Your Body Is Amazing !

Your body is amazing! Now...before you get it twisted like your DNA helices I wanna make sure that you are hearing me clearly! Because your ears are amazing & not because of those expensive earrings but because you can hear me! You can hear the vibrations of my throat produces & translated into information. Your brain can understand! Your brain is amazing! A massive & intricate control system that thinks, processes, stores, and analyses in a millionth of a second. Your brain contains every dream, every memory & every failure that you ever had! Your eyes are amazing too! Because they adjust & apply color to your world automatically distinguishing between light & dark! Blinking every once in a while to keep your eyes clean. So why? Why do you tear up at your latest tragedy or heart break? Because even if you'd think you've had a heart break, your heart actually hasn't broken yet because its been pumping all day and all night since you were an infant until the day you die fighting to keep you alive! 

See...I hate the mirror sometimes because it only gives half of the story! It'll never give a reflection of white blood cells tirelessly fighting off an overgrowth of bacteria & ceiling off the area exactly, instead, you'll just see a white head and some acne! See...when you look in the mirror, what did you grow up believing was beautiful. Did you believe that your Barbie doll's body was amazing! Sorry to say, but underneath that plastic smile you will find plastic arteries & plastic veins, heartless figurines' created by heartless companies creating fictionalized fairytales of what's beautiful! What's beautiful...is that one second your lung takes a rest before you take your next breath! What's beautiful...is each of the contracting muscles that pull the tips of your lips back enough until you smile. What's beautiful...is how hard your spine works to keep your body up right! So...the next time your souls in defeat asks the soles of your feet, what it feels like to be stepped on your whole life? So is there any question that your body is amazing?! Not because your shapes, your sizes or your skin complexion! But because Allah has allowed it to work. Now that is perfection!

Commentary by Brother Hamza Siddiqui 

Why Muslim Women Wear the Veil

In recent years, a small piece of cloth has managed to cause quite a stir. The scarf or hijab that Muslim women wear on their heads is making headlines around the world. Hijab is banned in French public schools and other European countries have adopted, or are drafting similar legislation. In Australia, a radio presenter triggered both debate and outrage when he called for the face veil (niqab) to be banned from banks and post offices. Even predominantly Muslim countries such as Turkey and Tunisia ban the hijab in certain government buildings. When a small piece of fabric causes such controversy and conflict, wouldn’t it be easier to remove it? Why then, under such circumstances, do Muslim women wear scarves?

There are a myriad of reasons why, but the easy, one sentence answer is, because they believe God has made it an obligation for believing women. In the Quran God tells the believing men and women to lower their gaze and to dress modestly. He (God) specifically addresses women when He asks them not to show off their adornment, except that which is apparent, and draw their veils over their bodies. (Quran 24:30-31) 

These verses of Quran are known as the verses of hijab and it is the consensus of Islamic scholars that they make the wearing of hijab mandatory. Some countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar do enforce a dress code. Women there are expected to cover their hair and wear some sort of loose fitting, full-length garment over their clothes. However, for the majority of Muslim women around the world, to cover, or not to cover, is a freely made choice. God requires Muslim women to dress modestly and to wear the hijab in public and in the presence of men who are not close relatives. 

Although the English word scarf and the Arabic term hijab have become interchangeable, it is worth noting that hijab is more than just a scarf. It is a term that covers a variety of clothing including scarves, but also a variety of different dress styles from around the world. Many have cultural connotations such as the Pakistani shalwar khamis or the Afghani burqa, but whenever a Muslim woman covers “her adornment”, she is said to be wearing hijab. 

The literal meaning of hijab is to veil, to cover, or to screen. Islam is known as a religion concerned with community cohesion and moral boundaries, and therefore hijab is a way of ensuring that the moral boundaries between unrelated men and women are respected. In this sense, the term hijab encompasses more than a scarf and more then a dress code. It is a term that denotes modest dressing and modest behaviour. For instance, if a Muslim woman was wearing a scarf but at the same time using bad language, she would not be fulfilling the requirements of hijab.

The majority of Muslim women wear hijab, to obey God, and to be known as respectable women. (Quran 33:59) However, in the last 30 years hijab has emerged as a sign of Islamic consciousness. Many women see wearing the hijab as indicative of their desire to be part of an Islamic revival, especially in countries where the practice of Islam is discouraged or even forbidden.

While those who seek to ban hijab refer to it as a symbol of gender based repression, the women who choose to don a scarf, or to wear hijab, in the broadest sense of the word, do so by making personal decisions and independent choices. They view it as a right and not a burden. Nor do these women regard hijab as a sign of oppression. Women who wear hijab often describe themselves as being “set free” from society’s unrealistic fashion culture.

 

Hijab frees women from being thought of as sexual objects of desire or from being valued for their looks, or body shape rather then their minds and intellect. No longer slaves to consumerism, hijab liberates women from the need to conform to unrealistic stereotypes and images dictated by the media. Women wearing hijab have expressed that dressing modestly and covering their hair, minimises sexual harassment in the workplace. The aura of privacy created by hijab is indicative of the great value Islam places upon women.

