I am grateful for....

[RedSea]

^Let me gues NG?

 

lately you two have been braging about your worldly belongings.

 

Well if that is the case,then go on with your 5x.

[N.O.R.F]

Maya saxib not NG (he cant even drive )

[-Nomadique-]

I am grateful for...

 

 

Everything.

[RedSea]

North.loool,no you didn't.You mean...o shoot.

 

But I think with that you just gave a chance to unleash his Burcawi madness within him(no offense to Burcawis)

 

BTW,Burcawi girls,tiiiis,too hot to handle.

[Zafir]

I second NP.

[Khayr]

We just don't say Alhamdulillah enough.

 

I'm grateful for Hidaya and that I can at times-still Remember Allah.

[Strawberry_Xu]

Originally posted by MKA Yoonis:

No, I don't disagree with you at all! What we need is a

limit

on items, that can be included in this thread!

 

XulaXu otherwise the whole thing will just turn into a shamble. What we need is rules and regulations and a limitation of items, already unappriorprite items were posted, so if you don't wish this whole thing turning into a 'disaster' and a mess, I urge to come up with a limitiation of items that can be posted and that they have to be something one cannot do everyday, something really great!

 

I say list the most three items you cannot live without on a daily basis! There should be a meaningful lesson in such things but not the trivial 'crazyness' shown here, already some posted their silly items, sister there should be some rules!

 

So make them up for us, otherwise the whole thing will be just ridicules and everyone posting what he feels like to post giving no real meaning to what they have posted but nevertheless it's a good idea but the whole thing is just amusing!

 

Do people have some kind of priority mix up or do they like to post their irrelavant 'luxury' items!

 

Xula if that is a case of show casting your symbol status then you should have clarified it much earlier because then at least I'd know what to post but the whole thing is just to general and you can see that from the replies, random items with no real meaning to them!

 

I got much respect and this is a sincere message from my deep heart.

My dear, there are no limits to gratitude, no qualifying the things people are truly happy to have. Even material things can be a blessing

 

But you are right, this isn't a thread for things you want to have, this is an appreciation thread for the things that already enrich your life in some way or other.

[Fanisha]

I am grateful for everything that Allah has blessed me with. My children, my handsome husband , our health, being a Muslim and more..........

[Castro]

^^ Good for you.

 

General Duke: "I'm grateful to atheero Abdillahi Yusuf for his perseverance. He waited 40 years to sleep in Villa Somalia and I prayed for him every night all those years. I'm also very grateful for atheer Meles Zenawi for sending his troops to make it possible for atheero Yusuf to be sleeping in Villa Somalia as I write these words. Last, but certainly not least, I'm grateful to atheer George W. Bush for arming atheer Zenawi and giving him the green light to invade, I mean defend, Somalia. I'm also eternally grateful that he sent his own AC-130's (whose hard work in Iraq and Afghanistan I'm grateful for as well) to bomb the shit out of those terrorists who wanted to kill my atheero Abdillahi. I'm certain, as well, if atheer Bush traced his ancestry he would find that he has roots in Buntland [ ]. Alhamdulilah for my three atheeros. I'm in tears walaahi."

[Jacpher]

lol@Kastar man. You're pushing it. I'm sure Jenerale disagrees with you politically but I highly doubt he's grateful for the death of his fellow Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.

 

I'm grateful for all Allah has bestowed on me. Alxamdulilaah.

[Fiqikhayre]

Xulaxu you know that I’m a fan! You have got flavour and style which I like, in short you‘re cool. That’s why I’m going to award you the first official MKA Coolness prize! You will be also added to my coolest list, a prestigious and exclusive list of the crème de la crème in here!

 

But however let me go back to the topic! It is true as you said that there is no ‘cap’ in the things one can feel gratitude for and that material things can also be a blessing, I conclude sister! You are hundred percent right! They also enrich our daily lives as you put it! But do you think that it is a coincidence, that people were posting rather trivial things as it shows the state of their conscious and the fears in themselves and anxieties they have, because of the things they posted it true tells a lot about them! They posted items were over 90% what we would term or deem as ‘luxury items’ or status symbols! But people at times of reality of life will soon realise that the items they have chosen are in fact ‘useless’ and without real worth! Remember that the term ‘grateful’ it is a big word in itself! Gratitude means a lot and most of the things posted don’t fall in the category of gratefulness, they could be said to be things we appreciate or things that ‘assist’ us or in other words help make our daily lives a bit easier (which resulted in people getting lazier) but what should we really be grateful is the question?

