fashionable Muslimah-part 2

Assalamualaikum, people. as promised, here's the part 2 of being a fashionable Muslimah, the Ema's way. hihi..
in this part 2, we'll discuss about tops, which include blouses and dresses. 
you ready? here we go.

TOPS
there are many beautiful tops in the market nowadays. and the whole idea of wear tops is because it's so casual and free. even celebrities wear colourful tops on outings with their girlfriends. question is, how to dress as a fashionable Muslimah with tops?
my idea of wearing tops outside is by ensuring the length of the tops extend to below by butt area. well, the butt area is part of our aurah, so we might want to take that part into consideration when shopping for tops. 
can i ask you a question? when you shop for tops, do you realize that the most beautiful and colourful tops in the shop would be short-sleeved? and you get mad because it is short-sleeved and that you can never wear them and how you wished so bad that they were long sleeved? *at least that's how i am whenever i go window shopping with my sister. it's so dang frustrating* 

belted cardigan.
i should get one someday!

guess what? we have a solution! i was doomed for some time once until i figured my way out. CARDIGANS! 
they saved my life! seriously, they are super duper comfortable, long sleeved and the fabric is so lovely you'd never wanna leave them off your skin! back in the days, i had the shorter version of the waterfall cardigan. now, as i browse through the net, there's so many types in the market. there's the open, button down, waterfall, knitted, hoodie and jacket type cardigans. 
with the cardigan, you can enjoy wearing your beautiful tops and be fashionable. just a reminder, to know the right length of cardigan to go with your tops, you'd want to have the cardigans longer than your top, so that you'll cover the butt area. because if you were to get a cardigan of the same length or slightly shorter than the top, it'd look a bit weird. if you think i'm being ridiculous, look at the celebrities worldwide, they'd put on a cardigan that is way longer than their tops, when they hang out. you might wanna try this.
personally, i don't encourage you guys to wear an inner, because they are skin-tight and you'd reveal your aurah *in one way or the other* by showing the shape of your body. that's why i suggested the cardigans. plus, cardigans are way fashionable than inner. trust me. been there, done that!
so, we're done with the tops! Wall-ah! easy right?

simple dress top that
caught my attention

DRESS TOPS

next, we'll move on to the dress tops. i'm really into the dress tops because they are my type. they are flowy and i feel free whenever i'm in one. dress tops are the longer version of tops. so, to those who feel it's so hard to rock a normal top with cardigans, you can always go with the dress tops. it's a mixture of dress and a top. it's longer than tops, but somewhat shorter than a knee-length dress. plus, a dress top is cheaper than a dress. 
again, the dress tops that are available in the market are mostly the short-sleeved or sleeveless. of course you can put on the cardigans again, but maybe you'd like to try the shorter version of the cardigan, so that people get to see the actual look of the dress top. if you keep both the dress top and cardigans at the same length, people won't be able to differentiate the cardigan from the dress top, and you'd also allow the cardigan to overpower your dress top, and that's not good. 
actually, dress tops are rather common as you window shop, but most of us Muslims would just skip them because they believe they can't wear them because they are short and that they are sleeveless. 
on thing that you girls need to bare in mind is to find dress tops that are not too fitting that might reveal your body shape. in my opinion, you can get the dress top that are designed fit on the upper body but they are no more fitting waist-down. this way, you're covering the butt area and thus, covering your aurah. try to search for fabric that are comfortable and not too thick because remember, you'll put on a cardigan afterwards. trust me, you would would wanna be seen all sweaty in your clothes. 
another friendly reminder, in choosing the right cardigan to match your dress top, i would suggest you guys NOT to go with the TOO SHORT cardigans, that when you put on the cardigan, their length are somewhere near the breast area. that's not really cool, because they are not so comfortable, as you'll have the urge to pull the cardigan forward and sometimes, when you lift up your hands, you'd reveal the armpit area. this is due to the size of the cardigan, they are just so small. as a fashionable Muslimah who practices the teachings of Islam, you might wanna forget about them.go with the cardigans which are somewhat near your waist area. keep the cardigans no longer that your waist area, so that they'll look just nice with the dress top.
and we're also done with the dress top. 

