#Dawah steps.

[bintturaab]

When I started practicing Islam, which was around 12 years ago alhamdulillah, my parents were such a huge obstacle in the way of trying to adhere to deen. I wasn't allowed to wear proper hijab, was sort of grounded, not allowed to read or listen to anything - even books of tafsir and hadith, not allowed to be with my other practicing friends, forced to drop out of arabic and other courses, etc etc. Home didn't feel like home but a battleground, on a daily basis.

Fast forward to present day; my family and I have dinner table discussions on matters of tawheed, my parents are the ones who facilitated my learning arabic and becoming an arabic teacher bi fadlillah (omg????), they've finished Shaykh Ahmad's tawheed series and loved it and are further learning tawheed and other aspects of deen, my mother finished tafseer ibn kathir twice already; may Allah bestow His endless blessings and mercy upon them and grant them the highest stations in Firdaws, ameen.

Thinking about how things had started and where they are now, wallahi makes me so overwhelmingly emotional. It fills my heart with so much warmth and joy that sometimes it feels like I can't contain it anymore. Allahu Akbar wa Lillahil hamd. No matter how many hundreds of sujud ash-shukr I give, it will never be enough to express my gratitude to Allah عز وجل.

Speaking from personal experience here, when it comes to giving dawah to our families, we really need to step up. They are the first we give up on, when they should be the ones we hold on to the most. Our parents are the most deserving of our time and patience and dawah, wallahi. I know the situation isn't the same for everyone, but honestly, how much do we make dua for the guidance of our families? Do we pray for them in every salah, in every sujud? Do we ardently make du'a for their hidayah every chance we get? Do we follow up our duas with constant dawah in a respectful manner and soft approach with patience and persistence? Do they see the best of us or the worst of us? Or do we just try once and then complain for the rest of our lives without giving due efforts?

Guidance is completely in the Hands of Allah, but wallahi our duas will never go to waste and we will see their impact whether tomorrow or 10 years later. It took my family 5 years to accept my dawah, it was a very gradual process but to witness their gradual change to better and better, from stubborn to being understanding, is so rewarding wallahi. To see them become even better than you, is the best feeling in the world. And it takes a lot of time and effort to come to that point.

When giving dawah to our families, we must be patient, be consistent, be persistent, be respectful, have good manners, be smart in our approach, and make lots and lots of du'a. We should priorities our families when giving dawah, because what's the point if the whole world benefits from us while we neglect our own homes?

These are the best days of the year, let us utilise them in making du'a for our families in sha Allah. May Allah guide us all and be pleased with us, ameen.

[manhajsalafiyyah]

Welcome our sister Ivy (17), who approached the table with some of her Muslim friends. She had been thinking about taking her shahaadah but was a bit hesitant to do so. Today, she finally took the first step of her journey. My Allah keep her

firm. Ameen.

- Germantown City Centre Da’wah

#shahadah #you_can_be_next_to_be_muslim #dawah #true_religion #truth #islam

[binterauff]

I'm not saying this to discourage you but you should reflect upon this, spreading awareness/boycotting/becoming the voice of the oppressed/speaking up for them without fear/giving charity is amazing, but what about acting after reflecting on this situation?, which was the first step before all these...

ALLAH DIDN'T SAID MUSA A.S NOT TO USE FIRAUNS's KINGDOM WEALTH OR THINGS,

WHAT DID ALLAH TOLD MUSA A.S AND MUSA A.S TOLD TO HIS PEOPLE?

Moses reassured his people, “Seek Allah’s help and be patient. Indeed, the earth belongs to Allah ˹alone˺. He grants it to whoever He chooses of His servants. The ultimate outcome belongs ˹only˺ to the righteous.” (surah Aaraf ayah 128)

WE CRY FOR CHANGE BUT ALLAH SAYS-

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا۟ مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ ۗ

Indeed, Allāh will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.

HOW CAN WE EXPECT CHANGE WHEN WE ARE DOING THE SAME THINGS REGULARLY?

IN SURAH BAQARAH ALLAH SAYS:

وَلَا تَقُولُوا۟ لِمَن يُقْتَلُ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ أَمْوَٰتٌۢ ۚ بَلْ أَحْيَآءٌۭ وَلَـٰكِن لَّا تَشْعُرُونَ ١٥٤

Never say that those martyred in the cause of Allah are dead—in fact, they are alive! But you do not perceive it.

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ ١٥٥

We will certainly test you with a touch of fear and famine and loss of property, life, and crops. Give good news to those who patiently endure—

ٱلَّذِينَ إِذَآ أَصَـٰبَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌۭ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّآ إِلَيْهِ رَٰجِعُونَ ١٥٦

who say, when struck by a disaster, “Surely to Allah we belong and to Him we will ˹all˺ return.”

THOSE PALESTINIANS HAVE MADE THEIR WAY TO JANNAH BY GETTING MARTYRS, NOW WE SHOULD FEAR FOR OURSELVES & WORK FOR IT.

Because....

Muslims did one mistake during the battle of Uhud and they get defeated, imagine how many sins and mistakes we make and still we want victory?

Sheikh Ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah:

'When the victory returns to the disbelievers, it's because of the sins of the Muslims, their lack of faith, and their ignorance of tawhid But if they repent in perfecting their faith and in returning to authentic Sunnah, Allah will ensure victory without the least of doubt!" [Al-Jawab as-Saheeh li man baddala Din al-Masih 6/450]

So When actually we will correct ourselves instead of pointing out others/jews/liberals/feminist/etc?

WHEN WE WILL LEAVE MAKE DUA FOR THEM?, WHEN WE WILL OPEN THE QURAN WE OPENED LAST RAMADAN AFTER CLEANING THE DUST?, WHEN WE WILL STOP DOING BUSINESS LIKE JEWS?, WHEN WE WILL BOYCOTT WESTERN IDEOLOGIES? WHEN WE WILL STOP FOLLOWING OUR NAFS?, WHEN WE WILL START GIVING PRIORITY TO DEEN? WHEN WE WILL STOP DEGRADING OUR MUSLIM BROS/SIS TRYING?

Note: this isn't to stop you from doing dawah, but to include it first in your own habits.

[imaminoccultation]

Letter 4: Seeing the Light of the Imam - How I went from Sunni, to Atheist, to Shi’i Gnostic

I have a confession to make y’all. I’m a spiritual person.

I know, I know, put your pitchforks down, cringey ex-Christians and ex-Sunnis of Arizona’s Omdurman (Tucson), trust me, I don’t think y’all are going to Hell if you don’t agree with me. I’m not an Evangelical, or Mohammed Hijab. I also don’t believe in any ideology that makes me ashamed to be who I am: atheism turned out not to be right for me after my six year trial run, but I didn’t accept Imam Mahdi as my Lord and Savior just cause I decided my parents were right all along. Ha! But it’s hard to put into words exactly what happened to me. I think back to Dayf Allah’s Book of Biographies: I think of Sheikh Idris wad al-Arbaab, one of the most memorable biographies for me as, you know, a descendant of Mahasi Sufis. I think of the story where the son of the Prince (wad al-Arbaab, who I do call on occasionally when I slip and fall) first receives, well, I dunno. I dunno how you say this in English, let’s say he meets Jesus for you Americans. He sees the Light of the Muhammad, united himself with the highest level of the Muhammedan Reality, bringing his head into perfect contact with Allah’s eternal Pen: or, Dayf Allah tells us, he has a vision of the Prophet Muhammad, who teaches him the ins and outs of Islam. After that, they say Sheikh Idris never talked about anything except the cosmos, the stories of the ancients, or the movements of the angels closest to the Throne.

