Holding Hands, hand the sleeping baby in the hand of mother close-up, baby hand gently holding adult’s finger, closeup of a baby hand in hand mother,slept baby hand holding mother finger,baby hand gently holding adult’s finger ** Note: Visible grain at 1
Posted on November 4, 2023 by Nahida Exiled Palestinian
They want you to believe that defending the Palestinian people’s legitimate right to DEFEND themselves and to RESIST the occupation and usurpation of their homeland is “terrorism”, a “crime” worse than the CRIME of murdering almost 5000 Palestinian children in less than four weeks.
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They want you to believe that chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a “hate crime”, a “crime” worse than target bombing ambulances, hospitals, schools, and refugee camps killing hundreds of innocent civilians.
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They want you to believe that holding the Palestinian flag is “antisemitic”, a “crime” worse than keeping two and half million people in a concentration camp, without food, water, electricity, while flattening entire neighbourhood on the heads of the inhabitants.
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They want you to believe that the legitimate Palestinian resistance to a seventy five years of occupation is “terrorism”, and the bombardment of two and half million people to smithereens is “self defence”.
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They want to you believe that “offending” the feeling of some-person, on his/her say-so, is far more serious “hate crime” than the slaughter of over almost 10000 innocent men, women and children in less than a month of constant carpet bombardment.
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They want to you believe that being concerned about some group’s sensitivities is far more humane than stopping the crime of Genocide and Extermination against another group of people.
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They want you to believe that some humans are more humans than others.
Posted on December 11, 2022 by Nahida Exiled Palestinian
The best shot in World Cup history!
They attacked Muslims for not raising the rainbow flag.
Muslims raised the flag of Motherhood with flying colours and dancing strides
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They attacked Muslims for not celebrating gay-pride parades.
Muslims showed the world the sweetness of celebrating family, with joy and pride.
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They attacked Muslims for not allowing alcohol in the stadium.
Fans enjoyed a most peaceful, hospitable, friendly, prayerful ambiance and spiritual ground.
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They wanted to humiliate Muslims by imposing on them supremacist genocidal occupiers.
Muslims united, sang for liberation and raised the flag of the downtrodden beloved Palestine.
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Motherhood, Family, Love, Faith, Gratitude, Faithfulness, Humbleness, Steadfastness, Endeavour, Freedom and Justice are Human Values worthy of celebration.
Winning the match or not is irrelevant, the true winners are those who carry on these Human Values for generations to come.
Posted on November 27, 2022 by Nahida Exiled Palestinian
Disclaimer: in a time of Cancel Culture, many refuse to consider different opinions. Before closing this page, give yourself the challenge to read on. Cancel Culture does just that, it cancels culture.
In the name of love, truth, kindness, compassion, justice, peace, and tolerance, I invite you to come with me on a short journey, to explore and taste life from a different perspective. A perspective foreign and totally unfamiliar to you. A subjective and personal perspective of a Muslim woman.
As you probably can imagine, faith and spirituality are central in the lives of Muslims, as they do occupy a significant part in my life too.
Faith to Muslims is a profound awareness and a belief in the existence of a Supreme Creator, to whom belongs ALL Sublime attributes; Ultimate Love (الْوَدُود), Ultimate Truth (الْحَقُ), Ultimate Compassion (الرَّحِيمُ), Ultimate Goodness (الْبَرُّ), Ultimate Kindness (الرَّحْمَنُ), Ultimate Wisdom (الْحَكِيمُ), Ultimate Awareness (الْخَبِيرُ), Ultimate Justice(الْعَدْلُ), Ultimate Peace (السَّلاَمُ), Ultimate Forbearance and Tolerance (الْحَلِيمُ)…etc.
On a personal level, faith gives me answers to fundamental existential questions that began raging and roaring in my head since I opened my eyes to the world and began to wonder. The idea of the existence of a God (a Perfect Intelligent Aware Creator ), as a meaningful, logical and rational explanation of my own existence, existence of life and the universe makes more sense to me as opposed to the idea of a “gazillion and one coincidences”
By far, I prefer saying “insha’a allah” (God willing) rather than “finger crossed” or “touch wood”. The former appeals more to my commonsense.
From that perspective, my default position is being in a state of awe, adoration and gratitude to the Creator of this exquisite, super magnificent universe.
Faith also is the framework that allows me to find my bearings in this mysterious existence, in any given situation. It is my philosophy of life and my moral compass, if you will. Faith helps me align my values with the Divine principles and attributes, some of which are mentioned above.
In Islam we believe that God’s compassion engulfs and overwhelms God’s justice. In our tradition, we trust that God’s love to God’s creation is greater than a mother’s love to her children.
