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[ Wednesday, April 21, 2004 ]

 

Another day of my campus life

Yesterday as I sat down at Bro M's table in the library to study, he turned to me and said, "I have a present for you." I was like, "Uh, ok...," wondering what he was talking about and what it could possibly be. He pulled out a small packet of sauce (the kind you get from restaurants) and said, "Here you go." "Thanks," I said, cautiously scanning the ingredients. "That's so random," I laughed. "But it's really good! You should try it." he insisted. What a weird one.

I've been trying to be more productive this week. I've read over a chapter in my o-chem book and have started doing the suggested problems instead of leaving them until a few days before the midterm, like I did last time. Insha Allah I'll keep it up. It helps that the internet only works sporadically and there are only three computers that work (which are usually bombarded by people when the internet's back up). By the time I get up to the 7th floor where the library/study lounge is located, I'm too lazy to go back down and walk to a nearby building to surf the net.

Yesterday in my decal (student run) class on music and poetry in Islam, I was asked to speak about Islamic influence on hip hop music. I talked a little bit about "the event" and put up the MSA display board which has some pics from the event. Next week, one of the groups that performed at the event will be coming to class to talk about hip hop and Islam. I'm hoping that they'll perform as well, or at least bring a copy of their music video for us to watch.

After class, some of us went to the MLK student union to pray Asr together in congregation. Afterwards, I joined some sisters for the weekly Seerah halaqa that had just been started a few weeks ago at some sisters' apartment. It was my first time attending it. The sister leading it is the MSA president's older sister, and masha Allah she's very knowledgable. She translates the text from Arabic and goes over the main points for the halaqa. We talked about the Prophet's (pbuh) lineage, his mother's pregnancy, his birth, and his suckling, including the many signs that foretold his prophethood. One of the sisters who came to the halaqa had just started wearing hijab this past weekend, so we discussed hijab as well. A sister grabbed the duff and we sang traditional Arabic songs and Dawud Wharnsby Ali's hijab song in support of the sister. We then prayed Maghrib in congregation...subhanAllah, you could feel the sisterhood. It almost felt like Ramadan again. As I was standing in salah though, it made me think about how we're going to be standing, waiting, on the Day of Judgement. After salah, we sat down in a circle once again, and gave the sister some advice about hijab. I told her that of course, hijab is Fard (obligatory), but many times sisters rush into it without being quite ready for it, and as a result, they're overwhelmed and take it off for good. I told her that I loved her just as much without hijab. I told her that alhamdulillah we're all here for her as support and that insha Allah it'd make it easier for her. But I was also realistic and said that with hijab, there are good days and bad days. On the bad days, one looks in the mirror and feels ugly, and doesn't want to deal with having to be the spokesperson for Islam. On the good days, however, one loves hijab and feels confident and beautiful. If she was having a bad hijab day, I told her to just hang in there, because the good day would be right around the corner.