Bismillah
With the beautiful blessing of pregnancy comes a world full of people who have suddenly become expert gynaecologists, GPs, baby’s-sex predictors, psychologists etc. They all want in on this fabulous period.
The Psychologists...
When you express your anger, frustrations or anything with passion, they are there to explain that you are not yourself; it is the pregnancy hormones that are causing you act like this. Then they advise everybody not to take you seriously because you are just acting out a page from your diary of a mad black pregnant woman. Ok? Can I also kill someone & blame it on the hormones?
The baby’s sex predictors
Oh you crave for sweet treats? You are having a girl. Yeah! It’s definitely a girl. Oh! Look at your stomach? It sits quite low, it’s a boy! What? you feel all big and ugly? I it’s definitely a girl, she is stealing all your beauty.
The Physicians
You are still exercising? Do not strain yourself too much. Just rest, let your husband cook. Don’t run. Don’t sit on the floor; sit on a high chair with cushions. Always keep warm.
The dieticians
Don’t drink soft drinks; your baby will have yellow jaundice. LOL
With the exception of my husband and mother, who just know me too well to fall for my tricks.
During this delicate time, I have been hiking, taking 5km walks, entertaining myself with optical illusions, travelling, baking, cooking, reading, and solving mathematical problems. As I lay all my cards out, I do realise there are women who have tough pregnancies. Alhmadulillah my pregnancy has been progressing well. I do not feel like killing my hubby for “making” me pregnant, nor storming out and shutting doors behind a hot argument. All i feel is calm fabulousity. I love the baby kicking, i love this perfectly round belly, it has brought so much of joy and radiance in my marriage. I am tempted though to tell a few people a thing or two, and i know i will get away with it.
So, all the experts out there, I enjoy playing the many roles expected from a pregnant woman, however I am sorry to disappoint you all. I am not craving for beetroot juice with a grass sandwich.
All I am is SimplySakina who is renting out her belly to another creature for a while.
Peace
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Fantasies of an African slave
Bismillah
Can you imagine what the world would be like if a conquest; colonisation etc was determined by a soccer match? Right now South Africa would have Spanish invaders instead of the Dutch. We would inherit all that which came with the world cup; given that we are already slaves to other exotic cultures we would be proud Black Spanish speakers. Furthermore, Paul the Octopus would in future be one of the symbols of our ancestral animals, or perhaps calamari would be Spanish South Africa’s favoured delicacy. Our blood would be red because it is Spanish. And how I wonder what stories our Coloureds would tell.
The discovery of the Timbuktu scriptures has brought Africa a new light, not complete sunshine but some light, as it was known as the Dark Continent that lacked civilization until all types of white men arrived. Perhaps it is this misconception that Africa lacked civilisation that Africans themselves find it hard to establish their own identity; therefore they assume the identity of their conquerors. The Congolese people are ‘French’ and do not mention the South Africans who did not want their Dutch ‘Master’ only to settle for an English one, so that they could walk about the townships with a twang stuck high up in their nostrils to put their township schooling equals down.
And what about the Xenophobic attacks? Which part of South Africa isn’t part of Africa? The argument is that “I am killing my fellow brother because he came into my country, took my wife and job” ok? I am not inciting a racial civil war here but what about the one, who came into your country, took your live stock, took your land, raped your sister and turned you into a slave in its plantations for his good and is still giving you a shilling for your day’s hard work? Do you not see that you are just fighting your fellow brother over a shilling?
Perhaps it is such incidents that question the African civilisation. It is such incidents that have got this African slave fantasizing about Arabian nights under Palm trees, and Chinese Kimonos. It is this slave that is filled with fantasies of the famous Spanish & Indian Spices because the African soil is too stained with blood to grow any of its own.
Or else time has come to re-write history and for every African to start telling the remarkable and courageous stories of Africa.
Peace.
Just because African civilisation was not documented it does not prove that it didn’t exist. Time to search and re-write history!
Timbuktu here we come!!!
