Sheikh Abdul-Karim Yahya

Manifestation Of The Divine Will

Journeys

The only ease in travelling is knowing the journey; if you know the journey; you know what to expect because you know the destination. Those who do not know the journey; are in a state of unease until they reach the destination because they do not know where they are going.

Sheikh Yahya Rhodus

Balancing Seeking Knowledge and Family

Annemarie Schimmel

On Rumi

Habib Ali Al-Jifri

Jesus (upon him peace)

This is a link to Habib Ali's transcibed lecture turned into a book and translated by Sheikh Gibril Haddad.
http://www.alhabibali.com/downloads/1/books/JesusChrist.pdf

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

Sh Hamza yusuf meets amazing women in saudi arabia

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

Hamza Yusuf on TV, Truth, and Technomania
June issue of "The Message" Magazine

(Post 900!)

This interview of Imam Hamza Yusuf was conducted in Calgary, Alberta during Islamic Awareness Week organized by the Muslim Students' Association (MSA) of the University of Calgary. The interviewer was Sr. Randa Hammadieh. It was compiled by Sr. Randa and Br. Ibrahim Danial.

RANDA HAMMADIEH: In your travels in the Muslim world, what cultural practices did you notice that struck you as being different from those of the West?

HAMZA YUSUF: In the West, there is a strong separation between young and old. In Muslim tradition, on the other hand, youth continues until the age of 40. This is the idea of "shababiya." In the Western civilization, the idea of adolescence is purely a social construct. The generation gap in the States isn't necessarily universal to all cultures although the US is doing a good job of exporting their monoculture all over the world. This happens because people are being exposed to the television and movies of the dominant culture. So you will see US cultural phenomena now all over the world.

RH: What are your thoughts on Muslim youth and public education of today?

HY: I think modern school is a negative experience. I believe you can learn more out of school than in it. There is now a universal education system, whether you are in an Arab country, China or somewhere else. This universal education is only going to vary according to the political atmosphere of the given country. For example, in Iraq, the indoctrination is probably more obvious whereas in the US it is just more subtle. School is an artificial construct to socialize individuals into a group identity. The whole idea of a "school of fish" is that everyone swims together whereas traditional Islamic education was completely individualized. What it did was give people all those tools (in the West called "liberal arts") such as grammar, rhetoric, and logic, through which people could actually think and use their brains.

In public high schools, you are not given tools, you are given information and data. In fact, a metaphor that is used in education today is that you're basically a hard drive that needs to be written with a given software. You will then fulfill whatever are the social needs of the society. Schooling today is designed only to matriculate people into the logic of the system itself. Then people end up in meaningless jobs doing meaningless work, and never really think about what type of society they're contributing to.

RH: If there was one thing in your travels in the Muslim world that left a distinctive impression upon you, what would it be?

HY: What a horrific condition the Muslim countries are in! The Muslim world is now like a rape victim. Colonization was like the raping trauma, and the Muslim world has never been able to get up and go on with life of the Muslim world in its entirety by European powers, who for centuries were seen as backward and barbaric, has had really devastating effects.

Now in the Muslim world, Muslims seem to dress in pale imitation of Western people. Some look like caricatures of Western people. This is indicative of the state of some Muslims who aren't very inspiring anymore. The whole world once looked up to the Muslims as models.

RH: What do you say to Muslims who seem to glorify the past when they were at their peak?

HY: This is all pathetic nostalgia for returning to the glory of the past and its romanticism. The past has nothing to do with us. That was them. We are a whole other people. It's not our past, it was their present. Now it's over. That's why the Quran has this concept of letting go of your fathers, and not being proud of your fathers because they are not you! You have to create your own future. Don't be like an old war veteran. However, it is important to have some historical continuity because the Qur'an says "Look at the people who went before" as the way of learning lessons.

One thing that is wrong with some modern Muslim mentality is the idea of "If we do what they did, we will be glorious." Someone asked me, "How can we get an empire back?" There is this idea that Islam is all about glory. No! It's like you exercise to maintain your health, but the exercise is not your goal. It's just the means to achieve your goal. In the same way that if you seek the contentment of Allah, one of the side effects of that is that Allah elevates you and gives you "tamkeen," but that is not the goal. It's just a side effect.

