"Her Hijab" Tag

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I wasn't specifically tagged for this but I've seen a few hijabis on YouTube do it so I decided to tag myself :(

Here goes nothing...

1) What was the first hijab you ever bought?
The first scarf I ever bought with the intention of wearing as a headscarf was an H&M one with gold embroidery, for around £10. It's odd because when I didn't wear hijab I would happily pay that price for a scarf, but now I think that anything over a fiver is ridiculous.  

2) What was the first hijab style you wore?

One that was far too tight with far too many knots and pins, and pretty much impossible to remove. Now that's what I call enthusiasm.

3) What is your favourite colour hijab, or what colour hijab do you have most of in your closet?

Favourite: A light pink floral one.

Own the most of: White pashminas.

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4) Who is your favourite Hijab guru? Why?

Without a doubt, Pixie from I Love Hishma. I have never told her this but reading her blog contributed hugely to my wearing hijab. A close second would have to be Ange from what was formally Hegab Rehab and now Miss Hijabi - she's pretty hilarious. I feel like I legit know them both and yes, I am aware of how stalkerish I sound so..

5) Who was the first person you watched on YouTube who did hijab tutorials?
I think her name was Maddie, she's Egyptian American and I adored her channel. I remember watching her tutorials when I was still thinking about wearing hijab; she doesn't post anymore which is a shame.

6) What is the beauty in hijab?
I can't think of a trait more attractive in a human being - male or female - than modesty.

7) What does hijab mean to you?
Obeying Allah (SWT).

8) What is your go to everyday hijab style?
One side short, the other side long; wrap once; done :)

9) What are your favourite hijab accessories?
Unless you count a straight pin as an accessory, I don't accessorise my headscarf.

10) What is your favourite place to buy hijabs?

H&M, Primark and the occasional scarf stall.

I tag everyone. Yeh, it's the cop-out tag, I know.

The All Merciful, The Oft-Forgiving (SWT)

Allāh (SWT) says: 

O Son of Ādam, indeed you will not supplicate to Me and hope from Me expect that I will forgive you in proportion to what came from you, and I will not mind.

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O son of Ādam, if your sins were to reach in magnitude the height of the heavens and then you were to ask Me for forgiveness, I would forgive you.

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O son of Ādam, were you to come to Me with sins that almost fill the earth and you met Me without ascribing to Me any partners, I would come to you with its size in forgiveness.

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[Hadīth Qudsi]

Review: Fake Rocco

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I finally gave in. I committed arguably one of the worst fashion sins there is and bought a fake "designer" handbag.

If you follow any fashion blog/vloggers then you will probably have heard of the Alexander Wang Rocco counterfeit bag (known as the "focco") which is available for a fraction of the price, on eBay. It started becoming a bit of a craze back in the summer and I held off buying one for a few months, but finally succumbed.

I wouldn't get much change from £1000 if I bought the real deal and as I am still but a student I decided to buy a look-a-like. Before you all burn me at the stake, the bag on eBay is not actually advertised as "Alexander Wang", in fact the name is mentioned nowhere on the bag or advert at all. 

Anyway, enough trying to convince myself. I thought I would review the bag for anyone who wants to buy it.

Firstly, I bought the bag from flowerheart2010 eBay seller for £25 but there are lots of other sellers out there, all you need to do it search something like "celebrity studded bag" and plenty will come up.

Here are some photos of the bag:

I personally love the look of this bag, especially the studs. It is not real leather and neither is the quality of the material great but it definitely looks good quality and feels like leather.

 

The size is perfect and just fits A4; it has a zip pocket inside as well as pouches for a phone and keys.

 
In terms of value for money I think that this bag is excellent. Having said this, although it may look very durable, but don't expect miracles when it comes to the quality of this bag. 
 
I bought this bag without a strap but there are sellers who do it with one and it is also available in various colours including brown and grey.
 
With regards to the seller that I purchased from, the transaction was smooth, P&P reasonable and delivery was speedy.
 
Overall, I give this bag a solid 7 out of 10 purely because it looks so good. You never know, if I still like it as much as I do now I might buy the real thing.. if I manage to finish university.. and if my mum lets me. 

A Must Read

I apologise for my extended absense, I have had a lot going on recently. I having also been feeling at a bit of a loss these past few months; life has a habit of turning on you quite suddenly, when you least expect it. I have found that when things happen, they happen all at once, like a domino effect. That's life I guess.

Anyway, I thought I would return with a book recommendation. I started reading this book recently and so far it is THE best book I have ever read. I'm sure a lot of you have heard of it already - "Don't Be Sad" by Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni, yes not the most imaginative of titles but that is because the translation into Arabic (which this book was originally written in) sounds much better.

Even in the English translation the book is extremely readable, eloquent and meaningful. I highly recommend it to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, whether or not you are going through a difficult time in your life. 

I have not yet completed the book but there is one part that has really stuck in my mind which I would like to share with you. It is about why you should never expect gratitude from people to whom you have done something good. Here is the extract:

"Allah, the Almighty, created His slaves so that they may worship and remember Him, and He provided sustenance for them so that they may be grateful to Him. Nevertheless, many have worshipped other than Him and the masses are thankful not to Him, but to others, because the characteristic of ingratitude is widespread among human beings. So do not be dismayed when you find that others forget your favours or disregard your kind acts. Some people might even despise you and make you an enemy for no other reason than that you have shown them kindness.

And they could not find any cause to bear a grudge, except that Allah and His Messenger had enriched them of His Bounty.

(Quran 9:74)

From among the ever-repeating pages of history is a story of a father and his son: the former raised him, fed him, clothed him and taught him; he would stay up nights so that his son could sleep, stay hungry so that his son could eat, and he would toil so that his son could feel comfort. And when the son became older and stronger, he rewarded his father with disobedience, disrespect, and contempt.

So be at peace if you are requited with ungratefulness for the good you have done. Rejoice in your knowledge that you will be rewarded from the One who has unlimited treasures at His disposal.

This is not to say that you should refrain from performing acts of kindness towards others: the point is that you should be mentally prepared for ingratitude.

Perform acts of charity seeking Allah's pleasure, because with this attitude you will assuredly be successful. The ungrateful person cannot really harm you: praise Allah that that person is the transgressor and that you are the obedient servant. Also, remember that the hand that gives is better than the hand that receives.

(We feed you seeking Allah's Countenance only. We wish for no reward, nor thanks from you.)

(Quran 76:9)

Many people are shocked at the nature of ingratitude in others, as though they had never come across this verse and others like it:

And when harm touches man, he invokes us, lying down on his side, or sitting or standing. But when we have removed his harm from him, he passes on his way as K he had never invoked Us for a harm that touched him.

(Quran 10:12)

Hence do not be in a state of agitation if you give someone a pen as a gift and he uses it to satirise you, or if you give someone a walking stick to lean upon and he strikes you with it. As I pointed out earlier, most human beings are ungrateful to their Lord, so what treatment should you and I expect?"

You can buy this book new from Amazon for around £15 or you can download it for free from many different websites like www.kalamullah.com/books.html.

If you choose to read it I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have and that you find comfort in it's message.

A Christian Hijabi Goth

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Never thought I'd write those words in the same sentence.. Actually, when I thought I'd seen it all in the hijab world I came across this very interesting video about a Christian goth explaining why she wears the hijab.

Well that's me subscribed! Check out her other videos here.

Understanding Predestination & Free Will

Believing in predestination (qadar) and free will is one of the six articles of faith and possibly the concept that our fallible brains find the most difficult to understand.  Here is a pretty good explanation of how qadar and free will work together:

Uploaded by YouTuber khalifahklothing

I have found that the best way to understand this subject is to make sure you fully understand some basic Islamic concepts:

1. Your existence is to worship Allah (SWT), no more no less.

2. What differs you from animals and angels is your right to choose to worship Allah (SWT), or not.

3. Without Allah's Will, your right to choose would not and cannot exisit.

4. You are given the choice because Allah (SWT) willed for you to have it and He willed for you to have it because He decreed for the creation of a being who has the ability to freely accept or reject it's Creator. Angels accept their creator through knowledge but do not do so freely and have no animalistic desires to fight against. Animals have no higher levels of knowledge or logic but worship Allah (SWT) innately without choice and without being required to fight their animalistic desires. Only man and jinn have been given BOTH logic and desires. We have a God-given right to choose which one we follow.

5. In this life, we choose and Allah (SWT) allows our choice to come about. He knows what choices we will make and He allows us to make them. In short, we actively and freely MAKE our choices in life based on our desires and intentions, by which we will be judged.

6. Allah (SWT) loves those who choose to do good and worship Him and Him alone - some people use this for the argument "if God wants us to do good why couldn't He just make us do good and why is there evil in the world?" The answer is simple: Allah (SWT) has created angels who do nothing BUT worship Him. The purpose of our creation is to choose to worship Allah (SWT) and do good deeds, but how can you choose to do good without first rejecting the opposite, evil? Without evil there would BE no good because "good" would just be the norm and if good was the norm, there would be no choice at all i.e. we would be angels.

I hope that this sort of helps if you were having difficulties understanding this concept. If anyone has any useful information about this subject please post it in the comments.

Statement Scarf*

I have always thought that the "rule" of having to have a "statement" piece in your outfit to make it work is generally not true. Outfits can look good with no statement pieces in them at all. Anyway, that's besides the point because the following look does contain a statement item - the scarf. Wearing a statement scarf is something I have not been keen on doing recently but if you dress it with simple clothes it can look really nice and not too try-hard. 

Aztec Scarf by stylishmuslimah

*A "statement scarf" is not necessarily a scarf that's sparkly/shiny/glittery/tassely/mirrored.. that's just a social-suicide scarf.