Hasan al-Basri (Rahimahulla) and Pride/Vanity

Umm Khadija

Often the greatest sources of the downfall of mankind stems from his or her vanity and pride. From sisters comparing their clothing to scholars comparing their students and achievements, Shaytan’s most common trick is to delude a person into believing they are better than the others.  It is important that such pride be routed out of our hearts for as per the Hadith of the Prophet , a person with an atoms-worth of pride shall not enter Jannah.  The example below truly exemplifies how pride should be recognised and dealt with.

An incident occured with the student of the great Companion Ali (radhialla’anhu), the renowned ascetic, Imam Hasan al-Basri (Rahimahullah).

One day on the bank of the River Dajla he found a man seated with a young lady and a bottle of wine in front of him.  A thought crossed his mind, “how depraved is this man!  Would that he were like me.”  Just then a boat appeared in the river at a little distance from him, and gradually began to sink in deep water.  That man immediately jumped into the water and of the seven men in the boat who were drowning, he saved six and then looking towards Hasan he said, “if you are superior to me, then in God’s name save the seventh man.  You save only one man, whilst I have saved six.”  Hasan could not do so.  The man then addressing Hasan said, “sir, this woman seated by my side is my mother, and this bottle contains water.  This scene was enacted to put you to test.”  Hasan fell on his feet and said, “just as you have saved six people, save me also from drowning in the waters of pride and vanity.”  He replied, “may God fulfil thy desire!”  Hasan felt that his desire was fulfilled.  Since then he became so humble that seeing a dog one day he remarked, “O lord! for the sake of this virtuous dog, accept me as thy slave.“

(Attar, Fariduddin (1993) Tadhkirat ul-Aulia [Memoirs of the Aulia] (Muhammad Ashraf:India) 12-13)

This incident highlighted the pride in his heart and marked a turning point for him to the extent that a person once asked him, “how do you feel?”  Hasan al-Basri (rahimahullah) replied,

“I am like a person in the midst of the sea whose boat is shattered and he is floating in the waters.”

(ibid. 15)

He reduced himself to nothing such became his humility.

May Allah remove all the diseases from our hearts and may He make us humble before Him. Ameen.

EID MUBARAK!!!

Assalamu Alaykum fellow readers and a hearty Eid Muburak to you all.

After  polishing ourselves nice and early and wearing the best of our clothes we head to the Masajid to pray Eid Salah.

In this above sentence we often fail to realise the many blessings Allah has bestowed upon us.  Comfortable warm beds, clean water for showering/bathing and drinking, wealth to buy new clothes, vehicles to transport us to our Masajid.  The more subtle but perhaps the more significant blessings include intact legs, arms, families for us to worship our Lord and be in the company of our loving families.  All these blessings are from Allah and we should thank Allah for what he has given.

However remember also that there are Muslims who, let alone basic amenties, do not even have water to drink.  Where as we can freely travel to our destination in the luxury of our vehicles, pregnant women rushing towards hospitals are stopped, harassed and huarranged by terrorists at checkpoint and are forced to give birth at these very checkpoints. There are Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, Burma, China and everywhere else who will not be able to enjoy their Eid with there families.  There will be children who are born and raised on the battlefield who will not know happiness and will not receive their Eid gifts from there elders.

They are our family; a part of the Ummah. Do not forget them. Remember them. Make Du’a for them.  This is the least we can do.

Eid Mubarak.

Saiful Islam

Facebook or Fitnahbook?

By Saiful Islam

Facebook has it benefits; networking with other fellow human beings, Muslims, and organisations and even prominent personalities are but to name a few.  However, as with any tool, depending on how you use it, its pretty dangerous for your Iman too. As my father used to say, a hammer can be used to put a nail into wood, but it can also be used to crack a skull.

Yes you lads and gals know what I’m talking about. Let’s not beat around the bush here.  Some of the pictures put up are well and truly shocking.  And lets breakdown the type of “shock” reactions.  The first group are those Muslim who are not all that apparently practicing. For them, posting pictures of themselves posing like some bollywood actor/actress is a norm.  Seriously, back in my day, these “actors” would get rinsed inside out for looking so… well, ridiculously artificial.  Guys, you seriously need to get your head out of the sand and wake up to reality.

“Andrew gets the interviews, Muhammed doesn’t”

By Abu Ameer (no not Ameer of ISSM!)

As a recent graduate who learnt virtually nothing of any use in his three years of study, who also happened to choke a couple of exams and end up with a third class degree, I was devastated when I stumbled upon this article.

“Andrew gets the interviews, Muhammed doesn’t”

There it was. In big bold letters – what I’d suspected all along; I was doomed.

According to research by the Department for Work and Pensions; for every nine applications sent by a white applicant, an equally good applicant with an ethnic minority name had to send 16 to obtain a positive response. Great. As if the graduate market isn’t tough enough my name means I’m almost 50% less likely to receive a positive response than my non-ethnic counterpart. Throw in a fist length beard (which never seems to look neat on the day of an interview) and a mosque hat and a not-all-that-confident young man has got problems.