Now you don't hear people talk about Allah very much, just about Islam. The Quran says, "To your Lord is your goal." The path of coming to know God results in victory because of your struggling for truth. One of the things about sincerely struggling for truth is that Allah gives you victory by the nature of the struggle. It follows that by the nature of the struggle itself, you gain worldly success. You see, worldly success has nothing to do with the intentions. Because if those are your intentions, then you will never gain worldly success. In fact, Allah will give the "kafiroon" success over you. If the people of truth are not seeking truth, but instead the benefits of truth (merely the side effects), then they will never achieve them.

RH: Then how should Muslims look at life?

HY: Life is mundane. Life is praying, getting up for Fajr and day-to-day chores. All this "glory" some aspire to is just an abstract in the mind. And the reality of it is even the kings of the past had to get up in the morning and go through daily routines. Life is by its nature perfunctory and Islam is just to harmonize it, put it into perspective, and make its goals dignified goals, instead of low, worldly goals.

RH: Now that you are residing in the US you must have had some exposure to the technological hegemony occurring. How do you view this in the light of Islam?

HY: Modern technology is just an example of when people's goals are totally distorted. Modern technology arose out of very strong corporate interests in creating the massification of society where everybody needs a TV or a stereo. This doesn't mean that Islam is against technology. Technology, by its nature, is everything that humans produce. And by our nature we do make things. Islamic technology would be very humane. To serve people as opposed to the opposite.

Muslims do not believe in progress. Progress is completely antithetical to the Islamic doctrine. Muslims believe that human society reached its pinnacle in Medina in the 7th century. This is the best society that has ever existed. The verse which says "Today We have completed your Religion..." made Umar (ra) weep because he realized that nothing is ever completed except that it begins to decrease.

If the goal of life is to establish Deen, then that is the highest progress that humans can achieve and therefore all this modern technological madness is an exteriorization of the human impulse to know. Because we have become such gross materialists, all of our intellectual and spiritual endeavors have been completely centered and focused on the outward, the "Dhahir" and the inside has been completely forgotten. Now there is even a massive interest in how we can preserve this life here, manifested by studies in cryonics, genetic engineering and cloning.

RH: So would you say human beings tend to serve modern technology rather than it serving us?

HY: Yes. Modern technology dehumanizes by its nature, because it is based on massification (a computer in every home). Everyone is reduced to sitting around looking at blinking cathode rays on a screen. There is no human exchange anymore; people just send e-mail. People get nervous if you start talking like this because most Muslims are really embarrassed by the simplicity of the Prophet's (pbuh) life. Many don't want to admit that he lived in a house devoid of furniture; that he sewed his own shoes and collected firewood. The Prophet (pbuh) wasn't interested in improving that aspect of his life.

Improving ones standard of living has become an idol whereas I think Islam lowers your standard of living. You become content with less. When the Prophet's (pbuh) wife put a cushion in his bed he got upset. He consciously lowered his standard of living.

The truth is the whole world can't support a bunch of consumers. Western technology is based on the exploitation of the other 90 percent of the world. All our wonderful technological achievements are based on the rest of the world living in abject poverty. Through enjoying the fruits of Western technology, we are in fact participating in the destruction of indigenous cultures all over the world and the impoverishment of those people.

RH: What are your thoughts on the teenage phenomenon and its significance today?

HY: It's an artificial construct intended to sell rap, $100 basketball shoes and $80 jeans. It's an invention of consumer society that doesn't exist in traditional Islamic or Western cultures. People should be done with school by the time they're 15. In traditional European societies, those who studied had their bachelors by the age of 14 and were teaching at 18 at Cambridge and Oxford. This is documented. Spending 12 years in school is an artificial construct designed to occupy time-space in which the society really doesn't have the ability to allow these people to enter the workforce because it is saturated.

