I love writing & thus have several blogs posted within Muslimspace & articles written elsewhere on the net, and in newspapers, e-magazines & print magazines, alhumdulillah.
Please visit my veil page here on muslimspace. Its one of many of my past times (studying veiling).
I also love to sew, garden, landscape, design special needs clothing items, study historical costuming, study ethnic clothing, read, write, study world religions, discuss politics (truly discuss, not rant about things), study self-sufficiency, study horticulture, study animal science & animal husbandry (caring for animals), studying alternative energy sources including solar, wind & even earthen lodges as alternatives to modern lifestyle/housing choices. And the list goes ON!
I'm an eclectic person that tends to not fit the stereotypes people assume I should be. I love being involved in a number of things & I also support many community events, programs & services when I can. Insha Allah.
Some people try to tell me that I have to accept that I can't change "everything". Before you take the time to post such a statement to me, please remember that the Prophet (Saw) recommends that we do one of three things when we see a wrong:
1 -change it with our hands, if we can't, then...
2 -speak out against it with our voice, if we can't do that (not simply that we don't want to get involved, but really CAN'T) then....
3 -speak against it in our hearts. As long as I continue to breath (which at times for me as an asthmatic is a struggle), I will work as hard as I can to push for the Islamic rights of people... whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim. They have rights given to them by Allah. No one has the right to deny them these rights. It is every Muslim's duty to be concerned. But unfortunately far too many have become self-absorbed or selfish in who they help. Some talk against their fellow Muslims behind their back when they can for being "involved too much", while they in turn work to grab more & more of this dunya. This isn't Islam, but it is happening in the Muslim communities around the world (whether it is admitted or not). I am sick of people quoting hadith regarding the fact it will happen in the end times! You don't know if THIS is the end times! So quit using that as an excuse to refuse to help those we are commanded to help! Muslims are supposed to fight till the end for these justices, even IN the end times. NOT wait until someone else makes it easy for the majority to do so!
Islam promotes activism, not passivism. So please don't write me saying I should "accept" that I can't change things. Lots of things can be changed if you get up & try. The problem is our Ummah has become lazy, prideful & selfish.
Here is a slide show of my wedding to my husband, Eric. We didn't have a "traditional" wedding. Since American wedding tradition is generally based on old pagan rituals. We created our own wedding celebration. It consisted of us signing the marriage contract (with Muslim witnesses), but also having my parents & Eric's brothers (his parents are deceased) participate. It was "performed" as a uniting of families. We had Muslim & non-Muslim friends present, as well as our families & relatives. The only tradition we kept was that of feeding the bride & groom wedding cake. All the food & decorations we did ourselves, thanks to the kind generocity of our neighbors, who allowed us to use their refrigerators to keep food up until the wedding! Anyhow, here is a slide show of some of that wedding celebration. Will add more pics as I find them.
Here are few of the things I'm involved in:
I am involved in currently two major remodeling projects. One is our residential home & the other is our art gallery. THey are both homes built in the mid to late 1800s. We aren't hiring someone to do it. WE are doing it ourselves, which means we are learning a whole lot and appreciating the art & skills of craftsman in those fields! Alhumdulillah, we live in a part of the country were we don't have laws requiring us to hire it done by some expert who we couldn't afford. But its slow going when you remodel on your days off, and my husband is the primary person remodeling & I'm mainly there to be the helper! But slowly its progressing.
Likes
I like working with charities that are striving to make it a better place for EVERYONE, but especially those working to stop the oppression of another human being!
So that includes Muslim Women's Shelters
Secular Women's Shelters
Peace advocacy organizations working to stop war & military oppression (regardless if its against a Muslim or non-Muslim)
Food pantries & soup Kitchens
Homeless Shelters
I love listening to the soft sounds that urban noise conceals. Things like the sound of wind, rustling through the chilled branches & tall prairie grasses. I love sitting out by a lake, and listing to the music of the ice. Yes, the music! It is the most awesome sound to listen to as the ice sings. To me it is as if the ice is praising Allah! It makes me shiver with awe inside. If you have never heard it, you can not imagine the grandness of its existence & the announcement that there is something Greater!
I love sitting outside at night in my yard, in the summer months, and listening to the crickets singing. It is one of those things far to many Muslims miss out on due to the urban living they experience daily.
