(Continued) Notes on "Tarbia lil Ihsan" - Training for Excellence

(almost 3 months later...)

Part 2. :)

Friends

- The Prophet (pbuh) said to choose your friends wisely.

- Befriend the righteous.

- You can have friends from all religions and races, just make sure their personalities and actions are the right kind of influences.

When choosing friends... consider the following:

- are they going to influence you to do good or bad?- will they lead you to, or away from your main purpose in life?- will they encourage you and support you?

Hadith:

- Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: "Your friend should be honest. He forgives your mistakes, but does not hide nor exaggerate your weaknesses or strengths.

- The Prophet (pbuh) was further asked "Who is the best among people?" He answered, "He who when you look at him, you remember Allah."

Such a friend reflects qualities of love, mercy, honesty, service, patience, optimism, professionalism, and the entire lifestyle taught by Islam.

Random tips:

- Strengthen each other by making dua for each other. - Change subject if they speak of something haraam. - Have full trust that they will not tell anyone what you don't want anyone to know. (Secret keeping) - Don't backbite/slander and discourage each other. - Exchange gifts and love each other for the sake of Allah.

More to come. ;]

(sooner than 3 months.. I promise. =) )

Sufferings of the Ummah

َلَنَبۡلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىۡءٍ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡخَوۡفِ وَٱلۡجُوعِ وَنَقۡصٍ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡأَمۡوَٲلِ وَٱلۡأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٲتِ‌ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ ∞ ٱلَّذِينَ إِذَآ أَصَـٰبَتۡهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ۬ قَالُوٓاْ إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّآ إِلَيۡهِ رَٲجِعُونَ ∞ أُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ عَلَيۡہِمۡ صَلَوَٲتٌ۬ مِّن رَّبِّهِمۡ وَرَحۡمَةٌ۬‌ۖ وَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلۡمُهۡتَدُونَ∞

And definitely, we will test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives, and fruits (crops), but give glad tidings to the patient ones. Those who, when afflicted with calamity, say: “without a doubt! To Allah we belong and without a doubt, to him shall we return.” They are those on who are the Salawat (who are blessed & will be forgiven) from their Rabb, and they are those who receive His Mercy, and it is they who are the guided ones. 

Every other day, you turn the news on and like every other broadcast you’ve seen; the endless reports of bombing in Gaza, Israel, Iraq, and any other Muslim land under attack never seems to diminish. But what I find amusing is our response to suck news every single time. We gape helplessly at the screen, blink our eyes in disbelief and feel sorrowful for a moment, but as soon as the horrible images of blood and death pass by and our favorite TV show airs, we forget about the sufferings of our Muslim brothers and sisters across the ocean and watch with shameless pleasure. We can never feel their sufferings and we can never fully empathize with them because we live such pampered lives and have not suffered like them. 

But I ask you, what has lowered the Muslim Ummah from being the most respected nation to grace the earth to being the most humiliated people, the most weak and vulnerable, so defeseless… what caused the decline of our Ummah? Did the kuffar really just aim their arrow at a strong and sturdy army or did they aim to cause disorder into an already crumbling nation?

I believe that the Muslims have caused this adversity upon themselves. We have failed to follow Allah’s commandments. We have lost our trust in Allah’s book just like the nations before us; we have become a nation of doubt, questioning the Quran. Just look at the youth of today and their questions. What do they ask about most of the time? “Is it haram to…” If they truly believed in Allah’s book without any doubts, there would be no need to ask doubtful questions. And because of the generation falling into doubt and Muslims claiming to be Muslims but not practicing their deen, the Ummah faces a fast paced decline and such unimaginable humiliation. We are treated worse than animals and are denied our basic rights where ever we go. We’ve become so vulnerable and unable to fight for ourselves. 

We have lost all the Izzah (dignity, honor, respect) our forefathers so valiantly and bravely fought for upon the Muslims lands whose soil has been fertilized by their blood in hopes of protecting and preserving the next generations of Muslims. If they were to witness the happenings of today and see our condition, imagine what their reactions would be… They’d probably die from a heart attack on spot. Is this what they sacrificed their lives, time, tears, and blood for? So their children would turn away from Islam and question Allah’s book and disobey his commandments?

