Look At The Majesty Of The One Disobeyed

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

If you learned that many of the sins you have committed have be downgraded to minor ones, before you breathe a sigh of relief, consider that someone said, "Don't look at the smallness of the sin, rather look at the Majesty of the One whom you have disobeyed," and furthermore, know that guarding against the minor sins keeps us away from the major sins, while committing the minor ones leads us to the major ones. The famous rule is that a minor sin becomes a major one with persistence.

Saying of Ibn Abbas, Allah be pleased with both father and son,

وأخرج ابن جرير وابن المنذر وابن أبي حاتم عنه أن رجلا سأله كم الكبائر أسبع هي قال هي إلى سبعمائة أقرب منها إلى سبع غير انه لا كبيرة مع استغفار ولا صغيرة مع اصرار

There is no major sin with repentance and no minor sin with persistence. Ibn Hajar reported in al-Fath

May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala guide us. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala knows Best
Wassalaam

A Bunch Of Facts

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

There is a difference in presentation of facts and a narrative. If you say "John Smith died," this is a fact. I can turn this into a narrative like this--The king died and then the queen died of grief. They left no heir, so the kingdom went into disarray. The people started to fight with each other for the throne. John Smith died in the midst of violence. I connected bites of information (facts) together in cause and effect such that one lead to the other. I have given meanings to a bunch of facts with this narrative. I have related to you a story.

We all live lives. Some people they live life as a bunch of facts. For example:

I go to work.
I make this amount of money
I came back and play with my kids
I eat
Tomorrow I will go to work
I go to work
I make this amount of money
I came back and watch TV
I eat
Tomorrow I will go to work
I go to work
My car broke down (why?)
My child is sick (why?)
My wife ran away (why me?)
...

After a while they become bored because their lives is fact after fact after fact. The things don't come together. There is no purpose. There is no meaning.

Allah created us all in a special way. All of us have an inner urge to try to give meaning to the events that happen around us. A life without meaning is not worth living. If there is no purpose, if there is no meaning, things happen just like that and that's all to it, a human being will self destruct.

Animals are not like this. They respond to stimuli in a certain way. Human beings are created such that they want meaning. Human beings are psychologically compelled to make sense of life. If they don't find meaning, they don't live a happy life and nothing will make sense. This is a terrible state of mind to be in. They get all kinds of psychological problems. They fall into depression, have anxiety, get angry and have rancor in their lives.

If people don't find meaning, they don't find inner rest. So they go after something they enjoy: eat food, listen to the music, watch TV, go to amusement park, smoke, drink ... but all of these things don't really give meaning to their lives. These are just temporary distractions that come to an end. When they keep on repeating it, they get bored of it.

Human beings don't find meaning in their lives by behaving like animals. Animals drink, eat, play and have sex. Human beings were not made for that purpose. Human beings were made for a higher purpose. They will not be satisfied until they find that purpose.

Islam teaches us that everything happens for a purpose. There is a chain of cause and events that come together and they all moving towards an unavoidable conclusion. At the end there will be a beautiful story, grand and momentus. This is why we should learn Islam and practice it to the fullest. Only Islam give meaning to your entire life. There won't be a moment of boredom in your life and you can't wait for that grand ending. This is the blessing of Iman (Faith).

May Allah guide us. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

The Best Thing You Can Busy Yourself With

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

On the authority of Abu Dharr Jundub ibn Junaadah, and Abu 'Abdul Rahman Mu'aadh bin Jabal (radiAllaahu anhuma) that the Messenger of Allah (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said:

Fear Allah wherever you are, and follow up a bad deed with a good deed which will wipe it out, and behave good-naturedly towards the people. [related by At-Tirmidhi]

This hadith talks about taqwa (Godfearingness), effacing the wrong through the right, and good character. The only real way to change our inner form is through taqwa and tawbah (repentance).

