Assalaamu Alaikum
Pffffft, thanks for letting me know that the recitation that I posted for Qari Salah Al Hashem just a couple posts ago was linking to the same recitation of Qari Tawfeeq Al Suwaaigh. NOT... *chirp chirp*
vatewer.
Anyways, that's fixed now.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
It's a cycle.
Assalaamu Alaikum
I need to come out of this slump. I'm always waiting for something, and it never comes. I need to pack my bags and start on this journey. This life is temporary. But if I could just have that one staple, wouldn't it become so much easier? Or would I just find another excuse to remain the way I am?
I need to come out of this slump. I'm always waiting for something, and it never comes. I need to pack my bags and start on this journey. This life is temporary. But if I could just have that one staple, wouldn't it become so much easier? Or would I just find another excuse to remain the way I am?
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Dose of Qur'an
Qari Salah Al-Hashem
Got introduced to this guy from RE's blog. Good stuff.
Also, I'm supposed to find a recitation for my boy from http://www.szaharna.blogspot.com of the recitation style dominant in the sub-continent known as Pani Patt.
I know someone with a recording of it on his computer, but I haven't seen him this week at school (it probably has something to do with me not being there too often)...but if anybody knows what kind of recitation I'm talking about and knows of any recordings online, hook it up.
Got introduced to this guy from RE's blog. Good stuff.
Also, I'm supposed to find a recitation for my boy from http://www.szaharna.blogspot.com of the recitation style dominant in the sub-continent known as Pani Patt.
I know someone with a recording of it on his computer, but I haven't seen him this week at school (it probably has something to do with me not being there too often)...but if anybody knows what kind of recitation I'm talking about and knows of any recordings online, hook it up.
Around the world...
Assalaamu Alaikum
My boy just came back from vacation. That's something I really want badly right now too, a vacation. And that doesn't mean like a couple days off from school, because I skip classes whenever I want, and on a good week, I can manage to go to school on only 2 days, that is Wednesday and Thursday and not miss a beat. (Actually, I probably miss a lot of beats, but whatever...)
Anyways, he went back home, I don't know if that is Jordan or Palestine (haha I'm JOKING dude....sike...sike sike...) and also got to perform Umrah, may Allah accept from him all of his good deeds, ameen. He came back the other day and we got to chill for a bit, and he told us stories and his experiences etc, this kinda got me to think back also about my time out there and reminisce. So inshaAllah, if I can muster up enough energy or motivation, my next few posts might be telling a random story from Hajj or something else from the trip.
However, the point of this post is a little different. And the point of this post is about something we've heard countless times and lately I've seen a couple facebook groups emerge. But this time, I'm not hearing it from people who've heard from people, who've heard from people, or from sensationalist Muslims, or at the annual family dinner where everyone sits into the late night with tea and talks about politics and conspiracy theories. This time, I'm hearing it from a friend I know personally who's just been there and saw this stuff with his own eyes, and that is that, PEOPLE ARE DYING IN PALESTINE EVERY DAY.
I've heard that before. And I guess I kinda got desensitized to it for some reason, maybe cuz hey, there's about 364 murders a year in Baltimore last I heard, that's pretty much one every day with a day off for Christmas. Or maybe I just hadn't really HEARD it from a personal source...
But no, just in Nablis, in the little neighborhood that my friend stayed in, he told us that every single day, after Isha, the occupation would roll in and all night long, there would be gunshots and explosions less than a block away. The kids would be up on roofs reporting to their parents what was going on, "Oh, they're at so-and-so's house now!" "Oh, they just destroyed this-person's house!" and every single day, school was cancelled, and every single day, people were killed, and this is just in their neighborhood. And he said that the people there were used to it. Find out the neighbors were killed. Oh, they were cool peoples. Go on with your day, etc.
And what's crazy is that I hadn't heard a thing about Palestine on the news in a while. Did any of you?
My boy just came back from vacation. That's something I really want badly right now too, a vacation. And that doesn't mean like a couple days off from school, because I skip classes whenever I want, and on a good week, I can manage to go to school on only 2 days, that is Wednesday and Thursday and not miss a beat. (Actually, I probably miss a lot of beats, but whatever...)
Anyways, he went back home, I don't know if that is Jordan or Palestine (haha I'm JOKING dude....sike...sike sike...) and also got to perform Umrah, may Allah accept from him all of his good deeds, ameen. He came back the other day and we got to chill for a bit, and he told us stories and his experiences etc, this kinda got me to think back also about my time out there and reminisce. So inshaAllah, if I can muster up enough energy or motivation, my next few posts might be telling a random story from Hajj or something else from the trip.
