To My Brother

Posted by Rashad on Aug 7, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments

Together Forever

By: None other than Raakin Hossain

You took the blame,

When the misdeed was under my name,

You observed patience,

The last seventeen years since.

We were together through all the phases,

Love, hate, good, bad, insults, and praises.

You know my deepest and darkest secrets,

My feelings, my hopes, and my regrets.

My constant chatting and laughing eats up your brain,

And sometimes our anger for each other does not contain,

Regardless, we always make our amends,

And move on without meeting dead ends.

The fire of our family burns stronger with your wife’s addition,

Within the first two weeks she observed the Hossain love and admonition.

With indescribable feelings and expressions,

Nothing can come between us, no possessions, no recessions.

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust,

Now you’re married, what a great trust!

I pray for your best,

And with Allah is the rest.

?—-

To read the history behind this poem, please click here.

Certain parts of the poem had some puns which only my brother will understand. Namely, the line with “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust”. I believe I quoted the bible, but there’s also a secret language behind it.

Gotta love them older siblings. ;]

What is true belief?

Posted by Rashad on Jul 31, 2010 in Blog | 1 comment

What is true belief?
A Circus Analogy

At a circus, they have all sorts of performances and stunts. If you’ve never attended a circus, I’m sure you’ve at least seen clips of it here and there in movies or the Internet.

Anyhow, one common performance is when a person sits with an apple on his head and another person comes shoots it off with a bow and arrow.

The audience believes that the shooter will not miss his target.

The person with the apple on his head, however, has not just belief, but also conviction that the shooter has had his fair share in practice and experience. He’s spent time with the reality of his shooter and knows he will not miss his target.

That is the difference between regular belief and true belief. This analogy is used mainly in religious or spiritual terms.

Don’t Forget to Use the Bathroom!

Posted by Rashad on Jul 31, 2010 in Blog | 3 comments

Sometimes people do or say embarrassing things. This usually is the case with parents. More specifically, Indian parents.

Anyway, I was in England for the past 10 days to visit family. One of the family members was taking me to the seaside. As I was boarding the vehicle, my dear father shouts out from afar “DO YOU NEED TO USE THE BATHROOM? YOU HAVEN’T ALL DAY, HAVE YOU?”

Believe it or not, I’m 17 years old.

Anyway, it was obviously said in sincerity and care. I guess some things just come out naturally. Even in public spaces.

Playing House

Posted by Rashad on Jul 17, 2010 in Blog | 5 comments

Playing House
By: Raakin Hossain

When I was a child, I remember playing a game called ‘House’. In short, it was our premature and innocent perspective of the marital life. The game basically is a simulation of a full-fledged dramatic family, as seen on TV.

Some doctors and parents encourage such practices, assuming that this is a head start on life skills. As a matter of fact, they’ll purchase Fisher-Price kitchen sets and cash registers to enhance the experience. The most practical question to ask at this point is, do your kids benefit educationally from this experience?

Well, let’s take a look at what we would do as members of the family. I’ll be speaking from the father’s standpoint, as that was my most popular role. (Perhaps that was because I’d always wear formal clothing regardless of the occasion.)

The women would always be at home raising the children, cooking the meals and cleaning the mansion. As the father, I’d drive the Mercedes to and from work. We were a happy couple, living life as if it were a blank check. It was our own world, where all dreams would be fulfilled and all opportunities availed.

I remember bellowing “G’bye Honey! Gotta dash off to work!” and rush into another bedroom. After a few seconds of solitude and loneliness, I’d barge back in with the most familiar phrase known to man: “Honey, I’m home!” How was I to know she was preparing a surprise dinner for me at the time? My wife quickly shoved me out the door, giving me barely enough time to grab one of my sons to accompany me back to work.

Because we would only reenact what we observed from the television, our game would be never-ending. Our children would continue to attend their academic institutions and graduate with top marks, my job would constantly be offering me promotions and salary raises, and my wife’s food would only continue to increase in plastic flavor as each day flew by within seconds and minutes, depending on our mood. Failure or losing was not a familiar concept to us.

The positive component was that our morals remained steadfast. I’d never have any physical contact with my spouse or children. We’d learn how to adapt to each others’ opinions and respect their viewpoint on life. This was unusual because all our other games consisted of fighting and shouting, arguing that the next person was being unfair and unreasonable. We learned to have compassion despite disagreement, even though we were unaware of this trait at that time.

In the end, however, I think we learned more about wishful thinking than anything else. We shaped our lives on false hopes and unattainable dreams. It’s certainly important to aim high but there’s a matter of practicality behind it as well. The game of house is simply a fairytale and a fantasy experience. These types of games are shaped by what they watch on TV as well as what they observe at home.

Kids will be kids. If we cannot show them alternatives, then we should oversee their games to a certain extent. Subconsciously, these minute details will be instilled within them as they phase through life. When reality will strike, it’ll only be a cause of depression and frustration.

The realty of life is that all our goals must be attained through honest earnings. Without that, the element of contentment will not exist. Passing through the avenues of life, we are destined to cross obstacles and thorns in our path. Overcoming them is not a simple matter. The journey of life begins at the time of conception. Everything around us from that point onwards leaves an imprint in ourselves whether we ever realize it or not.

I do NOT smoke! | Basic Etiquettes of Business

Posted by Rashad on Jul 7, 2010 in Blog, Business & Finance | 1 comment

So I drive in to AM/PM (Gas Station) with my friend because he wanted a cup of coffee before class. As we enter the lot, we see our teacher’s car pull into a parking spot. It was an awkward experience, but he’s a chill teacher so it wasn’t all that bad.

As we stood in line, I told my friend he poured too much SUGAR in his coffee. The cashier heard me say “cigarettes” and asked “Oh, did you want cigarettes again?” I was very perplexed, and said “Again?” And he said “Yeah, you came here last week for cigarettes. I remember it was you. Same beard, same white dress…”I quickly glance over at my teacher, who was smiling to himself behind us in line.

“You definitely have the wrong guy,” I say.

“No, no. I’m sure it’s you!”

Honestly, I don’t smoke and I found his insistence as a cashier to be very rude and inappropriate. It was a hilarious situation, especially with my teacher standing directly behind us the entire time. However, it just comes to show the lack of decency in the world. Especially when it comes to customers, you’d think they’d be more polite.

Eventually, I exited the store. My teacher obviously didn’t believe it was me who bought the cigarettes but we figured it was someone from our school. Either that or the cashier was making up the entire story.

In conclusion, I don’t consider it to be sucking up when you are being courteous to customers. That’s something expected when you’re doing business with anyone. Decency in business can go a long way. This is just a minor, humorous situation but the lesson can be derived for bigger things in life.

Etiquette is the key to success, IMO.

Advice & Support: Part 1 // Attracting Attention

Posted by Rashad on Jul 6, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments

(Written for The Invitation Magazine)

Assalamu-alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatu!

I am asking advice on behalf of my friend. She is currently taking night school and one of her classmate gives her unnecessary and unwanted attention, she is not comfartable with that. She has tried to ignore him and pretty much told him to shove off for lack of a better word but to no avail, he just doesnt give up…what should she do?

A. There are several methods in response to your situation. You (or your friend) can pick and choose to your convenience or to whichever works best for you as an individual. For starters, ignore him completely. If he’s looking at you, pretend you cannot see him. Take no heed of his words or glimpses. Secondly, forbid your friends or any of your associates to give your personal information (IM, phone number, etc) to him. If he walks towards you, keep moving, walk away, or go to the safe-zone: the restroom. He can’t possibly follow you there.
Remember that hiding will only aggravate the situation. He will think you are playing hard-to-get. As a dignified Muslim, it is your responsibility to preserve your modesty. At the same time, you don’t want to appear aggressive and rude. If you are going to be in the same class, you want to be on good terms with your usual surroundings.
And lastly, always make dua to Allah Ta’ala to preserve you from the evils we face as the youth of Islam. Remember your roots: Islam. As dignified members of Islam, we protect ourselves through supplication to Allah as well as our own personal efforts. Insha’Allah every step you take towards righteousness, you will be rewarded manifold.

How One Should Grow

Posted by Rashad on Jun 28, 2010 in Blog | 2 comments

I just want to say hello and ask what do you think about growing and how one should grow, as a person, as a son/daughter, a father/mother, as a student, as an intellect?

- Adrian Ramirez, via Private Message

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I’ll begin by quoting Abraham Lincoln: “You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.”
I don’t know as to what he was referring to but I took my own figurative interpretation from it. We grow on the individual and personal basis. As harsh as this may sound, we live in a selfish world. Nobody wants to admit it because it sounds so displeasing to the ears, let alone the soul. You might tell your boss that your uncle died and he’ll say “Okay, Adrian, take a couple days off.” But inside, do you really think he gives a hoot? I’d say not.

The world is fake. How many of your associates can you call a true friend?  I understand nobody is perfect but that’s why you have to draw your boundaries. With family, you may be open. But once you exceed the blood connections, you are guaranteed an eventual downfall in your relation.

Each of the bonds you’ve mentioned (mother/father, son/daughter, etc) are each at a lengthy discussion. However, how do we grow as an intellect?

What I mentioned above was very pessimistic but it was also reality. However, we don’t live our daily life with that mindset. It’s just something you have to remember and revive from time to time. Otherwise, you live life generously and selflessly. You will never attain contentment without generosity and altruism.

We grow by keeping ourselves busy and living life one day at a time. You have to have a goal and aim in life, though. Living life one day at a time means you don’t stress yourself out by dwelling on the “What-Ifs” of life. Rather, you focus on the present. Work with what you have and make the most of it.

There’s just so much to say on this topic. Especially in the past few days when I’ve been feeling not so bright, I gave myself time to ponder of this issue myself. This is just a very brief summary of my thoughts and feelings. Feel free to add, subtract, multiply, or divide to it!