NEWS - China's first female astronaut meets media

China will launch the Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft at 6:37 p.m.
Saturday and send the country's first female astronaut into space.

When is enough, enough?

Asalaamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu dear brothers and sisters,
I have a very serious problem that I would like to be advised. I am
married coming up on my 1 year anniversarry however I am not sure If
we will make it. Long story short; my husband iscompletely against
vaccinations. For himself and for his family. We all know if we go to
Hajj we will have to be vaccinated to leave the country. He says that
hes not against Hajj but WILL NOT BE VACCINATED in order to go.He says
they are poison and trash and serve no benefit at all.
When we were speaking about marriage he never once brought this up.
Onlywhen I became pregnant he started talking about it.First he was
very unbiased, watching documentaries with me and being very open.
However, the more pregnant I became the more aggressive he became with
his views. When asked how come you never told me your view about this
he claims that "he forgot" due to theexcitement of meeting. And that
ultimately he felt"I thought that I could get you to listen to me."
I had a terrible pregnancy due to this and was under terrible stress
all the time. So bad that my last trimester I was put on high blood
pressure meds.He told me that if I planned to vaccinate our baby then
we would have some problems. And furthermore that WE WILL NOT have
anymore kids together unless I agree not to vaccinate! That is the
ultimate ultimatum. Amongst all of this, our love life starts to
dwindle. Before we met in person I had lost about 75lbs and was still
losing weight so Icould be as healthy as possible.
He was attracted enough to talk to me and obviously marry me. However
as soon as I hit about 2-3 months of pregnancy (gained about 5-6 lbs
in that time) he didn't want to touch me. And no it wasn't because he
thought he would hurt the baby or looked at me as fragile. Ultimately,
he admitted that he wasn't attracted to my changing body due to the
pregnancy. Of course that crushed me, as it would any woman, or any
first time mother. I chalked it up as him being immature, selfish, new
husband etc. This was at 3 months pregnant imagine having to go
through that for another 6?
Now Alhumdulilah I have a beautiful son who is 3 months old. I have
began my excercise routine and am only about 15lbs from my previous
pre baby weight. Unfortunately, ourintimacy has not changed. He still
says that I am not attractive enough to motivate him to do his duties.
When I look at his internet history they are full of porn sites. I
told him that he can't have a marriage and an affair with porn. Which
one is it going to be I asked, the internet or me? "Get fit" he says.
Of course we are supposed to be attracted to our spouse but how canyou
make your wife feel this way after giving you such a blessing?
I don't know what to do. Ultimately, if we did counseling and
everythingis forgiven, the bottom line is that I have to be with
someone who has told me I will never be a mother again unless I don't
vaccinate. If we continue to be married.
Please help!
Your's sabeena furvin/