However, the point of this post is a little different. And the point of this post is about something we've heard countless times and lately I've seen a couple facebook groups emerge. But this time, I'm not hearing it from people who've heard from people, who've heard from people, or from sensationalist Muslims, or at the annual family dinner where everyone sits into the late night with tea and talks about politics and conspiracy theories. This time, I'm hearing it from a friend I know personally who's just been there and saw this stuff with his own eyes, and that is that, PEOPLE ARE DYING IN PALESTINE EVERY DAY.
I've heard that before. And I guess I kinda got desensitized to it for some reason, maybe cuz hey, there's about 364 murders a year in Baltimore last I heard, that's pretty much one every day with a day off for Christmas. Or maybe I just hadn't really HEARD it from a personal source...
But no, just in Nablis, in the little neighborhood that my friend stayed in, he told us that every single day, after Isha, the occupation would roll in and all night long, there would be gunshots and explosions less than a block away. The kids would be up on roofs reporting to their parents what was going on, "Oh, they're at so-and-so's house now!" "Oh, they just destroyed this-person's house!" and every single day, school was cancelled, and every single day, people were killed, and this is just in their neighborhood. And he said that the people there were used to it. Find out the neighbors were killed. Oh, they were cool peoples. Go on with your day, etc.
And what's crazy is that I hadn't heard a thing about Palestine on the news in a while. Did any of you?
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
the quest baby
Salaamu Alaikum
Recently, I joined a facebook group called 'Greatest Quranic Recitations' and I have to say that it was probably the only group I've joined that actually benefited me somehow. And that is by leading me to some great Qurraa' that I had never heard before.
Insha Allah, I wanna share a couple of them, though I'm thinking that I should post them one by one in seperate posts and at different times so that it's not overkill and none are overlooked. Nahmean?
First round: Qari Tawfeeq bin Sa'eed Al-Suwaaigh
Recently, I joined a facebook group called 'Greatest Quranic Recitations' and I have to say that it was probably the only group I've joined that actually benefited me somehow. And that is by leading me to some great Qurraa' that I had never heard before.
Insha Allah, I wanna share a couple of them, though I'm thinking that I should post them one by one in seperate posts and at different times so that it's not overkill and none are overlooked. Nahmean?
First round: Qari Tawfeeq bin Sa'eed Al-Suwaaigh
Saturday, April 14, 2007
awwwesome swagger
salaamu alaikum
ultimate swagger? nothing close to that. game's got a long way to go. gotta be able to do things at will. but it's growing. should i check it? or let it be proportional to it's supposed requisite: skill, and make sure it stays on the court? is it necessary?
interesting what a haircut and new mindset for the game can do.
PS: i'll be put in my place soon. probably tuesday. haha.
ultimate swagger? nothing close to that. game's got a long way to go. gotta be able to do things at will. but it's growing. should i check it? or let it be proportional to it's supposed requisite: skill, and make sure it stays on the court? is it necessary?
interesting what a haircut and new mindset for the game can do.
PS: i'll be put in my place soon. probably tuesday. haha.
Monday, April 09, 2007
MIST 07'
Salaamu alaikum
What's it been now, a little more than a week after MIST 07 weekend? I intended on making this post earlier, but I couldn't really get around to it. This past week was super busy, and reason goes back to spring break, which I'll take a quick second to rant about. Spring break is stupid. I came into this semester strong, like every one and their mama's do also, with the firm intention of staying consistent and up to speed with my classes/assignments until the end. For me, that attitude usually lasts a couple days. But this time, I was ACTUALLY staying consistent with what I was doing...until spring break comes along. It destroyed all my desire to go back to school. I came back from spring break with a week of school before MIST weekend, and literally skipped more than half of my classes, still stuck in spring break mode. So that is probably why my last week was pretty crazy, cuz I had mad stuff to catch up on (back in school mode), foremost of which was a comp sci project that I spent 11+ straight hours on today, only to get an extension at the last moment, word to iboo...but anyways:
MIST is MIST. I competed in the tournament for two years. Last year, I couldn't compete, so instead I "volunteered", which was more like chilling on campus and being bored the whole weekend, and every couple hours, being sent on random assignments like moving art projects from one building to another (some projects are missing till this day)...but yeah, it wasn't the same. Competing, and volunteering? No way.
So this year, I brought a team. It wasn't for me, though during the competition I realized that it kinda made up for not being able to compete with at least having a team that was competing. Among the reasons was to get my community, ISB, involved in other activites besides its own. Its like they live and operate in a bubble, and a lot of the times, the lack of representation from one of the largest communities in MD at certain events or fundraisers is embarrassing to say the least.
But still, that wasn't the main reason I brought a team. But before I go into that, I'm going to mention my biggest challenge as a coach in the tournament and the weeks that led up to it. It was being patient.