 

Well let me say, that material ‘things’ and the person who chases worldly goods has never felt true happiness about the material things they own, it is proven that materialism does not make one happy! It is like you trying to ’collect’ all the waters in the deep oceans with a spoon basically speaking it will not bring you happiness because there is never a limit of what we get, it is human nature to be not satisfied and go further and further until we‘re ruined! We all are greedy and we all want what our friends, neighbours and work colleagues have and because the world is revolving and new technological breakthroughs are achieved it seems to me every day so there is no shortage of ‘upgrading‘ or buying of new gadgets or other material things as we have to keep up with the rest! And the cycle goes on, until one dies, miserably knowing that all the material goods he was chasing did in fact not make him happy or richer spiritual wise!

 

Would you give up all the things you experience with your family and friends such as emotions like smiles, laughs and tears i.e. the sweetness and reality of life for something else? No, is the answer of course you wouldn’t!

 

So why are we ’hanging’ around a virtual world whilst we could live real lives is the question? Why don’t we go out and instead of sitting in front of a computer meet with our friends and do something worthwhile? It seems that everyone of us spends his time increasingly online, which is another way of ’escapism’ instead of living true and meaningful lives like experiencing the above mentioned emotions with our dear ones, we sit and look increasingly to the technological advances to make us happy, maybe it is the virtual reality life or the feeling and fascination of breaking down the geographical and timely barriers that separates us, but who knows? I believe that technological advancements have brought nothing but further hardship to human-beings, I’m not someone that has a phobia for technology in the contrary I use technology quite a lot but I’ve to acknowledge that we all ‘lost’ somehow with the technological and information era we’re finding us in right now!

 

We should be grateful for other things that are bestowed of us as we’re the envy of the majority of the world! Nearly 4.5 billion of people in this world live in utter poverty, misery and hardship, that is what we should focusing one! We are the lucky 10% of this world, who has a daily intake of three meals and drinking water in abundance! Billions of people go without having in kind of cleaning opportunists as they don’t have any clean water and we are focusing and feeling gratitude for a pair of sandals or football boots (nothing personal about that)! We are the human dignity, sympathy, consideration and consciousness, may I ask? It doesn’t obviously exist. It is True but sad.

 

It is a well known fact that children that grew up in luxury or with large amount of material goods around them are generally speaking less productive, considerate and kind than someone for example who has lived in utter poverty! Poor children in the developing world are in fact more happy, considerate, energetic and harder working than their other peers who had any kind of material goods they could wish for in this world! The poor children are usually also more ‘intelligent’ than the children that are growing up in the west! Even if they are intellect wise inept or academically speaking lack behind, a poor child in the developing world never ever is without emotional intelligence because in those countries only the strong can survive and not the pampered children of the west, who have are being fed with a ‘golden spoon’ and couldn’t survive with the help of their parents!

 

I will give you an example can you compare the Somali youngster who has growing up in the west and was daily told that they’re nothing compared to their white and Christian-counterparts because of their skin colour and because they’re Muslim ‘trash’ with the strong minded and independent children of back home! Our young ‘fish and chips’ generation is daily denigrated, abused and patronised, which is resulting in youngsters thinking that western ‘culture’ (I call it trash) is somehow better than theirs as the white man or Christians have invented the internet, automobile, wash machine and so many other things, which makes everyone think that this people have a special knowledge (I’m not disputing that through efforts, which Muslims stopped doing, that Christians are leading the technological advancement today because of their copying of Muslims and because they use experimentation and observation methods to gather new information and invent knew things) and hence to be ‘followed‘! That usually results in one negating his belief and culture for the sake of integration and assimilation to western culture, which is not only wrong but the way in which one will lose the true respect because westerners only respect those who are true to their beliefs, traditions and cultures and if one leaves that behind to assimilate then the westerners will make him subject of patronising ridicule and laughs!

 

That’s why I urge everyone to stay true to his belief and culture and always be proud of where they are hailing from or originate because that is the only way not to get ridiculed by the west and its people we’re current findings us amongst! Now compare this poor and belittled ‘fish and chips’ kids of Somali origin to my proud ten year old cousin, who is a goat herder (shepherd) and is in charge of 400 goats and takes them grazing to far out lands, avoiding mines through out his walk with the sheep only helped by a four year old cousin of his only to return when it is pitch-dark (black) whilst looking at the bare sky decorated with millions of beautiful stars unseen somewhere else in the entire western world with it’s beautifully glowing moon, or in contrast my younger cousin, who is 19 years of age and who looks after 70 camels sometimes only helped by one of the paid camel carers who is strong as a baton wall (maashallaah) as he has to lift and pour out water from really deep wells in order to lower the camels dilemma of having dry and thirsty lungs!

