Omar Offendum is a Syrian American MC that raps in both Arabic and English. He has collaborated with The Narcicyst and given talks incorporating music at Harvard, he and The Naracicyst also participated in “The Arab Summit”. He has been featured on BBC, Al Jazeera and ABC News for his educational based music and as a humanitarian raised thousands of dollars for relief organizations. OFFENDUM is Taqwacore because everything he does is in praise of Allah and his methods of release are relentless thus exuding God Consciousness to the Core.
Park51 has applied for a Lower Manhattan Development Corporation grant which would in part fund social service programs for all the residents of Lower Manhattan such as domestic violence prevention, Arabic and other foreign language classes, programs and services for homeless veterans, two multi-cultural art exhibits and immigration services.
It is important to note that that this community center will provide hundreds of construction jobs over the next few years and when opened will provide 150 permanent jobs. In addition, this community center, which will include a gym, a pool, a day care center, a pre-K, a culinary institute, tech classes, an amphitheater, and a 9/11 Memorial, is desperately needed in Lower Manhattan. This is why community leaders and the residents who live there universally support this project.
It is amazing to think that people are so biased and ignorant as such to ignore the massive help Park 51 will be adding to Lower Manhattan. The area is much in need of a community center and Park 51 is offering so much more than just help or service to Muslim-Americans. With all the amenities and focus on creating a community in an area where community is hard to pull together, we at Taqwacore Journal applaud and stand behind all efforts of Park 51. Insha’allah the funding will be granted and construction can start soon!
It is He who is revealed in every face, sought in every sign, gazed upon by every eye, worshipped in every object of worship, and pursued in the unseen and the visible. Not a single one of His creatures can fail to find Him in its primordial and original nature.
“To say ‘Hamdulillah’ is to be grateful for what one has.
The images of the past decades have cast a veil on our identity as a people. We, as international brothers and sisters, are now witness to injustice in real time. We watch our Wars in HD.
It is time for us to claim our faces back.
This video is a global collaborative effort by 10 photographers- from London to Lebanon, Cairo To Canada, Abu Dhabi to America- to create a portrait of the New Global Citizens. They are DJs, MCs, poets, architects, teachers, doctors, parents and children. Most of all they are people.
Thank you to everyone that was involved. We are blessed to have each other.”
LYRICS
Bismillah, like the feeling when I miss Falah,
then wish to God in clouds to lift us all
Hamdulilah,
wonder if Bibi can ever see me, and
if I back to Basrah will it ever receive me,
Bismillah,
homies that have the time to talk,
Now I wish to stars that angel find Nawaf.
Hamdulillah,
I stand awed at the strength of my sister
Kiss her and thank God our mission is planned for us.
Bismillah,
mamati inti hayati,
moms the best one, hold her close to heart like my left lung
Hamdulillah,
for the truth in a being as beaming the moon queen you blessed my future to be with
Bismillah,
for the souls anguish, love,
and the moment my brothers programmed these drums,
Hamdulillah,
We put the truth to the test, proof that we’re blessed students of this music at best.
Bismillah,
Before I spit this bar, way Before Militants tried to split this law
Hamdulillah,
for every living day that we spend in the rays of the Shams,
why we praise the condemned…
Bismillah,
wish I could take it back and lift the harm, make a track erase the past that we miss and gone…
Hamdulillah,
He Spoke So Right we listening wrong living raw, more than a livid song Give it all
Bismillah,
So I don’t rely on an image or Man made divisions for land slave prison fraud,
Hamdulillah,
Excuse Me, If I use it loosely, forget to bow down and pray, how proud are they?
Bismillah,
hope you hear the whispers lil nas which stance should i sway when betrayed by wiswases….
forever hope this lasts and we live classic….
Bismillah,
means to will in God’s name, without the ball and the chain a slave falling to claim,
Bismillah,
will forever hold inner peace, Wicked streets cripple little being rippling through the middle east
Hamdulillah,
may God bless the dead and gone, forever strong a better song, breaking bitter bonds
Hamdulillah,
for this world, in this spot to this song with these words for hip-hop say
Bismilllah,
stay humble in rhymes in eyes that hate your hunger
its like a jungle sometimes it makes you wonder
Science is the beautiful exploration, not exploitation of life in Allah’s glorious creation. Alhumdulillah that we have at our hands the entire human history of knowledge and we are breaking free from the strongholds of conservatism and fundamentalism in all forms, not just religion. We have been subjected to a fundamentalist society where it is their way or no way, while their way is detrimental to Allah’s way. Assallamu alaikum to all those expanding and expounding on the knowledge of Allah.