Taqwa is made beloved to the believers by clearly showing His love for this word and for the people characterized by this word. The basic meaning is protecting and guarding yourself against what you are afraid of. Tawqa of Allah (iitaqullah) means to do something (shield of good deeds) to place between yourself and the anger of Allah. It is also used with respect to Hell (ittaqunnar) or the Last Day (wattaqu yauman fihi illallah). Each of these, Hell and the Last Day, there is something to be frightened of. So protect yourself. How? By running towards Allah.

Tawbah is the process of turning back to Allah after we have made a slip.

Good character is the most central teaching in Islam. The whole religion of Islam is a means to perfect character, the way that we are--our substance, our quality.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

I was only sent to perfect noble character. (Ahmad)

Verily, the most beloved of you to me are the best of you in character. (Bukhari)

The most weightiest thing a person can bring in the Day of Judgment is not something that he did but it is the way that he was.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, was asked: "What most entered people into the garden?" He answered: "Taqwa of Allah and good character."

Taqwa and tawba work together. If there is no taqwa there is no impetus for change, if there is no tawba, your impetus will fade out. When taqwa dies, the flame necessarily dies with it. Taqwa and tawba are the magic elixir for transforming one's character. Through resolving to please Allah and avoid His anger, and repenting for one's slips does transformation result.

The nature of character is second nature. Someone who is mechanical cannot do many good deeds. You don't stop and think to do something good. You don't stop and formulate what are the reasons for you not to yell back at people because your character (patience, forbearing) will beat your mind to it. Someone is trying to annoy you, it doesn't vex you. You don't have to go through a mental process to bring on your patience. But mental process is needed on the way there. That's why the greatest act of worship is character transformation. We have a global intention in the beginning to acquire certain good character for the sake of Allah. Your great reward is the fact that you acquire this good character.

The point is not to be robotic but to be on auto pilot--obviously I am going to serve my guest kindly--you are kind; obviously I am going to dig into my pocket for that poor person--you are generous and merciful; obviously I am not going to throw tamper tantrum at my wife or beat her up when she is grumpy--you are chivalrous.

The change you want to make has to be for the sake of Allah--You show kindness to people and good treatment to others, including your parents, for the sake of Allah...You refrain from being angry and you are gentle and loving for the sake of Allah...and so on.

We know Allah does not love people who are angry. He loves people who are patient and merciful. So if you are working on your anger, make a condition for yourself, e.g. if I ever get angry out of the order, then I will give an extraordinary charity. Once a family therapist shared a story of a husband who promised his wife that he would punish himself by paying his wife a large sum of money if he abused his wife again. No one can enforce his promise in this world but his taqwa of Allah can.

We all know the level of who we are. Each one of us, no matter how good we are, have many areas that need change. Start working on changing them now, one by one--some examples are: impatient/rash to patient, ingratitude to gratitude, arrogant/boastful/ostentatious/proud/vane to humble, greedy/miser to generous, wasteful/excessive to frugal, irresponsible to responsible, unjust/unkind to just/kind, angry/rage/malicious to calm/merciful/forgiving, untrustworthy to trustworthy, hateful to loving, immodest to modest/shy/haya'.

This is not going to be an overnight transformation, but an on-going process. Some take more work to change than the other. But through constant resolve to please Allah and avoid His anger, and continuous tawba, the change and transformation will result. According to the saying of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, "The best actions are continuous ones, even if they are slight."

If you work on them and they stay with you for the rest of your life, no act of worship can compare to something that you have changed within yourself that will stay with you for the rest of your life. That's why working on character is the weightiest thing a person can be busying himself on. Because this is the thing you are going to bring back with you to Allah--the person that you are.

May Allah grant you tawfiq (success) and success is from Allah alone. Ameen. Please include us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

All Things Will Perish Except His Face

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Allah does everything with a wisdom. Wisdom roughly speaking is benefit that returns to creation, not to the Creator.

For example, one of the wisdom of illness is that if you are patient you will be rewarded in the next life.

What is the benefit of bad things that happen to people? The wisdom behind things happen to us, sometimes is known and sometimes is unknown. We, as humans, have limited knowledge in terms of our existence. We are judging with incomplete knowledge.

