February/Rabie'Awal 2013/1434 issue #11 of Muslimah Girl Magazine

February/Rabie’Awal 2013/1434 www.muslimahgirl.com 1 P A L E S T I N E

the magazine every Muslimah should read! February/Rabie’Awal 2013/1434 issue #11

www.muslimahgirl.com

Immuneto News

news inside!EXCITING

Make Your Own Scarf Hanger!

2 February/Rabie’Awal 2013/1434 www.muslimahgirl.com

contentscontentscontentscontentscontentsinterview

Woroud sawalha with mosaic1832a girl from palestine

recipe

did you know?

14 Get your palestinian facts straight

15 fun facts about masjid al-aqsa

38 Kenafa Nabulsih

36

fashion

40Palestinian thobe

60oh-so-elegant!

72 the casual/bridal you

health

52 Sunnah sports

60d.i.y

78 hijab hanger

49 know your mahrams

February/Rabie’Awal 2013/1434 www.muslimahgirl.com 3

contentscontentscontentscontentscontentshealth

poetry

16we are palestine

46A Blind boy/life

express yourself

54Immune to news

56you start

82diary of an optimistic student

52advice

50Winter Blues

77develop yourself

reviews

48Pearl daisy review

89book review

faith

80guarding the tongue

science corner

84the astrolabe

others

35quote

57hadith

76du’aa

88fun stuff


Welcome to Palestine, where West meets East and North meets South, the holy land where religions took form, the cradle of civilizations, the beautiful country with

rich culture and extremely deep history.

Ahlan Wa Sahlan Bekom Be Falasteen.


MuslimahGirleditor in chief:

editor:

Menna Fateen

Asmaa Ehab

design & layout:Menna Fateen

cover girl:Fayha Ahmed

issue's writers:February/Rabie’ Awal2013/1434 issue #11

Asmaa EhabFida Islaih

Humaira AshrafMariam Ashraf

Mariam El GamalMariam Ghanem

Mariam SyedMenna FateenNonni SorayaNouran Amin

Rahma FateenRomaisa Sebaihia

Shaira HafsaSumaira Reyaz

The TravelerUjala Shujat

Uswah Walde Any comments, suggestions or questions?

Email [email protected] us @muslimahgirlmag

Post on our facebook wallContact us via tumblr

f o

assistant editor in chief:Romaisa Sebaihia

menna fateenMenna Fateen Editor-in-chief

editor’snoteAssalamu Alikum ladies, Keef el hal? (That means ‘how are you?’ in Palestinian Arabic dialect!)I hope you’re all fine and lively and enjoying your life while remember-ing to work for the Day of Judgement. :) This issue is literally full with information about Palestine and other

fun stuff from making your own scarf hanger to elegant fashion spreads and how to guard your tongue. We really hope you enjoy this

issue!For the exciting news mentioned on the cover, flip to page 58!

l &


Hope...A

Ray Of

By: Ujala Shujat


Have you ever dreamt of that perfect world where everyone is receiving high qual-ity education? I have. But knowing that about 67 million children worldwide are out of school, this dream seems almost impossible to fulfill. The question does not only revolve about how we will be able to pay their fees, but how to convince some parents to send their children to school and more importantly how to spark the passion for education in the children who might never have even thought about picking up a book. Yes, it might come as a surprise, but there are a lot of reluctant parents and chil-dren. Infact, our world is in a state of 'educational emergency'. Children of school-going age are involved in child labor to support the family. Women’s education is especially neglected, as parents just don’t think it to be important enough (because according to them the only reason a girl is born is to raise a family). Even if the parents with low-income try to enroll their kids into schools, most of the time they have to compromise on the quality of education, which has lead to 50% of the school children of Pakistan not being able to even read a sentence. This data can disturb any sane mind. But on the bright side, all the people reading this article are literate and if they join hands together the number stated above can certainly be brought down. For this purpose, my university mates and I have started a school in Pakistan called Sehar Foundation.Sehar is an Urdu word which means “dawn” in English, and this school will serve the same purpose, that is to bring a ray of hope of high quality education to the young buds of Pakistan, so that no child could ever be deprived of his fundamen-tal right to education. Apart from that, Sehar foundation will also work on career counseling and talent building, which is something that many schools tend to ig-nore.Education is important. It is not only important to get jobs, but it brings discipline in a society and takes a society towards success. Even our Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) emphasized considerably on this matter. So play your part in giving the society what it needs the most. Teach a child who otherwise would never be able to read a book in his life. Either volunteer or donate for an NGO (Non-governmental Orga-nizations) or teach a child individually. I would also really appreciate if you support Sehar Foundation and like it on Facebook. Remember, all acts of charity will come back to the donor manifold and no joy is better than to see a person smiling and knowing that the reason behind that smile is YOU! :)

By: Ujala Shujat

fLike the Sehar Foundation on Facebook!http://www.facebook.com/sehar.foundation


Dome of The RockAl-Quds, (Jerusalem) Palestine


Palestine


Al-Aqsa


The Holy mosque of Al-Aqsa is located in Al-Quds (Jerusalem), Palestine. Its sig-

nificance to the Muslims is that:1. It is the third most sacred mosque after the Kaa’ba and the mosque of the

Prophet (PBUH) 2. It is the place from where Prophet Mu-hammad (PBUH) ascended to the sky for

mi’raj.3. It was the first Qibla for the Muslims


Dabke (Arabic: دبكة; also transliterated dabka,dabki and dabkeh) is an Arab folk dance native to the Levant. It is popular in Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Ara-bia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq. A line dance, it is widely performed at weddings and joyous occasions. The leader of the dabke heads the line, alternating between fac-ing the audience and the other dancers.

February/Rabie’Awal 2013/1434 www.muslimahgirl.com 13 Dabkeh


S t r a i g h t

MYTH

Get Your Palestinian Issue Facts

Arabs willingy left their homes or at the directive of their leaders so Israel taking their homes was morally okay.

FACT“It was not a haphazard fight in which the Palestinians fled their home at

the directive of their leaders but it had been an unprovoked systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Jewish militia involving massacres, ter-

rorism and the wholesale looting of an entire nation” -Miko Peled from ‘The General’s Son’

MYTH Palestinians (Hamas in particular) are terrorists.

FACTWhen a Palestinian blows up an Israeli tank he is labeled as a terrorist but

when an Israel soldier shoots a Palestinian child in the eye he is just defend-ing himself. When Palestinians die, it doesn’t make the news but when one

Israeli does it’s all over the news.

MYTH Palestinians sold their houses to the Israeli settlers.

FACTWhen the Israelis offered the Jewish people a house, the coffee inside was still warm meaning that the family was just forced out.

Educate Yourself:http://smpalestine.comhttp://electronicintifada.net/http://electronicintifada.net/bloghttp://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/about/

did you know?


Fun Facts About Masjid Al-Aqsa

1 Masjid Al Aqsa was the second Masjid on earth. 2

Most scholars are of the opinion that Masjid Al Aqsa was first built by Prophet Adam [as].