I love to sit at night, in the summer months, and watch the billions of stars in the heavens as they twinkle. I also love sitting there & satelite watching! Have you ever done that? Can you even see the night sky's smaller stars where you live? Well if you can, you will also find that in the night sky, there are "stars" moving north/south or east/west. These aren't falling stars, but satelites visible to the naked eye! To sit with friends & look for these momentary lites in the night sky can be fun & cheap entertainment. I know it may sound corney, but I find life's little pleasures are so much less stressful & last longer & are often FREE! Alhumdulillah.
I like meeting people. I like learning about cultures & different ways of viewing the world. I believe strongly in the verse that states that "Allah has made you into Tribes & nations, so that you may come to know one another..." I try daily to learn of the diversity of Allah's creation & to accept the tribes & nations Allah as created, in their diversity. To me this means even celebrating the diversity of customs & costumes found amongst mankind. It may not be how others view it, but it is how I embrace it.
I like being involved in humanitarian projects that will make a difference in the life of A human being. Doesn't have to be for thousands or millions... just one, as one can make a different to others as well & there could be a ground swell. Consider how small the original Ummah was. It was small, but one by one, people came to Islam and the ground swell occurred.
Same goes for humanitarian acts. Allah tells us that He is pleased when we help others. Well, I'm trying to do just that. RIght now, its a project at the Crow Creek Indian Reservation in central South Dakota.
This native American community are the original inhabitants of Minnesota. However, they were taken from their land, stripped of everything & forced onto cattle cars (train cars) and moved by the US military to central South Dakota. Many died in that historic trip. THey were forced to stay on the reservation for generations. Many starved. Later as the government began to actually provide SOME of the promised things, they established schools for their children. But these days those schools are not provided with adequate equipment for the children to get a basic education. THe people are kept in a state of economic & educational isolation, so that even if they leave the reservation -- they can not succeed outside. Every Muslim who comes to this country therefore HELPS the government continue in its efforts to remove the original people. We are the "Illegal settlers" and these people are the "Palestinians of the Plains". So we are working to try to help. A handful of Muslims are actually working to raise awareness of the struggle of Native Americans. It wasn't something that happened "200 years ago".... its happening NOW. So plz don't tell me that its not important. (I've had ignorant Muslims make that comment to me! Yet want me to worry about the Palestinian problems.) Its no different -- accept that the Muslims are part of those who are taking the land through the authorization of the Occupying government (the US govt). Its not like they won it in a war! IN many cases, they made deals to pay for it, but then refused to pay what they had promised. Other times they simply came in & used their military to remove the people by force (that is called ETHNIC CLEANSING now days)! So please help the native community in what ever country you live in! Its our duty to help the oppressed.
I would Like to meet some of the Great community advocates & humanitarians throughout the Ages. I would like to be those who are blessed with being close to the Prophets of Allah in jennah, insha Allah.
I'd like to meet some of the Muslim artists around the world, as well. It would be nice to be around other artists who also share in a common faith as myself & my husband.
I Love my children.
My son, Patrick (aka Hussayn)
-
and my daughter, Cassandra (aka Afaf)
| & my granddaughter.
I also greatly love my best friend, who happens to also be my husband & life partner...
He's a sculptor by training, who creates Islamic Calligraphy sculptures we well as Abstract sculptures in various metals & other materials.
I am actively involved in networking Native Americans who are Muslim & those Native Americans studying Islam, with fellow Native American who are Muslim. As part of this, I have the following group.
You can click on the little logo & it should send you to the site, if you are interested in joining. This IS NOT a site for people who have no connection to the N.A. culture & heritage. So please don't try to join just to spam it with dawah materials! Too many of our N.A. sites have suffered that invasion by Muslims with little respect for our small space. So please be polite & don't join if you don't fit the membership criteria. The Native American people don't need to be also pushed out of their electronic lands too.
I must say my worst is my hatred toward Racism & especially Muslims who hide behind "culture" to justify their racism. One is a hypocrit if they claim to be Muslim & yet practice ANY form of Racism -- NO ACCUSES PEOPLE!
I HATE abuse of women & children.
Far too many Muslims are wrongfully using versions from Hadith & Quran to justify assaults on women. It is happening & those who hide their heads in the sand & pretend it isn't are NOT helping to stop it. They actually are helping to encourage it. Abusers are cowards! Abusers only abuse people they know are weaker then themselves. They are not PROTECTORS & therefore are not wakils or walis when they beat a wife or beat a daughter. A protector would not cause physical harm to the person they are protecting! Abusers justify to themselves & to others that it is NEVER their fault that they attacked the weaker person. Its always the fault of the victim. Yet they would never attack someone who was stronger than them, even if that person did the same thing. It is not about protecting that victim. Its about making them FEAR the person who controls every aspect of their life. Its ago EGO of the abuser.