When you look at outward perspective with your child being bullied at school, you as a parent might see that there is good in it because he is learning to deal with difficulty. As he learns to deal with difficulty, he gets better equipped to deal with people when he grows up. You know this, but your child does not see it. He only views that something bad is happening. We are like children when compared to people who are closer to Allah than us. They see the wisdom but we don't see. As we become closer to Allah and have a greater relationship with Allah, there is more and more wisdom that we see. Allah gives wisdom to whoever He wills.

But let's say there is no wisdom. So what? Bad things won't go away. They happened, they are happening and they are going to happen. Are you going to be emotional, spiteful and angry?
Someone who respond this way, they have inner pride and self worth. We have to remember that if Allah wills anything, He doesn't need a reason. So the first thing you should do when bad things happen, is to humble yourself before Allah. It should take the inner pride away and make you a better person.

Everything with Allah is in due proportion, All-Knower of the unseen and the seen, the Most Great, the Most High. Whatsoever is on earth will perish, and the Face of the Lord, full of Majesty and Honor, will abide forever.

وَلَا تَدْعُ مَعَ اللَّـهِ إِلَـٰهًا آخَرَ ۘ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ كُلُّ شَيْءٍ هَالِكٌ إِلَّا وَجْهَهُ ۚ لَهُ الْحُكْمُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ ﴿٨٨

And call not upon another god with God; there is no god but He. All things perish, except His Face. His is the Judgment, and unto Him you shall be returned. [Qur'an al-Qasas 28:88]

May Allah Most High save us from the trial and tribulations of this life and the next. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Why Does God Do Bad Things To Good People?

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Why does God do bad things to good people? The real question is not why does God do this and why does God do that. The real question is why aren't you accepting what Allah is sending your way. He is God, you are the servant. He is powerful, you are nothing. He is significant, you are insignificant. Pure monotheism (tauhid), where the Omnipotence of Allah is realized, this is a non question and doesn't deserve an answer.

لَا يُسْأَلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْأَلُونَ ﴿٢٣

He is not questioned about what He does, but they will be questioned. [Qur'an Al-Anbiya' 21:23]

Who am I to ask these questions? Someone who has a strong spiritual relationship with Allah, they realized the meaning of laa illaha illallah (None has the right to be worshiped but Allah) and laa yus alu 'amma yaf'alu wa hum yus alun لَا يُسْأَلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْأَلُونَ , and so when something happens to them or when it happens to anybody else, they are not going to say "Why did God do that to me?" because this attitude comes from being inwardly big. When someone who is inwardly small and humble, they don't think to ask these questions.

A Perspective

Illness usually bring people to religion through the front door; mine brought me thorugh the back. I did not need to know if I was being punished or tested. Neither my health nor my illness was about me. The force that played havoc with the cortisol in my blood was the same force that helped my body recover; if I felt better one day and worse the next, it was unchanged. It chose no side. It gave the girl in the hospital next to me pneumonia; it also gave her white blood cells that would resist the infection. And the atoms in those cells, and the nuclei in those atoms, the same bits of carbon that were being spun into new planets in some corner of space with a name. My insignificance had become unspeakably beautiful to me. The unified force was a God too massive, too inhuman, to resist with the atheism in which I had been brought up. I became a zealot without a religion. It was unclear to me whether there was a philosophy big enough for monotheism so adamant. It had to be a faith that didn't need to struggle to explain why bad things happen to good people, a faith in which it was understood that destruction in creation.

-- G. Willow Wilson, The Butterfly Mosque

May Allah bring us closer to Him and guide the Ummah. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

When Knowledge Is Taken Away

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

The scholars are the heirs of the Prophets, who have assumed their role in conveying the Message of Islam and calling people to the religion Islam.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

The scholars are the heirs of the Prophets, for the Prophets do not leave behind any dinars or dirhams (i.e., wealth), but they leave behind knowledge. Whoever receives this knowledge receives abundant good fortune. [Reported by al-Tirmidhi]

Allah wills good for the scholars. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

Whoever Allah wishes good for, He enables him to understand the religion properly.[Reported by al-Bukhari]

They are the people who truly fear Allah.