“Trick or Treat” or Trick and Deciet?

Dr Sumayyah

Unfortunately Muslims often engage in events and activities which are incredibly detrimental to ones faith.  Halloween is one such example.

With the West’s obsession with everything demonic and magical (the “rituals” on MTV and children’s appetite for Harry Potter being but a couple of examples) it is not surprising that Halloween has its roots grounded in superstitious, paganistic beliefs which are totally and utterly alien to Islam.  Halloween is treated as a fun celebration, but in reality it is indeed a deception whose reality is far more darker than first thought.  Halloween originates from the pagan belief innovated by the Saxon and the Irish that the ghouls and ghosts roam about on the 31st of October.  They would regard them as supernatural powers controlling the process of nature.  However this is not all, as Halloween used to have a more sinister edge to it.  Shedding light upon the historical treatment of women in Britain,  which now parades itself as the liberator of the poor, imprisoned, Burka clad women across the world, Khalid Baig writes in his thought-provoking book,

Biceps, Triceps and… Takfir!?!?!

By Saiful Islam

What happens when you cut the pristine Deen of Islam across some masairs who don’t even know how to do isitinja properly? Mayhem that’s what.  These Mujtahid Mutlaqs* are the last thing this Ummah needs.  As if the Muslims aren’t splintered enough we get a new rising of the Masairiyoon (plural for Masair).  Let me break it down for you:

Masair A is a “Sunni”.  He himself does not know what a “Sunni” is.  Niether has he ever consulted the classical works to find the definition of “Ahlussunnah wa ‘l Jama”.  Nay, this tedious task is far too taxing on the minuscule masair minds. They can barely read the Kalima properly.  What he does know is that Scholar A put a fatwah on Scholar B and since Masair A feels connected to Hadhrat Shaykh Scholar A, he feels he has to defend him. Note, he cannot speak Arabic or Urdu to consult or verify the works, but his best friend who helped him knock out the Masairs in Masairhill told him so and hence that is the undeniable gospel Hujjah (proof) for everything he needs to know and Hujjah to declare everyone who doesn’t agree with them Kaafir.  Hence he is a Mujtahid Mutlaq number 1.

Imam Abdullah bin Mubarak about Imam Abu Hanifa

By Saiful Islam

May Allah have Mercy upon them both! Reading the lives of the pious scholars nourishes and enriches the souls so much subhanAllah… more so than the  “nasheeds” of today!

Imam Ibn Mubarak Rahimahullah was undoubtedly one of the greatest men of his day.  A contemporary of the famous Faqih and Imam, Nu’man bin Thabit Abu Hanifa Rahimahullah, he was pious ascetic, Hanafi scholar and Mujahid who would teach for 6 months, and wage Jihad for the sake of Allah on the borders for the remaining 6 months of the year, thus attaining the best of deeds throughout the year.  He is known as one of the few scholars who avoided any scholarly criticism about himself whatsoever.  The behaviour of such scholars was exemplary, and nothing demonstrates this fact more than how such scholars would talk about one another.  His words for his teacher, Imam Abu Hanifa Rahimahullah are a case in point.

Ya Ahl Al-Jannah!!!

An old video presentation with translation of the classical poem by Imam Ibn Qayim al-Jawziyyah Rahimahullah.  A deeply spiritual and uplifting presentation:

Eid Mubarak!!! A Poem on a Joyous Occasion

Assalamu Alaykum and

EID MUBARAK!!!!

SubhanAllah, such a beautiful feeling is reverberating throughout the Muslim community, and what’s more everyone is doing it on the same day! Masha’Allah, may Allah increase the unity in the Ummah. Ameen.

Enjoy Eid, but don’t unshackle yourselves from Islam, which in laymens terms means, don’t go Alum Rock Road with Pakistani flags, blasting out the B-boxes in your tight t-shirts showing your non-existent guns… and sisters, please, Hayah… yes on this day as well!

A poem I knocked up… hope you enjoy it.

EID MUBARAK FROM THE ISSM TEAM!!!

Wasalam

Saiful Islam

Its EID!!!

Its a joyous occasion people! Its EID!!!
Celebrate it! It’s part of our creed!

But don’t revert back to ignorance
After light which you attained
For what worth will be Ramdhan
If your pious actions wane?

Do eat the wonderful flavours and foods,
Till our hearts (or stomach’s!?!) contentment
But remember “whoever eats to their fill in this world
will starve on the Day of Judgment…”

Take your time out and visit your friends,
This will increase the brotherly love and peace
But do not waste time in loitering around
For Ramadhan is over and Shaytan has been released!

Love one another and enjoy your familial ties,
As this is what the Prophet maintained.
But do not forget our Ummah ,
Under oppression they are detained

And with all this said and done,
It’s that time of the year, time for some fun!
Its a joyous occassion people! Its EID!!!
Celebrate it! It’s part of our creed!

The Solution to Racism according to Malcolm X

EDL, BNP, and now even Obama is suffering the unrelenting brunt of racism.  So what is the solution to this problem?

Without further delay… Malcolm X: