Tas Talks Tuesday: Tragedies Pt. 1

Assalamualaikum everyone! I hope you are all well and to those taking part, Ramadan Mubarak! I hope your fasts are going easy for you In'Sha'Allah (God willing). Today's topic is going to based around tragedies as a whole, mostly focused on murders and wars. I hope to interest you in some of my thoughts and the way I look at these social tragedies. As always, thank you for the support and enjoy reading lovelies!

"Killing under the cloak of war is no different than murder"

- Albert Einstein

 

 

I take it everyone is aware of the situation that's been occurring in Palestine for decades yet has gained more recognition from society these last couple of weeks. The media has shown the deaths of Israeli's and hasn't quite touched upon the Palestinian horrors. Constant bombing, mass murder. It's isn't a war, it's genocide.

 

 

Now many people that I've seen on social media have been accusing others of mourning over Israeli people's deaths. Why? A death is a death no matter what. Somebody loved that person, somebody cared for that person, now they're gone. They will not return upon this earth. I'm not Pro Israel and I support Palestine all the way, but this isn't about who's side we are on: its about doing the right thing. To my readers, to my fellow mourners, to the people who abuse the state of this conflict, to the people of social media, I ask you to please not tell anyone who they should mourn for and who they shouldn't. Let me explain before you decide to judge my opinion and think it's wrong.

 

 

In this case, innocent people are dying from both sides. There isn't a stop to it. There are innocent civilians in both Israel AND Palestine whether you like it or not. You cannot deny this simple fact. Let's think and forget about religion for one second. You do not have to be a Muslim to support Palestine. You just have to be human. There is no denying that what's occurring right now is the least bit humane. Videos and images have spread like wildfire on social media of death, death and more death. Without reading the caption, all I see are battered and wounded civilians. I scroll down and I see these absurd comments which states that those people deserved to die because they were Israeli, or they were a Jew, or they were Palestinian or they were Muslim. DISGUSTING!

 

 

I am outraged by the other comments coming from ignorant people, people of all colours, all religions, commenting on the fact that Hitler "should've killed all the Jews", or that "Muslims are evil and should all die. America should've nuked them". It hurts my heart. It really does. I sit there scrolling down on my phone, trying my best to reply to all these comments yet I get attacked for it because I'm either a "raghead", a "terrorist" or a "paki" - and for that, my opinion automatically isn't taken into account and is ignored. And that's not even the worst part. What makes my blood boil is the fact that people tell me that I shouldn't condemn Israeli civilian deaths. Who are you to tell me who I should or shouldn't care for. I don't care what colour, race or religion these civilians are from. They are still civilians at the end of the day. Once again, I will say this. I support Palestine. I always have and always will. But how dare you tell me I'm wrong for feeling sad that other people of another religious sect have died? They are not my enemies. They are NOT my enemies! There is no such thing in Islam.

 

 

I realise that some people may take this the wrong way. All I'm saying is that you, as a Muslim, a Christian, a Hindu, a Jew and a human, you should never mock the deceased. That crosses a line. As a Muslim woman, yes it is my duty to help out my Muslim brothers and Sisters in Palestine, but that doesn't mean I should just stop caring about other civilians dying too. Yes my Palestinian brothers and sisters mean the world to me, well so do my Syrian brothers and sisters, so do my Somalian brothers and sisters. I could go on and on but I feel like I'd be repeating myself until you've got the point.

 

 

I pray to God that these abusive commenters have time to reflect upon what they've written. As a human, you do not have the right to tell someone who they should and shouldn't mourn for. It isn't fair.

 

 

There are so many tragedies that occur within this world. So many forgotten ones too. This Palestinian conflict was also forgotten until recently. To all those who have been taking part in the protests and petitions, Ma'Sha'Allah. May Allah SWT continue to bless you and your righteousness. I hope that we all pray for those who have been murdered and massacred. I hope we all see that religious opinions shouldn't break us apart. I hope we have all learnt a lesson that an innocent persons death is still sad. Just as sad as the next. These are children dying, mothers dying, disabled people dying, fathers dying. People being imprisoned for no reason. Palestinians are being labelled as terrorists because all they're doing is retaliating. That is all.

 

I hope you understand what points i've tried to put across. I know for a fact some people may take this the wrong way., but don't. Understand what I'm trying to say rather than jumping to conclusions. Let us all take the time out of our days as they pass to sincerely pray for the lives that have been lost due to this genocide, as well as the other (civil)/wars occurring too. Here are some links below in which you can help the people of Palestine by signing a quick online petition. This is only part 1 of this 'Tragedy' blog post.

 

 

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/67165

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/condemn-apartheid-state-israel-their-human-rights-violations-against-palestinian-peoples/CjmPSCsG

http://www.islamic-relief.org.uk/about-us/where-we-work/palestine/?tmad=c&tmcampid=8&tmplaceref=PLACEREF&tmclickref=[keyword]&gclid=Cj0KEQjwopOeBRC1ndXgnuvx8JYBEiQAq4RPt5abbFS5qjLumKqD0z58jHv1evfZdjk2h4m133fogMwaArxz8P8HAQ

 

 

As always, you can email me for any queries, blog post suggestions or advice at tasahmedadvice@gmail.com

 

 

SALUTATIONS x

Tas Talks Tuesday: Anxiety

Oh hey. Guess what? I'm back.

