The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
‘The worst type of thief is the one who steals from his prayer.’

He  said (meaning Abu Qatadah said),
‘O Messenger of Allaah, how can a person steal from his prayer?’

He said (meaning the Prophet said (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)),
‘By not doing rukoo’ and sujood properly.’”
(Saheeh al-Jaami’, 997).

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said,

‘The one who does not do rukoo’ properly, and pecks in sujood, is like a starving man who eats only one or two dates; it does not do him any good at all.’”(Saheeh al-Jaami’ -hasan).

The Challenge:

1. Ensure that you are not stealing from your salah by perfecting your ruku (bowing) and sujud (prostration) and not pecking in the prayer inshaAllah!

2. Teach this concept to at least two other people this week

[Source from: www.sunnahclub.wordpress.com]

This wonderful little production has been produced by a young Greek non-Muslim director. And thus what really struck me was that it seems this video was produced virtually 100% to illustrate the statement of Allah jalla wa ‘ala:

And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be excellent to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them, but address them in terms of honour. And lower unto them the wing of submission and humility through mercy, and say: “My Lord! Bestow on them Your mercy as they did bring me up when I was young. (Isra 17:23-24)

[Source: http://www.kalamullah.com/family12.html]

A net on the shore with shells caught in it.

A Response to “Hitting the wall” from an honorable reader and dear friend:

GUEST ARTICLE BY ZR

Bismillah
Assalaamualaikum wa rahmatullah
This first hikam of Ibn A’ta’illah as Sikandari helps one overcome “the wall”

Translated and explained by Sheikh Nuh

1. One of the signs of relying on deeds is loss of hope when a misstep occurs.

The sheikh begins his book with this key aphorism because it is of the adab or “proper way” of travelling the spiritual path to focus upon tawhid or the “Divine Oneness,” in this context meaning to rely upon Allah, not on works, since

“Allah created you and that which you do” (Qur’an 37:96).

The method of the spiritual ascent is threefold, consisting of knowledge (‘ilm), practice (‘amal), and the resultant state (hal) bestowed by Allah. Knowledge here means everything conveyed to us by the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), which is the content of the Sacred Law or shari‘a.

The practice of this knowledge, inwardly and outwardly, with heart and limbs, is the spiritual path or tariqa. The resultant state, Allah’s drawing near to the heart that thus draws near to Him, is the dawning of the Divine Presence upon the soul, termed by Sufis “ultimate reality” or haqiqa.

Ibn ‘Ata’ Illah, as a spiritual guide, is concerned in this work with the second moment of this ascent, that of way and works, so begins his book by letting the traveller know that the matter of his spiritual progress is in Allah’s hands alone. Discouragement at the inevitable mistakes one makes in the path is a sign of relying on one’s deeds rather than on Allah.

Works, whether prayer, or the dhikr or “remembrance” of Allah, or fasting, or jihad, do not cause one to reach the end of the path, but are merely proper manners before the majesty of the Divine while on it.

Just as putting one’s net in the sea does not produce fish, though one must keep it there so that if Allah sends fish they can be caught—so too works are a net, and their spiritual outcomes are from Allah.

Abu Hurayra (Allah be well pleased with him) heard the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) say:

“None of you shall be saved by his works.” A man said, “Not even you yourself, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Not even me myself, unless Allah envelopes me in mercy from Him. But aim to do right” (Muslim, 4.2169: 2816).

Imam Nawawi comments:

The outward purport of these hadiths [n: of which Muslim relates several] bears out the position of those who are in the right, that no one deserves reward and paradise for his acts of obedience. As for the words of Allah Most High

“Enter paradise for that which you have done” (Qur’an 16:32),

and

“That is paradise, which you have been bequeathed for what you used to do” (Qur’an 7:43),

and similar verses that indicate that paradise is entered by virtue of works, they do not contradict these hadiths. Rather, the meaning of the verses is that entering paradise is because of works, although divinely given success (tawfiq) to do the works, and being guided to have sincerity in them, and their acceptability are the mercy of Allah Most High and His favor (Sharh Sahih Muslim, 17.160–61).

The true spiritual path is one of gratitude. Abu Sulayman al-Darani used to say, “How can a sane man be conceited about his spiritual works, when his works are but a gift from Allah and a blessing from Him that he should thank Him for” (Nata’ij al-afkar, 1.114). And Abu Madyan has said,

“The heartbrokenness of the sinner is better than the forcefulness of the obedient” (Diwan, 50).

Ibn ‘Ata’ Illah in this aphorism is apprising the traveller not to be veiled from the true path by his own high resolve. While irada or “will” is presupposed by the way, indeed the word murid or “disciple” is derived from it, the path ultimately sublimates it into its opposite through tawhid, disclosing it to be a mere cause, conjoined with the soul’s ascent not out of logical necessity but out of Allah’s pure largesse. For this reason some sheikhs term a traveller of the former spiritual vantage a murid or “desirer,” and one of the latter a faqir or “needy.” The prophet Moses (upon whom be blessings and peace) said when he reached the land of Midian,

“My Lord, I am truly in need of what good You have sent down to me” (Qur’an 28:24).

This humble sincerity of slavehood, or we could say realism, enables the genuine spiritual traveller to benefit in the path from both his good and his evil.

