so i'm guessing going to the beach grosses u out too?

i live in oregon...it's too darn cold to have yr shoes off at the beach most of the time, and never crowded enough to where you'd really see anyone else's feet anyways.

but even so, a beach is more of an appropriate place for foot exposure than an art museum. not all public places, just most.

i live in oregon also but we got used to wearing them in pakistan never got back to wearing full shoes again after our return unless it is snowing

shhhh i'm on a mission

lol.. I was born and raised in Oregon... shall I break out in "its a small world after all?" song

lol it really is a small world lol what part of oregon?

I was born and raised in Portland then went to high school in a smaller town called Forest Grove

I just bought two new overhead abayas two weeks ago, both are polyester but one is a little thicker than the other and both are very cool mashallah.

Some ppl don't consider feet as part of what's to be covered. I wear sandals almost always but not flipflops (they rub in between my toes and bother me) and either wear thin trouser socks (knee high panty hose) with them if my abays doesn't cover my feet or I don't if my abaya covers my feet.

Hey guys we got our NOA2 today and we got approved! My mom scanned it and e-mailed it to me. I'm SO excited right now!

Congratulations April!!!!! that's great

Mabrookalations!!!

mabrook!!

I am so happy I sent you a PM!!!!

Are you serious? I never heard that its haraam!!! My husband has gotten really religious while we were separated so I mean I thought he knew alot about haraam/and whats allowed by now. he wanted me to take his last name though? Am I asking the same question here ??

It's not haram.

here is something about it http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/6241/surname

With all due respect, the folks at Islamqa throughly enjoy pronouncing haram things that have not been made haram by Allah, the only One who can declare something haram. It also employs the political tactic of declaring anything they disagree with as "western" (read: modern), as tho being non-Western is more Islamic than being western. Allah was not concerned with dictating that Muslims follow Arab practices - recalled in the fatwa (a legal opinion we is free to adopt, discern, or disregard) by the tradition of calling people "‘ibn’ (son of) or ‘ibnatu’ (daughter of) between their own names and the name of their fathers."

Islam was sent to all parts of the earth, and, frankly, it is not an Arab faith, nor are we required to take on Arab cultural affectations to be a good Muslims. Just as the Message was transmitted and prayers offered in many languages before Arabic became the norm, the practices of other cultures were allowed to be interpreted within the Message as long as it did not corrupt it.

The bottom line is, the explanation for a wife not changing her name to her husband's is that she "belongs" to her father, as children from her marriage belong to their father. Her lineage is subordinated to her husband's; it is his that is central to the family. The argument is that a woman is to keep a family name only for the purpose of making it clear which man she "belongs to"; an adjunct position is that upon marriage, she takes on her husband's status and preferences, and moves to his home (Islam, in this mode is portrayed as patrilineal and patrilocal), thus becoming his appendage, defined by him.

This view can only be accepted if one also believes that, in Islam, women are defined by men, and not by God, that Islam inherently adheres to patriarchal norms found in Arab cultures, and that "western" is unIslamic and "non-western" is Islamic. Political resistance to the concept that one can be Muslim and western (modern), and that Muslim practice does not always equal ancient Arab practice has done much to preclude an honest discussion re interpreting the texts in a way that allows for Muslims of all stripes and cultures to make legitimate contributions to the ummah without having to bow to the perceived "authenticity" of a mere 18% of the Muslim world that is Arab in practice.

That makes sense.... I was wondering thank you.

Woo-hoo! Good for you, I agree with everything you just said. I too find it intensely irritating when American/Western cultural practices are deemed unIslamic or haram, but all of the haram Arab or Indonesian or Indian etc. practices are overlooked. Some people here think that you have to act exactly as the Arabs do and if not then you're being fully Muslim. My husband told me it's haram to pray in pants. Mind you, loose long pants, not butt-tight jeans! Can you or anyone else shed light on that one? I've seen truckloads of women praying in pants in the masjids in California and my husband looked at me like I said they were all praying without wearing scarves. It's interesting how people pay attention to minute details that are not necessarily as important as other details, like improving your actual faith, praying on time, etc. I just feel like people over here are focusing so much on the little practices and rituals instead of actually being spiritual, are they subconsciously trying to avoid it?

congratulations

ummm i have never heard that it is haram to pray while wearing pants ..........but im not always right about things either i think being a muslim even a born muslim is a daily learning process ........but if it haram i been wrong a lot cuz we wear paki clothing mostly and that is long kameeza and pants with shawl....infact i would say that would mean all of pakistan is praying wrong?
sara

It's not an "Arab" practice to name children "so and so, son of so and so".... It's in the bible in Hebrew and it's been done this way from the beginning of time (well I guess not Adam and Eve since they didn't have parents but I believe Adam is referred to as the son of God in the bible even).
The idea of changing your name when you marry has everything to do with which man the woman "belongs to" and it's as if ownership transfers from one man to another. In Islam, however, it has nothing to do with ownership and everything to do with lineage.
Of course, you are free to disagree as you like and this topic has been discussed to death on here over the years No one is ever going to agree on this board about anything that has to do with anything and I really don't know why we bother

Yep, you're right, sis. We will agree to disagree.

Sounds like a plan

He's not referred to as son of anyone (ben), definately not son of G-d But yes, people are ben or bat (insert father's name here) in the Bible.