It is true that in some families and in some cultures women are forced to wear hijab but this is not the norm. The Quran clearly states that there is no compulsion in religion (2:256). Women who choose to wear hijab do not make the decision lightly. In fact many women testify that they faced great animosity from their Muslim or non-Muslim families when they decided to cover. Across the globe there are numerous instances of women having to defend their right to wear the hijab.

Hijab can be a symbol of piety and it can be a sign of great inner strength and fortitude. A woman wearing hijab becomes a very visible sign of Islam. While Muslim men can blend easily into any society, Muslim woman are often put on the line, and forced to defend not only their decision to cover, but also their religion. Nevertheless, women who wear hijab insist that the advantages far outweigh any disadvantage conjured up by media bias or general ignorance.

Late Night Prayer

“The best prayer after the obligatory prayers is that during the depths of the night.” [Muslim]

«أفضل الصلاة، بعد الصلاة المكتوبة، الصلاة في جوف الليل» رواه مسلم

There are many aspects that make the late-night prayer special. First and foremost, it is a prayer. The best action or matter is prayer.

Second, al-Haitami points out that, in general, the prayer performed in the late-night is more virtuous than the voluntary prayers during the day because it is further from ostentation and being done for show. In other words, the intention behind the late-night prayers should be a pure one. Furthermore, it is easy to have the fear of Allah and concentrate on the prayer in the late-night prayer as there are fewer disturbances at the time.

Thirdly, it makes the person realize his real purpose and goal in this life. He is getting up in the middle of the night and forsaking his sleep because he realizes that his goal is not the pleasure or relaxation of this world. Instead, he has a much greater purpose and goal in life. For that reason, he is getting up to pray when the rest of mankind are either sleeping or committing sins under the cover of night.

The Afterlife Reminder

In these few minutes I wanna share with you a reminder or something's about the early revelations of the Quran. One of the themes that was highlighted more than perhaps any other was the concept of the afterlife. The day of Judgment, Paradise, Hell-fire, you know the reckoning, the world coming to an end and us being raised again for another life after this one. It's a recurring theme and it keeps coming on over and over again and it is discussed in a lot of detail. The question arises why? One of the benefits of having that as a main central discourse is in Islam and especially in the early revelations when the foundations of the faith were being set. Essentially the idea is...you know it's captured in for example, one place in the Quran, 'know (that) you love to rush.' Human nature that it loves to rush. We like to consume things and get things to come our way quickly, especially good things. Or we want bad things to be removed from ourselves quickly, Immediately. And so this mentality was challenged. And as a result you like to put the eventual things off and even the afterlife off. So if somebody says to you, 'you should worry about your salvation which is obviously a concern after you die.' 'Well I got bigger things right now to worry about. I got a job, I got finances, I got family issues, I got personal things. Whatever I have to do right now is a bigger priority for me for whatever is coming later, as opposed to whatever is coming later.' So, what the Quran does is, it gives us a bigger picture. In other words, nothing I do is any longer trivial. It is no longer meaningless. Allah says... It's very interesting. Allah says, 'have you assumed that We created you without purpose and that you won't be returned to Us.' 

In other words, returning to God in and of itself is a very powerful indication that everything you do has purpose! My actions don't die with time. Whatever I do, its consequences are recorded and they are going to have repercussions in this world and especially repercussions in the next. Some of the benefits of this, is of course, number one, it makes me conscious of my actions. I start thinking not just of the consequences that I'm gonna have here but later on. It removes from me the idea that nobody saw what I did. That's gone. God saw what I did and it's on record and I am gonna have to answer for it. So there will be an accountability for everything that I do. That's number two. Three, I realize that, as a result I have to keep turning back to God for forgiveness because there is a countless number of mistakes I make all the time. So it makes me a person that seeks God's forgiveness all the time. I seek Allah's forgiveness. And as a result, I become closer and closer to Allah! Closer to God. So the concept of the afterlife actually drives me to become closer to Allah. Because the focus in Islam is always Allah. It goes back to Allah every time. Even if the conversation is about paradise or hell fire, the point of it is to take us back to Allah Himself.

