I have an incurable itch to write. Sometimes I ramble too.

Is it just so old-fashioned now?

The new trend seems to be to expose everything that you have, are, or want. How honest people are these days! Forget classy and elegant, people want sexy. This 21^st-century “openness” is all around us now, it is inevitable and hard to ignore, because it’s there – in your face whether you like it or not. What I mean by this so-called openness is the way that everything lost its sacredness, and moreover, the way that that looseness of morals is now everywhere you look: in the media, on the street, on the radio, in every other song you listen to or every other movie you watch.

Sex, bare-nakedness, and public “displays of affection” are what I’m referring to.

You’re more likely to come across a song where the artist talks about how he or she strongly desires to have their way with said person (or persons) in the song. And God forbid that that wasn’t made clear in the lyrics, there’s always a very vividly descriptive video-clip to get the point through – one which is usually full of grinding, groping, pelvic thrusts and scantily clad female dancers in the background. If the song isn’t about that, then it’s probably about how wasted that artist is or plans to be – marvellous genius content!

Movies are included in this category too. Every other movie has a sex scene in it – because we just can’t get a hint? If eroticism is what these filmmakers are going after, then isn’t the mystical allure of it more sensual and powerful in a movie? Also, thanks to new ideas such as “no strings attached” type of relationships, sex lost all the sacredness it ever had – it’s become reduced to nothing more than a simple physical non-emotional act. We have become shallow people indeed, since things are being measured in terms of quantity and not quality: “more money, more hoes, more sex”. We’ve replaced suggestiveness with explicitness.

Then, we think we are so liberated when we are in fact brainwashed. We are conditioned to follow what’s deemed hip and trendy, blindly so. There’s just a couple of things (in terms of “clothing”) I never understood and don’t think I ever will: bikinis and briefs. If a woman was to step out of her house and walk in the street in a bra and panties, she would get a few strange looks from others, but if she was to wear a bikini (which is essentially the same thing) on a beach, it is totally acceptable. Same thing goes for a guy, if he was to step out in briefs on the street, he would also get a few strange looks from others, but if he wore the same thing on the beach, that’s fine, nobody’s looking. Double standard much? This extends across other items, and I will go ahead and blame washing machines for it, for shrinking everybody’s clothes so horribly.

Remember when shorts used to be up to your knees or maybe an inch above? Now they’re up to your thighs, or maybe way above. I definitely don’t wish or expect people to dress the same way I do, and I don’t think people who don’t are all immodest, but I do think there’s some red lines that should be drawn. If you’re sitting bra-less with your entire cleavage showing and your nipples visible underneath the thin fabric of your top, I just don’t take you as seriously as someone who made an effort to actually wear clothes. You do look cheap, and seem to give off a specific impression of who you are and what you value.

It is as simple as that. I do believe that we have potential to be deeper as individuals and that we should be investing in that creative potential instead.

What does nationalism really mean?

Earth was free for everyone before man-made walls, borders, and visas were invented.

What does it mean to attach yourself to a set of values, codes, and traditions of a defined border of land? It seems to mean that you tie yourself down to one misleading compound. Yes, not element, but compound. We have a lot more in common than we think we do:  there is major overlap between cultures. Each adds their own twist on whatever it is that is at hand, but the rest of the time, many things are fundamentally the same. Languages are a good example of that cross-cultural borrowing and sharing.

What if there were no borders between lands? What if there was only one language that everyone spoke? We would all see ourselves as equal individuals. Sure, diversity and the allure that culture and languages bring out would be significantly diminished, but wouldn’t everyone start getting along much better? I think it would be a boring world without some conflict, without some diversity. But nonetheless, if we put our native pride aside, we surely would be collaborating on a similar and much higher scale and working towards the more eminent and humanitarian goals.

Speaking out of personal experience, I find it hard to really associate myself with a particular “culture”, and more often feel that I am neither a product of nation or culture, but rather a product of individual personality – one that incorporates bits and pieces from several different cultures as well as other (non-cultural) influences. When asked where I am from, I say that I’m Syrian, but that’s really just an answer thrown out there, to appease the inquirer. After all, my story is kind of confusing: I was born in the US, I hold a Jordanian passport (even though I have never really been there), I was raised in Saudi Arabia, I moved to Canada about 5 years ago, but I am essentially of Syrian descent through my parents who were born and raised there. As a child, I watched a lot of dubbed Japanese cartoons, and as a teenager I mostly watched American TV sitcoms. Crisis much?