I can relate to that these days. It’s hard to tell people what happened in my conversion experience. On the outside, I had a conversation with a Twelver Gnostic who was extremely well educated in religious philosophy, which is good, because 1) I love philosophy 2) I love history 3) I know Islamic scripture pretty well. What can I say? I’m the son of a preacher, man. But he didn’t talk like anybody I’d ever met before. This nigga had something the Sufis would call ma’rifa of tawhid: deep, intuitive, internal knowledge of the true nature of God’s unity: the First Perfect and Eternal Truth, or Allah. He engaged in a practice called ‘irfaan: a weird way of talking, basically, that’s meant to help build your intuitive awareness of God’s tawhid. He just asks you questions unflinchingly. I remember one of them super vividly, because it’s then where it all clicked for me, and I saw the Light of Muhammad. You see, to understand anything a nigga like Sheikh Idris over here has to say, you need to do a lot of reading. Thankfully, I’ve been training all my life for this. I basically grew up in a mosque: I can run circles around the average internet dawah-cel. I’m an Arabic linguist by training. Parents speak Sudani, and also read a ton of the Recitation, and it was super important to them that I learned to recite it, too. A trip to Utah and a conversation with my friend’s grandpa also got me interested in Mormon history and the academic study of religion, which, you know, being an Arabic linguist trained me to actually comprehend. Then, since I was 16, I’ve become a mini-Islamic historian. Blame Rick Riordan. Percy Jackson is just too much like me: can’t focus on anything, and also split between a great but invisible legacy (his Greek godly heritage) and the fact that that legacy made living daily life super hard. I felt that, as a first-gen Muslim-American queer dude who also couldn’t focus on class if his life depended on it. But hey, you know why it appealed to me? Cause I love stories. They help me understand the world in terms I can actually understand cause, you know, I can follow a story. Plus, I have a wild imagination. Blame growing up with the Recitation!

You know, the story of Sheikh Idris makes me think of the Song of the Stairways. One of the Recitation’s most badass apocalyptic images, a staircase yawning into the sky, where a day is like 50,000 years, the angels marching, slowly, flowing wings dragging across the steps, all behind the Spirit: who is the Spirit? The Recitation tells me we’ve only been given a little knowledge, but I have a guess. The angel Jibra’il: the Slave of God, an angel who sometimes gets called a Messenger of God. Maybe the first Rasuul, while Adam was the first nabi (Prophet?) Well, anyways, the hadith say the Angel Jibra’il looks trippy as fuck: 600 wings that blot out the horizon, this nigga the guy who cut open Muhammad’s chest and washed out his heart on his way to talk with God and unite with the Light of Muhammad, returning as the Nabi, the Prophet Muhammad, completing the purpose Allah had always prepared for him. Anyways, he leads the procession, on his way up to God on the Day of Judgement: what’s up there?

I don’t know, but you can’t help but be a little curious, right? It’s why I love to draw Islamic imagery. Try to envision this mystical imagery so I can understand it better…I’m thinking of my next drawing being me holding the hands of the Hidden Imam, Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, the Imam in Occultation, peace and blessings be upon him.

When I was talking with Twelver Gnostic Sheikh Idris, he didn’t judge me. He spoke to me in languages I was fluent in: Academic English, Islamic Scripture, Philosophy, Rational Argumentation (well, the last a bit more dubiously, all I’m saying is I did debate in high school LMAO) He asked me why I didn’t believe in God. We had a long discussion about whether or not brute contingency makes any sense and he said something that was gonna change my life forever.

“To test the utility of a principle like brute contingency, work backwards from that premise, and see if you can end up with physical reality.”

Uhh…you can’t. I mean, smarter people than me have argued that this is a great argument against the existence of reality, and I mean, have fun, guys. But like me, I’m a normal fucking dude, okay? ‘Umar, if you want to sit there and atfalsaf about whether or not this table exists, that’s fine, let’s settle this matter scientifically. Let’s set up some cameras, I’ll take your head, slam it into the dining table, and then you can tell me, based on your firsthand observation, whether or not it exists.

For me, that’s all I care about. What can I know, and then I just work off that. I’m not gonna lose my mind over shit that can’t be understood, but for some reason I thought Islam and rational thinking didn’t go together: but that’s not true. Sheikh Idris taught me otherwise. He taught me Hikma: Wisdom. He told me how to think for myself and how to see God, if I so chose. After a childhood of being an Imam Ali fanboy, knowing this philosophy – Neoplatonism – had room for queer people like me, and seeing how much it was like the Perennialist omnitheism I believed in as a kid (look it up, just look it up!)...I knew it was right for me.

But, I tried to tell him: “well, how am I supposed to know all that is true? Can you even say you believe in God?” Then Sheikh Idris gave me the words that made everything click, that passed the Gnosis, the Hikma, the Wisdom, that let me see the Light of Muhammad and put me on this mission to spread Islamic Neoplatonism before the akh-right gets all the queer Sudani-Americans killed. It brought me the spiritual peace that I imagine the prodigal son must’ve felt, the divine union that the story of the Return of the Prodigial Son symbolizes. But I wasn’t sure. I showed Sheikh Idris something I wrote about tawhid. It’s my masterpiece, and most vulnerable work. I call it the Four Gospels of Tawhid, and maybe one day, I’ll show them to you. He told me I understood his teachings beautifully, after a whole life of training. He said that he saw the Light of the Imam in me, and that it was my job to bring out my inner Imam so Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, peace upon him, the Imam in Occultation, could come out. 

“What do you mean, do I believe in God? I know who God is.”

It felt like coming home. Saw the Light then.

I’d taken the Shi’i shahaada by myself about 3 times before over the course of the year. But now I was sure. I pledged my faith to God, recognized the Prophecy of Muhammad, and pledged my allegiance to Imam Ali as his rightful successor, who passed down the Light of Muhammad which until this day, I think, is held by the Imam in Occultation, who, once we’re ready, will come out to help us out. But even out of sight, even while in hiding, he’s guiding us in his own way…God just hasn’t let us in on the secret. Yet.

