In the pursuit of knowledge

Salam alaykum, A friend asked me this question what can women do and asked me to interpret it the way I want so here goes. May Allah accept our fasts and forgive us all our shortcomings. Ameen. "I have heard this phrase ... Women can do and be whatever they want to be. To my knowledge this statement is not true. The ability of women to do or be whatever they want is tempered by family, culture and society. The society expects the woman to be across the board, be a good wife, mother, daughter, friend and employee. When she can’t achieve this she is a letdown not only to herself but the society as a whole. If this is what is meant by women can do and want anything then I am so sure I want to be doing it all. Imagine having a 9 – 5 job you pick up the child/children from childcare on your way home, get the house and food ready before your husband gets home and still make sure you are on top of the job so the next promotion does not pass you by. Is it possible for a woman to be mother

THE ART OF GREETING In all cultures and languages there is a form, manner and word associated with greeting. Ranging from the way we greet our friends to the respect involved when greeting our elders. Greeting is more than a word; the best of greetings includes love, warmth and respect. The importance of greeting is reflected in the manner in which all cultures have invested in their form of greeting. The best of greetings is that which is in the Quran and Allah (SWT) taught Adam (AS). “But when you enter the houses, greet one another with a greeting from Allah (i.e. say As-Salam alaykum) blessed and good.” (Q24:61) “When you are greeted with a greeting, greet in return with what is better than it, or (at least) return it equally.” (Q4:86) Abu Hurairah (RA) reported: the prophet (SAW) said, “when Allah created Adam (AS), He said to him: ‘Go and greet that company of angels who are sitting there – and then listen to what they are going to say in reply to your greetings because that wil

Assalam alaykum waramatullah wabarakatuhu, Glory be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, all praise be to Allah, the Creator of the seen and the ‘ghaib’ (unseen). I thank Allah for His mercies and blessings. I send salaam and salat on our beloved prophet (SAW). I pray this reminder meets you in the best of eeman and health. Every so often we need a shakeup in our lives - away from the mundane activities we carry out. We seem to get bored with our daily routine; we itch to do something slightly different. This state of boredom sometimes creeps into the way we carry out our acts of ibadah without any feeling or contemplation. We say our salah in a ‘robot’ like fashion, losing out on getting the maximum reward for it. We might not even remember the surah we recited in the previous rakah. The days merge into one another, we cannot remember if we did a certain activity last week or last month. We forget that with each passing weeks and months the time for us to meet our Lord draws closer.