Islam

During the 23 years of revelation, the Messenger of Allah (صلي الله عليه وسلم) had many supporters and opponents, including his two uncles–Abu Talib (the father of Ali (رضالله عنه)), and Abdul ‘Uzza ibn Abdul-Muttalib, aka Abu Lahab.

Subhanallah, even within two uncles of the Messenger of Allah (صلي الله عليه وسلم), we see great differences. Compare and constrast them:

Abu Talib:

• Extended his protection to his nephew, the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم), even though the Quresh wanted to kill him
• Wrote strong, emotional poetry during the boycott of Mecca in order to move people towards nullifying it
• Commanded his sons to sleep in the Prophet’s (صلي الله عليه وسلم) bed at night, so that if any assassins came, the sons would die instead of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم)
• The Messenger of Allah (صلي الله عليه وسلم) said regarding him: because of me, he will be in the lightest part of the Hellfire.

Abu Lahab:

Many years ago in Uzbekistan, a baby boy was born blind. His Mother, the strong mu’minah that she was, did not lose sight of He who had the Power to cure him. She prayed and prayed for her son’s sight. And within a few years, the boy regained his eyes.

She was widowed, the boy orphaned. She traveled with him to Makkah so that he could receive an Islamic education. She arranged for him to attend the circles of the scholars, and in those circles, he excelled in the science of hadith. He traveled to distant villages in search of the most authentic sayings of Rasulullah (صلي الله عليه وسلم). He would pray two raka’at before accepting a hadith. His mother named him Muhammad ibn Isma’il. And many of us know him today by the book he compiled, the book that stands after the Qur’an in authenticity: Saheeh Al-Imam Al-Bukhari!

From a lecture given at MIST Nationals 2006 by Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi

Friday July 21st, 2006

“I am here in front of you today, and if I were to choose again, I would go back and do the same thing and do religious studies. I can’t even remember what courses I took when I was at UH. My main motivation for choosing to do Islamic studies was that I realized I needed to do something for the ummah. As we speak, we have a crisis going through our ummah. We all know, we don’t need to talk more about it, it is all over the news and everything. I know some of you won’t leave what you are doing, and I don’t expect you to, and I don’t want you to. This ummah needs the doctors, engineers, and lawyers. Not everyone in this ummah needs to be an ‘alim or scholar. And Allah (سبحانه وتعال) definitely doesn’t ask everyone to be a scholar. If you are not going to be a scholar, then you should at least know your religion. To me, I was ashamed that I knew so much about physics, chemistry, and mathematics compared to what I knew about my religion.

Umar Ibn Hubayra Al-Fazari was the governor of Iraq in the period of the Khilafa of Yazid Ibn Abdul-Malik of the Bani Umayyah. Hassan Ibn Yasar Al-Basri once came to the court of Umar Ibn Hubayra and said to him:

“O Ibn Hubayra! Fear Allah when you obey Yazid, and do not fear Yazid when you obey Allah. Know that Allah will protect you from Yazid, but Yazid can not protect you from Allah (سبحانه وتعال)

Some points to ponder about Salah, Namaz, Prayer…

Our purpose in life is to worship Allah. Prayer (Salah) is the manifestation of that. Without it, we have nothing.

Prayer:

• Is the only commandment in Islam that came from Allah (سبحانه وتعال) to Muhammad (صلي الله عليه وسلم) directly, without any angel in-between, in the journey of Isra Wal Miraj[1]
• Was originally legislated at 50 times per day (That just shows how important it is)[1]
• One of the last concerns of the dying Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم)[2]
• Time after time, mentioned in the Quran as the first requirement right after Faith in Allah (سبحانه وتعال) [3]
• Quran described as guidance for the ones who pray (right at the beginning of the book in Surah Baqarah) [4]
• Agreement between us and the Prophet, without prayer, is kufr[5]
• A person’s feet will not move on the Day of Judgement until he is questioned about the prayer. If it is in order, everything will be in order, and if it is not in order, nothing else will be in order.
• In an interview of the people of hell, “Not Praying” is the #1 Response why they are in Hellfire[6]

Source: Yasir Qadhi Jumuah Khutba, Friday May 18th, 2007, Khalid bin Walid Masjid

The hypocrisy of Western Modern culture is amazing! We need to realize that Islam began as something strange, and will end as something strange, so we need not worry what people think of us; rather, we need to be people that respect and fear Allah (سبحانه وتعال), and the creation of Allah (the people) come second.

Legal marriage age is 16? 18? but:

It’s okay for 14-year-old teens to have sex , and their parents having no idea about it, and it’s with someone they may not approve of, and the person may not have their son or daughter’s best interest at heart. But when she gets pregnant, or he or she gets HIV and doesn’t even realize it, and spreads it, they are condemned for it…

For any action to be accepted by Allah (سبحانه وتعال), it has to meet two requirements: sincerity and conformity.

Sincerity means that the action must be done purely to earn the pleasure of Allah, and not for other reasons (such as “because it’s cool” or “because my friends are doing it” or “so the community will love me”).

Conformity means that the action must be done in conformity with Shari’ah, the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (صلي الله عليه وسلم). Anything outside of this is invalid (and most likely involves falling into haram).

Allah (سبحانه وتعال) says in the Qur’an:

Translation: “So for him who gives in charity, fears Allah, and testifies to goodness, We shall facilitate for him the Path of good. As for him who is stingy and considers himself independent of Allah and rejects the goodness, We shall facilitate for him the Path to evil. What benefit will he get from his wealth, if he himself is doomed. Surely, it is for Us to give guidance, and surely, to Us belong the end and the beginning.” [92: 5-13]

We go through our entire lives looking for that perfect investment; whether it be our education, our jobs or our wealth. We put in so much time to gather information and to make sure that our investment will yield a satisfying return. In the end though, there is no certainty of the return on investment that we will gain, it could be 5%, 10%, or even -10%. We never know whether we will gain or lose from the investment that we make.

1. Behave like a female, i.e. all the tenderness of a female–a man doesn’t want a man for his wife!
2. Dress pleasantly/attractively. If you are a home-maker, don’t stay in your sleeping suit all day.
3. Smell good!
4. Don’t lay out all your problems on your husband as soon as he walks in. Give him a little mental break.
5. Don’t keep asking him, “what are you thinking?”
6. Stop nagging non-stop before Allah ta’ala gives you something really to complain about.
7. Absolutely no talking about your spousal problems to anyone you meet, not even under the pretense of seeking help! If you think you want to solve legitimate marital issues, then go seek counseling with the right person who can give advice in either:
8. Mediate any injustice done so any wrong can be corrected and the couple can reunite in harmony, or
   • Amicable divorce

(For brothers, check out [60 Ways To Keep Your Wife’s Love, and the romance alive!][1] by shaykh Ahmed Shehab)

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  Source (and <em>more</em> tips): <a href="http://forums.almaghrib.org/showthread.php?t=19999">Ways to Keep Your Husband&#8217;s Love &#8211; AlMaghrib Forums</a>
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