Friday Caano Geel Wisdom!( enter)

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Inshallah, every friday I will post 1 Islamic article. If you have any thoughts or some enlightenment you can share with us on yowmul Jumcah plase feel free to share it. It could be an insight into a Quranic Ayat, hadith or any general issues that sum 1 might have enlightened you on.

 

But remember it has to be posted on Jumcah!

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In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

 

 

By Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

 

 

Just as the heart may be described in terms of being alive or dead, it may also be regarded as belonging to one of three types; these are the healthy heart, the dead heart, and the sick heart.

 

The Healthy Heart

 

On the Day of Resurrection, only those who come to Allah with a healthy heart will be saved. Allah says:

 

"The day on which neither wealth nor sons will be of any use, except for whoever brings to Allah a sound heart. (26:88-89)"

 

In defining the healthy heart, the following has been said: "It is a heart cleansed from any passion that challenges what Allah commands, or disputes what He forbids. It is free from any impulses which contradict His good. As a result, it is safeguarded against the worship of anything other than Him, and seeks the judgement of no other except that of His Messenger . Its services are exclusively reserved for Allah, willingly and lovingly, with total reliance, relating all matters to Him, in fear, hope and sincere dedication. When it loves, its love is in the way of Allah. If it detests, it detests in the lght of what He detests. When it gives, it gives for Allah. If it witoholds, it withholds for Allah. Nevertheless, all this will not suffice for its salvation until it is free from following, or taking as its guide, anyone other than His Messenger ." A servant with a healthy heart must dedicate it to its journey's end and not base his actions and speech on those of any other person except Allah's Messenger . He must not give precedence to any other faith or words or deeds over those of Allah and His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Allah says:

 

"Oh you who believe, do not put yourselves above Allah and His Messenger, but fear Allah, for Allah is Hearing, Knowing. (49:1)"

 

The Dead Heart

 

This is the opposite of the healthy heart. It does not know its Lord and does not worship Him as He commands, in the way which He likes, and with which He is pleased. It clings instead to its lusts and desires, even if these are likely to incur Allah's displeasure and wrath. It worships things other than Allah, and its loves and its hatreds, and its giving and its withholding, arise from its whims, which are of paramount importance to it and preferred above the pleasure of Allah. Its whims are its imam. Its lust is its guide. Its ignorance is its leader. Its crude impulses are its impetus. It is immersed in its concern with worldly objectives. It is drunk with its own fancies and its love for hasty, fleeting pleasures. It is called to Allah and the akhira from a distance but it does not respond to advice, and instead it follows any scheming, cunning shayton. Life angers and pleases it, and passion makes it deaf and blind (1) to anything except what is evil.

 

To associate and keep company with the owner of such a heart is to tempt illness: living with him is like taking poison, and befriending him means utter destruction.

 

The Sick Heart

 

This is a heart with life in it, as well as illness. The former sustains it at one moment, the latter at another, and it follows whichever one of the two manages to dominate it. It has love for Allah, faith in Him, sincerity towards Him, and reliance upon Him, and these are what give it life. It also has a craving for lust and pleasure, and prefers them and strives to experience them. It is full of self-admiration, which can lead to its own destruction. It listens to two callers: one calling it to Allah and His Prophet and the akhira; and the other calling it to the fleeting pleasures of this world. It responds to whichever one of the two happens to have most influence over it at the time.

 

The first heart is alive, submitted to Allah, humble, sensitive and aware; the second is brittle and dead; the third wavers between either its safety or its ruin.

[Fabregas]

Tommorow is Friday Brothers and Sisters! See how fast the week goes?

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Your Heart is the Pillar of Your Worship

 

by 'Abdullah 'Azzam (may Allah have Mercy upon him)

 

 

"...the heart is the machine that drives all acts of worship. It is what moves the entire body! As long as the heart is alive, then the limbs will be alive, and the soul will open itself up to worship. However, if the heart becomes diseased, then worship will become too heavy on the soul, leading to it eventually disliking and hating - and we seek refuge with Allah from this - worship. Because of this, Allah - the Glorified and Exalted - said, regarding the prayer:

 

 

{"...and truly, it is extremely heavy and hard except on those who are submissive..."} [al-Baqarah; 45]

 

The prayer is heavy, because one's legs and hands are not what get up for the prayer. What gets up for the prayer are the heart and the soul.

 

 

{"Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but it is He Who deceives them. And when they stand up for the prayer, they stand with laziness and to be seen of men, and they do not remember Allah but little."} [an-Nisa'; 142]

 

 

Because of this, it is the heart that stands up for worship. The limbs are simply slaves of this heart, carrying out what it commands them. If the heart is alive, then the soul will be alive, and worship will become beloved and sweetened to the hearts and the souls, and they will open up for it.

 

However, if the heart becomes diseased, then worship becomes too heavy on it. The heart is like the digestive system: right now, the most beloved thing to you is meat. However, if you develop an ulcer somewhere in your digestive system, then the meat - along with its fat and oil - becomes the most hated thing to it, since it is diseased. Sweets are also something that are beloved to the soul. For example, if you were fasting right now and were to break your fast on some desserts, then your soul would become satisfied with that, right? However, if one were to be stricken with diabetes, then he would not be able to handle these sugary foods, even if they were beloved to him.

