General Musings « Seeking His Pleasure Through Patience

8 Syawal already?

September 28, 2009 at 12:13 | In General Musings, People, spirituality | Leave a Comment
Tags: love, rose, sacrifice, selfless

Assalaamu’alaikum everyone!

I hope it’s not too late…

Eid_Mubarak_White_Edition_by_DonQasim

SubhanAllah… Astaghfirullah, forgive me, I’ve been so preoccupied with work and Ramadhan and now Syawal =)

If you live amongst the Malay-Muslims in Southeast Asia, the coming of Syawal is huge deal. In fact, ‘Eid celebrations are stretched over the entire month of Syawal here, so by hook or by crook, no matter how tired we get, we’d go house-visiting at any free time we have, all for the sake of maintaning and strengthening the ukhwah with our family and friends.

So there’s always mountains of food to be prepared, dozens of relatives and friends to visit, another few dozen more guests to entertain… so yes, we’ve got our hands full.

So, anyway, enough about ‘Eid celebrations in Southeast Asia, in this post I’d like to share a wonderful note I stumbled across on Facebook =)

The Rose Within

A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully and before it blossomed, he examined it.

He saw the bud that would soon blossom, but noticed thorns upon the stem and he thought, “How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns? Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and just before it was ready to bloom… it died.

So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth, grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects.

We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.

Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns of another, and find the rose within them.

This is one of the characteristic of love… to look at a person, know their true faults and accepting that person into your life… all the while recognizing the nobility in their soul. Help others to realize they can overcome their faults. If we show them the “rose” within themselves, they will conquer their thorns. Only then will they blossom many times over.

SubhanAllah… and that is precisely why Islam does not condone monasticism =)

And why I love to say that Islam is a social religion.

I shall end off here, Insya’Allah I’ll be posting more regularly. =)

Have a blessed Syawal everyone! =D

Ahlan wa Sahlan Ya Ramadhan!

August 21, 2009 at 23:57 | In General Musings | 1 Comment
Tags: fasting, ramadan, ramadhan

SubhanAllah…

Look at how fast time has flown by.

Not only is it already August, it’s also another Ramadhan here in Singapore.

Doesn’t it scare us sometimes, when we reflect on how we’ve spent our time, and how fast it all went by.

Now do we realise how temporary the dunya is?

Let’s make full use of this Ramadhan. It’s not just about fasting. If you realise just how special Ramadhan is, I assure you, you’d be chasing after every second of it, doing something meaningful that would benefit you in the hereafter.

Heh, no, I’m not going to tell you. Because all of us, including myself, must make the effort to find out. We cannot be spoon-fed with info all the time. Half the fun is in painstakingly making the effort to search for the knowledge =)

Let us make the effort to be better servants, better members of the ummah, better daughters, better sons; better sisters, better brothers; better neighbours, better friends; better cousins, better aunts,uncles, better leaders… whatever it is the different groups of people that we belong to =)

May Allah swt Give us the strength and determination to achieve all that, to attain MardhatIllah =)

Have a blessed, meaningful Ramadhan everyone!

recharge_your_battery_by_abdelghany

my dream school

July 2, 2009 at 11:11 | In General Musings | 1 Comment
Tags: dar al mustafa, dar al zahra, hadhramaut, halaqah, islam, madrasa, muslim school, traditional, yemen

Assalaamu’alaikum!!!

Ok, everyone, today I present… My Dream School !!!

The relatively simple rooms, which are equipped with air conditioners and ceiling fans, are furnished with small desks for each student and small individual closets. Students typically sleep on thin mattresses or comforters. The Dar al-Mustafa campus is a multi-story structure with several hallways on each floor. Each hallway has a community bathroom with toilets, wudu, and ghusl facilities.

All students eat in a common dining hall for three meals a day. There is a convenience store on campus where students can buy refreshments, snacks, and some amenities during certain hours of the day. There is also a small bookstore where students can purchase notebooks and other learning materials as well as the books in the school curriculum. A small infirmary is available to students and is equipped to handle minor medical needs or illnesses.

Classes, which are conducted in learning circles (halaqas), are held in the main prayer hall as well as in some additional classrooms. Learning circles contain an average of 10 to 12 students, although some circles can be much larger and some much smaller.