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ وَالدَّوَابِّ وَالْأَنْعَامِ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ كَذَٰلِكَ ۗ إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى اللَّـهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءُ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ عَزِيزٌ غَفُورٌ ﴿٢٨

And among people and moving creatures and grazing livestock are various colors similarly. Only those fear Allah, from among His servants, who have knowledge. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Forgiving. [Qur'an Fatir 35:28]

The honor of the scholars is tremendous. The Lord has made them witnesses to the greatest of truths and has mentioned their testimony alongside His own and that of His angels.

شَهِدَ اللَّـهُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَأُولُو الْعِلْمِ قَائِمًا بِالْقِسْطِ ۚ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ ﴿١٨

Allah bears witness that La ilaaha illa huwa (none has the right to be worshiped but He) -- and the angels, and men possessed of knowledge -- upholding justice; La ilaaha illa huwa (none has the right to be worshiped but He), the All-mighty, the All-wise. [Qur'an AleImran 3:18]

Allah has raised their status in this world and the next.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمْ تَفَسَّحُوا فِي الْمَجَالِسِ فَافْسَحُوا يَفْسَحِ اللَّـهُ لَكُمْ ۖ وَإِذَا قِيلَ انشُزُوا فَانشُزُوا يَرْفَعِ اللَّـهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ دَرَجَاتٍ ۚ وَاللَّـهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ ﴿١١

O believers, when it is said to you 'Make room in the assemblies', then make room, and Allah will make room for you; and when it is said, 'Move up', move up, and Allah will raise up in rank those of you who believe and have been given knowledge. And Allah is aware of the things you do. [Qur'an al-Mujadila 85:11]

They are the most knowledgeable of people about evil and what leads to it, so they warn people of it.

ثُمَّ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُخْزِيهِمْ وَيَقُولُ أَيْنَ شُرَكَائِيَ الَّذِينَ كُنتُمْ تُشَاقُّونَ فِيهِمْ ۚ قَالَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ إِنَّ الْخِزْيَ الْيَوْمَ وَالسُّوءَ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ ﴿٢٧

Then on the Day of Resurrection He will disgrace them and say, "Where are My 'partners' for whom you used to oppose [the believers]?" Those who were given knowledge will say, "Indeed disgrace, this Day, and evil are upon the disbelievers" [Qur'an al-Nahl 16:27]

وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ وَيْلَكُمْ ثَوَابُ اللَّـهِ خَيْرٌ لِّمَنْ آمَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا وَلَا يُلَقَّاهَا إِلَّا الصَّابِرُونَ ﴿٨٠

But those who had been given knowledge said, "Woe to you! The reward of Allah is better for he who believes and does righteousness. And none are granted it except the patient." [Qur'an al-Qasas 28:80]

Our salvation is connected to the presence of scholars.

'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'Aas said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, Allah does not take knowledge away by taking it away from people's (hearts); He takes knowledge away by taking away the scholars (i.e., when scholars die), and when there is not one scholar left, the people will turn to ignorant leaders who, when they are consulted, will give fatwas without knowledge. They are misguided and they misguide others.'" [Reported by al-Bukhari]

Imaam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, said,

"People need knowledge more than they need food and drink, because they need food and drink two or three times a day, but they need knowledge all the time." Thus the loss of scholars is a great calamity, "...because the death of the entire tribe is less serious than the death of one scholar."

We ask Allah to preserve our scholars and guide the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad, Allah bless him and grant him peace. We ask Allah to forgive our scholars who have left us, have mercy on them, make their graves wide and fill with light, and admit them to a place of honor in the Day of Resurrection. We ask Allah to forgive us and compensate us with good for our loss. O Allah, you are All-Hearing and You answer prayers.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Miraculously Eloquent

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

The Qur'an is the greatest miracle to prove that Prophet Muhammad, Allah bless him and grant him peace, is the Messenger of God. We say the Qur'an is miraculously eloquent. It is surpassing eloquence with no equal. By that we mean that it is conventionally inimmitable. Shakespeare is more eloquent than any other English prose but it is imitable, so we don't call Shakespeare miraculous.

