Peace be with you! Malcolm X once famously said, “If you don’t stand up for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Finding the courage however to do that is hard. It is hard to stand up for that something you believe in, to put yourself behind an idea. An idea that may cost you your livelihood, your job, your financial security, your family, friends and indeed your life. Exactly that however is what Allah (swt.) asks of us, as  He (swt.) records the advice that our Prophet Luqman (as.) gave to his son in the Qur’an. “O my son establish prayer, enjoin what is right, … Read more

Another week, more favourites! Let’s get right into it. Islam under 10 minutes: This time a difficult decision based on the fact that I haven’t had much time this week so I’ve watched more videos under 10 minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8brwMpFlf8 “Brother Nouman Ali Khan explains beautifully that Dawah has Ethics too!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX9Wixbn0ls In this video we are told a little bit about our lost history in China. The hui Muslims have always fascinated me, once I found out that there was a Muslim Chinese admiral leading a fleet of ships way bigger than that of Columbus. Over 10 minutes: Motion Graphics … Read more

Salam, here we are a new post of the weekly (though delayed) series “Videos? Love em’”. In this post I will be introducing a couple of new categories, to make things a bit harder for myself In the Islam Category there will be two sub-categories, under ten minutes and over ten minutes. This I think will distinct those videos that are short reminders from those, that are of the lecture type. In addition to that,  I’ve added a few other categories. Namely, Motion Graphics, Short-film, Youtube andParkour. This will hopefully keep things more ordered, and keep me from selecting a … Read more

Do you mind if I smoke? Ehm no. Looking at the open window and his position next to it. I continue asking him about his day. Pertaining in some small talk, as some of my other room mates enter the kitchen. A box filled with beer, a vodka bottle, and a bottle of Pepsi, enters with them.  More conversations spring up, about random stuff, as they gradually begin to drink. My room mates now laughing loudly. Can of beer in one hand, as he makes a joke about some girl. Another voices his opinion, that most girls just use you. … Read more

I finally watched it, I am ashamed to say, with all the opportunities I have had.Muslims wherever they are, whether in the Philippines or in Palestine are close to my heart. So I ask myself if I am truly truthful, what have I done for them? As Muslims we are told to be like a singular body, the Prophet saw. said: “The similitude of a believer in regard to mutual love, affection, fellow-feeling is that of a body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches, because of sleeplessness and fever.” So what if you were able to … Read more

Head held high, despite the pain Within air level, approximately 30 metres high In a small room, slowly growin’ insane Gasping, releasing a slow sigh Feels like an orchestrate playin’ the squeak of a mouse, no of a crayon  and nails on a chalkboard all in my head feelin’ heavy like lead The mouse (cursor) blinkin’ in blank space waitin’ on me,  probably gettin’ bored I got nothin’. This Headache is killin’ all the cre-a-ti-vit-y. — My usual exaggeration… Wa Salam, Abdur-Rahman

Die Katana in der Luft. So schnell wie der Blitz. Die Klinge blitzt im Sonnenschein, leises summen. Schwingungen drängen in dein Ohr. Als du dich umdrehst saust das Schwert in einem Bogen auf dich zu. Deine Augen aufgerissen, Körper erstarrt. Blut kaltes Eis. Fest gefroren.  Dein Herz pocht, noch. Das einzige, dass sich traut sich zu bewegen. Das Schwert von Meisterhand geführt. Ein einzelnes Tropfen Schweiß tropft von deiner Stirn. Dein Adams Apfel im Hals stecken geblieben. Ein Gehörloser Schrei entkommt deinen Stimmbändern. Du wachst auf, die Sonne strahlt auf dein Gesicht… — Die ‘Lust am Töten’ war heutiges Thema … Read more

Heart beating faster, taking in a shallow shaking breath as you’re running from one side of the pitch to the other. Voices calling to each other ‘Man on’. Your mind just occupied with that next shot. The ball is coming nearer, a pass across and it’s yours. You prepare to accept it, striding towards it. The football hits the side of your foot, a perfect  pass. Now needing to convert it into a goal standing now just a couple steps away from the goal outside the box. You’re going to make it count, the scenarios have all played out in … Read more