Below is a typical schedule of a student’s day at Dar al-Mustafa (exact times may vary):

03:45am – wake up for tahajjud and adhkar

05:00am – pray Fajr

05:30am – Quran recitation and adhkar

06:00am – 1^st class: Jurisprudence (fiqh)

06:50am – 2^nd class: Arabic grammar (nahw)

07:40am – break for exercise and breakfast

09:00am – 3^rd class: Hadith or Theology (aqidah)

09:50am – 4^th class: Quranic exegesis (tafsir)

10:40am – nap time (qaylulah)

12:30pm – wake up and pray Zuhr

01:15pm – Quran recitation

01:45pm – break for lunch and daytime duties

04:00pm – pray Asr

04:45pm – 5^th class: Sciences of the Heart

06:15pm – break

06:45pm – pray Maghrib

07:15pm – 6^th class: Jurisprudence (fiqh)

08:15pm – pray `Isha

08:40pm – eat dinner

09:20pm – study time for reviewing material and homework

11:00pm – lights out

http://www.daralmustafa.org/

What a wonderfully simple life they lead there, SubhanAllah! This is Dar Al-Mustafa, for the brothers, Dar Al-Zahra is for the sisters =)

How I wish I could go there and study Islam the traditional way =))) I have a few friends who have gone there and they’re all wonderful people, Masya’Allah =)

But I have to get my basics right first before I even dream to step in there. Starting this Sunday Insya’Allah =)

I apologise for the lack of posts, I’ve been preoccupied with commitments =)

Have a blessed Rajab ahead, everyone!

rajab du'aa

Allahumma barik lana fi Rajab wa Sha’ban wa ballighna Ramadan

O Allah! Make the months of Rajab and Sha’ban blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadan (i.e. prolong our life up to Ramadan, so that we may benefit from its merits and blessings) [Narrated by at-Tabarani and Ahmad]

Let’s not be like this

June 11, 2009 at 23:31 | In General Musings | Leave a Comment
Tags: al ghazali, alchemy of happiness, allah, dzikrullah, ghazzali, muhammad, muslim, Muslims, Prophet, Rasulullah, reflections, sunnah

Al Ghazali

The Alchemy of Happiness

Chapter : Self-examination and the recollection of God

A certain saint named Amiya, sixty years of age, counted up the days of his life. He found they amounted to twenty-one thousand six hundred days.

He said to himself, ” Alas! If I have committed one sin every day, how can I escape from the load of twenty-one thousand six hundred sins?”

He uttered a cry and fell to the ground; when they came to raise him they found him dead. But most people are heedless, and never think of calling themselves to account.

If for every sin a man committed he placed a stone in an empty house, he would soon find that house full of stones; if his recording angels demanded wages of him for writing down his sins, all his money would soon be gone.

People count on their rosaries with self-satisfaction the numbers of times they have recited the name of God, but they keep no rosary for the numberless idle words they speak.

Astaghfirullahal’adzhim.

We live in world where silence is seen as a weakness. Boring. Uninteresting. Defenceless even, if we’re engaged in some heated discussion. Not worth our time spending time with someone who doesn’t talk much.

Doesn’t matter what kind of talk it is, but as long as we just talk a lot, we’re worth something somehow.

But are the things we’ve talked about going to get us any closer to Allah swt? Will it help us get into Paradise?

Did you know?

Rasulullah s.a.w. was a man of few words. I’ve heard and read that repeatedly.

But when he does speak, everyone listens attentively. When he does speak, it’s not in long winding sentences, and he would repeat an important point three times.

I think there’s a certain psychology right there. =)

Allahumma solli ‘ala Sayidina Muhammad

More than ourselves

June 4, 2009 at 21:24 | In Dzikr, General Musings | Leave a Comment
Tags: allah, dzikrullah, hadith, islam, muhammad, nabi, Prophet, rasulallah, Rasulullah, reflections, sunnah, zikrullah

Assalaamu’alaikum everyone!

