Pen Marks

So alhamdulillah there’s only one more day until Ramadan (or maybe two Allahu A3lam) and I’ve filled my iPod with lectures on Ramadan, bookmarked all the channels with the really good Islamic Programs, started on my list of Ramadan goals, figured out what I wanted to stop/start, and I still feel like I’m missing something. May Allah help us make the most out of this month.

I was supposed to do a Ramadan Workshop for kids with a friend but it didn’t work out, so *inshallah* I’m going to do it at home. I’m hoping I don’t lose interest after a few days though. If we do anything great I’ll try to post it up.

I’ll also be doing the Ramadan diaries again on Pen-Marks. They’re not going to be daily, just whenever I have something interesting to share. I was really hoping Productive Muslim would do the 30 days 30 bloggers 30 posts like they did last year, but inshallah this year they’re going to be hosting Productive Ramadan. I’m really excited about it and I’m pretty sure that it’ll be great, so don’t forget to sign up!

Well here are some more Ramadan resources I collected from the web. Enjoy!

Preparing for Ramadan

Ramadan Calender

Ramadan Organizer for Moms

Ramadan is (Story book for Kids)

Ramadan Checklist

Ramadan Taskinator (From Productive Muslim)

Just writing to let you know that I will be taking a much needed break from the cyber world to deal with some real life issues. There’s a lot of things I need to focus on right now but I noticed myself wasting all my time online (not surpising lol) Like some of you already know, I have several really important big projects I’m working on and I really want to give my full attention to them, so in order to do that I’m going to step back from all my day to day distractions: Wordpress, Facebook, Youtube, Blogs, msn, etc… So if you need to contact me for anything send me an email (or call me if you have my number) but I might not reply back so soon.

Inshallah I’ll be back on the first of May hopefully.

Until then, Fi Amanillah!

Did Dora die?

Not really. We had a Janazah workshop at the Masjid last night for the sisters. And for the demonstration, sister E used a life sized balloon dummy doll that looked like Dora the Explorer lol (well to me it did) She was wearing a purple Jilbab and a matching hijab. E put the Dora on the floor on top of a towel and covered her with a sheet. One of the sisters that came a little late thought that it was an actual person and freaked out lol.

Anywayz the notes from the slides will be up ‘really’ soon inshallah – just need to finish typing them up.

As I stood at the bus stop today waiting for my mom to pick me up I caught a woman staring at me. She smiled at me and started to talk to me a little bit about how Portland’s weather is so unpredictable, and how annoyed she was at the wind because it was messing up her hair. “But you probably don’t have to worry about that” she said casually. It took a few seconds for me to figure out she was talking about my hijab.

“But it keeps flapping around in the wind.” I replied back.

“Does it keep you warm?”

“Sure – kind of.”

She had a silk scarf around her neck, she took it off and wrapped it around her head – I thought it was a nice try, her front bangs was spilling out though. She took out a mirror, looked at herself, fixed it so that her hair didn’t show anymore, and smiled.

“This is really comfortable.” She grinned. “I could probably keep this on for the whole day. It works better than when it’s around my neck.”

“I don’t wear it to keep warm.”

“Oh I know you don’t.” She laughed like I said the silliest thing. “I read about why you all wear it a while ago. It’s really for modesty and all right?”

Unfortunately that’s were our conversation ended – her bus arrived just then. I wish I could have spoken to her more, she looked like someone who was really interested in Islam – I mean what non-muslim wears their scarf as a Hijab? May Allah guide her

Assalamu Alaykum,

Apologies for my break from the blogosphere, I don’t have any excuses though lol.

Anyways, for those of you who are in the Portland Metro area, Shaykh Muhammed has been conducting a Mini-course at the Masjid these past three weeks. If you’re planning on coming, now would be a good time (before he gets into the real juicy parts of the course – he’s still kinda on the beggining) It’s on Mondays at 6 PM in Masjid Assaber’s library. The class is for both men and women.

So what’s the course on?

We’re going over Shaykh Muhammad bin Saalih al-Uthaymeen’s explanation of the book Three Fundamental Principles of Islaam. Hope to see you there inshallah!

Oh and for those who can’t make it, I am planning on posting my notes up. Actually I’ll do that right now while I’m still on the computer

School started again and I’ve been running around trying to get into classes. There’s 15% more students this term than last term and classes are almost all full. Alhamdulillah I got into most of the ones that I wanted, just have one more Bio Lab to find.

Also a quick reminder, Sheikh Yaser’s Seminar/Ilminar Breads and Threads is tonight. Don’t miss out! (Inshallah I’ll post some notes here so look out for that)

Assalamu Alaykum,

After reading the New Year post and browsing through the blog, my friend suggested that  I should do something new this year. I thought so too, so here are some new stuff at Pen Marks this year.

Nothing big, but Inshallah beneficial.

Pen’s Reflection:

• Alhamdulillah I’m almost finished with my hifdh – just 3 more Surah’s left. In Pen’s Reflections I’ll post my reflections on the verses I’m memorizing along with Tafseer and all. Look for these posts twice every week.

Pen’s Projects:

• I’m always busy with one project or another. Some big, other small. In Pen’s Projects I’ll keep you all updated on these Projects. Look for these posts at least once a month.

Pen’s Post on IlmNotes:

• IlmNotes is a project by the members of the Muslim Youth Musings blog. I’ll be posting my notes from Lectures at the IlmNotes site as well as Pen Marks at least once or twice a week inshallah.

Pen’s Lecture of the Month

• From the dozens and dozens of lectures I listen to I always end up with  favorite one every month. So Pen’s Lecture of the Month will just be me posting my favorite lecture for that month.

Jazakumullah Khair for all my commenting readers. And I know there are silent ones out there too so thank you as well. Keep reading! – and commenting

RUHMA WILL REIGN ONCE AGAIN INSHA’ALLAH…

Qabeelat Ruhma of Seattle is making a come back! Inshallah I’ll finally be able to go to a Maghrib Seminar – Seattle is only two hour drive away. So if you want Ruhma to come back, support them by registering on the Forums. And join their Facebook group! They also started a blog here.

Eh this whole month has been pretty hectic. Last week was really fun though I had a bunch of friends over and we baked. Yes, it was fun even though my sister insisted that it was a bad idea – I think she enjoyed it herself lol. Anywayz we made cookies and cupcakes. (Above pic – sorry for the bad quality I took it with my cell phone) We made a lot and donated them to ISP’s bazaar. The kids practically attacked them and they were gone within 30 minutes lol.

And the bazaar was on Saturday. I shared a table with one of the Khala’s and we didn’t make as much money as I hoped but it was really really fun! (The bracelets below are handmade btw)

We got two branches from Khala I’s backyard and placed the in a vase. Then we hung German paper stars that we made from them. They looked nice – I need to get a good camera. Here’s another star I made later

If anyone wants to try making them here’s the tutorial – Click Here

Hello World!

Some of you may have noticed my absence, I got caught of with life’s many happenings but I’m back

I read a poem last week in writing class, and found it again today.

WHEN I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
‘Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free.’
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
‘The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
’Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.’
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.

’tis by A. E. Housman btw