Perspicacity

Bismillah walHamdulillah wassalatu wassalamu 'ala Rasulillah.

Nothing that the Prophet (saws) has brought us is without consequence;
nothing he brought is is a MERE something.
Everything is Light,
Everything is Guidance
Everything is Closeness
Nothing is insignificant.

- LAH111

Knowledge is the Most Valuable Thing

Bismillah wassalatu wassalamu 'ala Rasulillah.

Imam Bukhari (may Allah benefit us through him and through you), explained in his Sahih that knowledge comes before speech and action and that the Scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets. Knowledge comes to us through people, not from reading books.

Chapter 3: The Book of Knowledge

X. On knowledge [is preconditional] before speaking and action according to the words of Allah, "Know then that there is no god but Allah," (47:19) where He begins with knowledge.

• The people of knowledge are the heirs of the Prophets and and they inherit knowledge. The one who takes knowledge is taking an ample share.
  
• And if someone travels a path in quest of knowledge, Allah will make his path to the Garden easy.
  
• Allah says, "Only His slaves who have knowledge fear Allah," (35:28) and "Only those with knowledge will understand it," (29:43) and "They will say, 'If only we had really listened used our minds, we would not have been the Companions of the Blaze." (67:10) and
• "Are they equal: those who know and those who do not know?" (39:9)

• The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "If Allah desires good for someone, He gives him understanding in the deen. Knowledge is gained by learning." Abu Dharr pointed to his neck and said,
  
• "If you were to put the sword here and I thought that I could finish one sentence which I heard from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, before you finished me, I would say it." Ibn 'Abbas said [in the tafsir of 3:79],
• "Be people of religious knowledge (rabbaniyun), people of forbearance and fiqh." It is said that the rabbani is the one who instructs people with simple knowledge before deeper knowledge.

wa billahi tawfiq

Lesson Notes: Who are the Awliyah?

Bismillah wassalatu wassalamu 'ala Rasulillah.

ALLAH subhanaHu wa ta'ala has mentioned in the ayah that talks about the friends of Allah or the saints of Allah:

"Behold! verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve;
Those who believe and (constantly) guard against evil;-
For them are glad tidings, in the life of the present and in the Hereafter;
no change can there be in the words of Allah. This is indeed the supreme felicity." (10:62-64)

The Awliyah are those who Allah has special concern for. He is the One protecting them from His wrath by keeping them on the Staright Path. A Wali is someone who Allah draws close, plural Awliyah. The Akhirah is what counts after all - forever - the most significant portion of a person's existence - It matters.

Who? Those who believed, who had that complete IMAN, certitude in the Revelation of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger. What does it mean to believe? It means that one practices, it means that one does, avoids the haram. When you reach for the haram, it is something that is gross and unacceptable, something that is not from the adab of the Shari'ah, something that the Prophet (saws) would have been disgusted by, you find your hand pulls back and doesn't want that thing. This is what IMAN means, full IMAN, complete IMAN, the conviction that Allah has not revealed any of this for His own benefit, but for my benefit. This is the IMAN.

"Wa kanu yattaqoon..." - it has a relationship with godfearingness, TAQWA, meaning that one avoids that which is disadvantageous to one, so the more the IMAN, the more the TAQWA, the more the TAQWA the more the IMAN.

And when somebody does something that entails they blew it, like they did something disgusting, and they threw it back like they were throwing their TAQWA away completely, their IMAN takes a pounding also, at the same time, and this is something everybody knows. Do something that is wrong, and you know it's wrong, particularly if it has several successive steps that lead up to the haram, the gross, the revolting, what happens your IMAN decreases; a person who persists in it becomes shaky and his very IMAN gets shaken. And also if you hang around people who have no IMAN, pretty soon you find that your TAQWA diminishes, this is acceptable and that is acceptable and on it goes by degrees until one finds that it was less than one was before...