He benefits from his good by not seeing it as from himself, for as Abu Bakr al-Wasiti says, “The closest of all things to Allah’s loathing is beholding the self and its actions” (‘Uyub al-nafs, 39), that is, because it contradicts tawhid, for Allah says,

“Whatever blessing you have, it is from Allah” (Qur’an 16:53).

And he benefits from his evil by his faith (iman) that it is evil, which is itself an act of obedience; and by repenting from it, which rejoices Allah Most High. Anas ibn Malik (Allah be well pleased with him) relates from the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) that he said:

Truly, Allah rejoices more at the atonement of His servant when he repents to Him than one of you would if he were on his riding camel in an empty tract of desert, and it got away from him with all his food and water on it, and he gave up all hope of finding it, so he came to a tree and laid down in its shade, having despaired of ever seeing it again. While lying there, he suddenly finds it standing beside him, and he seizes its halter, and overjoyed, cries, “O Allah, You are my slave, and I am your lord,” making a mistake out of sheer joy” (Muslim, 4.2104: 2747).

The secret of true repentance (tawba) in the spiritual path is this divine rejoicing it is met with from Allah Most High. Abul Hasan al-Shadhili, the sheikh of Ibn ‘Ata’ Illah’s own sheikh, used to daily pray to Allah: “And when we disobey You, show us even greater mercy than You do when we obey You” (Invocations, 27).

Ibn ‘Ata’ Illah made this the first aphorism of his Book of Wisdoms to apprise the traveller that when failings happen, there is also work to be done: to repent to Allah, to realize that Allah is generous, and to hope for the best from the spiritual path.

The mark of relying on Allah is that one’s hope is undiminished. The mark of relying on one’s self is that it soars until there is a misstep, when it plummets along with its injured pride.

Discouragement in the path is an incomprehension of the Divine Omnipotence, while certitude in the path and in one’s Lord is of the adab of those who know Allah.

© Nuh Ha Mim Keller 2000

Bismillah…

Assalamualaikum wa Rahmatullah…

Alhamdulillah, wa Sallallahu ‘Ala Sayyidna Muhammad wa Alih wa Sahbih wa Sallim. Amma Ba`du:

It is my pleasure to introduce to you all the great lessons and pictures of Sayyidi al-Habib `Umar’s Hajj this year:

A Lesson for the Women: The Sublime Position of the Female Believer

The Comportment, the Ease and the Connection with the Radiant Messenger Sallallahu Alayhi wa Sallam – 2nd Dhul Hijjah

Itihal (Suplication) of `Arafah 1430

Mina 1430: The Secrets (i.e. Wisdoms) of the Connections of the Soul (Ruh) and the Attachments of the Heart (Qalb)

Pictures

The Majlis of the al-Jifri Family:

The Majlis of the al-`Aydarus Family:

May Allah benefit us from the Sayyid. May Allah allow us to receive these lessons with sincerity and recognize that these are from a sincere man of Allah who connects his vast knowledge with action of the heart and limbs.

Wasssalam

Over at StorageNerve, and on Twitter, Devang Panchigar has been asking Is Storage Tiering ILM or a subset of ILM, but where is ILM? I think it’s an important question with some interesting answers.

Devang starts with defining ILM from a storage perspective:

1) A user or an application creates data and possibly over time that data is modified.
2) The data needs to be stored and possibly be protected through RAID, snaps, clones, replication and backups.
3) The data now needs to be archived as it gets old, and retention policies & laws kick in.
4) The data needs to be search-able and retrievable NOW.
5) Finally the data needs to be deleted.

I agree with items 1, 3, 4 and 5 – as per previous posts, for what it’s worth, I believe that 2 belongs to a sister activity which I define as Information Lifecycle Protection (ILP) – something that Devang acknowledges as an alternative theory. (I liken the logic to separation between ILM and ILP to that between operational production servers and support production servers.)

The above list, for what it’s worth, is actually a fairly astute/accurate summary of the involvement of the storage industry thus far in ILM. Devang rightly points out that Storage Tiering (migrating data between different speed/capacity/cost storage based on usage, etc.), doesn’t address all of the above points – in particular, data creation and data deletion. That’s certainly true.

What’s missing from ILM from a storage perspective are the components that storage can only peripherally control. Perhaps that’s not entirely accurate – the storage industry can certainly participate in the remaining components (indeed, particularly in NAS systems it’s absolutely necessary, as a prime example) – but it’s more than just the storage industry. It’s operating system vendors. It’s application vendors. It’s database vendors. It is, quite frankly, the whole kit and caboodle.

What’s missing in the storage-centric approach to ILM is identity management – or to be more accurate in this context, identity management systems. The brief outline of identity management is that it’s about moving access control and content control out of the hands of the system, application and database administrators, and into the hands of human resources/corporate management. So a system administrator could have total systems access over an entire host and all its data but not be able to open files that (from a corporate management perspective) they have no right to access. A database administrator can fully control the corporate database, but can’t access commercially sensitive or staff salary details, etc.

Most typically though, it’s about corporate roles, as defined in human resources, being reflected from the ground up in system access options. That is, human resources, when they setup a new employee as having a particular role within the organisation (e.g., “personal assistant”), triggering the appropriate workflows to setup that person’s accounts and access privileges for IT systems as well.