I’ve decided to take a break from posting at my personal blog and sharing stuff on Facebook. And MSN as well. =) I can’t, unfortunately, take a break from e-mail as I have to use it to fulfil several responsibilities. But I think I’ll still be sharing my thoughts and knowledge here. =)

I sensed a subtle but growing addiction to Facebook and MSN, which pretty much screwed up my intentions and practically depleted my remembrance of Allah swt and my love for Rasulullah s.a.w. It may not seem like a major sin, but to me it’s practically a death sentence. Yeah, I’m a little bit on the extreme side when it comes to this =)

Anyway, what triggered this action was a video interview of Shaykh Hamza Yusuf in which he spoke about The Essence of Mawlid, from Ustaz Noor Deros’ videos. When I saw how emotional he got when he was describing the Sahabah’s love for Rasulullah s.a.w., I realised mine was at, what, 5%?

I knew then, it was time to detach myself from the online dunya for a while. =)

Anyway, I found this while I was trying to find a hadith that Shaykh Hamza mentioned in the video that reduced me to tears.

May this benefit all of us Insya’Allah =)

Fi Amanillah

DEVELOPING TRUE LOVE FOR ALLAH’S MESSENGER (SAAW):

Having the proper love for Allah’s Messenger (SAAW) is a must for any Muslim who is striving to please his/her Lord and who seeks his/her Lord’s Forgiveness. Learning how to properly apply this love for the last Nabee (SAAW) is to properly implement the testimony: wa ash hadu ana Muhammadan rusulu Allah (SAAW).

Indeed, one cannot just say he/she loves the Prophet (SAAW) while his/her actions and ‘Aqeedah are fundamentaly against what the Prophet (SAAW) brought (i.e. the Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah). Hence, the first step in the process of developing this love is to acknowledge that the Prophet (SAAW) has a claim over the believers.

Allah has said in the Qur’an (what means): “The Prophet (SAAW) is closer to the believers than their ownselves…” [Al-Ahzab: 6].

Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah (Rahimullah), one of the great scholars of this Ummah, relates that this Ayah means the Prophet (SAAW) has a “higher claim” on the believers than they have on themselves. This claim involves two important matters:

1. WE CONSIDER ALLAH’S MESSENGER (SAAW) TO BE DEARER THAN OUR OWN SELVES.

This is so because this claim is based on love. One has the most claim to oneself for one loves oneself more than anything. Thus, a person knows what types of foods, clothing, etc. he/she likes to eat, drink, etc. more than all others. However, when it comes to Islam, we know that Allah knows us better than we know ourselves; thus, we submit to Him and His Orders. We it comes to the Prophet (SAAW), we are to love him more than our own selves; thus, we too put his commandments above our own opinions, logic, etc.

Once this true love is established, compliance, obedience, satisfication with his (SAAW) jugdements, and other matters related to true love will follow. This is confirmed in the following authentic Haadith found in Sahih Al-Bukhari:

Narrated ‘Abd Allah bin Hisham: ‘We were with the Prophet (SAAW) and he was holding the hand of ‘Umar ibnu Al-Khattab (RAA). ‘Umar said to him, “O Allah’s Messenger (SAAW)! You are dearer to me than everything except my ownself.” Allah’s Messenger (SAAW) said: “No, by Him in Whose Hand my soul is, (you will not have complete Faith) untill I am dearer to you than your ownself.” Then ‘Umar (RAA) said: “However, now, by Allah, you are dearer to me than my ownself.” He (SAAW) then said: “Now, O ‘Umar, (now you are a believer).”

LESSONS FROM THIS HADITH:

A. The Negation and Affirmation:

The Prophet (SAAW) negates (i.e. rejects, denies) that a person can have complete Imaan with his statement, “No, by Him in Whose Hand my soul is…”. Thus, the affirmation, or condition of having complete Imaan, follows: “…until I am dearer to you than your ownself…”. Therefore, the Muslim will never attain true Imaan unless he/she considers the Prophet (SAAW) to be dearer to him/her than everything including one’s ownself.

B. Character of the Sahabah:

Upon hearing that true Imaan can only be achieved through loving the Messenger (SAAW) more than everything, including one’s self, ‘Umar (RAA) quickly complied with the commandment of the Prophet (SAAW). The Sahabah wasted no time in doing those acts which were pleasing to Allah and His Messeger (SAAW).

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.zawaj.com/knowledge/hadith/love_proph.html