#mistphilly

In honer of International Women’s Day, we take a moment to honor all those women, present and past, who paved the way for change in how the female gender is viewed. Women like Khadijah (RA) ,Marie Curie, Sirimavo R.D. Bandaranaike, Mother Teresa, Oprah Winfrey, Emma Watson, Malala Yousafzai, Ibtihaj Muhammad, and more show us what it is to be a strong, independent, and beautiful woman. They did not let societal standards and boundaries stop them from achieving their dreams and make change in the world. Let them be role models as they had and continue to have an impact on the world. 

As Muslim youth, we face many struggles and hardships. From being discriminated against to judged on and being hurt by others, we face struggles on the daily. Despite this, we are also taught to be humble and respond with modesty, not only in the Qur’an but also the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW). Take the story of the old lady who used to throw trash at him every day as he passed by for example. When he noticed the old lady was not throwing trash one day, he learned that she was sick.  Instead of ignoring this and holding a grudge, he, peace be upon him, went to visit her and letting go her ignorance. This is one of the many examples we should live by.

This article, “37 Simple Ways to Make you Youth More Rewarding”, offers many tips that Muslim adolescents can incorporate into their daily life to make it more fulfilling. Our youth is very valuable and we should capitalize on it. Here is a list of the 37 tips:

1.    Avoid Complaining.

2.    Shun Ignorance.

3.    Make the Qur’an your Daily Manual.

4.    Uphold the Sunnah.

5.    Keep Good Company.

6.    Focus on the Positive.

7.    Take a Daily Step Towards your Goals.

8.    Set yourself up with some Accountability.

9.    Follow Up a Good Deed with Another.

10.                  Smile.

11.                  Listen.

12.                  Call Someone to Islam.

13.                  Show Gratitude for even the Simplest Act.

14.                  Spread Salaam.

15.                  Give Charity.

16.                  Forgive.

17.                  See No Evil, Hear No Evil.

18.                  Volunteer.

19.                  Never Stop Learning.

20.                  Accept Mistakes and Failures.

21.                  Check Yourself.

22.                  Stay Awake After Fajr.

23.                  Make Sincere Duaa for someone in His/Her Absence.

24.                  Keep Your Tongue Moist with the Remembrance of Allah (SWT).

25.                  Keep in Touch.

26.                  Honor Your Parents.

27.                  Make a Budget.

28.                  Keep Silent/Don’t Backbite.

29.                  Apologize when Wrong.

30.                  Watch What You Eat.

31.                  Go Offline.

32.                  Pray Tahajjud.

33.                  Ask Allah.

34.                  Practice What You Preach.

35.                  Get Active.

36.                  Enjoy Good Decent Jokes.

37.                  Relax.

Multiple of these tips have a great connection to this year’s MIST theme of, The Honor of Humility: Discovering Dignity in Challenging Pride. Tips 13, 24, 29,& 33 are the more obvious ones, but if you think deeply about each one, they each have a relation to the theme. For example, tip #24 can relate to modesty, as in smile no matter what has occurred and even if someone hurt you, you should always smile. Tip #2 can relate to the theme in the sense that we should ignore ignorance and work towards showing people what Islam really is, through humility. 

Overall, this article is a good read for any Muslim or Non-Muslim youth; everyone can benefit from it. 

Assalamualikum (peace be upon to you) to everyone! This is the official blog for Newark’s MIST team of 2019! Our team has run a blog for the past three years and we intend to continue that in the upcoming competition. 

Last year our two Tumblr admins were Tarek and Zumana. This year we, we have two new admins running the blog, Hassan and Minah. To learn more about us, as well as the rest of the team, be sure to click on the “Who Are We?” link on the navigation bar at the top of our blog. The theme of this year’s MIST is The Honor of Humility: Discovering Dignity in Challenging Pride. For any more information about MIST, how to get involved, etc. check out the links on the right side of this blog. 

This year, we hope to introduce more segments and features to this Tumblr. Through this blog, our teammates can stay more connected, get into the MIST spirit, and communicate with other people while spreading this year’s MIST Theme. This blog is not only for our teammates, but anyone else who stumbles across it. We hope you join us along this journey to MIST, on March 30th and 31st. Let’s get MISTified!