Assalamualaikum my ravishing readers. I hope you are all well and are excited due to the summer holidays peeping just around the corner! Yes, I am back and better than ever! Believe that. I was away for what seems like a century because of the fact that I had my GCSE exams and wanted to spend all my time focusing on revision. In'Sha'Allah (God Willing) it paid off. I'm dreading for August: results day *gasp*

In my previous blog post promised you I would make my blogs even better, fully committing to post two posts every month without excuse. I am here to fulfil that promise. Expect bigger and better blog posts and videos! Help a sister out and subscribe to my channel if you haven't already :) So today's topic of discussion is something I'm not too comfortable talking about with people face to face, so why not talk about it over the internet? Anxiety.

Start off by watching my video below and come right back to finish off reading this blog post. I apologise on the 'not so good' quality of the video but I assure you, my next videos will be much better as I have a new camera with better sound quality! Thank you for your patience and continued support. I appreciate you all.

http://youtu.be/R4HIaOhrp14

Let's start off with the simple explanation of what anxiety is and what it can do to a person. In a nutshell, the dictionary definition of anxiety is a "general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying." This 'disorder' which people class anxiety as can affect someone is a very negative way. It affects a persons behaviour, how they think and impacts and manifests real physical symptoms, something I want to personally share with you all. That's what a health website says. I'll give you my side of the story.

I 'diagnosed' myself with Anxiety almost 2 years ago when I started Year 10 - a very important year which impacted GCSE grades. It was all just an 'illness' at first, feeling horrible, hot, sick and agitated. I thought it was going to last maybe a week maximum.. boy was I wrong.
I started to realise how flustered I was getting and I honestly thought it was because my Hijab (headscarf) was wrapped too tight or the scarf itself was too thick. My 'symptoms' got worse throughout October to December and I honestly thought I had a real illness, but I didn't. I realised that as soon as I entered a classroom with this 'sick' feeling, I started panicking a lot. My hands would shake, my legs would shake and I had horrid thoughts at the back of my mind all the time. "Tasneem, everyone's going to look at you if you're sick", "Tasneem, you're going to fail your GCSE's if you don't stop shaking", "Tasneem stop". Voices in my head telling me to stop worrying but I lost control of myself. I couldn't tell myself what to think, all I wanted to do was to get out of the classroom - fast! And that's what I did. Every single time I kept getting these symptoms, I asked the teacher to let me out of the classroom to go to the medical room because I "felt sick". I did honestly feel physically horrible and ill but I was emotionally drained. It got to a point where I had to carry a bag around with me everywhere just in case I had a panic attack.

After the Christmas holidays, I came back to school with full on "worry mode". Throughout my holidays I kept thinking about how to deal with my stress from school along with other problems, whether it be family or friend related. I never got the time to "relax" during year 10. Never. I wouldn't let myself. My motto was to work hard and achieve my best otherwise those voices would tell me that I'm going to fail my exams.

The year went on where it was towards the summer holidays and the end of year 10 and my panic attacks worsened until I was able to confide in one of the teachers at my school. Long story short, I was learning relaxation and breathing techniques which I thought wouldn't help, but it honestly did, just a bit. I knew that this summer was the only time where I could relax because when I came back to school, I would be in Year 11 - my GCSE year! I guess it got better because I knew how to deal with my panic attacks but it was annoying whenever I had to leave the room, whether it be once a week or once in a blue moon! The thought of me missing even 20 minutes of a lesson just added to my "meter of worry". I didn't want a stupid disorder to affect my grades which would stay with me for the rest of my life. There were good days where there were no panic attacks, there were bad days where I felt like panicking but got over it and then there were horrible days where I missed a lesson because of a panic attack. It seriously frustrated me.

My "symptoms" stemmed from me being constantly stressed. Because of my Anxiety problems, my every day life isn't the same. I worry about the littlest things from missing my bus to job interviews. My life has changed but the most important thing is that I know how I can better my situation and calm myself down. There will be times where I feel like I need to leave a room due to the fear of the room "closing in on me", especially with many people in the room, but that's okay. I've learnt that it's not my fault and that I am in control of my mind. It's okay to panic sometimes guys.

Yes, I guess I sort of suffer from claustrophobia as well but that's okay too. I personally know some people who suffer from it as well which makes it better for me because I know I'm not alone.

I guess there was a constant fear of me thinking that it's only happening to me when it could happen to anyone. I don't want YOU to feel like you can't speak about your anxiety to someone. I don't want you to feel alone. I don't want you to worry.

 

 

You may think I'm just saying this (but I'm not), but praying was definitely a way for me to escape reality and just 'trust the process'. I didn't want to be so caught up with the world, I just wanted to be in my OWN world, just for a few minutes. It didn't hurt. It didn't waste time. It was "me time", something I didn't regularly get to have.

 

I battle with Anxiety and I won't ever be 'cured'. It's not a disease. It doesn't define me or what I stand for. It's something that makes me stronger, emotionally. I can now deal with things I thought I could never deal with. Thank you Anxiety.

 

What I want you to take from this is the fact that you may or may not suffer anxiety but if you do, don't be scared. Don't let it control your thoughts. It's hard to fight the voices, the fear, the nervousness, but you can do it. Seek someone to speak to before you let this 'disorder' control who you are. Learn breathing techniques. I'm not going to guarantee you that it'll work straight away because you need to master them. Trust the process, seriously. It takes time to perfect and learn properly but in the long run, it'll be worth it. Count the blessing you have and be thankful for everything. Here is another website which I used to help me personally deal with anxiety. Click here.

 

 

"You were given this life because you were strong enough to live it"

 

And that's a wrap! Thank you for reading this long blog post. Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel. My GCSE exams went better than I expected so I'm so grateful. I didn't let my anxiety get to me. I stayed in control! Stay positive. It always gets better my darlings.

 

You can e-mail me for any queries or problems you have at tasahmedadvice@gmail.com

 

As always,

SALUTATIONS x