But, finally, and most importantly, we don't think of anything as trivial. In other words, we don't think of our time in this world as trivial. This little bit of time that we have on this earth compared to the actual life span that Allah has given me. In other words when He Almighty created me, this is even before the creation of, you know, the generations of people, and our souls, our ruh were created, and one of them is picked by the angel and dropped into the belly of a mother so that she can deliver this child. All of us are creatures before even the earth and if we were asked a question about our faith even before we came to this earth. And then after we die from here, we are going to go to another state of life and it's gonna go on for generations. Some people, that life in the grave that they are going through, they have been going through for thousands of years. And they have been in there. That's another phase of life. we don't see it as death. we see it as another stop in the journey of life. So when you compare all these stops in the journey of life, you will realize that this life, meaning from my birth to to my worldly death is the shortest stop in this journey. The Shortest span! you know, you don't even realize when it's over... you know. And so when you realize that, you also realize this tiniest space, this tiniest lifetime that i have, the span that i have, this is the one that will determine all of my actions in the future. My eternal life is based on those very few moments. So my time is no longer trivial.  I have to make the best of it. I have to make the most of it. There is no such thing as free time for me now. what the afterlife does is, (it) gives me respect for my time. A sense of urgency to accomplish more and more good and to get away from more and more evil. It destroys laziness inside me. So if i find Muslims in my audience, if you find yourself being lazy and you have to ask whether or not your beliefs in the afterlife are concrete enough. May be you need more reminder about the afterlife because they necessarily give you a sense of urgency. And for those of you who think,'well.. Judgement day, Paradise, hell-fire, its so far away.' what does Allah himself say, ' No doubt they see it far away - we see it near.' I hope this reminder would be of some benefit to you. I personally benefit from reminding myself in that all of us have to rejuvenate in ourselves, make better use of our time. Especially through the reminder of the Akhirah. May Allah give all of us success in the afterlife.

Asalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi wa barakatahu.

Commentary  by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan

How to Benefit from The Quran

If you truly want to benefit from the Qur'an, your heart must be attentive and alert when reciting it or listening to it. Listen to it carefully with presence of mind, paying attention to it as if Allah Himself was speaking to you directly. Understand that this Qur'an is an address directed to you from Allah, Most High, upon the tongue of His Messenger (SAW).

Allah, Most High, says, "Truly there is a reminder in this for anyone who has a heart, or who listens attentively with presence of mind." [Qaf (50): 37]

A deep and lasting impression is dependent upon something that will stimulate a person, a location that can be influenced, his being in the right condition, and removing any barrier that would impede this from happening. This verse mentions of all of these in the most succinct and lucid of ways; clearly articulating the intended meaning.

"Truly there is a reminder in this" refers to the previous verses of this chapter. This, the Qur'an, is the stimulus.

"for anyone who has a heart" refers to the location that can be influenced. The heart referred to here is the living heart: the heart that is aware of Allah. He, Most High, says, "it is simply a reminder and a clear Qur'an so that you may warn those who are truly alive," [Ya Sin (36): 69-70] i.e. those whose hearts are alive.

"or who listens attentively," i.e. directs his faculty of hearing towards it and pays it the utmost attention. This is the condition that must exist for a person to be roused by the words.

"with presence of mind," i.e. with an alert and present heart, not one that is unmindful and absent. Ibn Qutaybah said, "i.e. a person who listens attentively to Allah's Book with presence of heart and mind, not someone who is unmindful with an absent air." [Ibn Qutaybah, Gharibu'l-Qur'an, pg. 419] This then alludes to the barrier: an unmindful and inattentive heart which does not understand what is being said and, as such, is unable to reflect upon it or direct any conscious thought towards it.

Therefore, if all these things come together, the end-result is obtained: benefiting from the Qur'an and taking heed.If someone were to ask: if the end-result, the lasting impression, is only attained by the combination of these matters, why then did Allah say "or" in the verse, "or who listens attentively" which implies a choice between one or another option? Surely "and" should have been mentioned in its place?

It is said in reply: this is a good question; "or" has been mentioned by taking into consideration the state of the addressee.

Some people have hearts which are alive, hearts that will readily accept the truth and whose innate nature (fitrah) is intact; if such a person was to reflect in his very heart and turn his mind to it, he would conclude that the Qur'an is authentic and true. His heart would witness what the Qur'an informs it of and the subsequent impression upon it would be light layered on top of the light of its innate nature. This is the description of those about whom it is said, "those who have been given knowledge see that what has been sent down to you from your Lord is the truth." [Saba' (34): 6]

Concerning them, Allah says, "Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The metaphor of His light is that of a niche in which there is a lamp, the lamp inside a glass, the glass like a brilliant start, lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east nor the west, its oil all but giving off light even if no fire touches it. Light upon light! Allah guides to His Light whoever He wills, Allah propounds metaphors for mankind and Allah has knowledge of all things." [al-Nur (24): 35]

This verse refers to the light of the innate nature covered by the light of revelation; this is the condition of the person who has a living, receiving heart. We have explained this verse, its subtleties and lessons in detail in our book, Ijtima` al-Juyush al-Islamiyyah `ala Ghazw al-Mu`attila wa'l-Jahmiyyah. [Ibn al-Qayyim, Ijtima`, pp. 6-12]

Therefore, the person who has this type of attentive heart receives the meanings of the Qur'an and readily accepts them so much so that it seems as if the words have been inscribed in his heart and he is able to recite them fluidly from memory.

