Today’s reminder is that having a good opinion about people brings tranquility. In Arabic we say: حسن الظن بالناس يجلب الطمأنينة Every now and then we have rumours and accusations in the community and the common practice among the vast majority of Muslims, let alone non-Muslims is to believe the rumours are a fact and…
In Imam Ghazali’s Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, The Forty Principles of the Religion, the summary of his great work, Ihya Ulum ad-Din, he examines the concept of Following the Sunnah, in chapter 10. The key to happiness is following the Sunnah Itiba as-sunnah as-mifahu as-sa’ada We can write reams and reams on this topic…
Excessive laughter The Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “Do not laugh too much, for verily excessive laughter kills the heart.” (Bukhari, Adab al-Mufrad; Sunan Tirmidhi; Sunan Ibn Maja; Musnad Ahmad) And in some narrations, there is an addition, “For verily excessive laughter kills the heart and removes the light of one’s face,” or in…
In Imam Ghazali’s Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, The Forty Principles of the Religion, he examines the concept of commanding what is good and reprimanding others from doing what is wrong, amr bil marouf wa al nahil anil munkar. Condition 1: Gentleness vs the whip The one who commands good and forbids evil, is called…
In the Quran, we read many verses on the topic of actions and deeds. In many verses Allah is commanding humanity to do good. Are your actions acceptable? In Surat Tawbah, Allah Almighty tells us that He is aware of what you are doing: ﴿١٠٥﴾ وَقُلِ اعْمَلُوا فَسَيَرَى اللَّهُ عَمَلَكُمْ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۖ وَسَتُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ…
In the summary of Imam Ghazali’s Ihya, titled Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, The Forty Principles of the Religion, he talks about the concept of commanding what is good and forbidding what is evil, Al-amr bil marouf wa al nahiy anil munkar which is also known as hisbah. This command is a safety plug for…
Today’s reminder is about the five signs before the Day of Judgement. Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet (peace be on him) said: عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم “ لاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى يُقْبَضَ الْعِلْمُ، وَتَكْثُرَ الزَّلاَزِلُ، وَيَتَقَارَبَ الزَّمَانُ، وَتَظْهَرَ الْفِتَنُ، وَيَكْثُرَ الْهَرْجُ ـ وَهْوَ الْقَتْلُ الْقَتْلُ ـ حَتَّى…
Let there be a group among you who call ˹others˺ to goodness, encourage what is good, and forbid what is evil—it is they who will be successful. (3:104) The believers, both men and women, are guardians of one another. They encourage good and forbid evil, establish prayer and pay alms-tax, and obey Allah and His…
Todays reminder is about unity and not returning to the habits of pre-Islamic (Jahiliyya) times. In Surat al Imran, Allah Almighty says: ﴿١٠٣﴾ وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا ۚ وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنْتُمْ أَعْدَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُمْ بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا وَكُنْتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِنَ النَّارِ فَأَنْقَذَكُمْ مِنْهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ…
There is common misconception that one may 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 narrated by Suhayl bin Abi Salih, from his father, Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be please with them) narrated that the…
Brotherhood – To take a friend as a brother for Allah’s sake. Al-Okhuwwah is ‘taking brothers’ for Allah’s sake. This is a very interesting topic and scholars talk about it a great deal. In Imam Ghazali’s Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, The Forty Principles of the Religion, his last section on how to deal with…
Today’s reflection is about the Hijra (the migration of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him to Madinah) and Muharram. Every year people celebrate the New Islamic Year. The conflation of Muharram with the Hijra was introduced later, as in fact the migration took place in Rabbi al-Awal not Muharram. The date of Hijrah The…
In Imam Ghazali’s Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, The Forty Principles of the Religion, he explores how to deal with different people. In this section we will look at how to treat relatives. Blood ties are special ‘Abdu’r-Rahman ibn ‘Awf heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be on him) said: عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ عَوْفٍ،…
In Imam Ghazali’s Kitaab Al-Arba’in Fi Usul ad-Din, The Forty Principles of the Religion, he explores how to deal with different people. In this section we will look at how to treat neighbours. Neighbours have extensive rights Ghazali quotes a hadith that the first disputants on the Day of Judgement will be neighbours with a…
Seeking authentic knowledge is an obligation for every Muslim Today’s topic is the imposters – those people who claim that they have knowledge and lead people with ignorance. The Prophet (peace be on him) mentioned in different narrations the importance of seeking knowledge and before all of this, the first verse which was revealed by…