocked at Safia's front door. Safia was still at the kitchen table. The flower box was now open though, and she held the roses on her lap, swaying slightly and stroking the delicate yellow petals. Mrs. Halima knocked again, but Safia did not hear her, and after several minutes the neighbour left.
Safia rose a little while later, laying the flowers on the kitchen table. Her cheeks were flushed. She dragged a stepstool across the kitchen floor and lifted a white porcelain vase from the top corner cabinet. Using a drinking glass, she filled the vase with water, then tenderly arranged the roses and greens, and carried them into the sitting room.
She was smiling as she reached the middle of the room. She turned slightly and began to dip and twirl in small slow circles. She stepped lightly, gracefully, around the sitting room, into the kitchen, down the hall, back again. She danced till her knees grew weak, and then she dropped into the armchair and slept.
At a quarter past six, Safia awoke with a start. Someone was knocking on the back door this time. It was Mrs Haaji.
"Hello, Safia," Mrs. Haaji said. "How are you? I knocked at five and was a little worried when you didn't come. Were you napping?" She chattered as she wiped her snowy boots on the welcome mat and stepped inside. "I just hate snow, don't you? The radio says we might have six inches by midnight, but you can never trust them, you know. Do you remember last winter when they predicted four inches, and we hand twenty-one? Twenty-one! And they said we'd have a mild winter this year. Ha! I don't think it's been over zero in weeks. Do you know my oil bill was $263 last month? For my little house!"
Safia was only half-listening. She had remembered the roses suddenly and was turning hot with shame. The empty flower box was behind her on the kitchen table. What would she say to Mrs. Mason?
"I don't know how much longer I can keep paying the bills. If only Haji, God bless him, had been as careful with money as your Jamal. ! Oh, Allaah! I almost forgot about the roses."
Safia's cheeks burned. She began to stammer an apology, stepping aside to reveal the empty box.
"Oh, good," Mrs. Haaji interrupted. "You put the roses in water. Then you saw the card. I hope it didn't startle your to see Jamal's handwriting. Jamal had asked me to bring you the roses the first year, so I could explain for him. He didn't want to alarm you. His 'Rose Trust,' I think he called it. He arranged it with the florist last Apirl. Such a good man, your Jamal..."
But Sophie had stopped listening. Her heart was pounding as she picked up the small white envelope she had missed earlier. It had been lying beside the flower box all this time. With trembling hands, she removed the card.
"To my sunshine," it said. "I love you with all my heart. Try to be happy when you think of me. Love, Jamal."
He was behind on his route, not because of the snow, but because it was Valentine's Day and there was more mail than usual. He passed Safia's house without looking up. Twenty minutes later he climbed back into his truck and drove off
Safia stirred when she heard the mail truck pull away, then took off her glasses and wipe her mouth and eyes with the handkerchief she always carried in her sleeve. She pushed herself up using the arm of the chair for support, straightened slowly and smoothed the lap of her dark green housedress.
Her slippers made a soft, shuffling sound on the bare floor as she walked to the kitchen. She stopped at the sink to wash the two dishes she had left on the counter after lunch. Then she filled a plastic cup halfway with water and took her pills. It was one forty-five.
There was a rocker in the sitting room by the front window. Safia eased herself into it. In a half-hour the children would be passing by on their way home from school. Safia waited, rocking and watching the snow.
The boys came first, as always, runnng and calling out things Safia could not hear. Today they were making snowball as they went, throwing them at one another. One snowball missed and smackd hard into Safia's window. She jerked backward, and the rocker slipped off the edge of her oval rag rug.
The girl dilly-dallied after the boys, in twos and threes, cupping their mittened hands over their mouths and giggling. Safia wonder if they were telling each other about the valentines they had received at school. One pretty girl with long brown hair stopped and pointed to her face behind the drapes, suddenly self-consious. When she looked out again, the boys and girls were gone. It was cold by the window, but she stayed there watching the snow conver the children's footprints
A florist's truck turned onto Allen Street. Safia followed it with her eyes. It was moving slowly. Twice it stopped and started again. Then the driver pulled up in front of Mrs. Halima's house next door and parked.Who would be sending Mrs. Haaji flowers? Safia wondered. Her daughter in Wisconsin? Or her brother? No, her brother was very ill. It was probably her daughter. How nice of her.
