I’ve been married for over 18 months by nikāḥ kitāba. In less than a week, my wife and I will be having our wedding party and she’ll be moving here to Chicago, inshaAllah. I’ve created a personal Wedding Registry for you to go through and purchase for me. After all, you want to buy me a gift, right? Might as well make it easy for you.

Canon EOS Rebel XSi SLR Digital Camera w/ 18-55mm IS Lens
Price: $750 - $800

Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras are becoming very popular as of late. It’s probably because of how digital photography has made the camera industry boom but mainly it’s for five reasons: (1) DSLRs like the XSi are no longer huge and now come in compact sizes, (2) they offer lens upgrades much more and better manual and custom controls than standard point & shoots, (3) they now are made easier for amateurs (AKA n00bs), (4) they are priced very well, and (5) the overall camera experience and image quality is far beyond that of P&S cameras or camera phones.

Why the Canon XSi in particular? Because I think I’m turning into a Canon type customer. Besides that, though, I was almost sold on the Nikon D60 (actually the D40 but we’ll say D60 since it’s new for 2008), the direct competitor for the XSi. But after asking people here and there and checking dozens of reviews online, I began to feel that Canon was the way to go. Plus I can look like one of those cool people who use SLR cameras. Joy!

Dell Precision XPS M1530
Price: $1850

For over a year now I’ve been having thoughts about my computer of the future. I’ve considered so many possibilities. First it was to build my own with the best parts. Then it was to buy a Macbook. Then a G5 Apple desktop, followed by a ThinkPad from Lenovo. Now, I’ve recently started considering a powerful mobile workstation. Why’s that?

Firstly, age; the desktop I’m currently using is about seven and a ½ years old. I got it for a cheap $860 and some change at a sick Black Friday deal at Aldi. Yes, Aldi, the Swedish grocery store. Don’t get it twisted, though, the computer has served me wonderfully, and it still is running like new, even with the current releases of Adobe Photoshop and Premiere CS3 on it for all my graphics and video editing needs.

But that’s exactly the problem; like new is almost eight years old now. Rendering an hour long Islamic lecture video from a Premiere project timeline from DV-AVI (full quality) to WMV (web quality) takes 14 hours. With a new workstation like this, it would probably take less than 1 hour. I haven’t even tried HD on my current desktop, scared of how slow it’ll be. The time to upgrade has definitely come.

Along with a better up-to-date machine, I think I need something mobile. While it would be nice to have a laptop to take notes at AlMaghrib seminars and during my Saturday classes at Riyadh as-Saliheen Institute, I’ve noticed the convenience of a portable computer during the few times I’ve taken my dad’s Dell Vostro laptop to school. With a workstation, I’ll have the power of a desktop with the mobility of a laptop.

The XPS series is known for being a top notch super laptop from Dell, and has the customizing options I need. I don’t mind going for either that or Dell’s Precision series, and as long as I can get something similar to an NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M 512MB TurboCache (256MB discrete) GPU for super fast video rendering, I’ll be good.

Apple iPod Touch, 16GB
Price: $399

No electronics oriented wedding registry is complete without an iPod item from Apple. Thus, we have iPod Touch. Not the reasonably priced 8GB one for $300 or the top-of-the-line $500 32GB version, but the middle path 16GB model. I’ve played with a few iPod Touches (and an iPhone once or twice); they’re really sweet. Not just for the video and solid HD space, but the wireless internet, too. Now I can check my Gmail and various blogs more than the hundreds of times I already do in a day, all in the palm of my hand. Yay.

Another perk to the iPod Touch is having infiinite short term attention at my disposal. I’ll become the coolest 22-year old recently married kid in the universe. Okay maybe not that cool, but still pretty cool. Even though the iPod Nano is much more practical, especially since I like to use Waasiq’s 2nd gen iPod Nano 2GB at the gym, the “hey, look at me I have a flashy Apple product” factor just doesn’t compare to that on the Touch.

I can already see it now, instant popularity at the gym for carrying around a video of Suhaib Webb or Yasir Qadhi giving a khutbah or lecture on my armband while waiting for the lat pull down to be free.

PlayStation 3
Price: $400

Ever since Blu-Ray Disc won the format way with HD-DVD, PS3 finally became a viable option for so many debaters. The system hosts one of the best Blu-Ray Disc players on the market, yet at the same time costs about half the price of an average player. Plus you get to play games in sick HD, free online, and easily browse the internet? Sounds sweet to me.

Especially with games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo 5, and other biggies like the Final Fantasy games on their way. I guess the only thing missing from not getting an Xbox360 is Halo 3, but that game is supposedly like DisneyLand when compared to Call of Duty 4. Not to mention not having to pay $50 a year for online play with Sony’s free network. For me, though, it’s all about the Gran Turismo 5.

Riding Lawn Mower
Price: $1500

For those of you who know me, you’ll know that mowing the lawn is a big ordeal in my house. With my dad having recently added grass to a section of our backyard that was once mulch, there is now 15% more lawn to cut in our already lusciously green field. Therefore, it’s time to kick it up a notch.

The John Deere 100 series is hailed to be one of the best in this price range of lawn mowers (under $2000). The company is pretty traditional “American product” and is known for making quality lawn care machinery.

Why John Deere? Honestly, any brand will do, whether it’s a Torco, Snapper, or ExMark. Upgrading from the walking mower to any riding mower would be so sweet. I heard some of them have enough torque to pull off wheelies. That by itself is reason enough to get one.

Your Du’ā
Price: Priceless (for me, free for you!)

Okay, reality check.

Since you probably can’t afford and won’t buy any of the previously mentioned items on this list, then all I ask from you are your du’ās. Alhumdulillah, marriage in the form of nikāḥ kitāba has been wonderful since the day it began, and I’m looking forward to the full-fledged version on the horizon. The best gift any of you can give me for me and my wife is asking Allah to bless us and make things easy as we live the rest of our lives together.

So as the Prophet (ﺹ) instructed to make du’ā for the newlywed, please remember us with the following prayer.

Bārak Allahu laka, wa bāraka `alayka,
wa jama`a baynakumā fi khair.

May Allah bless for you (your spouse) and bless you,
and may He unite both of you in goodness.