3Ibrahim [as] rebuilt the Masjid Al Aqsa in Jeru-salem as he and Ismail [as] rebuilt the Ka’ba in

Makkah. 4 It was Prophet Sulayman [as] who finally completed the

building of Masjid Al Aqsa.

5 Masjid Al Aqsa built by Sulay-man [as] was destroyed in 587 BC by Nebuchadnezzar King

of Babylon.6 The Jews call this same

Masjid Al Aqsa built by Sulayman [as] as their

Temple.

7 The Jews re-built their Temple on the same site in 167 BC but was

destroyed in 70 AD and Jews banished from Jerusalem. 8

did you know?

The site of Masjid Al Aqsa remained barren and was used as a rubbish tip for nearly 600 years until the Great Khalifah Umar bin Khattab liberated Jeru-salem in 637/8 AD and

began its foundation again.

9That, the al Buraq wall or

Western Wall where Proph-et Muhammad [PBUH] tied his animal the Buraq on the night journey of al Israa is what the Jews call the wail-

ing wall. 10Israel occupied Masjid Al Aqsa in 1967 and the fundamentalist Jews

have made 100s of attempts to destroy Al Aqsa since 1967 when they occupied it. A fire in 1967

started by their help destroyed the 900 year old Mimbar installed by

Salahudeen Ayubi, the Great Mus-lim Hero.


We Are PalestineWe are not just zataar and

zaytoonolives and oranges

watermelon and cheesehomemade bread and mint

tea on the balcony

We are not trashed streetshot weather and water loss

and bombed buildings We are not just blood

We are a waving flag

of roses red like blood, of grass green like justice, of doves and jasmine white like peace on a night sky

We are olive trees uprooted

from our homesleaving our roots high

waiting for our leaves to be seen and heard

waiting to plant ourselves back at home.

by: FIda islaih

poetry


We Are Palestine

poetry


Woroudsawalha

interview


her interview with Mosaic

interview


is a 20 year old runner and a sports major at Najah National University in Pales-tine. She is from Aseera Al Shamalia which is right outside of Nablus in the West Bank. She caught everyone’s attention during the Olympics when she competed in her hijab for Palestine. Although Woroud didn’t win, she won worldwide respect and made Palestinians and Muslim women very proud. ‘Mosaic of Muslim Women’ (read more about Mosaic on page 25) interviews her about the Olympics and her future goals.

Woroud sawalha

Mosaic: When did you start competing/ running professionally?

Woroud: ‘I first started out when I was about 13 years old and I used to compete in nationwide competitions through my school. I used to run long distances like the 3k and 5k. When I gradu-ated from high school, I had an average of 93% and I chose to major in sports in university. I joined the track team at my university and used to compete with them with the ultimate goal of competing in-ternationally. After successfully winning many of the local and national track competitions, it was announced that I will be competing in the Olym-pics for Palestine.”

Mosaic: What was your training like in Palestine? What obstacles did you en-dure?Woroud: “There was no place for me to train and no one to train me on the 800 meters, which was a new distance for me. I tried at first to train with my university team but it was on different distanc-es and there was no one to focus on training me on my own. So after I train with the team, I used to go out to my father’s land out in the village and train hard to improve my running times. Every week I used to go to the Olympic committee and ask them to help me with my situation and provide me with a trainer for my specific distance. Time was pass-ing by so quickly and my situation was not chang-ing. Until April came along and I was told that there would be a 3 month training camp in Qatar which I attended along with Bahaa Al Fara-the other Palestinian runner who is from Gaza- and

his trainer Majed Abu Marahel. However, I was very surprised when I got to Qatar that there was still no trainer assigned to me. So I started to train with Majed Abu Marahel as well. I used to train twice a day, in the mornings and evenings, in Qa-tar in order to take advantage of resources that I did not have available to me in Palestine.”

Mosaic: How did your training change when you got to London?

Woroud: “In London I got to train on a track that was similar to the one that I would compete in and that was the best training I had. My best time when I was in Palestine was 3.54 min. I was also able to train in Turkey for a short while (while I was there for a competetion in Istanbul) where my time improved to 2.51 min. With the training in Qatar my best time became 2.42 min. By the time I started training in London, I was able to take off another 13 seconds of my best time. I felt that that was when my journey really began to take off.”

Mosaic: How did it feel to get chosen for the Olympics?

Woroud: “Even though this was a huge dream of mine, I honestly didn’t expect for it to actually happen. I was a bit anxious because I felt the heavy responsibility that was on my shoulders to repre-sent my country.”

interview


interview

it was announced

that I will be

competing in the

Olympics for

Palestine "

"


interview

Mosaic: You have so many factors that someone might use against you, like the fact that your are Palestinian and you run with your hijab. How do you keep up your motivation?

Woroud: “When I started running years ago, I was not wearing hijab. However, when I did start wear-ing hijab, I continued to compete. I did face some difficulties in the beginning but Alhamdulah I am now more attached to it than I ever was. There was a time when I felt weakened by people’s negative comments but when I was chosen for the Olympics I proved to everyone that a woman in hijab has the ability to reach the highest limits!”

Mosaic: What was your number one goal this Olympic games?

Woroud: “My goal for this Olympic games was achieved and it was for the new number from Pal-estine to carry my name. That was my goal for these games purely because this is only the beginning and I hope to use that number to compete in the next Olympics Inshallah. I will be working hard to im-prove myself so that I can compete against the best and win. Then it will be the Palestinian national an-them that the world will hear and the Palestinian flag will be raised above others.”

Mosaic: What was it like when you arrived in London? Did anyone from your family go with you?

Woroud: “When I first saw London from the air-plane, my eyes welled up with tears because I never imagined that one of these days I would get this op-portunity. No one from my family was able to accom-pany me because it was not financially feasible for them. However, I have an uncle who lives in Canada that I haven’t seen for four years who, upon hearing that I will be in the Olympics, booked his flight to London to cheer and support me. He also was in the audience during my competition.”


interviewMosaic: What was your schedule like in London? Was it all training or did you get to do some sightseeing?Woroud: “I pretty much stayed in the Olympic village and the training facilities the whole time until the day of my competition on August 8. After my competition, I had about four days to see the city. My uncle and I went to the London Bridge, London eye, and walked around the city. I also went with the rest of the Palestinian team to the Madame Tussauds wax museum.”

Mosaic: Tell us about the opening cer-emony. Where were you waiting and how did it feel to walk into the stadium?

Woroud: “It was a very very great day! Before we went out we were all waiting backstage in the stadium. We really enjoyed it and loved walking behind our flag, which was held by the judo fight-er, Maher Abu Ramela. We got to see the torch being lit and raised.”

Mosaic: Tell us about the day of your competition.Woroud: “I went to the stadium and they started calling out for our group. My heart was beating so fast but I was able to calm myself down. We walked and were taken to the first room, which was a security search room. Then we were taken to another room to double check our names and other things like our numbers. Then they lined us up behind each other and we walked out of the stadium to the deafening roar of the large crowd.”

