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Imam Malik (ra) advised Imam Shafi’i (ra) to make his actions like flour and his knowledge salt.  What did he mean?  Bread is made from much flour, to which only a pinch of salt is added.  Such should be the combination of knowledge and action within a scholar.

~Sh. Zulfiqar Ahmad in Letter I of Wisdom for the Seeker.  Sh. Ahmed Arshad also mentions this advice in his lecture on Sincerity in Actions.  Here is a bit of the lecture, at aruond the 8 and a half minute mark:

Someone once asked the shaykh, what is ilm? And he replied that ilm is that information that once it enters your heart, it does not leave without you acting upon it.  That is what ilm is.   So this is the second level of deen that we need to acquire is to start acting on the ilm, become people of action.  It is a major short coming today. 

People like intellectual islam, they like the philosophy behind it, they like to talk about it, like to debate about it, but when you ask them mashaAllah what is the condition of your salat?  A lot of people say they are empty inside.  Why?  Because the information is in their brain, it has not entered their hearts yet, otherwise they would be people of action.

Imam Shafi’i, his teacher told him, my son, make your ilm like salt and make your amal like flour, because when you are making something, you have a lot of flour, and a little pinch of salt in it, meaning the little knowledge that you have, you have to do so much action on it.  It’s exactly the opposite today.

Are you a person of information or of action?  Looking at my large collection of islamic books and comparing it to my paltry offerings of ibadah, it’s not hard to see where I lie, astaghfirallah.

May Allah (swt) make us people who have more flour then salt, ameen.

Praising the Prophet (saws) in all corners of the world

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Mawlid is not ‘misguided innovation’

Sh. Abdullah bin Bayyah on Mawlid

The Ruling:

Indeed, whoever wants to celebrate the Prophet’s (sal Allahu alyahi wa sallam) birthday should celebrate it and avoid doing any action contrary to Islamic Law. In addition, this act should be done with an intention that it is not a sunna nor an obligatory act. If these conditions are observed, and one is careful not to contradict Islamic Law, out of sincere love for the Prophet (Peace and blessing of Allah upon him), then, Allah willing, there is nothing wrong with this action and this person will be rewarded.

Commenting on this, the Shaykh of Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (May Allah have mercy upon him) said, “Indeed, such a person will be rewarded because of his intention.” Likewise, for the one who shuns this celebration, seeking to cling to the sunna out of fear of falling into innovation, then this person will also be rewarded, Allah willing. It is important to note that this is not a big issue. Nor is it necessary to give it more attention then it deserves.

…a well stocked spice collection.  It’s spice refill day, which means my spice collection has been replenished.

*contented sigh*

1/4 of a year already?  Time flies with you have a kitty to love.  *huggles ma sprawl kitteh*

First Day Home:

Today.  This is her idea of quality time with her people.  She’ll sit on my lap for awhile, then jump off and sprawl out on the floor and snooze next to us.

It was suppose to be my first weekend off in 2 months.  The husband and I were going to spend the day together.  We were going to cook together, watch a movie, exercise, and read Qur’an.

Alas, I am at work.

And as if that didn’t suck enough, I am screwed.

See, I got a call to come and scan documents to send to experts ASAP.  Sounds thrilling, right?  Oh, it gets better.

They installed the new scanners this weekend.

And I don’t know how to work them.

I’m usually pretty good at figuring out new pieces of equipment.  But now it’s giving me errors and I don’t know what to do.

*puts head on desk and sighs*

Ok, look at the side bar.  Do you see a big block of color on top of each section?  And a blue background halfway down?

It shows that I removed those colors in the theme customizer, but they show up here.  *sigh*

*edited to add*

 Ok, maybe it’s a firefox vs. IE issue.  When I use firefox, all the icky stuff is there.  When I use IE, it’s not.  Hmmm…

What browser are you using genieyclo?

Why? Can you honestly imagine the Prophet (saws) doing this? Bwahah, look at all those people sitting there, eating dinner, breaking their fast. Let’s go blow them into a millions pieces!

Make dua for the sickness in our ummah.

This will be just a brief post on this weekend.  I took pages and pages of notes, and inshaAllah I will post a few highlights from the lectures and some of my thoughts.

First, the negatives:

• Where were the Minnesota Muslims at?  Seriously, one of the best speakers our american ummah has to offer is right in your backyard, and you don’t represent?  Granted, this meant more access to Imam Zaid, but come on!

