Azka's Writeups

How was the Democratic State of Israel established? When talking about Palestine and Israel most people forget to discuss a very crucial event, the expulsion of the Jews from Palestine under Ceaser in 1 CE. Jews since then believe that God has promised them a return to Jerusalem and it is their Holy right to rebuild the temple of Solomon, ruined by Nebuchadnezzar and then Ceaser. This belief and the belief that a Jewish only state should exist in Palestine is a brief summary of Zionism.  The temple of Solomon existed where the al Aqsa compound stands today. Zionists believe that rebuilding it will pave way to the arrival of their Messiah, who we call the Dajjal. And that's what they plan to do, they have been digging under the Al Aqsa compound for quite some time now in attempts to weaken its foundations- so that its fall can be blamed on the smallest of natural disasters. They also hope to find the Ark of the Covenant lost 3000 years ago which contains some miracles from the earli

I had to write this review around a month ago, but better late then never. So here goes... We have all studied the life, character and the actions of the Prophet (SAW) at some point in our lives. I felt truly inspired by his character. The events from  his life that we came across on social media, through a class, through an elder were nothing short of beautiful. But I did not know that I was missing on a true connection until this Ramadan. Earlier, I did find the character of the Prophet (SAW) very inspiring, very motivating but rarely did I laugh and cry while learning about him.  This Ramadan I watched Yaqeen Institute's series on Meeting Muhammad(SAW). Spread over 30 episodes which were uploaded daily in Ramadan, it was the most beautiful and insightful series on Seerah that I have watched yet. Not even the books I have read could take me so deep into the life, the actions and the reasons behind those actions of the Prophet (SAW).  Starting from the physical appearance of the H

A few days ago I learnt that the people who were displaced from Palestine during the Original Nakba could never even visit their country again. But their children and grandchildren could.  The background of this story is a similar one. Yousef returns to Palestine to fulfill his father's dying wish... 'It should be right here,' I whisper to myself. I can feel hope and raw emotion filling up my chest as I turn the corner.  The hope is the first to go away, the raw emotion stays, grows, claws at my heart.  I run, down the street and back up again. Could I have made a wrong turn, could I be in the wrong block?  But the tree is there, that tree I'd recognize anywhere, the tree I had seen many a times when my father had shown me pictures of his neighborhood. 'This is our local graveyard Yousef, this is where my parents are buried, this is where I want to buried, with them,close to them,' he had whispered, as his hand traced the edges of the picture in his lap.  And th

We have read about the persecutions the first Muslim Community faced, and we have read about their perseverance in the face of their oppressors, as part of our curriculum, many times. But what we have not understood is how easy it would be (from a worldly perspective) for them to let go of the faith they followed to be awarded all the luxuries of life. Or how easy it would be for them to loose hope in Allah and his existence following the famoulsy quoted 'if Allah was there He wouldn't let this happen to us' theory.   You can argue that this sort of faith is impossible to achieve in times of today because the people back then had the Holy Prophet (SAW) as a living example of Allah's existence in front of them. But don't forget that among the original community of the Holy Prophet (SAW) were the staunchest enemies of Islam.  And I saw 'that sort' of faith in the Pale$tinians, when I witnessed their persecutions the very valid question of what kept their hope

The past few days have been really troubling for us, what with all the posts on ‘Aurat March’ storming our social media accounts every day. We wanted to write about it, but were slightly scared of making our stance public. Finally, we mustered the courage to write and share our opinion!    There is a good side and a not so good side to Aurat March, and both need to be recognized. It is not a problem if women are standing up for their rights. When the state, society and men of the family fail to protect and empower their women responsibly, we see marches as reactions. Someone has made disturbingly wrong decisions in the lives of these women who have lost faith and any hope for justice. The majority laments that the march is indecent. But we have driven them to a point when the protesting women find honour in something else – mainly for their voices to be heard. We also need to ask ourselves if it isn’t ‘indecency’ when a woman is slapped in public, when she is disgraced by select family