9 August 2024: Jumu'ah Series — Gathering Lineage HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LATE GRANNY + Urgency "And never say of anything, ‘I will definitely do this tomorrow" (18:23)

Bismillah. We begin everything with the name of Allah. We say Bismillah to initiate an act to acknowledge the intention and the ethics we carry with all that follows Bismillah.

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Table of Contents:

1. 📖 Hello, New Readers!

2. 🧕🏾 What is the Jumu’ah Series?

3. 🎒 Today, we GATHER lineage

4. 🤲🏽 Select one ayat (verse, literally "sign") of the Qur'an from Surah Al-Kahf

1. 📖 Hello, New Readers!

There has been a humbling influx of readers over the past few days. Thank You! If you can spare it, become a paid subscriber. You can learn more about the perks here. Your support funds research and occasional indoor climbing trips or powerlifting sets as a somatic release when I feel stuck with my writing.

2. 🧕🏾 What is the Jumu’ah Series?

I have been away from this section of the newsletter for a bit. I thought it might be useful to recap the purpose of this offering.

Read the full explanation here.

I am unable to attend Jumu'ah, so instead of physically gathering, I will share a newsletter each Friday detailing a practice of gathering that does not include physical congregation.

3. 🎒 Today, we GATHER lineage

Today marks my late granny’s 92 birthday. Like me, she is an August Leo. And like me she is celebrating somewhere today!

Berthenia Robinson passed on March 24, 2023, and since her transition, I, reasonably have thought a lot about death. I intended to begin death doula school over the summer but spent more time reading about death doula practices to figure out what modality of service makes the most sense. I have explored the funerary rituals of non-humans as a way to make sense of an expansive way to approach death. I have also sat with the grief in ways that I did not know I could. I miss her every day because I can only think of all of the stories shehad left to tell that left with her.

During the preparation for the funeral, I took on the task of making the obituary which was a lot of fun. I enjoyed sorting the photos and crafting this object that was a tiny little memory I get to hold on to. Over the past two years, I’ve been in deep genealogy work. From my mother, I have learned

• When she lived in Hope, Arkansas before moving to Los Angeles, she hunted and fished for her own food. She knew how to garden and can preserve a range of things.

• She loved pets. My mother grew up with fish, birds, rabbits, dogs, guinea pigs, and a salamanders. She took in all the stray cats in the neighborhood. There is a family of cats that still visit her house, looking for her. The last time I was there collecting soil and lemons, little bit, the fiestiest of all the cats greeted me. Because her and I look alike, I think they may have mistaken me for her. Since that day in March, I have been seeing more and more cats and each cat I see reminds me of her. In Turkey, the cats are like royalty and I deeply enjoyed the cats as these flickers of memories about her.

• She believed in reusable water bottles before it was popular! She carried a camping mug everywhere and used it to get water from fountains when she was out.

• She lobbied the city council to get a swimming pool put in the Van Ness Playground.

• She volunteered a lot — boy scouts, girl scouts, March of Dimes, and she loved helping with the Halloween carnival which featured a large bonfire.

• She loved flowers, especially lillies.

• She loved peaches and cottage cheese.

3. 🤲🏽 Select one ayat (verse, literally "sign") of the Qur'an from Surah Al-Kahf (the surah or chapter we are encouraged to read before sunset Friday)

Allah (18:23-24) says (according to Dr. Mustafa Khattab’s translation in The Clear Quran): “And never say of anything, ‘I will definitely do this tomorrow,’ without adding, ‘if Allah so wills!’ But if you forget, then remember your Lord, and say, ‘I trust my Lord will guide me to what is more right than this.’”

I think about these ayats a lot, especially when I am putting off tasks. I am not promised tomorrow or even the next moment. Before my nan passed, I was planning to do more interviews with her. I thought I had more time. I thought I’d get another hug. I thought I’d get another few chuckles. I thought I’d get a another story. This week, I am gathering a more focused spirit of urgency and prioritization. If Allah promises me nothing but the next few seconds, how will I have spent it? Will I have spent it in annoyance over something insignificant? I often think about what else my nan wanted to do. What other dreams she had. At 90, I do not think she was done. And likewise, if Allah gives me until 90, like my nan, I want to still have things to work toward. I told my mother that I pray that we can be elders together, sitting on a porch. She is 70 and I am almost 40. InshaAllah, when I am 60 and she is 90, we can hang out and enjoy life.

My mother and I headed out for a celebratory lunch in LES. Happy birthday, Berthenia! We hope you are partying and talking smack wherever you are! And I hope you have all the animals to keep you company. And I hope you all the Mr. Goodbars and tuna sandwiches.

Thank you for reading,

Kameelah 👽

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How to cite this newsletter: Rasheed, K. (Year, Month Day). Newsletter Title. I Will (?) Figure This All Out Later. URL