Flowers made Safia think of Jamal and, for a moment, she let the aching memory fill her. Tomorrow was the fifteenth. Eight months since his death.
The flower mans was knocking at Mrs. Haaji's front door. He carried a long white and green box and a clipboard. No one seemed to be answering. Of course! It was Friday - Mrs. Halima quilted at the mosque on Friday afternoons. the delivery man looked around, then started toward Safia's house.
Safia shoved herself out of the rocker and stood close to the drapes. The man knocked. Her hands trembled as she straightened her hair. She reached her front hall on the third knock.
"Yes?" she said, peering around a slightly opened door. "Good afternoon, ma'am," the man said loudly. "Would you take a delivery for your neighbor?"
"Yes," Safia answered, pulling the door wide open. "Where would you like me to put them?" the man asked politely as he strode in.
"In the kitchen, please. On the table." The man looked big to Safia. She could hardly see his face between his green cap and full beard. Safia was glad he left quickly, and she locked the door after him.
The box was as long as the kitchen table. Safia drew near to it and bent over to read the lettering: "Ogaden'S Flowers for Every Occasion." The rich smell of roses engulfed her. She closed her eyes and took slower breaths, imagining yellow roses. Jamal had always chosen yellow. "To my sunshine," he would say, presenting the extravagant bouquet. He would laugh delightedly, kiss her on the forehead, then take her hands in his and sing to her "You Are My Sunshine."
It's was five o'clock when Mrs. Haaji knocked at Safia's front door. Safia was still at the kitchen table. The flower box was now open though, and she held the roses on her lap, swaying slightly and stroking the delicate yellow petals. Mrs. Halima knocked again, but Safia did not hear her, and after several minutes the neighbour left.
Safia rose a little while later, laying the flowers on the kitchen table. Her cheeks were flushed. She dragged a stepstool across the kitchen floor and lifted a white porcelain vase from the top corner cabinet. Using a drinking glass, she filled the vase with water, then tenderly arranged the roses and greens, and carried them into the sitting room.
She was smiling as she reached the middle of the room. She turned slightly and began to dip and twirl in small slow circles. She stepped lightly, gracefully, around the sitting room, into the kitchen, down the hall, back again. She danced till her knees grew weak, and then she dropped into the armchair and slept.
At a quarter past six, Safia awoke with a start. Someone was knocking on the back door this time. It was Mrs Haaji.
"Hello, Safia," Mrs. Haaji said. "How are you? I knocked at five and was a little worried when you didn't come. Were you napping?" She chattered as she wiped her snowy boots on the welcome mat and stepped inside. "I just hate snow, don't you? The radio says we might have six inches by midnight, but you can never trust them, you know. Do you remember last winter when they predicted four inches, and we hand twenty-one? Twenty-one! And they said we'd have a mild winter this year. Ha! I don't think it's been over zero in weeks. Do you know my oil bill was $263 last month? For my little house!"
Safia was only half-listening. She had remembered the roses suddenly and was turning hot with shame. The empty flower box was behind her on the kitchen table. What would she say to Mrs. Mason?
"I don't know how much longer I can keep paying the bills. If only Haji, God bless him, had been as careful with money as your Jamal. ! Oh, Allaah! I almost forgot about the roses."
Safia's cheeks burned. She began to stammer an apology, stepping aside to reveal the empty box.
"Oh, good," Mrs. Haaji interrupted. "You put the roses in water. Then you saw the card. I hope it didn't startle your to see Jamal's handwriting. Jamal had asked me to bring you the roses the first year, so I could explain for him. He didn't want to alarm you. His 'Rose Trust,' I think he called it. He arranged it with the florist last Apirl. Such a good man, your Jamal..."
But Sophie had stopped listening. Her heart was pounding as she picked up the small white envelope she had missed earlier. It had been lying beside the flower box all this time. With trembling hands, she removed the card.
"To my sunshine," it said. "I love you with all my heart. Try to be happy when you think of me. Love, Jamal."
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Never Dump The Woman You Love
There was this guy who believed very much in true love and decided to take his time to wait for his right girl to appear. He believed that there would definitely be someone special out there for him, but none came. miyuu riyoonayaa ninku toloow.
At the end every year his ex-girlfriend would return from Minneapolis to look him up. Ali was aware that she still held some hope of re-kindling the past romance with him.
He did not wish to mislead her in any way. So he would always get one of his girl friends to pose as his steady whenever she came back. That went on for several years and each year, the guy would get a different girl to pose as his romantic interest. <
So whenever the ex-girlfriend came to visit him, Xamdi would be led into believing that it was all over between her and the guy. Xamdi took all those rather well, often trying to casually tease him about his different girlfriends, or so, as it seemed! In fact, Xamdi often wept in secret whenever she saw him with another girl, but she was too proud to admit it. Still, every holiday, she returned, hoping to re-kindle some form of romance. But each time, she returned to Minneapolis feeling disappointed. Miskiin dheh
Finally Xamdi decided that she could not play that game any longer. Therefore, she confronted him and professed that after all those years, he was still the only man that she had ever loved. Although the Ali knew of her feelings for him, he was still taken back and have never expected her to react that way.
He always thought that Xamdi would slowly forget about him over time and come to terms that it was all over between them. Although he was touched by her undying love for him and wanted so much to accept her again, he remembered why he rejected her in the first place-she was not the one he wanted.
So he hardened his heart and turned her down cruelly. Since then, three years have passed and the girl never return anymore. They never even wrote to each other. Ali went on with his life..... still searching for the one but somehow deep inside him, he missed Xamdi.
At the end of 2005, Ali went to his friend's party alone. "Hey, how come all alone this year? Where are all your girlfriends? What happened to that Mpls babe who joins you every holiday?", asked Farah,one of his friends. Ali felt warm and comforted by his friend's queries about her, still he just surged on.
Then, he came upon one of his many girlfriends whom he once requested to pose as his steady. He wanted so much to ignore her ..... not that he was impolite, but because at that moment, he just didn't feel comfortable with those girlfriends anymore. It was almost like he was being judged by them. The girl saw him and shouted across the floor for him. Unable to avoid her, he went up to acknowledge her.
"Hi......how are you? Enjoying the party?" the girl asked.
"Sure.....yeah!", he replied.
She was slightly tipsy..... must be from the whiskey on her hand. She continued,
"Why...? Don't you need someone to pose as your girlfriend this year?" Then he answered, "No, there is no need for that anymore......"
Before he can continue, he was interrupted, "Oh yes! Must have found a girlfriend! You haven't been searching for one for the past years, right?" The man looked up, as if he has struck gold, his face beamed and looked directly at the drunken girl. He replied, "Yes......you are right! I haven't been looking for anyone for the past years.
"
With that, Ali darted across the floor and out the door, leaving the lady in much bewilderment. He finally realized that he has already found his dream girl, and she was.....the Minneapolis girl all along! The drunken lady has said something that awoken him.
All along he has found his girl. That was why he did not bother to look further when he realized she was not coming back. It was not any specific girl he was seeking! It was perfection that he wanted, and yes.....perfection!!
Relationship is something both parties should work on. Realizing that he had let away someone so important in his life, he decided to call her immediately. His whole mind was flooded with fear. He was afraid that she might have found someone new or no longer had the same feelings anymore..... For once, he felt the fear of losing someone.
As it was Christmas eve, the line was quite hard to get through, especially an overseas call. He tried again and again, never giving up. Finally, he got through......precisely at 1200 midnight. He confessed his love for her and the girl was moved to tears. It seemed that she never got over him! Even after so long, she was still waiting for him, never giving up.
Ali was so excited to meet her and to begin his new chapter of their lives. He decided to fly to Minneapolis to join her. It was the happiest time of their lives! But their happy time was short-lived. Two days before he was supposed to fly to Minneapolis, he received a call from her father. Xamdi had a head-on car collision with a drunken driver. She passed away after 6 hours in a coma.
Ali was devastated, as it was a complete loss. Why did fate played such cruel games with him? He was mad at God for taking her away from him, denying even one last look at her! How cruel he cursed! .!! How he hated himself....for taking so long to realize his mistake!! That was in 2006.
The moral of this story is :
Treasure what you have...
Time is too slow for those who wait;
Too swift for those who fear;
Too long for those who grief;
Too short for those who rejoice;
But for those who love...
Time is Eternity.