See, if you’re an Islamic Neoplatonist, like I am, you gotta pick an Imam. The Imam is basically the best human at a given moment: think of them as whoever it is who lucked out with all the perfect traits at a specific point in time (to put it simply). There are competing claims for the Imamate. Isma’ili Neoplatonists argue that the Aga Khan IV is the Imam of the Time, and, as is expected of a Twelver, I strongly disagree. It’s basically like Catholics arguing who the right Pope is. Isma’ilis think the Aga Khan IV is the last living descendant of Imam Ali and his wife, the Prophet Muhammad’s favorite daughter, Fatima the Radiant, and therefore more qualified than anyone to be the Pope. I…am not convinced. Sorry, I’m a linguist, and until I see evidence that he speaks Old Hijazi Arabic I’m afraid Imam al-Mahdi is just gonna have to be enough for me. Imam al-Mahdi, I was taught, is staying out of sight cause humans need time to figure some things out before they’re ready for him. But, you know, we still need to get ready. We still need to fight for justice, because Imam al-Mahdi’s job is to implement God’s justice on Earth one last time, helped out by asexual Prophet extraordinaire, Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the Muslims. 

I’ve been inspired by him. That’s why I converted. I’m planning my next drawing in my head: myself, holding the hands of Imam al-Mahdi, with the white veil I always see in Shi’i art over his face, symbolizing his mystery. I imagine the Light of Muhammad shining between us, a mourning, agonized soul longing for the divine union which Imam al-Mahdi provides him access to, without sitting at his shoulder and telling him only to believe what the scholars say.

Which is what Sunni Orthodoxy was for me, and it was killing me. And white atheism was also killing me because it told me I couldn’t have my Islam and my queerness. But I can. I don’t have to justify my faith to you, that shit is my business, and your shit is your business. But I’m not gonna not talk about it cause it makes you uncomfortable. I was gonna end up another dead queer Black Muslim-American if I didn’t meet a Muslim who taught me how to be Muslim and queer at the same time completely on accident. I feel purpose now. I owe Imam al-Mahdi, and plan on making good on my pledge. That’s the essence of my worship. To learn from oppression, build the tools to fight it, which I’ve been cultivating. Slowly, but surely. They’re all coming together now. Watch out, akh-right bros. I have some bad news for you: it’s a secret the Muslim Brotherhood (Sunni Orthodox) scholars don’t want you to find out – the Qur’an and the hadith are scientifically and historically inaccurate. I know, I know, shocking, I can prove it, too, and I’m still Muslim. I just don’t read these books like science or history textbooks, I read them like, you know…literature…because I like to read. But my reading brought me back into a relationship with Allah that, right now, is working really well for me. You can have a healthy relationship with Allah if you’re queer, and you can still have Islamic Literature as a part of your life. There is more than Orthodox Sunni Islam, and more people need to know, because Orthodox Sunni dawahganda is scarily successful. The shit I learned took me my whole life to be able to actually comprehend because my experiences as an Orthodox Sunni had me so myopic about what Islam could be.

There are options if you’re doubting your faith as a queer person. Find the relationship with God (or no God) that works for you, but don’t do it on fundamentalists’ terms.

[khutbahs]

How to invite to Islam?

Narrated Ibn `Abbas: When the Prophet (ﷺ) sent Mu`adh to Yemen, he said to him, “You are going to a nation from the people of the Scripture, so let the first thing to which you will invite them, be the Tauhid of Allah. If they learn that, tell them that Allah has enjoined on them, five prayers to be offered in one day and one night. And if they pray, tell them that Allah has enjoined on them Zakat of their properties and it is to be taken from the rich among them and given to the poor. And if they agree to that, then take from them Zakat but avoid the best property of the people.”  Sahih al-Bukhari 7372https://www.facebook.com/askMuslim/videos/what-is-tawheed-what-are-the-categories-of-tawheed-prophet-%EF%B7%BA-said-let-the-first-/304237617589948/

[storiesofthesahabah]

Maybe? It depends, I think. Yes, no - I’m sure you have your answer now in your head.

But, really, how many languages or even dialects do you know? Well, no matter how many or what your answer is on the above question - I just want you to rethink about it today as you finish reading about this story I am about to share with you. _____ I have seen how many people get amazed at a person who knows about 10 or more languages because reality is - it is not easy to learn another language besides your native one or English.

Yet again, most of these people who excel in this field work in corporate industries or marketing, advertising or are in business but very less in the dawah field. I used to think why is there a need for so many translated flyers regarding Islam - you know those dawah flyers dedicated to nonMuslims - when most of them speak English.  I just thought maybe because people understand it more in their own language or subhan’Allah there’s something deeper than this and it is all rooted back to one of the sunnan of our beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.  _____ During the 9th of Hijra when Islam became the dominant power in the Arabian peninsula and he ﷺ was traveling to the borders of Ash Shams - one of the many incidents that showcased his ﷺ eloquence took place. On his way, a group of Arabs from a particular tribe which speaks in a different accent as well as a bit of a different dialect approached the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to ask him regarding a ruling about fasting.

One of them spoke and asked the particular question, the Sahabah who were around the Prophet ﷺ don’t speak their language or dialect started to get confused but then he ﷺ started to answer them and speak in their dialect.

With this, some of the Arabs who were with along with these group of people who were not yet Muslims accepted Islam. _____ Subhan’Allah - If you would come and think about it, indeed during those days there were different accents, dialects and even languages that Arabs had pertaining to which tribe they belong - and our beloved Prophet ﷺ actually was aware and able to speak in each one. It is actually one of his practices to learn about the people you are giving dawah to - there were stories of him encouraging the sahabah (Radiyallahu Anhum) to learn another or one more language for the purpose of spreading Islam.

You may think, how come with this simple act some of them accepted Islam? This shows empathy and makes the people who speak the language welcomed and comfortable - our beloved Prophet ﷺ knew this and used this strategy as well to call and invite people to Islam. My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, have you ever thought of learning your local dialect or other languages within your country for the purpose of calling people to Islam? Now, I understand why there are centers, organizations and even people who do so much in order to get flyers or other dawah materials printed in different languages or even dialects - because apart from following the sunnah of our beloved Prophet ﷺ they also want to make these people feel appreciated, understood and welcomed. - and this is one of the many beauties of Islam - that most of us fail to understand. Most of us think that Islam is only for those who speak Arabic but it is not Alhamdulillah there are people who spend time, effort, money and whatever is available in their disposals to make Islam understandable as simple as it is.  So next time you want to go and learn another International language, try to think of your community - do you speak their dialect or language - if yes, then use that knowledge and invite them to Islam and if no, maybe it is time to learn it to help people understand and learn more about Islam.

We all have obligations towards our communities - this may be little but it will make a lot of difference. in sha Allah. What I have personally seen is that not everyone is able to understand or is fluent in English - so these people when they want to accept Islam and have a question that cannot be addressed due to lack of communication it may cause the delay of their shahadah. ______

Don’t get me wrong - yes it is first and foremost that we learn Arabic yet again the basic understanding of Islam that are the foundation of people coming to Islam should be delivered well and simple to them. If you are someone who is fluent in different local dialects, offer your help and services in centers that serve Islam or speak to people who visit you or people you meet. Use every opportunity that Allah Azza Wa Jall has given you to invite people to Islam - because you may never know that you might be an instrument that can save a person from a miserable life or you may have that characteristic that may cause a Non Muslim to think about (if not enter to) Islam. Make use of your speech - if you are well-versed in your language, take that step. And do not wait for tomorrow, do it today. If you want to really get inspired, go and witness a person taking his or her shahadah - it is so emotional that you don’t even know why so much tears are falling from your eyes.  Every revert you meet or see is a reminder that Allah guides whom He wills, and that you being a Muslim or New Muslim has been bestowed such guidance so use that blessing to guide another one. ______

May Allah make us all instruments of calling people Islam and people who forbid the wrong and enjoin what is halal and good.  Amin.