Can you imagine what the world would be like if a conquest; colonisation etc was determined by a soccer match? Right now South Africa would have Spanish invaders instead of the Dutch. We would inherit all that which came with the world cup; given that we are already slaves to other exotic cultures we would be proud Black Spanish speakers. Furthermore, Paul the Octopus would in future be one of the symbols of our ancestral animals, or perhaps calamari would be Spanish South Africa’s favoured delicacy. Our blood would be red because it is Spanish. And how I wonder what stories our Coloureds would tell.
The discovery of the Timbuktu scriptures has brought Africa a new light, not complete sunshine but some light, as it was known as the Dark Continent that lacked civilization until all types of white men arrived. Perhaps it is this misconception that Africa lacked civilisation that Africans themselves find it hard to establish their own identity; therefore they assume the identity of their conquerors. The Congolese people are ‘French’ and do not mention the South Africans who did not want their Dutch ‘Master’ only to settle for an English one, so that they could walk about the townships with a twang stuck high up in their nostrils to put their township schooling equals down.
And what about the Xenophobic attacks? Which part of South Africa isn’t part of Africa? The argument is that “I am killing my fellow brother because he came into my country, took my wife and job” ok? I am not inciting a racial civil war here but what about the one, who came into your country, took your live stock, took your land, raped your sister and turned you into a slave in its plantations for his good and is still giving you a shilling for your day’s hard work? Do you not see that you are just fighting your fellow brother over a shilling?
Perhaps it is such incidents that question the African civilisation. It is such incidents that have got this African slave fantasizing about Arabian nights under Palm trees, and Chinese Kimonos. It is this slave that is filled with fantasies of the famous Spanish & Indian Spices because the African soil is too stained with blood to grow any of its own.
Or else time has come to re-write history and for every African to start telling the remarkable and courageous stories of Africa.
Peace.
Just because African civilisation was not documented it does not prove that it didn’t exist. Time to search and re-write history!
Timbuktu here we come!!!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
farewell our dear Friend Ramadhaan, we hope to see you next year again...
Bismillah
As Ramadhaan ends I cannot help but feel a fear of seeing everybody shed the beautiful skin that came with fasting and step back into their old grimy one. Why do people approach Ramadhaan as if it is a just a 30days break from sinning? There are statements such as “Wait till Ramadhaan is over, then I’ll tell you where to @*$%e& get off “or “Hey sexy ladies! I will see you at the club after Ramadhaan” or “I can’t were my tight jeans right now, I’ll put them back after Ramadhaan, plus I would have lost weight by then”. What!?! What does Ramadhaan really mean? Why fast for 30 days from all the vices only to return to them?
From what I have read and been taught is that Ramadhaan is a month/camp of training and rectification. It is a time to examine and take stock of yourself thoroughly, so that you can be a better person in the remaining 11 months. It is a time to ask sincerely for forgiveness and guidance from The Almighty so that you can be purified and all your actions are good actions from this point forth.
So why torture yourself for 30 days? Why purify your heart, tongue, body, thoughts & soul for 30 days just to start sending those perverted e-mails, swearing at your neighbours and other drivers, over eating, gambling, being rude, backbiting and gossiping on the 31st day again?
Does this behaviour make any sense to you?
Brothers and sisters let us take our actions seriously.
I hope this Ramadhaan above everything has brought us all wisdom. The wisdom and strength to achieve what we were striving for in it. I hope we all keep out beautiful skins and shed them only for a better trade.
So how are you planning to approach your days outside Camp Ramadhaan?
As Ramadhaan ends I cannot help but feel a fear of seeing everybody shed the beautiful skin that came with fasting and step back into their old grimy one. Why do people approach Ramadhaan as if it is a just a 30days break from sinning? There are statements such as “Wait till Ramadhaan is over, then I’ll tell you where to @*$%e& get off “or “Hey sexy ladies! I will see you at the club after Ramadhaan” or “I can’t were my tight jeans right now, I’ll put them back after Ramadhaan, plus I would have lost weight by then”. What!?! What does Ramadhaan really mean? Why fast for 30 days from all the vices only to return to them?
From what I have read and been taught is that Ramadhaan is a month/camp of training and rectification. It is a time to examine and take stock of yourself thoroughly, so that you can be a better person in the remaining 11 months. It is a time to ask sincerely for forgiveness and guidance from The Almighty so that you can be purified and all your actions are good actions from this point forth.
So why torture yourself for 30 days? Why purify your heart, tongue, body, thoughts & soul for 30 days just to start sending those perverted e-mails, swearing at your neighbours and other drivers, over eating, gambling, being rude, backbiting and gossiping on the 31st day again?
Does this behaviour make any sense to you?
Brothers and sisters let us take our actions seriously.
I hope this Ramadhaan above everything has brought us all wisdom. The wisdom and strength to achieve what we were striving for in it. I hope we all keep out beautiful skins and shed them only for a better trade.
So how are you planning to approach your days outside Camp Ramadhaan?
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Who comes first?
I recently received an e-mail asking “who comes first in your life, if it Allah stop what you are doing immediately and forward this e-mail to twelve people”, I was highly motivated to prove to myself that Allah does come first in my life, and I will forward this e-mail to twelve people, but for now I will have to settle on marking it as unread (I’ll get back to it later) and tackle the mound of work that my ‘colleague’ aka boss is busy raising on my desk.
I have also come across such a question on one of my friend’s Facebook status. ‘Does God come first in your life?’ For some people the answer is instantaneous, a bold YES. Hence again I was tempted and highly motivated to also type a bold YES. As my fingers approached the keyboard I was forced to control that knee-jerk reaction and think, no matter how much we may lie, this was no lie to tell myself or put on Facebook. I really just sat and pondered about the question, looking into my life and daily activities. Other than the allocated prayer time, do my other actions really speak to God?
Every day I wake up pray, then start with the usual, shower, get dressed, prepare the lunchbox, off to work. When I get to work, well I work the pile on my desk, break for prayer & lunch, and get back to work. In this time I have already prayed twice but where does God fit into all this work? Did I even pray when I was praying or was I thinking of the work I have to return to, to complete.
Each passing day we run through this routine like programmed robots, even though we start and end our days with prayer but are our actions in-between God related? Is He really a priority in your life? Let me ask myself... “Sakina, would you resign today from your job to serve God?” “Well, it’s not really ok to just leave work, I need the money for the blender, my savings and of course I do my share towards charity (the I do good justification), ummm come on I really need the money right now, and besides you don’t have to be drastic to be God conscious(more justification),” blah blah blah Sakina!
Well yes, you do not have to travel miles and miles to be God conscious, but we have to examine our daily action on how they relate us to The Almighty so that even when you are working, He is your priority and you are serving Him while offering a service to others, while accumulating wealth, while eating etc.
Just sit and ponder for a while, take time and look into your daily activities and ask yourself “Who comes first?”
PS I will not be forwarding the e-mail until I feel that fully Allah comes first.
Peace.
I have also come across such a question on one of my friend’s Facebook status. ‘Does God come first in your life?’ For some people the answer is instantaneous, a bold YES. Hence again I was tempted and highly motivated to also type a bold YES. As my fingers approached the keyboard I was forced to control that knee-jerk reaction and think, no matter how much we may lie, this was no lie to tell myself or put on Facebook. I really just sat and pondered about the question, looking into my life and daily activities. Other than the allocated prayer time, do my other actions really speak to God?
Every day I wake up pray, then start with the usual, shower, get dressed, prepare the lunchbox, off to work. When I get to work, well I work the pile on my desk, break for prayer & lunch, and get back to work. In this time I have already prayed twice but where does God fit into all this work? Did I even pray when I was praying or was I thinking of the work I have to return to, to complete.