I had a sick team. I picked guys that I knew had potential. But I see most of these kids every day at the masjid. I play ball with them, talk trash, get some back, etc. They consider me their peer, and I'm only like a year or two older than most of them, so I had to deal with them a certain way. I couldn't exactly scold them for not doing what they were supposed to be doing, or not coming to a meeting, or coming to me with a week left before the tournament with some completely garbage, effortless, project/piece that OBVIOUSLY wasn't even done by them, and I'd have to ask them if they were retarded and tell them they needed to go back and actually do something. There was one day where I was almost regretting trying to put a team together and just praying that they didn't embarrass themselves at the tournament. Frustration and Patience.
It was even worse once the weekend started. My license is still suspended, and it was suspended during the weekend too. You can only get so frustrated when you have control of the situation, but when you have no control over it, you've gotta leave everything in Allah's hands. I had to set up rides for 10 kids, make sure they were at the masjid for the rides, figure out how they were supposed to get the project they left back at home or the last minute supplies they needed in time, or how to fit them in the cars and make sure everybody had a ride and space and later how everybody was going to get home when I didn't have a car I could drive or a ride to get home myself. And then if the ride that was supposed to be there had an emergency and had to leave in the middle of the tourney, and I was responsible for getting all these kids back home safe, it was definitely a struggle.
I literally found myself talking to myself saying, "Alright Hammad, it's easy to be patient when nothings happening. Be patient now man, be patient."
And that was my theme for the weekend. Now I know how Iboo must of felt coaching us. I seriously needed to consciously make an effort to reply to the guys when I was being bombarded by questions left and right, the same questions, multiple times, one guy after the next, as if I didn't just answer the same question 50 times to every single other person on the team! Seriously, I was just repeating in my head, "Be patient ninja..." over and over and over. I told the guys that their theme for the weekend was HUMILITY (this had to do with us being the powerhouse basketball team that nobody could see :D), but mine was PATIENCE.
aH, it was good stuff.
And we did win basketball. First place? Yup. We played my former team, Taqwa, in the finals. And there couldn't have been a better possible championship game than the one that took place outside in the freezing cold at 3AM sunday morning in college park, Taqwa vs. Al-Rahmah. They recorded that joint in HD, and trust me, its a classic, and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy. It's funny because that's what guys at Al-Rahmah wanted the most, to play Taqwa in the finals and beat them. They had some type of rivalry going even before the tournament. They didn't know who half the people on Taqwa were, but they just knew that they had to beat the defending champs, and that's what they would talk about at least once every meeting when Basketball came up. "Taqwa thinks they're so nice". "I just wanna smash Taqwa in bball." etc. I would just laugh, cuz I knew what was going to happen by the end of the tournament. Taqwa and Al-Rahmah would be like this "ll".
And that's the main reason I wanted to bring a team, and this is what I told the guys at the end after the awards ceremony. I didn't bring them so that they could win an award in art, or poetry, or study some packets and gain knowledge on Qur'an, Seerah, Prophets, or CAIR, or even to win first place in basketball, because not everyone won something. Not everyone on our team got an award or a trophy. But what they all got, and I knew this to be true because I heard it from their own mouths, was that they got to spend a weekend with all these other Muslims from so many different areas and communities, and got to meet people they would have never even known were it not for MIST. And I reminded them that they told me themselves that they met all these cool new people, and that was the point. The building of brotherhood and ties between our community and its youth and other communities and their youth. These guys weren't too fond of Taqwa walking into the tournament, but by the end, at the award ceremony, they had one big joint Al-Rahmah/Taqwa table.
alHamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
And finally, the team smashed in the competitions, with mad top 5 standings and MIST national qualifications. The only regrets they had were the regrets that everybody has and had, those who are graduating highschool wished they had another year since this was their first and only, and those who aren't wished they had put a liiiiiittle bit more effort into their work, and bumped up from 4th or 5th place to 2nd or 1st. But one thing everyone got from the weekend was inspiration.
What's it been now, a little more than a week after MIST 07 weekend? I intended on making this post earlier, but I couldn't really get around to it. This past week was super busy, and reason goes back to spring break, which I'll take a quick second to rant about. Spring break is stupid. I came into this semester strong, like every one and their mama's do also, with the firm intention of staying consistent and up to speed with my classes/assignments until the end. For me, that attitude usually lasts a couple days. But this time, I was ACTUALLY staying consistent with what I was doing...until spring break comes along. It destroyed all my desire to go back to school. I came back from spring break with a week of school before MIST weekend, and literally skipped more than half of my classes, still stuck in spring break mode. So that is probably why my last week was pretty crazy, cuz I had mad stuff to catch up on (back in school mode), foremost of which was a comp sci project that I spent 11+ straight hours on today, only to get an extension at the last moment, word to iboo...but anyways:
MIST is MIST. I competed in the tournament for two years. Last year, I couldn't compete, so instead I "volunteered", which was more like chilling on campus and being bored the whole weekend, and every couple hours, being sent on random assignments like moving art projects from one building to another (some projects are missing till this day)...but yeah, it wasn't the same. Competing, and volunteering? No way.
