Category Archive

There’s always more stuff popping up online.  And I like stuff.  Via deenport, 2 new sites that show a lot of promise:

Soul Resources - “English language resources that meet contemporary Muslim community needs in Western English speaking environments”

Abu Dhabi Khutbahs and More- “Welcome to the Abu Dhabi Khutbas & More blog. Our plan is to start making available the weekly English khutbas that Shaykh Jihad Brown delivers, as well as articles that he writes for one of the major newspapers out here. In addition where there are talks, lessons and other stuff taking place we’ll be sure to upload it for the benefit of all!”

So now I’ve added Abu Dhabi to the list of potential places to move to in the future.  I’d like to find a place that has traditional muslim scholars who teach in english, but where there are also a lot of opportunities to learn arabic.  If we move somewhere within the US, it would either be to Chicago or the Bay Area.  Abroad, it would probably be somewhere in the UAE.

Of course, it would help if I knew what I want to do with my life.  AbuS thinks I should get certified to teach english as a second language.  And I guess that’s as good as anything right now, since I really have no clue what I want to do.  I tried my hand at teaching (briefly), but the alternative certification program I was with bit big time.  I think if I am going to teach again, I’ll go the more traditional route – university based education, internship, student teaching, the whole 9 yards.

Of course, ESL is the default expat job that often doesn’t work out too well.  Izzy Mo is doing and my friend Mollydid the expat thing in the corporate world, but do I really want to work in the corporate world anymore?  Argh!

mashaAllah!  Sh. bin Bayyah’s DIL is starting a blog:

Bismillahi Rahman ar Rahim

It’s common knowledge that it is harder for us women to get our questions answered by our beloved shuyukh due to many reasons. I hope with the start of this blog that will be no more.

Since moving to Saudi and living in close contact with Sheikh Abdallah I have come to realize how much untapped knowledge he posseses. I know there is also a lack of his work in english which is also being worked on. I have never seen someone understand both life in the west and the correct balance of our deen as well as Sheikh Abdellah Bin Bayyah. He is truly a veiled treasure, and I wish to share this beautiful man with my beloved sisters in Islam.

Send your questions to question.binbayyah@hotmail.com. I hope to answer most at  least weekly. Plus I would also like to start putting up a weekly note from the Sheikh addressed to us women touching on diverse topics. Please feel free to give me any advise on what you would like to see as this is all new for me. Thanks.

Poking myself out of my antipathetic slumber:

Fasting: the Book of Assistance by Imam Haddad

You should work only for the hereafter in this noble month, and embark on something worldly only when absolutely necessary. Arrange your life before Ramadan in a manner which will render you free for worship when it arrives. Be intent on devotions and approach God more surely, especially during the last ten days. If you are able not to leave the mosque, except when strictly necessary, during those last ten days then do so. Be careful to perform the Tarawih prayers during every Ramadan night. In some places it is nowadays the custom to make them so short that sometimes some of the obligatory elements of the prayer are omitted, let alone the sunnas. It is well known that our predecessors read the whole Qur’an during this prayer, reciting a part each night so as to complete it on one of the last nights of the month. If you are able to follow suit then this is a great gain; if you are not, then the least that you can do is to observe the obligatory elements of the prayer and its proprieties.

Muslim devotees offer “Tarawi” prayers on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta on August 31. Families across Indonesia are having to cut back during Ramadan as rising food and fuel prices limit spending power for the nightly festivities. (AFP/File/Jewel Samad)

A Lebanese Muslim man prays during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan at a mosque in Sidon, southern Lebanon September 3, 2008. Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking and sexual relations from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. REUTERS/ Sharif Karim (LEBANON)

An Egyptian boy looks up as his father prays on a street during the first day of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan in Tukh, about 60 km (38 miles) north of Cairo September 1, 2008. Muslims around the world congregate for special evening prayers called “Tarawih” during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, when they abstain from eating, drinking and conducting sexual relations from sunrise to sunset. REUTERS/Amr Dalsh (EGYPT)

Blind Muslim women read the Braille Koran during Ramadan in Jakarta September 3, 2008. Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking, and sexual relations from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. REUTERS/Dadang Tri (INDONESIA)

Imam Shafi’i (ra) was asked, “Who is a fool?”

He replied, “He is the person who does not pray.”

by Deen-ul-HaQ

THEY WILL ASK thee about intoxicants and games of chance. Say: “In both there is great evil as well as some benefit for man; but the evil which they cause is greater than the benefit which they bring.” Quran 2:219

Sure, getting drunk can be fun.  Walk through any college campus on a Friday night and you’ll see students having tons of fun. 

Then go and talk to someone who’s had a loved one killed by alcohol.  Which is greater, the fun of the college students, or the anguish that someone was lost too soon?

