What does Islam say about music?

There is an experiment done with frogs and boiling water and its premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, then it will jump out immediately, however if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. Somewhat of a similar story has happened to us, Muslims, in regards to music. It has slowly and gradually entered our homes, our institutions and it has penetrated deep into our society. The situation has gotten so out of hand that it has become a part of our daily lives so much so that it is acceptable not just to the youth but, most of the times, even to the elderly people. And people use all kinds of arguments in justifying listening to music; "it's just a source of entertainment", "it's a source of relaxation", "it's an expression of speech" etc.

Abu Muawiyyah (R.A.) narrates that Prophet (S.A.W.) has said: "Verily Allah has sent me with guidance and as a mercy to mankind and (inspite of this) He ordered me to obliterate musical instruments, idols, the cross and things of ignorance." -Narrated by At Tayalisi, Ahmad, At Tabrani in Mujam al Kabeer, Ibn Abdul Barr, Hassan Bin Sufyaan, Ibn Munda, Abu Nuaim, Ar Ruyani, Al Harith, Al Ashyab, Al Haythami, Al Ajuri, Ibn An Najjjar, Ibn Adi and others.

Furthermore, Anas bin Malik mentions that the Prophet (S.A.W.) has said, "Two voices are cursed in this world and the hereafter; music at the time of happiness and wailing at the time of calamity."- Narrated by Al Bazzar, Adh Dhiyaa al Maqdisi, Ibn Murduyah, Al Bayhaqi, Abu Nuaim and others.

Ask yourselves this; have you ever heard any story of the Prophet (S.A.W.) listening to and enjoying music or of the sahaba listening to it? Even asking such a question seems absurd, but why is it so? Because music and Islam are two separate and mutually exclusive terms, music leads to shamelessness whereas the deen demands shame. Music leads to vanity and heedlessness whereas Islam teaches the opposite of that. Many people love to quote the example of the incident when Prophet (S.A.W.) was entering Madinah and some little girls had gathered up with a duff to sing songs to welcome the Prophet (S.A.W.) and the Prophet (S.A.W.) did not stop them. But they don’t realize, at the same time, the grave error of quoting something out of context. The reasons why the Prophet (S.A.W.) did not stop them then are manifold, firstly they weren’t singing songs with drums and electric guitars etc but were only using duff which is permissible in Islam. Secondly, they were singing to greet the Prophet (S.A.W.) not for the reasons why people sing songs today, hence one can also imagine the VAST difference in those lyrics and in the lyrics of the songs that we listen to.

Moreover, if one actually wants to know the status of music in Islam, then instead of concentrating on an incident where the Prophet (S.A.W.) was lenient due to his love for little children and his softness of character, one should rather look at situations where the Prophet (S.A.W.) chose to make clear the evils of music. One incident in which it is made clear how disliked music is; is as follows:

It was narrated that Buraydah said: The Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.) went out on one of his military campaigns, and when he came back, a black slave woman came and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I vowed that if Allah brought you back safe and sound, I would beat the duff before you and sing.” The Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.) said, “If you vowed that, then do it, otherwise do not do it.’” So she started to beat the duff , Abu Bakr came in whilst she was doing so, then ‘Ali came in and she kept on beating the duff, then ‘Uthmaan came in, yet she still kept beating the duff. Then ‘Umar came in and she threw the duff beneath her and sat on it. The Messenger of Allah (S.A.W.) said, “The Satan is afraid of you, O ‘Umar. I was sitting and she was beating the duff, then Abu Bakr came in she was beating the duff; then ‘Ali came in she was beating the duff; then ‘Uthmaan came in she was beating the duff, but when you came in, O ‘Umar, she put the duff down.” - Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 3690; classed as Saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi, 2913.

In another incident, Nafi narrates that Ibn Umar (R.A.) heard the (sound of the) musical instruments of a shepherd. He immediately placed his hands in his ears and changed his route and continuously asked: “Oh Nafi, can you still hear?” (Nafi says): “I constantly replied in the positive. When I finally said that I could not hear, Ibn Umar resumed his route. Thereafter, Ibn Umar mentioned: “This is what Prophet (S.A.W.) did.” - Narrated by Abu Dawood, Ibn Hibbaan, At Tabrani in Al Kabeer and Al Awsat, Ahmad, Al Bayhaqi, Al Haythami, Al Aajuri, Ibn Sad, Ibn Abi ad Dunya in Al War’ and Dham al malahi and others. This hadith is narrated through chains which are authentic.

Hence it is clear from the afore-mentioned incidents that music is a tool of shaitan with which he distracts and misguides people. In fact, it does not JUST lead us to wasting our time while we are listening to it but it also gets stuck in our head and is put on repeat by the satan in our heads while we our performing our prayers! We memorise those obscene lyrics at the expense of memorising the verses of the Noble Qur'an! Ask yourself honestly; can listening to Lady Gaga help one concentrate in salah? Or does listening to increasingly atrocious Bollywood songs help us in getting closer to Allah?

The vanity that music indulges us in is further emphasized in Surah Najm where Allah says in verses 59-62:
"Are you astonished at this recitation (the Quran)? And you laugh and do not cry. Wasting your time  in vanities. So fall in prostration to Allah and worship Him."
Many commentators have interpreted the term "vanities" that is mentioned here to refer to as music.

Looking at further evidences against the prohibition of music:
Allah Ta'ala says in Surah Luqman, verse 6:
"From amongst men there are those who purchase "lahw al hadith" without knowledge to mislead from the path of Allah and they ridicule it. For them there is a humiliating punishment."
The greatest and most renowned commentators of the Quran have said that the term "lahw al hadith" refers to music, from amongst these commentators include Hasan Al-Basri, Abdullah bin Masud, Amr ibn Shuyaib and many more. In fact, Abdullah bin Masud and Abdullah bin Abbass used to take an oath and say that this verse refers to music!

And then in Surah Isra, verse 64, Allah Ta'ala says:
" "And gradually befool those who you can from them with your voice and assault them with your horses and foot soldiers and become a partner in their wealth and their children and promise them." But Satan does not promise them except delusion."
Here again "with your voice" has been interpreted by many mufasirun (commentators of Quran) as music.

Apart from these proofs, there are many more ahadith that condemn the playing of and listening to music but obviously not all of them could be stated here. In fact, the only reason that I have even quoted ahadith and verses of the Quran is only as a formality and as a means of giving evidence that Islam is against music. Otherwise I don't even see why we need to go into the debate of whether music is haraam or not, or if it is maqrooh or not, when the only thing we should be asking ourselves is whether it makes us draw closer to Allah or whether it leads us to vanity and draws us away from Allah. Islam was not revealed as a list of “to do things” and “not to do things.” Islam was revealed as a truth, a way to realize one’s purpose in life and as a way to achieve the best in this world and in the life yet to come. But it is our tragedy that we have reduced Islam to just a set of rules and restrictions. It is even more depressing that only a few of us know that ONLY 3% of the Quran talks about what is halal and haraam and the rest of the Quran talks about so many other things!

Not listening to music does not mean the end of the world, it is true that music is everywhere and COMPLETELY avoiding it is almost impossible these days. Still we need to play our part and do whatever is in our power to not listen to music. Try it and trust me that In shaa Allah you won't even feel any charm in listening to music anymore. Our ears have been given to us by Allah then why should we use them to listen to something that draws us away from Him? Listen to nasheeds (without music obviously) and the recitation of Quran and you'll forget why you ever even listened to music in the first place. And when you're at that level then pray for consistency in your deeds and hidayah for those who have love for music. Take the first step and Allah will In shaa Allah make everything else easy for us.

"Advice to those who want to soften their hearts."

This is segment from a lecture by shaykh Salih Al Maghamsi, who is the imam of Masjid al Quba in Medina, Saudi Arabia. He is one of the most well known scholars of tafseer around.

A short video by Nouman Ali Khan.

Facing opposition- silently?

Recently I have been in certain situations where I have been faced with the question as to what is more important; to practice one’s own beliefs in peace or to raise a voice whenever you see something being done the wrong way. Much to my disliking, I have come to the conclusion that on most occasions it is best to stay silent. The reasons for this are manifold, one of the most important reasons being that people will only listen to you when they have their minds open and most of the time people are not willing to hear a thing that goes against their preconceived notions or their interests(to be more precise).

However, contrary to the belief of most Pakistani Muslims, Islam is not JUST based on an individual’s beliefs and actions, but in fact Islam pays a lot of emphasis on community, relations and their significance. And this is so because Islam is not just a religion but it is a way of life. Furthermore, just like a person is defined by the company he/she keeps, similarly every society has inbuilt norms and the people living within the society are expected to comply with its norms. Here is where the problem sets in, if our society is doing something the wrong way, it doesn’t matter to people because it is something that everyone is doing, the question of right and wrong is put on a back foot. Our society is following traditions and cultures blindly.

Our people have “chosen” to live in ignorance and oblivion; they have taken laughter as not just the best remedy but rather as the only remedy. Everything is treated as a joke and everything is made a joke of. Shows are being produced such as “hum sab umeed se hain” which make fun of the things which our people should actually be crying about but somehow it is funny when our Prime Minister is handing out charity funds to fraudulent parties, when our cricket team is accused of match fixing or when the politicians and leaders are running this country to ruins. It is all so funny! It is funny when the poor are killing their own families because they don’t have money to feed them, it is funny when graves are being dug up and bodies are being sold for black magic and it is funny when our people are dying because they are slaughtering each other!

Our masses watch the news for hours and hours, then they have even longer intellectual discussions and debates on it and yet they fail to look for solutions; they fail to initiate a change. Our problems are many but the causes for such a chaos are few. The reason why we are in such a mess is because we are in denial, the people who can bring a change become too easily disheartened and flee away from taking responsibility, they hear about the bad conditions of the country and carry on with their daily routines and work, all the time hoping and trying to find avenues to escape to foreign countries. While the people in rural areas and down-trodden parts of the country are caught up in such a vicious cycle that many of them are not even aware of the ignorance that is surrounding them. There are such people who don’t know how to recite Quran, they believe in everything being told to them by peers and faqirs and they do grave worshipping believing that it would earn them heaven.

I’m willing to silently go about my business, to just mend my beliefs and work on myself but then if I happen to do something good today it will not be because of my own righteousness but because of Allah’s mercy. Allah has bestowed us with countless blessings, He has made us Muslims; if He has chosen the best for us, why then do we keep running towards the worst? However, having said that there is no doubt that my first most priority should be to keep myself away from all that is wrong and then try to speak up against it and if conditions allow then even put an end to the wrong being done. For verily it is a hadith that;

"When you see an evil act you have to stop it with your hand. If you can't, then at least speak out against it with your tongue. If you can't, then at least you have to hate it with all your heart. And this is the weakest of faith."- Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Number 79

One thing that is crucial to note in all of this, however, is that guidance comes only and only from Allah and our job is only to watch over ourselves and warn others against wrong.

“And [had you been present], you would see the sun when it rose, inclining away from their cave on the right, and when it set, passing away from them on the left, while they were [laying] within an open space thereof. That was from the signs of Allah. He whom Allah guides is the [rightly] guided, but he whom He leaves astray - never will you find for him a protecting guide.”- Surah Kahf, ayat 17

Since Allah has power over everything hence we should continuously turn to Him and pray to Him for the well-being of our country and the well-being of Muslims. We should also ALWAYS pray to Allah to bestow His mercy and blessings upon us and to give us guidance because we are in dire need of it!! May Allah guide us all! Ameen!

What a wonderful world by Dawud Wharnsby and Zain Bhika

BACKBITING

Backbiting is one of the major sins that almost all of our society, including myself, freely indulges in without realizing how grave a sin it is. Even though it is common sense for people to know that backbiting is wrong, not just from an Islamic perspective but even from a mere ethical perspective. And a funny thing you'll find is that the more a person loves backbiting, the more they get hurt when they find out if someone has said something about them behind their backs which they find displeasing. Despite the fact that this is highly ironic, a reason behind it might be that the more a person indulges in sins, the more they start caring about what other people will say about them rather than what Allah thinks of them.

So what is backbiting exactly? It is to mention something about your brother that he would dislike having mentioned about him. [Sahih Muslim (2589)] Al-Hasan al-Basrî said: “Backbiting has three manifestations, all of which are discussed in Allah’s Book. They are: backbiting, tale-telling, and slander. As for backbiting, it is to say about your brother something that is true about him. Tale-telling is to say something that you have heard about him. Slander is to say about him what is not true.”

But let’s come to the gist of the matter; if it is actually so clear that backbiting is something wrong, that it causes rifts between relationships, that it hurts people and that it is also a MAJOR sin (Gunah-he-kabirah), then why do people still do not abstain from it? So what are the reasons which lead us to backbite and how can we stop ourselves:

• A person will intentionally backbite if he/she has a weak faith because if a person is conscious of the fact that Allah is Ever-Present, All-Aware and All-Knowing then they will never do something that they know is displeasing to Allah. Furthermore, having faith also means valuing the creations of Allah and not judging other people because only Allah knows what's in the hearts of men, and if we truly believe in that then we will not even think of backbiting. 

• Also, when people talk a lot then they ultimately end up running short of good topics and hence turn to talking about other people and even if they initially start by talking about something good about someone they still usually end up by talking about bad qualities of people. Hence we need to find better activities then just talking, secondly we need to talk less and lastly even if and when we do talk, make it a habit that you don't talk about other people.

• Also realize that backbiting is never a solution to any problem, in fact it is a HUGE cause of problems, if you find something annoying about someone then either go up to them and let them know about it or ignore and move on because it can be very well so that if you find something annoying about someone then that same person also finds something annoying about you!

• Realize that nobody is perfect, in fact Perfection is a trait of Allah and so you have no reason to criticize other people, because if they have their faults then that's only human and you never know whether the sins that you criticize them for are the sins that they've already repented for. According to Al-Hasan, and as reported in At-Tirmidhee and other collections in marfoo' form (i.e. that the Prophet said): "Whosoever condemns his brother for a sin (he committed) that he repented from, will not die until he has committed it (i.e. the same sin) himself."

• Also if you want that Allah is not harsh in judging you then you should never be harsh in judging other people as well. Imam al-Ghazali stated, "The hypocrite looks for faults, the believer looks for excuses." 

I hope these are enough solutions to make all of us stay away from this nasty sin. Please realize that backbiting is NOT a minor sin but it is a MAJOR sin and that we should always make a conscious effort to stay away from it and we should also seek refuge in Allah from it. May Allah guide us all and give us the will and determination to stay from vain desires and sins. Aameen! 

Great Islamic Quotes

reference: http://islamic-quotes.tumblr.com/

Reason?

Since lately, I can’t seem to get my head around a topic that I want to write about and I think one of the reasons for that is that I feel like I’m just trying to find the answers to so many things myself that I feel like I have nothing to give away. And yet I continue to write, probably just to ease the turmoil that is silently growing in my head.

One of the things that has been bothering me is when I see people moving about in their lives just satisfied with the way things are, with the way they are, satisfied with what has already been decided for them and with not questioning as to what is the reality of their purpose. They are just so content with the way things are in their lives and the sad part is that they don’t realize that their contentment is only confined to the bubble that they live in, beyond and out of it, they have no idea as to what contentment really is and how to achieve it.

Maybe it is as much our fault as it is theirs’, the picture of Islam that people get is that of restrictions, compulsion and extremism. When frankly speaking, I don’t even believe there is anything known as “extremism” in Islam, you’re either a Muslim or a non-Muslim, because “a Muslim does not have a sliding scale”. This is a quote which was used in a movie called “traitor” and it is a line which couldn’t have made more sense. Any discrepancies that are so often associated with Islam are either bidat, or they are a making of hypocrites or of some anti-Islamic individuals, but to associate discrepancies with Islam is like calling milk black. (This is not a simile, but I thought it made sense.) Islam is refined, it is pure and it is the word of God for crying out loud!

And yet we, humans so boldly challenge it. We call the religion backwards, we call it strict and we forget that Allah Ta’ala Himself says in the following ayat, that He only wants to make things easy for us;

"Allah desires ease for you; He does not desire difficulty for you" (Surat al-Baqara, part of ayat 185).

We challenge Allah’s commandments with the voice of our intellect. Yet we forget Him, Who gave us intellect in the first place! Allah gave us intellect, He gave us reason, He gave us wisdom but not so that we could question Him and stay in ignorance but so that we could use it to understand Islam. The people with the greatest of intellects were the people with the greatest of faiths, take the example of Hazrat Ali (R.A.), Imam Shafi’i, Ibn Taymiyah, so on and so forth.

To sum things up, I guess what we all need to do is to understand Islam before we accept irrational and “extremist” judgments made about it. Islam is not just about restrictions; it is far from that, in fact ONLY 3% of the ENTIRE Quran consists of commandments regarding the halal and haraam. Do not be content with not knowing, and do not be content till you have made an effort to find out what the truth is. Our intellect was not given to us in vain, be grateful for it and use it to understand Islam and its teachings for there is no doubt in the fact that Islam and reason are certainly allies.

“And We have certainly made the Qur'an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?”

(Surah Qamar, ayat 17)

What Allah wants for you?

Modesty and hijab.

In this time and age, when apple and blackberry are not just names of fruits, where science has stepped up its game to a whole new level and where everything is becoming known globally; here this awesome globalization has brought, with it, its own set of problems. My point being that this world is becoming a place where secularism is taking over and religion is being sidelined with a common culture and set of trends that is shared and welcomed by all. Where is modesty in all of this? For most, modesty has taken its way out the window.

We need to understand that where we need to be tolerable and understanding towards others, we also need to be affirm and steadfast on our core beliefs and one of our core beliefs is our modesty, our “haya”. Sadly, not only is haya not practiced by many but it is also misunderstood by most. Having haya includes doing proper “parda” and being modest at the same time. But let’s further simplify it; it means to be completely disgusted at and by obscenity and shamelessness. But our standards of what we call shamelessness have gone down to such a terrible level that we need to understand that term all over again. Shamelessness includes just about everything that we are being bombarded with in the form of movies, songs, sitcoms etc., and this constant exposure has made us immune to it.

We, “the so called Muslims”, cannot imagine a wedding without dholkis, mehndis, mahyons, dance parties and all kinds of ridiculous events, if someone practices Islam properly we start getting scared and worried about them and if someone does proper parda then we feel uncomfortable around them because we don’t know what we should talk to them about. But is that really what Islam teaches us? Absolutely not; in fact Islam teaches us to practice simplicity and to stay away from extravagance and all kinds of shameless activities, Islam tells us that the fundamental reason for our existence is none other than worshipping Allah and it teaches us to do proper parda.

Coming on to and focusing on the concept of parda; some people think that hijab is only a cultural thing, others believe that it was a commandment that was only for that time and many others believe that it is more important to just be a nice person and dress decently and that that is enough. Let me now refute all these arguments. Firstly yes, it is important to dress up decently, BUT who will define the standards of this “decency”, certainly not you or me. Then who else can define the standards of decency other than the One who created us in the first place? The fact that we call ourselves Muslims means that we believe in Allah, but how can we say that we believe in Him when we don’t even accept the boundaries He has laid down for us. Secondly if hijab was just a cultural thing then it would have been limited to a locality, which it is not, and there would have had been no mention of it in the Quran, which is not true either. So hijab is not at all a cultural thing but rather a direct commandment of Allah.

And lastly, Islam is a universal religion, it was not just for the Quraish but instead for the entire humanity then how can its commandments be limited to only that time and place? Moreover, if it was only for the women of that time then there would have been a mention of that in the ayat but instead Allah gives this commandment while referring to the BELIEVING women and a believing woman is anyone who has recited the kalima and believes in God.

The commandment is clear, so any controversies that exist regarding hijab within our communities and social circles are only a result of ignorance or lack of believe in Allah. Islam is a package deal, it is a manual for life, it is a beautiful thing if we follow it the way; we can’t just pick what we like from it and leave the rest. There is wisdom behind all the commandments whether our limited intellect perceives it or not. Furthermore, believing in Allah means believing in the choices He has made for us. He has made us dignified creatures who cover themselves and restrain their desires in contrast to animals, He has chosen modesty for us and there is absolutely no doubt in the fact that His choice is the best. So do we think so highly of ourselves that we are ready to stand up and challenge GOD?

O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful. (Surah al Ahzab, ayat 59)

Also look at Surah Nur’s ayat 31, it talks about parda and modesty in more detail.

"When life knocks you down to your knees, you're in the perfect position to pray."

At first, owing to the condition of Karachi and also of Pakistan, I thought I would write an article titled “We have done this to ourselves”, and in it I would highlight where we have gone wrong and how we can make an attempt to fix our crime. But the thing is that what is happening in Karachi is greater for myself or for any particular individual to comprehend to the fullest. But never the less I do know a few reasons why this is happening to us, one of them being ignorance and know that ignorance is never a bliss, never was and never will be.

One relative recently said that “hum pehle behis thay aur ab baybas hogaye hain”, and that made a lot of sense but I think that even though this is true in itself, what is also true that the reason we are “bebas” now IS because we were “behis pehle”. When we had the time to make the right decisions, we made the wrong ones. The politicians, the political parties and the people who rule us are not foreigners, they ARE Pakistanis; they ARE from amongst US, no matter what we may choose to call them, we still can’t deny this fact. And it is one sign of the Day of Judgment that the people who rule over a people will be of their caliber.

So if we are ruled by these people, who couldn’t care less about the blood being spilled in the streets and cities of Pakistan; then what is our state, what is our status and how are our morals? Our morals are defined by the morals that our rulers have.

Recently, after the media showed the images of the firing on the police officers, the blast in Peshawar and reports about the missing people in Pakistan, then Rehman Malik made a statement that the media is wrongly guiding the Pakistani public. Yes, these people expect us to be blind, to not see what is happening in our own country, in our own streets, in our own neighborhoods and what is happening to our own people!!!

But are they wrong in expecting that from us? Haven’t we done that for long enough to be expected to do just the same yet again? We have all been living our lives in our self constructed bubbles; not having an idea about, or rather “deliberately” not having an idea about, the condition of our people and I’m not just talking about Pakistanis here but I’m also talking about Muslims around the world. Palestine would have been an appropriate example but even that is a far-fetched one in our case, do we even care about the Muslims being killed in Kashmir? Apparently our government does care but only as long as it is promised to get Kashmir. But here’s the catch, the majority of the Kashmiris don’t even want to be joined with us, they instead want independence. But have we ever rose our voice to defend the rights of these Kashmiris; our neighbors, our brothers? Have we ever asked for their independence?

Maybe what you’re thinking right now is that our own condition isn’t of the like that we have any time to worry about others and that’s true but this wasn’t always the case. Furthermore, corruption, vice, fraud and all things wrong ARE common in our public. My aunt (khala) recently said that if I was a non-Muslim and if I didn’t know what Islam was actually about, I would have hated it, owing it to the image that Muslims have created of it. All kinds of corruption are common in our land, the land that was named “the ISLAMIC republic of PAKISTAN.” Pakistan meaning “the land of the pure”; there probably couldn’t have had been anything more ironic, both in the literal and figurative sense.

But despite ALL of this, I would still want to believe that there is hope, not because I am an optimist or because I have faith in our rulers but only because I have faith in God. I know that we deserve what we are going through right now, maybe not all of us, but at least most of us, however even THEN the Mercy of Allah is never limited. We need to change ourselves first, on an individual level then change the people around us (i.e. the people close to us) and we should, all the while, pray to Allah for forgiveness and for Him to make this land ACTUALLY the land of the pure and to bestow us with peace and harmony. This is the month of Ramadan, make as much duaa (supplication) as you possibly can, especially in the odd nights that have started from tonight, for Pakistan and its well-being and for our well-being, our protection and for the protection of our faith.

WE have put ourselves in this position but even now we can be saved because even though we are down on our knees, we are still in the perfect position to pray and to ask for forgiveness. Each and every single one of us needs to ask for forgiveness for any and all the limits that we have transgressed. May Allah see some good in us, when we can no longer see any..

JazakAllah.

Video Broadcast

Assalam-o-Alaikum,

This is a link of a video of Shaykh AbdulNasir Jangda and he breaks down the words we recite in namaz in order for us to In shaa Allah better understand what we are reciting in namaz. He gives very practical advice and it is a very nice lecture, so please do check it out:

Video Broadcast

Where tarawih was supposed to be this spiritual cleanser, it has been reduced to nothing but a ritual.

“Why is the girl next to me moving so much?”, “Ah! The wind finally blew!”, “Ouch! Was that even a mosquito?!”; these are few of the many thoughts that cross my mind while I stand trying to concentrate on the words being recited in the tarawih. It is (I am assuming) already clear that this effort of mine is a complete and utter lack of failure on my part, since all I can make of the words being recited is somewhat the like of the topic that I have chosen. I understand one word and then I am lost, then another word passes me by that I know of and then I am blank again and soon tarawih becomes this interesting jigsaw puzzle that I am vigorously trying to solve but I never end up solving it because I don’t have all the missing pieces!

Where tarawih was supposed to be this spiritual cleanser, it has been reduced to nothing but a ritual. We blank out the minute imam finishes reciting fatiha and then words make sense to us when he says Allah-o-Akbar till he finishes saying fatiha again. But why is our condition so?

Our condition is so; firstly because we don’t know Quranic Arabic. And if you’re thinking “Wait! We do have the translations”, then please think again because no amount of translations can make us understand the Quran the way we can if we were to know Arabic. Secondly try reading Iqbal’s or Faiz’s poetry in English; you really think it will have the same effect and the same richness that it has in urdu? No; translations take away all the flavor from the text because in the original text the words that our chosen have an impact and the way they are placed in a sentence has an impact but in a translation all that is left is the gist of the matter.

Now I’ll be going off the topic for a while but In shaa Allah only to highlight the importance of what’s being discussed here. How many of us have a particular taste in music? We all do, right? Some people like jazz, some like rock, some like hip-hop etc. etc., but how did we end up developing these tastes? (Don’t get me wrong here; this example is being used only to clarify the point, NOT to publicize music because we are not supposed to listen to music.) Did we just wake up one day with a thought that I am supposed to like rock so I will like rock music? No, but the fact of the matter is that we grew up listening to music; we listened to numerous artists and bands before we developed this taste. It took a whole lot of fine-tuning and exposure to get us to the taste that we have developed now. But think about it this way, how much exposure have we had to the Quran, its meaning and its significance? If something like music can require so much effort then imagine how much effort were we supposed to put in to understand the Quran.

Furthermore what is it that you like about a song? Probably the musical instruments being used in it and the voice of the singer but what else makes you enjoy listening to it? Don’t the lyrics of the song have an impact, doesn’t it matter how “relatable” the song is for you and the flow in which the lyrics are being said? It does have a huge impact, imagine if someone was just to say “I love the way you lie”, you’d probably think that that person needed some mental help, at the very least, but Eminem and Rihanna came up with a song about it and it was a super hit! Why was it so? It was so because of the way the words were placed, with the way they created a flow in it and other things like that. (Not an expert of music here.) But do you think we ever see or feel the flow of the words of the Quran? No because we have limited ourselves to translations and if you are one who feels the flow in a translation then congratulations because apparently you are one of a kind.

But coming back to the point, aren’t we literally like THE people of “FEEL”? (If there is such a thing that is) We choose the careers we “feel” we are good at and will enjoy, we do what we “feel” like doing, we say what we “feel” like saying, we eat what we “feel” like eating, so on and so forth but then why have we separated the feel factor from Quran? When a huge part of the Quran IS the way it impacts our hearts. If Quran was “just” a message of doing good and staying away from bad and having faith then do you honestly think that it would have made people like Hazrat Umar (R.A.) accept Islam after hearing just a few aayaat? Do you know that there were amongst the kufaar people whose eyes swelled up with tears from the beauty of Quran when they used to hear it being recited?  

These are things we need to think about and hence In shaa Allah bring about the necessary changes in our lives and actions but I started by talking about tarawih so I’ll end by talking about tarawih. There are two practical steps with which we can make our tarawih more than just a ritual; the first step is an immediate step and the second one is somewhat of a long term one. The first step is that before going to tarawih we can read the translation of the chapter/s of Quran that will be recited in the tarawih that day. (This step is more of what we call “jugarh lagana” in urdu but it will help nonetheless In shaa Allah.) However the second step is to get started in learning Arabic so that you can enjoy the Quran, understand what it means and FEEL what it says.

May Allah help all of us in implementing what we learn and may we all find avenues through which we can learn Arabic and In shaa Allah better understand the Quran. In fact if anyone would want to learn Arabic online then here is a link for it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h-Tss7e1iM&feature=related

This link is basically just part one of all the classes that have been put up on youtube, the instructor is awesome and the classes are for free. However he tackles everything extensively which is amazing cause it is most effective that way but that also means that the course will be long. However this is just one option, there are many other ways to learn Arabic, find the one that suits you the best. 

For Ramadan Prep

Assalam-o-Alaikum,

Ramadan is just around the corner,

So if anyone is interested in learning how to prepare for ramadan then you could either go to this link and listen to the lectures given by some of the most amazing scholars, including Wisam Sharieff, Nouman Ali Khan and AbdulNasir Jangda, from here:

http://ramadanprep.ummahnow.org/recordings/

Or you could go to this link, this is a lecture given by Shaykh Kamaludin:

http://www.islamicspirituality.org/lectures/ramadan

There are many other lectures available online regarding how to prepare ourselves for Ramadan, but the general theme of all these lectures is that don't start eating too much in Ramadan because eating too much actually makes us lazy and makes it difficult for us to worship properly. Furthermore, we should increase all our good deeds and actions in Ramadan. Also pray that the effects of Ramadan last all year round and not just through out Ramadan.

However, do listen to at least a few good lectures and if possible then make a Ramadan resolution and actually strive to make some changes in your lives in accordance with Islam. Pray that Allah makes this Ramadan and all the other Ramadans that follow it, a source of Allah's mercy on us and a source of our maghfira In shaa Allah.

JazakAllah.

Why is it so hard to act upon what we know?

This is one of the biggest problems that I have had myself. Somehow it is easier to listen to dars and Islamic lectures, read up on Islamic articles and even pass them on to others but it seems so much harder to implement those same things into our own lives.

I guess one of the reasons for this is that our intention before listening to a good lecture or talk isn’t to immediately adopt all the good things, that we learn, into our lives but rather our intention is just to listen to something good. This might also be a result of the way we are taught in schools, many a times we are expected to learn so many facts and figures that we cannot apply practically but that we only have to store in our heads e.g. dates of events in history, to quote just one example. We are so used to the idea of hoarding up knowledge, consciously or subconsciously, that we forget that knowledge is actually just a “tool” for “application”.

If we don’t apply what we learn practically then it is as good as not having that knowledge in the first place. There is a narration that a young boy used to go to Hazrat Aisha (R.A.) to learn hadith from her, so she taught him a few the first day. And then the next day he came back to her to learn more, she asked him that have you implemented all the ahadith I told you yesterday and he said no. To that she replied that then why are you increasing God’s arguments against you. Meaning that Allah has given us knowledge for us to benefit from it and the more knowledge we have, the more it should show in our actions and deeds but if we have knowledge and we don’t act upon it then Allah is going to ask us with regards to it.

So the first thing we need to do is that we should make the niyyat of changing our lifestyles and actions in accordance to whatever good we read or hear and we should pray that Allah makes us do “amal” on the knowledge that we already possess. What else is there which stops us from benefitting from all the good that we hear and read? One other reason can be that the hereafter seems very, very far away to most of us, however, for the sahaba the hereafter was right in front of them. And so we procrastinate in doing good deeds because for us there is always so much time, which is obviously never true because time is passing away by the second and it just passed away even while I wrote that.

One more thing is that people have reduced Islam to just a set of rules and instructions, all they want to know is whether this is haraam or that is halal, they don’t care about nafli ibadah or extra rewards, they just want to do the bare minimum. However, sometimes very little actions earn us great rewards for example; in jama’at one should say aameen after the imam has recited fatiha and if the person’s aameen coincides with the aameen of the angels then all his past sins are forgiven. (I believe this is mostly for men but it can probably apply for women too, e.g. during tarawih and eid namaz etc.)

We also need to realize that we NEED extra rewards, we need all that we can get. If you’re a student then you’ll see to what extent some people go just in order to obtain a few extra marks but when it comes to Islam, they only want to do the faraiz. Imagine the sahaba who were actually guaranteed jannah STILL didn’t leave out on any good deeds they could get a hand on. And our own Prophet (S.A.W.) used to pray so much that his legs would swell and when he would be asked as to why he is doing so much when Allah has already forgiven all his sins, he would say “Should I not be a grateful servant then?”

One other reason people don’t act upon knowledge is that some people have TOO MUCH rajah or hope in Allah, in fact there are some people who don’t even do the faraiz but they say that since they have such a “good” heart hence on that basis they’ll enter jannah! They are not even doing the bare minimum and yet they have the guts to say something like that! And although there is absolutely no doubt that Allah is Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem but remember that Allah is “oft-forgiving” and “very Merciful”, not “all-forgiving” neither “entirely Merciful”. Meaning that one cannot disobey the very commandments of Allah and then be so blindly arrogant that they can even claim that they’ll enter jannah when Allah Himself has said that, “Enter Islam completely.” Meaning you can’t just do a few good things and leave out the rest especially the faraiz and think that you’ve gotten the ticket to heaven. Allah has made it very easy for us to enter jannah, no doubt about that, but it requires complete obedience and submission from our side.

May Allah accept every effort from our part even if our niyyat wasn't "entirely" to please Him and may Allah correct our niyyat and help us act on whatever good we learn. Aameen. 

At-Tahiyyat - the origin.

What is the dividing line between muslims and non-muslims? Salah. But is that all there is to it? No; it has been said by the Prophet (S.A.W.) that Salah is the Mairaj of a Momin. However, for how many of us is that even true? We pray salah like we breathe; without thinking and without concentration. But WHY is it that we are so heedless with regards to our salah? The answer may vary from person to person but generally it’s either because we lack that level of imaan needed for us to attain khushoo or that we lack the understanding of what salah actually is.

For right now, let’s just focus on the second part that is the understanding of what salah actually is; its importance and uniqueness. We pray salah as an act of obedience to Allah and to remember Him, that is the purpose of salah. But sometimes, to have a deeper understanding of its purpose, we need to have a deeper understanding of its origin; it was “gifted” to the Prophet (S.A.W.) during his mairaj. It is a gift, it is a blessing and not just that but there is a part of salah which is the actual part of the conversation that took place between Allah and the Prophet (S.A.W.).

So what is this special part of the salah which gives a whole new meaning to the statement that “Salah is the Mairaj of a Momin”? It is the at-tahiyyaat that we recite in namaz. During the mairaj, Hazrat Jibrael (A.S) was assisting Prophet (S.A.W.) with his journey but when they reached the seventh sky, Hazrat Jibrael (A.S) refused to accompany him beyond that point as he said that he’ll get burnt if he went any further so then Prophet (S.A.W.) went on his own. And when the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) reached the place that we don’t know of and met Allah Subhan-o-Ta’ala he sent his greetings upon Allah which forms our first part of the attahiyaat: Attahiyat-tu lilLah, wassalawato, wathtayyabatu which means “Greetings to thee, O Allah, and prayers and all good things.”

Then Allah answered his greetings by saying: Assalam-u Alayka ayyuhan nabiyu wa rahma-tul-lahy wa barakatu-hu which means “Peace be upon you, O Prophet, the mercy and the blessing of God be upon you.” And this forms the second part of our attahiyaat. Here notice that Allah sends peace, mercy and blessings only upon Prophet (S.A.W.) and Prophet (S.A.W.) could have just graciously accepted it but he had so much love for his ummah that he did not want to exclude us from the mercy of Allah so he included: Assalam-u alayna wa ‘ala ‘ibadillah-his swaliheen which means “Peace be upon us, and upon the righteous people of God.” 

And when Hazrat Jibrael heard this conversation between Allah and His messenger from wherever he was, he bore witness to it by saying: Ashhadu Allah ilaha illalLah wa ashhadu- unna Muhammad-an ‘abdu-hu wa rasool-lu hu which means: “We witness that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His slave and His Prophet.”

SubhanAllah! This one small part of the salah captures such an immense incident in itself with all its beauty. So I think if we even started concentrating on just our attahiyaat while praying then In shaa Allah our salah will be a whole lot better. Of course, we should always make an effort to be attentive throughout the salah and this can act as a stepping stone for us in attaining concentration and khushoo in namaz.

Alhamdulilah I'm a Muslim

Its simple...

Believe in the Oneness of Allah, in His messengers, His books, angels, the day of judgment and life after death, do good deeds and abstain from evil, that is pretty much ALL that Islam wants us to do, speaking in extremely general terms, obviously.

Seems simple enough, right? Our entire “deen” summarized in just two lines; so then why is it so hard for us to cope up?

Now here is where our twisted sense of morality jumps in, we get bored easily, we get distracted easily and then there’s the shaitaan who surprisingly, or rather annoyingly, never gets tired of doing his job. And yet we tire ourselves all the time by doing what? Good deeds? No. We tire ourselves in claiming to believe in One God, Allah, and then “brilliantly” deceiving our very own selves and following the footsteps of shaitaan. Look around, is shamelessness common? Yes. Is corruption everywhere? Yes. Is killing common? Is robbery common? Is injustice common? Do people give respect to people with wealth even if they have earned it the haraam way? Are haraam ways of earning common? Are opportunities (doorways) leading to sin common? Are pre-marital and extra-marital relationships common? The answer to ALL these questions is yes!

Why? Because we have been following shaitaan and we have been aiding shaitaan. We have been befriending our own enemy; an enemy who has challenged God that he will make most of us ungrateful and he won’t rest till he does his best to land us into hell! Well I guess it’s time to congratulate him because we have made his job a whole lot easier. It’s like self-control and self-righteousness are unheard of terms. And somehow our generation is ahead of the game, you’ll find kids who probably don’t even understand the meaning of love completely claiming their love for the opposite gender. The cartoons these days show things which weren’t shown in adult dramas in the earlier days. The entire system is as if aiding this sense of zero accountability, drive for desires, lust and greed etc. Religion and goodness are literally pushed out of the entire picture, people actually feel uncomfortable if you talk to them about religion too much because they are not accustomed to hearing such things.

Despite the fact that we are drowning in a pool of sins and we are so lost in it and are so deep down in it that we have learned to breathe in it and live in it. We have forgotten the joy of breathing into CLEAN air, we have forgotten what it actually means to love and what true love is, we have forgotten that we will ALL have to stand in front of Allah one day and that that day our OWN body will bear witness against us. If we have walked to a place of sin then our legs will testify against us, if we have done sins with our hands then our hands will testify against us, if we have done sins with our eyes then our eyes will be testifying against us and we will be crying out to our OWN body to keep quiet but that day it won’t.

So miserable will be our fate if we don’t make an effort to change ourselves, there’s always time, think of everyday as one more chance, every second as a blessing, don’t just waste it away. Because we only get to have one life, to do good or to do bad; there is no middle line despite what many people might say. Yes, Islam does teach us to strike a balance but by that it doesn’t mean that ok do a few sins but also do a few good deeds so you’ll have a perfect balance. In fact it rather means to keep a balance between deen and dunya, like giving enough time to family, relatives and friends alongside taking out time for ibadah.

So repent as often as you can and truly and honestly ask Allah for guidance, He is after all Ar-Rahman, Ar-Raheem, Ar-Raqeeb, Al-Kareem, He is our Rabb, He is the One Who loves us SEVENTY times more than our mother loves us, He is the One Who is closer to us than our jugular vein, He is the One Who is our Creator and He is the One to Whom we all have to return one day In shaa Allah. Never despair of Allah’s mercy, in fact when shaitaan swore to Allah that he will keep on luring us to bad deeds till our souls remained in our bodies, Allah swore on His Own “izzat-o-jalal” that He will keep forgiving us till we keep on reciting istighfar to Him. SubhanAllah.

And so Allah awaits our turning back to Him despite the fact that He does not need us nor our worship, in fact it is us who need Him. So how long will we take to turn back to our only God?

Remember Me, I will remember you

Written by Waleed Wasti

Edited by Dania.

[فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ ]

So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me.

(Surah Al-Baqarah, ayat 152)

The ayah itself should be enough for instilling the much needed faith back in us; yet we are so blind sighted that we overlook its significance and beauty while we are engrossed in this world of ‘ours’. It does not befit our heedless behavior, our stubborn attitude, and our immoral character that God Almighty should remember us, but that is what He has promised to do in return, IF ONLY we remember Him. How glorious an opportunity this is which we continue to overlook, to be remembered by the Creator of all, the Master of all, the Eternal, and the Ever-present Himself!  