Each passing day we run through this routine like programmed robots, even though we start and end our days with prayer but are our actions in-between God related? Is He really a priority in your life? Let me ask myself... “Sakina, would you resign today from your job to serve God?” “Well, it’s not really ok to just leave work, I need the money for the blender, my savings and of course I do my share towards charity (the I do good justification), ummm come on I really need the money right now, and besides you don’t have to be drastic to be God conscious(more justification),” blah blah blah Sakina!
Well yes, you do not have to travel miles and miles to be God conscious, but we have to examine our daily action on how they relate us to The Almighty so that even when you are working, He is your priority and you are serving Him while offering a service to others, while accumulating wealth, while eating etc.
Just sit and ponder for a while, take time and look into your daily activities and ask yourself “Who comes first?”
PS I will not be forwarding the e-mail until I feel that fully Allah comes first.
Peace.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
What is my soul hungry for?
Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim
"Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you many learn piety and righteousness" (Qur'an, 2:183)
One of the disciplines I have come across in Tasawuf is to check your intention before, while and after an action. As our bodies get used to the fasting and our hunger pangs are no longer reminders, we tend to carry on with fasting for the month of Ramadhaan forgetting the purpose of the fast. When you are no longer hungry for food, it is time to turn to your soul and ask it “what are you hungry for?” At the beginning of the month of Ramadhaan, each one of us should have a clear goal in mind of what do we want to achieve by the end of the month. Yes, we all want to be in the Heavenly Garden and perhaps more, but there are a great number of steps we have to take to achieve any ultimate goal. As focused as you are on that final destination, you have to put together a list of items that will help you reach your destination safely. According to the verse I opened with, fasting is supposed to teach you piety and righteousness. I will not get into details of the deeper disciplines that come with fasting, but your list of items should be in line with these lessons (Piety & Righteousness). This list can include performing the Dawn Prayer in its best time, being more forgiving, stretching out your hand further to help the poor, increasing your Dhikrullah (remembrance of Allah), you know best what you need to start doing (or not doing). I believe that daily you should ask yourself the following questions:
1. Why and what am I fasting today?
2. What are my goals for Ramadhaan?
3. What am I going to do to increase my good deeds?
4. What evil trait am I going to get rid of today?
5. How am I going to help God’s servants/mankind today?
6. What is my soul hungry for?
May Allah make it easy for us, and help us reap all the rewards that come with this blessed month.
Peace
"Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you many learn piety and righteousness" (Qur'an, 2:183)
One of the disciplines I have come across in Tasawuf is to check your intention before, while and after an action. As our bodies get used to the fasting and our hunger pangs are no longer reminders, we tend to carry on with fasting for the month of Ramadhaan forgetting the purpose of the fast. When you are no longer hungry for food, it is time to turn to your soul and ask it “what are you hungry for?” At the beginning of the month of Ramadhaan, each one of us should have a clear goal in mind of what do we want to achieve by the end of the month. Yes, we all want to be in the Heavenly Garden and perhaps more, but there are a great number of steps we have to take to achieve any ultimate goal. As focused as you are on that final destination, you have to put together a list of items that will help you reach your destination safely. According to the verse I opened with, fasting is supposed to teach you piety and righteousness. I will not get into details of the deeper disciplines that come with fasting, but your list of items should be in line with these lessons (Piety & Righteousness). This list can include performing the Dawn Prayer in its best time, being more forgiving, stretching out your hand further to help the poor, increasing your Dhikrullah (remembrance of Allah), you know best what you need to start doing (or not doing). I believe that daily you should ask yourself the following questions:
1. Why and what am I fasting today?
2. What are my goals for Ramadhaan?
3. What am I going to do to increase my good deeds?
4. What evil trait am I going to get rid of today?
5. How am I going to help God’s servants/mankind today?
6. What is my soul hungry for?
May Allah make it easy for us, and help us reap all the rewards that come with this blessed month.
