Niqabi support group?

Bismillah walHamdulillah
as-salam3laykum wa rahmatullahe wa barakatuh

I’m considering starting a niqabi support group for those sisters who wear, or are interested in wearing, or are just curious about, the niqab. My blog is still in its infant stages but this is something I want to look into. Any muslimahs interested in that?

Muslim who turned to be atheist and back to Islam

Muhammad: the Man and his Message

The Prophet sallallaahu 3layhi wasallam said :”I swear by Him in Whose Hands my soul lies, none of you will truly believe until I am more beloved to him than his father and son.”

 

by Khalid Yasin

10 Useless Matters by Ibn al Qayyim

This belongs on a sheet of paper on the wall in front of you…

There are ten useless matters:

1. Knowledge that is not acted on.
2. The deed that has neither sincerity nor is based on following the righteous examples of others
3. Money that is hoarded, as the owner neither enjoys it during this life nor obtains any reward for it in the Hereafter
4. The heart that is empty of love and longing for Allah, and of seeking closeness to Him
5. A body that does not obey and serve Allah
6. Loving Allah without following His orders or seeking His pleasure
7. Time that is not spent in expiating sins or seizing opportunities to do good
8. A mind that thinks about useless matters
9. Serving those who do not bring you close to Allah, nor benefit you in your life
10. Hoping and fearing whoever is under the authority of Allah and in His hand; while he cannot bring any benefit or harm to himself, nor death, nor life; nor can he resurrect himself.

However the greater of these matters are wasting the heart and wasting time. Wasting the heart is done by preferring this worldly life over the Hereafter, and wasting time is done by having incessant hope. Destruction occurs by following one’s desires and having incessant hope, while all goodness is found in following the right path and preparing oneself to meet Allah.

How strange it is that when a servant of Allah has a [worldly] problem, he seeks help of Allah, but he never asks Allah to cure his heart before it dies of ignorance, neglect, fulfilling one’s desires and being involved in innovations. Indeed, when the heart dies, he will never feel the significance or impact of his sins.

Source: Al Fawaaid by Ibn al Qayyim raHimahullaah10

Choose who your friends are…

The Book of Sales and Trade

No. 1976

Narrated Abu Musa:

Allah’s Apostle said, “The example of a good companion (who sits with you) in comparison with a bad one, is I like that of the musk seller and the blacksmith’s bellows (or furnace); from the first you would either buy musk or enjoy its good smell while the bellows would either burn your clothes or your house, or you get a bad nasty smell thereof.”
[Sahih Al-Bukhari]

Points to take from this hadith:

• FACT: The people who we associate ourselves with, either have a positive or a negative impact on us. We must always try to surround ourselves with people who are most conscious of Allah (swt) so that we may be influenced in a positive way. “A person is likely to follow the faith of his friend, so look (carefully) whom you choose to befriend.” [Ahmad]

• We should not try to befriend someone because of their beauty, intelligence, wealth or high status. Rather it is their character and God-consciousness that should be scrutinized for friendship.  Allaah subhanahu says: “And keep yourself content with those who call on their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Countenance, and let not your eyes pass beyond them to those who seek the pomp and glitter of this life.“ [18:28]

• The best of friends Muslims can have is when we befriend and love someone for the sake of Allah (swt). In other words, loving someone because of their piety and closeness to the deen, not for worldy reasons. That is the true everlasting friendship which will reap many fruits in this life and the hereafter. “Allah shall ask on the Day of Judgment; ‘ Where are those who loved for the sake of my greatness? Today when there is no shade, I shall have them in My shade.'” [Sahih Muslim]

�If a man loves his brother in faith, he should tell him that he loves him.�[Abu Dawud]

• A Muslim should not abandon his brother/sister: There should be no breaking off of ties, no turning away from one another, no hating one another. Be brothers, as Allah has commanded you.[Muslim]

Allah Knows Best.
AllahuAlim.

He was depressed so Allah showed him a sign

[EMOTIONAL]

approx 8 min

Blind Hearts or Blind eyes ?

