Long overdue memes...

First meme from goodnight lamplight :)

Rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4. Tag five more blogs with links
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

My Memoir:

Affectionate brooding
creative Mother
seeking, submitting.



Meme from Bipolar Muslimah :)

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Rules:
1) Answer the following questions
2) Post on your blog with link to who tagged you
3) Tag a minimum of three other bloggers and include links to their blog in your tag. Make sure to let them know you’ve tagged them too.

Meme Questions:

1) What Qur’anic verse do you find most inspiring and why? What does it mean to you personally?

Sūra 93: Dhuḥā, or The Glorious Morning Light
(as translated by Yusuf Ali)

By the Glorious Morning Light,
And by the Night when it is still,-
Thy Guardian-Lord hath not forsaken thee, nor is He displeased.
And verily the Hereafter will be better for thee than the present.
And soon will thy Guardian-Lord give thee (that wherewith) thou shalt be well-pleased.
Did He not find thee an orphan and give thee shelter (and care)?
And He found thee wandering, and He gave thee guidance.
And He found thee in need, and made thee independent.
Therefore, treat not the orphan with harshness,
Nor repulse the petitioner (unheard);
But the bounty of the Lord - rehearse and proclaim!

What does it mean to me personally? Well, I guess it speaks to me because I was wandering, and I did feel forsaken. So I remember reading that verse and feeling like it spoke to me directly.

2) What Hadith (Qudsi or Sunnah of the Prophet salalahi alahi wa salaam) do you find most inspiring and why?

A man came to the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, and said: "O Messenger of Allah, direct me to an act which if I do it, [will cause] Allah to love me and people to love me." He, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, answered: "Be indifferent to the world and Allah will love you; be indifferent to what people possess and they will love you."
[related by Ibn Majah and others with good chains of authorities]

I find this hadith so perfect because it expresses the situation most of us are in. At some time we have all thought, "I want to please Allah, but I also find myself wanting people to like me..." And here is the answer. I love it because it doesn't just give you a "well who cares what people think" response. Subhan'Allah. I love it.

3) Other than the Prophet himself salalahi alahi wa salaam - what Muslim man do you find most inspiring and why?

Umar ibn al-Khattab. I guess because I admire his strength and I am always impressed that he did such a quick flip from wanting to kill the Prophet to being a believer. Also, on a personal level I feel like I did a 180 like that myself. I was studying Islam mostly to prove that women were oppressed and therefore it was a man-made religion... And well you see how that turned out;)

4) Who is the most inspiring Muslim woman to you and why?

Gosh, now that one is hard... I think right now Khadija because she was such a strong person and in my life right now I feel I need to work towards having some of the characteristics she had.

5) What CONTEMPORARY (i.e., living) Muslim do you find most inspiring and why?

Now that's easy. Hamza Yusuf, Hamza Yusuf, and Hamza Yusuf. Just listening to his lectures puts me back in that warm fuzzy idealistic place which I inhabited when I first came to Islam. I have never found another lecturer I like more.


6) How has Islam inspired you in your daily life?

I think more about charity now than I ever did before. I also think more about how I can avoid oppressing anyone in any way. And that goes for my marriage and my children too.

7) If you could do anything at all to inspire others through Islam, how would you do it?

I would love to be able to tour around the world with a group of learned people who LOVE islam and do little week long intensive studies programs for people who are interested in Islam... Even if they are wanting to prove it wrong... Because I believe that if people who really love the deen can talk to people about it long enough they will be the most convincing possible representatives.