7:24 AM (A creating writing piece for you!)

It's Saturday morning, 7:24 AM. The sun is coming up but the weather isn't too bad. Its an interesting morning. I haven't experienced a morning like this in a long time. It reminds me of the days of my childhood when I would wake up on Saturday mornings and go in the living room and watch cartoons. Life was so peaceful back then. I didn't have this notion of working 24.7 and television wasn't even that bad (at least however bad Arthur gets, that is.)

I haven't slept all night and its been an interesting night actually. Perhaps I've learned something about myself from it. The fuller picture actually goes back to when I woke up yesterday. I don't know how the day passed by but I got nothing done. With tens of essays looming over my head, either to be written or to be edited, an unproductive day, especially the few left of my now nearing-end winter break, was not a good thing. It kind of sent me in a frenzy.

Part of the reason I may have not gotten anything done was because my friends ALL seemed to have disappeared. Essentially each day of the past two weeks, certain friends have been online. We talk about random stuff, go over college essays, and take short breaks. It was a cycle, a constant cycle, and thus, I expected these friends to be online. They weren't though. Out of a weird anxiety, I kept going back to my gmail, waiting, staring at the gchat. C'mon, where are these guys? Are they still sleeping in? Did they forget about college essays? Whats wrong with them!

Tick tock, its eleven o'clock. Holy crap, I realize I haven't done anything. I was actually suppose to double up my work yesterday but I ended up not even doing my regular amount. I don't like being unproductive. I take breaks because I feel guilty or not normal if I don't. I like taking breaks to sleep because sleep is good for my brain but this time, I was taking breaks chatting with other random friends on Facebook and watching an episode of House MD (Remind me to one day discuss the deception of that show! I think I can actually learn anything about medicine from it, Ha!).

Its 1:00 AM and I'm sitting there thinking, I've wasted my whole day and I'm going to waste the next few hours. I don't know what to do. I keep refreshing my facebook page, hoping something will change. Some new interesting feed - actually I'm not even looking for that. I have no idea why I keep going on Facebook. I use it like I'm a criminal doing committing a crime. I go on it with the notion that I must get off ASAP.

One of my two good friends comes online. I tell her that I've wasted my whole day and now I'm having an anxiety attack basically. There's already so much to do. I was supposed to do twice the amount of work and yet I did nothing. She tells me that I should take a break. No! that's what I've been doing the whole day. A dang break. Its 3AM and she has to go to sleep but since shes a good friend, she says that if I really need something, if perhaps I'm dying out of my boredom and lack of ability to be productive, I can text her.

Now I'm on my own. If I was feeding my anxiety with chats with people I normally don't talk to and by refreshing the facebook page and by starring at my gchat, now I'll go hungry. Practically everyone is gone. I sort of feel sleepy but I can't go to sleep feeling as if I did nothing the whole day. Its not even that I don't like taking breaks, but I need to have made the intention of taking that break. "I'm going to go to my friend's house today." That sort of thing, where I know I will not be doing work because instead I'll be doing this fun activity instead. I have to plan my breaks, or else there not that fruitful.

I go make some chai at 3:30 AM! I actually made it at midnight but forgot about it, so I just rewarm it. I wash my fash with cold water and do wudu. I come back in my room, put on a talk about reforming one's self by Shaykh Omar, and get cracking at those Coca Cola Semi finalist essays. Slowly but surely I'm making progress. As I'm listening to Shaykh Omar's soothing voice and his extremely valid points, I'm remembering Ramadan and Itakaf.

I think to myself: self, what are you doing with you life? The talk ends and I put on some Quran. I happen to come across a Youtube video of Maulana Iliyas, the Imam of the Des Plaines masjid that I occasionally go to. I enjoy his recitation so I start playing that video. The video is just showing pictures and clips of the mosque.

And then it all comes to me.

I'm so naive. So, So, So naive. As smart or wise as I think I am, I am not. A few days ago, I was listening to a talk about the "nervous breakdown of Pakistan" by Fatima Bhutto. Quite interesting and though provoking. I decided that, indeed, I would major in political science in college. Politics, humanities and social sciences, those are my strong points. I should focus on them. Then when I was watching those House MD episodes, I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to be a doctor so bad seeing House do his pathological diagnoses; it seemed so cool to be brilliant and to be a doctor. After watching that show, I made a resolve: I would major in biology and since I like the brain so much, perhaps neurobiology or cognitive science.

And then when I was watching that video of the mosque, I remembered who I was. I remembered that I actually wanted to stay instate for college because of the conservative environment. I didn't care to be a political junkie or a big time lawyer, those were my old-days aspirations that I had grown too pragmatic for. I remembered that yes I do want to go into medicine, perhaps a pathologist too, but not like House. I don't want to be a hot shot doctor who is brilliant and makes a lot of money. I remembered that, just like my role models, I want to be A doctor, and I want to be A practicing Muslim.

I am naive because I am still a kid. I am still easily influenced by all the pressures, all the speakers, all the talks, all the lectures, all the classes, all the books, and all everything else, around me. And while I wonder if this will ever change, I figure it must.

There must come a time when the MuslimKid can call himself the MuslimAdult. Is that time yet to come or has it come? Will it come? What does it mean to be grown up? To not be naive?

I actually have NO clue why I felt the strong urge to write this, all without any edits or having read it twice, and post it. Perhaps, I want someone to read it and tell me that yes, you are just a kid. I want them to tell me that this whole post makes no utter sense and I should go see a neurologist. Actually though, I don't think it is the realization that I am naive that makes me feel different than I was hours ago.

I think it is the realization that I am human. I can try to plan every moment of my life and be as productive as possible - and that will always be the goal - but if I fall short, then I must let it be. Perhaps that is a lesson every over achiever must learn at some point in their life: we are all human.

It feels good to know that I am human! Tomorrow I will go play soccer. And disclaimer, I may have jumbled around some of the order of the events. Right now, everything's a blur.

I already KNOW that I will delete this later and that I am making a bad decision posting something so ridiculous as this but what the hey. I'm a kid, I can make mistakes.

Enjoy it while ya can suckers!

...Like talking to an old friend

Assalamu Alikeum,

Blogging after more than a year of latency is like trying to muster up the courage to talk to old friend you don't associate with anymore. Once you decide to communicate with the friend, you can't decide what to say and how to say it. But once you get over this, you talk to the friend as if no time had elapsed since the last time you talked. I hope the same can be said for my blogging.

I have an idea. I will share 10 points.

1. I've become pretty introverted. I think in my pursuit of trying to follow the Sunnah, I became a quieter person, which may or may not be a good thing. Undeniably, there is virtue in silence, and being a shy person means less interaction with people. As Shaykh Husain once said, how long can you really talk to someone before your talk become heedless? Hi. How are you doing? How is your family? etc. After five minutes, there is little to talk about that isn't useless talk - at least that is what holds true for the majority of people. People start talking about movies, sports, celebrities, the latest scandal, gossip, politics, etc. are all pretty useless. You might disagree about the value of the previous topics, especially politics, but to each his own opinion.

2. I'm a senior in high school! I still don't know what to make of this. Should I be happy that I'll be moving on to the "next" step in life - or should I be sad that my high school days are fleeing? I am applying to colleges and will share what college I end up going to when I get in, iA.

3. I used to be into law (lol). It was my life's ambition to get a JD and be a big time lawyer. However, after being bombarded with biology and neuroscience through AP Psychology and AP Biology, I developed an interest in neurology. My new passion is to become a neurosurgeon slash cognitive neuroscience-person. I conducted research at a local university this past summer and it made me realize that research is not for me. It is an extremely boring line of work (no offense to scientific researchers) and working with rats (95% of all neuroscience research is done on rodents) was not enjoyable. However, during my eight weeks, I was able to perform brain surgery on some rats and that seemed pretty cool. I think what I enjoyed about it was the fact that it was an art. It was something you got better at with time. It was technical, not intellectual. That plus the fact that you are directly saving lives sounds great to me. Secondly, cognitive neuroscience is the part of neurology that I do like the intellectual aspect of. How do we think? What are the mechanisms behind it? I also really like a philosophical approach to the brain, that is, looking at the relationship between the mind and the brain.