If you think that’s insane, you probably don’t appreciate the purpose of it. System/app/database administrators I talk to about identity management frequently raise trust (or the perceived lack thereof) involved in such systems. I.e., they think that if the company they work for wants to implement identity management they don’t trust the people who are tasked with protecting the systems. I won’t lie, I think in a very small number of instances, this may be the case. Maybe 1%, maybe as high as 2%. But let’s look at the bigger picture here – we, as system/application/database administrators currently have access to such data not because we should have access to such data but because until recently there’s been very few options in place to limit data access to only those who, from a corporate governance perspective, should have access to that data. As such, most system/app/database administrators are highly ethical – they know that being able to access data doesn’t equate to actually accessing that data. (Case in point: as the engineering manager and sysadmin at my last job, if I’d been less ethical, I would have seen the writing on the wall long before the company fell down under financial stresses around my ears!)

Trust doesn’t wash in legal proceedings. Trust doesn’t wash in financial auditing. Particularly in situations where accurate logs aren’t maintained in an appropriately secured manner to prove that person A didn’t access data X. The fact that the system was designed to permit A to access X (even as part of A’s job) is in some financial, legal and data sensitivity areas, significant cause for concern.

Returning to the primary point though, it’s about ensuring that the people who have authority over someone’s role within a company (human resources/management) having control over the the processes that configure the access permissions that person has. It’s also about making sure that those work flows are properly configured and automated so there’s no room for error.

So what’s missing – or what’s only at the barest starting point, is the integration of identity/access control with ILM (including storage tiering) and ILP. This, as you can imagine, is not an easy task. Hell, it’s not even a hard task – it’s a monumentally difficult task. It involves a level of cooperation and coordination between different technical tiers (storage, backup, operating systems, applications) that we rarely, if ever see beyond the basic “must all work together or else it will just spend all the time crashing” perspective.

That’s the bit that gives the extra components – control over content creation and destruction. The storage industry on its own does not have the correct levels of exposure to an organisation in order to provide this functionality of ILM. Nor do the operating system vendors. Nor do the database vendors or the application vendors – they all have to work together to provide a total solution on this front.

I think this answers (indirectly) Devang’s question/comment on why storage vendors, and indeed, most of the storage industry, has stopped talking about ILM – the easy parts are well established, but the hard parts are only in their infancy. We are after all seeing some very early processes around integrating identity management and ILM/ILP. For instance, key management on backups, if handled correctly, can allow for situations where backup administrators can’t by themselves perform the recovery of sensitive systems or data – it requires corporate permissions (e.g., the input of a data access key by someone in HR, etc.) Various operating systems and databases/applications are now providing hooks for identity management (to name just one, here’s Oracle’s details on it.)

So no, I think we can confidently say that storage tiering in and of itself is not the answer to ILM. As to why the storage industry has for the most part stopped talking about ILM, we’re left with one of two choices – it’s hard enough that they don’t want to progress it further, or it’s sufficiently commercially sensitive that it’s not something discussed without the strongest of NDAs.

We’ve seen in the past that the storage industry can cooperate on shared formats and standards. We wouldn’t be in the era of pervasive storage we currently are without that cooperation. Fibre-channel, SCSI, iSCSI, FCoE, NDMP, etc., are proof positive that cooperation is possible. What’s different this time is the cooperation extends over a much larger realm to also encompass operating systems, applications, databases, etc., as well as all the storage components in ILM and ILP. (It makes backups seem to have a small footprint, and backups are amongst the most pervasive of technologies you can deploy within an enterprise environment.)

So we can hope that the reason we’re not hearing a lot of talk about ILM any more is that all the interested parties are either working on this level of integration, or even making the appropriate preparations themselves in order to start working together on this level of integration.

Fingers crossed people, but don’t hold your breath – no matter how closely they’re talking, it’s a long way off.

by brother Abbas Abu Yahya

All are in PDF Format

Gaining Rewards – The Hadeeth of the Prophet which were chosen For their great rewards for easy actions

Hadeeth taken from ‘Saheeh al-Kalima at-Tayyib’ – By Shaykhul Islaam Ibn Taymeeyah
And Checked by Muhammad Nasir-rudeen al-Albani

Imaan is Patience and Gratitude – Shaykh ul –Islaam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

Taken from the book: Tools for the Patient & Provisions for the Thankful

Where Patience is Mentioned in the Qur’aan – Shaykh ul –Islaam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

Taken from the book : Tools for the Patient & Provisions for the Thankful

Correcting the two strengths of knowledge and action – Shaykh Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

Taken from ‘Miftah dar as-Sa’ada’(key to the land of happiness)

A Selection of Ahaadeeth and their benefits taken from ‘Silsilah al-Ahadeeth as-Saheehah’

By The Muhaddith, Shaykh, Allamaa’ Muhammad Nasur uddeen al-Albaani

Distinguished Characteristics of the Hadadiyaa

By The Shaykh, the Muhaddith Rabee’ bin Hadi al-Madkhali

The virtue of Abu Ubayda and using Khabar al-Ahad as a proof

Silsilah al-Ahadeeth as-Saheehah vol. 4 hadeeth no. 1964 – By Shaykh Muhammad Nasur-Deen al-Alabanee

The praise of Shaykh Rabia’ al-Madhkhalee for the Muhadith, the ‘Allaama, Shaykh of Hadeeth Muhammad Nasr ud-Deen al-Albaani

