26
Jan 2019

To Obey or Not to Obey? Oh you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those of you who in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination. (4:59) This is a common verse referring to obedience towards Allah Almighty, the Messenger (peace be on him) and those who are in authority. Obeying Allah Almighty and His Messenger (peace be on him) is......
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21
Jan 2019

Where Do You Derive Your Knowledge From? Knowledge comes from seeking it. It does not just descend on you. But then where is the best place to seek it from? The Need for Scholars For many of us Islam was passed down to us culturally and evolved through contact with books, courses and video clips. How do we know if our understanding is correct? To gain sound understanding, knowledge should be sought from trusted scholars. Allah Almighty says: So ask the people of the knowledge if you do not know (21:7) You......
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19
Jan 2019

The Four Schools of Fiqh What is the place of the madhabs in Islam? Can we trust them? Do we have to follow them? Or can we just go back to Qur’an and Sunnah? The best generation is my generation (Bukhari) In this narration, the Prophet (peace be on him) is confirming that the best ummah is in the first three generations. How Long is a Generation? We have some discussion of the definition of generation – is it twenty to thirty years? The agreed opinion across the board is that each......
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19
Jan 2019
Denying the Sunnah is Denying the Qur’an And whatever the Messenger has given you take it, and whatever he has forbidden for you refrain from it. Fear Allah. Indeed Allah is severe in His punishment . (59:7) We have revealed the message to you in order to clarify for them what has been revealed. That they may reflect upon it. (16:44) It is trendy today to dismiss the Sunnah, and the entire body of hadith which has been passed down to us through the ages as unreliable and irrelevant. To divorce it from......
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18
Jan 2019

The Recipe for Success and Unity ‘O you who believe when you meet your enemy forces, take the firm stand against them and remember Allah Almighty much so that you may be successful and do not dispute with one another, lest you will achieve failure and your power will depart from you and be patient, indeed Allah Almighty is with those who are patient.’ (8:45) In Surah Anfal, Allah Almighty is confirming the importance of thabat or steadfastness, of being firm in your positions. Although, Surah Anfal is referring to the battlefield......
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14
Jan 2019

We have not sent to you, but as a mercy to the worlds. (21:107) In this oft-repeated ayah, Allah Almighty informs us that He sent the Prophet (peace be on him) as a rahmatan lilalameen – a mercy to all humanity. In the hadith, the Prophet (peace be on him) himself said he was rahmtun muhdat: I am not but as a gifted mercy. (Sunan Al Darimi and Bayhaqi) The New World Allah Almighty gifted the Prophet (peace be on him) to humanity and through His revelation enabled him to create......
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13
Jan 2019

Prepare for Tomorrow Optimism is what we need for a New Year! Optimism The Prophet (peace be on him) was an optimist by nature. He inspired optimism in others, despite all the difficulties and challenges he faced. We should learn from the master, and emulate his character (peace be on him). Optimism is contagious just like pessimism. If you have even one pessimistic person in your team, the whole team will be dragged down by their attitude. Similarly if you have an optimistic person, like their smile, their mood will spread. If......
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13
Jan 2019

The Qualities Allah Almighty Loves In Bukhari’s book Adab al Mufrad (A Perfect Code of Manners and Morality), which is different from his Sahih, he narrates a particular hadith from an occasion when historians say a delegation from Bahrain, around the year 8 or 10 AH, came to visit the Prophet (peace be on him). The chief of this delegation was Al Mundhir abd Qays, well known as Al Ashajj, ‘the one who has a scar on his face’. When he was young he had been kicked by a donkey, which......
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12
Jan 2019

To Reflect on the Past and Plan for the Future Check your Balance The wise person is the one who calls himself to account and prepares himself for the hereafter. The foolish person is the one who is following his whims and desires and only has hopes in Allah. (Tirmidhi) Closure and New Beginnings As each new year arrives, we close a chapter from our life and open a new chapter. We say farewell to the previous year and this cycle is ongoing every year for those of us who are fortunate......
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11
Jan 2019

Moving from Faith to Action What is faith? How do you define it? What does it comprise? And what are its fruits? Imaan has been painstakingly examined by scholars who identified its component parts. Yet imaan cannot simply reside in the heart, its reality is only evident when it is translated into action. As always, there are obstacles along the way… Imaan has 60 odd or 70 odd branches, the highest of it is saying la ilaha illa llah; the Shahadah, and the least of it is to remove the harmful things......
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10
Jan 2019

Know your Self Worth Where do you stand with Allah Almighty? What is your self-worth? Wrongly estimating our own value could have severe repercussions. How then do we ensure that we have a better on handle on where we stand with Allah Almighty? We may weigh little in Allah Almighty ’s eyes, but think we are worth more. Through Allah Almighty’s shield and mercy, He protects our self from others and covers our mistakes/sins and shortcomings, so people have a good opinion of us, but between us and Allah our faults are not......
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10
Jan 2019
Getting our Priorities Right In the pursuit of goodness it is easy to become side-tracked by worthwhile acts, which may deceptively be shifting your focus from more important acts. How valuable is growing a beard when you are not acquiring your earnings in a halal way? Or praying in the front row when you are treating your wife badly? Or performing tarawih prayers but then missing fajr? Understanding the value of what is important, means we can build strong foundations and then embellish the structure. Rather than risk beautifying a crumbly edifice. The scholar Imam Muhasibi said......
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03
Jan 2019

Opposing Oppression ‘Oh My servants I have prohibited oppression for myself and made it prohibited amongst you, so do not oppress one another’ (Bukhari) There are countless verses in the Qur’an on oppression and around 97 verses alone on oppressors. Human Weakness By contrast, there is a word which is mentioned three times in just one surah, which makes it very special, that word is al mustadafin ‘the helpless people’. It appears in Surat al Nisa. The word mustada’af derives from da’f– as the majority of Arabic words derive from three original letters –......
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02
Jan 2019

The Pillars of the Islamic Civilisation What were the Achievements of the Islamic Civilisation built on? Whenever anyone asks what Islamic Civilisation is, the first thing which comes to our mind is usually our scientific achievements, of which we are rightfully proud Alhamdulilah. However, I would like to look deeper and focus on the pillars which underpinned the Islamic Civilisation. These can be broken down into five main principles. Al Wahi Islam is a Divine System which Allah Almighty sent down to humanity from Adam to the last Prophet (peace be......
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30
Dec 2018

Being Properly Prepared As most of us do not feel prepared for the akhirah, what tips are there to help us focus? Though most people think that ‘This day I have perfected for you your religion’ (5:3) is the last ayah to be revealed, they do not realise that that was only a fragment, a part of a longer ayah. Whereas the last complete ayah to be revealed was the one from surah Baqarah: Be fearful of a day when you shall return to Allah and you will receive your reward fully......
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