That is the correct differentiation too for name changing. I have seen it pronounced haram or halal depending on who is speaking-- if it's said to be halal the usual logic I have seen is that because in places where a woman does change her name, no one is confused about her lineage-- we account for it.

The emphasis on lineage is primarily a matter of avoiding incest in tribal socieites, not about women keeping their names because it pleases God.

I like having his name and he likes me having it... so we're good.

Dumb question maybe. But how ocme some people write God as G-d? I saw that in Jewish sites (I don't remember why I was looking up Jewish site, lol) and now here.

There is the English word "god" which can refer to any number of gods. Of course our English word God refers to YHVH, which is His Holy Name. G-d is in rememberance for Elohim, the Hebrew title for "my God" (actually, grammatically, it's "the G-d of me") of as we would use "God." L-rd is in deference to the actual word Adonai, which means "my L-rd." (the L-rd of me). HaShem is another title which is sometimes used in replacement for either, which means "the Name."

For certain Orthodox groups, the usage of Elohim and Adonai are restricted to religious-only settings, and they will either stick with HaShem, Elokim (intentional mispronunciation), or AdoShem, etc.

The English way to account for the names in the texts is usually with capitalization. If you read an Eglish Bible, you'll see sometimes there is God, and sometimes GOD. GOD means Elohim was used in the Hebrew, and God is either El or something else like HaShem which was meant to replace the title. LORD is in replacement of Adonai. We really only have those two words we use as direct titles. YHVH is replaced with I AM quite often, and sometimes GOD. Sometimes they try to spell it out with vowels, but no one knows the vowel points anymore and it is not good to even try.

Some also say it is also to avoid erasing or using the name of G-d in vain, since you didn't fully write it out in the first place. It's a reverence across the board, though.

Hope that helped

aha yeah a little bit. I was just curious since I have lately seen it so much. thanks for the explanation

very true! and its shows the highest reverence to HIS Name ... and unfortuneately too many people take their Creators name in vain without thought to HIS Holiness... HIS Name is above any name on earth! !

Had a woman this week at my job talking on the phone and used GODS Name with a curse word... I said out loud... thats Blasphemy! and she didnt even budge... but the lady in front of me said .... yah thats right...
some people have no concept of that ...

Hey guys my BIL is coming into town tomorrow for a month, I'm getting nervous about having house guests. Gonna mop everything tonight. Let the games begin.

April.. I love your Meez lol.... So He hasn't gotten there yet?? I thought he'd have been there by now. How are things going? Tell me on a PM about the NAO2 and what next PPPPLLLLLEEEAAASsssseeee hehe

But is it just blasephemy in Christianity or Islam as well? I once asked an arab friend if they had equivelent to our using God's name in vain and asked him if it was haram to say such things in Islam. And he had no clue what I was talking about and said that would not even make sense in his language.

Was it really His Name (YHVH) or was it just the word G-d?

Judaism and Christianity hold that using G-d's Name and any of the titles associated with G-d in a curse is a form of disrespect, although to sue the actual Name bears the penalty of death. Muslims in my experience have no problem saying "Allah" quite a bit, even as an exclamation in itself. I don't know if this is cultural or if it bears no religious penalty. lot's of people here say OMG, etc and don't think about it. I do it out of habit sometimes and try to watch it-- it's sort of a work in progress... but I know you really shouldn't as a kind of exclamation or curse.

yeah you are right. Muslims say Allah for everything. They even say "wallah" (I swear by Allah) when they aer lying!:) I think that is haram if you do that because you are using Allah/God's name and that is the highest you could do but you do it to lie? Go figure.
But as for saying things like "Oh my Allah" instead of OMG or insert any other choice phrase words we have in the English langauge that could be used with God's name...we don't do that in Islam I dont think. And certainly my husband does not either. And even I did not hear that when I was in Palestine either. So I don't know.
I did not know tht Juduism and Christianity actually punished by death though. When I was a kid as a Christian, I was just told I could go to hell:)

Yes he is.

Oh jeez... there's alot in the quran I can pull 1 sura out and make it sound like something else. IF you must post something to make a point you must put the whole supporting scripture or it will definitely be taken out of context. I'm not saying I'd enjoy to read long bible/quran scriptures on here but it does offend someone of that religion to post something that's not true. I really hope it doesn't turn into part 10 of christianity vs islam.

I just want to say for the record that I am NOT Muslim and I CAN post in this thread. There is some weird rumor floating around that this thread is for Muslims only even though the title of thread clearly says, Muslims or anyone else interested.....

Ooohhh JP I don't know where that rumor came from but it's just supposed to be a place we can chat.. so welcome pull up a chair.. would you like some coffee??? it's my answer to everything now these days

I haven't gotten that impression at all... any chai, by chance?

oooh I love chai... the oregon chai kind is my favorite.. have you tried it with a shot of Raspberry??? yuuuuummmmyyyy

OK, I looked it up again-- you are correct. I was thinking a physical son. It's not the first time someone is called a son of G-d. I am surprised I missed it the first time-- but it happens It's actually "of" but it's "of" for the entirety of the geneology listed, which is a geneology of both spirit and physicality.

i saw your siggy video. You like Ahmed Deedat?

Nope. But sounds yummy.

it sure it.... but it's a little too hot now for it. I usually like it during the winter months

A lot of Muslims say Ya Allah which translates loosely to Oh My God.