4 years B.A + 4 years M.D. + 3-6 residency = 11-14 years. I'll be 28-31. And that is just to be a qualified neurosurgeon - not including years of experience necessary to get one's feet wet in the field. And, unfortunately, science isn't among my strengths. If I went into a humanities-related field, I would enjoy it and be top 5-10% of my class with effort. In the biological sciences, even with all my effort, I'd be bottom half of my class. But what about the desire to be something? Can't anyone put their mind to something and accomplish it if they are willing to work hard? Before people begin to say do what your heart tells you and all that mumbo jumbo, I am doing what my heart says. My heart says that I want to live a life where my life's work would be to 1) save the lives of God's creation, 2) glorify God by learning of his majestic and beautiful design of the human body, 3) I respect doctors a lot - probably because many of my role models are doctors. In the end, Allahu Alim. Allah knows all. I will become whatever He has determined for me. For now, I have my heart set on neuroscience.

4. So far in high school, I've been to Washington DC, New York City, Richmond, and Fargo. The first one for journalism, the second for community service, and the last two for Classics conventions. This summer I will go to Seattle, and next summer GUATEMALA! Most of these have been free except for the Latin conventions. I love traveling but as I mentioned above, I've become an introverted person so I have a hard time meeting new people. By that I mean, I have to consciously be socially awkward by being shy and reserved. Maybe this isn't the right way to go about things. I think the problem is I'm too afraid of being expressive that as a Muslim, I follow these certain rules. Instead, I just remain quiet. Regardless, traveling is the best!

5. I am the worst student of tasawwuf to walk this earth. I'm so blessed to live in Chicago, have access to Shaykh Husain and all the other amazing ulema here and yet I do not take full advantage of my access to these individuals. When Allah wants something good for us, he puts us in the company of the righteous. How unlucky of a person I am to live among the righteous and not benefit from them. It reminds me of a person who prays in his house when he lives outside the Kabah! SubhanAllah, somethings we do in life are strange.

6. I'm musically challenged. I'm taking Band in school right now because it is a required class and I play the clarinet. I behind the whole class by maybe 7-8 lessons! It is too hard for me to 1. Look at the note and remember which one it is, 2. Press the right button the right way, 3. Tap my feet, 4. Count in my head, and 5. Do all those things at the same time. Fortunately, I don't think I will fail band even though I such at music. Conversely, I think I am pretty good at art! By art, I mean working with clay. I love it. Art is also another required class and I am taking it this year. We are making teapots and mine is a flowering can. Art is so much fun, I look forward to each class. Oh and I'm also taking Web Design and I love it to the max. I love it so much because making website is also an art. You have to learn the coding, yes, but you have to learn to lay out pages in a way that will appeal to viewers. Not to mention that knowing how to make a website is a super important skill nowadays!

7. This past year, some friends and I helped organize a service project where we collected old used prescription glasses. We are basically a student non-profit and do one major service project each year. This year we got a bunch of high school student volunteers to set up collection boxes throughout Chicago. After months of the students advertising and publicizing the boxes, we brought our collection together. We then cleaned and packed these glasses. We partnered with Al Shifa Foundation to transport these glasses to their clinics in Pakistan! Alhumdulillah, it all worked out and we are done with the project.

8. This post is not how I want to continue blogging. This post is pretty much about me, which is not how it should be. InshaAllah, in the future, I'd like to make posts based on what I learn in Shaykh Husain's company. They will basically be summaries of his general talks on SacredLearning.org. Since I go to the event, I might be able to share something that wasn't recorded and people can benefit, InshaAllah.

9. Listen to Fundamental of Tasawwuf on SacredLearning. It is a six piece lecture series by Shaykh Husain and mashaAllah, it is life changing.

10. Make dua for me!

There. I did it. I made a post. Hopefully next time it won't feel as weird to post.

Wsalam
MK

Point of No Return

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Raheem

Assalamu Aliekum,

Last year at our school's Muslim Club's annual dinner, we had a debate over whether or not to have partitions. I won't propagate my view but there was one thing that I strongly felt that needed to be brought up in the discussion. There is a such thing as a point of no return, that is, once we had put up the partitions one year, it would be going backward to take it down. It would be unethical and really bad. That isn't to say if we made a serious mistake we couldn't fix it but partitions are not a mistake but a positive step. That point of return is an interesting concept within the Deen.