Other people have hearts which fall below the level of those mentioned above; their hearts are not as ready to receive the truth, they are not completely alive, and their innate nature is not as refined. Therefore, they stand in need of a witness who would differentiate the truth from falsehood for them. In order to be guided, such a person must pay the utmost attention to the Qur'an's words, he must devote his heart to it, ponder it and comprehend its meanings, and only after this will he come to realise that it is true.

This article is excerpt from Ibn al-Qayyims, al-Fawa'id

 and has been translated by Abu Rumaysah and has been reposted

Benefits of Trials & Tribulations

Some say, "Are not the hardships and afflictions that people face simply a sign that either there is no God or that God is not really a merciful one?" If one were to give thought to the positive effects of trials and tribulations, one would not ask such a question. Ibn Rajab mentions the following benefits of trials and tribulations:

1. Trials and tribulations are a means by which Allah removes sins from a person.

2. Facing trials and tribulations in the proper manner, with patience, is a great source of reward and Allah's pleasure.

3. Trials and tribulations make a person recall the sins that he has committed. This should lead him to repentance and reform.

4. Trials and tribulations soften a person's heart and make her submit to Allah. A person who never faces hardship may become haughty, arrogant and cold-hearted.

5. It is through trials and tribulations that a person can experience the characteristic of patience.

6. Trials and tribulations makes a person realize that he cannot rely solely on himself or even others. He can rely on Allah. Allah is the only true source of help and assistance.

After mentioning some of the above points as well as others, Ibn Rajab concludes that if the person truly realizes and understands the above, "he will know that the bounty that comes from Allah to a believer due to his trials is greater than the bounty that comes from Allah during his times of ease."

Compiled From: 

"Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi" - Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo, pp. 793, 794

The Cure For Pride

In terms of a general cure for diseases of the hearts, I want to talk a little bit about how we cure this issue of pride, and this problem of pride. I wanted to read to you something that Al Hafiz ibn Hajr (rahimuhullah) said. Al Hafiz ibn Hajr said: "The heart has been singled out for this, because it is the leader of the body (and) through the purification of the leader, the subjects become purified." Meaning the heart of the body is like the leader of the Muslims. When the heart becomes pure the rest of the body becomes pure. 

So Al Hafiz ibn Hajr (rahimuhullah) he continues to say: "So If you, O servant of Allah, wish to cure your heart, then it is upon you to be truthful with regards to seeking refuge with Allah." First thing Ibn Hajr says: "be truthful with regard to seeking refuge with Allah." The ayah from the Quran, the statement of Musa (alayhimussalaam) that: "I have sought refuge with Allah from every prideful person", and that encompasses from the person themselves. And then Al Hafiz ibn Hajr says: "to put your trust in Him, to pray a great deal of supplementary prayers (nawaafil prayers), to perform actions of obedience to Allah frequently, to pray the night prayer and to treat your heart by making it continuously stick to the remembrance of Allah, and befriending the righteous, and to frequently recite the Quran. And indeed Allah will (indeed) allow all of this to be preserved by him." SubahaanAllah - Al Hafiz Ibn Hajr gives us some general principles relating to all of the diseases of the sickness of the heart - the nawafil (supplementary prayers) prayers, putting your trust in Allah, the night prayer, obedience to Allah, seeking refuge with Allah, remembrance of Allah and befriending the righteous. 

And one of the most important remedies for overcoming the diseases of the heart is to study and to ponder the text and the ayaats and the ahadith that talk about the warnings and the issues of the diseases of the heart. By reflecting upon the glory and the majesty of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We know that Allah azza wa jal describes himself, subhanahu wa ta'ala, with this term. Because he subhanahu wa ta'ala is perfect in every single way and he is the one who is deserving of pride. He is the one who is deserving of being above all of his creation and controlling them. And when we reflect upon the perfection of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we realize the imperfection of our own selves. And this helps us to correct the problem of pride. Also, humbling yourself in the presence of those people who you think yourself to be better than them. You meet someone and you think: "Alhamdulillah, I'm better than this brother (or sister)" and when you feel that disease start to go into your heart, what do you do? -- You humble yourself before them. You remind yourself that you don't know what you are going to die upon or what they are going to die upon. 

Like someone said: "When I meet somebody who is older than me I think this person has had more chance to do good deeds than me - and when I meet somebody that is younger than me, I think this person has had less chance to do sin than me." So everybody that you look at, you look at yourself as being inferior to all of them. And you don't know, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala (knows). Some people say: "Well I got knowledge, they don't have knowledge." But, SubhanAllah, sometimes knowledge is a trial for a person. Sometimes knowledge is an adh'ab from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, a punishment from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, if you don't act upon it. So what makes you think you are gonna be from the people who will act upon it? 

Get Closer To Allah by Voluntary Deeds

On the authority of Abu Huraira who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “Allah the Almighty has said, ‘My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him.’” [Reported by Al-Bukhari]

«وما يزال العبد ييتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه» رواه البخاري

Allah, the Creator and Fashioner of humans, has obligated certain deeds. Those are deeds that are needed by all humans for the purification of their souls. Beyond those deeds, though, Allah has left the door wide open for individuals to concentrate on those deeds that they are most inclined to. For example, some people are dedicated to their voluntary prayers. Other may be attracted to fasting, charity or the pilgrimage.

