Starting a Blog

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

I am never really sure how to start a blog. Especially, if the blog has a personal nature. There is something strange about opening up in a very public way and writing for an audience that does not exist and may never exist.

Let’s do this first post like an introduction and then there after I will write as if this blog has a long long history with many readers.

In the past I have owned a very popular Islamic Forum, I have blogged about controversial issues and many mundane ones as well. I recently tried joining an Islamic forum but I find them boring or if not boring they are a place of fitna, either between genders or endless arguments that do not benefit and therefore a waste of time. I also tried using facebook, which has some uses but ultimately was a source of trouble for me. If someone asks about that I might go a little deeper but for now lets leave it at ‘I don’t like facebook’. With all my free time and a lack of interesting Web sites, I have decided to start this blog about my family and myself. It will be personal but also I hope that it will be beneficial and useful.

All right, enough with the why let’s get to the who.

I’ll start with myself, not because, I feel that I am the most important but because this blog will be a collection of writings about events from my perspective. My name is Abdullah. I reverted to Islam in 1999 from a Southern Baptist – Christian background. It is important to know that I absolutely detest Christianity. I am also 100% opposed to the retardation that is democracy. In fact, never having voted in any election is in the top five things I am most proud of in my life. My accepting Islam is the first of course. I love coffee. I am trying to be a Web developer. I have been working with PHP for a little while and more recently I started creating Web sites using the Zend Framework. I am a huge fan of Open Source software. I hate Windows and anything Microsoft… to the point of being unjust. However, I recently read somewhere that Microsoft may start contributing to PHP, which could very well change my opinion of MS some degree. I love Ubuntu and Firefox.

Moving along…

I have been married since 2003 to a beautiful woman, who I absolutely adore. She may contribute to this blog from time to time.. well I suggested that she could but who knows if she ever will. I have two daughters and a third child on the way. My oldest is four years old. It has been a very exciting year for her, she started school and madressa. Masha Allah, she has learned the Arabic alphabet before the English alphabet. I hope to put her in a full time Islamic school next year, so that she can get her Islamic eduction along side her secular education. My second is my darling. She has a very special place in my heart. In just three years that little girl stole my heart in a way I didn’t think was possible. Before my girls’ birth, I didn’t and couldn’t feel anything towards them and with my first there was such competition to just hold her that I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to. Even things that should have been my exclusive right were almost taken from me. It was my place to whisper the adhan in her ear for the first time but my wife’s uncle tried to step in… I had to fight him for that. It was to the point that as my wife, the baby and I went to sleep I was wishing that the baby hadn’t come. With the second, it was completely different. I dressed her for the first time and said the adhan in her ear and recited suratul fatiha to her and we were alone my little girl and me, just the two of us. It was a very special bonding period. I hope I have that same opportunity with the third. Another reason for my closeness to my second child is I think she is the most beautiful girl I have even seen, masha Allah. When I look into her eyes I melt. We also spend a lot of time together because she has autism and it is difficult for my wife to look after both the girls together. I think her autism plays a big part in my feeling close to her, although it is difficult there is nothing like having a child with special needs.

I think this has been enough of an introduction to my family and me. I thank you for reading. Feel free to comment. If you have an Islamic blog let me know about it. Who knows if I like it you might find yourself on the blogroll.

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

Your brother in Islam Abdullah