Zohayma

_____

Story was taken from

[1] Excerpt from the book As Seerah An Nabawiyyah, Ibn Kathir [2] Sahih Al Bukhari, 1844

[modestybae]

This is for the ladies,

Please protect your hearts. Don’t give it away to the first person that comes around and show the least amount of interest. Stop sliding into guys’ dms, or anons believing that this might higher your chances in marriage. It really won’t. Whoever you’re destined to be with, will come through, even if you lived alone in a cave.

Want a husband? Work on yourself, mentally, physically and spiritually. Make tons of duaa, take legit steps through mahrams. You’re a Muslimah. Allah has placed all these rules and regulations for your protection and for your own good. 

Prophet Muhammed peace and blessings be upon him, said that angel Jibril revealed to him, that “the blessings of Allah will only be granted through His worship”. (Narrated by Abu Umamah Al Bahili, graded as sahih in Sahih al Jami’, no.  2085). 

So never expect that sinning, will grant you God’s blessings and his rizq, whether it’s in dunya or akhirah. I know it’s hard, and I know it’s challenging, but please keep your eyes set on the goal: Jannah. 

Anas bin Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Among the inmates of Hell, a person who had led the most luxurious life in this world will be brought up on the Day of Resurrection and dipped in the Fire and will be asked: 'O son of Adam! Did you ever experience any comfort? Did you happen to get any luxury?' He will reply: 'By Allah, no, my Rubb.' And then one of the people of Jannah who had experienced extreme misery in the life of this world will be dipped in Jannah. Then he will be asked: 'O son of Adam! Did you ever experience any misery? Did you ever encounter difficulty?' He will say: "By Allah, no my Rubb, I neither experienced misery nor passed through hardship". [Muslim].

The temporary enjoyment of sins, will mean absolutely nothing with the first dip in the hellfire. All these struggles and challenges will mean absolutely nothing with the first dip in Jannah. 

Jannah is your goal. Work for it and allow no distractions. 

There’s this couple that I know of, who both worked for the same dawah project, she was the head of the women’s section and he was the head of the men’s section, they knew about each other but never really talked or met. Time passes, and he thought she’d be a good wife, and he went directly and talked to her brother and now they’re married allahuma barik. 

Point is, if you think chatting it up will get you a proposal, if you think you have to warm him up to the idea of marriage, then you’re wrong. A real man, a man you’re worthy of, will take no shortcuts. Real men will approach your mahram directly. You’re worthy of effort. Protect yourself, protect your heart, work on yourself, and make tons of duaa. 

May Allah make us righteous and may He grant us righteous spouses, and may He bless the married happy marriages built on His worship. 

[suhyla]

Lessons From The Hijrah 🍃🐪 Dr. Akram Kassab

The Hijrah is one of the events that changed the course of history, and it contains many lessons and learnings, and here I will mention some of what I learned from this blessed migration:

1. The Hijrah taught me: That tawakkul (reliance) upon Allah does not negate taking practical steps. Rather, the first step of having Tawakkul is to be taking practical measures, and this was evident in going out at night and hiding in the cave.

2. The Hijrah taught me: That the [best] outcome is for the righteous. So no matter how much the falsehood rises it is defeated, but victory is not only a victory over an enemy, but your persistence in the truth is a victory, and your adherence to your principles is a victory. Mus'ab did not see the stabilization of the muslim community nor did Hamza see the religion of Islam becoming dominant but they were victorious by remaining steadfast upon their principles until they died.

3. The Hijrah taught me: that sincerity is the basic foundation. So whoever speaks for da'wah seeking fame or wealth has missed the goal. If Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, wanted that, he would not leave his homeland and would not leave his house. So make sincerity your guiding motto and the world and the hereafter will come to you.

4. The Hijrah taught me: Moderation is the companion of the Muslim. So he is not humiliated when he is weak, nor is he arrogant when he is victorious. We saw the Messenger, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, leaving [his homeland] alone to migrate honored by his religion and dawah saying, as narrated by Ahmad: "If only your people did not force me to leave I would not have left." We also saw when he returned after eight years after the conquest of Makkah, he was nothing but humble and grateful.

5. The Hijrah taught me: That, without a doubt, God’s preservation of the callers of Dawah is certain, but preservation is not only the protection of life. Rather, from it, and most importantly, is the preservation of the religion. And no one emigrated for the sake of God except that God preserves his religion for him. And ask about Suhayb, Bilal, Ammar and Abu Salamah and you will be informed of this with certainty.

6. The Hijrah taught me: Confidence appears in during circumstances of difficulty. And here is the example of Al-Sideeq submitting himself to his friend, May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him, on a journey filled with dangers. And what a most wonderful response of Al-Sideeq when he was asked: "Who is this man in front of you?" He said: "This man shows me the Way..." (Narrated by Al-Bukhari)

7. The Hijrah taught me: Victory comes with patience. There is no victory for the one who is frantic and hasty and no victory for the one who is quick to despair and lose hope. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to Khabab and his brothers: By Allah, this religion (i.e. Islam) will prevail till a traveler from Sana (in Yemen) to Hadramaut fearing nobody except Allah and the wolf lest it should trouble his sheep, but you are impatient." (Narrated by Al-Bukhari)

8. The Hijrah taught me: Whoever left something for the sake of God, God would compensate him with something better than it. When the Companions left Makkah, which was of the best places to live, God conquered the world with them and they traveled the earth and inhabited many different lands bringing goodness and virtue to its' people.

9. The Hijrah taught me: that the woman is the companion of the man, so neither the man alone builds a civilization, nor can the woman alone create glory. And that is why Asma and those before her such as Sameeah and Naseebah were not absent from the events of the Hijrah.

10. The Hijrah taught me: that victory is not with the enthusiasm of the youth alone nor with the wisdom of the elders alone. The lesson is in the abilities and qualities. What Ali did is not less than what Al-Sideeq did. And Al-Sideeq did not qualify for his companionship [in the journey] due to his age or friendship, nor did Ali qualify for his role due to his youth or kinship, but rather what nominated each of that was based on their capabilities and qualities.

11. The Hijrah taught me: that preaching and guidance does not build civilizations or bring glory, but rather what builds civilizations and glories is through determination and planning. And the prophethood of the Prophet, may Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him, did not prevent him from planning. So the role of Al-Sideeq was his companionship, the role of Ali was to take the place of the Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and the role of Asmaa was delivering food and sustenance, and the role of her brother was to bring news and to help keep their location hidden, and Ibn Areeqat's role was to show them the way.