DRESS

summer dresses

now, we're talking about real dresses, the full-length dress. because we've discussed so much about the cardigans and the fabric of the dress above, this part would be rather short than the above two. again, make sure the fabric is not the type that would stick to your skin, because that would reveal your body shape, which means you're revealing your aurah. my suggestion is go with the summer dresses. they are absolutely thin and light fabrics and they come in a variety of colours and fabrics.
one friendly reminder is to ensure that the dresses do not reveal any parts of your legs. 

pretty cocktail dress

also, i found that cocktail dresses *which are appropriate* are also beautiful and you can try them. but of course, they may be a little bit expensive and most of them are made according to your body shape. but you can go ahead and try one, but again, follow the guidelines we've discussed above. 

so, that's pretty much it on this entry about tops. i hope you guys enjoy browsing through the pictures. i tried making it as simple as possible. i hope i didn't burden you guys with the guidelines. any problem or questions, feel free to ask. i will try my very best to answer them.
thank you for reading! Wassalam...

P/S: for the Part 1, please visit here

the dream

I know this is silly and I know it’s just a dream. But in my dreams, he held her hands and hugged her tight. And at that moment, the feelings I had watching them was really unexplainable. It wasn’t jealousy, it was more of, ‘Why? Why would you hug her?’

In reality, the girl has a boyfriend and somewhere inside of me screamed and shout, ‘hey, you have a boyfriend. How could you hug another guy?’ 

but you know and I know that’s not really the point.

Am I really falling for this guy?

But again, some part of me thought in my brain, while I was asleep, ‘I don’t deserve this guy. I mean, he is not the one for me’ but then, again, another part recalled the conversation I had with my sister before.

She said no matter how we take care of ourselves, obey God, cover our aurah, and do all the good deeds, and if it’s stated in the Luh Mahfuz that you’d get married to a guy who’s just above average, the normal guy who doesn’t really go to the mosque to pray or has lots of girlfriends, then, you’d still get married to him. He’s a good guy, but not as good as you, but you can’t argue he’s not good enough for me or he hasn’t reached my standard to being my husband. That’s not right.

So, don’t worry. I know they were just crazy feelings and thoughts, because I am super duper tired due to the futsal training and all. It’s not like I’m seriously thinking of marrying him. You see, when the time comes, everything would fall right into its places.

fashionable Muslimah-part 1

Assalamualaikum, everybody. 
as promised, i will elaborate more on how to a fashionable Muslimah. some people may argue on the need to be fashionable when Islam teaches us to be modest. in my personal opinion, living as a Muslim in this era, we need to show the rest of the world how awesome Islam is. i mean, people would be able to see how 'open' Islam is actually, as long as you obey certain conditions. and i will try my very best to make this practical and easy for you guys to understand. plus, i believe you'd feel a little bit easy to transform yourself into a better Muslimah in a step-by-step approach. 

i'll try to make this easy, so we'll begin from the head and we'll go all the way to the feet.
*i'll break them into smaller parts so that this entry would not be too long and i could add up more images*

HIJAB
hijab is a piece of scarf which you use to cover your head and hair. i think by now everybody knows that covering your head and hair is compulsary in Islam. how to be fashionable yet still covering your aurah?

Pashmina scarf

~ wear a shawl that is not see-through fabric. try the Pashmina scarf. it's long and the fabric is soft and light. you can put it on your head in whatever way you desire.
but if you would still like to go with the see-through scarfs, i would suggest you to wear a Syrian scarf on the inside, insert the scarf into your blouse or shirt and you can style the scarf whichever way you want. even though the scarf is see-through, people wouldn't be able to 'peek' and see your neck, coz you have another protective layer of scarf on the inside. ^_^
~ you can also try the Indon scarf *tudung Indon*. it's easier as you wouldn't need any brooches or pins. and there are so many styles in the market now.