 

Imagine how he is lifting some 400 litres of water daily out of the wells in order to keep the camels alive and healthy! Can you compare him with the ‘fish and chips’ generation of today? No, is the answer! When I shook his hand, I nearly fainted away because of the strongness of his grip, I felt like a child that is being greeted by a very strong, athletic and powerful soldier who is in his prime age of maturity and strongness! It was really painful, the handshake that is, it felt like he was squeezing my hand out like some kind of dead oranges and that I was about to ‘lose’ my hand and it actually getting into a liquid stage! He is also very strong minded and independent and overall proud of himself (maashallaah)! One day, whilst he was far away from the family and he was send to schooling in some town in the occupied kilinka shanaad or Region five of Ethiopia, with no relatives and someone to really look after him as he was staying with some distant relatives that he only shared sub-clan with, he was severely beaten up by not a only a much stronger and older soldier but in fact by an officer who on top of that was a tigrey (ruling ethnicity in Ethiopia) whilst walking down the city centre! My cousin who knew that he was up against a much older officer of him who also happened to be tigrey never took ridicule as he was a courageous, independent and proud young Somali men of the age of 17 then, whilst the officer was in his late thirties or early forties but my cousin him being a ‘child’ (western classification) fought bravely, although he lost the fist fight! In his anger he returned back home, which was conveniently close to the market and put all over his body the oil our sister Xalimopatra was advertising in this same thread! From his head to his toe, then he went out and returned for the tigreyan officer, when they saw him, the tigreyan guys friend started immediately laughing and cheering as they were bemused by my cousins quick return to the ‘battlefield’, although have been beating up and lost the fist fight earlier, luckily the tigreyan officer was still there and my cousin requested a a re-fight where he could redeem himself and his pride and immediately his demand was accepted as the tigreyan officer himself signalled that he was also ready for a fight! Then the fight commenced and my cousin who was only 17 back then knew that he was very strong and that he could take on the older much more experienced guy but he lost out earlier because the tigreyan guy was grabbing him by his clothes, hair and body etc and my cousin was only interested in a fist fight so he devised this ingenious idea of putting some oil all over his body parts and when the fight was about to start my cousin to all people’s surprise took of his shirt and the fight begun this time the Ethiopian having nothing to grab on and every time he tried to grab him, his hands would allow it to his frustration, that resulted in the people starting to laugh about the officers embarrassment and ‘booing’, my cousin really beat him down and took his sweet revenge, which resulted in him being separated from the Ethiopian knowing that he could show his face around again with pride at the market without being ridiculed! Luckily to say my cousin wasn’t arrested because of the same officer that was beaten up by my cousin, although him losing the fight he wanted to shake hands with my cousin and ‘congratulate’ him for being such a courageous, brave and young man! Everyone shook his hand and he even later became friends with the same officer that he had a fight with often shaking hands and greeting him when they met in the town and standing/sitting with each other for a few minutes! This shows you what true nomad culture is! Through his pride, courage and bravery my cousin has earned the respect of all, which he would never if he had accepted defeat and become a coward! I say maashallaah and kudos to him as he can’t be compared to the ’fish and chips’ generation of today who have been told and taught to hate/dislike their own nomad culture and love western ’trash’ culture!

 

Xulaxu sister have you ever seen the moon or the stars? I doubt it as the majority of us is to ’busy’ watching television or surfing the internet! I bet there are many people who haven’t seen or looked up to the sky for years because they’re locked up in their living rooms laughing out their lungs on some trivial thing and enjoying the security of their four walls behind closed curtains, what a sad and truly disturbing lifestyle! It’s a disgrace if people haven’t seen the moon or stars for days/months or even years! Some children when asked where their meat comes from they answered that it came ’from the same factory that produces their favourite chocolate bars’ I.e. they didn’t know that animals are slaughter they were totally ignorant about the reality of life can this children be compared to the true, young, intelligent and beautiful nomads of our country back home? Children that think that ’meat’ is produced and that were shocked that the same animals they daily see on TV are used to make that meat! I’ve heard of Somali children here in England taken to farms and taught about the different animals and where their meat comes from, can those western educated Somali children be compared to my 10 year old cousin shepherd who looks after 400 sheep on his own with a little girl of 4/5 years of age? Hell, No I say, they cannot be compared in any way, form or shape!

