Bismillah, Salamu Calaykum Wa Raxmatullah This hadith sounds very strange and different to the other authentic ahadiths attributed to the prophet * sallahu alehi wa salam *, I would appreciate if someone could give the complete isnad of this hadith. Allahu alem but in parts it sounds very fabricated to me. wa calaykum salam wa raxmatullah

Bismillah, Salamu Calaykum wa Raxmatullah, Baraka Allah fik Xoogsade... We don't need to look far back in history to see what the right Islam can accomplish in today’s Somalia...for over 15 years the people was forbidden any peace...but when the Islamic courts appeared and even though their ruling lasted for 6 months, peace and prosperity among Somalis in Somalia was not for off....if Islam makes Somalia weak... then those 6 months would be the most troublesome and most disastrous....

Bismillah Salamu Calaykum wa Raxmatullah, The lessons to be learned and drawn from this last hadith is if the man does not have anything to offer which is materialistic in value, he could be married of with her if he knows a portion from the quran that could serve as mahr, if the woman agrees to it. Sister Aisha, it is important that we insha Allah do not confuse this situation of the sahabi with the situation of any man who's working or earning a living. Many of the scholars have agreed upon that mahr is the right of the woman and that it should be weighted or given in 'materialism'. It's common among some people to ask well give me as a mehr the quran, or haj. When in reality that does not serve as mehr due to it's lack of having any materialistic value, haj on the other hand could be measured in value. How much does haj cost these days etc and the man could give the amount it costs to go to haj to the woman if she agrees. The fact that the prophet (sallahu alehi wa salam) asked the man what do you have to offer her, and asked the man to go look for something on different occasions, just emphasizes the importance of giving the woman something of value. Let us not forget the woman offered her self to the prophet (sallahu alehi wa salam) without mahr, still the prophet (sallahu alehi wa salam)when the other man showed interest, stressed that he should look for something to give her. It is closer to Taqwa to be mild when asking in mahr, yet the sisters should know it is a God given right and should not feel guilty about asking what they want. A woman has the right to ask for a mountain of gold, perhaps she will never be married if she asked for that. Iinsha allah anyone should reason when dealing with mahr, and look at what their spouse to be is able to give. Any man who agrees to pay or give something beyond his scope is him self to blame, marriage should not be based on debts.

Bismillah, Salamu Calaykum Wa Raxmatullah, Baraka Allah fikum for this great thread, may Allah make us amongst those who benefit from it/aamiin Sahih Muslim Book 042, Number 7138: Suhaib (radiallahu anho) reported that Allah's Messenger (salallahu alaihi wasallam) said: Strange are the ways of a believer for there is good in every affair of his and this is not the case with anyone else except in the case of a believer for if he has an occasion to feel delight, he thanks (God), thus there is a good for him in it, and if he gets into trouble and shows resignation (and endures it patiently), there is a good for him in it. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// Here are some fine sayings from our noble scholars from the past May Allahs mercy be upon them/aamiin ................................................. "Truly in the heart there is a void that can not be removed except with the company of Allah. And in it there is a sadness that can not be removed except with the happiness of knowing Allah and being true to Him. And in it there is an emptiness that can not be filled except with love for Him and by turning to Him and always remembering Him. And if a person were given all of the world and what is in it, it would not fill this emptiness." -Ibn al Qayyim al Jawziyya Ibn-Taymiyyah said, "For it is known that a person may be bequeathed with emaan even though he lacks knowledge. An emaan like this one could be snatched from his heart -like the emaan of Bani-Israel after they saw the calf. As for the one bequeathed with both, knowledge and emaan, emaan is never seized from his breast and such a person never reverts from Islam. Conversely, if one is bequeathed with Qur'an alone or emaan alone, emaan can be seized and this is the reality. We have seen it often that the most to revert from Islam are those who recite Qur'an, without understanding or emaan, or those who possess emaan without knowledge and Qur'an. But as for the one who has acquired Qur'an and emaan, and hence obtained knowledge, for this one, emaan is never seized from his heart and Allah knows best." (Majmou'a al-Fatawa18 /305). ................................................. Wa Calaykum Salam wa raxmatullah

Question: Are there only ninety-nine names of Allaah, or are there more than that?. Answer: Praise be to Allaah. Al-Bukhaari (2736) and Muslim (2677) narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah has ninety-nine names, one hundred less one. Whoever learns them will enter Paradise.” Some of the scholars (such as Ibn Hazm – may Allaah have mercy on him) understood this hadeeth as meaning that the names of Allaah are limited to this number. See al-Muhalla, 1/51 But what Ibn Hazm said is not supported by the majority of scholars. Rather some of them (such as al-Nawawi) narrated that the scholars are agreed that the names of Allaah are not limited to this number. It seems that they regarded the view of Ibn Hazm as odd and as something that should not be paid any attention. In support of the view that the beautiful names of Allaah are not limited to this number, they quoted the report narrated by Ahmad (3704) from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood who said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There is no-one who is afflicted by distress and grief, and says: ‘Allaahumma inni ‘abduka ibn ‘abdika ibn amatija naasyati bi yadika, maada fiyya hukmuka, ‘adlun fiyya qadaa’uka. As’aluka bi kulli ismin huwa laka sammayta bihi nafsaka aw anzaltahu fi kitaabika aw ‘allamtahu ahadan min khalqika aw ista’tharta bihi fi ‘ilm il-ghayb ‘indaka an taj’al al-Qur’aana rabee’ qalbi wa noor sadri wa jalaa’ huzni wa dhihaab hammi (O Allaah, I am Your slave, son of Your slave, son of Your maidservant; my forelock is in Your hand, Your command over me is forever executed and Your decree over me is just. I ask You by every name belonging to You which You have named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or You taught to any of Your creation, or You have preserved in the knowledge of the Unseen with You, that You make the Qur’aan the life of my heart and the light of my breast, and a departure for my sorrow and a release for my anxiety),’ but Allaah will take away his distress and grief, and replace it with joy.” He was asked: “O Messenger of Allaah, should we learn this?” He said: “Of course; everyone who hears it should learn it.” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 199. The phrase “or You have preserved in the knowledge of the Unseen with You” indicates that there are beautiful names of Allaah that He has kept with Him in the knowledge of the Unseen, and which none of His creation has come to know. This indicates that there are more than ninety-nine Names. Shaykh al-Islam [ibn Taymiyah] said concerning this hadeeth in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (6/374): This indicates that Allaah has more than ninety-nine names. And he said (22/482): Al-Khattaabi said: This indicates that He has names that He has preserved with Him, and that indicates that the words “Allaah has ninety-nine names, whoever learns them will enter Paradise” mean that there are ninety-nine of His names which whoever learns them will enter Paradise. This is like saying, “I have one thousand dirhams which I have prepared to give in charity,” even if his wealth is greater than that. In the Qur’aan Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “And (all) the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allaah, so call on Him by them” [al-A’raaf 7:180] Allaah has commanded us to call upon Him by His names in general terms, He did not say that He has only ninety-nine names. Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) stated in Sharh Saheeh Muslim that the scholars were unanimously agreed on that, and he said: The scholars are unanimously agreed that this hadeeth does not mean that Allaah has only ninety-nine names, or that He does not have any other names apart from these ninety-nine. Rather what the hadeeth means is that whoever learns these ninety-nine will enter Paradise. The point is that one may enter Paradise by learning them, not that the number is limited to these names. And Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen was asked about that and replied: The names of Allaah are not limited to a certain number. The evidence for that is the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the saheeh hadeeth: “O Allaah, I am Your slave, son of Your slave… I ask You by every name belonging to You which You have named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or You taught to any of Your creation, or You have preserved in the knowledge of the Unseen with You.” What Allaah has preserved in the knowledge of the unseen with Him cannot be known and what is not known is unlimited. With regard to the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), “Allaah has ninety-nine names, one hundred less one. Whoever learns them will enter Paradise,” this does not mean that He does not have any names apart from these, rather it means that whoever learns these ninety-nine of His names will enter Paradise. This is like when the Arabs say: “I have one hundred horses which I have prepared for jihad for the sake of Allaah,” which does not mean that the speaker has only these hundred horses, rather these hundred are prepared for this purpose. Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 1/122.

Bismillah, Salamu Calaykum wa Raxmatullah, Jazaka Allah khair akhi, insha allah, to benefit us may I now and then copy and past the remaining paragraphs of the poem for you to translate when ever you have time? Say yes Please Baraka Allah fik for translating this part wa calaykum salam wa raxmatullah

Bismillah, Salamu Calaykum Wa Raxmatullah, I would like to know if anyone know of any English translation of this poem, I'll post an estract from the poem as it is very long. لَيْسَ الغَريبُ غَريبَ الشَّأمِ واليَمَنِ إِنَّ الغَريبَ غَريبُ اللَّحدِ والكَفَن إِنَّ الغَريِبَ لَهُ حَقٌّ لِغُرْبَتـِهِ على الْمُقيمينَ في الأَوطــانِ والسَّكَنِ لا تنهـرنَّ غريبـا حـال غربتـه الدهـر ينهـره بالـذل والمـحـن. سَفَري بَعيدٌ وَزادي لَنْ يُبَلِّغَنـي وَقُوَّتي ضَعُفَتْ والمـوتُ يَطلُبُنـي Here is a link of the poem being "recited" very beautifully. http://www.janazh.com/janazh/modules.php?name=IslamicVoice&file=details&linkid=12

Bismillah Salamu Calaykum wa Raxmatullah, What an interesting topic and a very scary one to say the least. This is something that terrifies me and frightens me due to me being of a very jealous nature. I just recently got married and I have talked about this topic with my husband on a couple of occasions and every time it leaves me feeling uncomfortable. Yet you are right brother Nuur, really it is all about faith and how much one believes in the predestination no matter how hard you try if Allah has ordained for your husband to marry another one, you can never keep it from him or object to fate. And another thing that hit me is I have two beautiful cousins who I love very much, one wants to get married and the other does not want to, and if there is no other good men out there for them, would I let them live alone and never get the chance to become wives and mothers? Where is my supposed love for them? I do love my husband very much and I know that a second wife is not on the agenda in the nearest future, yet I have to stop being selfish and try to be a real Muslim. Non of you are true believers until you want /love for your brother what you love for your self. Make duas for us sisters indeed it’s not something easy on the heart.

Masha Allah it is beautiful

Bismillah Baraka Allah fik akhi

Death ends The love of things The wants of men To live and feed Breaks the ties Death ends The good in life Takes a beloved Relieves the sick Death Takes tomorrow Sends down the sinner The one who played Gave life a chance Dwelled in pomp and joy till late Death reminds The one who forgot The time to come and what would follow Death collects The harvest of men The work laid down The time consumed Death unites Man with faith Deep devotion Ascetic soul With his beloved

Bismillah, Wa Calaykum Salam wa Raxmatullah.... I had a teacher in religious studies, he was what you could call a stern critic, when we finally got to Islam in the curriculum, he changed tactics, and suddenly for the fun of it started taking things out if its context. Taking certain ayahs and showing them to the class, not providing any explanation. You can all guess what issues he was en route for, a hint or better yet I’ll not let you guess, issues he wanted to raise was: women, equality and paradise. I couldn’t counter my teacher, though I am very fluent in the Swedish language, I just did not know how to give him the answer. He used to talk about why the quran when addressing the people used men as norm, when talking about rewards why were the men constantly mentioned, etc etc. You can understand what the lack of knowledge of your own religion can do to you, when confronted by issues pertaining to it. I was 17, I have learned a great deal since. Well my intention was not to enter this debate, nor do I hold my self in a position to answer and proof anything to anyone, rather I can only speak on matters that I know. Yet what I wanted to draw to this debate is really one important thing, maybe some of you’ve thought about it maybe others haven’t. Anyway, back to my religious studies teacher in college. He once mentioned, what his professor in religious studies at Uppsala university, told him. In Pakistan the professor said, the Muslims, use small bamboo sticks (ul) very light ones (lacking better description) and explicitly hit their mentally handicapped whenever they contravene. I wanted to object I had so much to tell him man, what a lousy cheap shot I really wanted to tell him off for over and over again portraying Islam as a religion lacking humility, justice etc, but I opened my mouth just to close it again. He said, my professor asked me, are we here in Sweden doing better? We leave ours behind closed doorslike inmates , drugging them down even making them worse and we just forget about them. I guess you are all trying to figure out, what is this mad girl talking about, well, all I want to say is, this professor highlighted a very significant point, especially when dealing with things that’s from another definite point opposite to what one is self. He said in order to keep a clean, nice dialogue on subjects such as faith; we mustn’t get in with our own gear leave it at the door step, start clean, and see where it leads you. Whatever happens in this discussion, I believe one thing; a Muslim believer only after having tasted faith longs to share it with his brethren. I honestly believe it should not be a matter of proving just to win in a logical rhetorical debate, rather it should be on the matter of whishing for a fellow human being to embrace that which one has embraced willingly with love. May Allah guide us all/aamiin

Bismillah Wa Calaykum Salam Wa Raxmatullah May Allah increase us all in faith and in practicing of our faith aamiin My brothers and sisters, let us not be among those who fall for shaytans tricks, let us not forget everything in this deen has its explanations, let us not forget Allah send us Muxammad ibn CabdAllah (sallahu alehi wa salam) to perfect good manners as well as guiding mankind, Our Noble prophet was not among those people who spoke on account of their whims rather his words were weighed against a conscience of gold remote from any filth and a radiant pure heart guided by our Lord. What I am trying to say is, let us not jump on each other let’s take the authentic before personal opinion and “westernized†scrutiny, indeed we are talking about our Deen let’s not negotiate on this part. We are Muslims and so should follow our Quran and the authentic sunnah of our prophet ( sallahu alehi wa salam) anything beyond that is trivial. Wa Calaykum salam wa Raxmatullah

Bismillah Something for those who love to be reminded wa calaykum salam ------------------------------------------------- It is related that one day Shaqiq al-Balkhi asked his student Hatim al-Asamm, "How long have you kept my company?" "Thirty-three years," he replied. "And what have you learned from me in all this time?" "Eight things," he said. "We belong to Allah and we return to him!" exclaimed Shaqiq. "You have spent your whole life with me and only learned eight things! What are they?" "Firstly," replied Hatim, "I looked at mankind and I saw that everyone loves something and continues to do so. When he goes to his grave, whatever he loved leaves him. Therefore I made my good actions what I love, for when I enter the grave they will enter it along with me." "You have done well," said Shaqiq. "What is the second?" "The second is that I examined the words of the Almighty, 'But as for him who feared the Station of his Lord and forbade the self its appetites, the Garden shall be his refuge.' (79:40-41) Knowing that the words of the Almighty are true, I strove against myself to keep my appetites at bay until I was firm in Allah Almighty. The third is that I looked at people and saw that everyone has something of worth which they value and protect. Then I looked at the words of the Almighty, 'What is with you comes to an end. But what is with Allah is everlasting.' (16:96) So whenever something of value comes to me, I direct it to Allah Almighty so that it may remain with Him for me. The fourth is that I looked at Allah's creatures and saw that all of them set much store by property, reputation, honour, and lineage. I examined those things and found them to be nothing. Then I looked at the words of the Almighty, 'The noblest among you in Allah's sight is the most godfearing of you.' (49:13) So I set much store by fear of Allah so that I might be noble in His sight. The fifth is that I looked at people and I found that some of them attacked others and some of them cursed others; and I realised that the reason they did that was envy. Then I looked at the words of the Almighty, 'We have meted out among them their livelihood in the life of this world.' (43:32) So I abandoned envy and enmity towards creation, knowing that what is allotted to me will and must reach me. The sixth is that I saw that people fought and were hostile to one another. I looked for my true enemy and found it to be Shaytan and indeed Allah Almighty says, 'Shaytan is an enemy to you, so treat him as an enemy.' (35:6) So I made him my enemy and loved everyone else. The seventh is that I looked at mankind and found them seeking excessive wealth and abasing themselves because of it. I looked at the words of the Almighty, 'There is no creature on the earth whose provision is not with Allah alone.' (11:6) I realised that I am one of those who are provided for and so I busied myself with Allah Almighty and abandoned everything else besides Him. The eighth is that I looked at people and I saw that they relied on different things: one on his commerce, another on his profession, and yet another on his health. Every creature was relying on another creature! I looked at the words of the Almighty, 'And whoever puts his trust in Allah, He is enough for him.' (65:3) Therefore I put my trust in Allah Almighty." "Hatim," said Shaqiq, "Allah has given you sucsess, and you have left nothing out. 'He gives wisdom to whomever He wishes.'" Taken from the book: The Day of Rising Published by Dar al-Taqwa Ltd. 1997

Bismillah Salamu Calaykum Baraka Allah fik akhi, I very much like that "story", may Allah reward you immensely for the work you are doing, dawah isn't easy. I’ve come across a “saying†of Ibnul Qayim Al Jawziah (rahimuhullah) and I thought it could be placed under this thread, I’ve saved it from 2004, maybe some of you have read it and others haven’t, anyway enjoy. I love it, due to the shaikhs emphasis on what is really important. ________________________________________ Ibn al-Qayyim, rahimahullah, said: “The lowest of people in determination and the most dejected of individuals is he who is content with false hopes instead of realities, and his self fascinates and enjoys them, and they are – by the life of Allah – (like) the main wealth of the penniless man and the false trader; (and all this is nothing but) the strength of the empty self, which has been convinced with dreams rather than persevering, and with false anticipations rather than truths. “It is the most harmful of things to the man, and it gives birth to disabilities and laziness, and (also) gives birth to extremism, wastage, anxiousness and regret.†And he, rahimahullah, explained that one of the main indications of success, “is when a slave is guided to thinking about the momentary-obligation and his job, (when) all his goals are gathered for it. So the knower, is the son of his time, so if it (the time) is lost, all his interests are lost, as all interests are established in time, hence when time is lost, those interests will not be attained. ash-Shafi’ee, radiallahu ‘anh, said: I accompanied the Soofiyyah and did not benefit from them except two statements, one of which is: Time is a sword - you strike it, or it strikes you. The other being: Yourself, if you don’t engage it in truth, it will engage you in evil.