Of duas and fears

I am someone who prays a lot to Allah. I ask for everything. I really
believein the powers of dua.
I am going through a hardtime lately and feel depressed. I've been
reciting "hasbinullahu wa ni'mal wakeel, ni'mal maula wa ni'mun
naseer". Alhumdullillah it has always helped me.
Lately, I found that you could also recite ayat-e-kareema when you are
distressed. I've always known that ayat-e-kareema is very effective
and powerful dua but I once heard it from a friendthat you shouldn't
mispronounce any word of it or else it could backfire.
So, I always felt reluctant reading it. Then lately, I thought, what
the heck, I'llread it carefully as I think it's a beautiful dua but
thecurious cat in me wanted to be sure so I googled it. Ifound it's
"jalali" i.e something you shouldn't recite in excess amounts and
should be read after getting permission from a shaikh or a scholar,
both of which didn't make sense to me so I disapprove. However, one of
the answers on anothersite said that as it is a verypowerful dua it
shouldn't be read for every small matter as it creates emergency in
heavens, so this dua should be recited only in times of real hardships
or calamities.
First it made sense to me then it didn't. I mean whatis a calamity?
Who will define what level of my hard times is declared calamity for
me? or how would I know my hard time isn't really hard for me. So, I
save it for the real hard times? and suppose if I read it when my
resulting is coming outand I fear I will fail, can't I recite it? Or
will I be violating the gravity of thedua?
Now some other questions regarding dua:
Suppose, if it does create"emergency" for the fulfillment of dua, is
that abad thing? I mean nobodycan force the will of Allah
(nauzobillah) and only if He wills it, it will happen. Besides, Allah
likes it whenwe keep asking Him in supplications, right?
Having said that, a question arises in my mind, can it happen that
Allah grants us something which is bad for us? I mean sometimes like
people say, when your dua isn't answered, something better is in store
for you. But if you still ask for it and you get it after a good time,
does it mean, the better was dismissed and you insteadgot what wasn't
really good for you?
A friend of mine once said: don't ask Allah what you want. Ask Allah
to give you what is good for u. I, however, believe that you should
ask Allah what you want and if He wills it, he may make it better for
you and grant it. He is after all, all powerful! Is my approach wrong?
Also, how long is too long? how long should you keep asking for dua?
Is there any limit to it? Sometimes, months go by and your dua is
still unanswered. Is that a sign that you should stop? and if you
stop, will all your previous duas be"expired" or you should think they
are pending and will be answered when the right time will come and
move on with your life? or keep making the dua?
Finally, an issue that's not really an issue but sometimes I panic to
thinkabout it. My mom went to an astrologer and asked her how my
future would be (I've recently found that it's a major shirk, I have
since repented and I will never try finding about my future from any
source whatsoever). So, this astrologer tells my mom that I would have
a very difficult married life. (this was supposedly told by another
astrologer too)so, I shouldn't think about marriage in near future. I
should instead focus on studying and possibly go abroad.
Anyhow, I know that no astrologer has any authority of predicting
myfuture. only, Allah knows best. yet, sometimes I fear what if it
comes true. NOT because the astrologer said so, but because I believed
it to be true for a long time, before hearing it from any astrologer.
I don't know since when, I developed this fear that I would have
difficulties in my married life. They say, when you fear something
strongly, it comes true. Now, I don't know how to get this fear out of
my mind. Although, I have overcome it but since I'm not gonna listen
to this astrologer and insha'Allah I am gonna marry in near future if
God wills it but sometimes, just sometimes my mind shiftsto "what
if?".
Could it happen that my marriage was destined to be at the age of 30(
happily married) but I findsomeone at 25 and pray to Allah that I be
married to him and my prayers areanswered and I do get married but I
face difficulties after it. Could it be that the dua changed my qadr?
Since I've chosento marry early?
Please tell me I should geta life and hold onto the rope of Allah even
more strongly and instill some sense into me. I really need to hear
some words of wisdom and good advice.
Thank you for reading sucha long post!
- Naseem

Wife has left me andwants to become a film actress

I am a 40 year male. Got married 10 years back. First 3 years of
unforgettable happiness and complete compatability.
Daughter born after complicated pregnancy during which wife stayed
with her parents. I visited frequently and talked daily. Another 2
years of near bliss.
Wife stayed at her parentsplace for higher studies. We would visit
each other frequently and go on vacations. Arguments and stubbornness
started. She became abusive and slightly violent. But fondness ,
understanding and openness continued. She came in touch with her
ex-boyfriends (including the one she wanted but did not marry due to
different religion) but she told me everything. She became very
materialistic and self-centered and tried to persue her dream of
becoming a film actress.
After 6 years of marriage she told me to keep my daughter and release
her from marriage. I tried to convince her. She went to her parents
place.
I talked to her parents but they only abused me. I told them some of
her very unholy habits / deeds( which cannot be written)but instead of
counselling her they abused me.
I continued to visit her at her parents place where I was almost (with
rare exceptions) regularly abused, insulted and threatened. On one
such visit, they crossed all limits- threatened to shoot me, throw me
out of the house, etc.. I stopped going to her parents place.
I loved her, cared for her like no person I have known, had dreams for
my daughter and was hoping good sense would prevail.
My in-laws are very far from Islam though they pretend otherwise. Like
they will tell others they are fasting and at home feast and laugh
about it.
I send gifts and letters to my 11 year old daughter whom I love more
than anything.
Now my wife has gone to Imam for annulment of marriage : fasak-e-nikah.
I am confused about why this happened, what should be my response,
what will happen to my daughter and other consequences.
Also why she has gone for fasak-e-nikah instead of khula.
Any frank opinions, advise,dua, guidance ?
Many thanks.