Far too many Muslims ignore the plight of their Muslim sisters. Far too many men justify their abuse with EGO & PRIDE. These things are not grounds for beating a woman! It only shows the man to be lower than an animal. He does not control his own emotions & instead takes out his anger & rage on the one person who he is supposed to be a protector of.
It is time we as an Ummah truly begin addressing this. It is time to pull our communal heads out of the sand & work to create HEALTHY Muslim communities where women do not fear the wrath of their husbands.
It may not be "wide spread" but the neglect by the other Muslims is! Therefore the attitude that supports domestic abuse is wide spread.
Salaam alaikum: I believe that Muslims could share the knowledge they have regarding Islam by donating their audio tapes to Masjids & Dawah centers; thus expanding Islamic knowledge of the Ummah, as well as helping spread Islam in the form of dawah.
I believe every Muslim should have in their will something relating to where their Islamic books, tapes & videos should go, upon their death. Few Muslims are doing this, but it is something that needs to be done especially for Muslims in non-Muslim countries.
I believe that we all could donate ONE audio tape on Islamic teachings each year to a local masjid, our masjids would soon have some of the largest collections of knowledge available. Imagine what the masjid libraries would be like in a generation!!!
Videos
Do you have a video regarding Islam at home you haven't watched in the last year?
I would like to first encourage you to look through your own library of videos & select a dawah/Islamic video that you would be willing to donate to a local masjid or dawah center.
If each of us, each year donated ONE book, ONE video & one audio tape, our Islamic knowledge could expand greatly throughout the ummah.
Please consider the blessings you would receive each time someone watched your donated video! You watch it how many times each year? Now consider how many times it might be watched if it was at a dawah center or masjid!
Books
I would like to first encourage you to look through your own library of Islamic books & select a book that you would be willing to donate to a local masjid or dawah center.
If each of us, each year donated ONE book, ONE video & one audio tape, our Islamic knowledge could expand greatly throughout the ummah.
Please consider the blessings you would receive read it how many times each year? Now consider how many times it might be read if it was at a dawah center or masjid!
Most of my books I read relate in some way to my research interests. (ie Cross-gender, non-verbal communication & the effects veiling has on it). So I do a lot of research (for the sake of learning) on religion, gender studies, etc.
I also read some books that are being written & toted by feminists as "proofs" regarding Islamic oppression of women. I find the logic used by most western authors and even some eastern authors to be biased & lacking scholarly proof that the "cause" is ISLAM. Most often it would be like going to a women's shelter in the US & interviewing abused women, then turning around and writing a book saying that AMERICAN CULTURE is the cause of the abuse. Yet for some bizarre reason this sort of psyco-babble is accepted within the feminist circles as scholarly work.
I believe strongly in women's RIGHTS, but not male oppression or degredation of either gender for the sake of the other.
Women are perhaps some of the worst examples of oppression of women, including Feminists.
Case in point, while western feminists scream equality, do you see them defending the rights of education for Muslim women who CHOOSE to wear a headscarf or veil?
Why not?
DO feminists only promote "equality" if the women are amongst their own ranks, or is the "equality" supposed to be for ALL women?
The same must be asked by Europeans and Americans. Do we, as Western citizens, believe that people should have equal access or "equal access" only if they look, dress & believe like "us"?
A book I should perhaps promote is the book my daughter & I are profiled in. Its The Face Behind the Veil: The Extraordinary Lives of Muslim Women in America -- by Donna Gekrke-White.
Donna isn't Muslim. She's a journalist who writes for the Miami Herald, who profiled the lives a great many Muslim American women, allowing the readers to see a spectrum of Muslim women across the US. I recommend it to anyone really interested in the lives of Muslim Women.
Here is the reviews of the book: "Donna Gehrke-White's The Face Behind the Veil is a 'five-star read' packed with inspiring stories about the lives of American Muslim women. In view of the cross/cultural tensions of our post-9/11 world, this 'must read' is a powerful reminder that Muslims are Americans, too!"
--Jean Sasson, New York Times bestselling author of Princess
The Face Behind the Veil is "a new book shedding
light on the lives of Muslim women by way of well crafted profiles
of more than four dozen, cutting across cultures and lifestyles." --
Reuters News Service
"An eye opener! This wide-ranging report reveals a feminism based on Quranic teaching rather than an overlayer of cultural custom. Take and read." --Rev. Professor Gerard Sloyan, Temple University (emeritus), contributor to Muslims in
Dialogue: The Evolution of a Dialogue
"Donna Gehrke-White's book The Face Behind the Veil is a detailed look into the diverse lives
of American Muslim women. By sharing the widely-differing experiences of these women,
Gehrke-White successfully challenges the stereotypical notion that Islam is monolithic in its approach to gender issues. Her book is a welcome study of a misunderstood and often
misrepresented segment of our society."
--Ibrahim Hooper, National Communications Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR)
BOOKS I READ:
Quran
Women Under the Shade of Islam: A Discourse on Women's Issues -- by Jamal Badawi
What is the Origin of Man: The Answers of Science and the Holy Scriptures -- by Maurice Bucaille
Approaching the Quran: the early Revelations -- introduced & translated by Michael Sells
God & Man in the Quran: Semantics of the Quranic Wetanschauung -- by Toshihiko Izutsu
The Cross & the Crescent -- by Jerald Dirks
Sruggling to Surrender: Some Impressions of an American Convert to Islam -- by Jeffrey Lang
Islam: the Alternative -- by Murad Hofman
Abraham: The Friend of God -- by Jerald Dirks Understanding Islam: A Guide for the Judaeo-Christian Reader -- by Jerald Dirks
Essential Sufism -- by Fadiman & Frager
Eve & Adam: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Readings on Genesis & Gender -- by Kwam, Schearing & Ziegler
Nine Parts of Desire: the hidden World of Islamic Women -- by Geraldine Brooks
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus -- by John Gray
The Gospel according to Paul -- by Knofel Staton
Confessions of an Organized Housewife -- by Deniece Schofield Effective Business Writing -- by Gerald Morton
Totally Organized: the Bonnie McCullough Way -- by By Bonnie McCullough
Price of Honor: Muslim Women Life the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World -- by Jan Goodwin
The Habit: A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns -- by Elizabeth Kuhns
Other Info
I have several webpages which I try to take care of. I've helped various non-profit Muslim organizations establish themselves webpages too. Some of those include
I was also a founder of the regional organizationMinnesota Muslim Women's NetworkThe original webpage was created by me, but alhumdulillah they now have a very gifted Muslimah who's created a most beautiful page for the organization
I'm also the founder of a couple egroups. My most active group is the yah00 egroup Covered_Women_4_God which is an interfaith egroup for women, who cover.
I believe it is important in dawaah to bring the message of Islam in many ways.
I try to use my interests to bring the discussion of Islamic teachings to others in a format that is less confrontational & thus, insha Allah, the audience/non-Muslim(s) will be more willing (insha Allah) to consider & contemplate.
As the saying goes, "You get more flies with honey, then vinegar".
My personal homepage is perhaps my largest online dawah activity. It is my primary homepage & also my place to blog & post regarding my research interests relating to the subject of veiling. Most of my various homepages are linked to it.
salam sis. I am good. Haven't been here for awhile! OK, try about a month or more. WUz new?
Ramadan is almost here! So, pls also forgive me for anything wrong I have done or if I offended u.
Walaikun Assalaam sister Anisah i am currently living in minnesota...i am from somalia...sorry to confuse you in any matter...how are you been lately??/you from South Dakota???
OH cooool!!! masha'Allah.... I just moved to Minneapolis after i graduated from HS about 2 months ago... but i used to live in St. Paul =) OMG ur page ukhtee... its soooooooooo beautiful!! the slides of ur family && wot not... masha'Allah... may Allah bless you && ur family ameen!!!
assalaaaaaaam alaikum sistah!!! Just stepped in to give my salamz to the next door sistah! hint: Dakota! Am from MN! Hows u doin ukhtee && hows the family? Oh NICE page btw!!! all sparkly && wot not...masha'Allah! ur sistah in Islam -Naima-
Wailakum salam! Thanks for dropping by earlier Yes, that smirk often implies I have an idea...my friends tend to worry when I get ideas lol, but no matter what; Your never fully dressed without a smile!
Salaam alikom,
How are u? I am pretty good. I moved into my new apt. on fri. It is a two-room studio. other than the thin walls it is good. How r u and ur fammily and loved ones?
Take care and
keep in touch!~
I dislike the haram & I dislike being around people who try to push their views on others...whether it be religious views, cultural, secular, nationalist, whatever. 
Ramadan is almost here! So, pls also forgive me for anything wrong I have done or if I offended u.