12. The Hijrah taught me: That life has roles and everyone has a role in which he is fit and not everyone is fit for every role. He who does good work openly has a role model in the Al-Faruq, and whoever performs the work in secret has an example in the rest of his companions. And whoever God has endowed with money, then the giving of Al-Sideeq is a great example to be mentioned... So put yourself in what you have mastered and are effective, not what you love and desire.

13. The Hijrah taught me: that the leader does not deserve leadership if he takes it upon himself to act alone. Whoever leads alone will live alone and die alone. So the companionship of the leader is necessary. If someone was able to work alone, the Prophet, May the Peace and Blessing of Allah be upon him, would have done it. And in the Qur’an: {He said to his companion, “Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us.” [At-Tawbah: 40].

14. The Hijrah taught me: The good is always in what God has chosen not what the servant of God wishes. God may dispel from you what you wish because He wants for you better than what you desire. Al-Sideeq wanted to migrate alone but Allah wanted for him an unparalleled companionship in his journey. And according to al-Tabarani, the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, said: “Do not hurry; Perhaps God facilitate for you a companion [in your journey]".

15. The Hijrah taught me: That the Home of the Caller to Islam is his primary supporter. They believe in his idea, defend his cause, and carry out what his call requires. And how wonderful is the home of Al-Sideeq? The father is the companion [in the journey], the daughter brought them the food, and the son brought them the news. What a great and wonderful home.

16. The Hijrah taught me: Adversity strengthens the material of men. The men of Al-Arqam, the people of Abu Talib, and the people of the first and second bay'ah are the men of al-Hijrah, and they are the men of the da'wa and the state and how much has the intensity of the torture strengthened the resolve of Ammar, Bilal and Khabab.

17. The Hijrah taught me: That the man of the da'wah is not the man of the state, and there is good in each of them. Abu Dharr who was of the first of the Muhajireen, and he is the truest of the people in speech, but he is not fit for a statesman, even if he is a man of preaching at the highest and best degree. And therefore the abundance of worship does not qualify one for positions of leadership, and being from the first and foremost in the dawah does not necessarily qualify one for leadership.

18. The Hijrah has taught me: There are actions of the heart and actions of the body. For the heart is the worship through tawakkul (reliance), trust, tranquility, certainty, love and loyalty. And for the body are actions such as supplication, humbling oneself, reverence, striving, courage and generosity. So do not deprive yourself of either of these.

19. The Hijrah taught me: That brotherhood does not mean eating a brother’s money while he is under the duress of modesty. A person is more deserving of his own money. And according to Al-Bukhari, the Abu Bakr Al-Sideeq said: "O Messenger of God! I have two she-camels I have prepared specially for migration, so I offer you one of them." The Prophet said, "I have accepted it on the condition that I will pay its price."

20. The Hijrah taught me: The homeland of the Da'ee is where Allah opens the hearts of people for him and the Muslim’s homeland has no limits. If he is restricted in the place which he resides, even if it is the best of places, he must look for another place to reside. Allah says: And whoever emigrates for the cause of Allah will find on the earth many [alternative] locations and abundance. [Al-Nisaa: 100]

-Dr. Akram Kassab

[creepingsharia]

Arizona: Muslim supremacist student and terror-linked CAIR sue Scottsdale Community college and professor over Islam quiz questions

via Atlas Shrugs:

For years, leftist and Muslim academics have ensured that all college and university courses about Islam and the Middle East were essentially vehicles for dawah, Islamic proselytizing, and that they covered up any connection between Islam and the jihad terrorist violence committed in its name and in accord with its teachings. However, Nicholas Damask of Scottsdale Community College stepped off the reservation, and now Hamas-CAIR is determined to destroy him for it. And note how they’re doing it: telling the truth about Islam and jihad, about how terrorists justify their actions from Islamic texts and teachings, is “poisoning the minds of students.” Damask used the work of counterterror analyst Walid Phares, and so Hamas-CAIR invokes its previous smears of Phares to suggest that he is not a reliable authority, and only the deceptive Islamic apologists who lie about Islam are to be consulted.

This suit should be thrown out immediately on the grounds of academic freedom and the freedom of speech, in addition to the fact that everything Damask taught was accurate. But the left so dominates the courts these days that this suit may well succeed.

“Muslim student sues Scottsdale Community college and professor over Islam quiz questions,” by Lorraine Longhi, Arizona Republic, June 3, 2020:

A local Islamic group filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court against Scottsdale Community College and one of its professors for teaching material that it says condemns Islam.

A student and the Arizona chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed the lawsuit, asking that SCC and professor Nicholas Damask stop teaching the materials in question until they “do not have the primary effect of disapproving of Islam.”

The lawsuit comes after the student, Mohamed Sabra, posted three quiz questions from a world politics class to social media last month, igniting a firestorm of online criticism that caused the college’s interim President Christina Haines to apologize for the “inaccurate” and “inappropriate” questions.

Haines also said Damask would apologize to the student and remove the questions from his curriculum. Damask pushed back, saying he had no intention of apologizing and that his academic freedom was being threatened.

The chancellor of Maricopa Community College District, of which SCC is a part, stepped in and said the questions posted on social media were taken out of context and fell within the scope of the course. Chancellor Steven Gonzales said he would launch a Committee on Academic Freedom and pursue an investigation into how the controversy was handled.

David Chami, an attorney representing CAIR, said the group filed the lawsuit to prevent Damask from “continuing to poison the minds of students.”

“We have enough hate in this country. We have enough divide,” he said. “We don’t need our professors inflaming those seeds of hatred in students.”

Damask told The Arizona Republic Wednesday that he had not yet been served the lawsuit and had no immediate comment.

A spokesman for the district said they had not been served the lawsuit and could not yet comment on the allegations.

Controversy sparked by quiz questions

Sabra was enrolled in Damask’s online world politics course, which featured lessons on Islamic terrorism.

According to the lawsuit, Damask repeatedly condemned Islam as a religion that definitively teaches terrorism.

In May, Sabra posted screenshots from the quiz to social media, where they were quickly shared through social media by several influencers and Muslim community members.

[They also prompted death threats by Muslims and forced the professor and his family to go into hiding - conveniently left out of the Arizona Republic report]

The quiz included statements such as “Contemporary terrorism is Islamic” and “Terrorism is justified within the context of Jihad in Islam.” The quiz also asserted that Islamic terrorists strive to emulate the Prophet Muhammed.

The lawsuit says that Sabra answered the questions based on how Muslims practice their religion, but the answers were marked as incorrect.

“Mr. Sabra was forced to make a decision; either disavow his religion or be punished by getting the answers wrong on the quiz,” the lawsuit says.

The district-commissioned investigation details an email exchange between the professor and the student about the quiz questions.

Damask attempted to explain that the goal of the quiz was to discuss the motivation of terrorists, not whether something is right or wrong under Islamic doctrine, according to the report.

