Bring the Joy!

Some of my favourite things in Ramadan that bring me joy:
– The peaceful silence when we wake up for suhoor.
– Seeing the sleepy faces of my family members!
– That first pang of hunger of the day, reminding me that I am fasting and the chance to remember that if I can give up food for God, I can also give up bad habits inshaAllah.
– Hearing the azan for maghrib and making du’a, knowing fully that He will not say no as Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam promised, ‘Whatever is prayed for at the time of breaking the fast is granted and never refused.’ WOOOOOHOOOO!
– Hearing my father’s wooden prayer beads clicking when it hits each other when he makes the rounds, knowing that even if I’m not actively remembering Allah, someone in my household is
– That deep joy in the conviction that angels are surrounding me.
– Feeling my knees hurt a little bit when I get up from sujud (hey, no judging! Even the knees of a sprightly 30+ year old like me can hurt doing 20-rakaat tarawih)

Sincerely,
@ameeraaslamwrites

Beauty tips

Although purchasing beauty products is allowed, as Muslims we are taught that beauty comes from within, literally! Our scholars have mentioned in their writings that when a person commits a sin against Allah and that person is persistent and adamant upon sin his/her face darkens. The opposite is also true, when a person observes the Taqwa of Allah and perseveres in Allah’s path his/her face is illuminated with the light of iman (faith). So although the Maybelline may try and make people believe that they are pretty etc while they commit sins, in reality, those who are upon the truth and observe the Taqwa of Allah their face is radiant with the light of iman. It is only the believers who appreciate and discern this light. See below a comment by Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah on this issue. He رحمه الله may not be giving direct beauty tips to people, especially our young brothers and sisters, however, I believe this is the best and most healthy beauty advice one can give

Imam Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله wrote:

“The person who is righteous and honest, his honesty is manifest from the radiance on his face, and his honesty can be known from the glow that is on his face, likewise the (opposite for the) sinful one and the liar. The older a person gets, the more this sign becomes apparent. Thus a person as a child would have a bright face, however if he becomes a sinful person, adamant on committing sins, at the older stages in his life, an ugly face would manifest that which he used to internalize, and the opposite is also true.

It has been narrated that Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه said,

`Indeed righteousness illuminates the heart, radiates the face, strengthens the body, increases provision, and produces a love in the hearts of the creation for that person. Whereas sinfulness darkens the heart, greys the face, weakens the body, and produces hatred in the hearts of the creation for that person.

It is possible that a person may not intentionally lie; he may even be a person who makes great effort in ibadah (worship) and has zuhd (abstains from pleasures of this life that are lawful). However he has false, incorrect `aqidah regarding either Allaah, His deen or His Messenger ﷺ or His righteous servants. And what is on the inside affects what is on the outside. Thus, this false, incorrect `aqidah (belief and incorrect practices) that he thought was true and correct reflects on his face, and his face would be dark in accordance with the level of falsehood he possesses. As it has been narrated that `Uthman ibn Affan رضي الله عنه said,

`No one ever hides evil within themselves except that Allah makes it manifest from his facial outlook and the statements his tongues utters.’

On the Day of Judgment this would be very clear as Allah says,

“And on the Day of Resurrection you will see those who lied against Allah their faces will be black. Is there not in Hell an abode for the arrogant ones?” (Surah Zumar, 39:60)

He also said:

“On the Day when some faces will become white and some faces will become black; as for those whose faces will become dark (to them will be said): “Did you reject Faith after accepting it? Then taste the torment for rejecting Faith.” (Surah ‘Ali Imran, 3:106)

Ibn Abbas and others have said regarding this verse,

`The bright faces will be ahlus-sunnah, and dark faces will be the people of bid’ah and division.’

`Al-Jawab As-Sahih’ (Vol.4, pg. 306-307)

-Source: muslimmatters.com

“But Yusuf kept it within himself…”

“But Yusuf kept it within himself…” [12: 77]

The believer’s tongue is truly bound by piety. For Yusuf, hearing such heartbreaking words from his brothers would’ve been enough to justify lashing back and defending himself. But Yusuf kept it all within himself – what strength of character. It also shows wisdom and resolve because he had a plan, and no amount of sticks or stones was going to deviate him from his plan.