A new year is upon us. New opportunities, new chances to do good, to change myself and my community to the better. Every so often I try to keep track of the Islamic date. Allah swt. tells us :2013-11-05 23:40:36 “God decrees that there are twelve months – ordained in God’s Book on the Day when He created the heavens and earth – four months of which are sacred…” [9:36] Still, I failed to take notice that we had entered the month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic Year. One of the 4 months mentioned in the verse … Read more

Die sind einfach toll, hab ich durch Pufpaffs Happy Hour gefunden, finde deren Auftritt dort ist genial gelungen, vor allem sieht man sie besser als bei der Meisterschaft.

Salam, Sorry for the looong silence, it’s been a bit hectic the last few weeks. On Monday I boarded a coach at 5am in the morning starting my life as a first year ChemEng student. Because of that I’ve been unable to post anything this week, which is a regret but I hope I’ll make up for it over the next few weeks. Over the next few weeks I want to broaden my horizon a bit and subsequently include more of a variety of posts to this blog. Topics on Islam will be at the forefront, though I should leave the disclaimer … Read more

My favourite Video in the Islamic category this week is a German talk by the Imam Ferid Heider, who I have the pleasure of knowing personally, living in Berlin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CYZjfFubkM In this specific talk he talks about steadfastness which translates to thabat or Istiqama in Arabic. He says that every Muslim has to deal with it, deal with his jihad-un-Nafs (struggle against the Self) and the Shaytan daily.  Allah swt. does not want that we are just Muslims on Eid, or in Ramadan or on Jumuah. In Surah Al-Anam 162-3 the Prophet saw. is ordered to say: Say, “Indeed, my … Read more

Over the last few days I’ve become interested in Internet security again. I always get bouts of these interests that creep up and go after a while it seems. Anyway, I remembered a conversation with a friend a few years ago about the dark web. The internet that we normally access is the tip of the iceberg as it is often explained. There is a whole other world beneath the water in the depths of the web. The deep web. Several orders of magnitude bigger than the observable web. The space is essentially the black market of today, drugs, weapons, … Read more

My favourite love em’ video this week in the non-Islamic Category is: A tie between Independence and When Dreams change. My favourite love em’ video this week in the Islamic Category is: How Am I Going To Serve Allah? – Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan First, I have to say that although I haven’t really watched as many videos as usual this last week, still the decision to pick one as my favourite was nearly impossible and I really should have given it more thought, before going out on a limb on this series. The videos that I’ll list here are … Read more

Over the past week I’ve been getting more and more interested and involved in writing than I have the whole year I guess. As I checked out other blogs I’ve noticed these badges saying “I’m part of Post A Day 2013”, these introduced me to the Daily Post from WordPress.com and its daily and weekly challenges and articles all about writing/blogging and improvement in it. While I don’t think I’m going to be able to consistently do it, I’m thinking of taking at least some Ideas from the prompts and carrying on doing my thing. Whatever that is…I haven’t figured … Read more

Der letzte Post ist irgendwie zu einem Monster mutiert, er sollte eigentlich noch diesen hier beinhalten. Zum ZDF; obwohl ich bestimmte Programme und bestimmte Auffassungen von bestimmten Themen, von bestimmten Leuten, nicht immer leiden konnte war die ZDF-Mediathek sowie auch der Ntv-Livestream und andere Anbieter eine Art für mich Kontakt mit Deutschland zu erhalten. Auch jetzt noch halte ich mich mit dt. Nachrichten mindestens einmal die Woche auf dem Laufenden. So jetzt zum eigentlichen Thema von dem ich im letzten Post so unheimlich weit abgekommen bin. Der Absatz oben war nämlich eigentlich der Übergang zu diesem. ZDFkultur hat diesen Monat … Read more