Allah says, "There's are the great good tidings in this world and the Next. There is no switching the words of Allah. That is the mighty triumph." - May Allah make us and you of them, ameen

So what are the signs? IMAN and TAQWA. We find all kinds of decisions which have to be made. Shall I do this, shall I not do this? How shall I organise my time? This is the practical way of gaining IMAN and TAQWA, that Allah can make us one of the awliyah, this is the way of Sufism. It is not one of those fake books that try to sell you secrets. But this is the means, by which IMAN and TAQWA come about in a complex and variegated world, and when Allah wants, He will manifest His Favour and His Bounty to the individual that is striving. This Path, tariqa, sirat, minhaj, all these are metaphors of the road, but there isn't any distance, it is a transformation of the self..."


Wa billahi tawfiq

Lesson Notes: True Happiness

Bismillah wassalatu wassalamu ala Rasulillah.

How to truly forgive a person and cleanse the heart of malice towards one who has wronged you:

Through Iman and Islam, through training oneself. If you can’t mention the person without saying something bad about them, you should stop mentioning them. Keep the name off your tongue and after some time the malice will leave your heart completely. “Where words go, the heart goes.” And so, by stopping the words it can have a tremendous impact on the heart; similarly with the way of dhikr.

Well, what about all the rotten things they did?

Allah tells us that whoever did any good will see it and whoever did any evil will see it. Allah has already taken care of things. On the Day, He will not leave a bit of it without taking care of it.

On a higher level than this, we realise that happiness is from Allah Alone. When we realise that Allah has made others a trial for us; the way we have to regard people is that if they do good, we have to thank Allah, and if they do bad, then we have patience for the sake of Allah. The higher way that Islamic teaches is that if it is for someone else’s sake we correct it, but not for when it’s just for the sake of ourselves.

Happiness doesn’t depart because of other people, rather happiness exists when Allah creates it in the heart of a person, so for someone whose happiness is Allah, the Divine Presence can’t be used up; It’s Infinite. When Allah makes your whole happiness the Divine Presence, everything else seems a lot less important after that, and you realise your whole happiness is not in getting even or correcting so-and-so.

At the level of Islam, Iman and Ihsan, Shaykh Adl once said,
“I have made my good name a charity for the entire Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad (saws), and if there is anybody that can tear up my good name that wants, I forgive them.” - How could he say such a thing? He could say it because he had a Higher Source of happiness that Allah created in his heart.

So [for the one who has wronged you] you have to pray for them. Love for someone can be removed from the heart by a sufficient number of offences to remove the love, and similarly love can be put back into the hearts, so take the means…

Wa billahi tawfiq

Lesson Notes: Allah's Loving Kindness

Bismillah wassalatu wassalamu ala Rasulillah.

Don't give up: The whisperer (in Surah an-Nas) comes between you and your Beloved and makes you forget His goodly favours and graces upon you and makes you remember your own bad deeds so much that you become pessimistic about Allah and His Messenger (saws). he whispers to you that 'this religion is too difficult' and to 'give yourself a break', since 'you can never hope to reach the ranks of the awliyah'. The point is that you will become fed up with your ibadah.

Seldom do you find ascetics an devotees that they are grieved and saddened because they know that Allah has required slavehood from them (the earth and the mountains were afraid of this burden - "Verily We offered the Trust to the heavens and the mountains and they were apprehensive to do it, and man offered to bear it...").

The ascetics couldn't see beyond this burden and see the loving kindness of Allah. So they sought Allah's help as they felt they couldn't bear it, and grief became their companion.

The people of ma'arif realised that they had been laden with moral responsibilities (an immense matter) and they realised they would be too weak to to carry it if they were left to bear it themselves (Allah said that man has been created weak); they realised that and they returned to Allah with dua, with the love of Him,

"Oh Allah I love You, so help me."

Whoever places his trust wholly in Allah, Allah is his sufficiency. So when Allah says, "What does my servant ask of Me?", they want to be with Him forever. And so they proceed towards Allah, carried by the subtle gifts of Allah and on the bridge of Allah's loving kindness...


Wa billahi tawfiq

Lesson Notes: The Three Realities

Bismillah wassalatu wassalamu ala Rasulillah.

Having a good opinion of Allah:
Remember Allah and stop thinking about people. Remember that all tribulations ('blows of fate') come from Allah. He has sent you good after good after good. If you count Allah's blessings you can't count them, because you don't realise all the good He has given you. Every breath that you take is a blessing. All the good He has sent you far outweighs the trial.

Remember the Three Realities:

You
Allah
Death

You don't know the future so you are shortsighted. Children don't want to do what you tell them as they don't understand it is for their own benefit. They will value these things eventually.

The hero in your own movie:
The nafs is always writing a story of which you are the hero. Your ego always tells you about what you have done, making it difficult to identify your faults. The way that you see the world is skewed.

When you read about how the Prophet (saws) gave and never took revenge for himself, you don't understand this because your whims have defeated you. Your ego completely skews the way you look at the world. The problem is not that the Prophet (saws) didn't show you what to do, the problem lies with you. The impulse of the ego is to say that "he was just a human being"; this is what stopped people from benefiting from him.

The ideal prayer is you say Allahu Akbar, and you enter a different place and are completely focused on Allah. Some people say that is too difficult and it can't be done, that "no one can do it". Some people have envy, but say, "so does everybody else". Their nafs has skewed reality, so they say that everybody is the same and there are no special people who are beloved by Allah.

The essence of slavehood:
The moment that one realises that one is nothing, that is when one realises that Allah is one's Lord. One blames oneself, not one's Lord.

Have you fallen short of your obligations?

Take yourself to task that you have had bad manners towards Him, and just keep asking. The true benefit of asking is the feeling of neediness towards Him. Use your lack of self-satisfaction to improve...


Wa billahi tawfiq

Remembrance before Sleeping

Bismillah wassalatu wassalamu ala Rasulillah

‘O Allaah, Knower of the seen and the unseen, Creator of the heavens and the earth, Lord and Sovereign of all things I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped except You. I take refuge in You from the evil of my soul and from the evil and shirk of the devil, and from committing wrong against my soul or bringing such upon another Muslim.’

Lesson Notes: Gratitude

“What is the definition of gratitude?

It's disposing one's blessings for that for which they were created. This is the definition of the fuqaha. Why is the masjid there, and why is the adhan there and why are there two feet sitting there at the bottom of your legs?

Many people can't walk...”

Ya Latif

Seeking Himmah

A friend sent me the message from Shaykh Nuh Keller (hafidhahullah) to his students on the death, in 2004, of his Shaykh Abdur Rahman as-Shaghouri - Allah have mercy upon him. A reminder to myself and anyone who Allah causes to stumble upon it...

"....Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'oun
and I would like everyone to take a minute
to pray for him whenever you pray
Insha'Allah to make a resolve to have tawbah
and to have the kind of istiqamah*
that we never saw anything besides from him
and to have high himmah** always
and to always be salik***...

wa billahi ta'ala tawfiq
walhamdulillahi rabbil 'alameen"

*Steadfastness
**Spiritual Resolve
***traveller, one who is never self-satisfied
Ya Latif

Al Habib Ali's Message to the Sisters

...We need the Muslim woman to fulfil her role in her society. The society which does not allot the opportunity for the woman to do her part does not produce a stable environment for living. Muslim women, regardless of your circumstance, you have a mission. If you are young, you inherit the position of A’isha, for she was quite young when she married the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him. If you are widow, you are our mother, as was Sawda who was a widow when she married the Prophet peace be upon him. If you are very old, so you are our mother, as Umm Salama was. If you are divorced, you are our mother: Hafsa. And if you were not a Muslim before and were Christian, you too are our mother: Māriyya. If you were Jewish and became Muslim, you are our mother: Safiyya. If you are a rich business woman, then you are our mother: Khadīja. If you are a generous woman, you are or mother Zaynab. In any circumstance you are in, the Prophet of Allah peace be upon him taught us to respect you because he took on wives of a great variety of difference, not for pleasure, or else he would have taken the most beautiful ones, but he was permitted to take this large number so that we can be taught that regardless of a woman’s circumstance, it is not permitted for her to be looked down upon, nor deprived of her rights, and that any degrading look towards a woman for any circumstance she is in childhood, old age, divorce is a degrading look to a wife of the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him.When we discuss your role, we need it to be in accordance to this sublime middle way. Do not surrender yourselves to injustice. As men, we must acknowledge injustices in our homes done in the name of Islam, and Islam is innocent of them. But neither should we push them to what is termed ‘liberation,’ but is in reality depriving them of every sublime quality they could possess. It makes them a piece of merchandise that is marketed to sell a car or otherwise...