 

Now Xulaxu, I look out every night from my window to look at the skies and watch behold the beauty of the moon and stars, then I wonder about the magnificence of its creation and the power and creator that created it! I’m bewildered I don’t know how to take it and take a deep look with amazement and say ‘Truly, I shall believe in the creator of this beautiful and magnificent things up there in the sky’, somehow I’m totally feeling gratefulness and then I hear the ringing of my mobile/cell phone (perceived as I’m still in the zinc age and do not have a mobile phone), which wakes me out of my trance only to be shocked of the sight of my arm and hands! How beautiful are those arms and hands I’m thinking right now to myself, I really never ‘noticed’ them, then I touch my face nose first, then followed by my lips, eyes , mouths and ears and I’m further dazzled! Then I go on touching my hair and can’t think of anything more grand and beautiful, surely I shall be grateful for all those things given to me as a gift from Allaah! Then suddenly I can feel my four senses: the ability to listen and hear, taste, smell and touch and I’m nearly freaking out, what is this I’m asking myself standing in front of the window, tears pouring out of my eyes onto my face and subsequently wetting the carpet! What is this I call out and then I suddenly remember that Allaah gave me all those things and that I should be grateful to him! I also remember to the ayah in suuratu At-tiin in which Allaah the glorified says:

 

 

English translation of first Ayah Number four suuratu Tin:

 

لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ فِي أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍ

 

English Translation: We have indeed created man in the best of moulds,

 

Ayah five says:

 

ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ

 

 

English translation of the above mentioned Ayah: Then do we abase him (to be) the lowest of the low,-

 

Allaah’s has indeed created the humans the best as they’re the best of the creation! To be human is the greatest and biggest honour and esteem a created living can be bestowed upon, we are unique in that department we even surpass the moon and the mountains for excellence and beauty, but that is only with Islam, imaan, taqwa, ixsan and being grateful to Allaah what he has given to mankind I.e. the honour of being the best creation and being Muslim as well! That’s why every Muslim should be grateful servant like prophet Noah was who lived 1000 years short of fifty (the quran makes us think and encourages us to use our brains i.e. the prophet 950 years) when Allaah said in suuratu Al-Israa verse number three:

 

ذُرِّيَّةَ مَنْ حَمَلْنَا مَعَ نُوحٍ إِنَّهُ كَانَ عَبْدًا شَكُورًا

 

English translation: O ye that are sprung from those whom We carried (in the Ark) with Noah!

Verily he was a devotee most grateful.

 

Allaah Akbar every one of us should try to be as grateful as the prophet Noah as he was verily a devotee and most grateful! We can not come close but surely we need to strife in order to become a grateful servant to Allaah! So brothers and sisters as we have learned the essence of real life and what it entails please let us not take the word grateful our in vain by degrading its true meaning by posting trivial things, Yes those things are helpful and they help us make our daily lives more easy as they are a great assistance but they’re things we can do without I.e. they are things we appreciate but certainly they’re not something that we can’t do without with, they’re merely siyaada or in Somali siyaado! How can we glorify trivial unimportant and material items when we know that 2/3 of the worlds population is without sanitation, water, access to cleaning, adequate health care, medicines, electricity and when we are having this things in abundance where’s your consciousness people! Besides that how many people survive in the world without legs, hands, eyesight, ability to hear/listen, lips, teeth, hair and so many other things. How many people don’t have peace and a secure livelihood that have to fend for like the pigeons and birds and look for anything they could put in their mouth? How many are diseased? How many are homeless? How many have to work as three year olds until they’re grey making less then 2 cents every day/month or even a year! How many people have a gross annual salary of $1? Imagine how you lucky and I are! How many don’t have any opportunity for education? How many would like to study but can’t afford their tuition? How many walk 70 km’s everyday to fetch water? How many have to go in the wilderness to collect trees to burn? When we only have to switch on the switch light and it turns on immediately and electricity is always one and we’re hungry we just put the gas on the cooker and cook us a delicious meal? Shouldn’t we be grateful? Besides that how many die without any enlightment and without AL-Islaam and the love of Allaah in their hearts and are put into a grave for uncertain what will become of them? Don’t you see that you forget the most crucial things by listening your sandals and football boots? To be grateful is truly a sign of to be knowledgeable and to be intelligent because we all know that this didn’t come from us own nor did we made this and that we could lose it anytime if Allaah the exalted wishes so! Brothers and sister’s let’s be truly grateful to our creator for the many gifts that he gave us and let’s work best in how to utilise them in order to use them most effectively and remember let’s not trivialise the meaning of to be truly grateful by mocking it! I hope you get the essence of my post inshallah!

