Dear Diary...

Salaam to another Saturday.
This weeks blog post is going to be a bit like a diary but about my week.
Unlike many of you people, I am not in education at the moment. But that will change by Monday 11am. This does mean that I have had quite a bit of time on my hands recently, some of which I have spent wisely and some not so wisely.
Monday is an example of my time not being spent wisely. I did not even get out of the house. I felt so depressed being cooped up at home all day and the worse part is... I didn't even get out of my PJs. (I bet some of you guys have lost respect for me because of that)
I have had my friends complaining about waking up early to attend lectures on time, while I have been in bed. Sleeping from 3-4am, waking up after midday and having an evening nap has become a routine. I wish I could be doing something, but I become too lazy. When I start Uni, I know I will miss these lazy days.

I'll start with Last Friday- 20.09.2013. In the evening I managed to change the plans my sisters had of going out all night to attending a talk about the Middle East Crisis in East London. Thank you very much to the people who arranged this. The speakers gave some in depth details of what is going on in Egypt and Syria and why. One thing that I took away with me, and will use in the future if I get into any debates is a metaphor which one of the speakers used to describe democracy. It was something like this, 'Democracy is like a bus. When it is their stop, people will get off. However, Egypt and Syria are still on that bus. They still do not have democracy'.
Truth be told, I really don't think anyone has got of that bus. Democracy is a load of beep beep :D

I'm not so sure what I did on Saturday so I will skip to Sunday.
A march was organised for Sisters in Syria for women only. This march went through Edgware Road, Oxford Street and ended up in front of the Syrian Embassy. We marched and chanted in support for our sisters who are fighting, getting killed and protecting. They really are heroes.
One thing that really touched me was, as we marched towards Marble Arch, there was a man standing on the side with one hand in the air doing the R4BIA sign (the four fingers) and with the other hand he was wiping away his tears.
We do not need to be Syrian to understand pain, to feel the heartache when someone dies. We need to have a heart. We need to be human.
Outside the Syrian Embassy, sisters held the Qur'an above their heads and chanted 'SYRIA WANTS QUR'AN, SYRIA WANTS KHILAFAH' (An Islamic system)
The turnout was amazing. I couldn't see the end of the march because it was crowded with sisters and young children.
There was a slight debate on the issue of women going out and marching, travelling without mehram (A male guidance who is closely related) and shouting on the streets. You may or may not agree with me, but I think that sisters all over the world should be more active in these kinds of things. We have brothers marching for brothers and no one marches for the sisters. We need sisters to march for the sisters suffering in the world. It is not drawing attention to an individual, but to a crowd who are trying to pass out a message.
We have ladies fighting for the sake of God, for their land, for an Islamic state yet we sit and debate about going out and supporting them. We want to help yet we make excuses to sit at home. That's not right. But hey, that's my opinion.

Then came Monday which seemed to drag but Tuesday came to my rescue. I slept that night thinking about the British Museum and on Tuesday, me and my best friend got up and went. It brought back memories of when I used to go there every summer with school and family. I really wanted to go see the Islamic section, the Islamic art, the swords that were used during the wars, the delicacy and thought of designs that went in to designing even the handle of a sword. I also enjoyed seeing the Ancient Egypt section. That part is truly a reminder of what was written in the Qur'an, about bodies being preserved to show the people of the future on how the Pharaoh made people suffer. Aiii, How I really want to visit Egypt. It's a dream!!! Maybe I could fix the Sphinx and put the nose back on. :D

Wednesday was my Freshers fair for Uni. It wasn't as wow as I thought it would be. I was in the queue for nearly an hour and I got a whole load of leaflets for late night parties and offers like '1 shot for only £2'. ARE YOU MAD??? Firstly, I will never touch any of that, Secondly, Why would I waste my grant money!?? I signed up to a load of stuff which I doubt I will attend but one thing I will get involved in will be the ISOC - Islamic Society. The few people that I met on the day seemed so nice from ISOC.

