As- Salaam Alaikum! I welcome you to our 'Like A Garment' e-book, an initiative that seeks to educate Muslims to find conjugal bliss in their marriages. The name of this project came from one of the most beautiful, poetic and profound metaphors of the Qur'an. Allah states, "Permitted for you, during the night of the fast, that you approach your wives. They are your garments, and you are their garments" [al-Baqarah; 187]. In this verse, each spouse is described as a 'garment' to the other. The famous exegete Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 311) stated that this description most aptly described the act of intimacy between the spouses, for during that act, each spouse sheds his or her other garments and then wraps around the other, taking the place of clothes. Al-Qurtubi (d. 671) also comments on this metaphor, and adds that just as clothes protect their wearer from the external elements, similarly each spouse protects the other from external passions that would harm a marriage. Combining between the various explanations of this beautiful metaphor found in the books of tafseer, we can derive many meanings from it: - The act of procreation is so intimate that it is literally as if one of the spouses covers up the other, just as clothing covers up one's body. Another euphemism that the Qur'aan uses for the sexual act is the verb ghashsha, which means 'to cover up, to envelop'. - One primary purpose of clothing is to conceal one's nakedness, since this nakedness (or `awrah) is embarrassing to display, and should be hidden from the eyes of others. Similarly, each spouse conceals the other spouse's faults, and does not reveal them to others. - Clothing protects one from the external elements, such as heat and cold. Similarly, spouses protect one another from external desires that originate from many different sources. By satisfying these desires within the confines of marriage, external passions are removed. - Clothing is the primary method through which humans beautify themselves. Without clothing, one is incomplete and naked. Similarly, spouses beautify and complete one another; when a person is not married, he or she is not yet complete and has not reached his or her full potential. Marriage is an essential part of being fully human, just like clothes are an essential part of being fully civilized. - Clothes are only worn in front of others, and are not necessary in front of spouses. It is only in front of one's spouse that the other spouse can discard his or her garments. - Clothes are the closest thing to one's body. Nothing comes between a person and his or her clothes. So the analogy of spouses being 'like clothes to one another' implies such a closeness - there is nothing, literally and metaphorically, that should come between spouses.

This book covers various aspects of marriage according to the authentic Sunnah. Marriage plays a most central role in the human life, and has been largely discussed by the scholars of Islam through the ages, resulting in numerous writings and treatises. This unique title covers a number of different aspects in marriage, including human sexuality, Islamic etiquettes of intimacy, prohibited acts of intimacy, ghusl, the 'awrah, zina', birth control, indecent acts, and more.

A collection of carefully chosen excerpts, sermons and an address to Lajna given by Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih V(aba) on the subject of marriage and how to live in harmony with one’s spouse and in-laws, by following which we may experience the peace and security promised to us through Islamic teachings.

Experienced sewing instructor and blogger Barbara Emodi shares her sewing wisdom to help readers get started, get started back up, or hone their existing garment-sewing skills. Not a sewing reference book as much as a book of experience, this is a book that will make a novice sewist say, “Oh, so that’s why you do that,” make a practiced sewist think, “Now that’s a neat trick,” and make a very experienced sewist smile and say, “That is sooo true!” Take advantage of her thoughts, tips, and tricks on the benefits of sewing, the importance of fit, basic techniques, available tools, patterns, and materials, and so much more. • Droll, well-informed, readable, interesting, and useful— the how-to book of sewing wisdom you always wanted • Get the inside scoop on sizing and alteration, patternless sewing, what to sew and what to buy, and many other topics, with mini lessons sprinkled throughout • Tips and ideas on choosing and using the best fabric, gear, and sewing machines

Longlisted for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award A groundbreaking chronicle of the birth--and death--of a pair of jeans, that exposes the fractures in our global supply chains, and our relationships to each other, ourselves, and the planet Take a look at your favorite pair of jeans. Maybe you bought them on Amazon or the Gap; maybe the tag says "Made in Bangladesh" or "Made in Sri Lanka." But do you know where they really came from, how many thousands of miles they crossed, or the number of hands who picked, spun, wove, dyed, packaged, shipped, and sold them to get to you? The fashion industry operates with radical opacity, and it's only getting worse to disguise countless environmental and labor abuses. It epitomizes the ravages inherent in the global economy, and all in the name of ensuring that we keep buying more while thinking less about its real cost. In Unraveled, entrepreneur, researcher, and advocate Maxine Bédat follows the life of an American icon--a pair of jeans--to reveal what really happens to give us our clothes. We visit a Texas cotton farm figuring out how to thrive without relying on fertilizers that poison the earth. Inside dyeing and weaving factories in China, where chemicals that are banned in the West slosh on factory floors and drain into waterways used to irrigate local family farms. Sewing floors in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are crammed with women working for illegally low wages to produce garments as efficiently as machines. Back in America, our jeans get stowed, picked, and shipped out by Amazon warehouse workers pressed to be as quick as the robots primed to replace them. Finally, those jeans we had to have get sent to landfills--or, if they've been "donated," shipped back around the world to Africa, where they're sold for pennies in secondhand markets or buried and burned in mountains of garbage. A sprawling, deeply researched, and provocative tour-de-force, Unraveled is not just the story of a pair of pants, but also the story of our global economy and our role in it. Told with piercing insight and unprecedented reporting, Unraveled challenges us to use our relationship with our jeans--and all that we wear--to reclaim our central role as citizens to refashion a society in which all people can thrive and preserve the planet for generations to come.

Everyone has a specific garment that God has prepared for them to wear. From the begining of time God has ordained that his people would wear a special item of clothing. It would be unlike anything else worn in the whole of God's creation and was only to adorn those who belonged to him. The prophets would write about this garment, the psalmist would sing about it, and the patriarchs would wear it. Every book of the Bible has something to say about the garment of God. The garment will be worn by those who are anointed and favoured by God. It clothes priests and kings, servants and leaders. Brides and warriors are to be wrapped up in its protection and power. Jesus expects his people to wear these clothes. It is time for everyone to put on the garment of God.