We have given them the chance to attack us we have opened the doors for our Ummah’s destruction. The same nation that suffered humiliation under the hands of Hitler has now become the oppressor. The oppressed became the oppressors. Has not history repeated itself? The saying is no myth. The tables have turned and now, it’s up to the Muslims to turn the tables again and through dua’a, repentance, and patience through seeking help directly from Allah and not the people of the world who are not going to do anything to make it better for us. We need to work on reviving our deen and reinstalling Imaan in our hearts and tighten the rope of connection with Allah, our Creator, only then will we be successful. 

Torture in the Grave...

The following is a circulated story out of Saudi Arabia... I'm quoting straight from source here.

""""""A 18-year old young Arab boy who died in one of the hospitals of Oman . The boy died in hospital and was buried under the Islamic law on the same day after obligatory ablution of the body. However after funeral the father doubted the diagnosis of doctors and wanted to identify the true reason of his death. The corpse of the boy had been dug out from the grave within 3 hours after his funeral as his father insisted to know the truth.

Relatives and his friends shocked when they saw the corpse. He was completely different within 3 hours. He turned grey as if he was a very old man, with traces of obvious tortures and the most severe beating, with the broken bones of hands and legs, with the edges broken and pressed into a body.

All of his body and face were full of bruise. The open eyes-showed hopeless fear and pain. The blood obviously indicated that the boy has been subjected to the most severe torture.

Close relatives of the dead boy approached Muslim Scholars who have unequivocally declared that it is the result of torture in grave; which Allah (s.w.t) and Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) have warned.

The shocked father of the boy has admitted that his son was spoilt child, did not obey his parent, did not do Salat (prayers / namaz) and had a carefree way of life, having involved in different sins.

Every person after death comes across tests in the tomb, except Shaheed who died in the way of Allah. This is first test which the person comes across after death but before the Doomsday.

We find in Hadis of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w):

- After burial of dead person his soul will return to his body, then two Angels will come, Munkar and Nakir, and will ask: "Who is your Lord?" he will answer: "my Lord - Allah ". Then they will ask: "What is your religion?" he will answer: "My religion - Islam". Then they will ask him: "Who that person who has been sent to you?" he will answer: "He is the Prophet of Allah ". Then they will ask him: "How do you know?" He will answer: "I read the Book of Allah and trusted Him.

And then from heavens the voice will come: " My Slave has told the truth, lay it to bed from Paradise and open the Gate of Paradise " - then it will be full of pleasure and he begins to feel pleasures of the paradise, and his grave becomes spacious, that eyes can reach.

The Prophet of Allah Muhammad (s.a.w) said about the sinners. After burial of dead person his soul will return to the body, then two Angels will come and ask, "Who is your Lord?" he will answer: "I do not know". Then they will ask: " Who that person who has been sent to you?" he again will answer: I "do not know" - and then from the sky the voice will come: "he told a lie, Put him into a box from fire and open before it the Gate of a hell ! "- than it will be captured with heat of the hell, and his grave becomes narrow and the edges will be compressed.

In Hadis it is also said, that Angels will severely beat the sinners during interrogation in the tomb and this torture will be awful. It is informed also, that our Messenger (s.a.w) supplicated to Allah to protect Him from tortures of the grave and asked other people to do so.

The Prophet (s.a.w) said: “The grave is the first stage of the hereafter. If a person is saved from its torment, then what comes after it is really easy. If one is not saved from it, what follows is really severer." (Ibn Maja)

The Prophet (s.a.w) said: "I have never seen a more horrible sight than that of the grave. " (Ibn Maja, Al Termizi)

This true story of 18-year old young Arab boy is an eye opener for Momins - true believers and for others nothing but a horror story as their hearts are sealed by Allah. They look but do not see, listen but do not hear?

 

This story was translated from Arabic language into English. That’s why I apologize for mistake in translation. """""

Let this be a lesson... to all. No matter what age. Us youth tend to think of ourselves as "young" "carefree". This boy was 18. 

Keep your eyes open fellow youth.  

Remember, if we practice Islam in our youth, we will be among the 7 groups under the shade of Allah on the Day of Judgement.  

