On friendship and ...

Alhamdulillah in this course of life I have come across many people with different background and have been blessed with such valuable companions who quenched the thirst and hunger of my soul and healed the wounds of my heart. I miss them all truly and miss being around them. Such company have always been a source of rahma and barakah in my life - the fruits of which are still benefiting me. Just being around them was good enough. SubhanaAllah! May Allah protect them all and bless them with the goodness in this world and the akhira. Ameen!

This reminds me the saying of Imam Ghazali (May the mercy of Allah be upon his soul).
He said, in this world you will find 4 types of friends and they are:
1. Friends that nourishes you – who are like food. And you need these friends.
2. Friends like medicine, who are there with sincere nasiha, help etc.
3. Friends who are illness: who weakens you and brings out the disease of your heart. Friends who weakens your iman. Beware of such friends.
4. Friends who are like poison: being around them will kill you and the sure goal of such companionship is painful death. Beware of such friends!

So, today as we have all chosen our paths and returned back to our own countries to get along with our lives – its those precious memories that I hold so close to my heart. We see many instances where long-term friendship comes to an end only because someone said something that shouldn’t have been said. Often times, we say things with the very best of intentions or just to “stay clear”, but such words offer nothing but only elevate diseases of the heart such as anger, grief and outbursts and their words only results in negative consequences in others. Then there’s another category of people who on purpose say things to hurt people. These are the people we have been warned against - beware of them. May Allah (swt) help those people and illuminate their heart with good.

The most important thing in a communication is how we interpret and perceive things and then eventually how we relate the story to others. Different people with very different perspectives and insights can relate the same story and stir opposite emotions in people. I wish we could all comply with the saying of our prophet (saw) who teaches us – Speak well or keep silent. Being truthful all the time may not always be the very best of idea. If situations permit we can simply avoid talking about something, which may be unpleasant to the listener. In case the matter is imperative and needs to be related –we need to be very vigilant as to how we should relate it. And we need to be very careful about using a very small yet powerful organ - the tongue! An organ that is so little in surface area and weight can play such a huge role in our daily lives. It’s an amana (a loan from God) and we must always remind ourselves to abstain from using it in a way that is hurtful to others.

May Allah (swt) guide us all and help us become more cautious and speak only that which is pleasing to Him (swt). May He (swt) forgive our mistakes that we commit being aware and in state of gafla. May Allah (swt) give us the taufiq so that we can be a source of peace to others. May He (aza wa'jal) grant us such friends who nourishes us and heals us and help us become such friends to other. Ameen!

The Day of Judgment and facing Him azza wa'jal

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

I am sure we all have seen on the television how a criminal court room looks like where the camera is mostly focused on the judge, the lawyers, some family members of the victim/accused, and the victims/accused of-course. But I’m not so certain if a lot of us have had that opportunity to be in such an environment to experience the situation in a courtroom.
Very recently I was in a court room and there were about 50-70 people. It was a small city court of traffic violation. Each individual who were there went to either plead guilty or not guilty or to have a plea bargain done so that their fines could be reduced or eliminated. It was quite an experience and a hard hit to reality.

Back in May, while I was attending the graduation ceremony of some friends, we had to sit in a huge open stadium. The weather was very pleasant that day with cool breeze. It was a nice happy sunny day. The ceremony was from 9 in the morning till 1:00pm. However, I recall after 2 hours of sitting (even before noon), I was like “the sun is too hot” and I was trying to cover my head with a magazine. My beloved friend who I was sitting with, told me, “Faria, can you imagine what it would be like on the Day of Judgment when there would be no shade and the sun thousand times nearer and thousand times hotter and not a single friend to accompany and much more worse.” Subhanallah! I never thought of it that way. Since then every time before I complain of the sun, her words just work as a reminder.

I don’t know how much of a realization I got that day at the graduation ceremony, but the other day when I went to the court room, I saw the judge calling out individual’s name and saying out loud in front of all the people who were present – what individual’s crime is and the options they have. Where the fines or the punishment at most would be couple of hundreds of dollars and may be some points in the license and of-course a bad driving record. And I was not so not comfortable being called by the judge to say it loud where people would hear my crime - that I speeded in a 30 mile zone. Damn! If I was so ashamed in front of 50-70 people and was looking for the judge to lower my fines – how are we going to deal with ourselves on the Day of Judgment when not only our driving records would be exposed but all that we say, do, see, hear, walk on and all that we have done is going to be uncovered? How is it going to be when we would be in front of the Lord of the Universe with all of mankind as the audience of our deeds and it would all be shown on the screen – and where there would be nothing to hide and no more chance to rectify? No attorneys to converse with and no friends to guide and each individual repeating “ya nafsi, ya nafsi.” May Allah (swt) have mercy on us and cover our faults on that Day as He has in this world. Let this be a reminder to myself and others of the Hadith where the prophet (saw) asked us not to do anything in private that we will not do in public.

Come to think of it we do not think of that Day much and for some of us even take this life for granted and can’t even comprehend to think about death. The reality being – nothing is more certain than death. Death is the ultimate truth and there’s no question to the magnitude of its truth. If anything is certain in this life – it is – the grave, the Day of Judgment, and that follows. “Verily, mankind is at loss” – and no wonder we are at a loss, since we are all intoxicated in our own ways (not to mention that the intoxicant industry is the number one industry) – immersed in our dreams, aims, work, family life, school life, friends, pride, arrogance. We all tend to take this dunya, this life, and all the adornments that come with it for granted. May Allah (swt) help us refocus on our real purpose of living. May He assist us to be with Him through our qalb at all times. Let us not be of those who wishes to change at the 12th hour and dies at the 11th hour.

InshaAllah, this is a month of mercy, forgiveness and His immense Generocity. Moreover, starting tonight we are stepping into the last 10 nights of Ramadan – we are to search for that night! The night which is better than a thousand nights – Laylatul Qadr. Let us make use of it – let us seek His forgiveness and His rahma and let us be in His door! Let us all return to Him with full spirit and hope. For verily He will answer – if not in this world then definitely in the Hereafter. Let us not transgress over His rights and let us not do anything that will not make our Rasulallah (saw) proud of us and that will humiliate us in front of Him azza wa’jal. Please include me in your duas so that I am one of such slaves who is freed from the hellfire. Amen.

Ramadhan Mubarak

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Another year of the Hijri Calender has approached its most blessed time of the year - Ramadhan! That beautiful month when the good deeds are on sale and when the mercy of Allah (swt) showers more generously than we can imagine - with the doors of the hell closed and the devils being chained. This is the month - that we all look forward to once it has passed and the yearning for which never ends. This is the month when we hope that inshaAllah He (swt) would accept my deeds and grant me salvation. This is the month that we ask for His mercy, forgiveness, and a life in the Hereafter away from the hellfire. May Allah (swt) accept all our hasanat and forgive our sins. Ameen.

I got a beautiful mail from seekingpathtojannah of yahoo mailing list about "Time". Here's a few excerpts from the article which is written by Amr Khaled...

Your Time Is Your Life

Ibn Mas`ud:
I never regretted anything except a day that passed by without having increased my deeds.

Al-Hasan Al-Basri:
Every day the sun rises it calls upon us, “O people! I am a new day; I am an observer of your actions. Take advantage of me for I will not return until the Day of Judgment. O son of Adam, you are nothing but a few breaths. Once one breath goes out, part of you goes with it. In the same way that part of you has gone, soon all of you will go.”

Ibn Al-Qayyim:

Every gulp of air that goes out in a cause other than the cause of Allah will turn to sorrow and regret on the Day of Judgment.
A sign that Allah despises you is when you find yourself wasting your time with trivial matters; in this way you miss your chance of going to Heaven. And a sign that Allah likes you is when you find yourself fulfilling more duties than you have time for.
The devil makes work for idle thumbs. If you want to know whether Allah is pleased with you, then think: Are you busy or idle?

Al-Muhasiby:

I wish that time could be acquired with money. If so, I would buy time from wasteful and ungrateful people so that I could spend it serving Allah.