some of the latest styles of
tudung bawal

~ well, i almost forgot about the tudung bawal which has been in the market for as long as i can remember. there's different sizes of tudung bawal in the market. 45' inches, 55' inches and even 60' inches. there are available in various colours and patterns. there are also a lot of ways to style the tudung bawal. you can go online and check them out.
~ and of course we have the tudung bulat. i wouldn't say tudung bulat is not fashionable. it's how you wear them and the way you present yourself with it that determines whether you're fashionable or not. the only way to make them fashionable is by picking colours that match your dress or blouse and always make sure that the top of the tudung is neat. most people's tudung bulat gets a little messy on the top, just above the forehead. if you've tackled that part, you're fashionable already. 

there's one thing i would like to highlight here. no matter what style of hijab you've choose, please make sure that your hijab covers your chest area, and part of your back. these are part of aurah as well. 
it's your choice to wear whatever you desire. it's okay if you'd like to stick with the tudung Indon all your life, but there's nothing to lose to try all of the hijab styles mentioned above. well, let me tell you on my hijab transformation over the years.
i started with the tudung bawal 45' inches because at that time, that was the only shawl available. then, i went on with the Pashmina shawl for some time until i alternate them with the see-through hijab with Syrian shawl underneath. there were times where i'd only wear the Syrian shawl to class. *i'm a very lazy girl* 
and now, i am wearing the tudung bawal 60' inches. 


i'd end my entry with this few words:
cherish every step you take, embrace the moment. live life to the fullest with the teachings of Islam.

i wish all of you good luck in experimenting every styles of hijab. and i hope i've provided sufficient information for all of you. if you feel the explainations are rather lack-y, just let me know. i'd improve my writing. *do comment, don't feel shy* 
thank you so much for your support.

P/S: next entry would be about dresses. *i'm excited*

that's me! in my 60' inches purple tudung bawal

fashion-how much is too much?

Assalamualaikum and a very good day dear readers. *it's raining here in Kelantan, but i still wish you a good day ahead* this time, i would like to discuss something that has been on my mind for some time now. as a Muslim, we are taught by the Holy Quran and the Prophet to be very modest in everything we do. this modesty includes dressing up, which is part of fashion. *and, i personally love fashion*

whoever we are, we sure put on some clothes when you step outside our house. and as we step into the world, people starts to look at us. right? we see what others wear on the streets and so do they. they look at us and what we wear, and they think about the outfit we put on. as a girl, i can't help but to see what my friends wear for the class that day. and f it's something really nice and i like, i'd compliment her or him. 

and others would do the same to me.

it all seem like a happy world up there right? the thing is, as a good Muslim, you practice the teachings of Islam in your daily life. and as i state earlier, Islam taught us in being modest in dressing up. according to the teachings of Islam, a girl especially should not wear clothes that can attract boys to look at them. now, here's the problem.

how do we know what kind of clothes boys get attracted to?

in my opinion, the one thing that makes a boy turn around of stare longer at a girl is if she wears clothes that reveals the aurah. *according to the teachings of Islam, a girl's aurah is her whole body, except her face and palms of her hands* let's say a girl like the picture on  the left walks in your class, you are likely to look at her. for whatever reason, i don't know. maybe i would look at her as well, because i like fashion. hehee...how great is Islam? Islam protects the girl from the eyes of a man, by asking us to cover our aurah. so, when a girl covers her aurah, the likeliness of a man looking at her is very unlikely. 

next question, how do we ensure a guy won't look at us even though we've covered our aurah? 
some of the ulama' tells us to not wear colours that may attract men. how do we, girls know what colours do guys get attracted to? and how do we judge ourselves if we're dressing a little too over the top?