Someone who is an expert in Arabic, they would say the norm has been broken when they hear the eloquence of the Qur'an. The Arabs used to compete with each other in eloquence and used to vie with each other in eloquence. This was the culture in which the pre-Islamic Arabs lived. They hung the most eloquent Arabic poetry in the Ka'aba, but there was always somebody who was considered the most eloquent poet of the time.

When they challenged the Prophet is the messenger of God, the Qur'an challenged them to produce a surah like the Qur'an. The Arabs disbelievers went to war, spent money and lost lives when all they had to do was to bring a surah like the Qur'an. Not only they didn't bring a surah like it, they didn't even try to compete because they saw it as conventionally inimitable.

If one is an expert in the Arabic language and one has mastered the Arabic language as the pre- Islamic Arabs did, then one will be able to see this first hand as they did. If one is not an expert, one can infer its miraculous inimitability through historical contexts that the experts had at the time, who had a culture of competing in eloquence did everything else, when all they had to do was to produce a surah like it. It says they were unable to do so.

After the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, passed away, Islam left indelible mark by causing the collapse of two super powers at the time, the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Empire. Muslims took them away. People under the sway of Muslims didn't like the Muslims and to be under the dominion of the Muslims. The tension between Muslims and non-Muslims proceeded for 100s of years. This is one of the wisdom for Allah placing conflicts in the early ages of Islam so nobody can claim that the Qur'an was not a true revelation of God. People, whose life mission was to extinguish the message of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not try to claim that the Qur'an was not true revelation of God. If they had done so, it would have reached us because it would have been mass transmitted.

As Muslims, we believe that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, is the Messenger of Allah. We affirm it everyday several times by saying the shahada (testimony of faith) in every prayer and when we repeat the adhan when we hear it. Ash-hadu an la illaha illa-Allah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah (I bear witness that there is none has the right to be worshiped but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah).

This should not be something we say on the tongue and that is it. The consequence of this belief is that we believe in everything that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, brought (including believe in the angels, the Divine Scriptures, all the prophets and the Last Day) and we act upon what he taught us for all his teachings were revelations and inspirations conveyed to him by Allah, the One whose pleasure and love we seek.

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّـهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّـهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّـهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ﴿٣١

"Say: 'If you love Allah, follow me, and Allah will love you, and forgive you your sins; Allah is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.' (Qur'an AleImran 3:31)

آمَنَ الرَّسُولُ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۚ كُلٌّ آمَنَ بِاللَّـهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّن رُّسُلِهِ ۚ وَقَالُوا سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۖ غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ ﴿٢٨٥

The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], "We make no distinction between any of His messengers." And they say, "We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination." (Qur'an al-Baqarah 2:285)

May Allah guide us and the Ummah of Muhammad Rasullullah, Allah bless him and grant him peace. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Healthy Foods Equals Healthy Life?

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Most of us, although in our minds we believe there is no god except Allah, practically we believe that this thing and that thing benefit, and this thing and that thing does not benefit, that if I do this I will benefit and if I do that I will be harmed. This is because our greed and our attachment to particular things of the world blind us like this.

For example, whenever somebody is greedy for eating healthy foods, they are willing to sacrifice anything to eat healthy foods. They are greedy for it normally because they want to live a long life. They see healthy life is caused by eating healthy foods, and long life is caused by being healthy. They have become conditioned into believing this food makes them healthy and that food makes them sick.

Somebody like the awliya of Allah (friends of Allah), those who remember Allah frequently, they don't see this way. That's not how they interact with foods. They have absolute certainty that Allah gives good health and they make du'a to Allah to give them good health. They take the cause out of it. This is because they understood completely the consequences of saying There is no god except Allah. La illaha illallah

We need to look at the world as a means to bring us closer to Allah and not let our greed forget the One who causes things to happen for you. Allah is the creator of everything, including your food, your health and your life.