We waste a great deal of time: For eight hours we sleep and another eight we use for meals and personal needs. That’s two-thirds wasted, and the remaining third is where productivity can be achieved. Imagine that every breath you take is stored away in a locker and that on the Day of Judgment these lockers will be opened. Can you see them empty? Or do you see them full of service, help, invention, and worship? Picture someone throwing a hundred thousand dollars in the sea—he would be considered crazy and be put under great restriction. You do the same if you waste your time, for your greatest assets are your breaths in this limited life.


----------

Our friend is returning...

Our friend is returning -- we see him coming from a distance.

Peace be upon you

Oh month of fasting

Month of Qiyaam

Month of Qur’an

Month of forgiveness

Month of security

Month of the glowing lanterns

Month of the sleepless eyes

Month of the scented pulpits

Month of the burning hearts

This friend -- a loving, giving, generous and caring friend -- is Ramadan.

▪ Rasulullah, salAllahu alayhi wasalam, used to fast often in the month of Sha’ban. This fasting was like a greeting to Ramadan, to encourage it to come faster.

- From Shaykh Mokhtar's Fiqh of Siyam Seminar

Niagra Falls - some pictures

Quote of Shaykh Yaser Birjas

I found the following from the thread of Al-maghrib institute and it touched my heart deeply. Subhanallah! This is so beautiful. May Allah (Swt) raise our shaykhs and preserve all of them and give them good in this life and the akhirah. Ameen.

"One who has deep Emaan and knowledge usually remains quiet while in times of difficulties. One who has less Emaan and knowledge causes loud noise. Just like the ocean. Have you ever seen the waves of a high tide and how they clamour when they arrive at the beach and strike the rocks? Cause the ocean near the beach is shallow, even a kid can challenge it, while in the depth of the sea it’s quiet, peaceful and full with majesty. The deeper you get in Emaan and knowledge the more peaceful you become." (Shaykh Yaser Birjas)

I hear and I obey

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

In the past couple of years – I have faced some changes in my life. Changes that have come gradually and alhamdulillah they have brought much benefit and added a new dimension to the essence of this servant's life. What am I talking about? The role of religion! The role of Islam . And it's the role of this beautiful deen - Al-islam. I always knew I was a muslim and I always knew I follow Islam and I knew this is the way of life but I never knew why or how? It took so long to internalize – so long. Subhanallah! As i recall my past - it looks as if i was in a dark tunnel searching for the way out - to get some light. I’m still trying - i'm on my way. And i see some glimse of sunlight. Subhanallah! Over time I have also realized that as you try to adhere to the right path, there would be a lot of resistance. Resistence from all sides of the society – job, the loved ones - parents, relatives, friends and the list goes on. Alhamdulillah! And this is what I have been facing. Recently, I was complaining about certain things in life to one of my teachers. Upon hearing me, he told me something that I will never forget. He said, “The fact that things are not easy and perfect means you are being tested. Allah (swt) says, Verily with hardship comes ease. So have patience and say Alhamdulillah. The fact that you are complaining, shows that your are trying. So, this path isn’t easy as we might see it to be or would like it to be and there will be a lot of resistance. Never forget your first and foremost duty of being servant of Allah (swt). Allah (swt) is the most generous and the most merciful – He will assist you so stay strong in His path and never compromise your religion”. I couldn't hold my tears as i was hearing those words.

