Bismillah

My last final was on the 13 and I am feeling pretty good. Not really about my grades but about my chill time. Masha’Allah. I haven’t had chill time since I started school and wasn’t working. Yeah, I miss those day, and after I get my deploma,,,, whos to say I’ll simply stay at home once again… Until I need to get a job that is LOL.

Need to get a real job that is. I do need to work and since the semester comming I have only two days a week to be at the IUPUI campus, the weekends Insha’Allah will be me working. I know, I’m getting a lot of negative feedback about my decision, but you know it’s one of those things you gotta do for yourself. I know I am in school, taking care of a 2 year old, and running a house hold but I can try one more thing. If it’s too much than we can reevaulate the situation. But until then…. Allah is most Merciful.

Check out my face book account under Taubah Blackman. If you’re apart of face book we can be friends!!! YAY. I think face book is pretty cool. Oh yeah, it’s facebook.com I love it. I just got reconnected with some people from Roxborough in Philly my old highschool. You I ended up not graduating with them, it was so sad for me. I moved here to Indiana the summer before my senior year. I was heart broken. Had to leave some wonderful classmates and teachers. To go directly to my account click on this “http://iupui.facebook.com/home.php” and tell me what you think. I have a picture up there but I’m going to change it to a better one. I don’t have many pics of myself since my daughters been alive… LOL every mothers claim I guess. Anyway, check it out and halla back at me.

Bismillah

Is it wine or is it vinegar, what a question. When going to the store have you ever stopped by the vinegar section and wondered why some vinegar bottles say white wine vinegar, or red wine vinegar. Ever wondered if this means that the vinegar is not halal to use? Ever wonder whether it is vinegar or wine? Well, I’ve been doing some research on this topic and found very interesting information. Some that has added some new taste to my cooking.

According to http://www.leeners.com/vinegarmaking.html vinegar can be made out of just about any type of food. Any Fruit, grape, honey, surgar, molasses they say even maple sap or syrup. Apparently the fruit or what ever you decide to vinegarise has to go through the fermenting processes. It ferments to Alcohol and continues the processes of fermentation until it reaches the stage of vinegar. This means that the substance has undergone a chemical change from being for example a simple grape with the natural juices to Alcohol then another chemical change to vinegar.

According to http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/AceticAcid/AceticAcid.html
vinegar is 4 to 8 percent acetic acid. It states:

“Vinegar is formed from dilute solutions of alcohol, such as wine, by the action of certain bacteria in the presence of oxygen. These bacteria require oxygen, and the overall chemical change is the reaction of ethanol with oxygen to form acetic acid and water. The name, vinegar, comes from the French, vin aigre, which means “sour wine.” Nevertheless, vinegar may also be obtained from other fermented beverages such as malt or cider.”

So you see, you take a few white or red grapes and you brake them down into liquid form. Then you let them go under the processes of fermentation. After the processes is complete and the grape juice has successfully undergone the chemical change into Alcohol you take that white or red grape wine and continue the process of fermentation until get undergoes another chemical change whereby the substance is now vinegar. Which leaves the name white or red wine vinegar.

Well, science… chemistry to be exact lets us know that this vinegar is then Halal because it is no longer alcohol and therefore no longer has the basis of the Najis or impurity within it.

But don’t take my word for it:

According to: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503544262
under the Fatwa ask a scholar section Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradawi states:

“What I see is that if wine changes into vinegar, it becomes pure and lawful as it has changed from its original state and this requires a new ruling as is the case with all other converted impurities regardless of whether this occurs naturally or by human interference. Wine itself is a pure substance as it was made from grapes. After becoming an intoxicant, it becomes prohibited. Once it changes and lacks the intoxicating characteristic, it regains its original ruling. “

Another : fromhttp://www.al-islam.org/laws/al-khui/3.htm in the fatwa Islamic Law
this statement was given by Ayatullah Koei

“Change (Inqilab)

202. If vinegar is prepared from grapes or dates and particles of their skins are also with them there is no harm in it. There is also no harm in putting into it cucumber orbrinjal or any other such thing even before their becoming vinegar unless they become intoxicating before becoming vinegar.”

From all of this I will deduce and have done so that this type of vinegar is halal. And you know…. It’s good too Masha’Allah LOL

And Allah knows best,

Wa Ma’salaama!!!

Hello World!!!!!!! Salaams!

This is December first and it came in with a BANG! I woke up this morning to go to school and take Zahra to Tammy’s house (my sister in law) and what was going on outside? SNOW!! Yes ma’am snow snow snow. And I took a bunch of with Zahra and the snow and all that good stuff. I’ll show you them once I get them up on the computer Insha’Allah. What does this mean… oh yes, 28 more day Insha’Allah for my BIRTHDAY! YAYAYAYAYAYAY I’ll be 22 years of age. I don’t know what I want to do for my birthday yet though. I have some ideas that I’ve run by my husband but I’m not sure exactly what it will be.

Insha’Allah Zahra is having another party but this time we’re throwing it at our house. That is better I think. Besides she’ll be more comfortable Insha’Allah.

I’ve been working on my final papers for my two English classes. One is actually a portfolio for Creative writing English class. I have to get all these, up to six, creative works perfect for the portfolio. We turned in six different works in class throughout the semester. So now we are revising each one according to the group critiques and the professors suggestions. It’s been tough. She has been really tough for the revising period. It’s good though Masha’Allah. I, so far, have only One out of my six writings basicly finished in revision to the point where I think I will get an ‘A’ on it. That is a poem. My others are: 2 fictions stories, and a creative non-fiction piece. The rest are poems. So I’ve got a lot to do in that class Masha’Allah.

Then for my other English class which is a Composition class, I have to turn in a 12 page research paper. Not just a little research paper, but serious research about Native Americans. Any topic concerning them. I thought that was very interesting. We’ve been working on this form of writing for the entire semester and it has been wonderful. Using mad research of Native Americans to come up with our own topic of research. I am loving it really. It’s just a lot of hard work. It’s due on the 12 of December and I’m getting a little scared. I’ve learned so much about Native Americans that I feel really bad about their history. It’s sad and I really don’t understand why so many people don’t even care about what they have been and what they are currently going through. I wasn’t even aware that so many Tribes still are in America and that in Indianapolis alone there are over 6000 Native Americans. There is just soo much to learn about them. My current topic is called :

Cultural Appropriation:
Is hip hop revealing Native Sacred Traditions?

It’s talking about the current generation of Native Americans who are singers and rappers. They are, or at least a number of them rap and sing about the traditions of Native Americans. A number of Native Elders do not agree that they should be revealing their traditions and they should stop because they are sacred.

I think this is interesting and I pray I get all the facts correct. Insha’Allah Allah will guide me through both papers.