Thursday was another day that was spontaneous. I went Oxford Street with my sister and ate in a pasta place called Vapiani. We saw the guy make the food in front of us. According to the guy who made our food, it doesn't matter whether we eat halal or haram, as long as it isn't pork. What examples are these other Muslims setting? They go into the place and don't mind about whether the food is halal or haram. So he has it set in his mind that all Muslims think the same. Well, we put him in his place. Booyakasha!!!
After this, 4 of us sisters met up in Greenwich and chilled near the waterside and watched the sun set. The view was amazing with Canary Wharf in sight. Then came the Bollywood music and the attempt of dancing. Yurp... We got a little crazy. We attempted to do that ballet thing that people do, the thin person runs and the stronger person tries to catch them and lift them in the air... 10 tries and all were failed. I'm very disappointed. The only downside to this day was the journey home. I mean, men really need to invest in DEODRANTS!!! I felt like I could see the white light, and the stench of old curry wasn't helping.

Friday, Yesterday, I attended another talk for sisters only in London Muslim Centre. It was called 'Pursuit of Happiness'. There were two very well spoken sisters, one from the US and one from the UK.
A brief summary of what was said, firstly about inner beauty. Apparently, inner beauty is what those without outer beauty say they have - ugly people say that have inner beauty according to the urban dictionary. This is sooo wrong!!!
We spend precious moments of our time everyday trying to make ourselves look presentable with what we wear, how we look, what we smell like. We like to look nice and clean, use clean things and leave things in a clean way. Why can we not clean our insides? Have inner beauty. Take time to make our insides clean and beautiful as opposed to the outside. Have pure intentions, think clean, speak in a well manner and listen to only good things.
That was one talk.
Another talk was about happiness. God put us on this earth to be happy. Not to suffer. When we see one in sadness we should try and lift their spirits and make them smile or laugh. Many people walk around with a grumpy face. Why not cheer up a little and smile? You underestimate the rewards of a smile. A smile makes others smile, and their smiles make loads more people smile. You should smile so much that your mouth hurts (like I do at work. It hurts, but it's rewarding).
Happiness is not a goal. We do not pursue happiness. Happiness is within.

Today is another Saturday... And in the evening, I will be going to an outdoor cinema thingamabob with my sisters to watch 'Les Miserbales'. I hope it's good but the bonding with my sisters is good enough :D

Hope you all enjoyed this blog post about my week
And have a good day.
Stay safe Ya'll.

Peace out!!!

(I'm sorry if my posts are really long, I just tend to blabber on and on. I'll try and post shorter ones in my next blog posts)

Meet the Family

Salaam Saturday
I hope everyone is doing well.
Wow. This Saturday came fast. I didn't realise how hard it is to choose a topic to write about.
This week I've decided that I'm going to write a little bit about my family. If you decide to read my blogs weekly, not only should you know me a little bit, but know a bit about my family as well.
So here goes. Only about my immediate family though because I do not have a family tree. I have a family Forest. And that would take ages to write about and you would probably read for the sake of reading and you won't enjoy it.

We are a family made of 8 members. Actually, 9 members. If you have a cat for 10 years, he becomes a sibling of yours.

I'll start of with my Dad or 'Abbaji' as I call him in my mother tongue. My father is not soooo old but he is old. I don't actually realise how old my dad is getting until I go out with him and he has to take rests by sitting on a bench or something. Despite that, he still has the heart of his young self. Joking and laughing and cracking these lame jokes. I remember when he used to carry me on his shoulder and take me to the corner shop. That won't be happening anymore. It'll be weird and I'll probably break his shoulder. He used to be this really strong man, with pitch black hair and a nicely trimmed beard. I used to sprint beside him as he used to walk slowly. And, his hugs. Boy, my Abbaji's hugs are indescribable. When your upset and he hugs you, it makes your burst into tears even more and when your happy, they just make you feel over the moon. So that's my dad.

My Mum - Ammaji. A feisty, STRONG woman she is. She has more strength than the two 'men' in this household. Yet she is delicate. Her cooking is to die for. I mean, sometimes when we decide to go out to eat, nothing compares to the food my mum cooks. Though her English isn't so great, she still has the confidence to go out and make conversation with people and she can get by. She is independent and supporting. When I'm ill, she's the one by my bedside giving me those bed baths. Well, not exactly a bed bath, but taking care of me. My mum used to have the figure of a model back in her days. She's had 6 children and for her age, I think she doesn't look so bad. Her blouses don't even fit my sister because they're too tight on her. My sister is a size 6. Oh boy. Well, that's my beautiful mum.

