Welcome to muslim tea room 2.

[defuse]

Peace to you all

Ok, well here it is again...we have moved to room 2 now

Discuss whatever aspect of islam you like my lovely sisters - this is a place for muslims and non-muslims too, to share experiences, raising kids or just having your say!

The kettle is on.... We have loads of herbal teas, coffee and guava juice .... I like guava juice so welcome!

Crescent I love that video. It's definitely put a smile on my face. It definitely shows how diverse we are. I think a lot of people have the notion that us muslims don't know how to how to have fun and that we don't lead 'normal' lives.

Tulip, your account of your ummrah trip gave me goosebumps, it sounds like you had an amazing experience alhamdullilah. I know someone who was there at the same time as you and it has made me really want to go, every time I hear of someone who has been I tell myself next year inshallah. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Ds's birthday was great, thanks for asking. We didn't have a party as such, just had family round for a bbq and had a get together. This is what we do for all the dc, I had such lovely birthdays as a child, I have many happy memories. My mum used to take days making our cakes. I don't know if I could not do anything to mark the occasion, it would feel like they were missing out. I still can't believe he is one mashallah. I just wish he would not wake up at 4am every day, my own fajr alarm!

Salam ladies. I have a question about hijabs. Mine always looks flat and never right round the neck and back. I always see girls with these lovely big hijabs and they fall so nicely. I've watched countless YouTube tutorials but I can never do it right. How do you wear yours?

Salams everyone

Sorry SomeLikeItChilliHot, the thread sometimes slows down. I did write a response to you on Sunday but it got lost and I was too annoyed at the time to repeat it. Im also fond of the big hijab look (kind of our version of big hair). But for the life of me I cant ever get it to look exactly like that. My younger sister does manage to get the look right though and from observing her Ive noticed there are two ways to do it.

Method 1 is tie your hair up in a high ponytail (not at the base of neck) and if you have longer hair try to get it in to a very loose sort of bun (sort of just tuck the end of your hair in to your scrunchie so you get a lot of volume around the ponytail at the top of your head). Then the hijab rests over your large 'bun' and gives you that big hijab look but the bun must not be too tight otherwise you dont get the full effect.

Method 2 is the cheats way for people who dont have long hair or who want to make it look even bigger. What you do is you buy a hair clip like these sample 1 and sample 2. Stick it on the back of your head near the top and voilà you have your big hijab. Im no expert but I think thats how they do it. My sister and her friends are pros at the look and always laugh at my 'flat' hijab. I think the point of it is to make you look like you have long, thick hair under your scarf but could just be it looks better.

Anyway wanted to let you all know how the Family Break went. It was really great Alhamdulillah. I would really recommend it to anyone who wants to go. The activities for children and adults were really fun, the food was delicious and the talks were very inspiring. But the best part was definitely mixing with other muslims and seeing all the beautiful families there. I got so many parenting tips there too which was good. Fuzzy you would have really enjoyed it as the whole weekend was on surah yusuf and we even had a workshop when we went through the whole surah and picked out lessons we can derive from it. Very beneficial Alhamdulillah. Anyway hope you all have a good week. Please pray for me. I have a very hard two weeks at work coming up. Very stressful. X

Thanks peaceful

Hi there ladies and gents, i've just popped over to ask you a favour. I'm wondering whether any of you have experience of or any advice to offer the poster of this thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2060098-To-not-accommodate-a-request-by-a-female-Muslim-never-to-be-in-work-alone-with-any-male-colleague?

It is a rare to almost non existent occurrence in the collective experience of the posters on that thread and some insight/experience/advice from those of you who have experience/knowledge of a situation like this would be very much appreciated.

i have suggested the OP post here for some advice but i thought i'd ask you anyway as it would be lovely to hear from women who have 'first-hand knowledge' (for want of a better word lol!) of a situation such as this.