The Ahadeeth of Tawheed – 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |

From the ‘Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah’ Of Shaykh Al-Albaani

Ahadith regarding the benefits and blessings of Hajj

Taken from ‘Saheeh al-Targheeb wa Tarheeb’ By the Shaykh Muhammad Nasr ud-Deen al-Albaani

Sparkles from the Pearls Of knowledge – By Shaykh ul Islam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

Taken from ‘Miftah dar as-Sa’ada’ (Key to the land of happiness)

The One Who Commits Suicide – By Imaam ad-Dhahabi

Taken from ‘Al-Kabair’ The Major Sins

The Ruling of the Dome Built upon the Grave of the Messenger of Allaah
A Research Paper Prepared by Abu AbdurRahmaan Muqbil bin Hadi al-Waadi’ee

1. Introduction
2. Allaah Ta’ala Honouring His Prophet Muhammad – sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam
3. The Sharia’s stance against extremism
4. The consultation amongst the Companions of where the Messenger – sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam – should be buried
5. When was the grave of the Messenger – sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam – first entered into his masjid?
6. When was the dome built on the grave of the Messenger – sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam?
7. The dislike of the dome by the people of knowledge
8. The Prophet – sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam – prohibited building on top of graves
9. The prohibition of the Messenger – sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam – of taking graves as masajid
10. Taking graves as masajid is the way of the Jews and the Christians
11. The Prohibition of praying to graves, upon them and in a graveyard
12. The conclusion of what is obligatory upon the Muslims regarding this dome and other domes

The great debate of Ibn ‘Abbas -radiAllaah anhu- with the Khawaarij

Taken from ‘Silsilah as-Saheehah’ (5/12-13), & ‘Moonazaraat ‘aimmat as-Salaf’ p.89-91

Rebelling with the Sword and Performing Takfeer Due to Major Sins – By Imaam ad-Dhahabi

Taken from ‘Al-Kabair’ The Major Sins

From the sayings of the Salaf about Truthfulness and Sincerity

Collected by Abdul Wahhab bin Muhammad as-Salafi – Taken from www.sahab.net

Rulings Regarding Holding the Mus-haf during the Taraweeh Prayer

The Fatawa from the Three Imaams of our Time Al-Albaani, Ibn Baz & Ibn Uthaymeen

Retraction of Shaykh al-Albaani regarding the Hadeeth of Worldly Affairs

Taken from: ‘Silsilah Ahadeeth ad-Da’eefah’ no. 2304

When Does a Slave Know that a Trial is a Test or a Punishment?

Taken From the Fatawaa of our Shaykh Abdul Azeez bin Abdullaah Bin Baz

The Encouragement to Fast the Day of ‘Ashura

From ‘Saheeh Targheeb wa Tarheeb’ – Shaykh Muhammad Nasur uddeen al-Albaani

Warning Against the Fitnah of Takfeer – By Shaykh al-Albani

The Traveller Praying A Different Prayer Behind A Resident Imaam – By Shaykh al-Albani

Trailing the Hem of a Garment for a Woman – Ash-Shaykh Muhammad Nasir ud-Deen al-Albaani

Hadeeth No. 460 from Silsilah Ahadeeth as-Saheehah

The unauthentic narration of ‘the Hair Dresser of Pharaoh’s Daughter’

Taken from ‘Silsilah ahadeeth ad-Daeefah’ 2/880 – by Shaykh Albaanee

The Status of the Messenger & His Rights upon Us – Part 01 | Part 02 | Part 03 | Part 04 | Part 05 | Part 06 | Part 07 | Part 08

Compiled by The Eminent Shaykh, the Muhaddith, Rabee’ ibn Haadee al-Madkhalee

Is it Permissible to Talk to ones Fiancée over the Telephone? – Shaykh Muhammad Nasr ud-Deen al-Albaani

Polygyny (Having more than one wife) is the Sunnah – Shaykh Abdul Azeez bin Abdullaah Bin Baaz

Some Ahadeeth pertaining to Manners, Righteousness & Keeping Good Relations – 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08

Taken from Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah of Shaykh Al-Albaani

The foundation of marriage is polygyny (Having more than one wife)

Taken From The Fatawaa of our Shaykh, Allaama Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abdul Azeez bin Abdullaah Bin Baaz

Praise of the ‘Ulema for Shaykh Abu AbdurRahmaan Muqbil bin Haadee al-Waadi’ee

From Shaykh al-Albaani , Shaykh AbdulAzeez bin Baz , Shaykh Uthaymeen, Shaykh Rabee, Shaykh Ahmad bin Yahya an-Najmee , Shaykh Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan

The Intention for the Prayer – Shaykh Muhammad Nasir- Deen Al-Albaani

Taken from the ‘Original Sifat as-Salah’

Encouragement to have Affection and Friendliness & Warning Against Splitting up and Differing

By the Shaykh Muhaddith Allaama Rabee’ bin Hadi bin Umayr al-Madkhalee

Some Ahadeeth regarding Hajj and Umrah – Part A | Part B | Part C

Taken from Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah of Shaykh Al-Albaani

Takfeer without proof : Part A | Part B | Part C | Part D

By Shaykh Ibraheem bin ‘Amir ar-Ruhaylee – Taken from his book ‘at-Takfeer & its Principles’