The driver who killed Dawn and injured Hatem was drunk – at 11:45 a.m.  Did his benefit outweight the evil he caused?

inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’oon

to God we belong and to Him is our return

“Alif Lam. Ra. Asad(10,1) THESE ARE MESSAGES of the divine writ, full of wisdom.”  Quran 10:1 Asad(10,2)

Via a Deenport post:

“People are of two kinds: your brethren in faith or your equals in humanity. Be forgiving to them as you wish Allah to be forgiving to you.” – attributed to Imam Ali (ra)

From Lampost Productions via islamica

by Dr. Abdul Hakim Jackson

They came in fact to Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal who used to say that if your nose bleeds then you have to renew your wudu. Imam Malik said that if your nose bleeds you do not have to renew your wudu. So they went to Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and they said what if you were praying behind somebody and they have a nose bleed and they don’t renew there wudu, do you continue to pray behind them? And Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, “How can I refuse to pray behind somebody like Imam Malik? I have daleel (evidence), he has daleel; I have solid daleel, he has solid daleel.” The companions of the Prophet (s) took different things from him and went out to the various parts of the Muslim world and they taught those different things in those various parts. All of them got what they taught from the Prophet (s) so Imam Malik has his point of view and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal has his point of view. This was the spirit of our pious ancestors, and this is what we have to get back to.

Reaping the Fruits of Afflictions

Abu Sa`id and Abu Hurairah (ra) reported that the Prophet (saws) said, “No fatigue, nor disease, nor anxiety, nor sadness, nor hurt, nor distress befalls a Muslim, even if it were the prick he receives from a thorn, but that Allah expiates some of his sins for that” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).

“Do you really believe that God expects you to show Him your respect by repeated bowing and kneeling and prostration?  Might it not be better only to look into oneself and to pray to Him in the stillness of one’s heart?  Why all these movements of your body?”

As soon as I had uttered these words I felt remorse, for I had not intended to injure the old man’s religious feelings.  But the hajji did not appear in the least offended.  He smiled with his toothless mouth and replied:“How else then should we worship God?  Did he not create both, soul and body, together?  And this being so, should man not pray with his body as well as with his soul?  Listen, I will tell you why we Muslims pray as we pray.  We turn toward the kaaba, God’s holy temple in Mecca, knowing that the faces of all Muslims, wherever they may be, are turned to it in prayer, and that we are like one body, with Him as the centre of our thoughts.  First we stand upright and recite from the Holy Koran, remembering that it is His Word, given to man that he may be upright and steadfast in life.  Then we say, “God is the Greatest,” reminding ourselves that no one deserves to be worshipped but Him; and bow down deep because we honour Him above all, and praise His power and glory.  Thereafter we prostrate ourselves on our foreheads because we feel that we are but dust and nothingness before Him, and that He is our Creator and Sustainer on high.  Then we lift our faces from the ground and remain sitting, praying that He forgive us our sins and bestow His grace upon us, and guide us aright, and give us health and sustenance.  Then we again prostrate ourselves on the ground and touch the dust with our foreheads before the might and the glory of the One.  After that, we remain sitting and pray that He bless the Prophet Muhammad who brought His message to us, just as He blessed the earlier Prophets; and that He bless us as well, and all those who follow the right guidance; we ask Him to give us of the good of this world and of the good of the world to come.  In the end we turn our heads to the right and to the left, saying, “Peace and grace of God be upon you” – and thus greet all who are righteous, wherever they may be.

‘It was thus that our Prophet used to pray and taught his followers to pray for all times, so that they might willingly surrender themselves to God – which is what Islam means – and so be at peace with Him and with their own destiny.”

~From The Road toMecca, by Muhammad Asad

Al-Wasatiyyah: The Lost Middle Path

Bearing in mind this concept of the whole totality of a Muslim character, we can realize that a true Muslim is not rigid nor too progressive, not a rejectionist nor an extremist. Rather, he is the middle in between these because he treads in the middle path for which he is created and to which he is supposed to stick in order to realize the commands of Allah and fulfill his mission as a vicegerent on earth.

To watch when I get home – the Sheikh Hamza ISNA speech from which I quoted earlier.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=6621966337406835400" width="400" height="326" wmode="transparent" /]

Via Suhaib Webb

“All of the sectarianism that we see in the Muslim world we know has nothing to do with our religion …. Sectarianism is something that Allah (swt) and his messengers have despised… Hold together to the rope of God… that says that we are brothers. And lets not allow this sectarian poison to come into the American Muslim community…. The people from Al-Maghrib Institute and the Zaytuna institute, let’s put our hands together in an American Islam that recognizes diversity… and if we’re not about this were harming our religion, we’re harming our faith, and in the end we’re disgracing our messenger who came as a mercy to all of mankind.”- Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

 250. Jarir said, “Since the time I became Muslim, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, never saw me without smiling at me.” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “A man from the best of Dhu Yaman will enter by this door whose face has been touched by an angel.” Then Jarir came in.

Al-Adab al-Mufrad Al-Bukhari

Photo from flickr

Nafsi nafsi – it’s a phrase from one of the podcasts I was listening to last week. Sheikh Hamza was talking about the nafsi nafsi, me me culture that we live in. Everything is about me and my self gratification. Lately my nafs has been getting the better of me. I’m sleeping in later and later, cutting down on my Allah (swt) time in the morning.

It’s time to get on the jihad…jihad al nafs that is.

d) The Prophet (s) said: al-mujahidu man jahada nafsahu fi ta`at Allah `azza wa jall [The fighter against unbelief is he who fights against his ego in obeying God; Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban, Tabarani, Hakim, etc.]… Sufyan al-Thawri said: “I never dealt with anything stronger against me than my own ego; it was one time with me, and one time against me”… Yahya ibn Mu`adh al-Razi said: “Fight against your ego with the four swords of training: eat little, sleep little, speak little, and be patient when people harm you… Then the ego will walk the paths of obedience, like a fleeing horseman in the field of battle.”

 

from flickr

1045. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “The five prayers, and Jumu’a to Jumu’a is expiation for what is between them as long as a man has committed no major sins.” [Muslim]

Wake up oh ummah and quit the blame game.

Riyad as-Salihin (The Meadows of the Righteous) – 193. Chapter: On the command to persevere in the prescribed prayers and the strongest prohibition against abandoning them

1081. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “The first action which the slave will be called to account for on the Day of Rising is his prayer. If it is in order, he will have success and win through. If it is not in order, he will be disappointed and lose out. If any of his obligatory prayers are lacking, the Lord, the Mighty and Exalted, will say, ‘See if My slave has any supererogatory actions and use them to complete his obligatory prayer.’ Then the rest of his actions will be assessed in the same way.” [at-Tirmidhi]

Abu Hurairahu (ra) reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) saying, “Say, if there were a river at the door of one of you in which he takes a bath five times a day, would any soiling remain on him?” They replied, “No soiling would left on him.” He (saws) said, ” That is the five Salat. Allah obliterates all sins as a result of performing them.”

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

‘A’isha (ra) reported Allah’s Apostle (saws) as saying: Kindness is not to be found in anything but that it adds to its beauty and it is not withdrawn from anything but it makes it defective.

Muslim

by Mufti Ebrahim Desai (db) via Munzareen Padela. I really like this list, as it addresses BOTH marriage partners. All too often, from what I’ve seen, muslim marital advice is directed mainly towards the wife, and relies heavily on “be patient.”

“Our Lord! Grant that our spouses and our offspring be a comfort to our eyes, and give us the grace to lead those who are conscious of You”(Furqaan 74).

Q: Every human being by nature has an instinct to dispute. This instinct becomes more manifest between the husband and wife, thus leading to marital disputes. How can this instinct be controlled?

A. Consider the following ten points to control the instinct of dispute and maintain a happy marriage.

1. Fear Allah: It was the noble practice of Nabi (SAW) to conscientise the spouses about the fear for Allah before performing a Nikah by reciting the verses (Nisa v14, Ahzab v69, Aali-Imraan v101) from the Quraan. All the verses are common in the message of Taqwa (fear of Allah). The spouses will be first committed to Allah before being committed to their partner. There can be no doubt in the success of a marriage governed by the fear of Allah.

2. Never be angry at the same time: Anger is the root cause for all marital disputes. One Sahabi came to Rasulullah (SAW) and sought some advice. Rasulullah (SAW) replied, control your anger. The same advice was rendered three times. (Mishkaat pg.433; HM Saeed)

3. If one has to win an argument, let it be the other: Nabi (SAW) said: “Whoever discards an argument despite being correct shall earn a palace in the centre of Jannah. (Ibid pg.412)

4. Never shout at each other unless the house is on fire: Luqman (AS) while offering advice to his son said: ” and lower your voice for verily the most disliked voice is that of a donkey”. (Surah Luqman v19)

5. If you have to criticize, do it lovingly: Rasulullah (SAW) said, ‘A Mu’min is a mirror for a Mu’min.’ (Abu Dawud vol.2 pg.325; Imdadiyah) Advise with dignity and silently.

6. Never bring up mistakes of the past: Nabi (SAW) said: “Whoever conceals the faults of others, Allah shall conceal his faults on the day of Qiyaamah.” (Mishkaat pg.429; HM Saeed)

7. Neglect the whole world rather than your marriage partner: Nabi (SAW) confirmed the advice of Salman to Abu-Darda [RA] for neglecting his wife. “Verily there is a right of your wife over you.” (Nasai Hadith2391)

8. Never sleep with an argument unsettled: Abu Bakr [RA] resolved his dispute with his wife over-feeding the guests before going to bed. (Bukhari Hadith 602)

9. At least, once everyday, express your gratitude to your partner: Nabi [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] said, ‘Whoever does not show gratitude to the people has not shown gratitude to Allah.’ (Abu Dawud pg.662; Karachi)

10. When you have done something wrong, be ready to admit it and ask for forgiveness: Nabi [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] said, ‘All the sons of Aadam commit error, and the best of those who err are those who seek forgiveness.’ (Tirmidhi Hadith 2499)

“Never do I argue with a man with a desire to hear him say what is wrong, or to expose him and win victory over him. Whenever I face an opponent in debate I silently pray – O Lord, help him so that truth may flow from his heart and on his tongue, and so that if truth is on my side, he may follow me; and if truth be on his side, I may follow him.” –Imam Al-Shafi’i

Found this quote on the Zaytuna website today. Definately food for thought.