Blogging is Cheaper Than Therapy

Today at ADAMS Center, the first salah had the distinct honor of having Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi as the guest khatib. For anybody that doesn't know who he is, Dr. Siddiqi holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Religion from Harvard University. Those who are members of the Islamic Society of Orange County are blessed to have him as their Imam. I always felt somewhat of a personal connection with him just because he is the uncle of a friend that I grew up with in Virginia. Having Dr. Siddiqi as the guest Khatib got me thinking about my first Jummah prayer that I went to when I lived in California. The first year that I lived in Orange County, I did not have a car. It was not an issue for many months because I would spend much of my free time in Newport Beach which was just a short bike ride away. I had a circle of friends who would come to my apartment every day so if I ever needed to go somewhere far away, I would go with them. I think the first 8-9 months that I was there, I did ...

I am sitting here watching the NBA playoffs. Professional sports, not something that I usually watch but post-season sports are much more enjoyable to view. Watching this game (game 2, Thunder vs. Mavericks) makes me feel like an average guy. I have really come to realize that the most interesting people are the ones who don't talk too much or are outcasts. I am a weird guy, I am well aware of that. I don't fit in with a whole lot of people and I don't connect well with most guys in general. This isn't something that bothers me all that much though because I have been blessed with meeting a few other people who I have commonalities with. I value my friendships and connections more than most people do, I think. It's not about how many friends you have but how strong of a friendship you have with those people. When I meet people that I feel a real connection with, I always hope that I never lose that person in my life. This is just something random that I was thin...

I have been watching wrestling consistently every week for about 11 1/2 years now. I still remember the first show I watched in November of 1999. I saw Degeneration X beat up Test and break his nose. I saw The Rock but I don't remember what exactly he did but I was hooked from that first show. A friend of mine had asked me earlier that day about wrestling and I pretended like I watched it and just along with it. He kept on quoting The Rock and when I got home from school, I started quoting The Rock too. My brother said that I don't even watch WWF so I shouldn't be quoting the wrestlers so in an effort to validate myself, I started watching and have not stopped. Wrestling used to be so entertaining. The personalities were so defined and the storyline was enthralling. Around 2002, it started to get a little bit worse but overall, still entertaining. It was still fun to watch up until around 2009. Wrestling for me was more than a show. It's no secret that I was bulli...

I have come to a point where I realize how temporary everything is. There have been things that I thought would be a permanent in my life but things can change within one instant. Is it a bad thing? For the most part, yes. You can have somebody is the closest to you, a person you speak with every day and within one day, you can lose them forever. When I moved to California, I thought that I was going to be living there indefinitely; I did not think that I would ever move back to Virginia but a little bit over two years later, I was back. I thought that I would always want to keep my house here in Oak Hill, VA but I am so okay with moving out of it. All of this scares me so much, how little control we have in our lives. We have to remember that Allah (swt) controls everything , there is not a thing out His control. This life is temporary, every moment that we have in one that we will never have again so make the most of it.

Last night I went to the Masjid to help be part of a youth program that links middle school kids to high schoolers to college kids. Then I met up with someone who was helping me land a job in the IT field. He was teaching me the basics of IT security that I need to know for interviews. Afterwards, we prayed Isha and I was about to head out buy saw a friend who is still in high school. I know his older brother and asked about him. He told me that his brother was at a halaqa and that I should go. I asked how he was getting home and he said he needed a ride so I happily offered one. I said that I was hungry so I was going to get some food on the way back. His brother then called me when I was nearing the drive through saying that there is food at the persons house he was at and that we should come by. We arrived and to my amazement, there were about 15 brothers barbecuing chicken, hot dogs, burgers and kabobs. I felt bad showing up like that but as soon as I walked in, I ...

What is the ego? It is our self-perception. Our egos determine our self-esteem and self-worth. Everybody has an ego to some extent and generally speaking, it's for the worse. People use it as a way to put themselves above others or separate themselves from another group of people. We use our experiences, monetary value, educational achievements and appearance as a way to determine our ego; this can be very dangerous. It is not up to us to determine our own value and how the rest of the world should value or care about us. People are not fit to determine how important they really are. We have to take a step back from ourselves to take a look at who we are. One may say that they have a PhD or another high level degree so they deserve a certain amount of respect. Another person may say that their bank account had x number of dollars in it so they deserve to be treated better than a person with less money. We have to realize that the things we have, whether education, money or any oth...

Something that we all want, something that we all need . Yes, money is great. We need it to live a comfortable life and progress but it is one of the most dangerous things a person or people can get. It is very true what they say, money does change people. I used to be so into the lifestyle that comes from having a lot of money. By the grace and mercy of God, my family has been blessed financially. This is something I certainly take for granted. I have always wanted a lavish lifestyle. I wanted to live in a huge ocean-view mansion. There is nothing wrong with wanting a nice lifestyle, Islam doesn't discourage having this kind of life but I wanted it for the wrong reasons. I used to have a lot of arrogance and wanted to be a person with a lot of money who thought they were better than everybody else. I saw myself as somebody who would make a lot of money and then eventually get married. I am so happy that is not how things have turned out so far. I know that if I had made a lot o...