Importance of Marriage

“And marry the unmarried among you and the righteous among your male slaves and female slaves. If they should be poor, Allah will enrich them from His bounty, and Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.”
[24:32]

Tafsir of Surah Ikhlas

Allah, The One, The Unique: A Tafsir of Surat ‘l Ikhlas delivered by Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq on Friday 25th May 2012 at Al Kawthar Academy, Leicester, United Kingdom.

This small chapter speaks about the oneness of Allah and monotheism. It emphasises the importance of making religion sincere and exclusive for Allah in all deeds and actions. Its profound meanings and messages are the very foundation of faith and the Qur’an.

Reposted from Nov 2012

Among His Signs…

“Among His signs is that He created for you mates from among yourselves, in order to have tranquillity with them and He put love and mercy between your (hearts) : verily in that are signs for those who reflect.”
Quran Ar-Rum [30:21]

The Merits of Dhikr

[Tafsir Mariful Qur’an Surah Baqarah Verse 152]

Dhikr or ‘Remembrance’ essentially pertains to the heart, but in so far as the tongue is the interpreter of the heart the oral recitation of a Divine Name or a verse of the Holy Qur’an is also described as Dhikr. In other words, oral Dhikr can be worth the name only when it is accompanied by the ‘remembrance’ of the heart. As the great Sufi poet Rumi points out, the recitation of a Divine name can have no efficacy if one keeps thinking of cows and donkeys while repeating it mechanically with the tongue. One must, however, bear in mind that even a mechanical Dhikr without the heart being engaged in it is not altogether futile. It is related that the great Sufi Abu Uthman, hearing a man complain of such a situation, remarked that one should be grateful to Allah even for this favour of having drawn at least one organ of the body into His service. (Qurtubi)

The merits of Dhikr are, indeed, innumerable. What greater merit could one wish for than the assurance that when a man ‘remembers’ Allah, He too ‘remembers’ him. Abu Uthman once claimed that he knew the time when Allah remembered His servants. The listeners grew curious as to how he could determine this. He replied that, according to the promise made in the Holy Qur’an, when a Muslim remembers Allah, He too remembers him, and thus everyone can know for himself that as soon as he turns to Allah and remembers Him, Allah too remembers him.

Let us add that Verse 152 means to say that if men ‘remember’ Allah by obeying His commandments, He will ‘remember’ them by granting His pardon and His rewards. The commentator Sa’id ibn Jubayr has, in fact, interpreted the Dhikr or ‘remembrance’ of Allah as obedience and submission to Him. He says:
“He who has not obeyed Him has not remembered Him, even though he has kept himself externally busy in offering (nafl: supererogatory) prayers and reciting His praises.”

This explanation is fully supported by a hadith cited by Al-Qurtubi on the authority of Ahkam Al-Qur’an by Ibn Khuwayz Mandadh. The Holy Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has said that one who has been obeying Allah – that is, following the injunctions with regards to the Halal and Haram – has truly been remembering Allah, in spite of being deficient in (nafl: supererogatory) prayers and fasting, while one who has been disobeying divine commandments has, in fact, forgotten Allah, in spite of devoting long hours to nafl prayers, fasting and recitation of His praises.

The great Sufi Master Dhu al-Nun al-Misri has said that the man who remembers Allah in the full sense of the term forgets everything else, and that, in reward of such a total absorption, Allah Himself takes care of all his concerns, and grants him something far more valuable for everything he loses. Similarly, the blessed Companion Mu’adh (رضى الله تعالى عنه)has remarked that in so far as winning absolution from the divine wrath is concerned, no good deed on the part of man can compare with Dhikr. And in a hadith reported by the blessed Companion Abu Hurayrah (رضى الله تعالى عنه), Allah Himself says that so long as the servant keeps remembering Him and his lips keep moving in Dhikr, Allah is with him.

Listening to Quran

Listening to recitation is the perfume of the souls, the calmer of hearts, and the food of the spirit. Is is one of the most important psychological medicines. It is a source of pleasure, even to some animals – and pleasure in moderation purifies inner energy, enhances the functioning of the faculties, slows down senile decay by driving out its diseases, improves the complexion, and refreshes the entire body. Pleasure in excess, on the other hand, makes the illnesses of the body grow worse.

Abu Nu’aim states, in his Tib an-Nabbi, that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that the benefits of listening to recitation are increased when it is understood – that is, when its meaning is understood. Allah Himself says:

…so give good news to My slaves, those who listen to the word and then follow the best of it…(Qur’an: 39.17-18)

Source: As-Suyuti’s Medicine of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)

Prophet Isa (Jesus)

The Birth of ‘Isa ( – Peace Be Upon Him)

The story of the birth of Isa (A.S.) as told in the Qur’an demonstrates again the power of Allah who can make happen whatever He wills. Just as Ibrahim (A.S.) and Sara (A.S.) wondered at being able to have a son at their great age, Isa’s mother, Maryam (peace be upon her) also wondered at being able to have a son when no man had touched her.

Maryam was the daughter of Imran (A.S.). When her mother became pregnant with her, she dedicated her baby to Allah for His special service. Maryam grew up pure and beautiful in the special protection of Allah. Whenever her guardian, Zakariah (A.S.), would visit her in her room, he would find that she had been provided with plentiful food and he wondered at it. It was Allah who was caring for her.