The Advice of Imam Wahab ibn Munabih To a Man Affected by the Thought of the Khawarij

Researched By Shaykh ‘Abdus Salaam bin Burjis Aal‘AbdulKareem

Some Ahadeeth Pertaining to Behaviour and Seeking Permission Part A | PartB | PartC | PartD | PartE | PartF | PartG | Part H

Taken from Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah of Shaykh Al-Albaani

A Muhaddith or A Faqih
By the Muhaddith, Shaykh, Allamaa’ Muhammad Nasir uddeen al-Albaani

Fiqh of the Hadeeth – Dr. Muhammad Deeya ar-Rahman al-Azamee

Ahl-ul-Hadeeth – Dr. Muhammad Deeya ar-Rahman al-Azamee

The Upbringing of Three Daughters
Taken From the Fatawaa of our Shaykh, Allaama, Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abdul Azeez bin Abdullaah Bin Baz

Some Narrations of the Imaams of Sunnah Concerning the Excellence of the Companions –RadhiAllaahu anhum
From ‘The Narrations Mentioned by Imaams of the Sunnah in the Chapters of ‘Aqeedah from the Book ‘Siyaar ‘Alaam an-Nubala’

Ahadeeth Pertaining to The Adhaan and the Prayer : Part A | Part B | Part C | Part D | Part E | Part F

Taken from ‘Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah’ of Shaykh Al-Albaani

A Scholarly Research by Shaykh Albaani That Prayer Beads are a Bida’

Taken from ‘Silsilah Ahadeeth ad-Daeefah’1/83
A summary of the research by the Shaykh, Allamaa’ Muhammad Nasiruddeen al-Albaani

A Collection of Guidelines on What a Person Can Do to Protect Himself From Magic

Compiled by Shaykh ‘Alee bin Ghazi at-Tawayjjari – From the book ‘Tabseer al-Bashr bi-Tahreem as-Sihar’

What is the Ruling of Reciting the Qur’aan for the Deceased in his House?

Taken From the Fatawaa Shaykh Abdul Azeez bin Abdullaah Bin Baz

The Light of the Sunnah & Tawheed is With the People of Hadeeth and the Darkness of Bida’ and Following Desires Reigns Over Other Than the People of Hadeeth
Compiled by The Eminent Shaykh, the Muhaddith, Rabee’ ibn Haadee al-Madkhalee

The Love of Ahl-ul-Bayt -RadiAllaah anhum- for the Khalifah of the Messenger of Allaah

Taken from the book ‘The Life of the Greatest Man After the Prophets & Messengers: Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq’
Compiled By Muhammad Uthmaan al-Anjaaree

The Excellence of ‘La ilaha ‘illa Allaah’

By Hafidh al-Hakami -Rahimullaah- Taken from his book ‘Ma’arij al-Qabool’

Ahadeeth Pertaining to Eemaan, Tawheed, Deen and Qadr : Part A | Part B | Part C | Part D | Part E | Part F | Part G | Part H

Taken from Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah of Shaykh Al-Albaani

The Encouragement to Eat of what Your Own Hands Have Earned & Sufficing with it Over Begging & Subjugating Oneself to Handouts
Taken from ‘Riyadh as-Saliheen’ By Imaam an-Nawwawi

Following the Messenger -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam-

By Shaykh ul –Islaam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah – From his book ‘Madarij as-Salikeen’

Celebrating the Prophet’s Birthday (Mawlid)
Excerpts from Works by a Numerous People of Knowledge

An Explanation That "Guide us to the Straight Way" to the End of the Soorah is a Refutation of the Rafidah
By Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah – From his book ‘Madarij as-Salikeen’

Some Different Types of Intercession (ash-Shifa’a)
Compiled and translated By Abbas Abu Yahya

‘Who Created Allaah?’
Taken from Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah of Shaykh Al-Albaani

Brief Biographies of some of the Companions

Taken from – Siyaar ‘Alaam an-Nubalaa & Thahdheeb at thahdheeb

The Language of the People of Paradise – By Shaykhul-Islaam Ibn Taymeeyah -Rahimullaah-

Brief Biographies of some of the People of Knowledge

Taken from – Siyaar ‘Alaam an-Nubalaa & Thahdheeb at Thahdheeb And other works

A Summary of the Explanation of the Hadeeth of ‘The Leading Supplication for Seeking Forgiveness’
by Shaykh ul-Islaam Ibn Taymeeyah

Requesting Someone to Supplicate after Concluding a Lesson

by the Muhaddith, Shaykh, Allamaa’Muhammad Nasiruddeen al-Albaani

The Prohibition of Burying People in Houses
Taken from Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah of Shaykh Al-Albaani

Seven Conditions of ‘La ilaha ‘illa Allaah’

By Hafidh al-Hakami , Taken from his book ‘Ma’arij al-Qabool’

Giving of Zakat is from al-Eemaan
Taken from Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah by Shaykh Muhammad Naasiruddeen al-Albaani

The Strongest of the Companions in Eemaan

Taken from the book ‘The Life of the Greatest Man After the Prophets & Messengers: Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq’
Compiled By Muhammad Uthmaan al-Anjaaree

What is the dress of the woman in the Prayer – By Shaykh Muhadith Muhammad Nasir- Deen Al-Albaani

The Four Principles of "You Alone we worship"

From the book ‘Madarij as-Salikeen’ – Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