And lo, He then says that if we go one step ahead and love Allah (S.W.T), then not only would Allah love us but He would also order Hazrat Jibrail (A.S) and all the angels of the heavens to love us as well. Yet the love of this world continues to hold a bigger place in our hearts rather than the “ishq-e-haqiqi”, i.e. the love for Allah (S.W.T). We live our lives in heedlessness and just turn a blind eye towards everything that invites us to a religious ‘good’.

We give up prayers, humility, modesty, and any other quality, all in the vain desire to get the recognition and the love of the people. It’s ultimately them who we aim to please, no matter what sphere of life we are in. Our advancement in career depends on how big a social network we have, our respect in the society depends on the social class that we belong to, and obviously keeping a beard, for men, and wearing a hijab, for women, would be a hindrance in our way up the corporate ladder! And the funny thing is that people never realize that no matter what they do, they will never be able to completely please other people and yet we so easily waste away our lives in doing just that. This real-life example is also mentioned in the Holy Quran, by Allah, Himself:

Competition in [worldly] increase diverts you Until you visit the graveyards.

(Surah At-Takasur, ayats 1 and 2)

The very notion of remembering the Almighty Lord is sufficient enough in keeping us on the right track. If we remember Him often then we are more likely to stay away from evil and chances are that we would add more good deeds to our accounts rather than bad deeds. This remembrance would redefine our lives and open up avenues that we never would have imagined otherwise. 

The Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said, “Allah the Most High said, ‘I am as My servant thinks (expects) I am. I am with him when he mentions Me. If he mentions Me to himself, I mention him to Myself; and if he mentions Me in an assembly, I mention him in an assembly greater than it. If he draws near to Me a hand’s length, I draw near to him an arm’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.’”

[Sahih Al-Bukhari]

SubhanAllah!

A person only remembers someone often whom he or she loves. Often if the love is too great, it will even start defining a person’s life e.g. mothers often end up telling their friends or relatives about the stories of their kids, they often plan out their entire routines in accordance to the need of their kids and so on and so forth. This should be the case in our remembrance of Allah (S.W.T), we should remember Him throughout our lives.

All we need to do is get out of our comfort zones and develop a longing for Allah (S.W.T). We should realize the fact that ‘everything’ in this world that we have gotten has been due to the favors and blessings of Allah (S.W.T). Had God Almighty not been this generous then we could have been born in a poorer family, we could have been deprived of education, we could have not had the luxuries that we enjoy in our lives, and yes we could have been born in a Christian/Jewish/Hindu/Atheist family! We should take absolutely nothing for granted. 

فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?

(Surah Rahman)

When wolves become shepherds.

This is an amazing lecture MashaAllah by Mohammad Al-Shareef, it is of seven parts. This is the first part, please do listen to the rest of the parts as well, they are all available on youtube.

Scheduling the sunnah way

What are your assets? Your money, your education, your intellect, your health,....., your time? Time is one of the most precious assets we have, yet it is often misused, mismanaged and not given its due importance. People claim to be very busy, when all they are doing with their time is finding newer and better ways of earning more and more; their primary and ultimate goal is earning as much as possible. However, we as Muslims and even as people with common sense should know that life and its purpose is much greater than just that. So lets learn the value of time and how to put it to its best use.

One misconception amongst people is that they believe they’ll have freer time later on in life, a student will think “yaar vacations mein ye karun gi”, a person getting married will think “shaadi ke baad he ab karun gi” etc etc. But people fail to realize that with the passing away of time, time only gets less and less and less. SO VALUE FREE TIME, BEFORE YOU BECOME BUSY. You know how they say that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop; similarly think about what an idle day or rather idle days are for a devil, it’s literally like a devil’s field trip or something.

So how was the schedule of the Prophet (s.a.w.)? One of the characteristics of his schedule was that it revolved around salah and salah timings.

So the schedule starts from fajr;

      ·        A sahih hadith tells us that the reward of praying fajr, then sitting their doing dhikr and then subsequently praying the ishraq prayer receives the reward of a maqbool hajj and umrah. The masnoon way of praying ishraq is to pray 4 nafl.

(one thing to note however is that one cannot pray during the time of fajr to ishraq, and we can only do dhikr or tilawah etc.)

     ·        Then after praying ishraq, we can get started with our daily activities like going to college for students etc. Sleep isn’t an option after fajr, because sleeping after that time removes barakah from our activities. One may argue that they have enough barakah in their lives, but the point to realize here is that Allah being Ar-Rahman has put barakah in our lives despite our not following the sunnah way so imagine how much more barakah He’ll put if we follow the sunnah way. Also not sleeping during this time, increases our productivity and if we learn anything in this time, we are able to better retain it, this is even proven scientifically and medically.

     ·        The working time according to the sunnah lasts from the ishraq time to zawwal time. Just like the duration of fajr and ishraq, one cannot pray at the zawwal time either. There are a number of things, however, that one can do in this time e.g. we can take a 20-30 mins nap, start preparing for zuhr salah or eat.
     

     ·        Zawwal time ends with the azaan of zuhr prayer, so after praying the zuhr prayer again the question arises of what to do next? The time after zuhr prayer is also called a productive time, however if one wants then they can have a mid-day nap also known as qaylula in this time, it is permissible.

     ·        Then comes the asr prayer. Now the time after this can be thought of as a break. So there are again like a few options regarding what you can do in this time, some of them can be:

1.      Eat; this was one of the two meal times of the Prophet (s.a.w.),

2.      Meet with family, relatives, relax or exercise etc.,

3.      Do dhikr, now this is obviously the choice of people who even in their break remember and want to remember Allah.

     ·        And then right before maghrib, is a time for the qubooliat of duas.

     ·        Then is the time of maghrib to isha; we shouldn’t sleep in this time because its not recommended to sleep before isha. So in this time we can either do ibadat, we can spend time with our family or we can have dinner at this time as well. The awaabaein prayer can also be prayed at this time, its time is from after maghrib to isha, and the masnoon amount of nawafil in this namaz are 12 nawafil.

     ·        Then comes the question of when should isha be prayed? According to Islam the night starts after maghrib and goes on till fajr. And it is considered better to wait for the first one-third of night to pass away and to then pray isha; meaning that if maghrib is at 7.30 these days and fajr is at 4.15-ish am then it is “afzal” to pray isha at 10.30. However if a person feels that they’ll have better concentration if they pray earlier on or later on then that is allowed too.

     ·        Then what to do after isha? Ideally we should just go to sleep after isha. And it’s a sunnat to not to eat after isha.

     ·        Then after one goes to sleep, they should try to wake up for tahhajud. When we do wake up for tahhajud, we should try to make a lot of istighfar and send lots of durood to the Prophet(s.a.w.).

It is convenient to note here though that if a person is sleeping late as it is, e.g. most students stay up all night or till very late when they have to study for something, then they should pray tahhajud before sleeping, that is allowed too.

And last but not the least, the most afzal time for praying and making dua is in the last portion of the night, that is the time just before fajr.

Teaser for "scheduling the sunnah way".