For all you out there with someone special in your heart, cherish that person, cherish every moment that you spend together that special someone, for in life, anything can happen anytime. You may painfully regret, only to realise that it is too late. Ha sugin beri waixii aad maanta aad haysato huunooy
At the end every year his ex-girlfriend would return from Minneapolis to look him up. Ali was aware that she still held some hope of re-kindling the past romance with him.
He did not wish to mislead her in any way. So he would always get one of his girl friends to pose as his steady whenever she came back. That went on for several years and each year, the guy would get a different girl to pose as his romantic interest. <
So whenever the ex-girlfriend came to visit him, Xamdi would be led into believing that it was all over between her and the guy. Xamdi took all those rather well, often trying to casually tease him about his different girlfriends, or so, as it seemed! In fact, Xamdi often wept in secret whenever she saw him with another girl, but she was too proud to admit it. Still, every holiday, she returned, hoping to re-kindle some form of romance. But each time, she returned to Minneapolis feeling disappointed. Miskiin dheh
Finally Xamdi decided that she could not play that game any longer. Therefore, she confronted him and professed that after all those years, he was still the only man that she had ever loved. Although the Ali knew of her feelings for him, he was still taken back and have never expected her to react that way.
He always thought that Xamdi would slowly forget about him over time and come to terms that it was all over between them. Although he was touched by her undying love for him and wanted so much to accept her again, he remembered why he rejected her in the first place-she was not the one he wanted.
So he hardened his heart and turned her down cruelly. Since then, three years have passed and the girl never return anymore. They never even wrote to each other. Ali went on with his life..... still searching for the one but somehow deep inside him, he missed Xamdi.
At the end of 2005, Ali went to his friend's party alone. "Hey, how come all alone this year? Where are all your girlfriends? What happened to that Mpls babe who joins you every holiday?", asked Farah,one of his friends. Ali felt warm and comforted by his friend's queries about her, still he just surged on.
Then, he came upon one of his many girlfriends whom he once requested to pose as his steady. He wanted so much to ignore her ..... not that he was impolite, but because at that moment, he just didn't feel comfortable with those girlfriends anymore. It was almost like he was being judged by them. The girl saw him and shouted across the floor for him. Unable to avoid her, he went up to acknowledge her.
"Hi......how are you? Enjoying the party?" the girl asked.
"Sure.....yeah!", he replied.
She was slightly tipsy..... must be from the whiskey on her hand. She continued,
"Why...? Don't you need someone to pose as your girlfriend this year?" Then he answered, "No, there is no need for that anymore......"
Before he can continue, he was interrupted, "Oh yes! Must have found a girlfriend! You haven't been searching for one for the past years, right?" The man looked up, as if he has struck gold, his face beamed and looked directly at the drunken girl. He replied, "Yes......you are right! I haven't been looking for anyone for the past years.
"
With that, Ali darted across the floor and out the door, leaving the lady in much bewilderment. He finally realized that he has already found his dream girl, and she was.....the Minneapolis girl all along! The drunken lady has said something that awoken him.
All along he has found his girl. That was why he did not bother to look further when he realized she was not coming back. It was not any specific girl he was seeking! It was perfection that he wanted, and yes.....perfection!!
Relationship is something both parties should work on. Realizing that he had let away someone so important in his life, he decided to call her immediately. His whole mind was flooded with fear. He was afraid that she might have found someone new or no longer had the same feelings anymore..... For once, he felt the fear of losing someone.
As it was Christmas eve, the line was quite hard to get through, especially an overseas call. He tried again and again, never giving up. Finally, he got through......precisely at 1200 midnight. He confessed his love for her and the girl was moved to tears. It seemed that she never got over him! Even after so long, she was still waiting for him, never giving up.
Ali was so excited to meet her and to begin his new chapter of their lives. He decided to fly to Minneapolis to join her. It was the happiest time of their lives! But their happy time was short-lived. Two days before he was supposed to fly to Minneapolis, he received a call from her father. Xamdi had a head-on car collision with a drunken driver. She passed away after 6 hours in a coma.
Ali was devastated, as it was a complete loss. Why did fate played such cruel games with him? He was mad at God for taking her away from him, denying even one last look at her! How cruel he cursed! .!! How he hated himself....for taking so long to realize his mistake!! That was in 2006.
