Words of the Week

Deliquesce \del-ih-KWES\

1.To melt away or to disappear as if by melting.

Example:

Since I've been accepted to my graduate school of choice my motivation to do well in my current classes has deliquesced.

---

Pukka \PUKH-uh\, adjective

1.Authentic; genuine.

2.Superior; first-class.

Example:

I am so baller. I am so pukka. So is this blog.

My family is WE ird

A short segment


Brother C: Hey CC how come Dad's side of the family is all tall and Mom's side isn't? How can I become tall?

Me: You can't really. It's in your genes.

Brother C: What?

Me: It's in your genes.

Brother C: ... Noo.......Really?!!

Me: ...Yeah your genes control whether you're tall or short.


(pause)..............................................


Brother C: NO WAY! It's like In our DENIM?!

Me: .....what? (of course it's my turn to say what)

Brother C: (stares down at his JEANS) HOW?!

Me: .........................



And BAM there you have it...another segment of My family is weird

CC out

Reflections Journal

I started something new last week. It's been going pretty much amazing.

Basically I read a section of the Qur'an everyday and write down my reflections on verses that struck my eye in my reflections journal (which is on Word b/c I hate writing and love typing).

It's been quite a spiritually enriching experience. I mean each verse has newer and deeper meaning when I'm reading and actually reflecting on the God's words.

So far I've written my reflections on the verses of the first two chapters of the Quran in my journal).

Here's an example of one of my reflections...

وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ ۖ أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ ۖ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُوا لِي وَلْيُؤْمِنُوا بِي لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْشُدُونَ

And when My servants ask you about Me - indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me so that they may be rightly guided. [2:186]

A group of believers once asked the Prophet Muhammed, peace and blessings upon him, 'Is our Lord nearby so that we should talk to Him secretly, or is He far away, so that we should call out to him?’. This verse was revealed to answer their question.

I love looking at how Arabic syntax and sentence structure gives depth to the meaning of the verse. In this case, look at the red phrase above. God responds by saying "If my servant asks about me, Indeed I am near." God uses the Arabic language in such an eloquent way to convey to us that He is very close to us.

God is showing His nearness to His servant first by mentioning him as "عبدي" ('abdi) which in Arabic generally means "My servant." [Technically speaking it means someone who willingly puts himself in servitude of someone]. God could have answered the question saying “if someone asks you about me” or “if a believer asks you about me,” but He doesn’t. Instead he uses a very special word in Arabic which connotes a more intimate meaning.

Second, the form of the word (because it’s all one word) makes the possessor (God) and the possession (servant/believer in Him) close in actual space in this verse. In Arabic the way the language looks also gives depth the meaning.

Third, God shows His nearness to us, His servants, by not putting the word "say" after the conditional clause. For example, I could say, "If someone asks them about SD's blog, tell them its www.symphonic-discord.blogspot.com." In giving an answer to the question you would put "tell them" or "say to them" or some type of verb that indicates what you should be communicating to the questioner. But in the verse, God turns to the first person and just says, "Indeed I am near." It's beautiful because you don't need a mediator or intercessor speaking on your behalf to God...it’s a direct relationship between you and Him.

I like to picture verses like a movie. For this verse I imagine God first facing the Prophet and then for the second part just turning to the believers who asked the original question and letting them know directly, "I'm right here for you!"

Lastly, God says "Indeed I am near." He could have just said I am near but He used emphasis on the fact that there is absolutely no doubt of the fact that He's near.

I don’t know if this all was too technical or not but I really just love analyzing the Arabic of the Qur’an. I feel like it gives me such a strong connection with God’s words.

So don’t forget… if every you need anything or are going through a hard time or anything really just turn to God and ask Him…He’s always right there waiting for you!

quicky

I know this is a few days late- and I did hear about this..but this is the first time I actually read all the details.
this is the story:

ISRAELI IMMIGRATION COPIED BRITISH PASSPORTS

The six British citizens whose passports were apparently used by the members of the hit squad that killed a Hamas leader in Dubai last month all had their passports taken from them for a few moments by officials at Tel Aviv's airport during routine procedures. The British Foreign Office has been told that Israeli oficials copied the passport numbers in order to create new documents that would later be used by the hit squad. It marks "the first time Israel's involvement has been directly alleged," writes the Telegraph. The allegation increases pressure on Israel to answer claims that Mossad, its intelligence agency, was involved in the killing. The hit squad is believed to have been made up of at least 11 assassins, who were posing as tourists using British, Irish, German, and French documents.


I don't really have that much time to post my thoughts about this- but yeah..

Who is he?

(photo credit: Google images)

A man stood at the bottom of the stairs in the college building, asking each person who walked down from the second floor, "Can you help me?" or "Can you give me a dollar?"

His mouth was half toothless. His teeth were pointy. They were rugged like mountains.

His teeth were a pale yellow.

His clothes were decent. He didn't have any holes in them. He was covered from head to toe, in the Michigan winter chill.

I told myself, "Keep walking. Pretend like you're busy so he won't bother you." But he did.

He repeated one of his questions, "Can you help me?"

"I'm sorry," I said, without giving an explanation.

He had dried patches of fluid near his eyes.

At 5'9 ft, he wore a hat, a beige jacket, and long pants. He held a brown paper bag.

I walked to the study lounge where my sister studied on a 5-by-10 foot table.

I told her what had just happened.

He showed up at the lounge. Walking past our table, I could feel his eyes darting towards me.

My sister tried to convince me not to feel bad for not helping him.

"Oh, he's not homeless. He is dressed well, doesn't have anything broken on him, and he doesn't look hungry," she said.

"You can tell he's not homeless," my sister repeated.

"I have to go to class," I told my sister.

"If you still feel like you have to help him...," she shrugged.

...

I walked over to a vending machine before returning to class. Just as I was about to insert a dollar bill into the machine, I saw him again.

"Can you help me please?" he said, as he slightly leaned in towards me. He was next to my face.

"What do you want the money for?" I said, demanding for a good answer.

He stammered. He stumbled over words.

My eyes bore into him.

"I want to get some McDonald's," he said.

He repeated it.

"Okay." I said, handing him the dollar bill.

I stormed off to class. I could hear his voice trailing down the stairs.

"Can you help me? I want to get some McDonald's," he said to someone else.

Journalist

Hooray, Hooray, it's the 100th day!

Happy 100th day of school!!!

What? You didnt know?

It's a national holiday.

The 100th day of school is a big hoopla that everyone commemorates.

And it's such a big deal in kindergarten and first grade.

When I found out that the 100th day of school was today, my first thought was FML.


Since I thought that the 100th day of school already passed a WHILEEEEEEEEEEEEe ago, I was extremely disappointed that it was just now occurring.

Blah.

So in honor of the 100th day, I made my kids stay quiet for 100 minutes.

They only lasted for half hour.

Every time someone would breathe I would add ten minutes.

It was quite entertaining for me. They did last more than thirty minutes, but I wanted to prolong it as much as possible.

And also in honor of it, I showed them my hair. I wear hijab , and they've always asked to see my hair, and I was like "What the heck! It's the hundredth day of school, WHY NOT!?"

But in reality, that's not how it happened. My hair was sticking out in every possible ways. And about ten of my first graders kept saying "Ahem Ahem" and pointing at my head. And it got to a point when I was like, you know what, I gotta fix it. So I had one student guard the door, as I unpinned my hijab, the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. And the boys were all covering their eyes, but peeking as well. And when I did it, you heard one sharp intake of breath from the entire class, and then a "Wow". And then the class burst out in an uproarious applause. I ended it with a bow and a curtsy and a "You're far too kind."

Kids are good ego boosters.

I digress though.

Back to the 100th day of school. Another activity that I asked them to do was draw a picture of what they think they would look like when they were 100 years old and write about what they will be doing. And I have to say, some of them were incredibly amusing that I had to share it with you all:


When I am hurundred yeards old I will have grand chidren and neces and nefews and it will be so fun. I will not be alive.


I would die it will be sad. I don't want to die I won't to be in peridice with Jehovah and I love Jehovah is cool, nice, sweet, and powerful. you can make a house, eat the animals will be nice to you, and you will be alive ferever but not the animals.