Peace
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The sounds of Poor Bear are Calling
Bismillah
I thought I could ignore the pregnancy factor for a while and stick to the basics of the monthly check-ups, eating healthy and prayer for a safety pregnancy, birth and life for our child. I have to mention that the moments of excitement and I have not yet crossed paths, somehow it feels surreal to be in this position as if I have been here already ‘what’s new?’ that kind of thing. I have not been browsing in baby isles and fantasising about baby courts and rooms, actually I have always known what I want and when the time comes I will pull out my shopping list. I am not for the universal notion that blue is for boys and pink for girls either, what about all the other colours God created? I also do not do the typical baby/nappy bag; I have actually discovered prettier, versatile, chic and more stylish bags that serve both mommy and baby, along with the miniature compact baby goods that will fit in them. Yes as you have figured out already, I am most of the time the meticulous freak but I am not ignorant to the fickleness of life and a baby.
However today images of my siblings when they were babies flashed by and I remember the feeling of holding their little fingers, how this little being’s hope is all on you to feed it, protect it and teach it. How my brother Ja’far loved paging through the Poor Bear books and told me stories by interpreting the pictures in the book. How Tahera used to turn red when she was angry and how Zaharah just ate and ate and ate. To all mothers to be, I am telling you now! Looking after a baby is much easier than running after it when it starts to crawl, not to mention when it starts to talk! Then you are in trouble.
Having a supportive husband is a bonus in this period when you are just a bag of assorted emotions. The other day he actually found supplements which really treat me better than the ones the doctor prescribed as the best.
My beloved is also precautiously excited but I can see the hope his heart and eyes are filled with, and how he always refers to the baby as if it is already here. I have to sit and watch TV with him because he wants to watch TV with his child, have to keep fit for his child’s sake and the friendly reminders through text messages that I should not feed his child spicy food (I love my Portuguese & Indian spices) or unhealthy food, the greatest reminder being to pray and fast for Allah to give us Hope.
Allah a re fe Katlego le Tshepo.
May Allah give us Hope indeed, Ameen.
30 June 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Ridge Forrester has got nothing on this guy!
Bismillah
How do you define romance? In my past life when I was a teenager and the hormones started kicking in and the fantasy world became more intense. The typical fantasy of romance would be the Hero of my dream world would save me from ‘dangerous danger’ and whisk me to an exotic land filled with paradise birds, chirping in beautiful harmonies, and if I were to tone down the fantasy he would be a working man who brings me flowers and chocolates every day, ever the volunteer to massage my feet and have hidden romantic surprises at every turn.
According to the thesaurus romance is a synonym to a story, fiction, legend, fable etc. So why for eons have popular culture and society imposed on us that if your relationship lacks the typical romance, it is as good as a meal for dogs? Why should a relationship hang on a fable? Is it because people like living in fantasy? Why should we spend time torturing our husbands and sulking because they are just not as fiction as Ridge Forrester? Take a good look at yourself honey, you are not Brooke either!
So how do I define romance? Firstly, it was my Mom’s wisdom of forbidding me from watching soapies that lead me to new classifications of romance, which lead to my thoughts, lifestyle and fantasies being in tune with reality. Secondly, now that I am all grown up, I find myself in a reality where flowers wreak havoc with my sinuses and chocolates everyday would send that man out the door as I wholly assume a double bed was designed for two people and not a double person. Thirdly this ‘romance’ thing has to greatly work with your needs and wants in the relationship. I love the occasional strawberries and cream but I prefer my health and the way my size 34 clothes fit more.
In my marriage romance has revealed itself as the helpful hand from my husband when I need it, be it helping me prepare food or wash the dishes, and the way he emphasis on praying and eating together. The honesty, loyalty and support I get from him without even asking for it. The understanding that today my engine could only take me this far and it needs his turbo boost to go on. Yes I do get the occasional chocolate and ‘romantic’ poems and notes, but don’t go thinking the grass is greener on this side!
Nevertheless I have decided I will let my husband love me the way that he wants to love me, and on the day I decided to do that I realised...
Ridge Forrester has got nothing on this guy!!!
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