Sometimes I think, I wish I could see how my parents were before they married, before they had children. The mischief they would have got up to. But that's a story that slowly gets revealed by other family members.

Now, my siblings. I have four older sisters and one older brother (and my younger cat brother). Yes, I am the youngest (from the humans) but unfortunately, I am not so spoilt. Actually, it's a fortunate thing. It makes me work hard for what I want and I don't always expect things.

My oldest sister is a fitness instructor (and is an ex amateur boxer) and in all honesty, her expertise has not helped me. I am not slim or muscular, but I'll get there... one day.
After her come my non- identical twin sisters. One who is a mortgage advise manager who loves to dress up. She's probably the fashionista in the house but she is sooo dopey, and one who is a police officer. I used to get really excited telling people about the police lady, I still do, but her shift work drives me crazy. Stupid hours and I barely get to see her. The incidents that she deals with leads me to having sleepless nights due to my vivid imagery.
My brother is a Geography teacher at a local secondary school. I do not know how he manages the students. I think they have to learn to handle him instead. I mean, the jokes and break dance moves he comes out with. Cor Blimey!
Then there's my final sister. She works for charity organisations and is a youth worker and I'm grateful for that. Because of the youth work that she does, I have managed to go to Atlanta, Sweden, Greece and recently Switzerland for various reasons. Conferences, exchanges, skiing. It' not because I am her sister, but because I participate and volunteer and the youth group she works in just happened to be the coolest thing I've come across.

So that's their careers. A little bit about them. They are all crazy!!! We are genuinely nice people and we have different yet similar behaviours and characteristics. We go wild when we see playgrounds. It unusual, seeing as they are all in their late twenties. We try and speak different languages to people when we go out and sometimes we speak in made up languages amongst each other. We all love to travel and my sisters have seen a fair share of the world. They've been to EGYPT!!! I AM DYING TO GO THERE!!! And the youth worker went to Palestine this summer. She went to the places where I have been dreaming to go. Most of the times they have been away, they have always left me at home because I am the youngest. That's one of the downsides plus many more. But, their travelling makes make more passionate to travel and I want to see everything!!!

Even though my brother is the only male sibling, I am glad to say that he is manly and our feminine behaviour has not rubbed off on him. More like, his manly traits have rubbed off on us. All of us sisters are slightly Tom-Boyish. We all love sports, take part in sports and try and do marathons. (I did a half marathon on November 2012 by the way, just saying, but that has been topped by them doing full marathons in and out of London).

When I was little, I was a mad tom-boy. My best friend in nursery was a boy and I used to be a bad influence on him. We used to go to them plastic yellow and red cars, pull, sometimes beat, the girls out, and roll around like we owned the place. Looking back now, using your feel to get the car moving isn't as bad boy as it seemed. I once received a girls outfit on my fifth birthday from my neighbour and I had the guts to throw it from my hand onto the sofa and shout 'I DON'T LIKE THIS!'.

There's a lot of hilarious stories that we have had in our lives, from fashion (if you're Asian, you would have at some point experienced the Salwar Kameez and Trainers phase), to going out (and randomly ending up on the floor) and many more. Sometimes when we're out, people ask us if we're drunk!!! NOOO!!! WE DON'T DRINK! Seriously, it can happen! You can have fun, be happy and laugh all night when you have the right company, and you do not need a drink for that to happen. Coke is like the most toxic thing we consume (and shisha) (Typical Asians).

The five of us sisters (In Switzerland, Chillin' in a tree :) 

We are all quite diverse in what we do BUT we still live together. They need to move out ASAP! But, that's why we are so tight knit and we have that 'Love & Hate relationship', from 'GET OUT MY FACE' to 'Come, let's all five of us get in one bed and go sleep'.
I think a big THANK YOU goes out to my parents for raising us with manners, with a life and soul and giving us the right amount of freedom to explore the world and see what's out there.
*Spud*

Anyway, Hope ya'll enjoyed that.
Peace out.
Au Revoir.
Ma'as Salama.
Caoi.
Bye.

