Saturday, 25 July 2009
Excerpt from "The path to guidance"
By Ibn Qayyim al Jawziyyah
Produced by Ibn Il-Qayyim (d.751H) who said, "And mankind, with regard to their performance of prayer are in five levels:
The First: The level of the one who is negligent and wrongs his soul. He is the one who falls short in performing ablution properly, performing the prayer upon its time and within its specified limits, and in fulfilling its essential pillars.
The Second: The one who guards his prayers upon their proper times and within their specified limits, fulfils their essential pillars and performs his ablution with care. However, his striving (in achieving the above) is wasted due to whisperings in his prayer so he is taken away by thoughts and ideas.
The Third: The one who guards his prayers within the specified limits, fulfils their essential pillars and strives with himself to repel the whisperings, thoughts and ideas. He is busy struggling against his enemy (shaytaan) so that he does not steal from the prayer. On account of this he is engaged in (both) prayer and jihaad.
The Fourth: The one who stands for the prayer, completes and perfects its due rights, its essential pillars, performs it within its specified limits and his heart becomes engrossed in safeguarding its rights and specified limits, so that nothing is wasted from it. His whole concern is directed towards its establishment, its completion and perfection, as it should be. His heart is immersed in the prayer and in enslavement to his Lord, the Exalted.
The Fifth: The one who stands for the prayer like the one mentioned above. However, on top of this, he has taken and placed his heart in front of his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, looking towards Him with his heart with anticipation, (his heart) filled with His love and His might, as if he sees and witnesses Allaah. The whisperings, thoughts and ideas have vanished and the coverings which are between him and his Lord are raised. What is between this person and others with respect to the prayer, is superior and greater than what is between the heavens and the earth. This person is busy with his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, delighted with Him.
The first type will be punished, the second type will be held to account, the third will have his sins and shortcomings expiated, the fourth will be rewarded and the fifth will be close to his Lord, because he will receive the portion of one who makes his prayer the delight and pleasure of his eye.
Whoever makes the prayer the delight and pleasure of his eye, will have the nearness to his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, made the delight and pleasure of his eye in the hereafter. He will also be made a pleasure to the eye in this world since whoever makes Allaah the pleasure of his eye in this world, every other eye will become delighted and pleased with him.
From: The Path to Guidance
Monday, 20 July 2009
Why do the Christians always run away when things get difficult?
Assalaamu alaykum all,
Been a while since last posted, still doing our research into Yemen, still keeping up with preparations to go but in the mean time doing a little Da'wah work and thought would share an observation with you all.
Why do Christian missionaries run away when you ask them difficult questions?
They come up to us all the time on the Da'wah stall, they claim they are upon the truth, bring forth all sorts of 'proofs' but as soon as you show them the falsehood of the bible, its many flaws and contradictions they panic and run.
The best they can come up with is silly arguments, well your Quran must have contradictions also but I have challenged dozens of them to bring me some proof of the Quran having flaws and contradictions and not one has ever come back, all have failed, every single one. I even tell them, bring me one, just one contradiction and I promise I will leave Islam, I am that certain there isn't even one.
Over 20 more, whom I have given a Quran translation to, challenging them to find a flaw or contradiction and if cannot find it then accept admit it is from Allah, never once have they come back or come back to me even though it is always accompanied with my E-mail and telephone number.
I mean its a simple challenge isn't it? If the creator does not lie, does not make mistakes then his word, his book is without flaw or contradiction so bring your proof o christians if you are truthful or otherwise prepare to be challenged.
But when challenged, they run away, or sometimes when you start to get through using ration to one of these misguided people then the elder of the group comes up and pulls them away but if the 'truth' of christianity was so good and clear surely it should defeat the arguments of Islam everytime?
No, the truth always smashes falsehood and everytime the truth of Islam destroys the false arguments of the Christians and they run away and retreat to blind faith, not faith based upon rational contemplation like the Muslims.
Assalaamu alaykum,
Abu Abdillah
Been a while since last posted, still doing our research into Yemen, still keeping up with preparations to go but in the mean time doing a little Da'wah work and thought would share an observation with you all.
Why do Christian missionaries run away when you ask them difficult questions?
They come up to us all the time on the Da'wah stall, they claim they are upon the truth, bring forth all sorts of 'proofs' but as soon as you show them the falsehood of the bible, its many flaws and contradictions they panic and run.