Teenage phenomenon destroys human society. Historically, agrarian-based societies (which the majority of Muslim countries are) view community as absolutely essential for survival, whereas in industrial societies community is a luxury.

A sickness of some Muslims today is that they've gotten into the whole age issue. Much like racism and sexism, it's identifying people with quantitative measurements. We don't know how old many of the sahabi were. It wasn't an obsession. In fact, the Prophet (pbuh) tried to break the jahali concept by putting Osama ibn Zaid as the head of an army when he was only 17. Age in Islam is about having gray hair and not having gray hair.

If you don't have gray hair you're called a "shabaab" and you're supposed to respect people with gray hair. If you have gray hair you're called "sheikh" and you're supposed to have mercy and compassion on those who don't have gray hairs. That is a much healthier way of looking at it. In Islamic knowledge, we knew Ibn Malik was considered a sheikh which literally means "old man" when he was 17 years old. Islam doesn't box you into a category. Age is about where you are spiritually, not where you are numerically.

I think that 40 year olds should sit with 18 year olds, and in a spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood, learn from each other. The sahaba had 15 year olds in their Prophet's majlis with 60 year olds. Muslim schools were never segregated by age. "Allah created everything and He guided it in its own specific way and manner."

We are an Ummah of labeling and labels are from Western society. In labels, everything has a name and nothing has a meaning.

RH: Given all your experiences, travels, and years, what do you know for sure about the world?

HY: Well, that there is a lot of truth to Sayidinna Ali saying that "Youth is a type of madness and old age is a type of wisdom." I think that a crisis of the Muslim world is that we have an incredibly young society and their are by and large ignorant, having lost their historical link, and so there hasn't been a lot of guidance from the older generation.

Many Muslim youth are confused, but as this generation of Muslims reach maturity, an interesting scenario is going to occur. As the young people in the Islamic movement in the U.S. and Canada move into their forties, there is going to be much growth and guidance for the younger people, inshallah.

We are in a really bad time, but we should see it as a temporal kind of condition. This is not the way it has always been, nor is it the way it will always be, inshallah. I know we just have to be careful as a community in the steps we take. We have to deliberate more than necessary than if we had strong guidance. We are now living in a very exciting time, a time for much potential growth, and I believe that Muslims in Canada and the US will certainly rise to the occasion, inshallah.

End of interview.

Sheikh Naeem Abdul-Wali

13th Mawlid convention

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

Tasawwuf/Sufism in Islam
Imam Hamza Yusuf
a talk sponsored by CAIR
Stanford University, May 4, 1997

Imam Hamza Yusuf, sometime khatib at the Muslim Community Association of Santa Clara, California, spoke on Sufism in Islam, directly following a lecture by Dr. Anne-Marie Schimmel, former Harvard professor of Oriental Studies. Imam Hamza began by noting that the architecture of Stanford is modeled after traditional Andalusian, Moroccan and North African universities. He said that Islamic architecture and civilization was once great as was its scholarship, but unfortunately the Muslim ummah has fallen behind in these spheres.

Imam Hamza continued:

"The fundamental and underlying message in the tradition of Islam I think personally is that it does not and refuses to create this dialectic in which a person's inward and their outward become split. [In non-Islamic systems] people are either forced to become esoterists or they are forced to become exoterists.

"In fact what Islam is trying to do and what most of the other spiritual religions and in fact from the Muslim perspective all of them have failed to do is to join these two elements in a harmonious and balanced way and this is why in the tradition of Islam Sufism has always been part of the traditional Islamic curriculum in every single Muslim university. I know of no period in the Islamic tradition in which Sufism was not taught in the universities and not seen as an important and fundamental aspect of the tradition of Islam.

"Sidi Ahmad Zarruq wrote a great book called the principles of Sufism in which he clarified traditional and orthodox Sufism says in his principle number 208, 'there are five reasons for repudiating the Sufis the first of these is with reference to the perfection of their path. For if the Sufis latch on to a special dispensation or if they misbehave or are negligent in a matter or if a fault manifests itself in them, people hasten to repudiate them.' Because they are people who have traditionally been the most strongest and fierce adherents to the sacred teaching of Islam and they have been the ones also that have never inclined toward easy ways out on terms of the shariah or the sacred law.