Mosaic: What is the greatest memory you have of your time at the Olympics?

Woroud: “The greatest memory I have was dur-ing the closing ceremony when I got to carry the Palestinian flag and lead our group. I also really liked the pictures.”

Mosaic: When did you meet the rest of the Palestinian team?

Woroud: “Unfortunately we are all from differ-ent areas and there were so many factors that made it difficult for us to meet, most specifically the Israeli occupation.”

Mosaic: Were you all together all the time?

Woroud: “We used to go to most places together except for training and we all had different train-ing schedules. We all watched each other’s com-petitions. However, unfortunately at the time of my race, most of the team that was from Gaza had already gone home due to their fear that the bridge would be closed and they wouldn’t be able to get back home.”

""they lined us up behind each

other and we walked out of

the stadium to the deafening

roar of the large crowd.

Mosaic: Obviously your parents were very proud of you. How often did you talk to them while you were in London? What was the greatest piece of advice they gave you?

Woroud: “Before I had to give up my phone to se-curity the day of my race, my dad called me and told me, “My dear, don’t be afraid and be confi-dent in yourself. We have the whole village in our living room watching you and cheering you on.” They always advise me to give my all and try my best to get results.”

Mosaic: When you got back to Palestine, how was your reception?

Woroud: “I came home to open arms and hugs. My mother lifted me and twirled. All the neighbors were out on the streets to greet me. There were some people that had a hard time accepting the fact that I didn’t win as they have been watching me win again and again in Palestine. But I do not blame them for they had no idea what I was com-peting against in terms of the other runners.”


interview

Mosaic: What are your future plans?

Woroud: “I have a dream that I will reach my goal of winning gold.”

Mosaic: This Olympics games took place during Ramadan. What was it like fasting while train-ing?

Woroud: “The days that I could fast in, I did fast. And the days that my training took all morning I use to eat. And on the morning of my race, I had some honey with dates.”

Mosaic: When people think of Woroud Sawalha, what do you want people to remember the most?

Woroud: “Of course when I run, I am not running for myself because I represent my country and I want Allah to be pleased with me first and then other people second.”

Mosaic: This is obviously a life changing opportu-nity. Did you feel that you changed? What was the greatest thing that you learned?

Woroud: “What changed the most was that people started to know who I was. This opportunity made me want to change the lives of girls who wear hijab and encourage them to take part in competitive sports. And I learned that impossible is not so hard to overcome afterall.”

Mosaic: Is there anything you would like to add?

Woroud: “I hope that I will still have access to the training camps for the next four years so that I can better compete for the gold and place Palestine on the Olympic map. And I am extremely happy and grateful when I hear that I have sup-porters all over the world.”


Mosaic (http://mosaicofmuslimwomen.wordpress.com/) is a colorful art-work of Muslim women from all over the world who have extraordinary acheivements. It is a platform in which to recognize the unrecognized, celebrate the accomplished, and bring together a wide diversity of wom-en who exemplify the image of a Muslimah.Our Mosaic would not be complete without the Muslim women of the past, starting from the time of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and work-ing through over 1400 years of Islam in order to show the empowerment and freedom Islam has brought to women. For 1400 years, Islam has enabled women to vote, inherit, keep their own last names, have careers and be equal to men. The situation of women in certain countries are the result of culture and government and not at all consequences of Islam, although some people might wrongly use the name of the religion to justify their actions.Every week, we will feature a woman from the past and a woman from the present in order to paint a true picture in your mind about Muslim women.You can contact me at [email protected]

interview

Mosaic celebrates their one-year anniversary

flr







Imagine If London Was Occupied by

How can we help our brothers and sisters in Palestine? What is our role towards them? Follow our blog (muslimahgirlmag.tumblr.com) to stay updated

with our upcoming posts!


Interviewed by: Mariam Syed

So when I first realized that I had to write an article about Palestine, I lit-erally had a hurricane of emotions. I didn’t know where to start, or what to say. The thing is, just the word Pal-estine can bring on so much emotion in many people. I mean, say the word “Palestine” or “Israel” at school, and I automatically become part of your conversation. So while I sat at my laptop, hoping for an inspiration while listening to Maher Zain’s Palestine Will Be Free (which is a really good song you can buy iTunes. I highly recommend), my phone buzzed. Still lost in thought I glanced at its screen with a text from one of my best friends, Adan. I should also mention here that Adan is a Pal-estinian teenager living with close family friends as part of an exchange program. :) So anyways, I decided to interview Adan, or rather, ask her a few questions. A quick background synopsis: Adan came here (Southern California) in the end of the summer from Palestine. Her host family hap-pened to be one of my family’s close friends. She is here until the end of the 2012-2013 school year.

interview

A Girl FromPalestine


Imagine coming from a country complete-ly different than from what you’re used to. And then on top of that, living with a family you have never met, not being able

to speak your first language, and attend normal high school. Adan is an amazing person and friend, and I’m so lucky to have met her.

MGM: What foreign student ex-change student program are you part of?

Adan: “I'm an exchange student on PAX & YES (Youth exchange study) programs.”

MGM: What made you decide to attend this program and choose the USA?

Adan: “I saw a great future and good advantag-es to my university application and jobs by do-ing this year of study in the U.S.A because Israel and U.S.A have a really good relationship.”

MGM: Where in Palestine do you live? Like what town, village, region, etc.?

Adan: “I live in a region calls “Jalil” in the north, in a village called Nahif.”

MGM: Could you describe your hometown?

Adan: “My village is about 20,000 people. It’s a modern Arab Muslim village, a really old vil-lage that existed even during the Ottoman Era. People from Nahif are known for their intelli-gence and it has a conservative society.”

MGM: How different is your home-town from the US?

Adan: “It is different with the number of peo-ple: my village has about 20,000 people; here (in the town I currently live in) it's about 45,000 people. My village is a conservative village which affects everything like clothes, relation-ships and so on. Here (in the US), it’s a free

MGM: What about the school you attend at home? What is it like? How is it different from the school you at-tend here?

Adan: “My school back home has about 700 pu-pils. The students stay in one class, and we are divided by grades and age so the people in your class are your age only. My school is all science classes and starts at 8:15 and finishes at 12:30 or 1 pm, but sometimes we stay until 3 pm. We don't have that much of homework but I can say it's 4-5 times harder.”

MGM: What is your view/opinion of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? Adan: “I prefer to say that it has been so long that it makes me feel that it really needs a solu-tion, but it is so hard to make the right one since the conflict has been there for so, so, so long. I totally agree with peace between people without mentioning who they are or how they define themselves. But on the other side, I would love that each side get their rights or give the rights of other people back to them. I know that it is hard to understand and I have been asked a lot about it, and I officially say that Arabs are not going to simply get out of their lands, and neither are the Jews, so the best tem-porarily solution for us is to live together and start thinking about our present life by making our past our motive and the guide to keep us from falling in the same situation again.”