There are others who are more inclined to doing good toward others. They perform the obligatory deeds and then beyond that they spend their time tending to others' needs. When these people tend to those matters, they become the key by which they come closer to Allah and enter Paradise.

This reality is all by the mercy of Allah. Beyond the obligatory deeds, people are free to pursue those good voluntary deeds that they are most attracted to. There are so many areas of voluntary deeds that it seems inconceivable that a person could not find some voluntary deed or deeds that he/she would like to perform in order to get closer to Allah. Allah's path to paradise is wide enough to accommodate all of those different leanings. However, this is all dependent on the individual first fulfilling, in general, the obligatory deeds.

Beware Of Who You Befriend!

The Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) said...a person will not follow the teachings of his father, nor did he say a person will follow the teachings of his parents, nor did the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) say a person will follow the teachings of his tutor...comprehensive speech indeed. The Nabi of Allah (ﷺ) said, 'A man will take to the teachings of his friends, so O my sahaba (companions), be very selective when you decide who you befriend! Oh my sahaba be very selective when you decide who you befriend!' Your social circle, with whom your daily interaction is. 

There was a person in Makkah by the name of Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'eeth, a very well known renowned kaafir. One day he returns from journey and as was traditional and customary amongst the Arabs, he has a feast and he invites people. He entertains many people and he calls them and naturally, the noblest of the noble was Nabi-e-kareem (ﷺ), so he invites Nabi (ﷺ) also for meals, Nabi (ﷺ) come, high profile personnel congregate at his house, they are about to consume the meal, the Nabi of Allah (ﷺ) says, 'I have a very deep desire and passion that if you would accept Islam, it would really make me happy'. So the host, Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'eeth, felt offended that my guest has come here and I cannot honor his request, so he says, 'No problem O Muhammad (ﷺ), I will accept what you're saying' and he recites the kalimah 'laa ilaaha illAllah'. After the meal was over, as courtesy, Nabi (ﷺ) thanks him and then the Nabi of Allah leaves. Sometime later this kaafir, Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'eeth, his friend comes to him and his friend tells him that, 'I believe you have accepted Islam?' Now look at the peer pressure. His friend tells him, 'I believe you have accepted Islam?' He says, 'No, no, no, no! That's nonsense! That's totally absurd! There's no reality to what you say! I had apparently invited the man (ﷺ). He insisted that I articulate the kalimah, as courtesy to my guest, I responded to his request but I had just lip serviced, I had said it verbally, I am not convinced on what he has said.' The friend says, 'No, I am not convinced. I have heard that you have accepted Islam. And I will not accept you in my social friends anymore, until and unless you don't openly go and deny this faith in front of him and to convince me you hate him, you must go before him and spit on his face!.' This nasty, evil, wretched man comes to impress his friend, that, 'yes, I am standing with you and I want to be part of your friends, to convince you that I haven't accepted Islam' - he comes and I don't know how he can spit on that face upon which the Quran takes kasams (oaths). And he spits on the Mubarak and the blessed face of Nabi-e-kareem (ﷺ) - denounces his Islam and then once again he's embraced by his friends. The Quran, in the most eloquent way, paints the picture of regret of this kaafir. On the day of qiyamat, in relation to his social friends

On that day, as a fit of regret, the Quran says, I quote the exact words, 'this kafir will come and he'll bite his hands'. Then he will point to this friend Ubaid and he will say, 'O Allah - I wish I had never met this human in my life! He had introduced me to so many evils! I had never womanized in my life, I had never gambled, I never consumed wine; I never knew what a drug was, till I met with this evil man! O Allah how do I express my regrets?! There's only one way O Allah! O Allah this friend of mine's, who introduced me to these vices, I have one request - I understand I have to suffer the consequences of his friendship, but the only way I can appease myself is by asking you one thing...whatever torment you suggest for me, give him double Allah" The Quran says, 'All friendship will be converted into enmity but the friendship on the name of Allah.

Greed & Miserliness

My dear brothers and sisters, Rasoolullah (ﷺ), in one amongst the very many treasures of his eloquence (ﷺ) and of his wisdom that Allah (subahaanahu wa ta'ala) bestowed upon him, told us...Three features or characteristics are destructive, that is to the life of an individual and nay to the life of a society. In other words, if any of these features are part of our characteristics, then, it is on the way of destruction that we are headed, self destruction, before destruction of others. (The Prophet) ﷺ says, describing one among those three: 1. What does 'shuh' mean? 'Shuh' is the inner state, inside of you or inside of me that is characterized by keeping, by holding, by not sharing, by preferring to own and to keep rather than to give. That state of the inner self. And then when it is obeyed, it becomes 'bukhl'. When that inner state called 'shuh', as I described is obeyed externally, it becomes greed or miserliness at the external level. And thus Rasoolullah (ﷺ) says, He qualified that 'shuh' with 'mutaah', a 'shuh' that is obeyed. Why did he qualify this ﷺ, because as human beings, many times, or sometimes indeed, we are challenged by inner feelings of greed, but that inner feeling of greed, either we externalize it, or we restrain it. Restraining it is an act of righteousness, is an act of maturity, is an act of wisdom, is an act of consciousness of Allah (subahaanahu wa ta'ala), is an act of fear from Allah ('azza wa jal), is an act of love for Allah ('azza wa jal), is an act of consciousness of what awaits me. But when I let it lose, when I express it, when I externalize it, that is what becomes destructive...says Allah ('azza wa jal), what means, 'Whosoever is shielded, and protected, and guarded from his or her own 'shuh', such indeed will attain felicity, such indeed will attain happiness.'

Rasoolullah (ﷺ) used to teach us also a du'a, 'Ya Allah! Protect me from the 'shuh' of my inner self.' One companion, I...believe, maybe, I forgot his name, maybe it was Abdullah ibn Umar (radiyAllahu anhu) during hajj season, as he was performing tawaaf (circumambulation) around the Ka'abah, and we know of the high recommended dhikr while we perform tawaaf around the Ka'abah, and he used to incessantly say, 'Ya Allah! Protect me from the 'shuh' of my inner self - Ya Allah! Protect me from the 'shuh' of my inner self - Ya Allah! Protect me from the 'shuh' of my inner self - Ya Allah! Protect me from the 'shuh' of my inner self' and when inquired from him, 'why did you keep only that du'a, why not other ad'iya?' Then he said (radiyAllahu anhu) because he was focused on that dua, he said, 'When Allah ('azza wa jal) protects me from the 'shuh' of my nafs, then everything else will be fine after that. And Allah says...'And If' clause, 'If Allah ('azza wa jal) shields me from the 'shuh' of myself, therefore I will attain felicity' and thus he insisted on that du'a (radiyAllahu anhu).

Does Allah give up on us?

The real answer is that Allah does not give up on us, nor does He get tired of forgiving us as long as we keep turning to Him sincerely. We must not despair of Allah’s pardon. Allah says in the Quran :

“O those of My servants who have transgressed against your own selves, despair not of Allah’s mercy. Allah does forgive all sins, for surely He is the Most Forgiving, Most Merciful One.” (Quran 39:53)

The key is sincerity. Allah says,

“O you who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentance!” (Quran, al-Tahreem 66:8)

Allah – Glorifed and Exalted – loves to forgive our sins. In fact, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said,

“If you did not commit sins, Allah would dispose of you and replace you with people who commit sins and then ask for forgiveness so that He forgives them.” [Muslim]

That is a shocking statement on its face. However, it’s not that Allah loves for us to commit sins; rather, he knows that a tendency to commit sins is part of our human nature. What Allah loves therefore is when we realize our mistakes and return to Him in repentance.

Also on this theme, the Messenger of Allah (sws) said: “Allah rejoices more over the repentance of His servant than any one of you who finds his camel after having lost it in a desolate land.” (Agreed upon). This is quite touching if you think about it. Imagine a man is making a journey through the desert on his camel. All his food and water are packed into bags carried by the camel. He sleeps one night, and wakes to find the camel gone. He is hundreds of miles from the nearest oasis, in a trackless wasteland. He knows that without the camel’s transportation and the supplies it carries, he will die in this barren land. He is crushed. He will never see his wife again, never hug his child, never even taste food again. Everything he has worked for has come to an end, and he will die of thirst in the blazing heat – a terrible way to die.

Suddenly the camel comes trotting back over the horizon, and returns to him! The man will live! Imagine the joy he feels.

Allah’s joy at our return to Him is greater than that. Glory to Him.

We humans hold grudges. If a friend or spouse betrays us we might be able to forgive him once or even twice, but if it happens repeatedly we will eventually stop trusting him and refuse to forgive him again. I’ve certainly wrestled with this. There are people from my past who I haven’t spoken to in years. Even if I’ve forgiven them with my tongue, it’s such a struggle to cleanse my heart of all resentment.

But SubhanAllah, Allah is not like that. He is Al-Ghafir (The Forgiver of Sins), Al-Ghaffaar (The Oft-Forgiving) and Al-Ghafoor (The Forgiving). His forgiveness and mercy are farther beyond ours than the stars are beyond the earth

So dear brothers and sisters keep on praying and working on your faith. It’s the only way. We are not angels. We are human beings who make mistakes and stumble. As long as we keep getting up and turning to Allah, we are on the right path, Insha’Allah.

Forced Marriage : Islamic Perspective

What about this issue of forced marriage? Forced marriage, where Muslim men are forcing their daughters to get married, to who they want them to get married to; this is un-Islamic, this is cultural. This is cultural. This is un-Islamic. There is nothing in Islam called forced marriage! Those who are doing it, are doing it based on their tribal, ethnic, cultural practices. How is the father come force his daughter to marry somebody? I mean, she don't even know this guy. But because that's his cousin or that's the son of his brother or that's his family, that's somebody, the guy, they Bangladeshi; so he would take her to Bangladesh & force her to marry & then after they get married, give him a card where he can come back. No, no, no. This is oppressive, this is repressive. This is un-Islamic, also it's unconstitutional. As a matter of fact, I think that in New Zealand, it is also against the law. I think that in the UK, it's against the law. In America, it's against the law. And it should be against the law! Because nobody has the right to do that! 

However, if a father has a daughter that is 16 and he thinks that she is a little bit umm...active & you know, she's already kind of like looking at boys & boys looking at her & they interacting, sms, messages and blah blah, all that kind of stuff going on, he would say, 'hold it, wait a minute now. I can't...she ain't gonna lasting in no uni.' You know, before the uni, before she finish the uni, there might be something else going on. So he'd say, 'Look, I will make some arrangements right now.' So he begins to make an arrangement for his daughter to get married & he says to her, 'Listen, there's a young man that I met. He's working, I know his family & I think it would be good for you to marry him.' This is not a forced marriage; this is called an arranged marriage. So her parents & his parents, arrange for them to be married & those people, they agree; those young people agree & so the young girl, she goes to live with his parents or they...he comes to live with her parents, because they are young, they are still in school. This is called an arranged marriage. Islam says nothing wrong with that, it's nothing wrong. Why? Because, the arrangement was done out of the protection of the children and out of the wellbeing & by the consent & everything of the parents. 

But, Islam says, when that girl becomes herself an adult & she don't like that marriage, because she couldn't make all the choices, she couldn't look into the whole background, she don't like it. She wake up one day & said, 'Look, this ain't the right guy' or 'he's not really working, he was working, but he is not working now. He doesn't want to go to school, I finished school. This guy wants to sweep the streets and hang out in the streets, I am going to become a doctor. It's not going to work!' She has the right to annul that marriage. That's what Islam says. So we say that's fair. She got married out of the consent, I mean, out of the will of her parents, out of the concern of her parents; to protect her, to protect the honor of the family & everything. But when she becomes an adult, she can make her own decisions & she can do what? She can annul that marriage. So there is no forced marriage in Islam.

Youtube Video Link: Forced Marriage !

Stop Acting like an Islamic Scholar

Imam Malik was one of the greatest scholars in the history of Islam. One day a man who lived thousands of miles away went to visit him. In those days there were no Emirates or British Airways. No 100 mph trains. This man travelled for months to visit Imam Malik for one simple reason. He wanted to ask questions and learn more about his deen.

He finally arrived and asked the esteemed Imam 40 questions. And the Imam said “I don’t know” to 36 of them. He only answered 4 questions. 4 questions out of 40.

Similarly, one day Abu Bakr RA was asked a question about the Quran and he beautifully answered “Which sky will shelter me and which earth will hold me if I speak about a verse of the Qur’an without knowledge.”

The question is, are YOU an Islamic scholar in the true sense? Yes you.

What Islamic education do you have? Are you qualified to interpret Hadiths? Have you studied 8 hours a day for 5 years to understand Quran in detail? What teachers have you studied under? How many students do you to teach? How many hours a week do you spend learning Islam?

If the answers to the above questions are mostly in the negative then the answer to the first question is probably no.

So brothers and sisters, who are we?

Compared to such greats. And yet on Facebook, on Twitter, on email, in our homes, in our classrooms, in our discussions, we issues Fatwas all day long. We pronounce halal haram and we pronounce haram halal. And we do it daily. We do it with ease. The words slip out of our tongues like butter spreads on warm bread. We do it without regard. We’ve become experts on Islamic fiqh. Folks, we do it out of ignorance.

Sheikh Google is not an authentic Imam. Maulana Twitter is not an authentic Imam. Mufti Facebook is not an authentic Imam.

Real fatwas are issued by scholars who have spent years studying Islam and often they reply with the same humility as Imam Malik and Abu Bakr RA did.

So from today be careful. Be careful what you say. The angel on your left records everything. Don’t keep him busy. Keep the angel on the right busier and learn how to simply say

I don’t know.

Like the greats did.

Source :Omar: Hadith of the Day

You Will Find Me, if Allah so Wills, Among Those Who Are Patient

In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful.