This brings me to another issue that I have heard/faced frequently (specially recently). However, I never knew what to tell them in response. Or may be out of maintaining respect and not to talk back – I just remained silent. Some people say that the sahabas (the companions of the prophet) were different and special people chosen by Allah (swt) – following them is equivalent to bringing hardship upon us. There's never an end to seeking piety - and instead of focusing so much on deen we should rather focus on career and this life. Islam is very simple - pray, fast and fear Allah. Some of the words are true indeed. However, how do we fear Allah (swt) if we do not know Allah (swt). What perfects our worship to Allah (swt) is our love, hope and fear of Him and if any one of these are missing - we are missing something in our ibaadah. How can we attain all of these unless we learn about His deen? So, why is it that learning secular science has preceeded our priority to learning about this deen? Why is it that if a person is learning the islamic sciences and going to school for that - it's not considered education? What can you tell such people who think learning about deen is being an extreme? These people also say that the laws and the commands of the Quran applied only to a certain culture for a certain time. How can/should we possibly respond?
Although, the burden of proof is on the person who makes the claim – yet we do have a role to play. I admist i failed in responding as i didn't know where i could possibly start. So, after pondering on it for a whole i realized how i could respond (learned most of it from Shyakh Yasir Qadhi's aqeeda class =D ). First and foremost, we need to tell such people that our laws are the best of laws and the most perfect of laws. If we are saying that the Quran, which is the last revelation to all of mankind from Allah (swt) was revealed during a certain time to address certain people of some culture – aren’t we questioning the wisdom of Allah (swt)? Are we saying that He chose it to be the last revelation to guide some people of certain time and left the later generations without any guidance and direction? it's not possible that Allah (swt) would create us and leave us without any guidance to spend life on this earth. The claim that sharia (Islamic Law) is outdated and shouldn’t be taken into our everyday life – the dress code, the act of worship, the way of life etc. eventually means Allah (swt) is being accused of not knowing and that person is claiming to know better.

These days we have come to this system of grading Muslims – saying that he is a moderate Muslim, she is an extreme Muslim and so on. Having a combined lifestyle of Islamic faith and adopting some of the practices of western traditions (which are not Islamic) makes us better in the sight of a lot of those who are part of the moderate Muslim groups. Subhanallah! If we are convinced with the kalmia (islamic creed) of La Ilaha IllalAllah (there’s no God worthy of worship but Allah) – we shouldn’t even categorize Muslims. Since, with the kalima comes our conviction that Islam is the middle ground– and following the commands of Allah (swt) as laid down in the Quran and following the sunnah of our prophet (saw) is what should make us moderate Muslims – since that’s the middle path. How can the sharia be changed by the land and geographic boundaries? The problem with a lot of us who question the command of Allah (swt) is that we take Islam merely as a means of religion – just like any other faith who practice on certain days and times or occasions – we have forgotten that it’s a way of life. Unfortunately, the best of the generations – the lives of the prophets, the sahabas, tabe’ins and such righteous people does not appeal to us as role models – we are more enticed by the examples of those who we see in the magazine covers, or on the TV – or who win some world class prize. What about the greatest of the greatest reward of al-jannah? This is the reward that our pious predecessors have been granted. Sadly, al-jannah is not something we desire these days. We are more into the love of this temporary dunya – as long as we are recognized by some people in the society and as long as we can satiate our desires till it’s too tired to seek anymore.

Even I can recall myself being in certain situations where I never understood something – however, over time as things became clear, I realized that our entire problem is with our AQEEDA – how strong is our conviction to this. And how deep its rooted inside of us.
It’s so important that we clarify on our aqeeda – since it’s the tawheed which makes us muslims. We find it so easy and okay to ridicule anything religious these days – that so and so prays too much, so and so is too much into Islam, that person dresses up too conservatively and so on and so forth. And instead of obeying the commands we make fun of it when we see someone following it! Of-course we do not realize when we make the fun (and i hope that's the case instead of intentional mockery) – however, I hope it’s not too late on us and I hope time doesn’t give up on us. So, the problem is in the fact of our submission to the will of Allah (swt). These days we don’t question on abortion rights or any other rights that the society implements and enacts (which are of-course made man and has immense flaws) but when it comes to the issues of following the commands of Allah (swt) and His Rasul (saw) – we have a lot of questions, concerns and even come up with suggestions as to how we can make it suitable for this day and age. Where’s our conviction to our creed? Whenever we are reminded of our duties as servants of Allah (swt), we should say ‘I hear and I obey.’

May Allah (swt) give us the tawfiq to be submissive to His and His will alone and to have a qalb that is free from all desires except Him and Him alone. May He guide us – so that we may be of those who He loves and who He assists. May we be of those who find much sweetness in prostrating to His commands and laws. And may we be of those who hears and obeys! Ameen!