[N.O.R.F]

^^So what are you saying?

[Aisha]

MKA Yoonis......brother.....I know your a fantastic writer.........but damn you write alot!!!!! I'm not patient enough to read through your essay!!!! May Allah grant me patients!!!

[Fiqikhayre]

Patience is a virtue sister! May Allaah the exalted bestow it on all of us inshallah! Amiin.

 

True patience comes only from religious knowledge and fear of Allaah, which I sadly both lack in, thus you can often see me losing my patience! And no anger-management seminars can help me unless I return to Allaah and fear him from the deep of my heart, for a day nobody will be save except for the one Allaah has willed to be safe! We ask Allaah that he shall not humiliate us on that day inshallah and that he grants us paradise as we live between hope and fear!

 

Sister I'm going to summarise for you what I've written. But before that about my writing it is mostly raw, uncut and I wrote what is in my head without any process involved! I just type and voila all fits in together miraculously! I type as it comes to my head and read through it to check that it actually makes sense! I only check for grammatical errors and that the sentences make sense apart from that it's raw, real and true as it comes from my mind directly!

 

I began first with describing what we really shoud be grateful about, then I proceded with describing materialsm and that we can not attain all the things we want in life as human beings are naturally greedy, then afterwards I criticise certain nomads saying that the things they posted is a sign of their unhappiness or another form of escapism!

 

Then I talk about luxury items, status symbols and technology, I reaffirm my believe that technology has led us to become more lazy or lazier, although I also say that I'm not against technology in any kind or form!

 

Then afterwards I precede in talking a bit about the virtual reality lives we live and why we don't share our times with our friends and families instead of total strangers we don't know! Why we seek happiness from a virtual community although we can get larger and greater satisfication from real life and showing and sharing our emotions with our friens, families and work collegues! I say that technology has brought about real hardship rather than bringing happiness!

 

I then talk about the developing world and that we're really the lucky ones and that we should be grateful for the things we got instead of pursuing bigger houses, cars and shoes!

 

Then I make a comparison between the children of the developing world and developed world! Saying that generally speaking children from the developing world are much more stronger in character and never lack emotional and social intelligence!

 

Afterwards I talk about how young Somalis in the west are denigrated, abused and patronised as they're told they lack behind their white counterparts as they're black in skin colour and 'Muslim trash' and how it effects them psychologically believing it and therefore thinking that western culture, I call it 'trash' is much better than their own!

 

After that I talk about my family members and how proud some of them are like my young cousin who is only 10 and a shepherd!

 

I also mention a fight my other cousin had when he was 17 with an ethiopian tigrey officer and how he fought brave and courageously against him resulting into him being able to show his face around the town and getting the respect of the officer and many more in the city!

 

Then I talk about how we live in the comfort of our four walls and behind our close curtains, laughing our lungs out on something irrelavant and how we live truely boring lives! You go out come back and are confined in this four walls that are fortified and occasionly you break through geographical and time barries through surving online!

 

I talk about how children think meat is made in chocolate factories and produced alongside their favourite chocolate bars, as they have never seen an animal slaughtered showing their true ignorance and how Somali children are taken to farms to 'show' them were their meat is really coming from and to cry and found out it is the sheeps, goats and cows that they eat i.e. they consume their frieds told so by televion!

 

I go on telling a story how I look every night out of my window to 'see' the moon and beautiful stars up in the sky and how I get disturbed by the beauty to behold by the ringing of my mobile phone (perceived not real)! Whilst others are watching TV or serving the net I watch the skies and wonder about the creation!

 

I then reiterate that everything we should be grateful what we have been given as we're the most beautiful of all creations not even the mean, sun or sky can manage our beauty! But that as the best creation we have to live our lives accordingly otherwise we will be lower than a dead fly!

 

Then I talk about the prophet Noah calayhi salaam and how grateful he was to Allaah and that we should follow his path!

 

After that I talk about world suffering and that we shall not lose sight of what real is important and that we should not demean the word 'grateful' or to be grateful!

 

I say that we should focus on what we should really be grateful about and that all other things that are material are only trivial compared to the realy blessing we got and should be grateful about! I mention that it is Siyaada something we get on top of what we really need and that we should appreciate this siyaada but after first being grateful of the true things that we can't do without!

 

I left many things out but inshallah that shall give you an insight in what I wrote inshallah!

[N.O.R.F]

Anyway back to the topic,,,,,,,

 

 

Watching the footy on this tonight IA