The Obligation of Seeking Refuge from Four Things Before the Dua’ in Tashahud

Taken from the ‘Original Sifat as-Salah’ – Shaykh Muhammad Nasir- Deen Al-Albaani

Me Myself and I
By Shaykh Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah – From his book ‘Za’ad al-Ma’aad’

A Brief Summary of the Issue of Raising the hands for the Qunoot in the Witr

Taken from the ‘Original Sifat as-Salah’ – Shaykh Muhammad Nasir- Deen Al-Albaani

Saying Ameen in the Qunoot
Compiled & translated By Abbas Abu Yahya

Is it Permissible to Fast while Travelling
Taken from Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah by Shaykh Muhammad Naasiruddeen al-Albaani

Oppressing the Non-Muslims
Shaykh, Allaama, al-Faqeeh Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymeen

Whoever Does not Supplicate to Allaah, then Allaah is Angry with him

Taken from Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah Shaykh Nasir- Deen Al-Albaani

Speaking about the people of Bida – Shaykh ul-Islaam Ibn Taymeeyah

From those Mannerisms that are Obligatory with Allaah Ta’ala

Taken from ‘Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah’ Shaykh Muhammad Nasir uddeen al-Albaani

Source: http://abdurrahman.org/knowledge/Abbas-Abu-Yahya.html

Jinx! Jinx! Too much of bad Luck!!

We sleep everyday and we wake up everyday hoping the Lady Luck to be shining on us. Either we hope to meet Luck, or hope it meets us as a Rescue attempt. But ultimately, we desire Luck and loads of it. Though Fate has something else in store for us i.e. the Absence of Luck or Bad Luck.

I do believe that Absence of something makes us appreciate the Presence of something and is very important in our lives. It helps us differentiate and realize the uncountable blessings. It is vital to note here that mostly the absence of good things in life teach us more than the presence of them.

Does Good Luck happen by Chance? Can we try to be in the right place at the right time? Or is it just pure Serendipity?

While I am still trying to unravel those mysteries, I reflect back on the path to see times that were enveloped by blankets of Bad luck clouds. When you live in a bad situation, you never realize if its good or bad unless you come across something good. If you have seen only one side of the coin, you will never know what the other side holds and thus, you are not in any position to judge or differentiate. Meaning if you always met a bad fate, you won’t know its bad, you won’t feel miserable too unless you see something different and better.

I just came across a Pakistani professor teaching Internet marketing course for a couple of years.  Some of his lectures are freely downloadable at his website  AdnanAli that promote the essence of Web entrepreneurship for Pakistani masses. I went through them and found that the things that were discussed in them were familiar to me. However, its a great resource and knowledge base for the young students and Pakistani people in general. The things that I learnt the hard way over the years have been assembled and concisely put together in those lectures.

You must be wondering where am I going from here. The thought of being struck by Bad luck sparked in me when I came across his website and prompted me to write this post. I am not debating how much of results have been achieved through using his methods or if his lectures are the core or Best Practices in any form. But for a professor to go to that length to introduce a purely practical course and to teach something that can give the students a jump start or information that has been learnt in real time encompasses in itself the purity of his purpose and working for the greater good.

Why didn’t I have professors who taught something more practical. Infact, we (me and my pals) believed sometimes that we could teach better than them while taking the course for the first time ourselves. Can you imagine learning a computer language on Powerpoint slides? Well, that was huge experience though, atleast for me.  There are a lot of other great experiences too. Other professor blunders and dirty student politics from school days that got ignited in the whole attempt of walking down the memory lane.Coming across something good made me instantly compare my situation and feel that perhaps I wasn’t in the right place at the right time.

However, the focus is to still be Positive and promote Positive and good people and keep an eye on the Good Stuff and blessing in life. Without missing Luck, I wouldn’t have realized and appreciated its presence so much ;]

I don’t know if Luck matters or not but I still believe Hard work supercedes Luck ;]

Happy Promoting and Hard Working!!

Share it! 

Alhamdulillah just 2 months after Ramadan and Allah is giving us another chance to repent for all the sins we have acumulated over the years. Alhamdulillahi’Rabil’Alamin, for He  knows that we are a nation who sin a lot. Indeed, the children of Adam (As) sin, no one is perfect and no one is infallible.

The Prophet (Saw) said:

“The one who repents is like the one without sin.” Hasan -Reported by Abu ‘Ubaidah ibn ‘Abdullaah & collected by Ibn Majah Authenticated by al-Albani

“Surely Allah loves those who turn unto Him in repentance and loves those who purify themselves.” Surah Baqarah Verse 222

The Prophet (Saw) mentions in another Hadith:

“If you did not commit sins, Allah would sweep you out of existence and replace you by another people who would commit sins, who would ask for Allah’s forgiveness and He would forgive them.” Narrated by Abu Ayyoob & Abu Hurayrah & collected by Sahih Muslim (Eng. trans. vol.4 pp.1436-7 nos.6620-2).

So in our sinning and asking Allah’s forgiveness, the attribute of Allah’s mercy and forgiveness becomes manifest.

Allahu’Akbar, what a beautiful religion that even the sinner is given a second chance!