People from Nahif are known for their

intelligence and conservativeness

interviewcountry. In my village, it's only Arabs and Mus-lims living there. Here, it’s a variety of religions and races, etc.”


MGM: Do you consider yourself an Israeli or Palestinian, since you are legally documented as an Israeli citizen?

Adan: “I am simply a Palestinian who lives in Is-rael, which is supposed to be called “Palestine”.”

MGM: What are some typical views/stereotypes that are held by your classmates that you have helped diminish?

Adan: “I was surprised to know that some people who are my class mates don’t even know Israel or Palestine or about our conflict! I had to answer silly questions like “Is Israel hot?” Do you have war every day?” “Do you speak Israe-lian (which is a language I have never heard before!)?” And some series questions from very few people who knew about the conflict like: “Do you support the conflict?” “Do you have any jobs that you can’t work in?” “Do you face racism?” and etc. From what I have been asked, I had to tell my classmates about my country first, and say that these Arabs/Palestinians existed in it first, and to let them know that it’s the only and first Jewish country in the world, and it’s in the Middle East. The official lan-guages are Arabic and Hebrew (some thought it’s only Hebrew).”

MGM: Do you want to clarify any misconceptions our readers may have about Palestine and/or Israel? Adan: “Yes, I want you to know that not all Jews are bad, but what we call sohyon (Zionists) are bad. It is only a category of them that are bad and that you can find that in each and every place in the world. I strongly ask you to please read more about the conflict and never ask questions just to make fun of others, because it may be just a conflict for you, but it is our life for us!”

interview

MGM: Do you have anything else you want to tell our readers?

Adan: “I would love to say that being a Muslim is the best thing that ever happened to me, and so be proud of being Muslim. I believe that if you looked at our conflict as a Muslim, you’ll see the solutions that are the right thing to do and what decisions to make.”


“Sit with those who constantly repent for they have the softest

hearts” -Omar Ibn ElKhattab

quote

36 February/Rabie’Awal 2013/1434 www.muslimahgirl.com photo credit: http://zaatarahsrecipes.blogspot.com/

INGREDIENTS:

• 6-8 chicken pieces (or as much needed).

• Cauliflower (as desired).

• 3-4 rice cups.

• Spices (cinnamon sticks+ cardamom+ ginger +ground cinnamon+ ground ginger+ mixed spices+ ground turmeric+ salt)

• 1 chopped onion.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Wash the chicken pieces and peel their skin.

2. Place the chicken pieces in a large pot of boiling water and add cinnamon sticks+ cardamom+ ½ tsp ginger+ 1 chopped onion; then cover it for 30 minutes.

3. During the 30 minutes, cut the cauliflower into pieces (size of a hand fist) and fry them till golden brown, then let them drain their oil on kitchen paper towels.

4. Afterwards, wash the rice and add all the spices you devour ; such as: ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground mixed spices, 1 tsp ground turmeric, 1 tsp salt…etc.

5. Add the same spices above to the boiled broth and salt it to taste.

6. In the broth pot, arrange the chicken at the bottom first, then place the pieces of fried cauliflower neatly on top of them and allow to boil in the broth for 5-10 minutes.

7. Subsequently, add rice carefully to keep the layers in order that the broth covers the rice (about 2 fingers above it).

8. Cover the pot and cook on medium heat for approximately 30 minutes, then at low heat for 10-15 minutes.

9. After turning the heat off, leave the pot covered for 10 minutes to cool down a bit.

10. Serve upside down in a sizable tray.

recipe


MakloubehBy: Mariam ElGamal

recipe


KENAFA NABULSIHBy: Mariam ElGamal

• 2 cups Akkawi cheese.• ½ cup hot margarine. • ½ tsp red food colouring. • ½ kilo fresh kenafa dough.• 1½ cup sherbet (sugar syrup).• Soft ground pistachio for garnish.

INGREDIENTS:

DIRECTIONS:1. Grate Akkawi cheese and place in warm water for 30 minutes to get rid of excess salt, then drain well with pressure to get rid of excess water, too.2. Hot margarine is divided into 3 equal parts.3. Mix the red food colouring with the first part of margarine and stir until completely dissolved.4. Place the kenafa dough in a deep bowl and disin-tegrate its tufts.5. Sprinkle the red margarine mixture on the kenafa dough and rub until converged well.

6. Pour the second part of margarine into a circular tray on low heat, and spread the kenafa dough while applying pressure so as to cover and bond at the bot-tom of the tray (1 cm thick).7. Add the remaining quantity of margarine on the surface of the kenafa and its sides.8. Cook the kenafa try over medium heat, while moving the tray in circular motions on the stove, for 10 minutes until brown and cohere.9. Spread the Akkawi cheese evenly over the kenafa to cover it, but make sure that cheese isn't in contact with the tray's sides so it won't burn.10. Cover the kenafa tray with a smaller one and simmer for a while until the cheese melts.11. Turn the tray upside down, so that the smaller tray would have the Akkawi cheese at the bottom, covered with the kenafa.12. Sprinkle the kenafa with some warm sherbet (sugar syrup), and garnish with ground pistachio.Cut and served warm; more sherbet can be added as desired.

recipe


#SORRY


fashion


Palestinianthobe

fashion


fashion


Fayha Ahmed (aka CoveredGirlFayha) the youtube vlogger is wearing a Palestinian thobe. Thobe is the traditional Palestinian clothing for women.

fashion


fashion


fashion


I met a boy once who said that he knew everything, that he was always right. Couldn’t see that he had so much to

learn till he lost his sight. He used to say that love wasn’t real

He used to say that it was all about that physical appeal

He roamed the streets thinking he had nothing to lose.

Believed in no one and took in plenty of hearts to abuse.

He thought the world was his play-ground and he set the rules.

But he is not the Greatest or Most Gra-cious, he is just the king of all fools

And on this very playground I watched him stumble and fall.

I watched as his life flashed before him, I watched as he knew nothing at all.

A moment of silence for all the tired souls.

A moment of silence for this boys loss of words.

A moment of silence for the blindness of his heart.

A moment of silence for those of us who don’t know where to start.

I lost a foe that day with tears in my eyes For I could not see past his friendship’s

disguise. I have faith in something greater than a

boy with beautiful eyes. I have faith in something stronger than

a world at its demise.

I refuse to hold on to something so un-real.

I refuse to sit back and watch my faith disappear.

They’ll tell you many times that this world is temporary.

But you’ll never quite understand it till your heart grows weary.

I met a boy once who said he knew ev-erything, that he was always right.

Couldn’t see that he had so much to learn till he lost his sight.

ABLIND BOY

By: Mariam Ghanem

poetry


Life is not a fairytale, and I am no princess

No prince charming will come for me and I am no one’s mistress

This struck to me on a cold day while I was sipping coffee and cream

It’s rare that someone gets everything they dream

A good life is not complete without compromises and pain

Sunshine never lasts, nor does rain

Many of your efforts can end in vain,

When life gives you a tough time, just smile and fool your brain

This will at least lower your stress hormones,

Don’t forget to socialize and answer your phones

Take it easy but always work hard

When life tries to drag you, show a “NO” card

Finding balance is the toughest part in life,

Master that and you will fly like a kite! :)

Notes from the author: One cannot start working on self-development until they embrace the reality of life. Allah did not

design life to be all rainbows and sunshine- leave Paradise for that. To live a successful life, one must stay positive and ready at all times & work to attain a balance between

“Deen” and “Dunya”.

LIFEBy: Ujala Shujat

poetry


A s -salamu Alaikum Ladies, I’ve

decided to do a review on one of my upmost favourite hijab-Gurus! This is a Pearl Daisy review aka Amenakin! Amena is a vlogger, blogger, and columnist and also runs her own clothing brand. She has recently launched a beautiful lil’ boutique up in Leicester, so I went online and had a look…!Many of you may have seen her tutorials of the ‘hoojabs’ which she has designed herself; a hi-jab with a hood; how convenient, hey? They look so comfy so I bought a cream coloured Hoojab which is a beautiful natural colour and is great for all kinds of folding, pleating, coverage – you

n a m e it! The colour and quality was per-

fect, I was really impressed. Everything is done so professionally – unblemished hemming, great size, pretty packaging and quick arrival!Secondly, I bought the denim Alibaba’s which were such a great buy! I literally wear them every weekend, lounging round the house. They’re super comfy, modest and brilliant for all weathers.So, overall, apart from two lose buttons on the Alibaba’s, products from Pearl Daisy really are a good investment. Good price, good quality and quick delivery - what more could you ask for?

Pearl Daisy review


by: Humaira Ashraf

review

Get your own pearl daisy products here:http://pearl-daisy.com/


FatherGrandfathersFoster Father

And Great Grandfathers!

SonsGrandsonsAnd Great

Grandsons!

BrothersHalf Brothers

Foster Brothers

WHO ARE MY

MAHRAMS?

Father in lawSon in law

Paternal UncleMaternal Uncle

Foster Uncle

NephewsFoster Nephews

StepsonsStepfather

“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc.) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent (like palms of hands or one eye or both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer dress like veil, gloves, head-cover, apron, etc.), and to draw their veils all over Juyubihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms, etc.) and not to reveal their adorn-

ment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husband's sons, their broth-ers or their brother's sons, or their sister's sons, or their (Muslim) women (i.e. their sisters in Islâm), or the (female) slaves whom their right hands possess, or old male servants who lack vigour, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And all of you

beg Allâh to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful. "(24:31)

did you know?


Winter BluesBy: Nouran Amin

advice


It’s been winter for a while now and the days keep on getting shorter and shorter. The weather (depending on where you live) can

be unpleasant and in some cases disastrous. We suddenly spend most of our days indoors either on the computer or either well on the computer. Things seem to get old and we find ourselves de-scending on the ladder of boredom. This is what I like to call “The Winter Blues”.The Winter Blues is known to psychologists as

What I listed above is just some of the many ways you could do to make your winter happy, healthy, and productive. Whatever it is you do, make sure its not Haram and make sure you have fun doing it!Overall, if you have a low mood and the winter blues are really starting to get to you, then I would advise you to take a deep breath and pray with sincerity and try to memorize a surah in the Quran. This will personally be one of the best and greatest mood lifters ever.

Have a happy winter and choose your time wisely!

“seasonal affective disorder” (because psycholo-gists just want to make everything complicated) but for me, I like to describe it as a short period of low mood where everything and anything is boring. The Winter Blues is basically caused by lack of productivity due to that “depressed feel-ing” winter brings. However, if you make use of how beautiful winter can be there is no reason to feel blue after all!Here are some of my “anti-Winter Blues”:

1 Fast! That’s right: fasting! The days in winter are shorter and you could

make up for the days you missed in Ramadan you know for our “girly reasons”. Just remem-ber to renew your intentions and fast first and foremost for the sake of Allah (SWT) otherwise, it will be invalid.

Bake!Some of the best recipes can only be done in the winter. So get in the kitchen and give your Mom a hand and bake something. Baking is a great mood lifter and an easy way to earn good deeds!

Organize!Instead of stalking people's Facebook

profiles and scrolling on Tumblr, get

up and moving. Go organize your room and

change it up a bit. Also, organize your closet

and make a pile of clothes you know you’re

not going to wear and then either give it to

your little sister or go donate it. (make sure the

clothes are clean and in good condition!).

Family Time!Family is one of the greatest blessings Allah (SWT) can ever give to you. So, take advantage of that and start spending more time with family this winter. You can play a game with your siblings or start a movie mara-thon with the whole family.

2

43

advice


SunnahSunnahSunnahSunnahSunnah By: Romaisa SebaihiaBy: Romaisa SebaihiaBy: Romaisa SebaihiaBy: Romaisa Sebaihia

health


AsAsAs Muslims, we are told to be strong, pro-ductive and active in our daily ongoing in life, and, with our intentions in the

right place, we can even earn reward for simply jog-ging or going to the gym and keeping healthy and

active. Some other and common ways, in Islam, of being active, which you may not even have realised, is through things like performing Hajj, visiting the

sick, and even Salah – these all consist of many ac-tions being done for the sake of Allah (SWT).

“Teach your children swimming, archery and horse riding” - Omar Ibn ElKhattab*

Along with the previous rituals, we are also recom-mended to take part in sports for a healthy, active and

productive lifestyle. Earning reward through your in-tentions and learning self-development, what better way

to get yourself involved and productive than to practise these sports? And what makes it even better is that these aren’t just any sports, but the ones in which Prophet Mu-

hammad (SAW)’s best friend recommended us to learn!

In addition, it is reported that the Prophet PBUH ran: “the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) raced Aisha...”

and also wrestled with a number of men too. His compan-ions also used to take part in sports from stone tossing to

weightlifting. Nowadays we also hear of iconic Muslim sportspeople such as Muhammad Ali, Mo Farah, Sarah Attar, Woroud Sawalha and many more.

Now it’s time for you to head down to your local gym or sports centre and try find some of the sports mentioned or any others. And remember: before you start your sports session, make sure

to say Bismillah – you’ll get reward Insha’Allah, for having fun!

