Maulana Khalil Patel of Rahma Mercy talks about the Sunnah of Miswaak.

Related posts:

1. Sunnah: The Way to Live Your Life

Commentary
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam wanted to tell the five above mentioned things. In order to attract the attention of the listeners, he first said, “I want to tell a few special things. Who among you will like to learn them? But he will have to pay back their claim by acting upon them himself, and, also, relating them to others so that they, too, may profit.”
It shows that there are two claims on anyone who acquires the knowledge of faith, he should act according to it and, also, pass it on to others. Even if he does not carry out into practice fully what he learns, he must not refrain from imparting it to others.

The five things the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has taught in this Tradition are of fundamental importance.

(i) He is most devout bondsman and a great worshipper who abstains from what is unlawful though he may not be offering up a great deal of supererogatory (nafl) prayers and observing much of supererogatory fasts.

(ii) One derives immense satisfaction and peace of mind from being content with what Allah has decreed for him.

(iii) Good and noble behaviour towards the neighbour is a prerequisite of perfection in Faith.

(iv) A true Muslim must always wish well of others to the extent of desiring for them what he desires for himself.

(v) One should not laugh much because excessive laughter deprives the heart of feeling and makes it insensitive.

Riayduljannah.com

Related posts:

1. Ten Things We Waste
2. 5 Things to Reflect Upon

With his head bowed down and tears in his eyes, he said, “The lover of Allah is he who forgets his own self, remains engaged in Allah’s remembrance with due regard to all its requirements; sees Allah with the eyes of his heart, which is burnt by the heat of Allah’s fear; Allah’s remembrance affects him like a cup of wine, he speaks the word of Allah as if All-Mighty Allah speaks through his mouth; if he moves, he does so under the command of Allah; he gets peace of mind only through the obedience of Allah; and when such a stage is reached, his eating, drinking, sleeping, awakening and, in short, all his actions are for the pleasure of Allah; he neither pays heed to the worldly customs, nor does he attach any importance to unfriendly criticism by people.”

Source: islamcan.com

Related posts:

1. Love Allah
2. 10 Ways of Developing Love for Allah
3. Bedouin Girl and the Love of Allah
4. Only for Allah
5. Allah is the Provider

Related posts:

1. Tests and Trials
2. Getting Closer to Allah
3. Aim of Tasawwuf

2. Actions: Wasted when we do anything without sincerity. Intentions count.

3. Wealth: Wasted when used on things that will not bring us Ãjr (reward). We waste our money, our status, our authority, on things that have no benefit in this life or in Ãkhirah (The Hereafter).

4. Hearts: Wasted when empty from the love of Allah, and the longing for Him, and devoid of peace & contentment.

5. Bodies: Wasted when we don’t use them in ibÃdah (worship) and service of Allah in serving humankind.

6. Love: Wasted when our emotional love is misdirected, not towards Allah, but towards something/someone else.

7. Time : Wasted when not used properly, by not doing what is righteous.

8. Intellect : Wasted on things that are detrimental to society and the individual, not in contemplation or reflection.

9. Service: Wasted when in service of someone who will not bring us closer to Allah.

10. Dhikr: Wasted when it does not have an effect on our hearts.

Source: Myummah.co.za

Related posts:

1. Five Things to Act Upon
2. 5 Things to Reflect Upon
3. The Greatness of a Tear
4. Non Acceptance of Du’aas

1 You have known who Allah is, yet you have not fulfilled His duties;
2 You have recited the Qur’aan, yet you have not practiced upon it;
3 You have proclaimed the love of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam, yet you have not practiced upon his sunnah;
4 You have pronounced that the shaytaan is your enemy, yet you have stood with him;
5 You have pronounced your desire for jannah, yet you have done nothing to achieve it;
6 You have pronounced your fear for jahannam, yet you have done nothing to escape it;
7 You have proclaimed that there surely is no escape from death, yet you do not prepare for it;
8 You have indulged in seeking the faults of others, and have left looking into your own faults;
9 You have enjoyed all the Blessings and Bounties of Allah, yet you do not give Him due praise for it;
10 You have buried your dead, but you have taken no admonition.