The best they can come up with is silly arguments, well your Quran must have contradictions also but I have challenged dozens of them to bring me some proof of the Quran having flaws and contradictions and not one has ever come back, all have failed, every single one. I even tell them, bring me one, just one contradiction and I promise I will leave Islam, I am that certain there isn't even one.
Over 20 more, whom I have given a Quran translation to, challenging them to find a flaw or contradiction and if cannot find it then accept admit it is from Allah, never once have they come back or come back to me even though it is always accompanied with my E-mail and telephone number.
I mean its a simple challenge isn't it? If the creator does not lie, does not make mistakes then his word, his book is without flaw or contradiction so bring your proof o christians if you are truthful or otherwise prepare to be challenged.
But when challenged, they run away, or sometimes when you start to get through using ration to one of these misguided people then the elder of the group comes up and pulls them away but if the 'truth' of christianity was so good and clear surely it should defeat the arguments of Islam everytime?
No, the truth always smashes falsehood and everytime the truth of Islam destroys the false arguments of the Christians and they run away and retreat to blind faith, not faith based upon rational contemplation like the Muslims.
Assalaamu alaykum,
Abu Abdillah
Thursday, 2 July 2009
What a Shallow Society we live in...
Assalaamu alaykum all,
I am just doing my latest assignment for the Open University, OK lets just explain what that is first of all.
the OU is a higher education Establishment based in the UK where you do all your courses online and require almost no contact with tutors, fellow students etc unless you wish to do so. The plus side of this is little or no mixing, the downside is little or no support and all on your own shoulders.
So anyway, was doing my assignment and is on the subject of identity, so reading all this stuff from people, some long dead with lots of letters after their name and it is all about how others see us, how they believe our identity is made up by ourselves to give a certain impression to others and is in effect all show.
It just struck me how such an approach is totally true of non-Muslims and non-practicing brothers and sisters, it is all show, all the lesser shirk of showing off to others, the shirk which might not be as bad as major shirk but will however destroy your good deeds.
As Muslims we are different, we do things only to please Allah, our structural (society or nature determined) identity should therefore only be simply matters of sex, race, things we cannot alter.
Where as our agency (personal ideas) identity should only be shaped by ourselves to please Allah, not others.
I therefore need to try to put this across to the lecturer in the assignment, show them how for all their fancy theories and ideas, we Muslims don't fit into their secularised boxes.
I am hoping to do this in the discussion upon Gender roles in shaping identity, how the industrialised west views the male breadwinner and father as better than the female mother and wife, subhanallah how many times are we told to value our mother more than our father? three times! in Islam the wife is the one who nourishes, nurters, educates and emotionally shapes our children, how can such a role be less than simply doing a bit of physical or mental work?
Assalaamu Alaykum,
Abu Abdillah
I am just doing my latest assignment for the Open University, OK lets just explain what that is first of all.
the OU is a higher education Establishment based in the UK where you do all your courses online and require almost no contact with tutors, fellow students etc unless you wish to do so. The plus side of this is little or no mixing, the downside is little or no support and all on your own shoulders.
So anyway, was doing my assignment and is on the subject of identity, so reading all this stuff from people, some long dead with lots of letters after their name and it is all about how others see us, how they believe our identity is made up by ourselves to give a certain impression to others and is in effect all show.
It just struck me how such an approach is totally true of non-Muslims and non-practicing brothers and sisters, it is all show, all the lesser shirk of showing off to others, the shirk which might not be as bad as major shirk but will however destroy your good deeds.
As Muslims we are different, we do things only to please Allah, our structural (society or nature determined) identity should therefore only be simply matters of sex, race, things we cannot alter.
Where as our agency (personal ideas) identity should only be shaped by ourselves to please Allah, not others.
I therefore need to try to put this across to the lecturer in the assignment, show them how for all their fancy theories and ideas, we Muslims don't fit into their secularised boxes.
I am hoping to do this in the discussion upon Gender roles in shaping identity, how the industrialised west views the male breadwinner and father as better than the female mother and wife, subhanallah how many times are we told to value our mother more than our father? three times! in Islam the wife is the one who nourishes, nurters, educates and emotionally shapes our children, how can such a role be less than simply doing a bit of physical or mental work?
Assalaamu Alaykum,
Abu Abdillah
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