On the authority of Abu 'Abbaas 'Abdillaah bin 'Abbaas (radiAllaahu anhumaa) who said : One day I was behind the Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) [riding on the same mount] and he said :

O young man, I shall teach you some words [of advice]: Be Mindful of Allah and Allah will protect you. Be Mindful of Allah and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, then ask Allah [alone]; and if you seek help, then seek help from Allah [alone]. And know that if the Nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, they would not benefit you except with what Allah had already prescribed for you. And if they were to gather together to harm you with anything, they would not harm you except with what Allah had already prescribed against you. The Pens have been lifted and the Pages have dried.

[It was related by at-Tirmidhi, who said it was a Good and Sound Hadith.]

In another narration, other than Tirmidhi:

Be Mindful of Allah, and you will find Him in front of you. Recognize and acknowledge Allah in times of ease and prosperity, and He will Remember you in times of adversity. And know that what has passed you by [and you have failed to attain] was not going to befall you, and what has befallen you was not going to pass you by. And know that victory comes with patience, relief with affliction, and hardship with ease.

May Allah bring us closer to Him and give us a sound understanding of Islam. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

The Heart Quakes

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

The job of shaytan is whispering to you doubts. He makes you think you have doubts, but there is no doubt that there is no god except Allah and Muhammad (may peace and blessings be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah. Allah alone we worship and Allah alone we ask for help.

The cure for this doubt is to show gratitude to Allah. If you are grateful to Allah for the blessings of guidance, the blessings of belief, the blessings of the scholars, and for all other countless blessings, you won't be trapped by the whispers of shaytan. If we don't thank Allah for these blessings we are in danger of falling into the trap of shaytan. Indeed shaytan, to man, is a manifest enemy [Qur'an Yusuf 12:5].

Allah says,

نَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ اللَّـهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُهُ زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ ﴿٢﴾ الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ ﴿٣﴾ أُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ حَقًّا ۚ لَّهُمْ دَرَجَاتٌ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ وَرِزْقٌ كَرِيمٌ ﴿٤


Those only are believers who, when God is mentioned, their hearts quake, and when His signs are recited to them, it increases them in faith, and in their Lord they put their trust, (2) those who perform the prayer, and expend of what We have provided them, (3) those in truth are the believers; they have degrees with their Lord, and forgiveness, and generous provision. (4)

May Allah protect us from the whispers of shaytan. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Do You Fit In?

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Allah created eye so that it sees. This is the wisdom for the creation of eye. It is not because He need to create eye to cause your sight. Allah can create our sight without eyes. Allah does not need to send down rain for plants to grow, nor medicine to cure, nor a Messenger to guide us. He does not need an intermediary to achieve an effect. He can make plants grow without rain; He can cure without medicine; He can create guidance in the hearts of people without Messengers.

The wisdom behind our creation so that we wind up worshiping the Creator and magnify Him. Allah does not need for us to worship Him nor does he need for anyone to magnify Him, but we do need to worship Him and we are in utter need of our Master.

The man who is living in the middle of the drought stricken desert of Africa, who can't even speak a word of English but says Subhana Rabbi al 'Alaa (My Lord Most High is exalted above all limitation) and/or Subhana Rabbi al-Adheem (My Lord Most Great is exalted above all limitation), here the wisdom of the creation of mankind is being fulfilled.

How do you fit in for the purpose of our creation? We fit in by worshiping Allah. If you don't, you don't fit in.

May Allah guide us. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

God

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

God is somebody who is rightfully worshiped. This is what God really means. God is not an intellectual concept that people imagine.

