Shout out!!!

First of all, God bless my sister, and bless all the kitchen effecient women who coupled with their many other duties work their noses out to serve us the 'suhoor' and 'iftar' we desire, and on time.

Secondly, shame on all histrionically 'fasting and furious' men who act like they're the only ones fasting, or think it is not manlike to share in the chores. If you cannot do anything, not even as little as serving dessert, say "thank you." Gratitude is godliness.

Lastly, shout out to a special 'yehka' from a special someone. I know she reads my posts so, to her I say "thank you." If God truly listens to hearts and not the lips, let y'all women say Ameen because this is from the bottom of my heart; I don't butter up.

Before salvation, you'll be tested...

And because God will always test us to see how well we will be able to restrict or limit ourselves from doing the things He said we shouldn't, to ascertain our ability to endure, and to see how tolerant and prayerful we will be under tests that may seem provocative, or to see if we will accept and regard His Will as always proper.

I am not pretending to be a scholar because I am not. But one thing I think I know is that His tests sometimes have a primary and a secondary object: being you that is being tested and the transgressor or oppressor that He uses as the means by which your test is transmitted. May He give us the gift of patience and understanding, and not test us with that which we wouldn't be able to pass.

Not all what you call yours is yours...

Just because it is locally sewn doesn't mean it is all African. It may surprise you that apart from the "Fattaro" and the "Samba kuka," half the stuff you call "African dresses" aren't totally African. Even the African wax prints and the batik that may look like ours are hijacked; Dutch and Indonesian respectively.

Your very popular Mbasanj-riche and Getzner textiles are originally from Switzerland and Austria respectively, your favourite lace is from England, and half your waxes are Dutch. The Ankara fabric as the name implies is the capital of Turkey. So... well, maybe the design into which it is sewn is what's African?

But the only things we upgrade these days are our gadgets, even if it means downgrading our human qualities and conditions.... perhaps the reason why you find Android version 6 and iOS 8 smartphones in the hands of stupid fools.

Respect...

So, decency demands steadfastness in adherence to the sense of integrity. I don't know about y'all but me, no matter how much I try, I just cannot re-respect after losing respect in what I once respected.

Dear God, whenever the things I see one here begin to take possession of my mind, please help me to remember that there is more to life than appearances that are largely cosmetic.

This applies to all beliefs...

In Islam, despite the hostile and destructive behaviour with which it is painted, adherents are encouraged to smile because it attracts rewards.

So about people and what they believe in? Speak to those who are truly informed, those who matter, those whose way of life it is - live amongst them, befriend them, listen to them without prejudice and see firsthand, because Google can sometimes misinform.

For the record, I am not blaming Google for that. It is only a search engine that helps queries to be able to fetch pages deemed relevant. Authenticity of the information provided or the motive of the page originator is not Google's business.

If you can't, don't...

"Walking away from anything or anyone that holds you hostage is very liberating." So, from when you know you are not built for that kind of stress, don't mind who says you can beat it. Just break off!

Granted, God may give the hardest to the strongest, but that is no silver bullet for all emotional problems. God doesn't weigh heavily on anyone, people do. God is perhaps made the scapegoat because He wouldn't deign to deny.

Your choice, make it...

In this life, just as there is always certain to be something to like, or not to like, and of course the probability to be right or wrong about it, it is always certain that every choice you make, no matter how monumental it may be to the shaping of your destiny, it will naturally be a wrong choice to someone somewhere.

Human-programmers will vehemently ridicule your choices just to protect theirs, or limit yours to their sometimes pointless ideals. But are you some software waiting to be written? So use your guts to make your own like it is your price to pay, knowing that the only difference between you and your baby niece's glove puppet is your will to, or not to choose, either ways, it is your call, a choice still.

All about self-worth..

Not all who find you usably desirable will find you valuable. That's a fact, but their wahala still, because in the end, all what matters is what you think of yourself, and most importantly the value you will assign to yourself and to your abilities.

Up it sis! "Be the kind of woman that makes other women want to be you."

Note to self...

In this age of dissimulation, and until humankind realises how incredibly rewarding it is to be legit, treat everyday like it's April fool's day and you'll never be disappointed.

