Why do you wear that scarf on your head?- PART 2

In Islam, we believe that this life is a test. God is testing us to see how willing we are to obey Him. God limits us with certain things like wearing the scarf, or not drinking alcohol and He wants to see how willing are we to obey the One who created us. How willing are we to sacrifice our desires (of this world) for the sake of God, the one who created us, gave us life, and gives us life every single morning? And on the Day of Judgement, God will determine where we will go, (heaven or hell) based on the good deeds we do now. Islam answers the question, What's my purpose in life? As Muslims, we believe that our purpose in this life, is only to worship and please the One and Only God, Allah. Pleasing Allah involves sacrificing the worldly desires we have in this world (on Earth). For example, sacrificing the desire to have a boyfriend/girlfrind, or sacrificing the desire to gamble, or lie, or cheat, or steal, or even sacrificing the desire to simply yell at your parents. All of these are sacrifices we make to please Allah (God) Thus, when God tells us as women, to cover our hair, we hear and we obey immediately. We know that this life is temporary and it is a test and we want to succeed in this test by obeying Allah's orders. Also, the fact that it is coming from God, the One who gives you life every morning, doesn't it make you think that He has the right to be obeyed no matter what? We can never repay our Creator for giving us life. The hijab is also a reminder. Every time I put on my scarf and cover my body in loose clothing, I am reminded of why I am here. I am reminded that my purpose is not to attract men with my beauty, or to make other women jealous, or any other reason, but rather it is to worship God. This scarf on my head is a beautiful reminder to both the women and Muslim men to forget about the materialistic desires of this world and to instead focus on the main goal- pleasing God. There is an analogy that talks about clothing. When you want to wash a piece of clothing you look at the tag to see how the creator tells you to wash it. You don't say "Oh the whoever made this garment doesn't know anything, I'm gonna wash it whichever way I want!" While you can say this, chances are your clothing is not going to be washed properly. In the end, it is the creator of the garment who knows what is best for it. In the same way, our Creator, God knows what is the best for us and when He tells us, to avoid gambling, and forbids us to drink alcohol, and tells us to cover our bodies, God only has our best interests in mind. He created us, don't you think He would know what is best for us?

Why do you wear that scarf on your head?-PART 1

Why do you wear that rag on your head? Do you wear it in the shower? Do you wear it at home? I understand that its because of your religion but what does that mean? I have been asked this probably a dozen times, and surprisingly I'd like to thank all of you for asking. For anyone reading this, I'd like to tell you that if you're ever wondering about something please ASK!I would prefer that much better than people getting their information from the media. Unfortunately the media portrays Muslims in a very negative, and completely inaccurate light. Anyway, back to the question, Why? Why do I wear my head scarf? The simple answer is "because God told me too" but that's not the full answer. In truth there are three parts to this "rag" or "hijab" as we call it in Arabic. There is the numerous benefits that we get from wearing the hijab, there is the ultimate reason why we wear it, and finally there are the rules concerning the hijab and how Muslim women must wear it. For starters, as I stated before, there are many benefits to wearing the scarf. The best I believe is the status it gives women. It raises us women to a more repective scale. When a woman wears the hijab and covers her body, it forces the man to look at her as an intelligent human being as opposed to some pretty object. Naturally, when a man looks at a woman, the first thing you see is their beauty, whether they're good looking or not. This is natural. However, as a result the man looks at the woman as an object  which he may want or desire, or he may think she is not beautiful and completely dismiss her. The hijab sets all women equal to each other based on their appearance. Thus, when a women goes in for an interview, she is judged based on her intelligence and hard work ethic, as opposed to her beauty. You'd be surprised how many executive officers hire women into their work area based on their attractiveness! Also, when a woman covers her body, a man gives her alot more respect because he knows that she wants to be taken seriously. When my mom was in medical school, everyone told her about this horrible teacher/doctor who swore right and left. Everyone hated that about him and my mom dreaded the day that she would also have to study under him. When that day came she was surprised at his politeness. The whole day he didn't swear once because he realized he was in front of a woman who was serious, honest, but most importabtly respected herself. Thus he respected her for that. The hijab gives a woman confidence that success is not based upon beauty, and outside appearance. I'm not saying that every person who doesn't wear the hijab is shallow, I have many friends (both Muslim, and not) who don't wear the scarf, but unfortunately there are some people who base their entire success on the shallowness of outer beauty; i'm specifically referring to models and prostitutes. They have really stooped so low, to the place wear their success depends on how attractive they look. They are only their for men to look at, which in truth is not what we women were created for! In Islam, we hold marriage as a beautiful, and honorable action. And one of the beauties of Islam is that as a woman we complete our husband's deen (faith), we are the gift to our fathers, when we become mothers, heaven lies beneath our feet (this just means that if you serve your mom you get great reward). So you see? Women have a very high status in Islam, and we are so much more important than what you see on the outside.

Pretzels

Today I ate the most delicious pretzels. Mmmmm. It got even better because my best friend loves pretzels and so I sent this to her and she was soo jealous. She was stuck in Chicago visiting family and so she couldn't come over and eat them. But seriously these pretzels are delicious especially with creamy, hot cheese! It's just sinfully delicious! Have any of you ever tried a pretzel dog?