in From Protest to Engagement

Allah preserve him ameen

Imam Jazuli

Imam Jazuli, who compiled Dalail al Khayrat, said:

O God, I believed in Muhammad (pbuh) but did not see him; do not deprive me in the Gardens of his vision. Bestow his company upon me and cause me to die in his religion. Let me drink from his Pool a quenching, pleasant, delightful drink after which we shall never thirst again. You are powerful over everything. O God, convey to the soul of Muhammad my greetings and peace. O God, as I believed in Muhammad but did not see him, do not deprive me in the Gardens of his vision.”
~ Imam Jazuli (Rahimahullah)

from:
Dala'il Al-Khayrat: The Story of a Text by Sidi Adam Larson

See what they see

Bismillah wassalatu wassalamu ala Rasulillah.

I just remembered when a Shaykh was asked if it is true that the Prophet (sallallahu'aliahi wa sallam) said a dua every time he drank a glass of water. And he (hafidhahullah) pointed out that there are some people, when they see a glass of water, they don't see the same thing we see.

Is it that when we look at the glass, we feel thirst, whereas they see something that may be used as a means to please Allah? Or much more than that?

And then recently, I learnt from another Shaykh (hafidhahullah) that the reason we don't see what they see is that we may look a the world and see the Signs, the manifestation of Allah's creative Will and Power in it, whereas they see Allah's Light and everything else coming from it. That is, they are aware of the Divine Presence at every moment.

What would it be like to see what they see?

Wa billahi tawfiq.

Beautiful Recitation

By Hafiz Remzi Er (may Allah reward him).



And a beautiful rendition of the hadith of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) by Talib al Habib:

I haven't written for so long, not that anyone will notice!

Been studying when I can fit it in around everything else.

Just completed 'Journey to Allah' at Sunnipath.

Alhamdulillah I like to think it has helped me, and it has a lot, though I have a LONG LONG WAY to go in terms to appreciating the inner meanings of Habib Ali's words (may Allah preserve him). There is a lovely book to go with this course, called Wayfarers to God. Shaykh AbdulKareem Yahya, who taught us pointed out that although one can benefit form reading this on ones own, it's always best to study with a Shaykh, who can answer questions and clear up misconceptions.

Nevertheless it's an excellent read for all seekers on the Path.

Alhamdulillah

Transience

Peace be with you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings!
A poem I just finished today. Bear with me, I'm still new at this!

Transience

The blossom on my neighbour’s tree
brings cheerfulness to grey mornings.
Passers-by even stop to take photos
With the latest mobile phones.

Like pink snow it starts to fall,
Shrivelling up in the warm sun.
Swept away gently by the wind,
Gone forever.

Overnight falls blessed rain.
Emerald robes soon flutter in the breeze,
Calmly rustling in praise of their Maker
But they too fall lifeless at summer’s end.

Why waste life striving for the worthless,
When it lasts for a fleeting moment?
If you desire what is destined to perish,
will you ever find real contentment?

‘Your deeds alone are faithful’*
Reflect on the truth of these words.
Hasten to true success and fulfilment
Turn in repentance to the Eternal One.

*Maulana Rumi

Thirsts Quenched Forever

Peace be upon you.
Today I was reflecting upon the time when the believers would go to the Hawd - The Pool of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The great Mujaddid (reformer) Imam 'Abdallah 'Alawi Al-Haddad touches on it in his book 'The Lives of Man'

• It's expanse is as wide as a month's journey
• It is filled through two channels from al-Kauthar, a fountain/river in Paradise
• It's water is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey
• It has more pitchers (jugs) than the stars in the sky, and
• once the believers drink from it, they will never be thirsty ever again.

