Monday 29 June 2009

The Help of Allah (SWT)...

... arrives in unimaginable ways.

An example (related to the event of Badr):

"... They (the believers) saw them (the disbelievers) with their own eyes twice their number (although they were thrice their number)..."

(Mohsin Khan's translation/meaning of the Qur'an, part of Verse 3:13)

"... their firmness, zeal, and discipline won them divine aid. Enemy prisoners stated that the enemy ranks saw the Muslim force to be many times larger than it was."

(Footnote accompanying verse 3:13 of Yusuf Ali's translation/meaning of the Qur'an)

Saturday 20 June 2009

Add a forehead to those knees

"The greater reformer Martin Luther King is quoted as saying, 'I have so much to do today, I'll need to spend another hour on my knees.' To him, prayer was not a mechanical duty but rather a source of power in releasing and multiplying his energies."

('The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People')

"If you take a child and you throw the child up, there's a point where they go into this state of complete panic. And then when they come back to your arms they're laughing. THAT is Dunya. I guarantee you. That moment, that is your life. You came from God and you're going back to God. And there's just a moment where you're in complete state of panic. But just relax, you're in good hands. You're in good hands."

(Attributed to Hamza Yusuf by the person who sent it to me)

Monday 15 June 2009

Good Conduct

"There are ten qualities of good conduct: not to break promise, to do justice, not to take revenge, to recognize evil as sin, not to raise excuse, to bear the harm of others, to restrain passion, to know one's own faults from seeing the faults of others, to come to everyone with smiling face and to talk with humility with others."

(Source: Attributed to Usuf bin Asbat in Ihya Ulum-id-Din, the Chapter of Good Conduct)

I score low. Much to rectify.

allahumma kamaa 7assanta khalqee fa 7assin khuluqee wa 7arrim wajhee 3alaa-an-naar.

Thursday 11 June 2009

Turn and Face

wa idhaa-altafata iltafata ma3an (jamee3an)

"When he addressed a person he turned his whole body towards that person.

(He did not only turn his face towards the person he addressed, as this is considered impolite, and sometimes it denotes pride. Sayyidana Rasulullah Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam faced the person he spoke to, with his chest and body...)..."


(Source: Shamaa-il Tirmidhi with commentary by Shaykhul Hadith Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhelwi)

A very difficult Sunnah to incorporate. Maybe it's just me. Try it for a day.

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Fly the Flag

"... Distinction. The Prophet (SAWS) placed a good degree of emphasis throughout the Hadith on the Muslims being distinct in their dress and habits from other people in their community..."

"... This is for a sense of identity..."

"... People should be able to look at you and say, 'Wow, and that's a Muslim'..."

(Source: 'Shamail of Imam Tirmidhi (RA)' audio series by Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar)

Taken from 8-14 minutes of the talk on the 'Hair of the Prophet (SAWS)'. But we're not just talking about hair here.

http://www.sacredlearning.org/classrooms/hadith/shamail_tirmidhi/index.htm