 

The heart is like this: it must be strong so that it can handle worship that is strong. The stronger your heart becomes, then throw as much worship upon it as you wish. You would get up to pray at night, and you would cherish this prayer and consider sleep to be your enemy:

 

 

{"Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope..."} [as-Sajdah; 16]

 

He begins to forsake it because an enmity develops between him and his bed. He prays behind the imam, and he says to himself: "If only he would make the prayer longer," so that he would increase in his opening up to this worship, and his tasting of its sweetness.

 

At times, I would pray a normal prayer with the people behind me, so I would elongate the prayer. The youth would then come to me and say (the hadith): "Whoever leads the people in prayer should go easy on them," - the youth! And there was an old man behind me who was between 90 and 100 years of age - his face filled with light - and he would say to me: "Keep making the prayer long and do not answer them." A man of 90 years getting pleasure out of a long prayer, and a youth of 20, who probably practices karate and judo, cannot handle the same prayer.

 

Why?

 

If he went to the soccer field and spent two hours playing there without becoming bored, then why would he become bored from hearing the Qur'an for five minutes? The difference between a short prayer and a long prayer is simply five minutes, so why does he become bored from these five minutes of Qur'an, yet he does not become bored from two hours of soccer?

 

Why does he not get bored from standing for two hours staring at an inflated piece of leather, his heart attached to it? Because, what stands up to pray is the heart, and what stands up for sports are simply the body and muscles."

 

 

[From a lecture given by 'Abdullah 'Azzam on June 15, 1988 entitled 'The True Preparation,' found in the collection 'at-Tarbiyyah al-Jihadiyyah wal-Bina''; 1/220]

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Stories of Repentance

 

In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

 

INTRODUCTION

 

 

All praise is for Allah, Lord of all that exists. O Allah, send prayers and salutaions upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions, and all those who follow his way until the Last Day.

 

 

Allah said:

 

قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَىأَنفُسِهِ 1605;ْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُالذُّن 1615;وبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

 

Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

 

[az-Zumar : 53]

 

 

Indeed, Allah has opened the door of repentance to every sinner. The Prophet said,

 

"Oh people, repent to Allah, for indeed, I repent to Allah 100 times every day"

 

[Muslim : 2702]

 

 

It is truly encouraging to know that the door to repentance is always open, but what is more, Allah is actually happy when one of His slaves repents. It is important to note here that the keys to repentance are that a sinner must desert from his sin, feel regret for having perpetrated it, and then make a firm resolve not to return to it.

 

Who among us does not sin? And who among us does all that is required of him in the religion? It is an undeniable fact that we all have shortcomings; what distinguishes some of us from the others, what raises some of us above the others, is that the successful ones among us are those who repent their sins and ask Allah to forgive them. Sadly, some people are guilty of thinking in this manner: "Those I see around me perpetrate minor sins, while I am guilty of perpetrating major sins, so what is the use of repenting?!" True, such a person does well by finding fault with his own self, yet he makes a grave, ruinous error when he loses hope, when he underestimates Allah's Forgiveness and Mercy. To be sure, the door of repentance is open both to the perpetrator of minor sins and to the perpetrator of major sins.

 

In regard to repentence, the following beautiful hadith should inspire hope in us all:

 

Ibn Mas'ud narrated that the Prophet said:

 

“Indeed, Allah is more happy with the repentance of His slave than a man who stops in a barren, desolate land; with him he has his riding animal. He then goes to sleep. When he wakes up, [he realizes that] his mount is gone. He searches for it until he is on the verge of dying. He then says, ‘I will return to the place wherein I lost it, and I will die there.’ He went to that place, and he was then overcome by sleep. When he woke up, his mount was [standing] right beside his head: on it was his food, his drink, his provisions, and the things he neded. Allah is more happy with the repentance of his believing slave than the aforementioned man when he finds his mount and his provisions.”

 

[al-Bukhaari: 6308 ; Muslim: 2744]

 

 

This hadith clearly illustrates that no one should become so hopeless that he refrains from repenting to Allah. Glad tidings, then, to every Muslim who constantly and consistently hastens to repent to Allah and to ask for his forgiveness.

 

HE BROUGHT ME TO THEM SO THAT I CAN REFORM MY CHARACTER..

 

 

Al-Fudayl bin Iyaad was famous for his piety and worship, but he was not always a practicing Muslim. In his early years, al-Fudayl was an infamous highway robber; he would prowl in the night for victims on the road from Abiward to Sarakhs. Between these two cities was a small village in which lived a girl that al-Fudayl was in love with. One night, out of desperation to be with her, al-Fudayl climbed the wall of her home. As he was climbing over it, he heard a voice recite:

 

 

أَلَمْ يَأْنِ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنْ تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ

 

Has not the time come for the hearts of those who believe to be affected by Allah's Reminder?

 

[al-Hadeed : 16]

 

 

At that moment, al-Fudayl answered, "O my Lord, the time has indeed come." He returned from where he came and sought refuge near a traveling party on the main road. They were busy engaging in a serious discussion. al-Fudayl heard one of them say, "Let us continue our journey now." Another answered, "No, not until the morning, for al-Fudayl is lurking on the road somewhere out there, just waiting to rob us."