“The course may outline these beliefs but that doesn’t make it acceptable to teach this misinformation to other student[s] who aren’t fully educated,” Sabra responded. “Please review the questions I’ve attached and get back to me ASAP.”

By the time Damask responded the next morning, the student had posted the questions on social media, prompting backlash to the school.

Misinterpreting Islam?

The lawsuit says that Damask asserted in his course that peaceful interpretations of Islam were false, quoting Damask’s course material as saying, “Contentions that Islam does not promote warfare or violence cannot be supported on either theological or historical grounds.”

Damask also presented several statistics that did not contain citations to academic material, according to the lawsuit. One of those statistics cited in the lawsuit compares killings by Islamic terrorists to slayings by groups like the Ku Klux Klan, saying, “Islamic terrorists kill on average more people every 90 days than the number of blacks killed by the Ku Klux Klan in its entire 120+ year history.”

Damask never included any discussion of the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, militant fascism or neo-conservativism and their “scripture-based terrorism” against minorities in the United States, according to the lawsuit.

“It is an unquestionable fact that the Ku Klux Klan espoused Protestant Christian ideologies to wage terror in the United States in an attempt to create their own nation-state, and even believed that Jesus was the first Klansman,” the lawsuit read. “However, none of this material is discussed in any of Defendant Damask’s modules, despite its impact on national and international politics.”

CAIR said the course’s only reading material came from articles written by anti-Islam extremists, including an excerpt from the book “Future Jihad” by Walid Phares.

Phares has served as a commentator on terrorism for Fox News and as an adviser to Mitt Romney and Donald Trump during their presidential campaigns. Phares was a high-ranking official in a religious militia that was responsible for massacres during Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, according to an investigation by Mother Jones.

In 2012, the New York Times reported that Phares “regularly warns that Muslims aim to take over American institutions and impose Shariah, a legal code based mainly on the Koran that can involve punishments like cutting off the hands of a thief.”

In its lawsuit, CAIR calls Phares “a known Islamophobe who openly promotes anti-Muslim ideologies.”

“Don’t you think you should have disclosed that to your students or put a disclaimer?” Raees Mohamed,an attorney representing CAIR, said. “What we see is an utter lack of true academic discussion.”…

--------------------------

The deception and falsehoods are too numerous to discuss but CAIR is clearly an Islamic supremacist organization hell bent on enforcing sharia law in America and silencing anyone who dares tell the truth about Islam. In the process, CAIR will denigrate Christians, the Bible, ex-Muslims and anyone else who speaks the truth.

The media, just as they defend and fuel the Black Lives Matter and Antifa terrorist movements in the US - both aided and abetted by CAIR - give the suit-wearing jihadists a pass.

If not thrown out of court immediately, hopefully the professor hires one of CAIR’s nemesis.

[therightlyguidedaid]

Alhamdulillah, Allah sends help from where you don’t expect... Seen here is our brother Ibrahim - our Sierra Leonean liaison - who was offered support from Islamic and Arabic studies author Abdullahi Hassan in the UK. Not only has brother Abdullahi offered to custom tailor Islamic and Arabic studies books for us specifically, but he’s offered to go to Sierra Leone personally with us in order to teach our schools’ teachers... May Allah reward him immensely and allow huge progress and benefit to come from this for the Ummah. This is a big step forward. Alhamdulillah! 😁 #AfricanRevival #SierraLeone #IslamicSchool #Islamiceducation #dawah #Islamicstudies #ArabicStudies #Ummah #internationaldevelopment #aidwork #Islamicbooks (at Birmingham, United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDzY_SNDSmi/?igshid=600rxvnej6a6

[ibn-sunni]

World Hijaab Day!

All effort to place World Hijaab Day under Muhamalat (Social life) proved abortive So they asked: How do we create awareness for Hijaab as Muslims?

Response:

Hijaab as it ruling in the Shari'a, there are many scholars around at every corners of the world, we should allow them do their job. They have widely explained the importance of Hijaab, it conditions and many books had been written on Hijaab, let's pick from these books and benefit.

Scholars had been preaching about the important of Hijaab and it rulings before many of us were even born, and the dawah towards Hijaab is still by our door steps, we shouldn't think our way of doing things must be the solution.

Intellectual reasoning is a no no in islaam if the Qur'an and Hadeeth are neglected, and this is what the so call WHD was cemented upon, it is just a westerner idea and not from the sources of Islaam.

Creating awareness for Hijaab should be based on lecturing Muslims directly from the Qur'an and Hadeeth, the dawah of Hijaab can also be effective on social media if we use this medium accordingly.

We can't be using urine to clean filth, rather should we use WHD to design a solution for hijaab around the globe, this is not possible, What as been condemned to Bid'a can never be a solution to any of our problem.

Why do we think a day awareness throughout a whole year will help this matter when we know so well that the teaching and implementation of Hijaab should be a daily activity?

Learning and understanding the usefulness of Hijaab and it importance in our various zones through rightly guided Scholars and Asaathids is what we need and not a yearly rally that as no place in the Shari'a.

Abu Fawzaan Al-Gareeb

I441 A.H.

[khutbahs]

How to Give Dawah?

Inviting people who are non-Muslims or drifting away from Islam to Islam — is an important task and part of practising Amr Bil Ma'ruf Wan-Nahyi Anil-Munkar (calling to good and forbidding the evil). However, the actual job of teaching and preaching Islam is not for the unqualified and uneducated. Proper training and experience is needed to give Dawah. So, how can you effectively and properly give Dawah?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PLth1OM1MI

[weheartislamblog]

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A post shared by We ❤️ Islam (@we.heart.islam)

The blessings of Allah upon us are countless. There are so many blessings of Allah that we can’t even write them down. If we start writing them all, our life would come to end but Allah’s blessing will never finish.Even if we think of this Human Body of ours, from the time we came to this world we were not even able to move on our own. Alhumdulillah, now we can walk with the help of these feet, we are able to eat, we are able to breath. Every breath we take is a blessing of Allah. Every step we take is a blessing of Allah. The food we eat is a blessing of Allah. So, we should thank Allah for all these blessings, say Alhumdulillah every time and in every situation. "Worship Allah, and be of those who give thanks." (Quran 39:66) "Praise be to Allah, who has guided us to this. Never could we have found guidance, had it not been for the guidance of Allah." (Quran 7:43) _____________________ #SlaveofAllah #Allah #islamicquotes #muslim  #ProphetMuhammadﷺ #WhoIsMuhammad  #weheartislam #islamicposts #Alhamdulillah #jannahgoals #quranlettering #arabic #reminder #muslimlife #ramadan #AllahuAkbar #Arabicquotes #Ummah #Sunnah #arabicquotes #islamicreminders #jannah #dailypost #paradise #handlettering #modest #instaislam #muslimquotes  #dawah https://www.instagram.com/p/B9VqbTQjAtj/?igshid=1m47j10u54daq

[urfavmurtad]

Hello! Thanks to your blog I've been reading more about Islam (I'm an atheist without a muslim background) and rn I'm very interested in the different branches - Ibadis & Shiites, wacky sufi sects, 'extreme' shiite sects, etc. My Sunni friends like talking about Islam with me and they like hearing about Christianity for example, but as soon as I mention those branches even liberal muslims kind of give me the stink-eye. Is sectarianism (?) really considered worse than not being a muslim at all?