Hadrat (Shaykh Husain), who I recently gave Bayah to, must have said multiple times that the shaytan of an Alim is an Alim. This statement basically refers to the fact that depending on your level in the Deen, the shaytan who will try to lead you astray will be just as strong. For an Alim, even though he has knowledge of the Deen, he might be fooled into justifying his wrong deeds through his knowledge.

Once you realize a mistake or bad habit of yours, you make tawbah, you can't go back to it. There is one thing to slip, which happens, we are humans. Allah (SWT) made Insan weak, it is in our nature to sin. We slip, we don't get obsessed over our deeds, no matter how good or bad. But it is a horrible thing to be dishonest to yourself and tell yourself you slipped when you were well aware of your sins.

I'm saying this because the meaning of tawbah has really changed for me over this past Ramadan. I don't know if I am suppose to blog about my Tasawwuf experience, I feel like the obvious answer is no. (Who am I to be saying anything about any topic? What ilm do I even have? The more ilm you have, the less you talk!) Anyway, it is so easy to sin, ask for forgiveness and think we are a-okay.

One of the underlying pricipals of spirituality that Hadrat always mentions is that the heart is like a white sheet of paper. You do a sin and a black dot is formed; enough sins turn the paper black. A black heart is a dead heart. This sin takes away from your spiritual state. When your heart has stains over it and you pray, your thoughts will reflect those blobs of darkness. Therefore, once you taste the cleanness and bliss of a clean heart, you'll never want to go back to anything else. That is the motivation behind tawbah in Tasawwuf. You've felt something so great when your heart was clean, that whatever sin you do, you get disgusted by it and immediately seek forgiveness. You can't stand any changes from that state that you desired. It is really amazing to read about but as Hadrat says, its a very experiential science.

I can't make the same mistakes that I might have made before now that I know they are mistakes. Duh, everyone knows that. But really, when you figure out that the slightest things we say can be used against us, the situation becomes more serious. In one anecdote, Hadrat was talking about his own Shaykh, Shaykh Zulfiqar, whom he was with when this occurred. Hadrat told someone on the phone one second and spend a minute or some period of time more than a second making the person wait. His Shaykh told him that he said one second but it was clearly longer than one second - we should be cognizant of these types of blunders. We will be held accountable for everything. So, once you hear/read that, you look into your life and see that everything you do is filled with these types of mistakes and you need to fix them because now you know they are bad. If you don't fix them, they become dots on your heart that can turn into blobs and eventually turn a clean heart into a dying one. Again, this is the point of no return, once you know how something that most people don't even think about can be bad, you can't go back to living ignorant or else it will impact you negatively. As they say, ignorance is bliss, which is not necessarily true but speaks well the point being made.

I don't know if anything I wrote above makes much sense, I feel guilty writing anything at all but this whole no return concept is intriguing to me. It is pertinent to all our lives. So my dear friend who I wrote this for: there is no return. There is a fork in the road ahead and we must take differing paths. Our destinations may one day meet, Allahu Alim.



Wa Akira Tawana Anilhumdulillahi Wa rabil Alameen

Muslim Kid

Itakaf 2010: Interations with Zakariya

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Raheem

Assalamu Aliekum,

Itakaf 2010 was as expected amazing. Yesterday I was remembering how before Ramadan I thought to myself, I've transgressed so much that there is no fixation for me. SubhanAllah, here I am clinging on to my post-Ramadan spiritual-high. I'm satisfied with life, inshAllah, Allah lets me remain steadfast with my Deen.

There are so many ways to talk about Itakaf. I could talk about the different lectures, the different scholars, the midnight talks that just make you depressed once Itakaf is over, the cool things you learn about our Deen, etc. There are just so many ways to blog about Itakaf because it is such a rich experience.

However, I have a way of talking about it (part of it) that might sound a little weird but I think its awesome! So here it is. The following is about my interactions with Zakariya, Shaykh Husain's son, during Itakaf.