So from that standpoint of love and compassion I speak to you, and from that perspective, I want you to know that I do not intentionally wish to hurt or to be a cause of harm to any one, ever.
With this introduction, I would reiterate my invitation again, kindly asking you to try to see the world from my perspective as a Muslim woman, even if it was just for an hour. So bear with me.
From an Islamic perspective, freewill is granted and hardwired in the consciousness of every human being. However, that divine gift comes with a inbuilt disclaimer from the Creator:
1) Do not use your freewill to cause harm to others, to life, to the planet, or to yourself.
2) Do not use your freewill to impose your will and ways on others (do not force them against their will, nor take their freewill away)
In order to respect and fulfill the conditions of the Sublime Creator, Muslims choose to limit their freewill and to abstain from engaging in certain activities or behaviours which might end up violating these conditions.
Beyond the universally acknowledged values of “do not worship idols, do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not bear false witness….etc”, Islam also advocates for the abstinence from usury, drinking alcohol, eating pork, exposing nudity, pornography, sexual relationships outside marriage, same-sex relationships, eating & drinking during Ramadan, backbiting…etc.
These limitations, or “forbidden” deeds are called “haram“, or sins, because they are viewed as harmful either to others, to society, to life, to the planet or to oneself.
Furthermore, Islam directs its followers to use their freewill in acts which fulfill the purpose of his/her creation, as a caretaker, a khalifa (meaning caretaker) who benefits others, protects the planet and cherishes life in all its forms.
You may wonder what is so harmful about two consenting same-sex adults engaging in an intimate relationship?
Such relationships are detrimental to the continuation of procreation, thus harmful to life and its natural flow. Moreover, and without being graphic or going into details, health and hygiene do not exactly fair well or thrive and may even be harmed.
Muslims are advised with an extensive and detailed code of ethics in the Qur’an, which draws the boundaries of their freewill, beyond which violation of others’ may occur. However, like all free-willed human beings, Muslims make their own choices in life whether to respect these recommendations or not.
In general, practicing Muslims abstain from committing these sins, and try not to violate them, Naturally, some Muslims do.
When Muslims choose not to abstain from what we call sinful acts, they are exercising their freewill, they can still call themselves Muslims, however, they are Muslims who commit sinful acts. Even though they have the right to use their freewill to sin, however, they have no right to demand that Islam must change its code of ethics to suit their whims and desires. They have no right to demand that consuming alcohol and pork, backbiting, unregulated sexual behaviours, pornography, adultery, and usury, must become “good deeds”, applauded and celebrated.
If you are unhappy with these self-imposed regulations, don’t follow them. If you don’t like a club’s rules, don’t demand changing them, practice your freewill and leave the club and start your own.
Moreover, Muslims have no right to enforce their rules or values on other peoples. They have no legal or moral right to impose their code of ethics on others.
When people point to Muslims and demand that they should carry the rainbow flag and celebrate the gay-pride parades, it is exactly like asking Muslims to eat pork, go to pubs, become drunk or praise drunks for their wonderful way of enjoying life.
Demanding that Islam must change by accepting same-sex marriage, is like demanding that Islam should normalise the consumption of alcohol and pork, encourage alcoholics to drink more, or demanding that Islam should cancel Ramadan and make adultery an act of kindness.
When Muslims abstain from alcohol, pork, usury, extramarital affairs or homosexual acts, they do not force others to do the same. They just hold themselves and ONLY themselves accountable by abiding by their own rules and code of ethics. This is called tolerance.
However, forcing or coercing Muslims to carry a rainbow flag celebrating other peoples’ sexuality, demanding that Muslims change their ethics and be criminalised if they refuse, is exactly like forcing them to eat in Ramadan, drink alcohol, eat pork, or like forcing vegetarians to consume meat at barbecue parties. This is called tyranny.
Imposing your way of life on others, and demanding that they change their ethics and values to your taste is called harmful oppression, cultural imperialism and thought terrorism.
If I choose not to drink alcohol, don’t call me “anti-alcoholics”.
If I choose not to have extra marital affairs, don’t slander me as “anti-liberty”.
If I choose to wear my modest hijab, don’t call me “oppressed”.
If I choose to mother my children rather than chasing a career, don’t call me “anti-feminist”
If I choose not to celebrate your private sexual life, don’t label me a “bigot”.
You want to drink alcohol, you are free to do so, but don’t force me to drink.
You want to eat pork, you are free to do so, but don’t ridicule me if I don’t.
Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms.. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
Poetry for Palestine 