Ok, there was really only one negative, and I shouldn’t really complain.  SubhanAllah, it was an awesome weekend for my deen, my iman and inshaAllah, for my marriage. 

• Imam Zaid presented a two day workshop on Islam, Marriage and the Family.  I’ve read probably half a dozen marriage/relationship books, both secular and islam based, and I benefited more from this workshop than I have from all those other books combined.  Some books in my collection are quite good (like Blissful Marriage), but there is nothing quite like having something presented to you by a dynamic speaker in a clear, concise manner. 
• The presentation differed from other Islam based marriage advice, in that it didn’t focus on the duties and responsibilities of the husband and wife.  Instead, it discussed common problems, and offered Islam based solutions that both parties could enact.
• Imam Zaid is funny.  Seriously, we were doubled over with laughter like, every 5 minutes.  No one could fall asleep during this presentation.
• Imam Zaid presented a lecture on the Ethical Foundation of Islamic Civilization at a local university.  Again, the information was presented in a clear and concise manner, and I learned quite a few things I didn’t know before. 
• Imam Zaid performed a marriage on Sunday, alhamdulilah.  It was something truly beautiful to behold.  Plus, we got to sing Tala’al Badru afterwards, so my years of singing along to various youtube versions has finally born fruit.
• I got a lot out of the presentation in part because I took notes.  I have tons of lectures from Imam Zaid, Sh. Hamza, Sh. Nuh, etc, but most of the time I listen to them on the bus and zone out.  inshaAllah in the future when I listen to something that conveys knowledge, I’ll have my notebook out to take notes.
• If this program comes out on CD or DVD BUY IT!!!!  inshaAllah when it does, I’m buying it in bulk and gifting it to all my married friends.  Even if one is not married, they would benefit from the lessons taught therein.  We all have relationships, be they with family, friends or work colleages, and the problems that face a husband and wife in communication aren’t necessarily unique to that specific type of relationship.

Britney’s One-Woman Economy

Hollywood.tv was founded by Sheeraz Hasan, who came to the United States from London, where he was running a restaurant with his family. Hasan always wanted to be a part of Hollywood, so he moved to Los Angeles. He says he found the key to his success during a pilgrimage on a mountaintop in Saudi Arabia.

“I went to go get a drink and all of a sudden, I just look up and I see Britney in a magazine. So I think to myself, wait a minute. I’m here on pilgrimage. What the hell is Britney doing here? Of all places. God showed me Britney Spears,” Hasan said. “I said to myself, OK, I’m going to go back to Hollywood, Hollywood.tv. I’m going to get the stars. I’m going to get all the stars, but also my main person I’m going to get is Britney Spears.”

God?  No, my dear boy, that would be Shaytan.

“Rihla 2008″ is one of the top google search terms that bring people to my blog.  I’m sorry to disappoint ya’ll that I don’t know much more than anyone else about the 2008 rihla.   It looks like you can apply now for what looks like an awesome trip with an awesome group of scholars. 

If anyone who reads this does end up going, could you please make dua that I will be able to go at some point in the future?  Also, please blog your experiences!  The 2005 rihla blog is still one of my favorites that I go back and read through again from time to time

Ooo, check out this website.  It offers short lessons to help understand the Qur’an in arabic and a link to this spiffy word for word translation of the Qur’an.

 Maybe some of my sunnipath study buddies would like to work on these courses through Ramadan as well.  Anyone?

5 years ago today, I made shahada. Alhamdulilah. I wish I had something profound to say, but alas, it’s Monday, I’ve got a ton of work to do and I’m still half asleep. So, here are some of my favorite online videos, most which I think I’ve posted before, but are worth looking at again.

My favorite nasheeds, reposted.

And videos from Yusuf Islam’s album that speak to issues of conversion

The moment you walked inside my door/ I knew that I need not look no more,/ I’ve seen many other souls before – ah but, /Heaven must’ve programmed you/The moment you fell inside my dreams /I realized all I had not seen, /I’ve seen many other souls before – ah but, /Heaven must’ve programmed you.

Who walked inside his door? The Prophet Muhammad (saws)?

Good character. We need more of it.

And finally, the reason I am muslim today, the Qur’an. Pick any surah, any verse and start reciting, and it will tug at my heart strings.