Remember this when you hear hurtful words when all you want to do is achieve your goals or get somewhere in life but all people want to do is bring you down with their plots. Learn to keep it within yourself until you actualize your dreams and look back at them from a lofty place.

Not every word needs a response but every step you take needs your focus and energy.

~Fajr

The Best Forms Of Dhikr

Stay on the Ship..

“He said, “I will take refuge on a mountain to protect me from the water.” Nuh said, “There is no protector today from the decree of Allah, except for whom He gives mercy.” [11: 43]

When the great tests of Allah come, they come for everyone – the good and the bad. They will all face it and only the Mercy of God will save people. So hold onto it with all your strength. The trials of God come in waves; sometimes each wave worse than the other. But in the midst of it all, He will also send His ship; enveloping the people and saving them until the test settles and the waves die out. Stay on the ship and wait patiently until that time.

~Fajr

Believer’s Heart 💖

We often praise the soft of heart. We rightly condemn those who are hard of heart. But the Believer’s heart is somewhere in between.

When too soft, like a sponge, it soaks up all and everything that it sees, hears, experiences, comes into contact with. Worse, it retains it as well. For that is what sponges do.

Ibn al-Qayyim was complaining about doubts and issues once, and so was advised by Ibn Taymiyyah that he should not let his heart be like a sponge retaining all these doubts that he comes across in the seeking and protection of sacred knowledge. But he didn’t tell him to make his heart hard. For that would kill it. No, he told Ibn al-Qayyim to make it *harder*, like glass, clear solid glass. It will then see the issue/doubt and understand it but it will not retain in as it passes over it and goes on its way.

This is excellent advice in the matter of creed and theology (‘aqidah) especially in our modern times with doubts over evolution and genetics and science and secular humanism etc. These matters can be refuted without letting them penetrate us.

But as many as there are people affected by doubts in their ‘aqidah, an equal number are affected by normal day-to-day events that impact on their emotions – that includes how soft or hard to be, how harsh or merciful to be, how much to grieve and how much to ignore and be “heartless” etc.

We all live in difficult times. You don’t need to live in a war-zone and have your children killed in front of you to be the only one deserving to be depressed. Grief is universal and exists at every loss and turn in life and we need to manage that without denigrating or exaggerating the pain and challenges of others. Everybody hurts. Sometimes.

But we *must* learn not to hurt *so* much. We must learn that grief is natural and permissible but never to the amount that it becomes paralyzing. There is divine wisdom in sanctioned mourning periods. There is divine beauty in those verses which remind us of the negligible value of everything in this world. If our softness when we rule, or our mercy when we judge, or our grief when we try to recover starts to affect our lives so much that our lives are forced to change, obligations are neglected, worship is affected and the rules are changed etc, then we need to re-examine our hearts.

Our hearts are made stronger and more stoic when we reflect that this dunya is but a shooting star, and that every single painful event that occurs in our life is insignificant when seen in light of the bigger picture that is the Akhirah.

So don’t let your hearts become so soft like a sponge. Make it harder. Not like a stone, from which you cannot come back from and there is no room for manoeuvre, but instead like glass. Glass is solid and thus it will allow you to see and feel the pain of others and thus empathize and take care of them, it will not retain grief or the depression of the world just automatically, but it is of course fragile and breaks easily which can then be used to our advantage when it is needed for our hearts to be softer than usual.

We were all given eyes to cry. But we were all born to eventually die. We must focus on our destination, not keep asking why.

~Sh. Abu Eesa

Build Good Habits

This Ramaḍān, concentrate on one or two rituals that need improvement, and try your best to add them to your routine, or improve the quality if you are already doing them. If you’re not regular with your prayers, this is the month to work on that. If you have trouble doing your adkhār after the salāt, now is the time to add that habit. If you’ve been lazy with respect to reading Quran, this month is the time to make it a daily habit.

The goal is that you condition yourself to improve in this one (or two, or three) area(s), such that when the month is over, you aim to be consistent in what you’ve mastered in Ramaḍān.