Many thanks xxx

Salaam everyone

SomeLikeItChilliHot there's some great stuff on ebay for volumising hijabs, there's also these scrunchies which are supposed to be good.

Then there's this camel hump Hadith -

The Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “There are two types of the people of Hell that I have never seen: people with whips like the tails of cattle, with which they strike people, and women who are dressed but appear naked, walking with an enticing gait, with their heads looking like the humps of camels leaning to one side. They will never enter Paradise, nor even smell its fragrance, although its fragrance can be discerned from such and such a distance.” [Muslim]

I do slightly volumise with a small normal scrunchie around my pony tail. I think it also depends on which material your hijab is. The chiffon type which is floaty tends to give more volume, whereas the heavy pashmina type can look flat. It's all about trial and error. Also if you look on YouTube there's hundreds of hijab tutorials which should be able to help you.

Peaceful I'm glad you had a good break, is it the same one crescent went to? I will keep you in my prayers sister.

Thanks twizzle, I'm sure some of the more seasoned posters will join in, if they haven't already.

Salaam everyone.

I am back! Guess who???

I managed to completely forget my email address and password following MN password reset.

So have created another account as i have no hope of remembering the old one!

Hope everyone is well.

Jummah Mubarak.

Defuse?

How many guesses do we get?

Before I read peacefuls and crescents replies I thought 'that's gotta be defuse'! Glad you're back, but your posts won't be highlighted in pink anymore .

I saw the article, but avoid Tony Blair like the plague. The guy makes me froth at the mouth.

I've always used pins in my hijab, I can't stand it if it starts slipping, I can go out in a storm and look the same as I did when I left. No windswept hijabs here. How are you getting on with yours chilli?

We're off on holiday this week, finally get some sun. Been searching like a mad woman for cool, light clothing and ended up ording some madly expensive but beautiful abayas from inayah. They've not arrived yet but inshallah they'll be here before we go.

What has everyone else got planned?

Salams Lost and Crescent

Wait we don't know for sure it is Defuse. Could be fuzzy or one of the earlier posters on the thread. I wonder what happened to HardlyEverHoovers and Nailak. I think they have much stronger will power then me to get themselves off mumsnet.

Lost that's nice about your holiday. I hope its somewhere nice, hot and friendly. Thanks for reminding me about inayah haven't been on there website for a while and clicking on your link made me see they have some new items. Time to add to my collection.

Crescent I know what you mean. I have been feeling really depressed this week. So much negativity in the news. I had to put a ban on myself from reading anymore. The problem is not just the articles though its reading the comments underneath that is the problem. Wallahi I just feel so much anger I just had to stop myself from reading anymore. But you know what to a certain extent I think its good for them to lay the cards on the table. It makes it clear what your up against. During the war on terror there was all this fake posturing about wanting democracy and human rights in the middle east. Now he is finally being honest and direct about what they really want which is an ideological/civilizational war to protect their own strategic interests. Just like during the cold war when cold blooded tyrannical dictators who tortured and killed thousands of their own citizens, were funded and supported by Western governments over legitimate, democratically elected left wing parties because of the West's fear of communism.

Anyway I don't want to get too negative and bitter. .

Fuzzy has posted since the password change, so I don't think it's her, I could be wrong though, I often am! It could be gosh, she hasn't posted for a little while. Haven't seen hardly, waynetta or nailak for aaaages.

We're not going anywhere halal friendly unfortunately, it's a villa with 16 of us and they'll all be drinking from 10am and having bacon butties for breakfast. Whilst my family are very accepting and make an effort to accommodate us, they don't ever stop to think we'll be offended or disagree with what they do. My sister gave my nephew a ham sandwich in my house the other day, of course he smeared it all over the floor, walls, rug and ds's toys. I was almost in tears but still couldn't stand up for myself and tell her to get it out of my house. Rant over!