 

Having heard the entire conversation, al-Fudayl thought to himself, "I go around in the night to sin, while a group of Muslims remain here because they fear me. Indeed i feel that Allah has brought me here to them only so that I can reform my character. O Allah, I indeed repent to you.."

 

 

http://www.kalamullah.com/repentance.html

[N.O.R.F]

Where was yesterday's 'Caano Geel Wisdom' akhi?

[Fabregas]

Notes from a Khutbah by Imam Anwar al-Awlaki

 

 

Praise be to Allaah, we seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whomsoever Allaah guides will never be led astray, and whomsoever Allaah leaves astray, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allaah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

 

“O you who believe! Fear Allâh (by doing all that He has ordered and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. [Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always], and die not except in a state of Islâm (as Muslims) with complete submission to Allâh.” (Aali Imran 3:102) “O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife [Hawwa (Eve)], and from them both He created many men and women and fear Allâh through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship. Surely, Allâh is Ever an All*Watcher over you.” (An-Nisa 4:1) “O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allâh and fear Him, and speak (always) the truth.” (Al-Ahzab 33:70)

 

 

Umar ibn Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) asked Ubbay ibn Ka’ab (may Allah be pleased with him), “What is the meaning of Tawqa?” Ubbay ibn Ka’ab said, “O Amir ul Mu’minin, have you walked on a field that had a lot of thorny plants?” Umar said, “Yes” Ubbay ibn Ka’ab said, “So what did you do?” Umar replied, “I lifted up my clothes and I was very careful,” Ubbay ibn Ka’ab said, “That is Taqwa.”

 

We are walking on a field that is full of thorny plants. Shaytan and his followers will try to seduce you and invite you to Evil. So having Taqwa in Dunya is lifting up your clothes and being careful, so that you would not touch this evil. And that is the definition of Taqwa and we ask Allah to make us of those of al- Muttaqeen.

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, there’s a famous Story (parable) that I will go through, you may have herd it before, but there are some very important lessons we can learn from it. The story goes like this:

 

“There were four Cows. One of them was white and the other three were black. They used to live in a dangerous area surrounded by wolves. The way they protected themselves was that they were always together, they would stick together, watch out for each other, everyone was keeping an attentative eye, and they survived, even though the area was surrounded by wild beasts.

 

But the three black cows had a meeting one day. And they said, “This white cow is giving us away. When we try to hide at night, because we are black no one can see us, but the enemy is able to see the white cow, so why don’t we just let him go. The three of us will be together and let’s just let the white cow go away because he is just too much trouble.” So now from that day on, the three black cows would be on one side and the poor white cow is alone. They boycotted the white cow.

 

Now the wolf is very intelligent. He was able to detect the disunity that was amongst these cows. So he made his move and he attacked the white cow, and while he was devouring his flesh, the three black cows were doing nothing. They were watching it, while their brother was being torn into pieces!

 

But the following night, the wolf attacked the three black cows, why? Because now there were one cow short. So they were not as strong as they were the day before. Because they let down their brother white cow, now the wolf attacked them and was able to snatch away one of the black cows. And now we only have two left.

 

So the following night, it was an even easier thing for the wolf because only two are left, so he ate one of them. And then on the final night there was only one cow left and the cow was trying frantically to run away from the wolf, but now the cow has no supporter and no helper. So the wolf is pursing it with confidence and he knows this cow will get tired and fall down, there’s nothing the cow could do. Nobody to help him, so the wolf is walking around very happily with confidence, and he pounced at the cow and grabbed him by the neck, and while he did that and the cow was pronouncing his last words, he made a very important statement, a statement that is a great lesson that we can learn from. This black cow said, (while he was dying), “I was eaten, the day the white cow was eaten. I had signed on my execution form, the day I allowed the white cow to be eaten, that’s when I died. I didn’t die now, I didn’t die today…I died when I allowed the wolf to eat the white cow”

 

Now brothers and sisters I’m sure some of you have already derived some lessons out of this story. I will now go through some of them Insha’Allah

 

 

Lesson 1: The Ummah

 

This story is a good representation of the situation of the Muslim Ummah today. This is exactly what is happening. We are watching one Muslim nation fall one after another, and we are watching, sitting back, doing nothing. When Palestine was taken, we did nothing. And then one nation after another is falling into problems; you have Kashmir, you have Chechnya, the Muslims in the Philippines, and now we have Iraq, and the Ummah is doing nothing. The Ummah is watching, while Iraq is being devoured. It’s not going to end there, because it’s going to spill over to other countries like Syria and only Allah knows who is next! So those nations weren’t taken today, they were taken along time ago. When we allowed a Muslim nation to fall down, we have allowed the same thing to happen to each and every one of us.

 

 

Lesson 2: Unity

 

This shows us the consequences of having disunity. When these cows didn’t stick together, when the allowed the enemy to snatch one of them away, this is what happened to them, they were all defeated. Dear brothers and sisters, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had given an analogy of the Ummah, Nu'man b. Bashir reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: “The similitude of believers in regard to mutual love, affection, fellow-feeling is that of one body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches, because of sleeplessness and fever.” [sahih Muslim, Book 032, Number 6258]

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) is saying, if your finger is injured or your foot is injured, any part of the body is injured and you feel that pain, you cannot sleep! And your body develops a fever because your body is trying to fight the bacteria inside the infection. It’s trying to fight the enemy so the whole body gets involved in that process. That is the description the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave of the Ummah.

 

So if a Muslim, in the East, or in the West, or South or North, whether if it’s in the centre of the body or the tips, where it’s on the finger or the toes, you should feel the same pain as if it is happening to you own family. If you are only concerned about your own safety and the safety of your direct family, then there’s something wrong. You are not really part of the body. The Prophet (peace be upon him) is saying the Ummah is one body, it doesn’t matter if they are split into different political states or if they are in different groups, or if they belong to different Madhahabs, as long as this person is a Muslim; and a Muslim is a person who has a sound belief in Allah, somebody who is not deviant, that’s a Muslim.

 

The thing is that sometimes we look at it as, “Only me and my group are Muslim”, Why? Because he doesn’t follow my Jamaa’h, he’s not following my way. As long as you cannot prove that that Muslim is a Kaffir, he’s a Muslim. As long as you don’t have evidence, that such a person is a Murtad (Apostate), he is a Muslim; whether he belongs to the same Madhhab or the same group or the same country, it doesn’t make a difference.

 

Now we all talk about the importance of having Unity. If we talking about having Unity in terms of having one Group and just abandoning all these different Jamaa’ts and we get ride of all of these different Madhahabs and we’ll all just be copies of each other, that’s an impossible thing to have. What we mean by Unity is that even though your approach to Islamic work might be different, the Madhhab that you follow might be different, however, you are there to help you brother when your brother is in need, that is Unity. You could have different approaches to work, you could be doing different things, because we need different things, the Ummah needs everything today. We have a short coming and deficiency in each and every area, therefore we need Muslims to fill those posts, and therefore our approach would be different. Some people are into Da’wah, some people will be into seeking ‘Ilm (Islamic Knowledge), some people will be into ‘Ibadaah (Worship), people are different. Not everybody can be a copy of everyone else.

 

People have different abilities. Some people make good scholars, some people make good Imams, some people make good teachers and some people make a good advisor. People are different. Some people, they are good at doing work, they are not really into talking and theory, they are good at doing the daily work that the Muslims need. Everybody is fulfilling a role. And we need to appreciate that. So what is ment by Unity, it means when your brother is in need, you jump to help him, that is Unity. Regardless of what his ideology is as long as he is a Muslim. That is Unity.

 

So we have to fulfil the meaning of the hadith, that the Ummah is, “…one body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches…” You need to feel the pain and suffering when you see what is happening to your brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. You need to be concerned about what is happening in Palestine and Iraq. You need to be concerned with what is happening in Kashmir, even though it is not you country. And some of these Muslim countries have problems among them, they have wars, they have political problems, but as a Muslim, it shouldn’t make a difference to you. These governments are having problems with each other, but that nation, the Muslims in there are my brothers (and sisters). That’s how you should look at it. So we should have that concern for the Muslim Ummah. The one that is not concerned about the Muslims doesn’t belong to them.

 

Narrated 'Abdullah: The Prophet said, "Everyone will be with those whom he loves." [sahih Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 73, Number 189] You will be with the people you love on the day of Judgement. If you have love for the Muslims, you will be with the Muslims on the day of judgement. If you have love for the Kuffar, you will be with the Kuffar on the day of Judgement, that’s how it works. That’s the Justice of Allah. Somebody who loves the Muslims, will be with the Muslims, and will follow them wherever they will go. And that’s why on the Day of Judgement, the Prophet (peace be upon him said, “Allah will tell the people, ‘Follow the Gods you used to worship.’” So whoever used to worship the cross will follow the cross, and whoever used to worship an idol will follow that idol. Allah is telling them, if you didn’t worship me, you can’t expect me to give you the Rewards. Go to your gods and tell them to reward you on this day. And then Allah will take all of the false gods and throw them in Hell fire, and there people will have to follow them. Because Allah is just, u did it for Him, He will reward you, but if you did it for somebody else, you go and ask the reward from the other god. And there is No god besides Allah.

 

 

Lesson 3: The consequences of betrayal. The consequences of forsaking a Muslim.

 

 

Narrated 'Abdullah bin Umar: Allah's Apostle said, "A Muslim is a brother of another Muslim, so he should not oppress him, nor should he hand him over to an oppressor. Whoever fulfilled the needs of his brother, Allah will fulfill his needs; whoever brought his (Muslim) brother out of a discomfort, Allah will bring him out of the discomforts of the Day of Resurrection, and whoever screened a Muslim, Allah will screen him on the Day of Resurrection . " [sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 43, Number 622 and Volume 9, Book 85, Number 83; Sahih Muslim, Book 032, Number 6250] The three cows in the story handed the white cow over to the enemy.

 

Now by doing this, they thought they are securing themselves. They thought they would be safe if they handed over this white cow. This white cow was out spoken, it was causing a lot of trouble, it was being accused of being a terrorist, so let him go, we don’t want anything to do with him. Let him go to jail. But the thing is they don’t realise that it will come to you next. You will be next in line. So brothers, if you want to protect yourselves, now we are not talking about doing anything for your brothers that are down, if you want to protect yourself you need to stop that. You need to stop such things from happening, because as soon as you allow one Muslim to be taken, Allah does not help you anymore. You loose the assistance of Allah. “…Whoever fulfilled the needs of his brother, Allah will fulfill his needs; whoever brought his (Muslim) brother out of a discomfort, Allah will bring him out of the discomforts of the Day of Resurrection…”If you work to help your Muslim brothers who are in need, Allah will help you when you are in need in the day of judgement.