While we can’t maintain the intensity of all of our rituals when Ramaḍān is over, let us strive to be better in Shawwāl compared to Sha’bān. Each Ramaḍān, add some more habits that will make you a better worshipper, so that every year, we raise the bar and be better Muslims.

May Allah bless us all in this month!

-Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Highest Place in Jannah

Sweetness of Emaan

Sometimes when the companions would sit together, they would stare aghast at the vicious scars on Belal’s back, remnants of the torture he endured at the hands of the slave master Umayyah. “How were you able to endure such torment without recanting your faith?”

Belal, may Allah be pleased with him, would answer:

“The bitterness of torture mixed in me with the sweetness of faith, and the sweetness of faith overcame.”

Have you ever seen someone right after they’ve entered Islam, they’ve just taken Shahdah and they start crying. In almost all cases the new Muslim describes the feeling like a ‘burden’ having lifted off their shoulders, and that they feel so light.

You might also recognize that feeling from when you look at the Kaabah for the very first time…The rush of Emaan that you feel in that moment. The sweetness of faith you feel at that time.

Would you only like to taste that sweetness once in a lifetime — or would you cherish savoring it on a consistent basis? That’s what I’m aiming for here, how do we re-taste this sweetness on a weekly basis, even daily?

Here are ten ways you can re-taste this sweetness of faith today:

10. Revisit Sweet Memories
Next time you are sitting with friends, shooting the breeze, ask everyone in the group to share a time when they experienced an EmanRush. By remembering these times, you’ll re-feel the emotions of it.

9. Remembering death
When you go for prayer, remember that one day soon you will die. In your final years and days, it’s these moments of prayer, when you stood before your Lord and called upon Him, that will be amongst your most precious. Cherish it.

8. Do Dhikr
{And remember the Name of Allah much, so that you may be successful.} QUR’AAN 8:45

Start by making it a habit to say your Dhikr of the mornings and evenings on a daily basis.

7. Visit the sick
Actively seek out news of community members in the hospital or who have fallen ill in their homes. Visit them. The sweetness of faith that you’ll feel will stay with you for months after.

6. Feeding the needy
Where you live most likely has a charitable food program. Try volunteering to help deliver the food or participate in some way where you are interacting with the needy directly.

5. Comprehension in Prayer
Recite new verses that you are memorizing. And don’t leave your prostration until you’ve pronounced “Subhan rabbi al-A’laa” at least once with full comprehension and reflection.

4. Call home
Call your parents or extended family. Express your love. Strengthen your bonds of kinship for the sake of Allah, and you will reap the sweetness.

3. Delete the distractions
We all have those apps and trending stories that we know would make our lives so much richer if only we deleted them. So, yeah, take a plunge and remove them. You can always re-install them later if you need to, so no worries.

2. Read Quran for meaning
Sometimes people read Quran just to complete pages. To taste the sweetness of faith read Quran for meaning. Even though you might read slower this way, it’ll be sweet.

1. Make Dua for your Dreams
What do you most desire in your life today? Turn those desires into Duas, and tweak the wording until you get more and more excited. Raise your hands high and ask Allah for these things.

#SweetnessOfEmaan #Faith

-Sh. Muhammad Alshareef

Fasting & The Qur’an

The Qur’an has created links between certain things:

– Between Salaah and Zakaah

– Between obeying Allah and His messenger

– Between gratitude to Allah and parents

The Qur’an mentions these in pairs, making the unbreakable link between them evident.

There is another very obvious link which the Qur’an makes;

Fasting and the Qur’an.

Consider how Allah said: “The month of Ramadan is that in which the Qur’an was revealed..”

And in the same Ayah: “So whoever of you witnesses the month must fast it”
(Al-Qur’an, 2:185)

This link was also applied practically in the Prophet’s PBUH life when the angel Jibreel would study the Qur’an with him on a *nightly* basis in Ramadan.

Fasting in Ramadan is the most universally observed practical pillar of Islam, hence the majority of us will not regret having not fasted, Alhamdulillah. The worry is about its counterpart; the Qur’an.

