Saturday, June 14, 2008

Al Mu'allim

A few years ago as my high school graduation (it wasn’t that along ago) present I got my father to buy two CDs by Sami Yusuf. The first one was ‘Al Mu’allim” and the second one was ‘My Ummah.’

The CD’s arrived afew weeks after the death of my non-Muslim friend and the first track I listened to was ‘Al Mu’allim’ and I remember that this indescribable feeling came over me.
My heart was filled with so much pain, and tears were streaming down my face like the Nile River.

We once had a Teacher
The Teacher of teachers,
He changed the world for the better
And made us better creatures,
Oh Allah we’ve shamed ourselves
We’ve strayed from Al-Mu'allim,
Surely we’ve wronged ourselves
What will we say in front him?
Oh Mu'allim...

When I heard these words I was so ashamed of myself, calling myself a Muslim and saying that I follow the sunnah of prophet (pbuh) when I truly did not. It made me really think about the sacrifices that the prophet (pbuh) and the companions(ra) made for us, what have we sacrificed and what will we say to our prophet (pbuh) when we meet insha’allah. How will we answer for ourselves and our sinful ways?


He prayed while others slept
While others ate he’d fast,
While they would laugh he wept
Until he breathed his last,
His only wish was for us to be
Among the ones who prosper,
Ya Mu'allim peace be upon you,
Truly you are our Teacher,
Oh Mu'allim..

Subhanallah! How great was this man, he stood every night in prayer to the point where his feet were swollen not for his sake but for our sake seeking Allah to forgive us. How have we shown our gratitude, why don’t we pray for each other like he did for us?


Here are the rest of the lyrics, but please take a moment to thank Allah for making you and us among the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). And please ask Allah to send him peace and blessing.

We once had a Teacher
The Teacher of teachers,
He changed the world for the better
And made us better creatures,
Oh Allah we’ve shamed ourselves
We’ve strayed from Al-Mu'allim,
Surely we’ve wronged ourselves
What will we say in front him?
Oh Mu'allim...

Chorus

He was Muhammad salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam,
Muhammad, mercy upon Mankind,
He was Muhammad salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam,
Muhammad, mercy upon Mankind,
Teacher of all Mankind.
Abal Qasim [one of the names of the Prophet]
Ya Habibi ya Muhammad
(My beloved O Muhammad)
Ya Shafi'i ya Muhammad
(My intercessor O Muhammad)
Khayru khalqillahi Muhammad
(The best of Allah’s creation is Muhammad)
Ya Mustafa ya Imamal Mursalina
(O Chosen One, O Imam of the Messengers)
Ya Mustafa ya Shafi'al 'Alamina
(O Chosen One, O intercessor of the worlds)
He prayed while others slept
While others ate he’d fast,
While they would laugh he wept
Until he breathed his last,
His only wish was for us to be
Among the ones who prosper,
Ya Mu'allim peace be upon you,
Truly you are our Teacher,
Oh Mu'allim..

Chorus

Ya Habibi ya Muhammad
(My beloved O Muhammad)
Ya Shafi'i ya Muhammad
(My intercessor O Muhammad)
Ya Rasuli ya Muhammad
(O My Messenger O Muhammad)
Ya Bashiri ya Muhammad
(O bearer of good news O Muhammad)
Ya Nadhiri ya Muhammad
(O warner O Muhammad)
'Ishqu Qalbi ya Muhammad
(The love of my heart O Muhammad)
Nuru 'Ayni ya Muhammad
(Light of my eye O Muhammad)
He taught us to be just and kind
And to feed the poor and hungry,
Help the wayfarer and the orphan child
And to not be cruel and miserly,
His speech was soft and gentle,
Like a mother stroking her child,
His mercy and compassion,
Were most radiant when he smiled

Chorus
Abal Qasim [one of the names of the Prophet]
Ya Habibi ya Muhammad
(My beloved O Muhammad)
Ya Shafi'i ya Muhammad
(My intercessor O Muhammad)
Khayru khalqillahi Muhammad
(The best of Allah’s creation is Muhammad)
Ya Mustafa Ya Imamal Mursalina
(O Chosen One O Imam of the Messengers)
Ya Mustafa ya Shafi'al 'Alamina
(O Chosen One O intercessor of the worlds)

Monday, June 9, 2008

Oh Allah Give me light


Oh Allah Give me Light
This is a very beautiful dua(supplication) made by our beloved prophet peace be upon him. O God, give me light in my heart and light in my tongue and light in my hearing and light in my seeing and light in my feeling and light in every part of my body and light before me and light behind me. Give me, I beg you, light on my right hand and light on my left hand and light above me and light beneath me. O Lord, make light grow within me and give me light and illuminate me.








Manners In Islam - When One Is Praised

What Should One Say If He Is Praised

Adiy bin Arta RA said that when anyone of the Companions RA of the Prophet was praised he would say:

“O Allah, do not seize me for what they say (about me).And forgive me (my sins) that which they do not know.”

Bukhari










Explanation


When anyone is praised , his head swells with pride and he thinks of himself and tends to stay aloof from other people. If he is pleased with praise , he imagines that what is said about him is correct and the pride that comes to him is sin. This is why a supplication is made requesting Allah not to take him to task for what other people say about him and what might have caused pride in him. When people praise anyone, he must remember his sins because generally sins are not committed before other people. They know about a man’s knowledge and prowess but do not know about his sins. If other people praise a man and he takes stock of his sins then his pride is broken instantly and, because of realisation of sins, he must seek forgiveness. Hence, the request (and forgive that which they do not know).

Sunday, June 8, 2008

.: Please forgive me :.

..

In a hadeeth,
Rasul Allah, , said,

"If anyone continually asks forgiveness, Allah will appoint for him a way out of every distress, relief from anxiety, and will provide for him from where he never realised."