(If you enjoyed this, do look out for my weekly Saturday blogs)
Or keep up to date with what I do through Twitter or Instagram - SalmaKhatun95

Imagine and Appreciate

Hey people :D
I have decided that I am going to start blogging weekly. 
So say Salaam to Saturdays. (My blogs are open to everyone by the way. Don't turn away because of the word Salaam, it's just a greeting in Arabic)
I will blog about a different topic every week, well I will try to,and it could be about the most random-est things ever. So, if you are interested to see what I will be writing about, do check out my blog posts every Saturday's. 
Much appreciated. Anyway, this is a post for this Saturday. Today. Soooo, Salaam Saturday =D

I saw a short video recently of a father holding his dead son in Syria and telling his son that he will find his killer and he will get his revenge. 
The boy was around 8-10 years old, covered in white bloodied cloth and pale faced. I don't often tear up when watching emotional stuff, but recently all these short videos from Syria, Egypt and Palestine make me weak. I lose my macho-ness (my strength in other words) and a few tears can be spotted rolling down my face.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201613630837705

It got me thinking though. We see all these wars, chaos, blood shed and tears, shootings, stabbings, chemical use in the Eastern part of the world.

Imagine, just imagine for a few seconds, that all that chaos, running down the street only to see your family member lying there, dead from a gun shot, from the chemicals thrown at him/her, imagine all this happening in the UK. 
It's hard to imagine it to be honest. We are so used to our easy lifestyles, sitting in the comfort of our homes (just as I am doing now), planning what we will do for the next day. Some people around the world KNOW that they may not even live to see the next day. 

Imagine, coming home after school/college/uni/work only to find that settlers have broken your house down, imagine walking the streets with a friend one minute and the next, s/he is lying dead next to you. It's still hard to imagine because it hasn't happened in our lifetime. We are the fortunate ones to have never experienced war and hopefully we won't have to experience such disasters. 

Yes, we can all agree that the government isn't the best government in the UK (as I may have mentioned in one of my previous blog post's), the Government and the people in Power in America try to act like heroes, however, let's just be grateful to some of the laws that exist such as the Human Rights. Having the right to water and not having our drums of water being shot so we are deprived, having basic shelter and not having to migrate many miles to seek refuge, having the right to education and not getting shot on the way there. 
I'm grateful that our Prime Minister, isn't worshiped. Yes, people may like him an all, but let's face is, majority of us dislike him. 
But at least, we are still being accepted in the country. At least the government isn't killing all the Muslims, all the Hindu's, all the Jews. 

Recently I was doing an application for something and one of the question's was:
If you had power over the whole world for a day, what would you do?

I answered:

I guess saying 'I would have world peace for the day' is too common. 

Instead I would swap lives. We have all seen the news and we can see what is happening in parts of the Middle East, parts of Asia and Africa. Where there are issues going on, for a whole day, I would make those issues become apparent in another part of the world, probably the Western part of the world, and where we are living life with no wars, I would put that atmosphere in parts of the world where there are conflicts going on. 

So, I would make the West become a war zone and I would make the East live in peace.

My reason for doing this would be because, those who are suffering are getting non stop grief from their governments, from their family members being shot, having to bury a loved one everyday. Many of them have never experienced peace like the young people living in Gaza. However, people in the West, like my self, have life easy. Going out and coming back to a warm place to spend the night. Fortunately, many of us have not experienced war or anything that critical, yet we complain about things we may or may not have. 

For one day, if lives were swapped around, people will know what peace is, what family is, what comfort is, what safety is. 

For one day, people will know what war is, what bloodshed and loss feels like, what an aching heart feels like. Though this doesn't seem right, making people experience pain, it will make them appreciate what they have. It will make them content with their surroundings and hopefully make them less greedy. And for the ones suffering now, at least they will know what the good things feel like.

Because of all these wars going on in the world, it makes me appreciate life much more and it makes me value all the advantages we have by being British and living in London. 

Many of us are picky or we want the latest thing. We should try and take a break from always wanting and getting and we should start thinking and giving in anyway possible. It could be through charity, through prayers, or even just remembering the oppressed once a day.

I hope this made sense and that you enjoyed it.

And hopefully, another blog post will be up next Saturday. 