The moral of this story is :
Treasure what you have...
Time is too slow for those who wait;
Too swift for those who fear;
Too long for those who grief;
Too short for those who rejoice;
But for those who love...
Time is Eternity.
For all you out there with someone special in your heart, cherish that person, cherish every moment that you spend together that special someone, for in life, anything can happen anytime. You may painfully regret, only to realise that it is too late. Ha sugin beri waixii aad maanta aad haysato huunooy
Monday, March 16, 2009
I Like Free Dating Websites
I have found many people sharing their good and bad experiences on free dating sites, they are really nice. I also like to spend my spare time reading those interesting blogs and article that tell stories about how people found their partner through online dating sates, how they have been deceived or other funny experiences.
People with pleasant experiences often praise the free dating sites, while others find these sites scams. But, my personal opinion says, they are the parts of life. You can’t say that everything goes smooth in our real life and our virtual existence across the web can lead to problem
The free dating sites can also bring you loads of fun; just you need to know the ropes of the game. Two years back, when I was a newbie to the free dating sites, I was really skeptical about how everything works. Providing personal details was a matter of concern for me. I know that there are many free dating sites that are scams, yet there are others that cater to the need of people who want to embark on online dating.
Actually, my journey to online dating sites was due to the loneliness that I was going through at that time. All my friends had girlfriends and they were hanging out every evening and enjoying their lives. I tried to break the ice with some of the girls in our college, but no relation lasted more that a week.
Frustrated with my condition, I asked a friend to help me for a blind date. It was the most embarrassing situation in my life when he laughed at me tagging me as old-fashioned. I’m also thankful to him as he suggested me of online dating and informed me about some of the free dating sites.
The single incident ushered in a new era of dating in my life. That night I logged on to the free dating sites that my friend had told and created my accounts. Yes, I was really careful about reading the instructions and tips on the sites so as to avoid any future hassles.
Today, I have many friends on those free dating sites. I have been dating many girls out there and have enjoyed meeting them personally as well. These days, my friends are jealous of me and they often ask me the secret of getting new girlfriends everyday. But, I tell them that only logging in to free dating websites will not bring you friends who will last longer, rather you have to master the skill of conversation.
I am not very attractive when compared to most of my friends; still girls love me because I can talk in a way that they like. Again, you need to be honest in whatever you do.
Till date, I don’t have any bad experience being in free dating sites, even I don’t want one. If you want pleasant experiences for yourself on the free dating sites, go though the instructions and be careful saaxiibyaal yaah
People with pleasant experiences often praise the free dating sites, while others find these sites scams. But, my personal opinion says, they are the parts of life. You can’t say that everything goes smooth in our real life and our virtual existence across the web can lead to problem
The free dating sites can also bring you loads of fun; just you need to know the ropes of the game. Two years back, when I was a newbie to the free dating sites, I was really skeptical about how everything works. Providing personal details was a matter of concern for me. I know that there are many free dating sites that are scams, yet there are others that cater to the need of people who want to embark on online dating.
Actually, my journey to online dating sites was due to the loneliness that I was going through at that time. All my friends had girlfriends and they were hanging out every evening and enjoying their lives. I tried to break the ice with some of the girls in our college, but no relation lasted more that a week.
Frustrated with my condition, I asked a friend to help me for a blind date. It was the most embarrassing situation in my life when he laughed at me tagging me as old-fashioned. I’m also thankful to him as he suggested me of online dating and informed me about some of the free dating sites.
The single incident ushered in a new era of dating in my life. That night I logged on to the free dating sites that my friend had told and created my accounts. Yes, I was really careful about reading the instructions and tips on the sites so as to avoid any future hassles.
Today, I have many friends on those free dating sites. I have been dating many girls out there and have enjoyed meeting them personally as well. These days, my friends are jealous of me and they often ask me the secret of getting new girlfriends everyday. But, I tell them that only logging in to free dating websites will not bring you friends who will last longer, rather you have to master the skill of conversation.
I am not very attractive when compared to most of my friends; still girls love me because I can talk in a way that they like. Again, you need to be honest in whatever you do.
Till date, I don’t have any bad experience being in free dating sites, even I don’t want one. If you want pleasant experiences for yourself on the free dating sites, go though the instructions and be careful saaxiibyaal yaah
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