So firstly, we need to realize why is it important for us to schedule through the sunnah method anyway. It is because our life is continuously slipping away; someone described this with the likeness of the melting away of ice. And we can better understand this phenomenon by looking at a person whose occupation is to sell ice hence his primary objective will obviously be to sell ice before it melts away. Similarly, our objective in this life should be to make good use of our lives before we cease to exist and one practical way of making the most of our time is to schedule through the sunnah way.

Many people like to use the phrase; “we’re just killing time”, when they pass their time watching movies or doing other entertaining yet useless activities. However, what they, or rather we all, fail to realize is that we are not killing time IN FACT time is killing us. However, morbid this may sound it is none the less true. We need to realize that shaitan is our open enemy and that his ultimate victory is when believers waste their time or rather “just kill” time.

So what is our challenge then, our challenge is to;

·        Use our idle time to do good deeds,

·        And to more efficiently act out on the first point, it is best if we make a schedule that allows us to do so.

You know how they say that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop; similarly think about what an idle day or rather idle days are for a devil, it’s literally like a devil’s field trip or something. Hence realize the importance of making a sunnah oriented or a sunnah centric schedule, the importance of this cannot be overemphasized as our time is our asset. It is that asset which will determine our ultimate outcome so the subject of time should not be taken lightly.

Al-Ghuraba

What is Al Ghuraba? Al ghuraba is an Arabic term which means “the strangers”. There is a hadith of the Prophet (s.a.w.), "Islam came as a strange religion and will leave as a strange religion, so glad tiding to the strangers." 

Now take out a few seconds and think about the condition of the Muslim Ummah in this time and age. How many people do you know who are following Islam the way it is supposed to be followed? As sad as it is, we not only don’t follow Islam the way it’s supposed to be followed but we don’t even follow it to the extent that we can rightfully be called as Muslims. I mean we can argue at length about how our salah lacks the khushoo that the prayers of the sahaba karaam and the pious people had, but then again how many of us even pray five times a day? The comparison is as bizarre as that of an ant and a mountain.

Lets look at it with yet another example. You know, there is one student who is like a full bright scholar, who gets no less than A grades and then on the other hand are students who study the subject just for the sake of it, heartlessly and forcefully, that even getting a passing grade is a big deal for them. And there is a further third category of students; the drop-outs, the students who don’t even bother to make an effort and who simply give up.

And SubhanAllah, most of us fall into the third category. That is our state! At least most of ours and so in this age to find a Muslim (I’m talking about an actual Muslim) is perhaps as rare as finding a black and white tv. And whenever people tend to go against the majority, they are dealt with as weirdos or strangers etc. And that is when we’re supposed to go back to the hadith of the Prophet (s.a.w.), "Islam came as a strange religion and will leave as a strange religion, so glad tiding to the strangers." Read the last part over and over again till it sinks in, “…so glad tiding to the strangers.” SubhanAllah, and this time it is not a sarcastic SubhanAllah either.

That should be motivation enough for us to do our best to be actual Ummatis of the Prophet (s.a.w.), to be true Muslims and to strive to attain the pleasure of Allah. Indeed Allah Himself has said that the greatest thing that a Momin should strive for is His pleasure. And why should we be afraid of other people’s reactions in following Islam to the fullest? When we know that people will always say what they have to and they’ll always have criticisms no matter what you’re doing. Plus at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what people say or what they don’t, we are not doing any of this for them anyway, we are doing it for Allah and for Allah alone.

But sometimes the fact that we practice Islam only for Allah and His pleasure is not enough for us and we are overtaken by worldly distractions, one thing that can help us at such a time is to remember death. This does not have a gloomy and dark meaning in any sense, its just that we should remind ourselves about the temporary nature of this life and about the nearness of death to keep ourselves in check. In fact, there is a saying of Hazrat Ali (R.A.) that a person’s death is so near to him that it can be understood by the like of two people running towards each other.

So please never lose hope in the mercy of Allah, and if you're having trouble in following Islam properly then pray to Allah for help. Recite astaghfar often, pray regularly and pray to Allah to join us amongst the strangers. Make it a habit to do dhikr frequently, pray for Allah’s hidayah and always make a sincere effort to practice and promote the deen. And always, always try to attain Allah’s pleasure, for it is only due to His blessings that we are where we are. Be grateful, be humble and be righteous.

May Allah find you all in good health. Please make dua for all of us.

JazakAllah.

Excerpt from an article: "Reviving Spirituality"

وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُم مِّن الْعِلْمِ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً

"And they ask you about the ruh. Say: The ruh is one of the commands of my Lord, and you are not given aught of knowledge but a little." 

[Al-Israa, 17:85]

The concept of spirituality can only refer to two matters, the reality of the created i.e. Who created all the creation and the relationship between the Creator and the created, or/and it can be the ruh, translated often as 'soul'.  Islam enables us to reach spiritual highs by worshipping God; as we earn the joy of closeness to Him, His friendship and His love, and hence progress through the stages of perfection in our character. Spirituality requires 4 things:

1. Faith that Allah alone is the Master; seeking His pleasure is the aim of all endeavors; and His commands alone are the commands that are to be obeyed. 

2. Obedience which makes the man give up his independence and accept subservience to Allah.

3. Taqwa; the state of readiness to undertake all that Allah has commanded and lastly,

4. Godliness. Man should not only avoid evil, for it displeases his Lord, but should also use all his powers to eradicate it from the face of the earth.

These concepts enable Muslims to put their complete faith in God and to let their actions be governed by a greater truth and objective. Their objective is to please God and to them the world is nothing more than a field full of opportunities to perform acts that please Allah.

Occasionally, people pray their salah without ever thinking about the words they are reciting and with these words having no impact upon them. This prayer cannot then be described as spiritual because it has become robot-like. It is just the same as eating a certain meal, or going on a train, as there is no link to the purpose of life. A Muslim is he who does actions to seek the pleasure of Allah and to draw nearer to Him.

There was once an incident of a pious man who on hearing that there’ll be no farz salah in heaven, cried with real tears and proclaimed that it was enough for him that he was given a musalah so that he could pray on it and that would be his heaven. SubhanAllah. That was the serenity and pleasure the souls of these great men received on worshipping Allah.

We should all strive to attain such spirituality and to work towards strengthening our imaan and becoming people of taqwa, for it is only then that we will rid ourselves of a spiritual void which people feel even after attaining all forms of worldly pleasures.

Love of God the Almighty gives life to the Heart and sustains the soul. If the heart loses this love, then the loss it suffers is more severe than that of the eye when it is deprived of its sight and the ear when it is deprived of its hearing.

A sage from the early days of Islam (Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak) recited:
You disobey God,
and yet you still claim to love Him.
By God, such behavior is disgusting,
by any standard!
You would have obeyed Him had your love been true.
For the lover is always obedient to the Beloved!

The purpose of this life is the worship and friendship of God. This life is a test for us: will we turn to God, or will we forget Him? This is where life’s struggle has to begin.