Furthermore, it is only Allah who can forgive our sins and He is not in need of any intercessor. The proof for this is in a du’a (supplication) which the Prophet (saw) taught his closest companion Abu Bakr: “O Allah, truly I have wronged myself and none can forgive sins except you.” Sahih Bukhari (vol.1 p.442 no.776), Sahih Muslim (vol.4 pp.1419-20 no.6533), at-Tirmidhee & Ibn Majah.

*The first day of Dhul’Hijja is tomorrow [18/11/09]

Praise be to Allaah.  

Among the great seasons of worship are the first ten days of Dhu’l-Hijjah, which Allaah has favoured over other days. It was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There are no days on which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allaah than these ten days.” They said: “Not even jihad for the sake of Allaah?” He said: “Not even jihad for the sake of Allaah, unless a man goes out himself for jihad taking his wealth with him and does not come back with anything.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2/457 

It was also narrated from Anas (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There is no deed that is better before Allaah or more greatly rewarded than a good deed done in the (first) ten days of al-Adha.” It was said: “Not even jihad for the sake of Allaah?” He said: “Not even jihad for the sake of Allaah, unless a man goes out himself for jihad taking his wealth with him and does not come back with anything.” Narrated by al-Daarimi, 1/357; its isnaad is hasan as stated in al-Irwa’, 3/398. 

These texts and others indicate that these ten days are better than all other days of the year, with no exception, even the last ten days of Ramadaan. But the last ten nights of Ramadaan are better than the first ten nights of Dhu’l-Hijjah, because they include Laylat al-Qadr, which is better than a thousand months. See Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 5/412. 

So the Muslim should start these days with sincere repentance to Allaah, then he should do a lot of righteous deeds in general, then he should pay attention to doing the following deeds: 

1 – Fasting 

It is Sunnah for the Muslim to fast on the first nine days of Dhu’l-Hijjah, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) encouraged us to do righteous deeds in the first ten days of Dhu’l-Hijjah, and fasting is one of the best of deeds, which Allaah has chosen for Himself as it says in the hadeeth qudsi: “Allaah says: ‘All the deeds of the son of Adam are for him, except fasting, which is for Me and I shall reward for it.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1805. 

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to fast on the first nine days of Dhu’l-Hijjah. It was narrated from Hunaydah ibn Khaalid from his wife, that one of the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to fast on the first nine days of Dhu’l-Hijjah and the day of ‘Ashoora’, and three days each month, the first Monday of the month and two Thursdays. Narrated by al-Nasaa’i, 4/205 and by Abu Dawood; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood, 2/462. 

2 – Reciting tahmeed, tahleel and takbeer a great deal 

It is Sunnah to recite takbeer (saying Allaahu akbar (Allaah is most great)), tahmeed (saying al-hamdu Lillah (praise be to Allaah)), tahleel (saying Laa ilaaha ill-Allaah (There is no god but Allaah)) and tasbeeh (saying Subhaan-Allaah (Glory be to Allaah)), during the first ten days of Dhu’l-Hijjah, saying these words out loud in the mosques, homes, streets and every place in which it is permissible to remember Allaah, to perform this act of worship openly and proclaim the greatness of Allaah. 

Men should recite out loud and women should recite quietly. 

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“That they may witness things that are of benefit to them (i.e. reward of Hajj in the Hereafter, and also some worldly gain from trade), and mention the Name of Allaah on appointed days, over the beast of cattle that He has provided for them (for sacrifice)”

[al-Hajj 22:28] 

The majority are of the view that the “appointed days” are the first ten days of Dhu’l-Hijjah, because it was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the appointed days are the first ten days of Dhu’l-Hijjah.

 It was narrated from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There are no days that are greater before Allaah or in which good deeds are more beloved to Him, than these ten days, so recite a great deal of tahleel, takbeer and tahmeed during them.” Narrated by Ahmad, 7/224; its isnaad was classed as saheeh by Ahmad Shaakir. 

The takbeer is as follows:

 Allaah akbar, Allaahu akbar, laa ilaaha ill-Allaah, Allaahu akbar, wa Lillaah il-hamd (Allaah is Most Great, Allaah is Most Great, there is no god but Allaah; Allaah is Most Great and to Allaah be praise).  

And there are other versions. 

This takbeer has become a forsaken Sunnah nowadays, especially at the beginning of these ten days. You can hardly hear it except from a few. It should be recited out loud, so as to revive the Sunnah and remind the heedless. It was proven that Ibn ‘Umar and Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with them both) used to go out to the marketplace during the first ten days of Dhu’l-Hijjah, reciting the takbeer our loud, and the people would recite takbeer when they heard them, i.e., the people would remember the talkbeer and each one would recite it by himself; it does not mean that they recited in unison – that is not prescribed in sharee’ah. 

Reviving Sunnahs that have been forgotten brings a great deal of reward, as is indicated by the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “Whoever revives one of my Sunnahs that has died out after I am gone, will have a reward like that of everyone who does it, without that detracting from their reward in the slightest.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 7/443; this hadeeth is hasan because of corroborating reports.

3 – Doing Hajj and ‘Umrah 

One of the greatest deeds that can be done during these ten days is Hajj to the sacred House of Allaah. Whoever Allaah helps to go on Hajj to His House and do the rituals in the required manner will – in sha Allaah – be included in the words of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “An accepted Hajj brings no less a reward than Paradise.” 