“And when he reached with him [the age of] exertion, he said, “O my son, indeed I have seen in a dream that I [must] sacrifice you, so see what you think.” He said, “O my father, do as you are commanded. You will find me, if Allah wills, of the steadfast.” And when they had both submitted and he put him down upon his forehead, We called to him, “O Abraham, You have fulfilled the vision.” Indeed, We thus reward the doers of good. Indeed, this was the clear trial.” (Qur’an 37:102-106)

Above is the conversation between Ibrahim `alayhi sallatu wa sallam (may God send His peace and blessings on him) and one of his sons. Here we see that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala (exalted is He) asks Ibrahim (as) to make the most difficult of sacrifices. There are many kinds of tribulations in this world that leave us at utter loss and dismay, but one of the most painful tribulations for a parent is to lose his or her child. Yet, in the verses above we see a very different reaction from Ibrahim (as), and more so from his son. Allah (swt) makes it very clear at the end that it was obviously a trial for them. So what exactly makes these people different from us as to how we react to a test from Allah (swt)? A growing epidemic among Muslims today is the absolute impatience with the decree of Allah (swt). Oftentimes we see negativity in everything that unexpectedly happens to us; we completely lose our cool when afflicted with tribulation. And why do we react this way so often? Perhaps because our priorities are skewed and we trust ourselves more than we trust our Lord (swt).

Ibrahim (as) and his son were in a complete state of submission to their Lord—they had an undeniable certainly that their Lord, Al Lateef (the Gentle, the Subtle), would never hurt them, that they were in the good hands of Al Waali (the Protecter). To make it clearer, Imam al Ghazali (may God have mercy on him) said that it does not matter what situation you are in, what matters is what you make out of that situation. This means that we need to realize and be confident in what really matters. Our priority is to be successful in terms of the akhira (afterlife). Our priority is to be in obedience to Allah (swt) in every living condition possible.

Allah (swt) Exists when we are unwell and when we are well. He (swt) Exists when we are poor and when we are rich, when we are sad and when we are happy. So what difference does our state make when, in every state, Al Hay (the Living God) is ever-present with us? Can’t a poor person be more beloved to Allah (swt) than a rich person because of his mindfulness of Allah? Can’t a person with cancer be more beloved to Allah than a healthy person because of her love for Allah (swt)? We don’t have knowledge of the unseen. We don’t know what His plans for us are. But the knowledge that Allah (swt) did convey to us through His messengers is that the only thing that has any value in His sight is our taqwa (mindfulness of God). And the moment we internalize this, our problems of dunya (this life) will begin to look insignificant. How can outward and arbitrary tribulations be tribulations when we know that these events, by no means, can take us away from His obedience?

Some may ask, well if Allah has already decreed everything for us, then what’s the point of life anyway? Yes, whatever Allah (swt) has decreed will come to pass, but the point is not what Allah has decreed, the point is our reaction and response to whatever Allah (swt) decreed for us. Let us consider the example of Aasiya (may God be pleased with her): it was decreed that she would marry Pharaoh, but her forbearance and absolute conviction in the hereafter brought her so close to Allah (swt) that Allah showed her her house in Paradise. So next time we face a dead end in life, let’s remember that the situation at hand is not important. The importance actually lies in the fact that Allah (swt) has given you a chance to prove your love for Him.

And why should our priority be the akhira and not the dunya? Because whether good or bad, our life will come to an end very soon, but the hereafter is eternal. After 50 years it won’t matter if you got accepted to Yale or not. What’s going to matter for eternity is our relationship with our Lord. We all want to go to Jannah (Paradise), but the even the thought of death makes us uncomfortable. Perhaps that is because deep inside we know that we are not serious enough about our permanent abode. Most of us get worried out of our wits when we can’t hand in an assignment on time, but we couldn’t care less about the call of the adhaan (the call to prayer) five times a day. We log onto Facebook every day, but we forget to open the book of Allah as often. Allah (swt) is not being unfair to us, we are being unfair to ourselves by mixing up our priorities.

Our Prophet ﷺ  was never disquieted or agitated in a moment of tribulation. Even in the most difficult day of his life, he ended his prayer by telling Allah, “So long as You are not angry with me, I don’t care.” Agitation at the tribulations around us is inconsistent with the characteristic of believers.

“It is He who sent down tranquillity into the hearts of the believers that they would increase in faith along with their [present] faith. And to Allah belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth, and ever is Allah Knowing and Wise.” (Qur’an 48:4)

We need to internalize the fact that we come from Allah (swt) and we will return to Allah (swt). We have to remember that we are in good hands. It’s strange that we love and trust our parents so much, yet we do not fully trust Allah’s plans for us— whose plan it was in the first place to send us to these safe hands. We know with utter conviction that these two temporary guardians (our mum and dad) will take care of us, yet we don’t believe our real and eternal Guardian will take care of us. He took care of us before we had our parents. He took care of us when we were in the wombs. He (swt) took care of us when we couldn’t even ask for anything. If He took care of us through all this, how can we think He will forsake us now and not give us what is best for us? Brothers and sisters in Islam, let us be mindful of our Lord and straighten our affairs with Him. The result to this will be that He (swt) will straighten the rest of our affairs for us, perhaps in ways we’re not going to quite understand.

“O you who have believed, seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the patient.” - Qur’an 2:153)

Youtube Video Link : The Sacrifice of Ibrahim (AS)

Original source: http://www.suhaibwebb.com/personaldvlpt/character/you-will-find-me-if-allah-so-wills-among-those-who-are-patient