How then will your du’aa be accepted?”

Related posts:

1. The Time of the Acceptance of Dua

Related posts:

1. Imam Shafi’ee

How to select a good spouse – a short lecture by Mufti Ismail Menk giving advice of how to select an appropriate spouse and what to look for in a potential spouse.

Related posts:

1. 100 Pre Marital Questions
2. Don’t Presume
3. Giving Gifts
4. Personality Development
5. Mufti Ismail Menk

Its been a real long time since I have written something here in my own words but I felt the time to do so was right. 

Firstly I want to apologise if I do not reply to comments quickly or even fail to reply at all.  Unfortunately my time has become rather restricted in what Ican do for Haq Islam recently.  Just in case you didn’t know I have a wife and two young kids, a full time job, am a student of the arabic language and several other things I won’t mention.  However, I do read comments and where I can, I do respond and try to help.  Do forgive me if you are one of these people that has not received a reply.

Secondly I want all those reading to volunteer to help.  How?

1. Pick a/ your favourite post/ page from Haq Islam and link to it in your signature for any forums you use
2. For the more graphics keen, create avatars and banners and link to pages and articles on Haq Islam using them on forums/ websites etc
3. Forward and share posts/ pages Muslims in your email address book
4. Share posts via twitter/ facebook/ Digg etc
5. Using Microsoft word create a mini ebook in pdf format using some of your favourite articles and share them with everyone
6. Talk about/ share the articles on your own blog/ site but please link back us. It really does annoy me when people use not only the words but also images from our articles and don’t bother to mention where they got it from
7. For any blogs and sites you comment on leave a article on Haq Islam as your URL

During Majlis a Shaykh mentioned that helping and getting involved with the work of deen is one of the ways to ensure steady progress in reforming yourself as a better Muslim. How true that is because at the very least you will be busy in doing good and receiving reward for it, rather than engaging in sin or other futile activities.  Do try and get involved, even only five minutes of your time each week is aprreciated.

It still always strikes me as amazing that we can send jokes and funny video clips around the world in a matter of hours but when it comes to helping the deen we hesitate and falter to pass on the correct teachings of our beautiful religion. As the saying goes, ‘many hands make light work’, so please don’t just leave it up to a few and get involved. All of the above can really apply to any Islamic site so there is no excuse not to help your favourite authentic Islamic website, even if you don’t help Haq Islam.

I have some old islamic blogs which are no longer updated and I would love to bring them back to life if one you can commit to posting at least once a week on them.  Drop me a comment below if you are interested.

Thirdly, a reminder that the closing date for entries into the Haq Islam competition http://www.haqislam.org/competition/ is 8 April, so if you haven’t already entered then please do so.

Finally, may I request you all to remember me and my family in your duas.

Assalam Alaykum

No related posts.

My high school friends told me about Facebook. Since all of them had an account, I decided to create one myself although I was very nonchalant about my account. I had never displayed my pictures on social sites and told myself that I would not display my pictures on Facebook. But then everybody I knew had their pictures on. So, I started uploading pictures, and before I knew it, I had a million pictures of mine there.

What happened next was that brothers I knew started adding me. I was reluctant in the beginning, but a voice inside me told me to grow up and that it was no big deal. The first comment I got was from a brother I studied with – “Nice picture, Maryam.”  What did he mean by that? I asked myself. Was he being chummy? Honestly speaking, I felt so bad when he wrote that comment on my wall, but then a voice inside my heart told me not to overreact and to show some manners so I thanked him.

I don’t know what happened next, but I started following the dunya. The values I stood up for and walked with became obsolete to me. My compromises turned into huge sacrifices. I became so desensitized and immune to the haram that was happening. I forgot that there was a God out there watching me, and I forgot that I was supposed to emulate the best of mankind- RasulAllah salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam. Random people would message me asking me for friend requests; they said I was “pretty” and they wanted to be friends with me. I even got some proposals on Facebook- can you believe it! And there were lists of stalkers who kept sending me stupid messages and songs on YouTube through fake accounts in my inbox.