I think I've said this a few times before but I struggle to relate to things happening on the other side of the world, I always had the view that they don't effect me directly so
I don't need to know. How naive and stupid of me. I think partly I just don't get it, I don't understand who's who and what views they have and if they're goodies or baddies. I'm reasonably intelligent, things like this go over my head.

Salaam all. Yep yep its me...defuse!!! Big hugs to everyone!!!! I have missed you all.

Although yes...where is hardly?

lost. I am confused ( admittedly, it doesn't take much to confuse me) but why were my messages in pink???

Welcome chilli - bad host here but i am glad that the rest of the lovely sisters have already given their style tips as i am pretty useless. I am not too good with hijab styles myself. I always think that i shall make more effort, i even attended a hijab workshop(!) but just dont have that 'drive' to spend more than 2 minutes on my hijab!! So do not look very glam! Lol!

Whilst i was trying to get myself a new login, it dawned on me that i actually miss you ladies when i cant communicate with you. RL dictates that on most days i cannot get on here until late, but not being able to even write a one-liner was getting me twitchy! . Thankfully, i was able to read everyone's input so that kept me sane. I Think i am slowly getting addicted to this site!

I havent been watching much news recently - kind of glad since i have read crescent's message about tony blair - It just winds me up. But then i Also get annoyed at not knowing what is going on in the world, so then i start reading/watching the news again....then i get wound up again and the whole cycle starts again! lost sis, i suppose current affairs have to be your 'thing' or interest for you to want to get into the detail of i guess . It kind of is my 'thing' to a certain level and that is why i then start reading and getting wound up. At least you spare yourself the misery. The palestinian/ israel talks breakdown (what a surprise!) has really upset me. Dont know why....not exactly the first time is it. Its just the sheer injustice in the world!

Must stop getting worked up over news!

Defuse/ELusive your messages show up as bright green on mine. There is a feature that allows you to highlight the posts of the OP.

Lost that sounds awful about your sister giving your son ham in your house. I wouldnt know how to react in that situation either. I think I would be so shocked by the audacity and rudeness of it. Half my relatives are non-muslim and we kind of stayed away from them as children partially because they lived abroad so we couldnt see them regularly anyway but also because my parents feared they would not respect their wishes if they were not present if you know what I mean. Also because they were evangelical christians who were very preachy with my df (their blood relative) and us. They didnt really bother with my mum. Lost cause. . However I do regret that we werent able to maintain a close relationship with them based on mutual respect but that was kind of my dfs fault. He kept up contact but didnt get us involved with them.

Its better not to watch or read up on the news as it saves you a lot of heartache. I cant read anything about Palestine anymore as I just start crying at how much injustice they have to face. The sad thing is that no one really has the will to do anything about it either. They make excuses that its too complicated but it really isn't, its just about doing the right thing which seems to be impossible for some to do. I seriously believe that stopping that genocide would bring about so much goodness in the world rather then keeping the situation in this limbo and hoping that the world's conscience will forget about the Palestinians. Which is probably what happened with the Native Americans and the Aborigines who still havent got justice to date. Anyway again too much negativity. Slap me out of it please with some positive news.

Ooh pink and green posts, i never knew you could highlight op posts. There is was, going through pages of threads trying to find op's posts on various topics. Had i known!

crescent. The hijab workshop was at a charity event. It was really good but i still knew that i just dont have the will power to use 2 or 3 scarves and make my hijab a work of art. I am also a flat hijab wearer except on special occasions when i do the wrap and wrap and wrap look. But that only happens twice a year if that!

Islamic finance is so important. We desperately need more shariah compliant type of products on the market. Hope it all happens quickly though. When i look back, i realise how much riba stuff i have already dealt with and thats despite trying not to!

I dong know what's wrong with my phone but I dont seem to be able to open any links crescent . Will try again later from the computer. Still on the hijab topic...I bought a necklace which I thought would accessorise my scarf quite well. Now I just need to put in the effort to actually put it on and make it look good