*It is a very common misconception that the Prophet PBUH said that quote but if you look for it in trusted hadith sites or books you

will not find it. It was said by his companion Omar.

health


If I were to count the number of hor-rific headlines and pictures I see ev-ery day, it would add up to way too

many. There are billboards, the radio in the car, news updates on my phone and laptop, the newspaper on the desk – and I’ve only just got into school! What with all the 21st century’s technological advancements, we should be thankful that we can receive valu-able information within a click of a button… Or should we?How many times have you scrolled down a news site and not even stopped to look at a picture of an African baby starving to death? How many times have you glanced at the front page of a newspaper and not even paused to think about the woman covered in blood from a bomb blast in Syria? How many times have you seen a campaign post-er showing grieving parents over dead bod-ies of children in Palestine, and you haven’t stopped to think? I am indeed also a culprit of this inhumane behaviour and not many people have questioned why. I think we may be becoming immune to in-humanity.Whilst we sit here at home or in the office, we often forget where and how we are being fed reels of these pictures. Have you ever sat and wondered that there must have been a pho-tographer standing opposite that saddening scene, on the other side of the camera, peer-ing through the lens, unable to contribute to the desperate situation and instead snap-ping shots of it? Alhamdulillah, as a photog-rapher/blogger I have not got to the stage where I have had to witness a horrid scene in order to take pictures and present it to the world. But this job is important - and some-body has to do it. In relevance to this, during the recent Israel-Palestine conflict, numer-

Immuneto news

express yourself

ous photojournalists have been harmed in the brutal attacks. After sitting quietly for more than sixty years, it is their right to risk their lives in order to prove to the rest of the world the desperateness of their situation in an attempt to for us to pray, donate and help the people of Palestine.However, there surely has to be a limit? Some schools of thought may argue that im-ages altogether are forbidden by Allah (swt), however - for educational purposes and in order to encourage the Ummah to help their other brothers and sisters in need - photo-graphs are often a necessary tool to engage with the public – especially with the younger generation. What many people fear, howev-er, if whether bombarding humans with so much horrific material will cause us to lose are senses altogether. We see so much blood shed in video games, action movies and on the news that a lot of children cannot differ-entiate between them – is this the type of so-ciety we want to live in?The solution is simple. It is important to un-derstand that as humans (and first and fore-most – Muslims) we must lead a balanced life. Give and take, not one extreme or the other, take the middle road. And, Insha’Allah, with this mind set we can contain our emotions, but engage our hearts and still manage to educate, inspire and help the future of this Ummah to progress for the greater good.Next time you open the newspaper, think twice: analyse the headline, absorb the pic-ture, make a dua, pop a penny in the charity box and remember that at the end of the day, only Allah knows best, Allah Aalam.

by: Humaira Ashraf


express yourself


قال رسول الله صىل الله عليه وسلم: " مثل المؤمنني ف توادهم وتراحمهم

هر وتعاطفهم مثل الجسد؛ إذا اشتك منه عضو تداعى له سائر الجسد بالس

ى." )رواه البخاري ( والحم

The prophet PBUH said, "The Believers, in their mutual love, mercy and compassion are like one body; if one organ complained, the rest of the body develops a fever."Indeed, that is how Muslims ought to be. Car-ing, showing peace and spreading love. Don't think right now, oh, Muslims are not like that, how bad. Rather ask your-self, am I like what I'm supposed to be or not? Am I doing my role towards this Ummah or not? Am I of any use or am I just like everyone else?All Muslims know how Islam tells us to be united and that it is a peaceful reli-gion, but what are we showing people around the world? That we are terrorists. With the killing of Muslims in Burma, Pakistan, Palestine, and many other places, and the rest of the Muslims doing nothing about it, is that how we show the world that we are like one body? Pak-istan has been complaining for months now, how many of us even know about it? What a bad fever

we have, celebrating New Years Eve and Muslims are being bombed. It's even got to do with human-ity, apart from what our religion says, of course.Imagine the Prophet PBUH among us today. Just imagine the natural reaction. He won’t be pleased, right?Now what to do? I won’t keep saying that we should care for everyone and that we should be reunited

again and that we have to show the world who we really are and stuff. We all heard these rants gazillion times before, and we can't even do anything about it.I'll just tell you one thing, the body will not recover, if the area of complaint has not been fixed or mended. You are the area of complaint. Tell yourself that. Convince yourself that you're the reason behind this and you'll find yourself starting to move.Get some white blood cells moving and

start with yourself. Know your Deen (religion) right. Preach it. Spread it in a peaceful way. And above all, know that everything will change to bet-ter in the future. Believe it from deep down your heart.And that change, has to start with you.

S TA R TY O U

By: Rahma Fateen

“Imagine the Prophet PBUH

among us today”

express yourself


"You should not undertake a special journey to visit any place other than the following three Masjids with the expectations of getting greater reward: the

Sacred Masjid of Makkah (Ka'bah), this Masjid of mine (the Prophet's Masjid in Madinah), and Masjid Al-Aqsa (of Jerusalem)" - Prophet Muhammed PBUH

In another narration the words are, "For three Masjids a special journey may be undertaken: The Sacred Masjid (Ka'bah), my Masjid and Masjid of Jerusa-

lem (Al-Aqsa). (Muslim, Bukhari, Abu Dawud)

عن أيب سعيد الخدري ريض الله عنه قال : قال رسول الله صىل الله عليه وسلم : ) التشد الرحال إال إىل ثالثة

مساجد : املسجد الحرام ومسجدي هذا واملسجد األقىص ( . متفق عليه

hadith




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The Casual You

By: Sumaira Reyaz

Now that winter is on its zenith and is touching the cool heights be alert dear sisters in your fashion cautioning your health. Another phase of winter says dress at your best, multiple layers, heavy fabrics and adornments to its best.

Your daily winter fashion statement comes this way

• Go for a black scarf with no embellishments and no print just outline it with a red beaded border, make sure its just bead linings and is at least an inch broad so that it en-hances your abaya and justifies your statement.

• This season go in for layering, multiple layering.

• Also make churidaar sleeve your fave for this season, for one reason, it will save you from the harsh winters and for the other reason promoting yourself.

• Go for velvets and heavy raw silks.

• Going for the printed headscarves, try a combination of the following colours which are “in” this season

1. Emerald, african violets and poppy red, or

2. Lemon zest and tender shoots form a great lively pair, or

3. Nectarine and linen thrown in with emerald, or

4. Grayed jade and african violet.

• If you are opting for prints then go for the same either floral or abstract prints this season.

• Also, go by a green brooch defining your statement this season since green is the colour of this season.

fashion

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fashion


BridalYour bridal blues this season should not be there on your face dear sister. Just relax, sit back, and act on the un-dervised opinions and you’ll be the only head turner in your party - let that credit be just yours.

• Go for a flaired silhouette this season, either in panels or in an a-line form, where the more preferred and modernised version would be the panelled silhouette.

• Team up this silhouette with a to-die-for lightly flared sleeve, comfortable enough for you.

• Go for a heavy, full brocade base in a single tone.

• Combine this with shades of african violets or emerald, both of the colours which are “in” this season.

• If you are not ready for the brocades then let strong, flowing and royal velvets define your statement

• Let the brocade abaya be as it is with a side-open placket without any embroidery or embellish-ment since it is already self-embellished

• If you are going with the velvet, then try adding sombre swarovski embroidery at the placket and at the hemlines where “broad” should be the key word

• And for both types of abaya go with a heavily embellished scarf but make sure that it is elegant embroidery and not the regular one.

TheYou

fashion


Are you into writing articles for young girls?

Into writing stories and fantasies? Do you like

giving advice or perhaps talking about your per-

sonal experiences? Do you like writing poems?

