2 sunday events

And they’re not at the same time, so you can go to both :D

On the authority of Abdullah bin Abbas, who said : One day I was behind the prophet and he said to me:

“Young man, I shall teach you some words [of advice]: Be mindful of Allah, and Allah will protect you. Be mindful of Allah, and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, ask of Allah; if you seek help, seek help of Allah. Know that if the Nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit you only with something that Allah had already prescribed for you, and that if they gather together to harm you with anything, they would harm you only with something Allah had already prescribed for you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried.”
SunniPath is excited to announce a free live event on the 5th October, 2pm GMT with Ustadha Zaynab Ansari.
The event will be an explanation of this hadith focusing on the Prophet’s (Allah bless him and give him peace):
Great concern for young people
His ability to offer encouragement for proper action
How to be successful as a Muslim
The importance of total reliance on Allah Ta’ala and
How the hadith is a balm for hearts in troubled times
Seats are limited.
Register Now

SP fall semester

Alhamdulilah, I signed up for Introduction to Islamic Belief for the fall semester at Sunnipath.  It’s a birthday present from the husband :D  He’s so sweet.  He said sign up for anything you want, but not a sufi class.  Ah honey, I need to take those sufi classes to earn the degree inshaAllah.  Oh well, you’ll have to pay for those on your own.  Thus continues the joys of living in a zahari/shafi’i sufi marriage.

However, I must give him credit where credit is due.  Even though he is not a fan of tasawwuf (ok, that’s an understatement), he hasn’t stopped me from exploring that path.  Alhamdulilah.

If anyone is taking this course, let me know.  We could be study buddies.

seeking sacred knowledge

subhanAllah, did I not just post that I feel this calling to seek sacred knowedge?  Seriously, subhanAllah, look what launched today.  Reading through this, I feel more than a calling.  It’s almost as if Allah (swt) is pushing me down the path to seek sacred knowledge.  

I feel this would also be an opportunity for me to make up for all the fluffing through school I’ve done in the past.  I think I never felt challenged in school, so I just coasted through, getting great grades, but not really studying.  Then I hit language classes and I crashed.  I had no study skills to speak of an no motivation.  Yeah, a D in French sophmore year of college ruined my shiney good student image forever.  But now, if I put my heart and mind to it, maybe I can redeem myself here, where it really matters.

inshaAllah I’m going to make istikhara tonight and work out the finances with the husband.  Please make mega duas for me, I’m so excited! 

Sunnipath Summer

I often blab about how I’m going to take a sunnipath course someday, inshaAllah.  Ah, that someday is now!  I’m signing up for one course this summer, alhamdulilah.  Now comes the hard part - deciding which one to take:

• Commentary on Key Chapters of the Qur’an
• Introduction to the Qur’an
• Essentials of Islam - Shafi’i
• Living Islam - Shafi’i
• Finding the Straight Path
• Foundations of Islamic Law
• Hadith or Fiqh?
• Muslim Scholarly Tradition
• 40 Hadith of Imam Nawawi
• Journey to Allah 1

Yeah, that’s almost every course they have to offer, but I really can’t decide. 

NPR visits new muslim class

[IMG]img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/rahma/islamic%20salutations/bismillah.gif[/IMG] 

I never went to a new muslim class.  Come to think of it, I’ve been to very few real life based classes.   One of the reasons is because the teachers rarely state their biases outright.  One has to have a certain level of sophistication in order to detect the leaning of the materials.  At least from what I’ve seen, many classes aimed at new muslims or that cover the basics, have a strong salafi leaning.  But do they tell you that?  Noooo.

For example, I went to an aqidah class a few months back.  Everything was chugging along when wham, “there are several groups who have very similar aqidahs to ahl al sunnah wa jamaah, but they are deviant.  Asharis, maturidis…”  Argh!  *pulls hair out from under hijab*

If you’re going to teach an aqidah class, you have two choices.  One, teach the basics that all the different aqidah schools agree on.  They agree on most.  Why dwell on disputed points like the literality of Allah’s [IMG]img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/rahma/islamic%20salutations/allah.gif[/IMG] hand and foot?  Why declare a large portion of the sunni muslim ummah to be outside of ahl al sunnah wa jamaah?

The second choice is to state right out from the front - this is an aqidah class from x perspective.  Don’t pretend that your point of view is the be all and end all of islam.  Muslims have been disagreeing about this for centuries, and those differing points of view have survived through to this day.

These two choices hold true for all classes.  Welcome to Islam 101.   Now that we’ve gone over the 5 pillars and the 6 articles of faith, we’re going to go into some fiqh issues.  One thing you all should know is that although Islam is based on the book of Allah [IMG]img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/rahma/islamic%20salutations/allah.gif[/IMG], and on the example of His beloved Messenger [IMG]img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/rahma/islamic%20salutations/pbuh.gif[/IMG], muslims do differ on certain points.  Don’t worry yourself about these differences at this point in time, but do realize that over the centuries, the greatest scholars of this ummah have disagreed, but did so in a polite manner without declaring their opponents kufar.  In this class, we’ll be teaching from x perspective.  If you hear something that contradicts what you’ve learned here, don’t be scared, don’t try to argue.  Note that different view point, and bring it up in the next class.  inshaAllah we’ll discuss it then, and inshaAllah it will help you understand.

