Allah Almighty mentioned in the Quran that Hajj is ‘a well-known month’, ashurhum malumaat: “Remember Allah (God) during the well-known days.” (2:197) There are three months which are considered holy, because they are months of hajj. It used to take 1-2 months to travel to reach Makkah, therefore hajjis had to leave for hajj long…
In general do not shake hands with the opposite sex The default position is that you should not shake hands with non Mahrams of the opposite sex. Overall, there is no agreed on 100% prohibition, but it is disliked. All the narrations which talk about the prohibition of not shaking hands are weak, though some…
Rule 14: Hurry to fulfil the needs of others The Prophet (peace be on him) said: Intercede with me for one another and be rewarded; for indeed I want to do a thing but put I off so that you may intercede with me and be rewarded. (Abu Dawood) Shafa means to intercede for someone….
Last week, we talked about how to achieve success, this week we will look at the lessons we can learn when we are defeated. The lessons from defeat are possibly more important than the lessons from success itself. No one likes defeat Allah Almighty says in the Quran: ﴿٢١٦﴾ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِتَالُ وَهُوَ كُرْهٌ لَكُمْ…
In Imam Ghazali’s Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, ‘The Forty Principles of the Religion’, he collates 20 rules of how to deal with people. Rule 12: Cover other people’s mistakes and sins It is one of principles of dealing with people is to cover their faults and sins, by not pointing them out to others…
Rule 9. Do good to everyone, whether they are worthy of it or not O you who have believed, bow and prostrate and worship your Lord and do good – that you may succeed (22:77) Spreading goodness is part of our identity as an ummah of khayr, as Allah called us. The bottom line is…
Rule 7: Do not pass on gossip Ghazali says do not listen to rumours about others and do not pass them on. We need this very sound nugget of advice because we are flooded by rumours, fabrications, lies and fake news. The Quran and Sunnah gave us the formula for dealing with them. What should…
What do we learn from the Euros 2020? Right now we witness football fever all around us. All the teams are chasing success, and pursuing the trophy. There is only one trophy…who will bring it home? We hope it comes to the UK. Interestingly, we can learn many lessons about achieving success from the Euros….
Abu Hurairah (may Allah be please with him) said the Prophet (peace be on him) said: None of you should drink while standing’ (Muslim) This hadith though clear in its meaning has to be viewed in relation to other hadith in order to get a full picture of what is permissible. We do not take…
Common misconceptions – due to the misapplication of hadith There is common opinion that you should not greet non-Muslims with the salam. Or that you should only reply to them with ‘walaikum‘ not ‘walaikum asalam‘. This opinion is based on the hadith: Suhayl and Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be please with them) narrated that the…
‘Uqbah ibn ‘Amr reported: I met the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he said to me: “O ‘Uqbah, reconcile with whoever cuts you off, give to whoever deprives you, and forgive whoever wrongs you.” (Musnad Ahmad) This hadith does not mean you put up with abuse but that you return…
You get what you give عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رضي الله تعالى عنها قَالَتْ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «اللَّهُمَّ مَنْ وَلِيَ مِنْ أَمْرِ أُمَّتِي شَيْئًا فَشَقَّ عَلَيْهِمْ فَاشْقُقْ عَلَيْهِ وَمَنْ وَلِيَ مِنْ أَمْرِ أُمَّتِي شَيْئًا فَرَفَقَ بهم فارفُقْ بِهِ» . رَوَاهُ مُسلم Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated that the Messenger of…
In all the Abrahamic faiths it is documented that pork is forbidden. Certain groups within the Jewish and Christian faiths have chosen to drop this food rule, saying that it is no longer necessary. The question arises, do we follow a divine rule because of the wisdom behind the command or because it is a…
Sometimes we engage in dhikr but the heart is not connected to the tongue. Should we stop? The first point is to continue doing dhikr, as otherwise the shaytan will come and hunt you and put you off doing dhikr because you are not focused. He will put you off doing dhikr altogether. Second, try…
Religion is a journey to Allah Ghazali defines religion (deen) as travelling to Allah. Hence Arabs have a saying as safaru yusfiru an akhlaq ar rijaal – travel (safar) reveals and exposes people’s character. If you give testimony, in order to establish how well you actually know someone, you are asked if have you travelled…