Yes?

We need YOU! Yes, you!

Fill in our (fun) application here:

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“Our Lord, perfect for us our light and forgive us. Indeed, You are over all things competent.” (66:8)

“Rabbana atmim lana noorana waghfir lana innaka AAala kulli shay-in qadeer”

”ربنا أمتم لنا نورنا واغفر لنا إنك عىل كل يشء قدير“

du’aa


DEVELOPYOURSELF

Spare some time to listen to lectures by these inspiring brothers & sisters:

3 Types of Modesty -Abdelrahman Murphy

Why Does Evil Exist? Hardships & Struggle on the Path to Allah -Yasmin Mogahed

Do You Want Paradise? - Omar Suleiman

advice

while surfing the internet!

Visit these amazing sites (and subscribe to keep up with their newest pieces!):

http://productivemuslim.com/

Allah says in the Quran: “...Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” which is why we must always strive to change ourselves to be better Muslimahs.

http://www.yasminmogahed.com/

”إن الله اليغري مابقوم حتى يغريوا ما بأنفسهم“


By: Asmaa Ehab

D.I.Y: Hijab Hanger

do it yourself


Voila! Your scarves are ready to be hung!

You might need more than just one to hang all your scarves, but

now you know how to!

What You’ll Need:

a hanger

curtain hooks

What You’ll Need To Do:

1 Attach the curtain hooks onto the hanger

2

do it yourself


“Mona looks weird in her hijab, she wraps it all wrong,” Duaa whispered to her friend.Sometimes when we talk, we might have no intention to hurt the other person. But Allah (SWT) has a higher expectation from us and he says: “O you, who have believed, avoid much [neg-ative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is accepting of repentance and Merciful.” [Quran 49:12].As we would hate to eat the flesh of dead ani-mals, that is how much we should hate saying things that will make people upset when they find out. Backbiting (noun) according to the dictionary is malicious talk about someone who is not present; gossip is a synonym of backbiting.To understand how big of an issue this is; The Prophet (SAW) asked his companions, do you know what is backbiting? The companions answered, Allah and his prophet know better. The prophet replied, mentioning your Muslim brother with what he doesn’t like. Then it was said, even though it is true, then the prophet (SAW) answered, if it is true then it is backbit-ing, if not then it is slander [Muslim].An interesting fact to also note is that, the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body and it is the only organ in the body that has muscles that is not attached at both ends. The truth is; our tongue never gets tired and it expresses what is in our hearts. Sins of the tongue are major sins and Shaytaan uses suspicion as a stepping stone to make us fall in to backbiting,

GUARDING THE TONGUE

gossip and spying.Imam Ahmad (Rahimahullah) mentioned in his Musnad on the authority of Anas (R.A) who re-lates that the Prophet (SAW) said the eemaan of Allah’s servant will not be upright until his heart is upright and his heart will not be upright until his tongue is upright.Don’t try to make excuses to backbite Muslims and non-Muslims. Allah says in the beginning of Surah al-Mumineen, “Indeed successful are the Believers, those who in their prayer have Khushoo’ (fear of Allah) and those who refrain from vain talk.” [Surah Mumineen: 1-3]Refraining from vain talk is a sign of the success-ful believers. Allah mentions refraining from vain talk after he mentions al-Khushoo’. This is because too much talk makes the heart hard and it makes it impossible to reach the level of Khushoo’ (fear of Allah) unless one refrains from vain talk. Imam an-Nawawi (Rahimahullah) mentions in Kitaabul-Adhkhaar ; Know it is incumbent upon all to guard their tongues from most speech, ex-cept a word that has some benefit in it...

If you find yourself backbiting others, Make sincere repentance to Allah, Ask the person you have wronged for forgiveness, Make dua for them and praise them, Stop hanging out with people who make you fall in to this sin, Increase your nawafil prayers, Make Dhikr, Read good books, watch beneficial videos on YouTube and think before you speak, some-times it better to keep quiet.“Dhikr is exercise of the heart; gossip is exercise

of the tongue.” (Boonaa Mohammed)

faith

BY: THE TRAVELER


1

Knowing about a problem is half the battle and here are some possible solutions to backbiting.

If you are in a gath-ering and some-one is the object

of discussion, the best thing you can do is to defend the

person.

2

If you can’t defend the person, then stop the action. Tell the people that

they are backbit-ing and explain

how serious a sin backbiting is.

3Get up and leave if you can’t

stop them from backbiting as that is the least you can

do.

faith


Dear Diary,There I was out in the rain, panting for breath, drenched to my very bones in freezing water. However, my resolution didn’t waver with the fall-ing droplets; on the contrary, the continuing current strengthened my will and steeled my nerves. I would not lose, not after all I did to get here, all the deserts I crossed and clashing waves I ventured blindly into. My enemy was a few feet away, star- ing into my soul with snake-like eyes. He, too, knew that one of us had to go for the other to survive. I could see him preparing to attack; a soft glow of red lighted his palms. Meanwhile, I prepared to defend my life and end his. I let a deep gust of wind flow deeply into my lungs, inflating my broad chest and light my senses to awakening. My bare arms tensed and my palms clasped the sword from its sheath. The attack was coming closer with every step of my enemy, closer and closer my fate approached. It was drawing near-er and nearer, straight to me face. It was…….It was…………. A warm coat of fur? “Ya ALLAH. gerrof, fatso” I bellowed from be-neath my broad cat. I was in a moment of intensified courage and my freaking cat, dearest fatso, got me out of my dream with a cliff-hanger. A cliff-hanger in my

By: Mariam Ashraf

express yourself

I prepared to defend my life and end his. ”

“


By: Mariam Ashraf

express yourself

own dream. I was so muscled, strong, brave and certain of my destiny. I had an awesome beard, too. Well, in my case, being a female that is, having a beard shouldn’t be that exhilarating, but it was so awesome being that knight/dragon rider/ wizard/any fantastic mythical fighter from epic novels. His well-cropped beard was definitely his highlighting feature. His broad shoulders, wide chest, tall built, midnight colored eyes. Everything about him was so mystical and just…………….. Is that cat still sitting on my face?

I sprang off the bed sending my loving cat across the room. Don’t worry though, de-spite his extra layers of fat, he still lands on his feet like a proper member of the feline family. I put an extra jacket on my double-layered pajamas and headed to the dining room, falling ungracefully on my face with my first step outside my room. I know I will never belong with cats now.I heard my little brat of a brother’s laugh echo across the hall, but the true warrior within me got up, dusted off his clothes and continued his path with the long confident stride of a true prince of Persia, a true assas-sin, a true soldier. Following my boyish train of thoughts, I will never belong with girls either.Arriving into the dining room, I found the rest of my family –the ones I actually like- sit-

ting together on this lovely Friday morning eating breakfast of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, green peppers and mozzarella cheese. I squeezed between the back of my father’s chair and the wall in a vain less at-tempt to get to my usual spot and met the floor again with my knees and palms.This time, however, there was not warrior to get me off the ground. I just stayed there grinding my teeth together like an angry kit-ten.“Honestly, Mariam, you shouldn’t be react-ing this way this early in the morning. Take things a little lightly, you look just fine from that fall.” My mother said so light-heartedly I almost chuckled at her calmness.“You do not understand the situation I have fallen this deeply into. My own troops have abandoned me after I have shown my infe-riority twice in the last five minutes that they decided they shall survive better without their true leader who has guided them across countless battlefields with the sight of vic-tory and victory alone.” I replied with bated breath, collected the end of my robe and stomped lightly out of the room and back under my sheets. Oddly enough, I replied in English during breakfast in Egypt to my mother who had been talking in Arabic. I’ve got to stop watching Anime.