If I was one hondred I would be old with a cane and crumbly skin and my theeth would fall out and my hair will be gray and I might be in a wheel chair living at a nursing home with other old people.



This is what I think I would look like when I am 100 yers old. And I think I am going to be so, so, so, so,so,so,so,so,so,so,so,so,so so, so, SMART. And I will know everyone that is 100 will die.

If I was 100 year old I will rasle and be a army. And go to collge to play football and play in the Olanpix.

And last but not least,



When am a-hundred years old I would need to sit in a wheel-chair I would be very old that I would not know how to do KARATA forever and not knwo how to draw or paint I would live in Michigan or Vergea but I will not live in a broken house because they got blown down.


So to you, I say, Happy 100th Day!


And may the next 82 days of school go a helluva lot faster than the last 100 days!!! InshaAllah and AMEEN!

Change of Mind

Sometimes I change my mind. This time I changed my mind on what I said in my "What if"post.

I finally watched Adam and let me tell you all... I LOVED it. It was just so real.

(If you have not watched the movie and don't want to know the ending stop reading now.)

And you know what, I loved the ending. It didn't make me think "what if."

It made me think, wow life works out perfectly. Had Adam and Beth ended up together he would have never been forced to try to live on his own. He needed her during the time after his father's death to cope and to ease his transition into life as a man on his own two feet.

It makes me think that we cross paths with people at perfect times, never too early and never too late. Like Allah has already planned when we'll need that person and then conveniently places that person in your life during that time.

Maybe those friendships diverge later on in life but sometimes that's just okay because at least we can look back and say, Man, I really gained something great from my friendship with that person.

Realizing that alone makes you get over the sad, the regret, the questions of what could have been, and lets you savor the memories of happiness you once had.

Mrs. Cullen: The Musician

Dear Friends,

Hope the week is going by quickly for all of you. Or—not so quickly if there is something in the future that you are not looking forward to. Anyway, I wanted to share with you guys something I am trying.

Ok, like most college students—actually never mind. Like—well practically everyone in the world—I enjoy music. Personally, I enjoy depressing, love songs. (I’m so lame and pathetic sometimes.) Anyway, yeah, that’s me. I listen to music on my way to college, on my way home, while walking to class, while walking to my car after class, on my way to work, on my way home from work, on my way to hang out, on my way back from hanging out, in my room while studying, in my room while doing nothing, when I’m bored on youtube, and more.

In Islam, music is a kinda touchy topic. Most scholars say that music is not permissible. And there are many reasons that are given for this. But anyway. That’s not really my point. My point is that, for me, music kinda was/is a big part of my life. And then I realized that it was such a distraction. So many times I would have random songs (usually Lada Gaga) stuck in my head. It was so annoying. I guess I kinda fell in love with it. Seriously. I mean I listened to it 24/7, how lame is that. Anyway, some of you probably think 1. I listened to music too much or 2. Who cares its not a big deal. But, well it kinda is a big deal for me.

I just felt like it was becoming too much a part of my life. Ok maybe I am exaggerating a lot. I dunno. The point is. For a few weeks I gave it up. I thought it was going to be SO HARD. And impossible. I mean, I have over 900 songs on my iPod. How was I gonna do it?? Well, it wasn’t hard at all. And ever since I stopped, I honestly, truly feel that my mind is always clear. I might sound lame to you guys. But you should try it for just a day or two, or maybe a week. Promise, I feel like my mind is always so clear now. Also, not listening to music has cut down so much other useless stuff in my life. For example: I no longer surf Youtube for hours and hours. I no longer listen to stupid radio stations, and I’m listening to a lot of Quran. And I realized that if I can easily have all the songs that play on the radio memorized, then I should easily be able to memorize parts of the Quran (as Muslims, it’s a great deed to memorize the Quran, and many benefits believed to come for those who do so…just as it is believed in Christianty for those who memorize the Bible).

So yeah, a friend and I starting memorizing together, kinda, AHEM AHEM..Anyway. That’s all I really have to say. Sorry to bore you. You should try not listening to music for a day or two and tell me how it goes. Oh. Or in the spirit of Lent, are you giving up anything???

Yours for the Sake of Peace and Sisterhood,
Mrs. Cullen