"They have been the strictest adherents to the sacred law, but they have a wonderful principle: that is be hard on yourself and be gentle with other people. Unfortunately, the disease of this age amongst many Muslims is be easy on yourself and be hard on everybody else. So I think this is where the real crises of rejecting Sufism as one third of Islam has had really devastating results in much of the modern Islamic phenomenon. {Shaykh Ahmad Zarruq] said 'this is because no servant is free of fault unless he is granted infallibility or protection by God.'

"The second reason [for people to repudiate Sufis] is the sensitivity of the observer. [The observer's] criticism of the Sufis and their knowledge and states occurs as much as the ego, nafs, hastens to deny knowledge it does not posses. Imam Sayyidina Ali was known for saying, 'Whoever is ignorant of a thing is its natural enemy.'

"The third reason [to reject the Sufis] is the existence of many who fall short of their claims and those who seek [worldly] gain through the guise of religiosity. This has been an affliction within the Muslim ummah. It is well known of the people claiming to be Sufis, putting on the garments of Sufis, and tricking simple followers and worshippers; getting them to give them their money, to slavishly serve them, and these type of things. This has happened historically in the Muslim world. The [pious] imams have always been the strictest at trying to prevent this deception, because there is nothing worse than deceiving somebody in religion. Give me a mafia gangster any day over a fraudulent religious observer--really! This is the reason for denying any claim that they might make even though there is proof of it. Because it is found doubtful.

"The fourth reason is fear for the generality that they might be lead astray by following esoteric doctrines without upholding the letter of the law as happens to many ignorant people. So ignorant people might hear some statement which is said by a Sufi and they completely misunderstand it. And Abu Yazid al-Bistami put in Imam Dhahabi's tabaqat is considered a faqih (jurisprudent). Imam Dhahabi is considered a student of Ibn Taymiyya and he considers Abu Yazid al-Bistami a reasonable and sound source of hadith. Yet Abu Yazid al-Bistami is the one who is noted for saying 'Subhanee' which means 'Glory to Me!' This is known in the technical vocabulary of the Sufis as a shatha, an ecstatic utterance. If a person says it in a state in which their self is absent they are not taken to account for it We have proof of it in Sahih Bukhari about a slave in the middle of a desert in which the Prophet (s) says that because he finds his lost beast he shouts out in joy 'Allah you are my slave and I am Your lord!' The Prophet explained that that slave made a mistake in his ecstatic state after finding his animal. This is someone who finds their animal, so how much greater for someone who has found his Lord?! What about his state of ecstasy?

"The fifth reason [to reject Sufism] is the covetousness some people have for the ranks of Sufism. In traditional Muslim society the Sufis were held up as literally the highest people in the society; they were the shaykhs. Imam Nawawi was a great Sufi, [Qadi] Iyad was a great Sufi, Ibn Hajar Asqalani was a great Sufi, Imam Ibn Jawzi was a great Sufi. All of these great imams were known to be Sufis of great stature. Abu Hamid al Ghazzali who is given the title Hujjat al-Islam is probably the greatest example. People wanted to be like them, and the Arabs are notorious in their understanding if you are not like noble people pretend to be like them because even that is a type of nobility.

"Finally [Sidi Ahmad Zarruq] said, 'Thus people are inclined to become inflamed with the Sufis, more so than with any other group.' People in official positions exert pressure on them more than anybody else. This was a traditional area in which the government would try to influence the Sufis because they knew that they had such a vast amount of power over the common people The Sufis were traditionally the most distant and furthest people from the governors or the government unless they were righteous rulers like Nizam al Mulk who Imam Ghazali actually helped to build the Nizamiyya system of teaching. And anyway [Sidi Ahmad Zarruq] says, 'Anyone who falls in any of these categories except for the last is either rewarded or excused and Allah knows best.'