Follow the rule: talk about what you know. Trust only after you have verified. Fallback but don't you ever falloff.

When they want you down, cheer yourself up like your home team's winning, knowing that whatever misfortune you may be caused to deem imminent may not be as close or as serious as it may appear to be.

When you admonish...

When you artfully admonish others in public, the audience that do not know the details may think you're acting in good faith, and the one whose dignity is being insulted is just overreacting, but whether your intention is truly sincere is what I doubt.

So, to curb unnecessary retaliations and to keep the dignity of the other man from injury, management trainers will say: "praise in public, correct in private,” "admonish your friends privately, but praise them openly," or “praise and reward loudly, blame quietly,“ etc.

Some matters may require open and spontaneous reactions, so that it wouldn't look like you are condoning it for others to feel entitled to emulate. But in all other respects, I don't think it is cool to wait until there is a crowd around to write off another person. I believe criticisms are best appreciated when done without the presence of the public.

Obviously...

Where there's a purposeful life, there's bound to be a lot of hating going on. You will hear it all; the good, the bad and the ugly. But from once you keep your nose to the grindstone and attach no importance to the trash being said, you will be fine, for an opinion that you do not value will not hurt you.

However, knowing how adversarial times are, if you still want to react to everything, or turn an argument against anyone who says something about you because you think you are built for it,  go for it. In fact you will earn my respect, IF society doesn't make you go nuts by November that is.

Anyone can be intelligent...

Albert Einstein said "the measure of intelligence is the ability to change." And if change as in growth is nobody's monopoly just as retardation is no one's entitlement, it is safe to say that yes, not everyone can be born a genius, but anyone can become intelligent.

According to Wikipedia, the word "intelligence" is derived from the Latin verb "intelligere," meaning: to comprehend or perceive. Me? I don't know how it got coined but the way I see it, intelligence is probably a portmanteau of "intellect" plus "diligence."

By that I mean a combination of carefulness and long-term effort to optimise the capacity of mind, to acquire knowledge, understand and apply it to practice, or in short, to enhance the ability to learn and to do better. Sometimes all the "effort" we need put in is to stop pretending that we know and ask much longer.

However, intelligence without willingness to affect or influence others in a good way is as good as a handbrake on a canoe. Like our material possessions, the human mind is wealth, hence "wealth of knowledge." The more it is used, the wiser the user. But ndeysaan, many of us prefer using material possessions to gain acceptance, and sometimes foolish enough to think we can buy intelligence, while seldom using the mind, and even when we do, we are so economical with it that the effect is mostly tragic.

Change as many times as you deem fit...

When your negative inclinations fade, and you reinvent yourself, or try to manifest who you truly are, Jay Z says everybody looks at you strange, and say you have changed. Like you have worked that hard to stay the same.

Me? Growing up, I was so noiseless that when something hilarious happens and I laugh, mom (RIP) will say "Omar sah rei na lolu." (Even Omar's laughing to that). So like herself, she encouraged me to be a teacher. But I was becoming too much of a chatterbox for my own liking. I remember each time I get pissed, I'll quit. In fact I resigned three times in six months. Social media came and made me a writer, but that too rubs some people the wrong way like I care.

If you ask me, humans are like the seasons of the year, so change as much as you can/want, provided by change you are not going to undergo a process of moral drought, or turn into everything you said you'd never be, like being selfish, greedy, wasteful, etc.

Being really rich is awesome...

You know why I like that Zozo guy in TFM's Wiiri- wiiri series? He is rich, and he knows how to treat his woman, or at least he acts like it, and so well. That's what's up! Rich people don't have time to be hating or inventing haters to bash on. If you see them, they're either assuring or promotive of success, and attracting more success.

When I say "rich people" I mean really, really rich people, not the ones you see on here making statements which at first blush may seem modest, but in fact a self-written biography of their seemingly splendid lifestyles.

Like: "wow, that's a nice phone you have, I got one when it was first released. I gave it to my uncle. Now I use a Note 4, my 6plus is not so user friendly. I am a smartphone maniac." You know, so much blah blah that you'll be like: "Okay dude, I got it! So, that bloody flow-product hard-touch of a "soft-touch" of yours is not the only phone you got." Mtcheew!