Ah, someday…

That’s why I love Sunnipath.  You know where they’re coming from.  You know their biases.  Their Islam 101 classes are Essentials of Islam (Hanafi, Maliki or Shafi’i).  You know what you’re getting right up from.

Ok, with that ramble out of the way, here’s the NPR story.

Free Sunnipath Course

How do I love Sunnipath?  Let me count the ways…

1.  Free courses from time to time

In the special free 3-week course The Hadith Jibril: Exploring the Core of Prophetic Guidance, learn how the meanings and lessons of the Hadith Jibril relate to your life. Understand how the three dimensions of the religion—Islam, Iman, and Ihsan—interconnect and define the true believer.

I tried to register this morning, but alas, the registration page kept processing…processing…processing…inshaAllah I’ll try again later today.  I’m so excited to see courses like this offered.  I had briefly flirted with writing something up based on the Hadith Jibril to give to new muslims, as it provides all the basics a newbie needs.  But, alhamdulilah, people with more knowledge than I are already doing it, so I’m off the hook for now.  I recently inquired with my masjid about helping with the new convert program, so inshaAllah I’ll be taking notes for things that I could use if they need my assistance.

Online Eid Event with Imam Zaid

 Click here to register.

A Reader on Islamic Spirituality

Sunnipath must have rearranged their answers section, because links are frequently broken.  It’s a shame, because there are several great compilation answers that pull together resources pertaining to a specific subject.  One such answer is their Reader on Islamic Spirituality.  I’ve gone through their archives and updated the links.  Maybe if I volunteer to do this for them for other answers, they’ll give me a tuition discount, lol.

A Reader on Islamic Spirituality (Sufism)
Answered by SunniPath Answer Service Team
I know sufficient Fiqh to fulfil my daily obligations. What I find missing is the spiritual side to this. How would I go abound learning this, are there books you would recommend? What about the Sufi tariqas - are they bida? My Arabic teacher told me that tassawuf didn’t exist in the sahabas time, but that there was zuhd, is this true? Also what books/subjects would you recommend to further my knowledge of fiqh?

Wa alaykum Assalam wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu,

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful & Compassionate

The following are a collection of links on Sufism sorted by topic. Articles are from Sidi Masud Khan’s Excellent Site: http://www.masud.co.uk/ and Q&A links are from the archives at www.sunnipath.com 

What is Sufism, is it an innovation? - What is its Place in Islam?

The Place of Tasawwuf in Traditional Islam Sh. Nuh Keller

How would you respond to the Claim that Sufism is bid’a? Sh. Nuh Keller

Islamic Spirituality: the forgotten revolution Sh. Abdal Hakim Murad

What is this “Sufism” that some love and other people hate?

Imam Ghazali on Sufism and the Reality of Spiritual Inspiration

The Meaning of Tasawwuf Sh. Shahidullah Faridi (r.a.)

Is Sufism a ‘Gross Innovation? What is the Reality of Sufism?

Dhikr by Word and by Action

Rumi: True and False Sufis

Jihad al-Nafs (Striving Against One’s Lower Self)

Taking a Shaykh in the Spiritual Path (Tariqa)

Taking a Spiritual guide: Is there something wrong with it?  - can’t find

Taking Bay’a with a Shaykh?

Is taking a shaykh on the spiritual path an innovation?

Meeting with Reality: My Road to Tasawwuf - Qais Arthur

Books

What are good writings on the soul, the stages it goes through, and man’s place in this world?

Sufism and the Shariah

Sufism and Shariah

Tasawwuf and Sharia - Shafiq ur-Rahman

www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/misc/shafiqur.htm

Also Related

The Concept of Bid’a in the Islamic Shariah Sh. Nuh Keller

Spiritual Meaning of Prayers (Worship) Performance of the daily prayers (Salbt)

Calling to Allah: from the best of spiritual works

Have you seen a Faqih? Reason and Knowledge in Islam

Clarification on reciting the names of Allah
May Allah `Azza wa Jall guide us all to the way most beloved to Him, ameen.

Wassalam,

Hanafi Fiqh Team

And now for something completely different…

…online course window shopping.

This is it - the point of no return. From here on out, I’m going to become a serious student of Islam. Ok, well, as serious as I can be with the internet as my guide and my arabic sorely lacking. First things first - enroll in an arabic course at a local masjid and sign up for more SunniPath courses.

What course should I take during the Fall semester. It’s my goal, inshaAllah, to take one a semester.

Fiqh-i? Essentials of Islam - Shafi’i, Introduction to Islamic Worship - Shafi’i

Iman-y? Tahawi’s Manual of Belief Explained

History-ish? Women and Men around the Messenger

Qur’an focused? Introduction to the Qur’an

Adab (my favorite!)? Attaining Good Character

Or something that would be good for everything overall? Journey to Allah - Part 1

I’m drawn towards the last two courses, but my more rational self thinks I should follow the Foundations Curriculumn Sunnipath has laid out. So, this means either Foundations of Islamic Law or Essentials of Islam (Shafi’i).

Supplications of the Daily Prayer