Category Archives: Hijab

Sunnah-tize My Life

Posted in Hijab, Music, Muslim, Sunnah by

I spent the entire day locked in my room writing my second qualifying paper. I have a draft due to turn in on Sunday. I heard a loud assured knock on my door. Mind you, Im sitting in my pink Pajamas all day, (still am). I ordered from Halalco almost three weeks ago. Everyday I came home with some faint hope that Id get a nice surprise in the mail. So, the joy must have been plastered over my face as I answered the door in my pink pin-striped PJs and black fluffy slippers with my delivery. I signed for it on that magical electronic signature thing. The delivery guy commented, You look like a kid at Christmas. I was so excited, but it wasnt Christmas. It was like a Muslim holiday of Eid.

I ordered all this stuff a month ago, inspired after watching some videos on You Tube.
I was procrastinating late at night and saw this clip from some kids at Davis.
Extreme Muslim Makeover: Home Edition

After watching the video, I realized I wasnt keeping it Sunnah. I fell off on the essential oils, no longer owned a Qiblah compass, and didnt have the miswak, and I couldnt find my dhikr beads. *
I felt like my room wasnt Muslim enough. People have been in my room and said it looks like Rock the Casbah. I brought back a bunch of interesting things from my travels. Sure, I got the Kaba picture, the 99 names glitter picture, prayer rugs, a hookah, a calendar of Mauritania boys and the white sheets, ahemI mean prayer clothes.** So, for days I searched on line, for black Abayas, big scarves, big gigantic prayer clothes, miswak, necklaces. I searched for all the things I find in Muslim peoples homes. I looked for the arsenal of cultural representations that say, Hey Im doing something Islamic. Sort of like the slippers to walk in the bathroom, or the water battle that in the bathroom.
Still, I felt like I had to Sunnahtize my life. What is Sunnahtize? A word I just made up. For me it is a slow process of beginning to incorporate aspects of the Prophetic traditions. Sunnahtize by adding Muslim traditions, cultural patterns, quirks, or objects that make you pretty cool. Just like the slippers in the bathroom thing. Or that Quran as the highest book in the house. Or it is hanging that little tiny Quran that you cant possibly read on your rear view mirror. Or it is that Allah necklace that says hey Im a Muslimword. Or it is that hijab or extra long beard. # Sort of like going to that shop and the Quran or nasheed tape playing in the background. ## Years ago, I used to never understand what they were saying, but hey I thought that sounds pretty nicecool.
You can even Sunnahtize your lingo. Saying things like Akhi or Ukhti (Brother or sister) MashaAllah Alhumdulillah, and Subhan Allah. (It is as God wills it, all praises due to Allah, Glory to Allah) all the time, If you are super fly with your Sunnah-slang, you got all sorts of expression. InshaAllah kheir, (If God wills it will be good) Barak Allah fik (Gods blessings in you). Youll call people Habibi and Habibati. (My love)You may even say Yaani (It means).If you are super Sunnahtize, you may even develop a Pakistani or Arab accent, depending on who you spend the most time with.
Sunnahtize can mean a lot of things for different people. Sunnahtize by adding Muslim traditions, cultural patterns, quirks, or objects that make you pretty cool. Some of us Sunnahtize by listening to Islamic music with clean lyrics, people like Sami Yusuf, Mecca2Medina, Tyson, or Sidi Yassir. Some of us Sunnahtize by attending every Islamic talk, lecture. Anyways, Im making baby steps, realizing Sunnahtize is really about making myself a better person. That requires inward change and not just outward symbols.

*Essential Oils because Muslims arent supposed to use alcohol; Qiblah the direction to Mecca; natural toothbrush made from the root of an Arak bush; Dhikr means remembrance. Muslims use them to remember Gods Attributes sort of like how Christians use a Rosary
** Kaba is the Holiest Muslim site located in Mecca ; 99 names of God that are mentioned in the Quran; hookah is a tobacco water pipe; Prayer clothes are extra modest gear for Muslim women.
# Hijab Head scarf worn by Muslim women
## Nasheed is Islamic music

Intelligence and Hair in the UK

Posted in Hijab, Race, Travel by

I’m back home and I feel kind of dizzy. Maybe it is the jet lag. To took a shower and washed the travels right off me. I have a swollen ankle from nearly busting my ass on the cobble stone streets in Durham. I got to London Friday afternoon an did the 2 hour bus tour. I stayed at a hostel, first time ever. It was called the Generator. It was full of drunk Australians and New Zealanders. They were singing Oasis songs, remember them? Wonder Wall, back in the 90s? Those t two brothers with unibrow who spoke incomprehensible English, didn’t get a long and sang alternative-poppy British songs. The garage is a happening place, I guess. Hostels aren’t so cheap any more 17GBP per night. Times that by two, and you will see why I think a 8 person room and communal shower is ridiculously expensive. Saturday morning, I headed to the airport at a responsible hour. But there was an adventure waiting for me as I caught the Underground to get to the airport. It normally takes an hour to get from Heathrow to The line to the airport was stopped, which meant that I had to make several exchanges. Long story, I’ll get back to that. I was so tired, I have never worked so hard to lift, carry pull climb, drag, stand run, roll, push.. Luckily Londoners are more friendly than New Yorkers and a family helped me carry my luggage on a few of the exchanges. I was stopped by an officer/agent/official after I checked in. He asked where I was going, I said back to the United States. First he said that I was late for my flight, but perhaps it was delayed He then me what was I doing in the UK. I said I was doing research at the University of Sudan. He then took my passport, and I waited to find out how long would the questioning be. I was a little concerned about being held up, I’ve heard some people were held for four hours. When he returned, same line of questions, a barrage of them. He asked me what was I studying. I said at the Sudan archive. He asked what was I studying. I said interwar period Sudan. He didn’t know what that was, I said Sudanese history after World War I and before World War II. He then asked if I had plans to travel to Sudan. I said, if my dissertation topic will be Sudan. He asked if I had plans on traveling to the Middle East. I said I am a student of Middle East history, so I plan to. He asked if I work for any companies. I said no, I am a Ph.D. student at Stanford University. He asked what do I study there. I said study Nigerians in the Middle East. Do I just study? I said I also teach classes. He told me he was interested in people like me, people who travel to conflict areas, hot spots. He works for intelligence and he is interested in information on people like me, you know people like me. Long story, he couldn’t say at the moment. I was allowed to leave and he said, “I don’t know how you do your hair.”

I have had a lot of hair comments since I went natural. So, it wasn’t surprising to get comments from Europeans. “Amazing Hair” on the train. “Big Hair” “How do you do your hair” at the air port “I love your hair” and “Is it all yours?” at the hostel. One woman asked to touch my hair. It is weird, like it is some type of anomaly. Maybe we should gather all the brown women with curly hair and make a petting zoo. We could get young multi-racial children, brown and black babies and the people can gawk and talk about how cute they all are. But I don’t want to blame just our European sisters and brothers. When my hair was straightened, I’ve had African American sistas reach into my hair, asking “Is that all yours?” while feeling for tracks. As if they were going to catch me in a lie. I used to get made fun of for having big hair. They used to call me “Bush!” I have been called a liar about my hair, criticized for bad hair, made fun of for having “fake” hair, I have had girls beef with me over hair, people compliment my hair. I should start singing India Irie, “I am not my hair.” Women’s hair is a crazy powerful thing. Mashallah there is definitely hikmah in hijab.