"I was asked to make a du`a and I would like to make the du`a of the people of North Africa which I heard many, many times in North Africa and was always very impressed by it; it is called Salat Tunjiyya--the prayer that saves people:

"Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammadin salatan tunjina biha min jami al ahwali wal afat
wa taqdi lana biha jami`a al hajjat
wa tutahiruna biha min jami`a as-sayyiat
wa tarfauna biha `indaka ala darajat
wa tubalighuna biha aqsa al ghayat min jami`a al khayrat fil hayati wa bad al mamat
wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasliman kathira"

O Allah pray on our Master Muhammad a prayer by means of which we will be saved from every awe-inspiring harmful thing,
and that will take care of all of our needs,
and purify us by means of it from all of our ugly qualities and characteristics
and raise us and purify us by means of it from all of our ugly qualities and characteristics
and raise us up by means of it in Your Presence to the highest of degrees,
and cause us to reach by means of it the extremes of all goodness in our life and after our death
and this prayer be upon his family and his companions
and may he be given safety and much salaam.

"I would like to thank on behalf of CAIR and the Muslims in this area everybody for attending this lecture. Thank you very much."


The following are some notes from the famous Sufism Internet Debate of 1993, which refer to the discussion of the concept of fana' which was mentioned by Shaykh Hamza above as the state in which some Sufi masters issued utterances (shatha) of outwardly anti-Islamic import.

In Book, Volume 2, pages 396-397 of Majmu'a Fatawa, Shaikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya speaks about fana also known in Sufism as annihilation.

He said:
"This state of love is the state of many people that are from the people of Love to Allah `azza wa jall, they are the people of the love of Allah and the People of the Will (al-irada) of Allah, it is typical of many of the people that love God and seek Him. Because that person has vanished in his lover, in Allah `azza wa jall Դhrough the intensity of the love, because he vanished in Allah's love, not his own ego's love. And he will recall Allah, not recalling himself, remember Allah , not remembering himself, visualizing Allah [yastashhid], not visualizing himself, existing in Allah, not in the existence of himself. When he reaches that state 'Ana al-Haqq' (I am the Truth) or 'Subhanee' (Glory to Me!) and he will say 'maa fil jubba ill-Allah' (there is nothing in this cloak except Allah), because he is drunk in the love of God and this is a pleasure and happiness that he cannot control."
Further on Shaikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya says:
"This [matter] has in it Haqq and there is in it Batil. But when someone will enter a state with his fervor intense love (`ishq) to Allah, he will enter a state of absentmindedness, and when he enters a state of absentmindedness, he will find himself as if he is accepting the [concept] of ittihad [union]. I do not consider this a sin. Because that person is excused and no one may punish him as he is not aware of what he is doing. Because the pen does not condemn the crazy except when he is restored to sanity. And when that person is in that state and he was wrong in what he did, he will be under Allah's address:
"Rabbana laa tu`akhidhna in-naseena aw akhta`na"
"Our Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make mistakes." (Baqara 2:286)
"And Allah says in other verse, "wa laa junaaha `alaykum fimaa akhtaatum bihi" - "there is no blame on you if you unintentionally do a mistake."
On page 339, in Volume 10, Ibn Taymiyya says:
"there is a story of two men who were so respectful and loved each other very much. One of them fell in the water [of the sea] and immediately the other threw himself behind him. Then the first one, who was sinking asked, "what made you throw yourself here?" He said, I vanished in you, and when I vanished in you I thought you were me and I was you."
And further on Ibn Taymiyya continues:
"As long as he is not through something that is prohibited, it is accepted, but if it were prohibited (the intention was bad then he is not excused."
And Shaikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya continues (Volume 2, page 397):
"And because of that [situation]many of the saints like `Abdul Qadir Jilani, have an excuse because they are in a state of love `ishq)."
That subject is also mentioned in a whole chapter on detail from page 337-343, entitled: "al-Fana' alladhee yujad fi kalam as-sufiyya yuffassar bi-thalathat umur" (The Word Annihilation found in Sufism explained in Three Ways). This chapter describes the concept of fana' in detail.

Robert Fisk

A Sharp Choice

The other day a button came off my shirt, nothing earth shattering there, so I picked it up and took it home to sew on later.



