Four life essentials
In the verses of Surat Luqman, Luqman, who a minority believe was a prophet and the majority think was righteous man, offers ten pieces of advice to his son on living a righteous life.
Salah is the core of your life
After expressing the importance of believing in one God, honouring parents and being assured that Allah has kept account of even the tiniest of good deeds, he mentions the importance of salah:
يَـٰبُنَىَّ أَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَأْمُرْ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَٱنْهَ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَٱصْبِرْ عَلَىٰ مَآ أَصَابَكَ ۖ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ ٱلْأُمُورِ
“O my dear son! Establish prayer, encourage what is good and forbid what is evil, and endure patiently whatever befalls you. Surely this is a resolve to aspire to. (31:17)
Salah is the core of your life. As your heart is the core of your physical life, the salah is the core of your spiritual life. If you have a problem with your heart, you have a problem with your body, if you have a problem with your salah you have a problem with your life. Fix your salah and your life will be fixed accordingly.
All prophets and righteous people are assiduous about preserving their salah. Our salah has be to firmly established in our life. Not robotic salah, but the salah which nourishes and purifies you. All prophets called for purification – of the mind, the heart and belief, as well as physical cleanliness of one’s body, dress and place of worship.
Create the action: encourage what is good and deter people from doing wrong
In the same verse as salah, Luqman mentioned that one should be a person of principles. This means that one should encourage others to do what is good and deter them from what is evil. You cannot just sit on the wall like Humpty Dumpty and be a spectator.
We have to be a person of action, not reaction. We need to create the action rather than always being prompted by external events which are not in our control. We have to take the lead in promoting goodness.
Add patience to your dictionary
We also need patience. Why? The new generation does not have patience in their dictionary. If it does not download in a second, they switch to something else. Click, click. They lack patience. However we cannot live without patience. Otherwise you will hit a brick wall and regret it. Therefore we need to inculcate patience in ourselves, the core of which is being in control.
وَلَا تُصَعِّرْ خَدَّكَ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَمْشِ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍ
“And do not turn your nose up to people, nor walk pridefully upon the earth. Surely Allah does not like whoever is arrogant, boastful. (31:18)
Be humble
Even if you have new watch or car or dress, do not act with arrogance. Humility was the essence of the Prophet (peace be on him). He was down to earth.
وَٱقْصِدْ فِى مَشْيِكَ وَٱغْضُضْ مِن صَوْتِكَ ۚ إِنَّ أَنكَرَ ٱلْأَصْوَٰتِ لَصَوْتُ ٱلْحَمِيرِ
Be moderate in your pace. And lower your voice, for the ugliest of all voices is certainly the braying of donkeys.” (31:19)
You should not speak with a loud voice, but have good etiquette. The worst sounding voice is the braying of a donkey. We don’t want to be donkeys.
If we follow these nuggets of advice, which are concise yet deep, we will become better people. May Allah Almighty make us from those who are righteous, patient, humble and agents of goodness. Ameen
Shaykh Haytham Tamim – Tarawih
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- Mulla Ali’s Introduction to his book and the contentious issue of mursal hadith
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Shaykh Haytham Tamim
Shaykh Haytham Tamim is the founder and main teacher of the Utrujj Foundation. He has provided a leading vision for Islamic learning in the UK, which has influenced the way Islamic knowledge is disseminated. He has orchestrated the design and delivery of over 200 unique courses since Utrujj started in 2001. His extensive expertise spans over 30 years across the main Islamic jurisprudence schools of thought. He has studied with some of the foremost scholars in their expertise; he holds some of the highest Ijazahs (certificates) in Quran, Hadith (the Prophetic traditions) and Fiqh (Islamic rulings). His own gift for teaching was evident when he gave his first sermon to a large audience at the age of 17 and went on to serve as a senior lecturer of Islamic transactions and comparative jurisprudence at the Islamic University of Beirut (Shariah College). He has continued to teach; travelling around the UK, Europe and wider afield, and won the 2015 BISCA award (British Imams & Scholars Contributions & Achievements Awards) for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Teaching.
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