1. My name is Ruqayyah.  I live in the United States, but I was not born here.  I manage an online store called, Islaamic Visions. I was prompted to do this by a need to propagate Islam and inspire Muslims, especially young Muslims. I hope to inspire them to love their religion and share their knowledge and love of Islam with others at every opportunity, but we don’t always have to do this with our tongues, as the saying goes, “action speaks louder than words.” There is not much to tell, my life is pretty mundane.  I spend a lot of time on the computer.  I study online…I’m an indoors kind of girl.  I’m striving towards a degree in Early Childhood Education, my main aspiration towards choosing this degree is so that I can home school my children in the future Insha Allah…no I don’t have any children yet.

2. From what I’ve seen, there is an identity crisis.  Islamic history is rich with ahadith, sunnah, and ethics.  We have Ahlul Bayt, Lady Khadijah mother of ‘the Lady of Light’, Fatimah Al-Zahra, Lady Zaynab.  We hear about them during Muharram and all through the year at Majalis.  We have Imam Ali, his sons, and Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.a.), peace be upon them all.  What I’m getting at is that there is little sign that we have accepted them, especially when it comes to hijab.  Our hijab should be the best hijab, because of the sacrifices they made.

3. I beg you to respect physical hijab and social hijab, don’t imitate the women of the west, leave off the makeup and perfume when you leave the house, the angels refuse to be near you when you do this, and remember if one strand of hair is shown you’ll be hung from that hair in the Hellfire, that’s the seriousness of hijab. Choose Allah as your best friend, because it’s not easy to please others as it is to please Allah, no one can give you a reward better than Allah’s reward.

4. a) I thought of moderating my own forum, but I don’t have the time, and your forum for young sisters is becoming popular, so I suggest that you have a section that’s like an ‘advice column’.  In this section there can be topics such as education, hijab, social and family life, personal hygiene and so on, then older sisters in these fields of work can be invited to answer questions.  There should be some way to have people be anonymous if they want to.

b) Maybe a section for Islamic laws and rulings for women only.  I think there is a lot young sisters don’t know or understand about how to carry about themselves.