Two groups of people will be turned away from it - the disbelievers who will fall from the Sirat into Hell, and the sinful believers who have to spend some time in Hell before being allowed to drink from it before entering Paradise.

And I was overcome with fear - what if I am turned away from it?

People talk of humiliation and disappointment in their wordly life, but rarely think about how it would feel to be turned away from the Hawd due to the burden of their sins. It is only by the Mercy of Allah that we could taste of its sweetness.

Anyhow, I wrote a short poem about it. I hope you like it.

The Watering Place

O fragrant expanse of white incandescence ,
filled with al-Kauthar’s heavenly sweetness!
~
The Chosen One (s) your honoured owner,
Your countless carafes await the successful.
~
Thirsts eternally quenched, endless Bliss thereafter –
What if I am turned away from you?

~

Something to reflect upon...

From My Sisters' Lips

O Beloved Servants of Allah!

I've just finished reading the book, 'From My Sisters' Lips' by

Na'ima bint Robert. A beautiful book by a beautiful sister

She's also written some lovely children's books, too. May Allah reward you, dear sister.

Treasured moments, precious links

Last night I thought I'd make chapattis - which may not mean very much to people who make them every day, but I don't so they're still a bit of a novelty at our house.

My youngest managed to roll out a small mis-shapen roti for herself(well, no one else would eat it!). I cooked a lamb curry to go with it, but she preferred to spread her's with butter.

As my children tucked in, it took me back to a childhood memory. Sometimes, we would run home from school at lunchtime to the smell of rotis wafting from the kitchen. My mother would make me a fresh one, I'd spread it with butter (the real stuff!), and fold it into quarters, then I'd sit at the kitchen table while she carried on with her work.
You know, it's so true that we only value the true worth of someone when they have gone, ....

"Lord be merciful to them for they have brought me up in my childhood."

(17:24)

Today I've added some links that are dear to me, mainly sisters I have met online or inspired me. Hugs to all of you!

Thoughts on Polygamy

Polygamy is very misunderstood, both by Muslims and non-Muslims. Many Muslims seem to think that Polygamy is encouraged in Islam, and so many men are eager to fulfil this Sunnah, without understanding the huge responsibilities involved. We often put too much emphasis on the first wife having to be patient, when it is probably the one of the biggest trials for a woman to go through. Is it not a betrayal for a woman to find out suddenly that her husband has married another? It may seem irrational; you might wonder want to ask, 'Why doesn't she just get over it', because you haven't been through it, but I think the first wife has every right to be angry when her husband, who barely had time to carry out his existing responsibilities suddenly has time for another wife. As for secret marriages, they are not only invalid, but messy and unjust to both wives. The deception involved as far as the first wife is concerned, and the unequal treatment to the second wife, as she is has it little better than a mistress. Polygamy in this case is being used to justify a selfish man's secret affair.

Polygamy falls into the category of actions which are merely permitted, but not encouraged. The majority of men do not have the strength of character to understand the huge responsibility they place upon their shoulders. Allah knows His creation, and He commands quite clearly that if a man fears he might deal unjustly with his wives, then he should marry ONLY ONE. Something which a lot of men forget very easily! A man who truly understands this responsibility would tremble from fear of Allah's wrath:

A man who marries more than one woman and then does not deal justly with them will be resurrected with half his faculties paralysed. (Sahih al-Bukhari).

There was a time when a Muslim man married a second wife, he would have the courage to do it out in the open, introducing his new wife to the community. But even then, it is rare for a man to be fair to his wives, indeed I have yet to encounter one. In fact I know of a man who has two wives where half his body was paralysed by a stroke. May Allah have mercy upon him, and May Allah guide us and protect us, ameen.

A blogger is born

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.

Alhamdulillahi Rabbil 'Alameen. Wassalatu Wassalamu ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa 'ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'een.

Assalamu alaikum O beloved ones of Allah.
I'm a Muslim mother of three living in the UK. Hoping to be a 'proper writer' some day, bi'ithnillah. This is a space to share some of my thoughts with you.
I've never written a blog, or even a diary, so feel free to share your advice about writing/blogging.

Fi amanillah