That’s a question that came across my mind when I noticed a heightened productivity right after making wudhu, having a shower, or generally being tidy/clean.
In this 3 part series, we’ll explore the physical cause-effect relationship and spiritual cause-effect relationship between cleanliness and productivity, let’s start of with wudhu today inshaAllah:
Allah says in the Quran:
“Truly, Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean.” (Al Baqarah 2:222) He also says: “In it (mosque) are men who love to clean and to purify themselves. And Allah loves those who make themselves clean and pure.” (9:108)
Just those 2 verses alone are enough incentive for us to being constantly clean and in a state of purity and it explains why Islam has taken great care of this topic to the extent that even a dead person is honoured with a bath before he/she is buried!
Without us diverging into the deep intricacies of Purity and Cleanliness in Islam (which interestingly is ALWAYS the first chapter in any Fiqh book) I want us to focus on Wudhu (ablution) and its effect on Productivity.
Wudu is one of the most beautiful rituals we Muslims have been blessed with. It keeps us pure and clean, both physically and spiritually and connects us to our Khaliq (Creator). It keeps our mind consciously aware of Him and prepares us to meet Him, that’s why we’re encouraged to be in a state of Wudu at all times, as Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said: “… and no one preservers their wudu except a Believer.” [Ibn Maajah, Saheeh]
In my quest to understand the effect of wudu on productivity, I was trying to understand why wudhu was a prerequisite to Salah; one interesting explanation I came across (and there are many other explanations) is that wudu helps you “focus” on Salah and “puts you in the mood” for Salah. I tried to dig deeper and guess why this is so, and it occurred to me that wudhu is the physical action of an intention, i.e. you physically get up and pour water on yourself to proclaim the intention that you’re going to pray.
Think what this means in terms of productivity: you plan to do some work you have been intending to do for a long time, so you get up and make wudhu first, this puts you in the mood and “focus” zone for your work because you’ve taken physical action to affirm that intention, makes sense? Also, the beauty of taking wudu before any task is that it ensures that your intention for this task is pure and clean. (It’s hard to find somebody who’ll be taking wudu before a doubtful transaction?!)
Islam teaches us that wudu doesn’t just affect your outward, but it was an inward effect too. This is confirmed with the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), in which he said:
“When a Muslim or a believer washes his face (in course of ablution), every sin he contemplated with his eyes, will be washed away from his face along with water, or with the last drop of water; when he washes his hands, every sin they wrought will be effaced from his hands with the water, or with the last drop of water; and when he washes his feet, every sin towards which his feet have walked will be washed away with the water or with the last drop of water with the result that he comes out pure from all sins”. [Sahih Muslim : Book 2, Number 0475].
And isn’t sin the reason for our lack of productivity?
An interesting quote I came across recently said “Ablution protects the believer from four enemies of the soul: the lower self or ego (nafs), worldly desires (hubbul dunya), lust (hawa), and Satan.” (Voices of islam – Vincent, J. Cornell). These four enemies are not only the enemies of the soul, they are the enemies of productivity! The lower-self makes you want to be lazy and sleep all the time, worldly desires are the biggest distraction from your true purpose in life, following hawa (lust) can turn any productive person to super unproductive (and fall into Haram), and Satan needs no introductions! So imagine, with one beautiful purifying action, you can protect yourself from these unproductive forces!
Do me a favour? Next time you sit to work on your computer, make wudu first and tell me how it feels. Try it. SubhanaAllah, I use this at work when I can’t get myself to focus on my work, it’s amazing how you change and become much more focussed and productive.
I hope this gave you just one insight into how wudu makes you productive. May Allah Almighty help us live the life of purity and die pure and clean. Ameen.
A Taqwacore Film by Group 23 Media, the Taqwacore style is exposing the divine in everything you do and everything you see, however you see it, and in whatever way you do it. Bismillah ar-rahman ir-rahim.
That’s a question that came across my mind when I noticed a heightened productivity right after making wudhu, having a shower, or generally being tidy/clean.
Taqwacore Journal 