And remember

Khutbah Review - 1

Today we went to Jummah…. usual stuff. 

VERY unusual khutbah. 

The Khatib was an old teacher of my dads… since in Guyana. His name is.. Sheikh Mohammad Safi? 

Even though he does not like to be called Sheikh. 

I’ve never heard him speak, or seen him before. Today I wasn’t expecting anything special. The particular Masjid we went too is known in my head for having very lame, overused khutbahs. But today, it blew me away. 

His topic was the Quran. 

Basic topic?

Nope. 

He talked about how people have left the Quran. We read and memorize, like parrots he said. Just reciting off the tongue. We don’t contemplate, study, learn from the Quran. Especially us non-arabs. He said how the ONLY reason Allah revealed the Quran in Arabic was for Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)’s people to be able to understand it. So that they couldn’t use the excuse that it was not in a language that they understood.

He said it is up to us non-arabs to read the Quran in English…and contemplate the meaning. Not only that, but we should learn Arabic. Not speech Arabic, Quranic Arabic. And we should read the Tafsir-ul-Quran. So we know what Allah is saying in each verse.

He was also talking about how all anyone worries about is what “Mathaab” your following. Or whether your Sunni or Shia or whatnot. No one goes back to the base of our religion anymore. No one studies Quran.  

He talked about the students studying overseas… in Madinah and wherever else. They memorize Quran and study Fiqh. There are no classes to STUDY Quran. Fiqh is based on Quran isn’t it? So why not study Quran? 

The whole thing just blew me away. Left me in wonder. Most Khutbahs are tedious reminders of prayer and zakah. Khutbahs should be like this… so that you actually leave with some new insight. 

Notes on "Tarbia lil Ihsan" - Training for Excellence

I realize we haven't blogged, for like, ages. =] 

I apologize, but we have been very busy with school, and classes, and school and what not. 

-------

I went to a seminar today.  A muslim youth seminar for girls. The topic was "Tarbia lil Ihsan" which can be translated to mean "Training for Excellence". 

The program was spread across seven sessions, ranging in topics from "Defining and Implementing Ihsan" to "Importance of Friendship".  

I took six full pages of notes (and I write incredibly small... so that was a huge accomplishment. *grin*) 

So I shall attempt to list some of my notes here (direct from my notebook). Excuse my grammar and potentially horrible spelling. I'm about to fall over from sleepiness. 

( I'm only going to write the main notes for now, meaning of Ihsan and what-not... in further posts I'll write about the friendship stuff, and the quraan studies, and all the goodies. ;)) 

---

The Quran on Excellence

- "Who has created life and death, so that He may test you which of you is best in actions." Surah Mulk vs. 2         (that looks, wrong. o_o. I think I missed something when I was writing it down.) 

- From this ayah you can take that: The whole purpose of living is to strive to do your best in everything. 

Hadith

- The Prophet (saw) said: "Verily Allah has enjoined excellence with everything we do." 

-----

A Muslim who follows the concept of Ihsan:

- will be a person of quality

- do things in a nice and tasteful way. 

- is never satisfied with anything except a job well done. 

-Ihsan is like building... getting better and better one step at a time and not stepping down. (Example given, an escalator. Once you get on going up, you can't come back down.) 

- When thinking about doing something, first thing to consider is whether or not Allah will be pleased with what we are doing. 

- Apply the concept of Ihsan in everything you do, even in your daily life. 

Ihsan is affected by:

- Knowledge

- Resources

- Skills 

Enhancers of Ihsan: (We discussed this as a group, I'll list whatever I had in my notes...) 

- courage

- patience

- communication

- reflection

- goal setting

- planning

- willingness

- effort

De-creasers of Ihsan: 

- procrastinators

- laziness

- lack of will power

- pre-occupation with non-essentials

Those operating on the level of Ihsan: 

- Allah becomes your center of life. 

- do the very best in worship. 

- sincerity in worship.

- love Allah the most.

- fear Allah the most. 

- seek the help of Allah. 

- have hope in Allah that He will give us mercy and guide us.

- trust Allah wholly. 

--------

Okies. Thats it. For the intro anyway. I've got a bunch of other stuff. I promise I'll blog them later. 

Pceee. =]