- [Abu Dawood, Hadith 599]



[ Lessons from this Hadith ]

This is your success formula: Constantly asking Allah for forgiveness. It is the key to mastering your emotions, and finding ways of provision that you never imagined!

For the next ten days, ask Allah for forgiveness 100x each day, and make it a habit!

Rabia al-Adawiyah

Oh my I haven’t posted anything in a long time@ I have just been so busy with life in general and the university workload alhamdulilah its ok though.

Lately, actually since last year I have been getting into studying the Islamic sciences especially tasawwuf. It is something that intrigues me a great deal, especially the involvement of women. One of the great Sufi woman that inspires me is Rabia al-Adawiyah – may allah bess her. Here is her story;

If anyone says, “Why have you included Rabe’a in the rank of men?” my answer is, that the Prophet himself said, “God does not regard your outward forms.” The root of the matter is not form, but intention, as the Prophet said, “Mankind will be raised up according to their intentions.” Moreover, if it is proper to derive two-thirds of our religion from A’esha, surely it is permissible to take religious instruction from a handmaid of A’esha. When a woman becomes a “man” in the path of God, she is a man and one cannot any more call her a woman.

The night when Rabe’a came to earth, there was nothing whatsoever in her father’s house; for her father lived in very poor circumstances. He did not possess even one drop of oil to anoint her navel; there was no lamp, and not a rag to swaddle her in. He already had three daughters, and Rabe’a was his fourth; that is why she was called by that name.

“Go to neighbour So-and-so and beg for a drop of oil, so that I can light the lamp,” his wife said to him.

Now the man had entered into a covenant that he would never ask any mortal for anything. So he went out and just laid his hand on the neighbour’s door, and returned.

“They will not open the door,” he reported.

The poor woman wept bitterly. In that anxious state the man placed his head on his knees and went to sleep. He dreamed that he saw the Prophet.

“Be not sorrowful,” the Prophet bade him. “The girl child who has just come to earth is a queen among women, who shall be the intercessor for seventy thousand of my community Tomorrow,” the Prophet continued, “go to Isa-e Zadan the governor of Basra. Write on a piece of paper to the following effect. ‘Every night you send upon me a hundred blessings, an on Friday night four hundred. Last night was Friday night, and you forgot me. In expiation for that, give this man four hundred dinars lawfully acquired.’”

Rabe’a’s father on awaking burst into tears. He rose up and wrote as the Prophet had bidden him, and sent the message to the governor by the hand of a chamberlain.

“Give two thousand dinars to the poor,” the governor commanded when he saw the missive, “as a thanksgiving for the Master remembering me. Give four hundred dinars also to the Shaykh, and tell him, ‘I wish you to come to me so that I may see you. But I do not hold it proper for a man like you to come to me. I would rather come and rub my beard in you threshold. However, I adjure you by God, whatever you may need, pray let me know.’”

The man took the gold and purchased all that was necessary

When Rabe’a had become a little older, and her mother and father were dead, a famine came upon Basra, and her sisters were scattered. Rabe’a ventured out and was seen by a wicked man who seized her and then sold her for six dirhams. He purchaser put her to hard labour.

One day she was passing along the road when a stranger approached. Rabe’a fled. As she ran, she fell headlong and her hand was dislocated.

“Lord God,” she cried, bowing her face to the ground, “I am a stranger, orphaned of mother and father, a helpless prisoner fallen into captivity, my hand broken. Yet for all this I do not grieve; all I need is Thy good pleasure, to know whether Thou art well-pleased or no.”

“Do not grieve,” she heard a voice say. “Tomorrow a station shall be thine such that the cherubim in heaven will envy thee.”

So Rabe’a returned to her master’s house. By day she continually fasted and served God, and by night she worshipped standing until day. One night her master awoke from sleep and, looking through the window of his apartment, saw Rabe’a bowing prostrate and praying.

“O God, Thou knowest that the desire of my heart is in conformity with Thy command, and that the light of my eye is in serving Thy court. If the affair lay with me, I would not rest one hour from serving Thee, but Thou Thyself hast set me under the hand of a creature.”

Such was her litany. Her master perceived a lantern suspended without any chain above her head, the light whereof filled the whole house. Seeing this, he was afraid. Rising up he returned to his bedroom and sat pondering till dawn. When day broke he summoned Rabe’a, was gentle with her and set her free.

“Give me permission to depart,” Rabe’a said.

He gave her leave, and she left the house and went into the desert. From the desert she proceeded to a hermitage where she served God for a while. Then she determined to perform the pilgrimage, and set her face towards the desert. She bound her bundle on an ass. In the heart of the desert the ass died.

“Let us carry your load,” the men in the party said.

“You go on,” she replied. “I have not come putting my trust in you.”

So the men departed, and Rabe’a remained alone.

“O God,” she cried, lifting her head, “do kings so treat a woman who is a stranger and powerless? Thou hast invited me unto Thy house, then in the midst of the way Thou hast suffered my ass to die, leaving me alone in the desert.”

Hardly had she completed this orison when her ass stirred and rose up. Rabe’a placed her load on its back, and continued on her way. (The narrator of this story reports that some while afterwards he saw that little donkey being sold in the market.) She traveled on through the desert for some days, then she halted.

“O God,” she cried, “my heart is weary. Whither am I going? I a lump of clay, and Thy house a stone! I need Thee here.”

An inspiration immediately came into her heart.

“Rabe’a, thou art faring in the life-blood of eighteen thousand worlds. Hast thou not seen how Moses prayed for the vision of Me? And I cast a few motes of revelation upon the mountain, and the mountain shivered into forty pieces. Be content here with My name!”