I'm sitting against one of the pillars in ICC trying to study without any effect. Its about 8:30 PM, magrib finished a while back and people are still eating their main meals a few feet behind me. The main praying area is sparsely populated minus three four kids playing around making a bunch of noise. Oh, and in the left corner is Shaykh Husain sitting talking one on one with one of his murids. I try my best to study but how can I know with the noise behind me and Shaykh Husain in front of me! So I closed my book and went to join the little kids.


"Hey Abdur-Rahman, what are you upto?" I say to one of the three kids playing. This kid is amazing, he is uber cute and loves to smile and laugh. I can't imagine him doing anything but laughing. I made friends with him through another older friend who knew him. That first day, I gave him a piece of gum and he kept swiveling his friend in a chair and laughing ridiculously that I was really worried he might start choking. He says the most random things like, "my dad is Shazad. He's in Noor Masjid doing Itakaf." Eventually, we became good friends. He would come running into the masjid after Magrib and look at me then turn toward a group of my friends and say, "Where's fike? Where's fike? Fike Spike!" Haha, then I would like, Abdur-Rahman, you just looked at me then turned toward them but he would quickly change the subject. Oh yea, Abdur-Rahman is four and a half.

"I'm playing with my friend Zach Attack" He said talking about Zakariya, Shaykh Husain's son, but of course, I didn't know that yet.

"Hey! My name is not Zach Attack!" Zakariya responds smiling with a tooth missing. He's about six or seven years old.

"Your name is Zach Attack" Abdur Rahman says again before he started dying from laughter.

I go toward Zakariya and ask him what his name is.

"My name is Zakariya" then I told him my name and asked him how old he was.

"Zakariya, come here." Suddenly Shaykh Husain calls him -- O.M.G? This kid is Shaykh Husain, thee Shaykh Husain's son? Looks like I have to make a new friend

Later as the night passes. Isha and Tarawih have been read and the following Tafsir is over too. Its 3 nights before school is about to start and I've yet to cover about 60 pages in my AP Biology mega-textbook. Ahhhh.

I go outside to where there is a small desk with some chairs nearby in the shoe-area. Its about 11 o'clock and all the coming and going has pretty much ended. Only the people performing the full 10 days of Itakaf are inside and some people who stay after Tarawih till Fajr. Where I am sitting, it is pretty quiet.

I get through 5-10 pages before Zakariya comes and sits in a chair nearby.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I should be studying. I came out here to avoid people and so that it would be quiet but now that your here" Well I couldn't miss a chance to bond with Zakariya, so I decided to close my book.

"Now that your here, lets talk!"

"So where do you go to school?"

"What do you mean? I go here! I go to ICC."

"Oh I see, so how is your sister now?"

"I have two sisters"

"I'm talking about [little sister's name]"

"Hey! How do you know my little sister's name?"

"I know a lot Zakariya" I said laughing at how amazed he was - this was only the beginning. This was going to be a fun chat.

"What school does your older sister [older sister's name] go to?" I asked him just to amaze him more that I know stuff about him.

"Hey! How do you know this stuff?"

"Well, its a long story but...Oh wait wasn't there an iftar at your house last thursday?" I only knew that because a friend of mine who is a murid of Shaykh Husain was invited.

"Hey. how do you know all this?" He was really getting amazed, his tooth-missing smile was just getting bigger. It was pretty funny but here was the best one.

I had taken out my wallet and put it right next to my pencil while studying. I opened my wallet and remember that I had a UChicago ID. I pulled it out a bit to show that maroon "University of Chicago" part and showed it to Zakariya.

"Zakariya, doesn't your dad have an ID like this?" Shaykh Husain definitely has to have one considering that he works at the Pritzker school of Medicine, UChicago's Med school.

"Oh my God. How do you know you that and why do you have one too!" He was just blow away. It was hilarious. Eventually, I asked him more questions about his daily life. I felt a bit weird asking him questions about his life but there is this huge curiosity to know ...how Shaykh Husain's son's daily life must be, the day to day activities you know. If you fall in love with a Shaykh, that love definitely extends to the Shaykh's teachers, his peers, his murid and his kids too. Speaking of Shaykh Husain's murids, I'm friends with so many of them that some of them thought that I was actually Shaykh Husain's murid myself. InshAllah, pretty soon, I will be! I've made a decision to give bayah now its just a matter of giving the bayah.