Oh man anon, this message made me so happy. The “wacky” sects are my favorite. Did you read about the Life of Brian-esque one in which people believed that Ali was meant to be the real prophet, and Mohammed just ended up getting the job by mistake? Can u imagine!! Allah sends Gabriel to earth to go find the next prophet and tells him to go to a certain house in Mecca. Gabriel rings the doorbell and Mohammed, clad in a brown thobe, answers the door.

“…hi,” Gabriel says by way of introduction, awkwardly. “So, um. Does a prophet live here, by any chance? Allah told me he’s been giving someone in this house some calls, and he sent me here to speak to that person.”

“YES!” Mohammed yells, punching the air. “YES, it’s me! I’m the prophet! I knew it!!” He begins jumping around. “Those assholes! They had me doubting myself, but I knew, I knew I was the real deal! Oh, wait until that asshole uncle of mine gets a load of this, I can’t wait to tell him to eat shit on Allah’s behalf.”

“Um,” replies Gabriel, meekly, “are you… quite sure?” He looks down at the Prophet Cheat Sheet that Allah gave him, specifying that the next prophet is “a young boy of the Quraysh tribe living at 436 Brick Lane, Mecca, Hijaz. He’ll be the one dressed in brown. You are instructed to tell him to be all-loving and perform miracles to gain the people’s trust and support”.

“I am sure, bud,” Mohammed says, still jubilant. “I’ve never been surer of anything. So, what’s the first step, like–are we gonna just go smash some idols, or should I get up on a platform and tell people their asses are gonna be fried if they don’t stop the polytheist shit, or what?” He grins.

Gabriel stammers: “O-oh, well, the first step. Um. It’s just. I was–I was just expecting someone younger, I guess? Allah told me he’s ‘young’. But it’s fine. Maybe Allah meant young at heart or something, and you’re–you’re certainly energetic. So, hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Gabriel, and I’ll be giving you revelations from now on.”

“See?!” Mohammed shouts into the house. “SEE!!! Khadija–come here, baby, see, I told you the doctor was wrong when he called it a ‘psychotic break’, I really did see an angel in the cave that day! ‘Ooo you’re just plagiarizing the Bible, you stupid dipshit’. Well WHO’S THE DIPSHIT NOW, BUDDY? WHO’S THE DIPSHIT NOW?!”

Several people have come forward from inside the house to gawk at the ranting Mohammed. Gabriel peers over Mohammed’s shoulder to get a look at them. Among the women and girls gathered there, there are two male inhabitants of the house. One is dressed in beige. The other…. is dressed in brown.

“Oh no,” he whispers to himself.

“Hey kids, guess whose daddy and/or cousin just became an official prophet?” Mohammed informs them. “You guys ready to join a cult?”

“…do we get stuff?”, the one dressed in beige asks.

“Of course! Allah will give you whatever you want and make anyone you hate miserable!”

“Yay!” the children cheer in unison.

“Oh no,” Gabriel whispers again.

And that is how Islam was created, according to an apparently-real group of people.

And yes, many people believe that being the wrong sort of Muslim (or, well… they consider them not Muslims at all) is one of the most terrible things in the world, because it combines disbelief with a false claim to the religion. Many Muslims believe that non-Muslims are just ignorant of The Truth and would be Muslim if they knew about its glory and miracles etc. That is due to the concept of fitra, meaning the idea that everyone is born with the proper religious inclination and is only led astray by their disbelieving parents (thus why converts call themselves “reverts”). So they’re regarded, generally speaking, as tragically wrong hellbound people who must be saved from The Fire by “dawah”/Islamic missionaries.

It’s different when the “disbeliever” in question actually has read the Quran and has been raised in the religion, but still has a vastly different take on the religion. Non-Muslims sometimes boil differences between Islamic sects down to trivial things; when it comes to the Shia in particular, people tend to view the debate over Mohammed’s succession as a political thing that has nothing to do with the religion itself. But it does. Shia people have their own theological principles related to the imams that many Sunnis consider heretical, whereas some Shia people consider Sunnis’ refusal to acknowledge the imams as heretical. Both stem from how intertwined empire and faith were in the first generations of Islam. Mohammed wasn’t just a prophet; he was the theocratic leader of a state. If one believes that this state was Allah’s will (as basically all Muslims do), it follows that Allah guided the successes of that state even after Mohammed’s death, into and beyond the conquests of the Middle East and North Africa. So the question of who people were supposed to pledge allegiance to becomes not just a political question, but a religious one.

Incidentally, I’m gearing up for a big series of posts on this era of Islamic history, in which I give my hot take on which of these assholes was right. That’s my gift to the ummah this Ramadan season.

[storiesofthesahabah]

It is not too late nor is it too early. Many of you may have reached the age where you feel embarassed enrolling in a madrasah where your classmates would be way younger than you - I’m telling you, there is no shyness when in comes to learning the deen - so, enroll and start now. While many parents tend to delay the islamic studies of their children saying they are too young - I’m telling you, we do not know until when we are going to live in this world - so, let them start now.

I’m telling you, for as long as you have a heart that is beating and is racing to repent to Allah, Allah will assist you and will be with you every step of the way. Truly, when it comes to the concept of seeking knowledge in Islam - we hear a lot of beautiful stories and advices from senior scholars of Islam that amazingly talks to us. However, what I am about to share with you today - isn’t an advice rather a story that would make you think, ponder and reflect as how you are doing in this specific course (seeking knowledge) of your life and how we treat those who are starting or restarting their lives by returning to the path of Islam. _____ When ‘Umar Ibn Al Khattab Radiyallahu Anhu became the Amir ul Mu’mineen - he used to convene gatherings with the Muslim elders (the eminent Sahabah).- as most would call it - shura. However, these gatherings were completely exclusive. Exclusive in such a way that only those who were invited had the right to attend. One day, ‘Umar RA called for a gathering of such - when everyone were seated and were about to start one little boy came in. He was ‘Abdullah Ibn Abbas, the son of ‘Al Abbas (the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ).  At first, they thought to themselves ‘Abdullah was ‘Abdullah (meaning he came from the family of the Prophet) but then again they thought they also had children who were just as same age as ‘Abdullah but never were they invited to come and attend the elite gathering - so this struck some of them as being unfair. So they went and complained to ‘Umar RA and he did acknowledge their complaint and said “he is among those that you know about” (i.e those that you know are people of distinction and honor and knowledge). However, to fully answer their question - several days later ‘Umar again called for a gathering again with the same attendees with ‘Abdullah RA being present once again.

