I’ve never really been into the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.  I think I’ve only seen one complete episode.  I was watching it with my sister and I was quickly turned off by it.  Why?  Well, the premise of the sitcom is that Raymond is this guy that is annoyingly always in need of having everyone be happy with him, and for the most part it works out and, well… everybody loves Raymond.  What’s so bad about that?  My sister told me that the character Raymond reminds her of me. 

I felt so… pegged.  I hate when that happens; when someone says something about you that is so on point, it’s uncomfortable and you can’t deny it but you really wish you could.

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I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have a hard time watching football and superheros. Between all the spandex and fit bodies, there is just too much exposure on the screen. Spandex just isn’t the right material for men to wear.

But are superheros and football players the only culprits for men in immodest clothing? I don’t think so.

I’m not trying to hate, honestly, I’m not. It’s just that I see it all the time: a hijabi/jilbabi girl with her brother/spouse; while she’s making an effort to cover her body… he isn’t.

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My students are cute.  Everyday I have such a great time in the classroom with my 4th graders.  Even if I’m having a terrible day, they always manage to make me smile or laugh.  And it isn’t even because they’re trying to cheer me up.  It’s just the way they are.

Take for example one day in Social Studies.  I was reviewing vocabulary words with them from the chapter.  I asked them, “Who can tell me what metropolitan means?”  One of them leapt up from his seat, and stuck his hand straight out frantically and said, “Sister!! Sister!! I know!! I know!!”  I asked him what it meant, and he said so confidently,

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It seems like in this day and age, once a month I hear a case about some Muslim falling off the deen, and being led off the straight path. It is increasingly disheartening with each case I come across. And it got me thinking, what is the deal?

I remember learning a few years back while listening to a lecture series by Sh. Yasir Qadhi (Kitaab at-Tawheed) that the Qur’an always refers to that which leads people astray with a plural word form–dhulumaat. And what he pointed out was this is basically telling people there is literally an ARMY waiting to lead us astray.

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