Eventually as more and more people came (my friends) to the shoe area, I realized there was no way I could possibly study. Zakariya went inside too so I went inside too.

Eventually, it was Sahoor time, we ate. It was Fajr time, we prayed. It was time for Shaykh Yusuf's daily speech after Fajr, that happened too. Finally, the lights were out and sleeping bags populated the majority of the Masjid floor. I could finally study in serenity ( I had a little book light with me). However, I realized that going back to my shoe place might be a smart idea. I sat there just pondering for a while until I heard someone sneeze. I raise my head up (I was lying down) and saw that Zakariya laying next to Shaykh Husain had just sneezed. The fan was on nearby him and so I thought to myself, maybe I should turn off the fan, Zakariya might get sick. But then I counter that idea thinking that Shaykh Husain and all those being cooled by the fan would be disturbed in their sleep - I wasn't sure what to do, so I did nothing.

Eventually I leave to the shoe area again. This time it should be a lot better considering that there is a lot of Baraqa in the time after Fajr and that there is none in the time after Isha! Guess who comes into the room again?! Yup, Zakariya!

This time we talked a bit more and I learned about his weekends. He said he usually wakes up early and goes out to play basketball. The basketball hoop is in his backyard and it is ten feet high (he himself is like 2-3 feet tall, haha). He said that his dad said to make is 8 feet tall but he said he wants it at 10 feet! Then he told me that after he plays basketball, he comes home and play computer games for a while. Then he plays on his Nintendo DS (its appropriate that if Shaykh Husain bought his son a video game thing that it would be a DS since the games available are mostly kids appropriate, i.e. Pokemon) Then he said he goes out to play more basketball and sports. It seems to be one of his favorite past times, alhumdulillah that's great.

I asked him if has a TV in his house and he seemed a little sad and said no. He said that that's why he likes going to his grant parent's house, lol. I told him that one day, when he grows up, he'll be so happy that his dad didn't allow him to watch TV. He responded that, "everyone says that" haha.

Next, I let him play on my iPhone and he was a smart kid. He asked me if I could download more games but I told him there was no wifi available here - he was comprehending what I was saying. He was very mature and understanding.

Eventually, Shaykh Husain himself came out into the shoe area and is like "Zakariya, I've been looking all over for you." I apologized and he said no it was okay. He took Zakariya home to eat breakfast.

It was great to talk to Zakariya through out my last few days of Itakaf. I hope Zakariya remembers me the next time I see him, inshAllah. Overall, it was a very pleasant Itakaf. If your interested in hearing about some of the things that Shaykh Husain talked about, check out the Fajr reflections. Shaykh Yusuf sang an awesome nath which is also posted in the post prior to this.

When they said that these days are limited - they weren't joking. Ramadan came and it went. SubhanAllah. Ya Allah make the time between this past Ramadan and next Ramadan shorter for us so that once again Your house can be flocked with believers. Ya Allah, help us remain steadfast on our Deen as much as during Ramdan if not more. And finally, help us remain in the company of the righteous. (Allow me to become one of Shaykh Husain's murids).

Wa Akira Tawana Anilhumdulillahi Wa rabil Alameen

Muslim Kid

Al-Widaa (The Departure)

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Raheem



Eid Mubarak Friends!

The above nasheed entitled Al-widaa, (The departure) is about Bilal (R), a companion of the Prophet(S), remembering the words of our beloved Prophet(S) while on a journey from Madina to Damascus. His feet are swollen and he is tried but he continues walking remembering the words of the Prophet (S) who has by then passed away. These words are so powerful and to think, SubhanAllah, who is saying it to who? Our amazing Prophet (S) to an amazing companion, Bilal (R).

Let me translate the above hadith before I provide the comments Shaykh Yusuf provided. The translation is probably pretty bad but the commentary should make up for it.

The steps of Bilal. Today, weary from walking.
The steps of Bilal. Today, weary from walking.
Lo, here is our depature. Lo, here is our departure.

Here, take my Quran and my Sunnah.
Here, take my Quran and my Sunnah.
They will lead you to Jannah
They will lead you to Jannah
Whatever misfortune falls upon you,
take refuge with patience.
Whatever misfortune falls upon you,
take refuge with patience.
But don't hurt anyone's heart
But don't hurt anyone's heart

Just remember this, my naseehat.
Just remember this, my naseehat.
Lo, here is our departure.
Lo, here is our departure.