I sprang off the bed send-ing my loving

cat across the room.

“”


The AstrolabeBy: Nonni Soraya

science corner


It has been a long time since I stepped on this foreign island to further my study. It’s also been

years of trying to graduate. Sometimes I wonder if any other women would like to what I am doing now. In fact, finally I found many. They are stron-ger, more courageous, and patient. They showed me many things to learn by just being around them. It attracts me to search about the excitement of people to discover science, many times ago, in what’s known as the “Dark Age” when actually was supposed to be “Age of Light”. I was surprised to find Islamic scholars dig science in ways that I have never thought before, and then I came to know this lady, Mariam al-Astrulabi.Only few people understand the way Islamic scholars shape the science that we acknowledge now. They traveled to many places, saw the stars, named them, and use them to navigate their ships, many times ago before the en-emies destroyed these precious find-ings. In the 10th century Mariam al-Ijliya al-Astrulabi was born in Syria, a daughter of an astrolabe maker. At that time, Mariam al-Astrulabi was among few female scientists. She was learning to make astrolabe from her father. As the time goes by, she became a highly skilled astrolabe maker pioneered the development of astrolabe and contin-ued to make it throughout her life. Astrolabe is a tool used by astronomers and navigators to locate and predict the positions of the sun, moon, planets, and stars and determine local time giv-en local latitude, vice versa. Astrolabes were further developed in the medieval Islamic world, where Muslim astrono-mers introduced angular scales to the astrolabe, adding circles indicating azimuths on the horizon. It was widely used throughout the Muslim world, chiefly as an aid to navigation and as a way of finding the Qibla, the direction of Mecca.

This is an astrolabe used in Islamic era. One of simple usage of astrolabe is to determine a height of a tower. We can demonstrate it easily, and it only needs very simple mathematics. Astrolabe is placed in right position, and then the ar-row’s direction is adjusted to the top of tower according to the sight of observer. By knowing the angle and distance of the tower to astrolabe, we can estimate the height of tower in tangential relation.

science corner


The first person credited in building as-trolabe in Islamic world is Muhammad al-Fazari, a mathematician, around 8th cen-tury. Muslim astronomer Muhammad ibn Jabir al-Harrani al-Battani was developing the mechanical background of astrolabe which is recorded in Kitab az-Zij (920 AD). In the Islamic world, astrolabe was used to find times of sunrise and the rising of fixed stars, to help schedule morning prayers. The spherical astrolabe was invented during the Middle Ages by Islamic scholars. The earliest description of the spherical astrolabe dates back to Al-Nayrizi (892-902). In the 12th century, Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi invented the linear astrolabe, sometimes called the “staff of al-Tusi”, which was a simple wooden rod with graduated markings but without sights. The first geared mechanical astrolabe was later invented by Abi Bakr of Isfahan in 1235.A simple tool was built and developed by courageous people through many processes, and transformed it into a fine masterpiece. By recognizing the development of an as-trolabe, we are surprised by the dedication and work implemented in building a scien-tific tool. Islamic scholars were thriving to observe the creations of Allah SWT. In the verse (88:17) of chapter (88) Surat I-ghashi-yah (The Overwhelming):

Sahih International: Then do they not look at the camels - how they are created?"Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon ev-ery Muslim (male and female)." (Hadith)

We are encouraged by Allah SWT to study, and reveal the science behind His cre-ations to increase our love and strength-en our hearts in worshipping Him. The golden era of Islamic scholars teaches us to walk on earth with curiosity and faith. The path will not be easy, but it trains our hearts, if it is done solely based on our

love to Allah SWT. Especially when we are young, we have power and curiosity to learn about many things. It is the time to study, to master a tech-nique, to help each other, and find ourselves as productive Muslims.

http://www.rmg.co.uk/server/show/conMedi-aFile.3139 (astrolabe picture)

science corner


Sitting with a friend after I graduated

she asked The question

how did you change the most

these past years in high school

At first I thought I don't know

but she helped jog my memory

that years past I didn't trust myself

I'm more self assured and confident now

I agree and I mention my faith

years past when I was in a low I'd be depressed

that I wasn't praying or reading Quran

may Allah forgive me

But now I'm more accepting of being in a low

and actually act upon it,

trying to not make it feel or look too bad

Alhamdulillah

And also I'm more accepting of my flaws

I see it more of being part of my beauty

Alhamdulillah, inshaAllah we grow to see that.

By: Fida Islaih

poetry


jokesrecommended videos

fun stuff

Kuffiyeh Tutorial (Hijab Tutorial Parody) -Subeetube

10 Study Tips -CoveredGirlFayha

My Mean Mother -MZeyara2

-Nasruddin was determined to be decisive and efficient. One day he told his wife he would plow his largest field on the far side of the river and be back for a big dinner. She urged him to say, "If Allah is willing." He told her whether Allah was willing or not, that was his plan. The frightened wife looked up to Allah and asked forgiveness.Nasruddin loaded his wooden plow, hitched up the oxen to the wagon, climbed on his donkey, and set off. But within the short span of a day the river flooded from a cloudburst and washed his donkey downstream, and one of the oxen broke a leg in the mud, leaving Nasruddin to hitch himself in its place to plow the field. Having finished only half the field, at the sunset he set out for home exhausted and soaking wet. The river was still high so he had to wait until long past dark to cross over. After midnight a very wet but much wiser Nasruddin knocked at his door. Who is there Asked his wife. I think it is me, Nasruddin, he replied, if Allah is willing!

When I was in the desert," said Nasruddin one day, "I caused an entire tribe of horrible and bloodthirsty bedouins to run."

"However did you do it?" asked a person.

"Easy. I just ran, and they ran after me."


book review

Avalon HighBy: Meg CabotReview by: Uswah WaldeEllie starts as a new student at Avalon High School which seems like a typical school. That is until a series of unusual events occur that leads into a really bad situation...

The CliqueBy: Lisi Harrison

Review by: Uswah WaldeClaire and her family move from Florida to Westchester, NY. She wants to fit in and have some friends but she lives in the leader of The Pretty Com-mittee Massie Block’s guest house. She’s not sure why Massie hates her so

much. Will she be able to survive all of it?


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Documents

February/Rabie'Awal 2013/1434 issue #11 of Muslimah Girl Magazine