The great scholar of Hadith, Al-A’mash, said:

“ومما رفعني الله به؛ القرآن”

“What Allah elevated me with was the Qur’an.”

The great student of Ibnu ‘Abbaas, Mujaahid, said:

“طلبت إعراب القرآن خمسة وأربعين سنة أو أربعين سنة”

“I have been studying the linguistics of the Qur’an for 40 (or 45) years.”

Al-Hurr AnNahawi said:

“والله لا تبلغوا ذروة هذا الأمر حتى لا يكون شيء أحب إليكم من الله، فمَن أحب القرآن؛ فقد أحب الله، افقهوا ما يقال لكم”.

“By Allah, you shall never reach the peak of the matter till nothing is dearer to you than Allah. Thus whoever loves the Qur’an has loved Allah. Understand what is being said to you! (i.e. the Qur’an)”

The great scholar of Hadith, Sufyan Ath-Thawri, said:

“ليتني كنت اقتصرت على القرآن”

“I wish I’d limited myself to the Qur’an.”

Shaykhul Islam Ibnu Taymiyya said towards the end of his life:

وندمت على تضييع أكثر أوقاتي في غير معاني القرآن

“I regret having wasted the majority of my time in other than the meanings of the Qur’an.

Their entire lives orbited around the learning, teaching and application of the Qur’an, yet during their final moments, they regretted not dedicating more to it.

The wise are those who benefit from the experiences of those before them.

May He (SWT) make you and I from the people of the Qur’an in what remains of Ramadan, and in what remains of our lives as well.

– Ustadh Ali Hammuda

Focus on Sunnah

Today I want to share a tip for those of you struggling to concentrate on your salah.

DO NOT SKIP your Sunnah prayers!

See: Your obligatory prayers are obligatory. You do it, and that’s awesome.

But do you run off as soon as the obligatory prayers are over? If you do, in fact, if you run off ‘consistently’ after the obligatory prayers, this tip will work even more for you.

The sunnah prayers, by their nature, are voluntary. You don’t have to do it. But if you make it a challenge for the next week, don’t skip your Sunnah prayers.

Get up, pray your sunnahs even though it’s voluntary, and you’ll feel a sweetness that gets stronger and stronger.

Done your obligatory prayers but you’re in too much of a rush to pray your Sunnah?

Still do your sunnah prayers! The sunnah prayers will gently pull you to SLOW DOWN, relax and give your Salah the attention it deserves.

The Messenger of Allah, sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam, said, ”The two-rak’ah sunah of the morning prayer is better than the world and everything that is in the world.” (Muslim)

#Salah #ConcentrationInSalah #Tip

Sh. Muhammad Alshareef

Health & Free time

Of the most precious gifts we have, and yet don’t appreciate, is that of free time. As the Prophet ﷺ said, it is one of the two blessings that most of mankind are cheated out of by their own lack of appreciation of it (the second being good health).

al-Hasan al-Basri said, “O son of Adam! You are but a set number of days; every day that passes is the passing of a part of you.”

And Ibn al-Jawzī writes, “I find that the majority of mankind passes their time away in a strange manner. If they have a long night [to spend], they will chit-chat away regarding things of no value, or read books of no benefit. And if they have a long day [free], they might go to sleep, or spend it on the banks of the river or in the markets. But I remind you of Allah…and to take advantage before it is too late!”

Imagine if he had seen how much time is wasted in our lives on entertainment, or social media, or our phones! We live in a world of distractions, where we have unprecedented mechanisms of ‘passing time’ away idly.

All of this time-wasting shall go, but what will remain are our deeds. Yes, good and ḥalāl entertainment is a part of life that we need. But our priority is to purify our souls and accrue as many deeds as possible.

Ibn Mas’ud said, “My greatest regret is that a day passes, and a whole part of my life is gone, yet I haven’t done anything on that day to increase my good deeds.”

Make every day count, minimize wasting time on entertainment and social media, and have a daily routine of good deeds that you can show on Judgment Day.

May Allah put barakah in our time!

-Dr. Yasir Qadhi