 

Now all of us know that we cannot make it alone. Without the help and assistance of Allah, we cannot go anywhere. If you want the assistance of Allah to be on your side, Jump to the assistance of your brother. That’s how you will protect yourself. If you let him (your Muslim brother) down, don’t think that will please you enemy, no! It won’t! They enemy will carry on. Take it as a rule, Shaytan will never be satisfied, will never be happy, until he is able to destroy the entire Ummah. Nothing will satisfy Shaytan. If you try to please him by all means, it’s not going to work. He has been our enemy since the time of Adam and he will carry on being our enemy until the time of the Day of Judgement. Don’t think that you will please him and keep him quiet, by feeding him one of your brothers. No! His hunger is never satisfied. His thirst is never quenched.

 

If we betray or forsake a Muslim who is in need today, be assured that Allah will forsake us tomorrow. And brothers and sisters, for you who are living in the west, you are living in a dilemma, your children are brought up in a non-Islamic environment and you’re not going to be around, you’re going to die…one day you are going to die and leave them behind. And only Allah knows what their fate will be, possibly they could grow up and become non Muslims, that’s a possibility. We ask Allah that none of our children go astray from the Straight Path, but the thing is that you need to invest for the future of your children. You need to invest something for them, to ensure they will carry on, on the straight path. You don’t want to be held accountable on the Day of Judgement and Allah is telling you, ‘You are the ones who brought your families to this Land, therefore you are responsible for what they do in the future. And you will be responsible for generations after generations that come.’ So you want to invest for your children. And the way you do that, is by standing up for your brother who is in need of help. Allah will be there for you and will be there for your children.

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said in the hadith of Ibn Abbas, “If you take care of the command of Allah, Allah will take care of you (and you will find Allah with you).” And how does that happen? Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali explains the hadith. He says:

 

i) If you take care of Allah, Allah will take care of you by keeping you away from vain desires and doubts in Imaan (Belief);

 

ii) If you take care of the commands of Allah when you are young, Allah will take care of you in you old age;

 

iii) If you take care of the commands of Allah, Allah will take care of your children.

 

And Ibn Rajab gives an example of the Last one. He talks about the Story of Musa and al-Khidr. [The full story can be found here : "]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Islam_True/message/107] Allah says in Quran, “Then they both (Musa and al-Khidr) proceeded, till, when they came to the people of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused to entertain them. Then they found therein a wall about to collapse and he (Khidr) set it up straight. [Mûsa (Moses)] said: If you had wished, surely, you could have taken wages for it!"” (Al-Kahf 18:77) Then Al-Khidr explains why he fixed the wall for free, "And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the town; and there was under it a treasure belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man, and your Lord intended that they should attain their age of full strength and take out their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord. That is the interpretation of those (things) over which you could not hold patience." (Al-Kahf 18:82)

 

So Allah took care of the orphans because there father were righteous. These orphans were not old enough to be held accountable, so we could not have known if they were going to be righteous or not, but the reason why Allah put the treasure there was because their father was a righteous man. And the father had already passed away, so Allah was taking care of that mans kids. And Allah sent al-Khidr all the way just to fix that wall, why? This was because their father was a righteous man. So not only will take care of them when you are alive, but he will take care of them after you pass away, what’s better then that?! Therefore we need to be taking care of the Commands of Allah, and don’t think by ducking down you will be safe, you will not, you will be next.

 

Now dear brothers and sisters, we talked about this issue in general, however some specific in you city, in your own neighbourhood, we are not talking about things that are happening in Iraq or Palestine or somewhere else. In your own city and this country, many Muslims have been arrested. You know when you talk about Guantanamo bay and all that stuff; there is a Guantanamo bay in this country. There were 524 Muslims who were arrested under the new laws and only 2 of them have been charged. You have over 520 Muslims who are locked up in Jail, and are left to rot in there, and they haven’t committed any crime and there no charges brought against them. They are left there in just months on end, to rot there in the prison cells. What have you done for them? Your North African brothers who have nobody to help them in this country, and the Muslim community is not doing anything for them and they are left there, years at end.

 

One brother was telling me about the conditions of his family; these are poor brothers and sisters, their families are left without any caretakers, and they are suffering poverty, and no one is doing anything for them. And recently there have been some British citizens who were arrested; later on they were released because there was nothing against them. And one of them, he was beaten up by police, when they arrested him, and he did not resist at all, he raised up his hands and the police came in and started beating him up. And then what did they do? After he was bleeding and had a black eye and blood was coming from his ears and urine, the police put him in the posture of sujood and they told him, ‘Where is you God now?’ Insult to Islam, insult to our religion, insult to our Ummah, you need to do something; you can’t just sit there and watch. This is an insult to our religion, it’s not just an insult to the brother, and it’s an insult to Islam. You putting someone in sujood and telling him where is you god? Allahu Akbar, you are trying to challenge Allah? Allah is Just and Allah will revenge for himself. Allah does not need us. But the thing is that we can’t allow such things to happen and we watch.

