Category Archive

Please excuse me for making this pop culture post.   Growing up, we didn’t list to a lot of pop music.  While other kids gushed about New Kids on the Block, I was still listening to Raffi and then Beethoven and musical soundtracks.

One bit of the mainstream did reach me however (aside from Walk Like an Egyptian, which was my favorite childhood song), the theme song from Free Willy, will you be there? I loved the movie and loved the theme song.  My sixth grade class chose it as our class song to sing at our end of the year program.  The lyrics were and are still beautiful.

I was never a huge Michael Jackson fan.  I shook my head at his crazy antics and in recent years made dua that he would accept Islam through is contacts in the gulf.

As I’m writing this, I don’t know if he has passed or not.  If he has, I hope that he found peace in recent years and had accepted Islam.  If he has not, I hope he recovers, takes stock of his life and gets things in order.

People ask why we should care about the death of a celebrity.   Is he any more important than anyone else in this world?  No, he is not, but with his death and the death of other celebrities, we should be reminded of  own impending death.  Soon too, we will end up in the grave waiting for the day of judgment.

Remembering Death

On Death and Dying

What should we feel about the death of the Pope (insert any famous person here)?

Use this as a wake up call to reflect on your own life and death.  Use it to know Allah (swt) more and seek His pleasure inshaAllah.

When mankind enters Jannah, will you be there?

Pet’s death linked to Miami’s serial cat killer

Others in south Miami-Dade County are telling similar stories. A woman whose Siamese mix cat, Caesar, was killed and mutilated didn’t want her name published.

“This person killed my cat. He doesn’t need to know anything else about me,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s a gang initiation thing or a satanic ritual thing, but to do what he’s doing, he has to be extremely sick.”

The month-long cat-killing spree has police concerned.

When I read this story, this hadith from Bukhari immediately popped into my mind:

Abdullah bin Umar (ra) said that the Prophet (saws) said, “A woman was tortured and was put in Hell because of a cat which she had kept locked till it died of hunger.”

If people truly feared Allah (swt) and the punishment that could await them on the day of judgment, wouldn’t the world be a much better place?

no, not the department of justice, the Day of Judgment.  I was reminded of this hadith qudsi today while searching for a response to a message board posting.  I have a ton of snippets of quran and ahadith rattling around in my head, but alas, I still must rely on sheikh google to make sure I get the wording right.  Then I think about how the quran and ahadith came to us, from men and women who memorized thousands of ayat and hundreds of thousands of ahadith.  Ya Allah, how amazing!

After reading this hadith, I say alhamdulilah that I am of the ummah of Muhammad (saws).  I also say alhamdulilah that I am so blessed know and believe la ilaha il Allah.  May Allah (swt) grant us the intercession of His beloved Prophet (saws) on that Day and may Allah (swt) shower the beloved Prophet (saws) with more blessings then there are stars in the sky.

On the authority of Anas (ra) from the Prophet (saws), who said:

“The believers will gather together on the Day of Resurrection and will say: ‘Should we not ask [someone] to intercede for us with our Lord?’ So they will come to Adam and will say: ‘You are the Father of mankind; Allah created you with His Hand, He made His angels bow down to you, and He taught you the names of everything, so intercede for us with your Lord so that He may give us relief from this place where we are.’ And he will say: ‘I am not in a position [to do that]’ – and he will mention his wrongdoing and will feel ashamed and will say: ‘Go to Noah, for he is the first messenger that Allah sent to the inhabitants of the earth.’

So they will come to him and he will say: ‘I am not in a position [to do that]’ – and he will mention his having requested something of his Lord about which he had no [proper] knowledge (Qur’an 11:45-46), and he will feel ashamed and will say: ‘Go to the Friend of the Merciful (Abraham).’

So they will come to him and he will say: ‘I am not in a position [to do that]. Go to Moses, a servant to whom Allah talked and to whom He gave the Torah.’

So they will come to him and he will say: ‘I am not in a position [to do that]’ – and he will mention the taking of a life other than for a life (28:15-16), and he will feel ashamed in the sight of his Lord and will say: ‘Go to Jesus, Allah’s servant and messenger, Allah’s word and spirit.’

So they will come to him and he will say: ‘I am not in a position [to do that]. Go to Muhammad (saws), a servant to whom Allah has forgiven all his wrongdoing, past and future.’

So they will come to me and I shall set forth to ask permission to come to my Lord, and permission will be given, and when I shall see my Lord I shall prostrate myself. He will leave me thus for such time as it pleases Him, and then it will be said [to me]: ‘Raise your head. Ask and it will be granted. Speak and it will be heard. Intercede and your intercession will be accepted.’ So I shall raise my head and praise Him with a form of praise that He will teach me. Then I shall intercede and He will set me a limit [as to the number of people], so I shall admit them into Paradise.

