Blogging for progress in a thriving yet delusional world.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Your "Lord is Watching" by Native Deen

From their new album, "Not Afraid to Stand Alone"

Check out their website here:
http://www.nativedeen.com/standalone

Lyrics:
11 o clock at night and now your lying in your bed, cause see your
Thinking about the plan that your rehearsing in your head,
Your waiting for your family to doze right off to sleep, And then you
slip out of the house to where you and your shorty meet

Rolled up to the party and your strolling cause its hardly
Even 12:00am and now the party's getting started
3:00am you heading back into your place and then
you climbed back in the window you left open just in case

Your think that your so slick, you know just how to trick
and pull a hoax upon your folks and they dont notice it.
You know that you should not, I think that you forgot
Like any crime, its only time before you getting caught

Chorus
Your lord is watching and he knows every step that you take
And he knows every plan that you make
And he can catch your every mistake
And he can catch your every mistake

The personal computer is a real amazing thing
with all the knowledge it can bring to our young men and young women
But you know when you have been, using it for doing sin
Find a hidden place within, and then the downloading begins

And quickly you begin to get, savy with the internet
The devil whispers and convinces you that you aint sinning yet
You know its wrong and if your caught they all will be upset, you
learn to close the window quick so no one catches wind of it

Why do we think this, there's no consequences
Your lord may let it slide a bit but that just gives you confidence
he can expose you, to all those who knows you
And when that happens dont come back and say i never told you that...

As Samee' (The All Hearing)
Albaseer (All Seeing),
AlRaqeeb, (The Watchful One)
Al Khabeer,( The Aware)
Inna rabbaka ala kulli shayin qadeer
(Truly your lord is aware of all things)

Chorus

Now everyday that passes, you get bolder in your plans, and
You start scheming in your classes, and start cheating on exams
Your great in fooling masses, and start running little scams, You know
Your sneakiness surpasses every other guy in town.

But then the day arrives now that your Lord had always written
You think that no ones watching, and things just start to happen
The window you left open drew attention of your neighbor
And so they caught you in the act, as you came back in the night

Your sister has a project due and you are off at school
and she's using your computer cause your folks said it was cool
And she comes across some pictures that you forgot to erase
she shows it to your family and soon your in disgrace

The plans you invented, You'll wish you had ended,
And when you see the Hell fire you'll really resent it
Cause sooner or later, you'll face your creator
And never for a moment think your knowledge is greater

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Black History Month:
What does it make you think of?

Celebrating Black History month in February is an excellent opportunity to learn about the struggle and achievement of African Americans, and their creativity and contribution to human civilization...

Black History Month and the contributions of Islam 2/21/2008 - Social Opinion Interfaith -

By: Mohammed Khaku, Morning Call* -

Celebrating Black History month in February is an excellent opportunity to learn about the struggle and achievement of African Americans, and their creativity and contribution to human civilization, and also to reaffirm the struggle and determination to fight prejudice and racism. The Quran says: "O people, we created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into tribes and nations so that you may know each other. Verily, the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the one who is most righteous of you." (Quran 49:13)Today, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States; the majority of the populations embracing Islam are African Americans. Why are African Americans embracing Islam in such large numbers? Is it because of Malcolm X's pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca or the intrinsic nature of Islamic human equality. When people think of Africa they think of blacks, civil wars and the AIDS epidemic. The intellectual discourse on topics like African history in the Islamic context is inadequate and absent from the history books. Today more than 50 percent of the people in Africa are Muslims. And of the Africans brought over to America in the slave trade, many came from Muslim families.With this spirit in mind, Bilal Ibne Rabah, an Ethiopian slave living in Mecca, became a leading companion of Prophet Muhammad. Very little is known of Bilal. Bilal was a slave freed by Prophet Muhammad. Who at the time of slavery in Arabia used to buy slaves and then free them? Bilal is associated with a very important decision taken by the Prophet Muhammad concerning the issue of race and color. Prophet Muhammad chose a black man to perform the Azan -- the call of the faithful to prayers. His decision was based on the Quranic teaching against racial discrimination, which explains the rationale behind God's creation of humanity in different tribes, color, religion and race, so that we know each other.Prophet Muhammad chose Bilal to be the first Muezzin (caller to prayer) not because of his racial lineage nor his power or wealth, but because Bilal possessed neither.He was chosen because of his piety, character and honor even though his pronunciation of Arabic was not accurate. Bilal was to become one of the greatest people in the history of Islam. His name adorns the pages of Islamic history as a reminder to all those who incite discord and disunity among people, races and nations -- but especially to Muslims -- not to transgress the will of God in their behavior and thinking.Sadly, as we reflect on the current religious practices and social conditions of so many Muslim communities in the United States, we find them divided along artificial lines of nationality, families, ethnic identity and culture. In celebrating Black History Month, we should be able to include that rich Islamic history that has been hidden from us in the midst of Islamophobia that has marked out Muslims and Islam as "medieval and uncivilized."American Muslims need to know that in these times of deliberate misrepresentation and spin, Islamic scholars were the inheritors, keepers and developers of Roman and Greek learning.Islamic learning and culture first illuminated the Dark Ages in Europe. Africa and Islam have more in common than we think. Islam entered Africa 100 years before Columbus. The ancient and renowned city of Timbuktu in modern Mali was the crossroads of West African and Islamic civilization and learning. Timbuktu was a city where Muslim scholars would travel to acquire knowledge. African Americans have been in America for a long time, not as takers but as contributors, and it is worth celebrating this rich heritage, and as an American Muslim, I hold dear to my heart to enlighten both young and old, the black and non-black toward the truth and social justice and pursue the vision of making America not red or blue or black or white states, but rather a better place to live with equal opportunity for all. Mohammed Khaku is past president of Al Ahad Islamic Center in Allentown.

Source: http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=MO0802-3521