It is easy to say God is the Creator الْخَالِقُ, God has Power, God is the Merciful الرَّحِیمُ, the Beneficent الرَّحْمَنُ, the All-Knowing العَاِیمُ, the One who hears all things السَّمِیعُ, the One who sees all things الْبَصِیرُ, the Embodiment of Peace السَّلاَمُ, the Eternal Lord الْمَلِكُ, the Mighty One, the Total Provider الرَّزَّاقُ, the Abaser المُذِلُّ, the Self-sufficient One الْغَنِيُّ, the Eternally Living One الْحَيُّ, the Self subsisting one الْقَیُّومُ, the Maintainer of life الْمُحْیِي, the Bountiful One الْكَرِیمُ, the Majestic One الْجَلِیلُ, the Sustaining One المُقیِت, the Sublime One الْعَلِيُّ, the Embodiment of the Truth الْحَقُّ, the Strong One الْقَوِيُّ, and the entire 99 glorious Names and Attributes of Allah that many of us know.

What do you do with this knowledge? This knowledge should drive you to worship Him and nothing besides Him.

Allah says,

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ

And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. Qur'an adh-Dhariyyat 51:56

Worship is a complete abasement of one self before somebody who is God. When can one worship someone? It is when the One who one is worshiping needs no one and everything needs Him.

Because Allah needs no one and everyone is in absolute and utter need of Him, we worship Allah. We humble ourselves before Him. We put our foreheads down on the ground before Him. We run to do His bidding. We give up everything to Him. We turn to him for all our needs. We see ourselves as completely incapable. We rely on our Master. Worship is the ultimate lowering of ourselves before somebody who we believe needs no one and everyone needs Him. This is what it means to worship Allah, the only One who deserves to be worshiped. La illaha illallah.

اللَّـهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ ۚ لَّهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ

Allah - there is no god except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of [all] existence. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them, and they encompass not a thing of His knowledge except for what He wills. His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation tires Him not. And He is the Most High, the Most Great. (Qur'an al-Baqarah 2:255)

وَلِلَّـهِ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَىٰ فَادْعُوهُ بِهَا ۖ وَذَرُوا الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي أَسْمَائِهِ ۚ سَيُجْزَوْنَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

And to Allah belong the best names, so invoke Him by them. And leave [the company of] those who practice deviation concerning His names. They will be recompensed for what they have been doing. (Qur'an al-'Araf 7:180)

May Allah guide us. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Don't Miss Fasting On The White Days Of This Sacred Month

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Slavehood has a meaning of extreme neediness--extreme neediness to please Allah and to be close to Allah, extreme neediness for His forgiveness and mercy. Somebody who feels very needy for Allah's forgiveness and mercy pounds on the door of opportunity that Allah opens for them and looks for every opportunity to please Allah.

Part of being a slave of Allah is to honor what Allah has honored and considered great what Allah has made great. Allah has made this month of Muharram sacred. So we honor this month and be a thankful slave by performing extra worship.

Another recommended worship that we should not miss this month is fasting on the 3 white days, which will fall on December 8, 9 and 10 for most locations.

Ibn `Abbas, Allah be pleased with father and son, narrated that the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, would not leave fasting the white days whether he was travelling or whether he was resident. (al-Nasa’i).

The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, encouraged his Companions to fast three days in every month and to fast on the white days (13th, 14th and 15th of each lunar month) specifically.

The reward for fasting on these 3 days in Muharram is multiplied because this is a sacred month.

The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

The best (month) to fast after Ramadan is the Month of Allah which you call al-Muharram.

May Allah accept your worship and bring you closer to Him. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Commemorating Day Of Ashura (Muharram 10)

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

It is recommended to fast on the 10th of Muharram (Day of Ashura), which is Monday (some places is Tuesday) and the day before or the day after. It is a means for expiation of sins of the previous year.

When the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) came to Medina he found the Jews fasting the Day of `Ashura’, the tenth of Muharram. He asked them why they were fasting and they told him that it was an auspicious day: the day on which Allah saved Musa and his people and drowned Firaun and his people. Musa fasted out of gratitude to Allah and his people continued the practice after him. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) told the Jews that his nation was closer to Musa than them. He then fasted that day and ordered his Companions to fast.¹

Several narrations point to the significance of this day from the earliest of times. It has been narrated that it was the day on which Allah forgave our father Adam, the day on which the Ark of Nuh came to rest on the mountain known as al-Judi and the day on which Allah forgave the people of Yunus (peace be upon him and all the Prophets).