When Maryam became a young woman she was visited by a messenger from Allah. He told her that she would bear a son named Isa (A.S.). He would speak to the people as a child and as an adult. Allah would teach him the Book and the Wisdom, and he would be a prophet to his people.

Maryam was amazed at this message. She was a well-behaved young, unmarried woman, so how could she have a baby? Allah’s message was similar to that given to Ibrahim (A.S.).  Allah creates whatever he wills. All he has to do is say, “Be,” and it is.

When the time came for Maryam’s baby to be born, she withdrew from her family because she knew they wouldn’t understand. As the pains of birth began, she came to a palm tree and cried out in despair that she wished she were dead. A voice answered her, telling her not to grieve, and telling her to shake the palm tree to obtain dates. Allah also provided her with a small stream to ease her thirst and cool her face during the birth of her son, Isa .

When Isa (A.S.) had been born, Maryam returned home with him. When her family saw him they were shocked, as she knew they would be. But she merely pointed to the baby in explanation and he, the newborn infant, spoke, declaring that he was indeed a servant of Allah, a prophet, blessed by Allah, enjoined to do prayer and charity, and be kind to his mother, humble and not overbearing, and that he would eventually die and be raised to life again.

You can read about Maryam and the birth of Isa (A.S.) in the following suras of the Qur’an: 3:35-37, 3:42-49, 19:16-40.

Remain Busy with Quraan

Quraan

Hadhrat Abu Sa’eed (Radhiyallaho anho) narrates that Rasulullah (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam) said: “Almighty Allah says; “If anybody finds no time for My remembrance and for begging favours of Me, because of his remaining busy with the Holy Qur’an, I shall give him more than what I give to all those who beg favours of Me. The superiority of the Word of Allah over all other words is like the superiority of Allah over the entire creation.”
[Tirmidhi, Darimi, Bayhaqi]

In other words, compared to those who are begging favours of Allah, He will surely confer some better reward on a person who remains so occupied with committing the Qur’an to memory or learning and understanding it that he hardly gets time for du’a (prayer).

It is commonly known that when a man distributes sweets, or something else amongst others, a share is set aside for the person who cannot attend the function because of the task of distribution given to him by the distributor himself.

In another hadith, in the same context, it is mentioned that Allah would give such a person a better reward than what He would give to His ever grateful servants.

Source: Fazail-e-amaal

Are You Grateful

“If you are grateful, I will grant you increase, but if you are ungrateful, my chastisement is severe.”

14:7

 

Prophet Ismail and his Mother

When Ismail (alayhis salam) was still a small baby, his father Ibrahim (alayhis salam) took him and his mother, Hajra, to the site of the Ka’ba. He gave them some dates and a goat skin full of water and left them there. At that time no one lived at the Ka’ba, and there was no water nearby. As Ibrahim (alayhis salam) was walking away, Ismail’s (alayhis salam) mother followed him, asking why she and her son were being left in such a desolate place. She asked several times but he would not answer her. Finally, she asked if Allah had ordered him to do this and he replied that it was so. Upon hearing this, she accepted Allah’s will and returned to the site where Ibrahim (alayhis salam) had left her.

As soon as Ibrahim (alayhis salam) was out of sight, he turned and prayed to Allah to protect and provide for his family which he had left out in the wilderness:
“O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in a valley without cultivation, by Thy Sacred House; In order, O our Lord that they may establish regular prayer; So fill the hearts of some among men with love towards them, and feed them with fruits; So that they may give thanks.” (al-Qur’an 14:37)

Ismail (alayhis salam) and his mother lived for some time on the supply of water and dates, but finally the water began to give out, and Ismail’s (alayhis salam) mother could no longer produce sufficient milk to nurse her baby. The baby became agitated and near to death because of his thirst. The mother could not bear to see her child suffering, so she ran to the top of nearby Mt. Safa to see if she could find someone to help her. When she could see no one, she ran down the mountain and across the valley to Mt. Marwa. Seven times she ran from one mountain to the other, looking in vain for assistance. After the seventh time she heard a voice and she called out to it for help. When she looked she saw an angel digging the earth with his heel until water flowed forth. That place was the site of Zam-zam. She carefully made a depression around the place where the water was flowing, and filled her waterbag with her hands. Then she was able to drink water and nurse her baby. The angel told her not to be afraid, that she and her son would be provided for.

Ismail (alayhis salam) and his mother continued to live at the Ka’ba all by themselves for some time. One day some people of the Jurhum tribe were passing through the valley. They didn’t intend to stop, because they knew that there had never been any water in that valley. But they saw a kind of bird which was known to frequent wet spots, so they followed it to the spring of Zam-zam. There they found Ismail’s mother sitting by the water.

Ismail’s (alayhis salam) mother was a very sociable person who loved the company of others, so she readily agreed to their request to stop there for a while, provided that they did not claim possession of the water. Some of the people of Jurhum decided to settle permanently by Zam-zam and sent for their families. Ismail (alayhis salam) grew up with these people and learned to speak Arabic from them. When he grew up, they urged him to marry one of their women.

You can read about Ismail and his mother in Sahih al-Bukhari IV:582-584.

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