It's a wide world out there....

Because some of us have never stepped out of our comfort zones, we tend to see ours as the best thing since sliced bread. Like Mao Zedong said to his: "we think too small, like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view."

About that, my friend once traveled to Conakry. But before he left, and by the lifestyle of those Guineans he sees hustling round here, he thought Conakry wasn't that much of a city as his. So he went to T & T in Banjul, bought a pair of sneakers, Spalding to be exact, and some fake basketball apparels, thinking he was gonna be the dopest kid round there, but ask him.

Upon arrival in Conakry, and at his request, his host took him to the basketball court, introduced him to giants in authentic gears, and to a court he only saw on television. He didn't say what else he saw but dude came home humbled. See? You wouldn't know how splendid it is out there until you get to the end of your comfort zone (kudul tuki, du ham fu dehka nayhay).

Change of attitude...

Change of attitude happens when denial stops, because you cannot change for the better when you have this artful means of providing acceptable justifications for every wrong you do.

Our time is overly liberal, everything and everywhere is so sexualised, so infested with temptations that evasion, lowering of the gaze and guarding of modesty have become man's most difficult challenges. I know a lil something about that.

But what I also know is that there is more hope for those who accept their wrongs with some sense of guilt than those who try to justify theirs, for theirs will naturally become a habit. May God guide us all! 

These words have values. .....

Olof Njie neh xaliss Sosseh la. Borr Serer la. Alleli jambour Peul la. Ndik xaliss Conteh la sant. Borr sant Feye/Faye, Alleli jambour, Bah.

According to Olof Njie, money is Mandinka, a debt is Serer and someone else's property is Peul or Fula, because money is to be counted and count meaning "Conteh" in Wolof is a Mandinka surname. Debts must be repaid and to repay in Wolof is "feye/Faye," a Serer surname. That which belongs to someone else is to be left off, and "Bah" meaning to leave off in Wolof is a Peul/Fula surename.

Who needs a life?

Contrary to what some people tend to think, the one who seems to spend a lot of time online, instagraming, twitting, facebooking and blogging because he can afford it doesn't need a life.

The one who needs a life is that employment-imposter who wakes up, goes to work to denounce colleagues, to gossip about who has what that he doesn't deserve, or who did what that he shouldn't do, then goes home pretending it was a busy day, gossips some more, watches "wiri wiri" or some other TFM programme, sleeps, wakes up to repeat the same cycle of nonsense.

Be nice, still...

As normally advantageous as being kind hearted is, it can sometimes make you vulnerable. Someone said: "having a good heart attracts beggars, liars, leeches, users, takers, the unappreciatives and the ungratefuls.." and for the most part, I agree.

Unfortunately, you wouldn't see the true colour of the ingrate until the hand of dependence shifts, and you start to need the person to be there for you, just as you used to be for him, or for the very same favours that you used to do him.

You wouldn't know how real ungratefulness is until the ingrate starts to do you things that will make you sit and wonder if he really was that same person whose entire subsistence and maintenance was once at the mercy of your intervention.

But if you ask me, be kind, no matter what, for if you think you cannot be more vulnerable, try inconsiderate and selfish. I swear down you will wake up in the middle of the night disturbed, wondering how everyone else is asleep and you are there thinking where to start to clean your conscience.

The price of fame...

If you spend the best part of your existence striving for greatness and recognition for what you do, as soon as you get there and people talk about you like they definitely will, sanity demands that you don't get so worked up over what is being said about you. The goal of what you have attained is not just for the hype thereof, but to create an identity that will inspire a great many even after you are long gone. See Muhammed Ali.

Hello?
Celebrity means the state of being famous or talked-about.

It cannot be favourable all the time. Haven't you heard some people say that Mandela was a sellout, Prophet Muhammad plagiarised the bible, and the current pope is a politician, but those are opinions for you. You can't stop them, especially today that the TMZs have made gossip a genre in contemporary media, it shouldn't be unusual for people to want to talk about famous people, just as it wouldn't be unusual to want to be associated with them.

If you know you are too sensitive to stand being at a position of attention, be nobody, or just stay behind, knowing that nobody will horn at a ride that's only following from behind.

Your name is what you make it...

The name Omar like mine is just a male given name, coincidentally the name of the second Islamic caliph and companion of our beloved prophet. In fact, I understand 'Omar bin al-Khattab' had his name even before embracing Islam.

So, just because someone is so named Omar doesn't mean he is a Muslim. You can be called Bruce Mendes and still be a Muslim. Islam doesn't necessarily have to play a part in everything an Omar is held responsible for. Your name is what you make it.

Just manage your emotions...

That feeling when someone gets all derisive on you, but so artfully that you didn't decrypt the intent of the mockery until later, then you hang in there hissing and hoping that the intensity of your agitation doesn't subside before you meet and give the person what you think he or she justly deserves.

Do you know that feeling? It will eat you up; don't allow it.

Today, when people know you're super sensitive, they will use whatever flaw you have against you; just to piss you off. I think there is some kind of enjoyment derived from observing angry comebacks. But from when you know, accept and try to manage the flaw like everyone has one, it can no longer be used against you.

Not so hard to behave...

The show of decurum that is embraced by all during Ramadan is first-hand proof that anyone can be wholeheartedly decorous, and everyone can deal with anyone in a sensitive manner, just as anyone can go against the standards of decency, defy all protocols of morality, and act cool like that. So, you see, the latter is not so hard a thing to refrain from after all, especially knowing how immature and classless it is.

Stop playing half-gods...

God judges people by their faith and by the content of their hearts, and these two criteria only. We on the other hand pass judgments on outward appearances, because that is as far as we can see.

Sometimes we judge others by our individual standards, like: "someone's doing something good because there is a personal gain in it for him. He's not selfless like that," or "don't take a word she says, she's cunning like that," and these prejudices are mostly because we are like that ourselves.

Guessing has become our chosen expertise, but unfortunately the root of most fuckups today; the evident reason why we are always making very wrong conclusions, getting on each other's nerves, and frequently changing the way we view issues or see one another.

If yesterday I did something you liked, I am a cool guy, despite my many known ills. Today that I cannot because I am in the middle of something for me, I am bad. But must I always be offering? How can I be good and bad at the same time? What must it take to stop playing half-gods like that because it isn't working?

Humans are superior beings...

I don't think the reason why we (humans) are called superior beings was just made-up to delight us. I believe it is legit, and because of our ability to understand, and to carefully consider our dealings with one another, or at least our potential to do so.

But saying we are isn't enough. We gotta strive to represent it, by avoiding avoidable offenses, knowing that nothing should be so dear to us that it can be purchased at the price of getting on each other's nerves, or ridiculing that which is very sensitive in terms of support structure.

Egos and emotions may come to play sometimes, that's natural, and I believe that is one reason why we are encouraged to do 'muhasabah' (accountability) of the 'nafs' (self, psyche, ego or soul). Meaning self-scrutiny or taking account of our deeds during our lone moments. It will take us far.

My Ramadan don'ts

What I won't deal with this Ramadan is going to a meeting hungry, to listen to someone parrot the whole day, under the guise of supporting or strengthening someone else's argument.

You know, those speakers that will start with: "I want to echo a similar sentiment," or "speaker X has said it all..." and they'll repeat what's already been said until you're I like: hey! edayee wye - eh! Must you speak anytime someone else has spoken?

Advice and reminders...

If someone gives you a piece of advice or a reminder, even as if to convince you of what you already know or believe in, but perhaps not doing, the fact that you feel some sense of guilt is a sign of iman (pious adherence to the faith). You're a promising mu'min (believer).

But you know you have some serious spiritual growing up to do if you get upset each time someone gives you advice, or tries to remind you of certain moral and spiritual qualities that you're deficient in.

No matter your depth or wealth of knowledge, and not matter the extent of good deeds recorded to your credit, you cannot be excellent in all respects, and not what you know is all what there is to be known. The sooner you realise that the world doesn't and will never revolve around your thoughts alone, the better your sense of understanding.

To you that offers advice, I know the agitation that comes with trying to enlighten someone who isn't prepared to act, it can be annoying. But the good news is, you'll get the favours of your Maker and the gratitude of humanity for trying. Always remember that yours is to give advice, not to force conduct, no matter how worthy and expedient you think your word is to be followed.

Generational spices...

When someone's a spice of his time, everything he touches turns to gold, and no moment with him is ever dull. Although not surpassing everyone at what he does, his fandom is always enormous.

Sometimes it feels as if he's honoured more than he's striven for, and that baffles old schools and anti-trendies. If ladies are his fanbase, never try to dismiss him because they'll always have his back. See Waly Seck and Stephen Curry.

Survival skill...

From when you know how unequal you are to perfection, and accept your flaws like none is perfect, and if you work on your God-given ingenuity like anyone can change to fit circumstances, rest assured that no stupid gossip or social media post fashioned against you shall prosper.

Do you know why I find Nicki Minaj so inspirational? I do, not just because of her lyrics, makeup or body, but because I think she knows how to survive this adversarial world. She doesn't seem to give a flying fuq about what you and I say about her, or how we think she rose to fame, and that's a 21st Century survival skill right there.

Like Nike, just do it...

Sometimes it ain't about winning or losing. In fact, doing is not always a competition. Sometimes you gotta let what you do be about showing what you got, and what you believe in, or about giving your talent an opportunity to know how truly worthwhile it could be. If winning or some reward comes with that, hallelujah!

Being a professional is not about acting complex...

Intelligent employees know how to make their jobs look so effortless, even if truly complex, and their processes are always efficient. When they are serving, being nice is not just a choice, it is in everything they do.

The not so clever ones who probably got hired by mistake will act as if the standard by which their competence is measured is how good they are at making very simple situations complex.

So, word is:

If your job is as mechanical as picking up a phone to say: "your call is very important to us," or one that a baboon can be paid to do, or an app can be purchased online for $0.99 to replace you, avoid avoidable formalities.

Originality Deficiency Syndrome (ODS)

Some friends you see as rivals or competitors aren't necessarily so; I call them contingent-friends. Theirs is a genetic condition I discovered and coined as: Originality Deficiency Syndrome (ODS).

They will lurk around you to be like you in every way possible. Their wishes are at the mercy of everything you like and do. When you go shopping with them, they will buy exactly the same as your shopping cart, or even beat you to your choices. I used to hate that shit, and that's because I hate to look like someone else. I don't even wear "Ashobi" or "Aso Ebi," except against my will.

Me? How I deal with such friends may seem incredibly ruthless but effective. If I know you suck at embracing your uniqueness, I will make sure when I am going to get stuff for my consignment business, I take you along, to a family shop that is, and make it look as if I am shopping too. I will make you buy what you don't need; that way you lose because ' man suma dereum bi du gaynal gaal gi' (my money stays in the family).

Blessed Ramadan...

Counting down the days before Ramadan can be a hype sometimes. The 'Ceesays and Sanyangs' will make you want to shout, like: "Hey, tone down the pretension! Ramadan's been here for over one thousand years ago."

But on a serious note, and unless lifestyle change becomes a divinely sanctioned monopoly, none of us has the right to pick at, or judge anyone, or even call anyone a "Muslim by Ramadan," especially not on account of the person's sudden Ramadan-friendly behaviour.

We need to understand that people don't change for the better by doing what they used to do. They change by doing something different; something that will render their old ways obsolete, and that takes a process. So if other people's change processes offend you so much that you have to find faults with them, you need help yourself.

May this Ramadan be the starting point of a new us, and may the spirit be alive even after Ramadan.

This is friendship...

Friendship is not about doing anything to be accepted. It's about truthfulness, sincerity and doing what needs to be done, no matter how uncomfortable or what it may prove against you.

So just because you want to be in someone's good books doesn't mean you should say only what the person wants to hear despite prevailing evidence.

And also:

If you know you're as logically disconnected as someone who's forever hopped up on Diazepam, and what you are about to say especially about someone else is going to cloud the recipient's understanding or judgement, keep it to your self, or just get out of sight.