Your Heart Is the Pillar of Your Worship

“…the heart is the machine that drives all acts of worship. It is what moves the entire body! As long as the heart is alive, then the limbs will be alive, and the soul will open itself up to worship. However, if the heart becomes diseased, then worship will become too heavy on the soul, leading to it eventually disliking and hating – and we seek refuge with Allah from this – worship. Because of this, Allah – the Glorified and Exalted – said, regarding the prayer: {“…and truly, it is extremely heavy and hard except on those who are submissive…”} [al-Baqarah; 45]

The prayer is heavy, because one’s legs and hands are not what get up for the prayer. What gets up for the prayer are the heart and the soul.

{“Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but it is He Who deceives them. And when they stand up for the prayer, they stand with laziness and to be seen of men, and they do not remember Allah but little.”} [an-Nisa’; 142]

Because of this, it is the heart that stands up for worship. The limbs are simply slaves of this heart, carrying out what it commands them. If the heart is alive, then the soul will be alive, and worship will become beloved and sweetened to the hearts and the souls, and they will open up for it.

However, if the heart becomes diseased, then worship becomes too heavy on it. The heart is like the digestive system: right now, the most beloved thing to you is meat. However, if you develop an ulcer somewhere in your digestive system, then the meat – along with its fat and oil – becomes the most hated thing to it, since it is diseased. Sweets are also something that are beloved to the soul. For example, if you were fasting right now and were to break your fast on some desserts, then your soul would become satisfied with that, right? However, if one were to be stricken with diabetes, then he would not be able to handle these sugary foods, even if they were beloved to him.

The heart is like this: it must be strong so that it can handle worship that is strong. The stronger your heart becomes, then throw as much worship upon it as you wish. You would get up to pray at night, and you would cherish this prayer and consider sleep to be your enemy:

{“Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope…”} [as-Sajdah; 16]

He begins to forsake it because an enmity develops between him and his bed. He prays behind the imam, and he says to himself: “If only he would make the prayer longer,” so that he would increase in his opening up to this worship, and his tasting of its sweetness.

At times, I would pray a normal prayer with the people behind me, so I would elongate the prayer. The youth would then come to me and say (the hadith): “Whoever leads the people in prayer should go easy on them,” – the youth! And there was an old man behind me who was between 90 and 100 years of age – his face filled with light – and he would say to me: “Keep making the prayer long and do not answer them.” A man of 90 years getting pleasure out of a long prayer, and a youth of 20, who probably practices karate and judo, cannot handle the same prayer.

Why?

If he went to the soccer field and spent two hours playing there without becoming bored, then why would he become bored from hearing the Qur’an for five minutes? The difference between a short prayer and a long prayer is simply five minutes, so why does he become bored from these five minutes of Qur’an, yet he does not become bored from two hours of soccer? Why does he not get bored from standing for two hours staring at an inflated piece of leather, his heart attached to it?

Because, what stands up to pray is the heart, and what stands up for sports are simply the body and muscles.”

[‘at-Tarbiyah al-Jihadiyyah wal-Bina”; 1/220]

“…the reward of 50 men…”

Kitab Al-Malahim
Dawud :: Book 37 : Hadith 4327

Narrated AbuTha’labah al-Khushani:

AbuUmayyah ash-Sha’bani said: I asked AbuTha’labah al-Khushani: What is your
opinion about the verse “Care for yourselves”.*
He said: I swear by Allah, I asked the one who was well informed about it; I
asked the Apostle of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) about it.
He said: No, enjoin one another to do what is good and forbid one another to
do what is evil. But when you see niggardliness being obeyed, passion being followed, worldly interests being preferred, everyone being charmed with his opinion, then care for yourself, and leave alone what people in general are doing; for ahead of you are days which will require endurance, in which showing endurance will be like grasping live coals. The one who acts rightly during that period will have the reward of fifty men who act as he does.
Another version has: He said (The hearers asked:) Apostle of Allah, the
reward of fifty of them?
He replied: The reward of fifty of you.

* “O you who believe! Take care of your ownselves. If you follow the right guidance, no hurt can come to you from those who are in error…” [al-Ma’idah; 105]