about the colours, i agree on very bright colours like hot red, bright orange or yellow dress, you may attract not only guys, but the girls too to look at you. do we all agree on that? *it's okay if you think these colours look great, maybe you should wear these colours at home or anywhere that only involves your mahraam, which include your birth parents, blood siblings, grandparents, uncles on your dad's side and father-in-law. also, you can wear these colours when you're with your husband, and him alone and away from the eyes of the world. btw, your husband is not your mahraam k?*
next question is, would you still get attracted if i wear a not-so-bright-coloured clothes?
truth is, you can never tell if you'd not look at a girl if she wears a black or white plain clothes. men are naturally attracted to women. *i would like to confess that i kindda got distracted by a guy in my class who wore a black shirt with black pants. and he's not wearing any bright* 
i mean, even though Emma Stone wore a white dress as shown on the right, she still looks outstanding. her dress is rather plain, but she looks beautiful and flawless. don't you agree?
attraction to a person from the opposite gender will always be there. you can try your very hardest to resist, but you can't deny the fact that the feeling was there. of course, as a good Muslim who practices Islam, you'd obey Islam. nobody said that the battle with your own feelings would be easy. going against what your inner feelings is the hardest job in the world. it's a forever ongoing battle. 
so, my advice to all is be yourself, wear the clothes you like but please follow the guidance in Islam. i've outlined some of my ideas in how to be fashionable yet following the guidance of Islam *somewhere in the blog sometime ago*. 
don't go with some weird styles and look 'messy'. Islam is all about being neat, simple, and presentable. *that's practically what i believe and hold on to* 
again, fashion is subjective. something that may look nice and attractive to one person may look ugly and 'funny' to the other. we can't satisfy everybody. 
us, girls, can't go on and ask all the boys in our class and wear something that nobody is attracted to. ain't that a little too extreme and a little impractical? 
be comfortable in whatever you wear, but again, make sure you follow the guidance of Islam. *maybe i should highlight more on this yeah? how to be fashionable and still folow the path of Islam?* 

that's all for now. i need to attend my lab class. tell me what you think. do you agree or disagree? please, i'm only a normal human being and i may have said something wrong up there. feel free to correct me.
thank you so much. Wassalam...
P/S: have a nice day

Misconceptions About Islam

let's get down to business. i know it's been a while since i blog. i just couldn't find anything rational to blog about. plus, the ideas are always in my sleep, and when i wake up, i can't seem to remember the AWESOME ideas i had while i was asleep. haizz..

Brother Shah Kirit

okay, so, i went for a talk 'Misconceptions About Islam, where the speaker was a revert for the past 16 years. his name is Bro Shah Kirit. honestly, i went to the talk because i wanted to know what are the wrong ideas people had about Islam, and he cleared every doubt i had. Bro Shah is a known speaker in Malaysia, too bad i haven't known him before. so, this is a picture of what he looks like. *i didn't bring along a camera because my battery was weak* 
in my opinion, the way he presented was really interesting, he didn't jump from one topic to another, he just went on and on, and the content of discussion didn't feel too 'heavy' to me. it was very light and acceptable. 
what were the misconceptions about Islam that were pointed on last tow days?
#1 compulsary to change father's name to Abdullah once you convert to Islam
As a revert, he kept his father's name which was Kakulal Givindji. so, his name is Shah Kirit bin Kalkulal Govindji. Bro Shah emphasized to everyone in the hall that nor is it written in the Holy Quran or the hadith that one must change his name to bin Abdullah once he is a Muslim. he explained further that even though one has converted to Islam, one's ties to his parents remains the same. one still needs to do good to his parents and siblings, though they are of different religions. it s written in the Holy Quran on several verses in different chapters that one must do good, obey and take care of their parents, regardless of the religion.
#2 Allah does not refer to a Muslim God
this fact shocked me. i mean, all along in our prayers, we use the word Allah, and even when asked, 'who's your God?' i'd say Allah. actually, Allah means the Almighty God in English translation. and there is only one Almighty, and he is God, the Creator.
#3 The Holy Quran is written by mankind, it's not from God
The Holy Quran is the verbations of God, and the translations are just to describe the meaning. God describes himself in the Quran. where did he describes himself in the Quran? in one short chapter, al-Ikhlas. there are only 4 verses in the chapter.
112:1 Say: He, Allah, is One.

