Gathering to remember Allah is a blessed act with a clear basis in the Sunnah. Remembering Him aloud is also supported by authentic hadith. Scholars have differed over some ways of organising dhikr, particularly when everyone recites the same words in one voice, but it is wrong to dismiss all collective dhikr as an innovation….
Allah gives us many descriptions in the Quran of the people who will enter Jannah. He doesn’t just tell us what Paradise is like; He also tells us what kind of people reach it. He describes their actions, their relationship with Him, and most importantly, the state of their hearts. Towards the end of Surat…
Alhamdulillah, it has been a while since we delivered courses or talks in the north. By the way, “Finding Your Way Back” was one of our very early courses. We delivered a course with this same title in 2001. This time, we have some different content, suitable for a different time, a different place and…
A well-known hadith in Sahih Muslim states that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Indeed, my father and your father are in the Fire.” At first sight, the meaning appears clear. Yet this narration became the subject of detailed discussion among later scholars, especially Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, who questioned whether this particular wording was the strongest…
Lessons from the Seerah: The Birth and Family of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ In the previous sessions, we made some introductions about the society in which he lived: the people, the leadership, the different tribes and alliances, their habits, beliefs and practices. All of this was to illustrate what the world in which the Prophet ﷺ…
What have you prepared for the Hour? Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that a man asked the Prophet ﷺ about the Hour: مَتَى السَّاعَةُ؟ “When is the Hour?” The Prophet ﷺ replied: وَمَاذَا أَعْدَدْتَ لَهَا؟ “What have you prepared for it?” The man said that he had not prepared a…
Between your choice and Allah’s choice for you Qatadah ibn al-Nu’man narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said: إِذَا أَحَبَّ اللَّهُ عَبْدًا حَمَاهُ الدُّنْيَا كَمَا يَظَلُّ أَحَدُكُمْ يَحْمِي سَقِيمَهُ الْمَاءَ “When Allah loves a servant, He shields him from worldly things, just as one of you would keep water away from a sick person.” (Tirmidhi) In…
It is a great privilege to read through the Seerah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and try to explore how things used to be: what the society was like, what the connections were, and how people lived. In the previous sessions, we covered the trade routes, the products they used to sell, the markets, and the…
Moral, Human and Civilisational Values in Islam I always ask myself, imagine if the Prophet ﷺ was here with us today. What would we say to him? Would we feel proud to be from his ummah, or shy of our shortcomings? Though I love him without a shadow of a doubt, I still have plenty…
Allah Almighty says towards the end of Surat al-Jumu’ah: فَإِذَا قُضِيَتِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةُ فَٱنتَشِرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱذْكُرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرًا لَّعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ “When the prayer has been concluded, disperse through the land and seek the bounty of Allah, and remember Allah often so that you may succeed.”(Surat al-Jumu’ah, 62:10) We see here that…
Can You Pray in a Car? Is it permissible to pray in a car? What should you do if you are on a long journey and the prayer time is running out? Does it make a difference if you are on a motorway, a train or an aeroplane? The basic rule is that an obligatory…
When one spouse is tidy and the other is messy This is a very common issue between husbands and wives. When two people are sharing the same space, they will not necessarily have the same habits or the same understanding of what is tidy. One person likes everything to be put away and all the…
We often recite Surat al-Masad in our salah. When we hear the name of Abu Lahab we know that he was one of the fiercest opponents of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. What makes his story particularly painful and puzzling is that Abu Lahab was no stranger – he was the Prophet’s ﷺ own uncle! When…
The religious and social privilege of Quraysh: the Hums and the Hillah Makkan society before Islam was not divided only by lineage, wealth and tribal protection. There was also a form of religious distinction connected to the Haram and the rituals of Hajj. One of the clearest examples was the Hums. The term Hums was…
Previously, we looked briefly at why we need to study the Seerah and the importance of studying it. We then followed that with an overview of the situation in Arabia and the regions surrounding it at that time. We need to know what was going on around the Arabian Peninsula. It was not just about…