4 – Udhiyah (sacrifice) 

One of the righteous deeds that bring a person closer to Allaah in these ten days is to slaughter the sacrifice and to look for a good, fat animal and to spend money on it for the sake of Allaah. 

Let us hasten to make the most of these great days, before the negligent regrets what he did, and before he asks to go back and receives no response.

[Source Islam Q&A: http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/49042]

The chaps over at Industrial Light and Magic like to whack R2-D2 in films that they are working on.

Gizmodo found the diminuitive droids appearance in J J Abram’s Star Trek and there it is above. Click on the pic to get a bigger version.

I just picked up the Blu-Ray of Star Trek this weekend and watched it with Street Pete, Del and Rossi. Everyone enjoyed it including Street Pete who is not a Trek fan. I enjoyed it more the second time round, plus it came with the Star Trek Countdown prequel comic which shows what Nero, Spock and the Next Gen team got up to before the film.

The picture is lovely and a great one to show off the Blu-Ray loveliness.

Finally no one can make an excuse about attaining knoweldge…..and no one can say they can’t afford it, Mashallah Ustadh Bilal Philips and a few other Imams/Sheikhs/Ustadh’s have designed an Online Islamic University. There are so many topics to choose from, there is no room for lame excuses of time and finance anymore. This is online, you study at your own pace, all resources and materials are downloadable…wallahi no excuse!

Inshallah all should embark on this new university…you might not gain a worldy qualification but in your heart and on your scale of good deeds it will most definately be apparent to Allah. May Allah guide all of us and allow us to make good use of their material and knowledge – ameen.

The website: http://www.islamiconlineuniversity.com/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=category&id=1:free-courses&Itemid=20

The courses they provide:

Bismillah…

As per my previous post, I will be uploading Habib ‘Umar’s Lessons on Hajj that he is conducting at the Haram at the moment. So here is Habib’s commentery on the Rafashaat of Habib Bal-Faqih in the mp3 format:

Download here

Wassalam

Isn’t this strange, yet amazing at the same time?

In this post, I will highlight the dangers of abiding by too literal a translation of the Holy Qur’an- by literal I mean embracing the letter but ignoring the spirit- actually, this is no embrace at all..

When Sayyidna Umar (Ra) wanted to know what Taqwa meant, one of the eminent Sahabi answered him that Taqwa is to walk through a field of thorns, raising your leg-cloth so that the thorns do not hurt you. This is the way of the Prophets, this is the way of the Sahabah and this is the way of the pious who are always conscientious of their Lord. The Prophet said, that every king has a boundary and the boundary of Allah are his Laws (Hudood), so Taqwa is to restrain from encroaching upon His boundary, or even going near it.

Unfortunately, we mistake Taqwa for its physical manifestations like having a beard, uncovering the ankles, and so on.. what use are these if the heart is not aligned with the superordinate goal. Physical manifestations should breed Taqwa rather than endanger it. The Prophet (Pbuh) also said that there is a piece of flesh in the body, which if it is right, the whole body is right, and if it is wrong, the entire body is diseased, that piece of flesh is the heart.

Coming back to a literal translation, we know well the case of those from the Bani Israil who enquired Musa (Alayis Salaam) about which calf to sacrifice. In fact, the start of Surah Baqarah is entirely devoted to the misdeeds of the earlier communities. A case in point is their reliance on literalism, and irrelevant debates on matters all and sundry. The present torchbearers of guidance should look through this lens to see where they stand- verily, we are going down the same path. Unless the central concern of each individual becomes how to foster Taqwa in himself and his surroundings, there will always be disharmony across the globe.

By literal meanings, we are gaining nothing- unless we go through the Nur of the Qur’an true Hidayah will not dawn upon us. Going through the Nur means to get entranced, to hold fast to the Rope of Allah (Swt)- the Hablullah. This can happen only by following the Prophetic way as enshrined in his Seerah. Unless one travels this path, the path of the dervish, the path of the learned, the path of the seeker of truth, and unless one experiences a revolution in his soul and heart, there will not be much gained. There is a difference between having information and having Eeman. Others have researched more on the Qur’an than those to whom it was revealed, yet are the former guided? No, surely they are not! They have information, they have knowledge but their knowledge has not yet become Ilm- Ilm is what benefits the individual, what use is knowledge that does not benefit, but lead astray- SubhanAllah (all glory with Allah Most High)!!

Those who rely on literalism- how will they mould the spirits of men whom the message has not yet reached? Spirits are not moved by empty words, spirits are moved by the force of collective spiritual personalities. This can only come from the Nur that lies embedded in the Qur’an. People have proved lesbianism from the Qur’an, people have proved Muta (temporary marriage akin to prostitution) from the Qur’an – the second case is getting more popular in even so-called Sunni societies.

As a learned scholar has said, the real Mufti lies in the heart. So, let us focus on transforming our hearts, this can only happen through attaching the heart to its Creator. The human heart is small, it cannot accept the love of its Creator, unless the love of other entities (Hubb-e-jaah) is removed from it. Literalism focuses on the mind, the heart and soul are untouched; Spirituality focuses the light upon light upon the heart, makes the spirit receptive to the Divine Manifestation of Hidayah, which enables it to embark upon a journey of self-discovery. The Prophet (Pbuh) advised Umar (Ra) that to know oneself is to know God. This is why the Sufis of yore went into ecstasy when they found their Lord, in effect they had found their primal origin.