So this year, I brought a team. It wasn't for me, though during the competition I realized that it kinda made up for not being able to compete with at least having a team that was competing. Among the reasons was to get my community, ISB, involved in other activites besides its own. Its like they live and operate in a bubble, and a lot of the times, the lack of representation from one of the largest communities in MD at certain events or fundraisers is embarrassing to say the least.
But still, that wasn't the main reason I brought a team. But before I go into that, I'm going to mention my biggest challenge as a coach in the tournament and the weeks that led up to it. It was being patient.
I had a sick team. I picked guys that I knew had potential. But I see most of these kids every day at the masjid. I play ball with them, talk trash, get some back, etc. They consider me their peer, and I'm only like a year or two older than most of them, so I had to deal with them a certain way. I couldn't exactly scold them for not doing what they were supposed to be doing, or not coming to a meeting, or coming to me with a week left before the tournament with some completely garbage, effortless, project/piece that OBVIOUSLY wasn't even done by them, and I'd have to ask them if they were retarded and tell them they needed to go back and actually do something. There was one day where I was almost regretting trying to put a team together and just praying that they didn't embarrass themselves at the tournament. Frustration and Patience.
It was even worse once the weekend started. My license is still suspended, and it was suspended during the weekend too. You can only get so frustrated when you have control of the situation, but when you have no control over it, you've gotta leave everything in Allah's hands. I had to set up rides for 10 kids, make sure they were at the masjid for the rides, figure out how they were supposed to get the project they left back at home or the last minute supplies they needed in time, or how to fit them in the cars and make sure everybody had a ride and space and later how everybody was going to get home when I didn't have a car I could drive or a ride to get home myself. And then if the ride that was supposed to be there had an emergency and had to leave in the middle of the tourney, and I was responsible for getting all these kids back home safe, it was definitely a struggle.
I literally found myself talking to myself saying, "Alright Hammad, it's easy to be patient when nothings happening. Be patient now man, be patient."
And that was my theme for the weekend. Now I know how Iboo must of felt coaching us. I seriously needed to consciously make an effort to reply to the guys when I was being bombarded by questions left and right, the same questions, multiple times, one guy after the next, as if I didn't just answer the same question 50 times to every single other person on the team! Seriously, I was just repeating in my head, "Be patient ninja..." over and over and over. I told the guys that their theme for the weekend was HUMILITY (this had to do with us being the powerhouse basketball team that nobody could see :D), but mine was PATIENCE.
aH, it was good stuff.
And we did win basketball. First place? Yup. We played my former team, Taqwa, in the finals. And there couldn't have been a better possible championship game than the one that took place outside in the freezing cold at 3AM sunday morning in college park, Taqwa vs. Al-Rahmah. They recorded that joint in HD, and trust me, its a classic, and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy. It's funny because that's what guys at Al-Rahmah wanted the most, to play Taqwa in the finals and beat them. They had some type of rivalry going even before the tournament. They didn't know who half the people on Taqwa were, but they just knew that they had to beat the defending champs, and that's what they would talk about at least once every meeting when Basketball came up. "Taqwa thinks they're so nice". "I just wanna smash Taqwa in bball." etc. I would just laugh, cuz I knew what was going to happen by the end of the tournament. Taqwa and Al-Rahmah would be like this "ll".
And that's the main reason I wanted to bring a team, and this is what I told the guys at the end after the awards ceremony. I didn't bring them so that they could win an award in art, or poetry, or study some packets and gain knowledge on Qur'an, Seerah, Prophets, or CAIR, or even to win first place in basketball, because not everyone won something. Not everyone on our team got an award or a trophy. But what they all got, and I knew this to be true because I heard it from their own mouths, was that they got to spend a weekend with all these other Muslims from so many different areas and communities, and got to meet people they would have never even known were it not for MIST. And I reminded them that they told me themselves that they met all these cool new people, and that was the point. The building of brotherhood and ties between our community and its youth and other communities and their youth. These guys weren't too fond of Taqwa walking into the tournament, but by the end, at the award ceremony, they had one big joint Al-Rahmah/Taqwa table.
alHamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
And finally, the team smashed in the competitions, with mad top 5 standings and MIST national qualifications. The only regrets they had were the regrets that everybody has and had, those who are graduating highschool wished they had another year since this was their first and only, and those who aren't wished they had put a liiiiiittle bit more effort into their work, and bumped up from 4th or 5th place to 2nd or 1st. But one thing everyone got from the weekend was inspiration.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
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