The following ahadeeth are from Ibn Hajr al-Asqalaanee’s Bulooghul-Maram (Attainment of the Objective according to Evidence of the Ordinances–page 480+ in the English translation). They touch on the importance of good Islamic character: being truthful, avoiding lying, the evil of a suspicious mind, heedlessness, not protecting each other’s honour, etc.

As a good reminder to the sincere heart, even if you have been blessed with guidance to the Sunnah and hold yourself to be from Ahlul-Haqq, the Shaytaan will not leave you alone. Perhaps he may destroy your deeds by wrecking your character and making you heedless and blinded by the fact that you ‘ascribe yourself to the correct way.’ We ask Allah to make us people of upright character, firstly with Allah, His Messenger, his companions, the scholars of Islam, our families, and our brothers and sisters in Islam.

Bismillah

Abu Sa’eed al Khudree (رضى الله عنه) reports that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said, “when the believers cross the Hellfire, they will be stopped at a small arched bridge (Qantarah) before entering the paradise and will be given retribution for injustices between them until they become purified. (Then) they will be permitted to enter Jannah. So, by the One in Whose Hands is my soul, they will know their way to their homes in Jannah, better than they know their ways to their homes in dunya.” [Saheeh Al-Bukhari] [1]

Bismillah

How many times have we heard this duaa in our lives: Rabbana aatina fid-dunya hasanah, wa fil-akhirati hasanah, wa qinaa athaban naar. Have we ever contemplated how complete this duaa is?

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says

Translation: And among the people is he who says, “our Lord, give us in this world,” and he will have in the Hereafter no share. But among them is he who says, “our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.” [Suratul-Baqarah, verses 200-201]

One of the amazing things about the internet, is that alhamdulillah, it’s possible to find dozens of different projects that benefit the Muslims.

One such project is Ilm Sieve, an Islamic search engine. Built on top of Google technology, it filters out non-Islamic and un-Islamic sites to give you only the best of Islam on the web. Some of the benefits of Ilm Sieve are:

• Signal-to-Noise: compared to searching on Google, almost all (if not all) the search-results you find in Ilm Sieve are from Islamic sites–so no more digging to find the Islamic sites in page five and six of the results!
• Qur’an and Hadith Search: type any snippet of text from the Qur’an or a hadith and you’ll likely find the source–the search engine covers the Qur’an (English and Arabic), Bukhari, and Muslim.
• Sensitive Topics: you can even search for sensitive topics like pornography (or any other topic you’re looking up) and you’ll find solid Islamic sites that talk about these issues! (If you searched it on Google, you’d find very different results …
• Firefox Integration: If you use Firefox, you can click on the little icon on the front page and search directly from Firefox!

Try it out and see for yourself, via this handy widget:

Bismillah

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) uses amazing parables in the Qur’an that strike fear, awe and amazement in the hearts of the believers. Throughout the Qur’an, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) draws parables for us to convey the importance of certain topics, to extract lessons from them and so that we may ponder and reflect over them. We hear many times of the examples of the hypocrites, the mushrikeen (pagans) and the believers. But there is one parable that Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) puts forth that increases the love and mercy between a husband and wife, and this parable is one of the most eloquent and striking in the Qur’an.

The word “khamr” in Arabic refers to intoxicants (in general), but also specifically to alcohol. We all know drinking alcohol is haraam–but is alcohol itself najas? People use alcohol in medicine, in lens-cleaners, even in foods. What have scholars said about this?

Summary: Allahu ‘alim, both sides–those that say alcohol is najas, and those that don’t–have strong proofs. Having said that, all four madhahib say alcohol is najas. The main proof–and there are a few proofs–is the ayah:

We walk through life not understanding that we are in the midst of the biggest battle with the wretched of all enemies–Shaytan. Understanding his tactics is one thing–being able to follow it up with our own weapons is another. Listen to the podcast to learn and understand the different weapons believers can equip themselves with in this war against Shaytan.

We live in a world in which the concept of haya between man and women is lost. We forget that at every step Shaytaan waits to pounce, to guide us to evil. Living in the West, going to University, we see a lot of evil, and we see the plan of Shaytaan at work; Muslim men and Muslim women forgetting their boundaries and falling into the fitnah of society. Every wonder what would happen if you die in a state of disobedience to Allah? Will your heart every truly be satisfied by disobeying Allah Allah (سبحانه وتعالى)? Come to The Guide! Come to Allah, purely, sincerely. Listen to the podcast and learn about this much-forgotten issue.

What is tawaf, how do you do it, and what’s the best way to go about it?

Tawaf, Islamically, means circling around the Ka’bah for Hajj in the way the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) did and told us to do. The requirements of tawaf are simple–be in a state of wudoo.

The mechanics of tawaf are:

• You walk around the ka’bah, seven times
• Start at the Black Stone corner (from outside, it has a green light); raise your hand towards the Black Stone and say “Allahu Akbar” (or, if you can reach it, touch the black stone and say Allahu Akbar)
• For men, if possible, you walk quickly (raml, in Arabic) the first three times
• Make du’a, recite Qur’an, or make dhikr as you walk.
• Whenever you reach the Yemeni corner, make the du’a: Rabbana aatiynaa fid-dunya hasanatan, wa fil-akhirati hasanatan, wa kinaa adhaaban-naar (O our Lord! Give us goodness in this life, goodness in the Akhira, and protect us from the Punishment of the Fire.)
• Don’t push, jab, bite, or hurt anybody.
• Once you’re done, drink some Zam-Zam, pour a little over your head, and pray two rakahs behind Maqama Ibrahim

Some tips to make your tawaf easier:

The fact of the matter is that Shaytan is an open enemy to humankind. It is through his whispers that he causes all of us to stray off in to the darkness of evil and misguidance. How else does Shaytan influence humankind? Listen to the podcast and find out!