After arriving home I took the sewing box out and began looking for the closest colour to my shirt. I found a few colours but none of them matched except for one but even that was not close. Now all that I needed was a needle.

I searched and got to the bottom of the box. Then found a needle with some thread on it. It was the same colour as the thread as I needed.




Alhamdulillah, the needle and the thread was waiting for me!




Pondering for a moment I thought about all those choices that I had considered and in the end it came down to one thing. The choice was already made for me. All I had to do is find it.



Like all those choices we are about to make there is one that will definitely occur and that is the choice that has already been chosen.



One of my friends used to say the Arabic word Makutub when something disliked occurred. After hearing it we would relax. The work Makutub means written (it's also a good way to remember the Ism Maful) it indicates to us that the action has already occurred. It is the passive participle of writing/Kataba. So why worry about the Dunya? Make a sincere choice and it will, in sha Allah, be the best.



Sometimes we hate something but there is a great deal of good in it and sometimes love something although there is a great deal of harm in it.

Advice for the Seekers of Knowledge - all the posts

We were inspired to write this because of the bad behavior we witnessed that students showed to their teachers. One post turned into two as more advice was needed. We hope that we have covered all the important points that a student of knowledge should bear in mind. We did not intend to write so much but that is how it turned out. Sometimes we plan but are plans are overtaken by the greatest of planners. We hope that this will benefit the believers and we hope that Allah supports us by allowing us to acting upon this advice.

This post comprises all the previous posts on the 'Advice for the seekers of knowledge.' Please click on a link to read the post (s). This is as far as we have got and if we post any more then we will add them to this list in sha Allah.

Or you can go to scribd and download the whole document.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45710382/Advice-for-the-Seekers-of-Knowledge


Chapter one -Your knowledge is pointless

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2007/09/your-knowledge-is-pointless.html


Chapter two - Intention of the learner

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2006/11/intention-of-learner.html


Chapter three - How to ask a scholar a question

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2006/11/advice-on-how-to-ask-scholar-question.html


Chapter four - Sitting in lectures

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2006/11/sitting-in-lectures.html


Chapter five - Choice of teacher

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2006/11/choice-of-teacher.html


Chapter six - The right that learnt knowledge has over you

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2006/11/right-that-learnt-knowledge-has-over.html


Chapter seven - Waiting for the Scholar

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2008/06/waiting-for-scholar.html


Chapter eight - Studying

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2008/09/studying.html


Chapter nine - Teacher's pet

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2008/12/teachers-pet.html


Chapter ten - Students attaire

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2008/12/students-attire.html


Chapter eleven - Errors of the Teachers

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/01/errors-of-teacher.html


Chapter twelve - Sins of Students

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2007/10/sins-of-student.html


Chapter thirteen - character with other students

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/04/character-with-other-students.html



Chapter fourteen - Instructions of the teacher

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/05/instructions-of-teacher.html


Chapter fifteen - knowledge

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/05/knowledge.html


Chapter sixteen - signs of success

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/05/signs-of-success.html


Chapter seventeen - advice for the teacher

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/07/advice-for-teacher.html


Chapter eighteen - respecting the teacher

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/08/respecting-teacher.html


Chapter nineteen - instruments of learning

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2009/10/instruments-of-learning.html


Chapter twenty - harm from others when learning

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/01/harm-from-others-when-learning.html


Chapter twenty one - respecting scholars

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/01/respecting-scholars.html


Chapter twenty two - respecting the sacred word

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/04/respecting-sacred-word.html


Chapter twenty three - cutting corners

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/06/cutting-corners.html


Chapter twenty four - when imparting knowledge to others

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/09/when-imparting-knowledge.html


Chapter twenty five -

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/12/gaps-in-study.html


Chapter twenty six

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/12/document-your-studies.html

Sheikh Atabek Shukurov

You can protect your self from the evil eye if you read this verse.