I have respect for all nations and cultures equally and indefinitely. That does not mean that I agree with all or even most of their practices or ideas, it just means that I learn to appreciate and embrace that difference, so long as it isn’t one that causes harm to anyone.

So which one of the two is a more constricted definition of identity: defining ourselves by a national construct, or eliminating the characteristics and elements that create cultures? Or perhaps there’s another way of looking at it that I am unaware of?

Nationalistic or not, I believe that the noble purpose to strive towards is to be one united global body working toward creating common good in the world.

It’s just a thought. And here goes my last post of 2011.

Happy New Year guys, with many more to come.

“If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you won’t find it, even if it’s sitting inside your pocket…”

…like a big black billowing boisterous brume brimming with tears of unblemished melancholy.

— In the end, it’ll be okay. And if it’s not okay, it’s not the end. (Native Studies 298)

One of the great things about Islam is how it combines all elements of our life together: physiological, social, economical, spiritual. Most of our knowledge of right-hood and goodness comes from the Quran and/or Sunnah, and there isn’t a single issue that either one of those two forgot to address. Simply putting it: Islam tells us how to live our daily lives. Islam is not a separate entity that we only practise in mosques or religious gatherings, and it is definitely not something we tuck away with the prayer mat once we set out to deal with the hassles of our everyday lives.

I’ve always found it irksome how some people tend to focus on the physical aspects of our religion to a great extent, and in the process, forget the real purpose intended of practising these things. Put obligatory deeds aside for the second. Take Taraweeh prayers for example. I would not think any person a better Muslim for praying twenty rakaahs as opposed to praying four. Physically fulfilling the requirements of a prayer alone does not make it a prayer since the spiritual aspect is the essential part of the action. Hence, appearances are deceiving. Quality is more important than quantity.

Naturally, the person who prays the twenty rakaahs would be assumed to be more religious than the person who would pray two or four and then leave. But have we looked at the content of that person’s heart (reflected in his actions)? Have we looked at his behaviour outside the mosque, or his interactions with other people? Islam is an all-encompassing religion in that sense. It teaches us to be respectful to our parents, kind to our neighbours, merciful with children, and to not look down upon others. Most importantly, it also asks us to be active members of our society, contributing to it and providing help to those who need it. In other words, even generous or thoughtful deeds to others around you are other ways of getting closer to Allah. Why? Because everything you do counts: the prayers in the mosque, and your actions outside the mosque – they go together. Consistency is key.

If you were to pray four rakaahs with deep engagement and humility, rather than twenty with no engagement at all then you would have succeeded in finding and gaining the benefit. I would not think a man with a beard any more religious than a man with no beard, because in the end, the beard (his outer appearance) adds nothing to his inner character.

Nor would I regard a girl that wears hijab a testimony of belief, nor the girl who doesn’t wear it a sacrament of the lack of it. God knows better what is in our hearts and evaluating on comprehensive terms will prove to save us from passing quick rash judgements on others.

Nor would I think that a girl wearing a hijab is “better” than a girl without a hijab. If we are to evaluate a person, we are to evaluate them overall, with all areas of their character taken into consideration. The girl without hijab could be the better person, manner-wise, who just needs a little push forward in the right direction. Likewise, the girl with the hijab could be the one with the haughty temper, putting people off by giving the wrong impression of what hijab and the women who wear it are like. It can be self-defeating when one practises the right action but does not pair it with the right attitude.

Understanding the true meaning and purpose of the things we do is quintessential, and until we do so, then we would not have grasped the true spirit of our actions, which is one of the core elements of belief. Basically, whatever you do, your whole heart has to be into it. That said, we should keep in mind that we should never be too quick to judge people. As the following hadith explains that piety is the main ingredient:

Hadith – Al-Tirmidhi #5198, Narrated AbuDharr [Ahmad transmitted it]
Allah’s Messenger  said to him, “You are not better than people with red or black skins unless you excel them in piety.”

May Allah always grant us strength to serve him in the best of ways, the strength to persist, and the power of knowledge and wisdom.

Amen.