jahaan-e-shaheen

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

"say: if the whole ocean were ink for writing the words of my Lord, it would run dry before those words were exhausted even if We were to add another ocean to it." [al Kahf: 109]

Al Quran Al Kareem, Al kahf: 109

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

Navigating the multifaceted layers of my identity: Muslim, person of color, woman, in an institutionally western/male dominant society is sometimes an arduous task. Audre Lorde, however, effortlessly weaves through the many patterns of oppression and so beautifully captures our struggles as one, our love as one:

AL: If you drive a woman insane, she will react like a beast too. There is a larger structure, a society with which we are in total and absolute war. We live in the mouth of a dragon, and we must be able to use each other’s forces to fight it together, because we need each other. I am saying that in our joint battle we have also developed some very real weapons, and when we turn them against each other they are even more bloody, because we know each other in a particular way. When we turn those weapons against each other, the bloodshed is terrible. Even worse, we are doing this in a structure where we are already embattled. I am not denying that. It is a family discussion I’m having now. I’m not laying blame. I do not blame Black men for what they are. I’m asking them to move beyond. I do not blame Black men; what I’m saying is, we have to take a new look at the ways in which we fight our joint oppression because if we don’t, we’re gonna be blowing each other up. We have to begin to redefine the terms of what woman is, what man is, how we relate to each other.

JB: One of the dangers of being a Black American is being schizophrenic, and I mean ‘schizophrenic’ in the most literal sense. To be a Black American is in some ways to be born with the desire to be white. It’s a part of the price you pay for being born here, and it affects every Black…

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

That moment when you realize theoretical framework of the nation-state, specifically its characteristic of sovereignty being derived from its mere existence, as possibly analogous to Islamic notion of "shirk" (worship/allegiance of any other deity besides God). Crap.

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

May Day, Nanabu in Amritsar, & US Culture of Hostility Towards Immigrants

Remembering my dear grandfather this #MayDay whose spirit, intellectual curiosity, and hard work ethic was shaped in part by his working class environment in Amritsar. His sympathy for the common man and analysis of structural poverty never escaped his mind as he, much later on in his life, continued to cross examine his very privileged grandchildren about the cost of their social outings (in this sophisticated pre partition Punjabi that now seems like a fading art): "kithay gaye si? (Where did you go?) Khana kinnay da si? (How much was your food?) Ik mazdoor di kamaai day barabar tussi Ik din da khana kha lita! (The dinner you guys ate covers a worker's salary!) Another shout out to the mothers and fathers of immigrant communities in the US/West for their tireless efforts, oftentimes met with taunts, discrimination, and isolation from a society grounded in white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. Your struggles beautify you. Infinite gratitude, love, and admiration.

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

I did not betray my homeland, And I carried my people upon my shoulders, I stood in the face of my oppressors, Orphaned, naked and barefoot. I carried my blood upon my palm, And did not let my flags lower, And sustained the green grass On my ancestors' graves

Tawfik Ziad

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

Allah yarhamhu.

Edward Said throws a stone at Zionist forces retreating from newly-liberated South Lebanon. Rest in power.

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

I'm responding with this next time anyone decides to fetishize me or my people.

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

The new culture finds the foundation of world-unity in the principle of Tauhid. Islam, as polity, is only a practical means of making this principle a living factor in the intellectual and emotional life of mankind. It demands loyalty to God, not to thrones. And since God is the ultimate spiritual basis of all life, loyalty to God virtually amounts to man's loyalty to his own ideal nature. The ultimate spiritual basis of all life, as conceived by Islam, is eternal and reveals itself in variety and change.

Allama Muhammad Iqbal in "The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam"

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

Islam began as something strange, and it will become strange again, so blessed are the believers.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) [Sahih Muslim]

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

Indo-Pak rap groups bring out the 16 year old in me.

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

The dignity and beauty of man rests in the human spirit which makes him more than simply a physical being. This spirit must never be suppressed for exploitation by others. As long as the people recognize the beauty of their human spirits and move against suppression and exploitation, they will be carrying out one of the most beautiful ideas of all time. Because the human whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. The ideas will always be among the people. The prison cannot be victorious because walls, bars and guards cannot conquer or hold down an idea.

Huey P. Newton, "Prison, Where is Thy Victory?"

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

Angela Davis, The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975. Meanwhile, greatest ‘fro in herstory, 

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

When it's OK to "look" Muslim

"TSA reports a decline in their 'random security checks' this month considering no shave Movember. 'Beards this Movember have no relation to Muslim identity, therefore we believe those bearded do not pose a threat to natl security' says anonymous TSA official who identifies himself as chacha Sam."

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

Jaisalmer walls & markets by Chris~K on Flickr.

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

When I am sad, your love comes to me with a thousand smiles…

Mewlānā Jalal ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi (1207 – 1273). (via searchingvsfinding)

[jahaan-e-shaheen]

"We must have a clearer vision of our plight & certainly we cannot blame our men for oppression of women. Our men are not the power structures that oppress us as a whole. We know who stole our lands. We know who discriminates against us. We know who came in, threw out our Spanish books and brought in new, fresh-written history books. And we know who wrote those books for us to read. In other words, we know where we hurt & why. And even more important, we cannot afford to fight within & among ourselves anymore, much less male pitted against female."

Chicana revolutionary Enriqueta Vasquez, "Soy Chicana Primero"