سورة القلم
The Pen 68:49-51
“Had not Grace from his Lord reached him, he would indeed have been cast off on the naked shore, in disgrace. Thus did his Lord choose him and make him of the Company of the Righteous. And the Unbelievers would almost trip thee up with their eyes when they hear the Message; and they say: "Surely he is possessed!"

{ لَّوْلاَ أَن تَدَارَكَهُ نِعْمَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِ لَنُبِذَ بِٱلْعَرَآءِ وَهُوَ مَذْمُومٌ }
{ فَٱجْتَبَاهُ رَبُّهُ فَجَعَلَهُ مِنَ ٱلصَّالِحِينَ } *
{ وَإِن يَكَادُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ لَمَّا سَمِعُواْ ٱلذِّكْرَ وَيَقُولُونَ إِنَّهُ لَمَجْنُونٌ }


See link to the Arabic
http://www.altafsir.com/Quran.asp?SoraNo=68&Ayah=48&NewPage=0&Tajweed=1



Also saying Ma sha Allah protect blessings that have been given.
ما شاء الله

Document your studies

Chapter Twenty Six

Document your studies. With which scholar and what subject or text that you have studied. Make a note of the dates as well. Keep it with you and make sure you update it. Also look back and thank Allah for showing you mercy so you can study and giving you the ability to keep attending classes.

Most of keep all your ijazahs (permissions to teach a text or a general one) this is very important. Even if it's for a book that you consider minor, keep it and make a note of its chain of narrators.

There is a lot of good in performing the gratefulness prostration when you have completed a text.

Imam Zaid Shakir

Eid sermon 2010 Zaytuna

Gaps in study

Chapter twenty five

You may experience gaps in your studies which can be unexpected and unwanted. As any student will inform you they want to keep their progress up and do not want to have many breaks, as this hinders learning.

It can also hinder finishing text because of the long gap. We are not talking about missing weeks but we are talking about missing months. If this occurs then try to go to deen intensives of other teachers. This may help keep the momentum of learning because a large gap could cause a difficulty when restarting the lessons.
The best use of the spare time you have is to study and re-check what you have learnt. Rather than occupy yourself with something else new. You could read a related text or even read something that is unrelated but that should only be done to refresh the mind. As you may have times when you get bogged down in a subject.
Most of all knowledge requires you to be consistent and persistent; if you are neither of these things then you many never reach your goal or you may take longer than others.
As Roy Castle used to say, “Dedication is what you need; if you want to be a record breaker!”We need to show more dedication in a time where you cannot study with your regular teacher.

Sheikh Naeem Abdulwali

Tariqa in the 20th Century

Interview with Sheikh Abdullah Al-Faransi by Sidi Abdulmalik Sinet

French only

Interview de chaykh `Abd-Allâh al-Faransî (1/4)
Uploaded by NMP_TV. - Explore international webcam videos.


Interview de chaykh `Abd-Allâh al-Faransî (2/4)
Uploaded by NMP_TV. - Explore international webcam videos.


Interview de chaykh `Abd-Allâh al-Faransî (3/4)
Uploaded by NMP_TV. - Explore international webcam videos.


Interview de chaykh `Abd-Allâh al-Faransî (4/4)
Uploaded by NMP_TV. - See video of the biggest web video personalities.