Peace out

G'day

Taa :D

My European Trip & My Poem

Going on the Eiffel Tower and visiting Geneva has been one of my dad's dream for maybe a few weeks. So my sister made it happen. 
From the 26th August to the 30th, we went travelling to these exact places. 
My GCSE French was coming to good use!!
For the first two days, my parents, my big sister and me went to Paris. It was a short journey by EuroStar and I would recommend it to anyone. There we went to the Louvre but it was closed by the time we got there. But we still spent time walking around it doing impressions of the Mona Lisa and discussing why depressed faces become more famous than the happy ones. We went to this beautiful Masjid (Mosque) and prayed Maghrib Salaah (One of the five daily prayers) and I must say, it was beautiful. It didn't feel or seem like it was in Paris. More like it was in the Middle East somewhere. We visited the Notre Dame cathedral, Sacré-Cœur Basilica church, the Arc De Triomphe and finally as day turned to night, we went to the Eiffel tower, right to the top!!! (It really wasn't as scary as I thought).
The hotel guy liked me. He was a middle aged man with children, originally from Tunisia,  but as soon as he heard my name was SALMA and that I'm Muslim, the hugs and kisses I received from him was somewhat weird but that's their culture. We should be like that in London. JOKE!!! Paris was full of handsome Arab brothers! Sadly, I couldn't get one back as a souvenir. =P
From Paris we took a train to Geneva, which was another short journey and we passed mountains and small houses. The view was breathtaking. Though I went to Switzerland already this summer for a conference, the experience with family was totally different. My leg was aching and cramping from walking around in Paris for only two days and now I had to do three more days in Geneva. We met my other three sisters and my brother at the station and the reunion was as though we hadn't seen each other in 48 years as opposed to 48 hours. (They weren't born 48 years ago)
Geneva was AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and soooo Dahm expensive - unless you live there. 
We went and saw so much that I don't remember half of what we saw. We visited loads of museums, Churches, Old towns, took a boat ride to Nyon, went skinny dipping... HARAM!!! We did not go skinny dipping. We just dipped our feet in the water and the swan ate it. 
Okay. I lied. The swan didn't eat our feet. 
We saw some famous sites and statues and my favourite part was... VISITING THE UN!!! THE UNITED NATIONS where all major discussions happen about the world. Each room in the UN had a history, an untold story and the delicacy of the art was amazing. I thought that I would find it boring because it is like the castle of politics but surprisingly, it was fun and there was a lot of meaning to simple pictures. 
On the last day in Geneva, we took a long walk to a Masjid and again, the beauty and the art of this Masjid was immense, the kind of art we should appreciate. We prayed Jummah (The Friday special prayer) and Zuhr (One of the five daily prayers) there, went to the UN, got our things from the hotel and went to the airport. 
Now with eight people travelling together, it was not peaceful. It may seem like this trip was filled with peace and tranquility but Nehhh. We have our moments. However, this was the first time in sixteen years since 1997, that we all got on a plane together. Sadly, it wasn't British Airways or Swiss Airlines... It was EasyJet! But we got home safely, back to the streets of East London, in a mini van, where you can see dog mess on the pavements, litter everywhere, red spit down green street. This was no mountainous view and the sound was nothing like the natural sound of the waves of the lake crashing against the wall. But this was home!!! 
The next places I go to have to be the Middle East, Palestine and Egypt in particular. Also Saudi & Makkah.

On my way from Paris to Switzerland I wrote a poem.
I don't often like showing my writing to people but i thought, hey why not?

So tell me what you think.

Oh Young Ones

Oh young ones, Don't fear.
Your cries, God can hear
From Palestine, From Syria, Egypt and Somalia
No one knows whats in your criteria
Oh young ones, Don't fear.

You will be safe even when your time is near

For you will only go to a better place

It could be today or in many days

Oh young ones, Don't fear.

The skies will get clear

The smoke from the grenades will disappear

And you will reunite one day up there

With your mother, father, brothers and sisters

Oh young ones, Don't fear.

You will grow up to be Freedom Fighters

Or the Lord's very own martyrs

Closer and closer to God you will be

Everything that happens, only God will see

Oh young ones, Don't fear.

Smile, laugh, don't shed a tear

You will get everything you need

Mother, father, family and the title 'Shahid'. (Like a martyr) 

Peace out peeps.