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She Plays With Dolls

girl hugging baby doll by Sarah Rypma Aisha (ra) was noted to play with dolls. Aisha reported: I used to play with dolls in the presence of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and my girlfriends would play with me. When the Messenger of Allah would enter, they would hide themselves but he would call them to join me and play with me. Source: Sahih Bukhari 5779 Aisha (ra) stands out as a model wife and is often noted as being Prophet Mohammed's (pbuh) favourite and therefore worthy of close study of the qualities that made her such. A popular fact about Aisha (ra) is that she played with dolls. The purpose of hadiths are to transmit the sunnah for the benefit of mankind down through the ages. “Whosoever followed the Messenger, has indeed followed Allah.” (Surah an-Nisa, 80) What can we learn from a hadith describing a young girl at play? Doll play is more than a fun pass-time for little girls. It has multiple developmental and psychological benefits. Pretending...

Remember Me

I still have a lot to learn. I am one of those people who has to learn things the hard way. Although I've attempted to extricate this difficulty from my life, it's a test for me and I keep trying to do my best to reconcile. I need black as much as I need white. Contrast never fails to show me what I need to know. Because of this tendency, I've longed for protection. By protection I mean assurance. I'd like to share something I've learned from a recent lecture  based on the research of Dr. Amena Syed (clinical psychologist and neuroscientist). It has to do with the mind/heart connection. Nouman Ali Khan said “The heart and the brain help us make decisions, but the heart is in the driver seat”. The heart communicates to the body in four ways: Biochemical communication (heart hormones release into the blood stream affecting the body), Biophysical communication (through blood pressure and sound waves), Energetic communication (through electromagnetic...

Why Marry?

I've been trying to create characters for a piece I'm working on and like any writer, I've been digging deep into some personal questions. One of the questions my main character asks is “Why can't I find a good woman to marry me?” This is a tough one. I've been soaking in the tub of hopes and fears, lathered with a scrubby sponge of psychology and finally rinsed off with religion to answer this. The response came to me in the form of another question: “Would you marry you ?” Without becoming egotistical or slipping on the wet floor of self-loathing, what would his answer be? Probably a mixed bag of yes and no. And it's true we have our faults. Looking for that “perfect” person will probably mean he will never get married because there is no perfect person out there. My main character is clearly not willing to settle for just anyone, and so he shouldn't. Neither should the women that he encounters. Standards should play a part in this very import...