God said that He is One. imagine what would happen if there is more than one God. there would be quarrels among the Gods, especially when it comes to who has the final call. even if the Gods compromise, 50-50 power, then, that would mean there is none of them who is the Most Powerful. whereby, the word Allah means, The Almighty God. see?

112:2 Allah is He on Whom all depend.

because he is The Almighty God, we depend on Him. He has the power to do this and that. we can all see the creations of God and think about this.

112:3 He begets not, nor is He begotten;

there is no beginning and ending to God. imagine if God had parents, that means that His parents are more powerful than Him, so, He can't be God. anything that is greater than God can't be God, right? and if He had siblings, that would lead to more quarrels. logic, right?

112:4 And none is like Him.

none is like Him, meaning He is special. if we were to compare we, humans with Him, He overpower us. you see, God has 99 names, which describes him. it's the Asmaul Husna. these are what differentiates Him from the rest. therefore, He is God, The Almighty.

bottomline is, only God can describe Himself, not us, mankind. that's what is written in the Quran. so, to unfold the truth about God, recite the Quran.

#4 everything in the Quran answers all your questions and doubts

seriously? does the Holy Quran tells you how to cook pizza? i've never come across the word pizza in the Quran before. hmmm...

you see, in the Holy Quran, in chapter Anbiya', verse 7, God said:

Before thee, also, the messengers We sent were but men, to whom We granted inspiration: If ye realise this not, ask of those who possess the Message.

if you don't know something, seek the answers in those who knows. so, if you don;t know how to cook pizza, ask a chef *who knows how to cook pizza* you see how great He is?

#5 does converting means i am a Malay?

becoming a Muslim is not becoming a Malay. in your birth certificate, if you're a Chinese, you'd die as a Chinese and same goes with the Indians. race in not part of Islam. Islam accepts you regardless of how you look, you dress, your wealth and your race. that is teh beauty of Islam. we stay united, as one community, whereby we agree on the syahadah and we obey the Almighty God. you can eat whatever and dress as whatever as long as it is not against the teachings of Islam. you can enjoy Char Keoy Teow and Vadai, as long as the ingredients in it are halal and dress up in Cheongsam and Samfoo, or Punjabi suit, as long as you cover your aurah.

#6 how long is Islam? 1400 years ago?

the teachings of Islam began with the creation of the first man, Adam, who became a Prophet not long after. also, the Prophet Muhammad, is not the founder of Islam. for your information, all the Prophets, which include Abraham, David and Moses are all Muslims, whereby they bring the teachings of Islam and spread among the people of their times.

#7 Hudud, why is it so harsh?

according to Brother Shah, before one practices hudud, one must ensure that everybody is doing their duty as Muslims. for example, the leader in a country must ensure that his people are paying the tax (zakat). and the leader really does his duty in protecting the zakat money. the leader must also ensure that the zakat money are given out to those who are in needy, such as the poor and the Fissabilillah. 

so, unless the criterias above and more are fulfilled, one cannot practice hudud. there must not be any doubt anywhere while hudud law is carried out and practiced. 

#8 dogs are a man's best friend, why dogs are haraam in Islam?

dogs are not haraam. it is not a sin to touch a dog or a pig in Islam. it's just that you need to clean your hands and body parts that were in contact with these animals with one bucket of sand and 6 buckets of water. it's just like cleaning yourself after touching your pet, be it a cat or tortoise. once you've cleaned yourself, you're good to go.

just like after playing with a cat, you'll wash up before you eat, this applies the same. but the cleaning part needs to be emphasized.

back then, in those days, Muslim man have dogs as their pet, to take care of the house and keeping an eye on the wolves when the sheeps go out on the field. it's not haraam.

that was pretty much what that has been discussed in the talk. the talk started at 9pm and ended around 11.30pm. i gained a lot of knowledge, and so do you now, indirectly.

thank you so much for stopping by. wassalam.

picture from that night. can't really see his face