Then I shall return to Him, and when I shall see my Lord [I shall bow down] as before. Then I shall intercede and He will set me a limit [as to the number of people]. So I shall admit them into Paradise.

Then I shall return for a third time, then a fourth, and I shall say: ‘There remains in Hell-fire only those whom the Qur’an has confined and who must be there for eternity.’ There shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said: ‘There is no god but Allah’ and who has in his heart goodness weighing a barley-corn; then there shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said: ‘There is no god but Allah’ and who has in his heart goodness weighing a grain of wheat; then there shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said: ‘There is no god but Allah’ and who has in his heart goodness weighing an atom.

It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Muslim, at-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah).

 This book is awesome.  Seriously, seriously awesome.  It’s not something you can sit down and read in large chunks.  I’m going to read a paragraph each night and then just reflect as I fall asleep inshaAllah.  Awesomeness to the nth degree, mashaAllah.

How often do we just sit and think about Allah (swt)?  How much of our day is devoted solely to Allah (swt)?   How much of our day is taken up by the mundanities of the dunya?   Get up, get dressed, go to work, go to the gym, come home, eat dinner, veg in front of the TV or computer.  Make all your salat on time if you’re lucky.  Time for dhikr or reading Qur’an?  Phffft!  Go to bed, get up and start it all over again.

an excerpt with some questions for reflection in purple: 

God alone, and none other, is the true Deity, the Necessary Existent, who is Creator, Producer, Fashioner, Provider, Giver of life and death, and Wise Disposer (Think about each of these names.  What do they mean in relation to you, to the world, to creation, to life itself?); who has perfected everything He has created, and excelled in everything which He has made; who directs all things with ultimate precision, and has determined everything He has decreed (Think about your life.  Every action you’ve taken.  Everything, good and bad, that has happened to you.  How is each thing the best possibility for you?). He alone is the true God, Pre-existent and Eternal, worthy of inward and external worship (What are inward and external worship?  Which of these do you do each day?  What more could you do?), exalted above all blemish, who possesses the most exalted attributes and the most beautiful names. His are might and majesty; none shares in His essence, attributes or actions.  There is no other God than He.

Anyone else have any other questions to spark reflection on this passage?

hadith mentioned in Sh. Hamza’s Eid address:

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (saws) as saying: Verily, Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, would say on the Day of Resurrection: O son of Adam, I was sick but you did not visit Me. He would say: O my Lord; how could I visit Thee whereas Thou art the Lord of the worlds? Thereupon He would say: Didn’t you know that such and such servant of Mine was sick but you did not visit him and were you not aware of this that if you had visited him, you would have found Me by him? O son of Adam, I asked food from you but you did not feed Me. He would say: My Lord, how could I feed Thee whereas Thou art the Lord of the worlds? He said: Didn’t you know that such and such servant of Mine asked food from you but you did not feed him, and were you not aware that if you had fed him you would have found him by My side? (The Lord would again say: ) O son of Adam, I asked drink from you but you did not provide Me. He would say: My Lord, how could I provide Thee whereas Thou art the Lord of the worlds? Thereupon He would say: Such and such of servant of Mine asked you for a drink but you did not provide him, and had you provided him drink you would have found him near Me.

From saheeh muslim

Narrated Jabir bin ‘Abdullah (ra):

Allah’s Apostle (saws) said, “Whoever after listening to the Adhan says,

‘Allahumma Rabba hadhihi-d-da’ watit-tammati was-salatil qa’imati, ati Muhammadan al-wasilata wal-fadilata, wab’ athhu maqaman mahmudan-il-ladhi wa’ adtahu’

‘O Allah! Lord of this perfect call  and of the regular prayer which is going to be established! Kindly give Muhammad the right of intercession and superiority and send him to the best and the highest place in Paradise which You promised him,’

then intercession for me will be permitted for him on the Day of Resurrection”).

Bukhari Volume 1, Book 11, Number 588:

Among other questions, on the day of judgment, we will be asked about: 

The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: “The feet of a servant will not move on the Day of Judgment until he has been questioned about four things): his life – how he spent it, his knowledge – how he acted upon it, his wealth – where he earned it and how he spent it, and his body – how he used it.” (Tirmidhi, Kitab sifat al Qiyamah wal Raqa’iq)

Do I really want to tell Allah (swt) that I sat in front of the television, eating cheddar cheese popcorn, and ignored my body as my cholesterol and blood pressure sky rocketed?  Gotta get this booty in gear!