A beautiful hadith, amongst all the beautiful ahadith

A most beautiful hadith, amongst all the beautiful ahadith
Bismillah
Khalid ibn Al Waleed (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated the following hadith:
A Bedouin came, one day, to the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) and said to him, “0’ Messenger of Allah! I’ve come to ask you a few questions about the affairs of this Life and the Here After.”
Ask what you wish.
Q: I’d like to be the most learned of men.
A: Fear Allah, and you will be the most learned of men.
Q: I wish to be the richest man in the world.
A: Be contented, and you will be the richest man in the world.
Q: I’d like to be the most just man.
A: Desire for others what you desire for yourself, and you will be the most just of men.
Q: I want to be the best of men.
A: Do good to others and you will be the best of men.
Q: I wish to be the most favoured by Allah.
A: Engage much in Allah’s praise, and you will be most favoured by Him.
Q: I’d like to complete my faith.
A: If you have good manners you will complete your faith.
Q: I wish to be among those who do good.
A: Adore Allah as if you see Him. If you don ‘t see Him, He sees you. In this way you will be among those who do good.
Q: I wish to be obedient to Allah.
A: If you observe Allah’s commands you will be obedient.
Q: I’d like to be free from all sins.
A: Bathe yourself from impurities and you will be free from all sins.
Q: I’d like to be raised on the Day of Judgment in the light.
A: Don’t wrong yourself or any other creature, and you will be raised on the Day of Judgment in the light.
Q: I’d like Allah to bestow His mercy on me.
A: If you have mercy on yourself and others, Allah will grant you mercy on the Day of Judgment.
Q: I’d like my sins to be very few.
A: If you seek the forgiveness Allah as much as you can, your sins will be very few.
Q: I’d like to be the most honourable man.
A: If you do not complain to any fellow creature, you will be the most honourable of men.
Q: I’d like to be the strongest of men.
A: If you put your trust in Allah, you will be the strongest of men.
Q: I’d like to enlarge my provision.
A: If you keep yourself pure, Allah will enlarge your provision.
Q: I’d like to be loved by Allah and His messenger.
A: If you love what Allah and Him messenger love, you will be among their beloved ones.
Q: I wish to be safe from Allah’s wrath on the Day of Judgement.
A: If you do not loose your temper with any of your fellow creatures, you will be safe from the wrath of Allah on the Day of Judgement.
Q: I’d like my prayers to be responded.
A: If you avoid forbidden actions, your prayers will he responded.
Q: I’d like Allah not to disgrace me on the Day of Judgement.
A: If you guard your chastity, Allah will not disgrace you on the Day of Judgment.
Q: I’d like Allah to provide me with a protective covering on the Day of Judgment.
A: Do not uncover your fellow creatures faults, and Allah will provide you with a covering protection on the Day of Judgement.
Q: What will save me from sins?
A: Tears, humility and illness.
Q: What are the best deeds in the eyes of Allah?
A: Gentle manners, modesty and patience.
Q: What are the worst evils in the eyes of Allah?
A: Hot temper and miserliness.
Q: What assuages the wrath of Allah in this life and in the Hereafter?
A: Concealed charity and kindness to relatives.
Q: What extinguishes hell’s fires on the Day of Judgment?
A: Patience in adversity and misfortunes.
Related by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal

The Wise and the Judge

This account is from about 1150 years ago when Hakam ruled Andalusia (Islamic Spain).

A nice site near the capital (of Andalusia) attracted the site of the ruler, and he thought of building a palace for himself there. The land belonged to an old woman who lived in a cottage upon it.

The ruler offered the woman a reasonable price for the land, but she declined to sell it. He then offered double the price of the land, but she was persistent in her refusal.

The ruler got angry, forcibly ousted her from the site and demolished the cottage. Within a short time a stately mansion and a beautiful garden was built on that spot. But the woman was not easily dismissed, she went to the Qazi and complained against the ruler.

Shortly afterwards the ruler invited the Qazi to see his new palace and gardens. The Qazi went to the Palace at the fixed time and took with him some empty sacks on his back and a donkey. The ruler felt curious and asked why the donkey was there in noble company. The Qazi replied, 'I pay to your Majesty to permit me to take some sacks of earth from this Royal garden'.

The ruler was amused at this strange request and granted the permission. The Qazi had the sacks filled with earth and then asked the ruler to help him in lifting the sack onto the back of the donkey. Further, amused at this particular request of the Qazi the ruler cheerfully went up and applied himself to the task. But with all his efforts he failed to lift a single sack.

The Qazi then turned to the king and said: 'Sir, if you cannot lift a single sack of earth today, how will you lift the entire garden when, on the day of judgement, Allah will command you to transfer it to the old woman whom you took it from unjustly?'

The ruler felt ashamed and at once sent for the woman. When she came, he said to her: 'Mother, I have grievously wronged you. Please forgive me. From today this Palace and it's Garden are yours'.

[Short stories from Islamic History, Dutt]