The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) taught us to commemorate this day, primarily by fasting. He informed us that if we do so Allah wipes out the sins of the previous year.² We may ask: if we have already fasted the Day of `Arafat then Allah has already erased our sins in the previous and coming year so what more can be gained from fasting `Ashura’? Some of the scholars mention that continuously fasting both days leads to a deeper erasure of one’s wrongdoings, protection from falling into sin in the future and also has the effect of wiping out the wrongdoings of one’s family and neighbours.

Why does fasting the Day of `Arafat wipe out the sins of two years whereas fasting the day of `Ashura’ only wipes out the sins of one year? One reason, the scholars say, is that the Day of `Arafat is a day attributed to Sayyiduna Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) which is clearly superior to `Ashura’ which is attributed to Sayyiduna Musa (peace be upon him).

He recommended (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) that his Ummah also fast the day before or the day after so that our tradition be distinct from the tradition of the Jews.

We should also renew our repentance on `Ashura.’ The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that it is a day on which Allah allowed a certain people to repent and He will continue to allow others to do the same.³

It has been narrated that if someone spends generously upon his family on the Day of `Ashura’ Allah will treat with him generosity for the rest of the year. Sufyan bin `Uyayna said, “We tried this for fifty years and all that we saw was good.” It has likewise been narrated that the one who gives charity on this day will have the reward of a whole year’s charity.

In Tarim people gather in Masjid Ba `Alawi on the eve of `Ashura’ to read the merits of the day and to make du`a. The day itself is a day of Eid. Children wear their best clothes, amusements are provided for them and gifts are given to them.

1 Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim
2 Narrated by Muslim
3 Narrated by al-Tirmidhi

[abdulkarimyahya.com]

May Allah Most High accept your fasting and good deeds and erase your sins. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Now You See, Now You Don't

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

We think we have eyes and so we can see everything. But during a thick foggy day, you cannot see anything ahead of you, and you say, "I can't see anything because of the fog." We are so used to saying this that we forget something. The fog did not cause your inability to see anything ahead of you, neither your eyes cause your ability to see when there is no fog. It is Allah who caused this to happen. There is merely a correlation between you not able to see anything and the fog. You have been conditioned this way; whenever there is a fog, there is a hampered vision. But the reality is that Allah made you not able to see at that time. He could make you see even with the fog. This is just our reminder to remember the Creator of everything.

In the Battle of Badr the disbelievers outnumbered the Muslims by more than 3 times; 1000 Quraysh vs 300 Muslims. This was the first encounter for the Muslims and they were not prepared for a battle. But Allah helped the believers and made the disbelievers saw the Muslims double in number to scare the disbelievers. They did not imagine the numbers but they saw it with their own eyes.

Allah can change anything including the way your eyes are supposed to see at any particular moment. So remember Allah and fear Him. Watch how you use your eyes. Don't be looking at things you are not supposed to and lower your gaze when you are in the presence of non-mahram.

قَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ ءَايَةٌ فِى فِئَتَيْنِ ٱلْتَقَتَا ۖ فِئَةٌ تُقَـٰتِلُ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّـهِ وَأُخْرَىٰ كَافِرَةٌ يَرَوْنَهُم مِّثْلَيْهِمْ رَأْىَ ٱلْعَيْنِ ۚ وَٱللَّـهُ يُؤَيِّدُ بِنَصْرِهِۦ مَن يَشَآءُ ۗ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَعِبْرَةً لِّأُو۟لِى ٱلْأَبْصَـٰرِ

There has already been a sign for you in the two companies that encountered, one company fighting in the way of God and another unbelieving; they saw them twice the like of them, as the eye sees, but God confirms with His help whom He will. Surely in that is a lesson for men possessed of eyes. (Qur'an AleImran 3:13)

May Allah make us His thankful servants and Godfearing. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam