Beaming With Light

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

"Purity is half of faith." Someone who observes purity, he is half way there in terms of his faith. The outer purity is a means to inner purity. Wudu' (ablution) is the foremost form of purification. We must have wudu' to perform our prayers.

Teach your children to do their wudu' properly and encourage them to maintain their wudu' throughout the day and have wudu' before going to bed at night. If you instill this habit in them right from young, it will keep them away from stray behaviors and protect them from evil, inshaAllah.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, will know his Ummah in the Day of Judgment from the light that shines from the places of wudu'. It is important that we do our wudu' properly so those limbs will shine in the Day of Judgment.

I remember a Shafi'i Shaykh explaining how to perform wudu' the Shafi' way to a group of students here in Cairo and then he advised the students to follow the Maliki way in terms of wiping the head (which is wiping the whole head as opposed to wiping three strands of hair). He said: I wouldn't want the light just beaming from 3 strands of hair while the Maliki's have their whole head beaming with light! In matters of worship, we should strive to do the most and the most difficult--this is the way of taqwa.

May Allah purify our intentions and our actions. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
wassalaam

Friends of Allah Most High

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

أَلَآ إِنَّ أَوْلِيَآءَ ٱللَّهِ لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَكَانُوا۟ يَتَّقُونَ

لَهُمُ ٱلْبُشْرَىٰ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَفِى ٱلْءَاخِرَةِ ۚ لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِكَلِمَٰتِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلْفَوْزُ ٱلْعَظِيمُ

"Surely God's friends -- no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow. Those who believe, and are Godfearing -- for them is good tidings in the present life and in the world to come. There is no changing the words of God; that is the mighty triumph." Qur'an Yunus 10:62-64

Neither fear nor sorrow shall be upon the friends of Allah. Allah is the One who protects His friends from wrath.

Those who believe (those with iman) have certitude in revelation of Allah. He practices it and avoids the forbidden. He finds his hands pull back from that which the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, would be disgusted by. He have complete conviction that Allah does not reveal the laws for His benefit but entirely for our benefit. Taqwa or Godfearingness entails to avoiding what is disadvantageous to one. The more the taqwa the more the iman, the more the iman the more the taqwa.

When you do something wrong and you know it is wrong, particularly when you have to take succesive steps that lead up to doing the wrong, your iman decreases. The one who hangs around people with no iman, pretty soon one will find one's taqwa diminishes and pretty soon this is acceptable and so one is let down to less than what one was before.

We have decisions to make to gain iman and taqwa so that Allah may show favor to us. Should I hang around with so and so? What should I do? How do I organize my time? etc.

May Allah make us be one of those who He favors. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan

And Allah knows best.

Wassalaam

The unshaken belief

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

"And when thy Lord took from the Children of Adam, from their loins, their seed, and made them testify touching themselves, 'Am I not your Lord?' They said, 'Yes, we testify'-- lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, 'As for us, we were heedless of this,' Qur'an Al-A'raf 7:172

Just as we know that it is wrong to lie, steal and cheat, deep inside people know that it is wrong to disbelieve. While we believe, Alhamdulillah, but how strong is our faith--are we certain in our beliefs? Look at our actions and our desires--are they all about seeking Allah's good pleasure? If not, then it is a sign that we are not all sure about what we believe.

"Those who submit themselves completely to Allah and do good have grasped the Firmest Handhold. The end result of all affairs is with Allah." Qur'an Luqman 31:22

An inspiring personality in strengthening and improving our faith is Abu Bakr, Allah be well pleased with him. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave him the title as-Siddiq for his power to discern the truth. His faith was too strong to be shaken by anything. He sacrificed everything for the sake of Allah and he was everything to the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace. He was a man with great aspirations but his aspirations were only to please Allah. And so he became the best Companion and the greatest after the Prophets.

"As for him who gives out and has taqwa (godfearingness) and confirms the Good, We will pave his way to Ease. But as for him who is stingy and self-satisfied, and denies the Good, We will pave his way to Difficulty. Qur'an Al-Layl 92:5-10

"Those with most taqwa (godfearing) will be far removed from it, those who give their wealth to purify themselves, not to repay someone else for a favour done, desiring only the Face of their Lord Most High, only seeking the Face of his Lord the Most High; and he shall surely be satisfied. Qur'an Al-Layl 92:17-21

May Allah makes us among the people of taqwa. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

Wassalaam

The thing inside two gates

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalaamu alaykum

I pray that you are well.

How many people we know who we just love to be around them, we look forward to see them time and time again. They have many kind words to say about people and they always make du'a for you, they uplift you, their tongues are moist with remembrance of Allah. How many people we know who we stay away from. These are the people who are so negative about the world and they discourage you in so many ways, their tongues are moist with gossips and impolite or harsh words.

The tongue can be the most dangerous thing for us and the most beneficial thing for us. This small, yet amazing creation, is our ambassador. It can do beautiful things for us and it can do evil for us. It is a very important element in our lives and our personality. It is a weapon more powerful than the guns. A person will say a word and Allah is pleased with him until the Day of Judgment and a person will say one word and Allah is angry with him until the Day of Judgment. Ibn Qayyum said Allah created us so that, the normal situation is that we don't talk. We need to initiate the talk unlike the ear, we don't initiate the hearing and we hear everything unless we block our ears. Allah made guards for the tongue which He did not make it with other senses. We have direct access to smell and touch. But Allah created 2 gates--teeth and lips--which need to be opened before we can talk. So we have time to think either to bring forth beautiful words or ugly words before we open the gates.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Let one who believes in God and the next world speak good or remain silent." There is nothing we say that the two angels who Allah have appointed to accompany us all the time not write it down. Keep the tongue inside if there is nothing good to say. There is nothing to control the tongue other than the fear of Allah.

And Allah knows best.

May Allah grant us beautiful speech. Ameen.