 

You just sit there watching and doing nothing. Thinking by ducking down and being quiet, we will be safe. If you don’t stop it now, it could happen to you, it could happen to your wife, it could happen to your own daughter. You need to stop it in its tracks before it grows. So you need to do whatever you are capable of doing. It’s a responsibility that’s hanging on your neck, its something that you owe to your Muslim brothers, you owe to the Ummah and you owe to Allah. You know you don’t think that our religion is just you talk about theoretical things and we stay away from what is happening to the Ummah. That is why the Muslims in Spain, lost Spain. Al-Makari, who was a classical Muslim historian, said (and this was while the Muslim towns were falling down) , “The Muslim towns were being invaded by the crusaders by town after another and they were falling one after another and you can walk into the mosques of Andalus and you can hear nothing about what’s happening to the Muslims. Nobody talks about it in the Khuthbah, no body talks about it in the lessons, nothing! The scholars are talking about theoretical things and they are leaving the Ummah, and the Ummah is being betrayed.”

 

Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi, the famous scholar from Andalus, was so frustrated and fed up of the situation of the scholars and the imams of al-Andalus, he said, “Do not be deceived by these Fusaaq (corrupt people), who claim to be scholars while they are wearing the skins of sheep on hearts of wolves.” He said what are they doing? They are doing nothing for the Ummah. The Ummah is falling down, the Ummah is being fought against, and the land of al-Andalus is being invaded and they are talking about some other issues.

 

So we need to stand up, we need to immobilise, we need to unify, we need to stand up and make our voice herd and this is an Ibadaah; it is an Ibadaah you are doing. You are worshipping Allah by assisting your brothers. And Allah will save it for you, in Dunya and you will be rewarded in Akhira (the Hereafter). And you are going to need it because the Ummah is going through fitan (Trials and Tribulations), each and every one of us is going through fitan. We ask Allah to protect us, to protect our families, and to protect our descendants…Ameen

 

 

And It is Only Allah Who grants success. May Allah Exalt th mention of His slave and Messenger Muhammad, and render him, his household and companion safe from Evil.

 

http://www.kalamullah.com/story-of-the-bull.html

[Malika]

Originally posted by GJ_Goate:

Notes from a Khutbah by Imam Anwar al-Awlaki

 

So we need to stand up, we need to immobilise, we need to unify, we need to stand up and make our voice herd and this is an Ibadaah; it is an Ibadaah you are doing. You are worshipping Allah by assisting your brothers. And Allah will save it for you, in Dunya and you will be rewarded in Akhira (the Hereafter). And you are going to need it because the Ummah is going through fitan (Trials and Tribulations), each and every one of us is going through fitan. We ask Allah to protect us, to protect our families, and to protect our descendants…Ameen

 

 

And It is Only Allah Who grants success. May Allah Exalt th mention of His slave and Messenger Muhammad, and render him, his household and companion safe from Evil.

 

^Ameen

 

Jazakhallah Kheyr brother!

[Fabregas]

Imagine your country has been invaded and occupied by a brutal, fascist occupying force. This enemy mercilessly slaughters your people and sends thousand of them to concentration camps. The enemy burns down the crops, whilst attempting to subjugate your people by starving, raping and destroying their culture. This cruel enemy firmly believes that he should settle their people in your land. He believes their culture is far superior to yours. Now, imagine you're a local resistance leader and one day you caught some of the soldiers of the colonialists. What would you do? Your troops become excited and hence urge you to use opportunity this to harm and torture these soldiers. They remind you, “they do to us too". What do you do? You reply, “well they aren't our teachers". That story is attributed to the teacher, warrior, shaheed, and lion of the desert, Omar Mukhtar. Inshallah, today I will post the film: Lion of the Desert. Many of you might have seen it already, but there are many lessons in his struggle and his conduct with his enemies for the youth of today.

 

GJ GOATE!

 

quote:We go back in history to 1862 where a young boy of a poor household was born in a town controlled by the Uthmany Khilafa. This young man was brought under the care and tutelage of one of the Shuyookh in his home town when he was at the ripe age of 16 after the death of his father.

He eventually developed a lifestyle of not sleeping more than 3 hours every night in order to get up to pray to Allah at the last third of the night and recite Qur'an until fajr. He memorized the Qur'an (as all knowledgeable people begin their lives) eventually, and was known to have finished his revisions in its entirety every seven days, regardless of the sufferings he encountered in his life.

 

His courage and wisdom was pronounced, and was an example for people to follow. This was evident on one of his caravan trails to Sudan as a young man. A lion had deterred the people from entering a particular path. Caravans were veered else where for fear of this lion. To distract this lion, people would resort giving it one of their camels, a most prized possession, so they could pass safely. He learned of this lion during the journey, where upon he consequently took it upon himself to face this crisis head on. Unlike other men in the caravan who were dumbstruck by the situation, he carried his shot gun, rode his horse and went after the lion. He came back with the lion's head much to everyone's surprise and due gratitude. This earned him the name "Lion of Cyrenaica."

 

An upbringing of courage and upright religiosity had a massive effect on him. His character would not only change the course of his tribe, country and people, but also the world of Muslims in the Post Colonial Era.

 

In his twenties he was known for his maturity beyond his years as well as his wisdom, for he continued to solve tribal disputes. His people listened to him and took his counsel regardless of village or region he found himself in. His manners were known to be great, for he was eloquent, balanced in his speech, and appealing to those who listened. This uniqueness helped him unite the tribes, and later on gather armies to fend off the colonizers.

 

His thirties was marked by the dawn of the Colonial Era as it began to spread its cancer to the rest of the world. At the time when the world was being ravaged by European nations, this man stood firm for Islam and faced colonizers with his valor. He fought fiercely against the French with a group called Banu Sanus, who would later be known as the Sanusies. For a brief moment, they also fought the British, who were marked by greed and attempted to conquer their land.

 

As part of a global feast on the so-called less civilized nations, Italy joined the European nations in causing havoc in the southern part of the hemisphere by colonizing North Africa. It was during this time, this man, in his fifties, gathered his forces in the face of an invasion attack against Libya, his homeland.

 

To pacify his resistance army, the Italians offered him high ranking positions and wealth. In return, they demanded that he surrender and follow their Colonial decree. He responded in a famous quote saying, "I'm not a sweet bite of a meal anyone can swallow. No matter how long they try to change my belief and opinion, Allah is going to let them down."

 

We go back in history to 1862 where a young boy of a poor household was born in a town controlled by the Uthmany Khilafa. This young man was brought under the care and tutelage of one of the Shuyookh in his home town when he was at the ripe age of 16 after the death of his father.

 

 

He eventually developed a lifestyle of not sleeping more than 3 hours every night in order to get up to pray to Allah at the last third of the night and recite Qur'an until fajr. He memorized the Qur'an (as all knowledgeable people begin their lives) eventually, and was known to have finished his revisions in its entirety every seven days, regardless of the sufferings he encountered in his life.

 

His courage and wisdom was pronounced, and was an example for people to follow. This was evident on one of his caravan trails to Sudan as a young man. A lion had deterred the people from entering a particular path. Caravans were veered else where for fear of this lion. To distract this lion, people would resort giving it one of their camels, a most prized possession, so they could pass safely. He learned of this lion during the journey, where upon he consequently took it upon himself to face this crisis head on. Unlike other men in the caravan who were dumbstruck by the situation, he carried his shot gun, rode his horse and went after the lion. He came back with the lion's head much to everyone's surprise and due gratitude. This earned him the name "Lion of Cyrenaica."

 

An upbringing of courage and upright religiosity had a massive effect on him. His character would not only change the course of his tribe, country and people, but also the world of Muslims in the Post Colonial Era.

 

In his twenties he was known for his maturity beyond his years as well as his wisdom, for he continued to solve tribal disputes. His people listened to him and took his counsel regardless of village or region he found himself in. His manners were known to be great, for he was eloquent, balanced in his speech, and appealing to those who listened. This uniqueness helped him unite the tribes, and later on gather armies to fend off the colonizers.

 

His thirties was marked by the dawn of the Colonial Era as it began to spread its cancer to the rest of the world. At the time when the world was being ravaged by European nations, this man stood firm for Islam and faced colonizers with his valor. He fought fiercely against the French with a group called Banu Sanus, who would later be known as the Sanusies. For a brief moment, they also fought the British, who were marked by greed and attempted to conquer their land.

 

As part of a global feast on the so-called less civilized nations, Italy joined the European nations in causing havoc in the southern part of the hemisphere by colonizing North Africa. It was during this time, this man, in his fifties, gathered his forces in the face of an invasion attack against Libya, his homeland.

 

To pacify his resistance army, the Italians offered him high ranking positions and wealth. In return, they demanded that he surrender and follow their Colonial decree. He responded in a famous quote saying, "I'm not a sweet bite of a meal anyone can swallow. No matter how long they try to change my belief and opinion, Allah is going to let them down."

 

The military officer who interrogated him said, "When he came to my office I imagined to see someone like the thousand of murabiteen who I met in the desert wars. His hands were shackeled, he had broken bones caused by fighting, dragging himself barely able to walk. He was a man not like normal men even though the affect that he was apprehended had shown upon him. He stood in my office as we asked him and he answered in a calm clear collective voice. When he gathered to leave, the brightness of his face like a sunshine amazed me and shook my heart. My lips shivered towards the end of the conversation whereby I ordered him back to his cell to stand before a court in the evening."

 

He was a legend who was firm in his religion at a time when the leaders of his country emigrated (as they do today ) to surrender to the Italians. The biggest scholars of his time from the Sanusies, who previously fought with him against the French and the British, did not come to his aid in time. Instead, many of them became loyal to the Italians by giving them Muslim lands in exchange for clemency, montly salaries, and freedom from taxation. Such is true for Muslims today.

 

On the contrary, this man took out his Qur'an, held it, and gave an oath to Allah that he would not stop fighting the occupying oppressors even if it meant fighting them alone until victory had been attained or that he becomes a martyr. In the last twenty years of his life, he led and personally fought in 1000 battles

 

 

When the Italian general made him a final offer to make him their puppet and be allowed to live like the other leaders of his people, he answered, "I shall not cease to fight against thee and thy people until either you leave my country or I leave my life. And I swear by Him who knows whaht is in men's hearts that if my ands were not bound this very moment, I would fight you with my bare hands, old and broken as I am.."

 

It was then that the Italian general laughed and ordered him to be hung after a frontal saving face act of a mock trial. Even before the court was in session a rope outside the court house hung waiting him.

 

His hanging took place before hundreds of tribes in 1931. With the intent to scare the Muslims, the Italians did not succeed in doing this. The opposite had taken place. His hanging shook the entire Muslim world, and numerous resistances took place specifically in North Africa.

 

May Allah raise his position in paradise.

 

The Italians took pictures of him in shackles, surrounded by smiling Italian generals, and those who expressed happiness for his hanging. They did not realize that it is those very same shackles and rope hanging around his neck in the hands of his enemies fighting for the sake of Allah that would become the envy of every true Muslim.

 

The man, whose mug shot spoke his legacy, is none other than Omar AlMukhtar. His legacy will live until the day of judgement, inshallah. With his blood, he drew the stories of victory, he became a legend of the legends, and a guide for those who wanted to live in honor at a time of humiliation.

 

The surrendered modernists and disbelieving scholars of his time were not imprisoned nor hung. They died a normal death, possibly even in luxury and wealth, under the protection of the occupying Italians. However, they died and their names died with them. Jahannam is the abode of those who ally themselves with the kuffar colonizers over the Muslims. Omar AlMukhtar lived, and fought hard in the days of his life. He was shackled, imprisoned, then hung. But his legacy lives on and paradise, inshallah, is the resort of the martyrs.

 

Omar AlMukhtar was attached to Allah, depending on Him, and accepting that which Allah had written for him. He asked Allah to become a martyr and this what he has attained, inshAllah.

 

Ahmad Jibril

Written in the one third end of the night of Oct. 12, 2004

 

Film and source

 

http://www.kalamullah.com/lionofthedesert.html

[Malika]

A Friday Khutbah on Dhikr Allah by Dr Ahmad Shafaat.

 

 

http://www.islamicperspectives.com/Dhikr.htm

[Abaay Heylay]

Masha'allah, these are amazing articles keep them comming and may Allah give u ajr for posting it and may Allah make us benifit from it.

[Fabregas]

Exhortations of Imaam Ash-Shaafi'ee

 

http://kalamullah.com/ash-shaafiee.html

[Malika]

Jummah Mubaraak Brothers and Sisters!

 

 

Wanted to share a Khutba I found fascinating.

 

 

Jumaah Khutba on Fikr [Thinking] and ‘Aql [Reasoning] By: Dr. Ahmad Shafaat

 

 

Quote;

 

The Book of Allah says:

 

 

It is he who has created you from dust then from a sperm-drop, then from a clot; then he brings you out as a child for you to reach your age of full strength, then to become old -- though some of you die before that -- then to reach a time (of death) appointed and in order that you may reason. (40:67)

 

 

The concluding words of this verse, “in order that you may reason” show that just as a human being, starting from a sperm-drop, should normally develop into a child, then reach the age of full strength, then to become old, and then die, so also he should become a thinking/reasoning person.

 

 

http://www.islamicperspectives.com/Fikr.htm

[Abu-Salman]

dp

[Abu-Salman]

JZK ukhti, from that interesting web page, two excellent points no reasonable being can not dispute:

 

 

The basic religious truth

 

 

The basic religious truth taught in Islam may be expressed as follows (2:62, 91:7-10, 98:5 etc):

 

 

a) Reality has an internal harmony and unity, it is transcendent and mysterious, and it is purposeful (belief in one God).

 

 

b) Man’s actions have consequences even beyond his death (belief in the hereafter).

 

 

c) Right and wrong are generally known to human nature; man needs to do what is right and avoid what is wrong (leading a righteous life).

 

 

d) The above three beliefs should not simply be professed but affect our motivations, emotions, and actions.

 

 

FIKR AND ‘AQL AND REVELATION

 

 

One may ask: If fikr and ‘aql can by themselves lead to religious truth, then what is the function of the Qur`anic revelation? The answer to this question is:

• There are so many possibilities of our thinking and reasoning going astray due to the unreasonableness of our motivations and emotions that relatively few people reach the basic religious truth on their own. An overwhelming majority of people need revelation to guide their thinking and reasoning towards the truth. Revelation provides the clearest possible expression of the basic religious truth and in this way makes the journey of thinking/reasoning people towards the truth much easier.
• Even those who do reach the truth on their own, their sense of it in most cases is so hazy and their hold on it so weak that they can loose it under the pressures and influences that they must inevitably face. Revelation helps such people stay on the guidance and not fall back into error under various pressures and influences.
• Revelation creates social environment in which realizing the truth and staying on the path indicated by it becomes much easier

 

Conclusion:

 

 

Emotions and Acculturation led humanity atray throughout history, hence the necessity for a Universal Revelation (Qur'aan) to a Man universally known as a model for piety, and (our Prophet scw, called Amiin or the trusthworthy and whose fairness and trusthworthiness was sought even by Arab Pagans, as to judge among themselves), thus confirming our positive instincts (Allah Unity (Tawhid), Focused Inner as well as Struggle (Jihad), Brotherhood, Justice and equality among races and people (Prophetic Sunnah of extrem humbleness: no standing ovation or different treatment for slaves tolerated etc)...