Later, when I had pulled back a bit from Facebook, I stopped interacting with a lot of brothers there because a verse from the Quran kept spinning in my head:

I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. [51:56]

When I woke up from my stupor, I realized that I had become some other Maryam I never wanted to be. I had so many friends, but I was never happy because none of them reminded me of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. None of them ever told me that displaying my pictures like that or chatting with random people was wrong and against the sunnah. Shaytan loves spreading promiscuity and hates modesty, and somehow I had chosen to follow him instead of following Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.

Prophet Muhammed salla Allahu alayhi wasallam said:

Modesty is part of faith and faith is in paradise, but obscenity is part of hardness of heart and hardness of heart is in hell. (Ahmad, Tirmidhi)

I had faith, and I was a monotheist. But where was my hayaa, and where were my priorities? I had become a slave of my desires. Islam came to guide man, and here I was in the shackles of my own desires, other people, and the media. Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, has said:

“Have you seen him who takes his own lust (vain desires) as his ilah (god)?” [45:23]

In light of this verse, Imam Al-Ghazali said:

“Those who follow their own passions do not conform to monotheism, because anyone who follows his own passions makes them the object of his worship. The monotheist is he who sees nothing but the One God and only turns his face to Him.”

I removed all my pictures and changed the privacy settings of my account, but I still felt that my soul was filthy. My heart was hard. Even the Quran failed to penetrate my heart and didn’t make me cry anymore. I had everything I wanted, but something inside me was dying. It was my Iman. My Iman was suffocating.

I realized that the only way to purify my nafs was to leave things that distracted me. True, Facebook had its advantages, but for me, it was like alcohol; its detriment was greater than its benefit. So I decided to give it up for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. For months I struggled with my decision. It was hard saying goodbye to everyone, but I told them that I would be available by email if they needed me, and I requested them to remove, crop, or blur my pictures from Facebook because a voice inside me said, Maryam your face is precious and only for your hubby to see. Yes, I struggled, and it was hard: I gave up so many things which I feared would not benefit me in the Hereafter. I am still in the process of purifying my heart and always will be inshaAllah because it’s a lifelong struggle. Sometimes, things we do seem good to us, but they slowly poison our Iman.

Sheikh Reda Bedier said: “Watch the little things; a small leak will sink a great ship.”

You see, sometimes, we have our feet in two separate boats, one which has the flag of our desires on it and the other which says, “I love you, Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala.” It’s sad how we juggle between what’s necessary and what’s not and prefer what our heart desires over what our Khaliq wants us to do. Ustaad Khurram Murad said:

“Your Qalb (heart) cannot be compartmentalized. You cannot dedicate one piece of it to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and another to some other god, like wealth, status, career, spouse and so on. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is One, Indivisible and wants the human being to be undivided in service to Him. So long as our heart lies in a hundred places, so long as our eyes are set in a hundred directions, so long as we have many loyalties, we shall never be able to achieve that condition of ‘holding onto Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala’.”

Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala has said:

“O you who believe! Enter into Islam whole heartedly without any reservation.” [2: 208]

I want you to know, that if I can do it, then you can too. If you have anything in your heart that perturbs you greatly and it gives you sleepless nights, ask yourself one question: “Am I prepared for my death, my akhirah?” Truth is, nothing in life is guaranteed but death. After deleting my Facebook account and saying goodbye to it for good inshaAllah, I have so much faith in Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala that He will give me a better platform to do dawah, one that will not distract me inshaAllah.

I pray that each and every one of us succeeds in becoming a believing, steadfast servant for Allah’s sake. May Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, enable us to be amongst those who purify themselves and help us differentiate between right and wrong, Ameen.

Source: I got it covered

Related posts:

1. Nasihah on using Facebook
2. How to Leave Facebook