Seit 6 Jahren nun wohne, lebe, lerne ich in England. Als ich 14 war sind wir umgezogen. Es war damals eine schwierige Zeit für mich, ich wollte nicht wegziehen. Von meinen Freunden, meiner Schule, meiner gewohnten Umgebung, meiner Heimat. Ich bin Deutscher, hab mich immer so gefühlt und fühle auch immer noch so. Damals hab ich versucht jeden Kontakt nach Deutschland zu pflegen und aufrecht zu erhalten. Mit meinen Freunden hatte ich regelmäßig telefoniert. Hab sogar freiwillig während meiner Ferien meine alte Schule besucht, beim Unterricht mitgemacht.2013-09-04 17:06:34 Ich hatte mich auch in der Design AG der Muslimischen Jugend in … Read more

Something is bubbling, spewing and churning inside of me, a tingling in my feet. I  fell asleep. My whole being did, soul, heart, body and mind, it went deep. Time to let myself be free. The expression of my self stunted, frozen in space, the tingling spreads, this feeling as if dipped into the black sea, you see it wasn’t supposed to be like this. They said, I was meant to reach high but all I ever did was jump once in a while, always crashing back never reaching, never earning, always missing what I aimed to do. A pitch … Read more

Uhibuk ya misr. I do actually love all arab countries, I may hate their administration but how can I not love filistin, misr, suriya, Al-Sham in general, Saudi etc. when these are the lands of the prophets. I hope and pray for peace in all of these lands and that Islam may rise strong once again. As you might know, I’ve kept it quite quiet before I went, I was in Egypt for a month coming back at the start of Ramadan. That was not planned. Nope, not at all. Planned was to stay 2 months, from the 13th of … Read more

Analyse the strength and weaknesses of using faith as a basis for Knowledge in Religion and the Natural sciences In answering this question it is important to first define the terms ‘Knowledge’, ‘faith’ and ‘religion’. Knowledge has been defined as justified true belief by Plato[1], where a belief that is true and can be justified towards being true can become knowledge, implying that knowledge both incorporates belief and the truth. Some philosophers[2], rely on the method of hyperbolic doubt or scepticism, to test how grounded in reason knowledge is and to discern judgements on statements whose truth can in anyway … Read more

Today inshAllah I want to talk about countering a bad deed with a good deed. Allah swt. has promised a great reward for those who when encountering bad behavior, do good instead instead of answering with bad. Good conduct, good behaviour has a very high importance in Islam, it counters the influence and outcome of bad behavior especially on the heart. When a person does something bad  to you and that constantly and return that with good, there can really only be a good outcome. If you remember when a woman constantly threw rubbish in front of the prophet Muhammad saw. … Read more

#MyJihad is staying positive when everything around me is negative. Addendum 2023: My heart and my dua’s are with the people of Syria then, now and forever.

On this Journey On this journey called life we seek the light to guide us through the stress and the strife, the light that stays with us through times of sadness and laughter. What is this thing called hereafter, that you chase after? While I chase the money, the fame and all I care about is I, I mean me me me… All I see is the depression around me. Surah Al-Anam Ayah 38 “All the creatures that crawl on the earth and all those that fly in the sky are communities like yourselves. We have missed nothing out of … Read more

On this Journey On this journey called life we seek the light to guide us through the stress and the strife, the light that stays with us through times of sadness and laughter. What is this thing called hereafter, that you chase after? While I chase the money, the fame and all I care about is I, I mean me me me… All I see is the depression around me. Surah Al-Anam Ayah 38 “All the creatures that crawl on the earth and all those that fly in the sky are communities like yourselves. We have missed nothing out of … Read more

A lot has happened over the last few weeks… Among the major events were the Discover Islam week and the elections at the University. The Discover Islam Week started on the 26th of February with a Discover Islam Exhibition, unfortunately I couldn’t help out much, because I had lectures all day. It was followed by a talk on the linguistic miracles of the Quran at 6pm. The talk was okay, when I proposed the idea for this talk I was thinking of something on the lines of how Nouman Ali Khan reveals these little tidbits of just amazing structures and … Read more

I’m fascinated with videos. I’d love to be able to make my own, that I’m satisfied with. I think I lack the ability and organisation and endurance to plan a shot though. I mean I’ve done, or well tried to do daily vlogs and they were all really unplanned, boring even. I was uncomfortable with asking people I knew, if they’re okay with being filmed. Such a simple question really. Two friends in particular have asked me not to film them (which is understandable), so it’s made it harder to film the things that go on around me, in addition to … Read more

I’ve always been a bit mature, I think…that’s what I’ve been told anyway. Once (about yr. 3-4 at school) I was asked if I’d want to have kids when I was older. For me that wasn’t a valid question it was a certainty for me, that I would at one point in my life have kids, if God would let me live that long. I’ve loved babies probably since I was old enough not to be counted to be one anymore. In my family I got to witness both of my sisters as babies and growing up, one 14 the … Read more

#MyProphetTaughtMe to be balanced in everything I do. Not to, only have a fit body but a fit state of mind too. To accept and respect everyone’s opinion, but make mine the middle path. Listen. He thaught me, to cry from the fear of the punishment and judgement of God and also to sob and hope, that my hubb (my love) to God is enough to make up for the sins that I commited while I benefited from His never-ending, Mercy and Love. To laugh and smile often, but not to exaggerate. To celebrate, and live life to the fullest, … Read more

Salam, to make my going against my plans and being absolutely inactive and totally unproductive up to you I will isA post multiple times over the next few weeks independent from the schedule hopefully more than 4 times and then drop it down so I get used to writing a lot. A reflection of the  week first. This, coupled with last week has been like a reboot for me, albeit a slow one (think Windoof, ehm Winstupid?)). On the weekend I have finally been able to go to Leeds for training (Parkour), met quite a few interesting personalities. Been able to … Read more

So it is almost upon us, I’ve taken the liberty to post this a bit later than I would normally, to wish you and your family a good start into the year of 2013, may God bless us and make this a fruitful year. That said, let’s go on to the first post according to schedule, let’s let this year pass in revue, it was a busy year. Sunken ships and blame games early this year, the biggest bail-out for Greece, the Queens Jubilee, the Arab spring and various coup d’etat, the phone hacking scandal and its consequences, a shoot-out … Read more

This night has me thoughtful, thinking about the last few days, weeks and months and their impact on me. As I searched through my mind, heart and soul, asking desperately to tell me what it wants, and turning to call to God. I remembered listening to a talk by Nouman Ali Khan last week or so and decided to revisit it. It was titled “The search for the sound of the Soul”, where he talked at the MSA National. His talk truly resonated with me and reflected things that I had been both fighting with and thinking about. For a … Read more

It is on a balance that I stand My deeds deciding where I land Even something of the weight of a sandcorn could make that balance tip, causing me to mourn. Do I get to Jannah or do I fall pray to my desires that fires this drive towards consumerism selling me a myth of gratification and of satisfication A cause of depression and of false impression. Soooo, either fall to materialism or to asceticism? I say, Nay I’ll stay with Wasitiyyah like a gangsta. A straight path, two walls, doors covered by curtains From the end and above, two … Read more

Yesterday was the first time I publicly read out a poem that I wrote,  I personally didn’t think it was that good. But I felt good that I was able to get out of my comfort zone and read a poem to 100+ people. Though I’m happy that I didn’t have to actually had to face them and that may be the next step, towards getting over my performance anxiety. I remember, it must have been in year 4, I had to do a presentation about the Niger delta in Geography. From what I can recall I did pretty well … Read more

Heroes   plural of he·ro (Noun) From Greek lit. protector, defender Heroes are all around us, whether it’s that cute little baby who just managed to take his or her first step or the older gentlemen and ladies who, despite their age, are still proactive in what they believe in. Heroes are those, who spark emotions of inspiration and admiration in us. I find heroes all around me. You especially, manage to gain my admiration and continuously inspire me. You my Sister in Islam. I might not be able to tell you directly how much I admire your strength in coping with what … Read more