When the meeting commenced, ‘Umar RA opened it with a question directed to everyone “What do you have to say about the following (verses)?” He RA then proceeded to recite portion of Surah An Nasr - Chapter 110. ”When there comes the Help of Allah (to you, O Muhammad ﷺ against your enemies) and the conquest (of Makkah), and you see the people enter Allah’s Religion (Islam) in crowds.]” Some of them replied with “I do not know” while others did not give any reply. Remember that these were the eminent Sahabah - so you know it is a very difficult question if they were not able to answer it. So, ‘Umar RA gave everyone a chance to answer it - one after another and made the youngest of the group, ‘Abdullah RA, the last to respond.  ‘Umar RA said: “O son of Al Abbas, is that what you say also? (meaning do you also have nothing to say in reply to my question?)  ’Abdullah RA replied: “No.” ‘Umar RA asked, “Then what do you say of these verses?” ’Abdullah RA replied: “Through these verses, Allah Azza Wa Jall was informing the Prophet ﷺ about the nearness of his death. When Allah Azza Wa Jall said, “When there comes the help of Allah (to you, O Muhammad ﷺ against your enemies) and the conquest (of Makkah), and you see the people enter Allah’s Religion (Islam) in crowds,” it was as if Allah Azza Wa Jall was saying the following to the Prophet ﷺ: “When Allah’s help comes to you in the form of the conquest of Makkah, then that is a sign of your imminent death…”  ’Umar RA then said to ‘Abdullah RA, “What I know regarding this [chapter] is not any different than what you know regarding it (regarding its correct interpretation). ______ Subhan’Allah, did you see what ‘Umar RA did here. Indeed, this was how ‘Umar RA was - he was known more of answering questions by giving or supporting them with an example or practically answering them rather than by mere words. So yes, ‘Umar RA showcased that ‘Abdullah Ibn Abbas despite his young age was more knowledgeable than many of the eminent Sahabah let alone their children who were of his age. ‘Abdullah was only 13 years old when the Prophet ﷺ died yet this didn’t stop him from seeking knowledge by being in the company of the knowledgeable. ______ So why this topic- because I want to address an issue that many have shunned but is abruptly growing within our communities - the treatment new muslims get. Come to think of it, ‘Abdullah RA was young and new to the group and so everyone questioned his presence - isn’t he like the new muslims of nowadays? Today, when a person becomes a new muslim - rather than being purely happy for them, people tend to doubt their reasons why they accepted Islam. A sister who have been in dawah for years shared one beautiful statement with me, she said: “Whatever the reason a person has in accepting Islam, it is between him or her and Allah - but also know that Allah has accepted that and has guided him or her to Islam. So we have no right to judge it rather we welcome them with open arms and help them with anything we can.” But also, it’s not always the new Muslims even born Muslims go through this especially within their own families. When a born Muslim starts to practice and strive to become a better muslim - family members tend to mock them and think that they are very strict and have changed a lot and so they question them by throwing their past actions unto them. My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, whether you are a new Muslim or a born Muslim - seeking knowledge has been made obligatory for you - and this is not to harm you rather this is to help you and enable you to practice your religion in properly. Indeed, it is true that knowledge is powerful as it impacts our lives. If you are beyond your college years and just started to seek knowledge - push through, if you are young and is just about to learn - go ahead, you have us to support you. There is no age in seeking knowledge rather we all have to avoid committing sins as sins shutters away knowledge in staying in our hearts and minds. So if ever you find something difficult to understand, make istighfar. ______ May Allah make us amongst those people who seek knowledge purely for our own betterment as well as for His Sake so we may properly practice Islam in our lives.

Amin. Zohayma ______ Story was taken from: • Al Aqidah Fi Ahlul Bayt Bainal Ifrat Wattifrit. 324-325 • Sahih Bukhari, Hadith 4294

[modestybae]

Praying and avoiding the haram is a given. The rest is your dawah and khidma to one’s family, community and Ummah. If a person is serious then it can only really be after these stages, otherwise I don’t want to hear no hype:

1. During your final year at uni

Talk big and then go into hiding and disappear from the face of the earth instead of minimising because there’s more at stake then before when he was days intellectualising with his mates

2. After your first job aka Mr Silver suit.

Che is dead. Now you have entered the workforce, now you are tired and need to tuck yourself into bed early for an early start and there’s no need to see people late at bight for a sheesh. Also you’ve come into money now, so the crazy hair and Che Guevara t-shirt is gone, hair and beard shortened and expensive watch installed, LinkedIn updated. You can now exchange talk of Allah (swa) and His Rasul (pbuh) for which bank you are writing algorithms for to manage hedge funds of Saudi nationals while talking of their destruction over lunch. Also the money you earn and the skills you have are never used in any serious way for dawah work. The double life begins. Its ‘hi james, had a smashing weekend mate?’ And then ‘Allahu Akbar’ with your religious mates.

3. After marriage

Now here’s your new friend, it turns out that the entire activist experience and desire to rid the world of oppression was more to do with not being lonely and having someone to eat take out food with. Wifeys here now, you never need to go out, the world can burn as long as you are in domestic bliss. Takeouts and boxsets and holidays to keep the spouse happy otherwise marriage is on the rocks. The more you care for the community the worse the marriage is, the more one leaves learning the Deen and Dawa, the more the spouse becomes happy. The spouse is the qibla one must circumambulate.

4. After kids

Now its about putting them into a good school and moan about how the school is not teaching the correct Islam, then its after school tuition and hifz, they also aren’t good enough fo your precious kids, no-one is. At this point you recall telling everyone else’s kids one thing, that they have to adopt some dogma and get out there and refute, but young Mohammad Maximilian is too good to work in the gutter and wife doesnt need to observe hijab properly anymore and nor your little princess. By now, your uni days were just that, a flash in the pan, mighty talk, you are now middle class and social media is a waste of time. Your LinkedIn profile is what its all about. The higher the connections with blue chip companies the higher your spiritual ascension.

5. The mortgage

This is your final step for changing the world -its to have all your garden gnomes in line and the bollywood swing installed in your garden you now own -no longer that rented space, this place is permanent, who cares if you’re not. Permanent that is. You worked out that a house away from the community you grew up in is twice as big and half the price, and slumming it with the common folk just wont do. “Its only 20mins down on the motorway back to the city”. You now tend to your house with its never ending enhancements and decorations for that all important three hour visit a year by a friend or family member. Twenty minutes away there’s a demo outside the Israeli Embassy, but the house says “no you cant, the house will get burgled!!”. So everyone invites everyone else for dinner, when in reality, its more about not leaving the house empty.

The back garden decking is done, gotta have decking -its your new Ark. No interest in learning the Deen -there’s simply no time. You new kind of religiosity is your appropriation of different cultures from countless Muslim countries that provide you countless tacky souvenirs to adorn your mantlepiece. Family holidays are only on the tourist resorts of the muslim lands sanitised of those pesky poor people. Your parents once came here to do good, you ended up staying to do well.

....this is why youthful exuberance and zeal needs to be converted into sound knowledge, sacrifice and khidma to the community. Otherwise its just all talk from young men with big beards, fancy hairstyles and posturing.

- Moinul Abu Hamza