I have been operating under a handicap for months now. The search engine icon disappeared from my devices leaving me totally unable to find anything that I had written about in the past. It was awful and my ‘so-called’ Computer Guru was not the least bit helpful. But a series of hardships descended upon me – I took them in my stride, prayed to Allah for guidance and got it.
My aim, my goal was to buy LOL a computer as he is such a whiz (at the age of 15) but did not have a computer. Heard they were super cheap at the Apple Store at the Qatar Airport, was there for hours on the return trip from my Umrah pilgrimage and went to purchase one. Well, it was fake – the computers were expensive, not a deal at all and could be purchased less expensively on the streets of Doha (apparently). Heavy hearted I retuned home, went on line to find that a MacBook Air could be purchased at the West Edmonton Mall Apple Store. MAN drove WOMAN, LOL and me to West Edmonton Mall. I had made an appointment for assistance for the computer purchase and a wonderful young woman was there to help. After LOL decided on the grey one I asked her about the problem with the search icon. She cured it immediately. You have no idea of my joy. I am whole again. Well, reasonably whole – at some point need an indexing system but Computer Guru has not helped with that either. Who Knows what may happen, but the presence of LOL is a step in the right direction anyway.
Step in the right direction is an action that increases one’s chances of achieving something. Used in a sentence: Exercise won’t improve your heart problems but it is a step in the right direction. This idiom was first recorded in 1871. Then Google tells you why it is important: “Having direction allows you to maintain mental resilience during transitions by facilitating a sense of underlying purpose, not dependent on the specific role one occupies. Also, having a sense of direction promotes better mental health and stronger adherence to long-term goals.” Google tries valiantly to be more helpful, but is not altogether helpful at all. “No one can tell the actual definition of the Maning of life. For some it is all about happiness, building a family, and leading a life as it is. For some it is all about accumulating wealth and for others it is all about love. No Google, you do not understand or inform on this important concept. One finds meaning in life by becoming of the Islamic faith. But it is an ongoing, daily process.
One scholar offered an Instagram blurb about gratitude saying that if Allah gives you gifts best you be grateful or if not Allah will take them away. I responded: I am incredibly grateful to Allah for all that Allah has given me. It is the ONLY intelligent and wise thing to do. And five daily prayers offered in gratitude makes it easy to give thanks.
This is how it works:
iPhone chime alarm and iPad app gives the call to worship.
Me: It is prayer time and time to offer gratitude for what Allah has given me – either blessings or hardship. If it is hardship, like the greedy Doha Airport Apple Store, then good will, and did, come from it.
So simple, it is supposed to be an easy faith. But Muslim Majority Men make it difficult because they are invested in the power structure. They dictate how worship should take place, inapplicable (actually for women). Our prayers are not offered in mosques but in the safety of our homes. It is practically impossible, in a northern clime, to led a life when prayer times are Horus apart, unless you live in the neighborhood of a mosque. Do remember that one is to have peace of mind when prayers are offered. How is that possible if you are running to get to the mosque on time? If at home, there is some flexibility as your late attendance would not cause distraction. My bedroom is my prayer room – my bed is in the living room. More room, better view and as a Muslim woman cannot have stray men visiting me anyway. I write, read and research from bed. It works. The divine flexibility of being single and independent. No pesky husband around that you have to cook and clean (and goodness knows what else) for. Been there, done that.
The Muslim App on my iPad has many features. One is the 99 names of Allah, recited in Arabic but with the English names. It is a wonderful way to worship. As you read the names, the characteristics of Allah – you can see how helpful Allah can be, in so many ways. Name 91 ia Ad-Darr The Distressor, The Harmer, The Inflictor. Another one 81. Al-Muntaqim The Avenger.
I look to and trust Allah to avenge and inflict his wrath upon those such as eJourney, my Unrah tour company and particularly my ‘Umrah’ guide, a twenty-two year old who successfully scammed me. I did not loose my faith but others relying on these people might have. If I were members of that ‘team’ I would be mightily frightened. Particularly since they are not seeking forgiveness and mercy from Allah.
More about my deviations from traditional Muslim worship in blogs to come.
Back again to a prior blog about Qatar. The New Yorker article Goals ends well, and is a fitting conclusion to the World Cup. “ So much of the act of watching sport is our making a story, willing a memory into existence— imagining how we want things to be—only for something more prosaic and unexpected to happen in its place. The U.S. went on to face the Netherlands, Qatar V.I.P. s emerged from Al Thumanama and were stowed in Bentley S.U.V’s Drones buzzed in the Doha sky. The hubbub of the dispersing crowd joined with the other sounds of the city.”
Prosaic is commonplace; unromantic. Looking back at World Cup 2022 now do you not find it all rather ordinary, everyday, usual, common, conventional, routine, humdrum, commonplace, run-of-the-mill, workaday, pedestrian, mundane, dreary, tedious, boring, ho-hum, uninspiring, monotonous? I do, but I never liked soccer in the first place. There was a real live Canadian football game being played in my Beer Revolution the other day. Now that was interesting.
Going backward again, faithful readers will note that my January 3, 2023 blog contained an interesting photo of me. It was taken in California on the day of my first booster shot. Read the sign that I wrote in response to an invitation to explain why we lined up to receive a jab. It is amusing, but also, an affront to Premier Smith. Of course, at the time neither I nor most of the world knew of her existence. May those days return.
Affront is an action or remark that causes outrage or offense. Perhaps it was an affront to Premier Smith but it was not heavy handed, not angry, not offensive in any way.
I am slowly learning, very slowly. Outrage is a learned and necessary trait in a lawyer. But I have been retired for almost twenty years. It is about time for me to get over my rage and anger – it helps no one but our enemies. Smile and walk away. There is a Christian expression that sums up the Islamic way. “Get behind me Satan!” Wikipedia tells all, as usual.
“Get thee behind me, Satan”, is a saying of Jesus in the New Testament. It is first attested in Mark 8:33, where Jesus is addressing Peter; this is retold in Matthew 16:23 (Greek: Ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, Σατανᾶ, Hypage opisō mou, Satana). In the temptation of Jesus, in Matthew 4 and Luke 4:8, Jesus rebukes “the tempter”
Do remember that Jesus is one of the Prophets in the Islamic faith and will play a major role when the Great Tribulation is upon us.