I'll meet you at pul-Sirat myself.
I'll meet you at pul-Sirat myself.
I won't let my Ummah fall below
I won't let my Ummah fall below
There I will instigate on your cause.
Lo, here is our departure.
Lo, here is our departure.

If I am not there, I'll meet you at the fountain of Kauther
If I am not there, I'll meet you at the fountain of Kauther
I won't let my Ummah go thirsty.
I won't let my Ummah go thirsty.
I will extinguish the thirst from your lips.
I will extinguish the thirst from your lips.
Lo, here is our departure.

If I am not there, I'll meet you at Mizan
If I am not there, I'll meet you at Mizan
I won't let your good deeds lessen
I won't let your good deeds lessen
I will try to lessen your sins
I will try to lessen your sins
Lo, here is our departure.
Lo, here is our departure.

If I am not there, I'll meet you at the Ursh of Allah
If I am not there, I'll meet you at the Ursh of Allah
I'll cry and cry and make dua to Allah
I'll cry and cry and make dua to Allah
There, I will try to free you.
There, I will try to free you.
Lo, here is our departure.
Lo, here is our departure.
Lo, here is our departure.

SubhanAllah. What a beautiful beautiful beautiful narration about the Prophet(S)! Shaykh Yusuf, a very young shaykh who works in prisons in the UK, came to ICC for Itakaf. He went to Darul Uloom Bury along with Maulana Mobeen and Mufti Kamani; they were all peers and are all in mid twenties. The Shaykh sang the nasheed then read it again commenting after each stanza for those who didn't know urdu well. Alhumdulillah, it was after a fajr salah in the last five days of Itakaf - the whole audience was in tears. I'll try to rewrite his amazing commentary.


The steps of Bilal. Today, weary from walking.
The steps of Bilal. Today, weary from walking.
Lo, here is our depature. Lo, here is our departure.

Bilal (R) was one of the most dear companions to the Prophet(S). He had told him these words once referring to a time when he won't be here, thus he reminds him of the departure.

Here, take my Quran and my Sunnah.
Here, take my Quran and my Sunnah.
They will lead you to Jannah
They will lead you to Jannah

SubhanAllah. Such simple words, take my Quran and Sunnah, they will lead you to Jannah. If only we could implement this advice to the full extent.

Whatever misfortune falls upon you,
take refuge with patience.
Whatever misfortune falls upon you,
take refuge with patience.
But don't hurt anyone's heart
But don't hurt anyone's heart

This was the heart of our Prophet(S), he would never hurt anyone. He would be patient and endure any hardships himself but never let anyone else taste hardship because of him. How can we not admire and love such a person?

Just remember this, my naseehat.
Just remember this, my naseehat.
Lo, here is our departure.
Lo, here is our departure.

Naseehat possibly means advice. I feel like that makes sense. Here is where it gets really good - where its hard to control the tears. It does mean advice*

I'll meet you at pul-Sirat myself.
I'll meet you at pul-Sirat myself.
I won't let my Ummah fall below
I won't let my Ummah fall below
There I will instigate on your cause.
There I will instigate on your cause.
Lo, here is our departure.
Lo, here is our departure.

Ya Allah. On that day, when we will have to walk across the hair-thick pul-Sirat, we will surely fall down. Below us will be Hell and in front of us a getaway. We've heard of this but how many of us understand one simple thing, it is really going to happen. One day, once this illusion of a life ends, one day, that day, the Day of Judgment, when all the creatures are brought back to life to be judged for every single na'ehmah, every single heartbeat and moment of our lives, it will be a difficult day. How are we going to cross this path as thin as a piece of hair? How? Here the Prophet(S) is saying that I will meet you there, I will follow behind you and make sure you cross it safely. I won't let my Ummah fall below. Below us the fire of Jahanam will be raging, the fire that was created to consume evil doers and those who sin, we sin. It is said that that the best time to live would be during the Prophet(S)'s time - imagine seeing the blessed beautiful face, that face which was more beautiful than the moon, however it was just that difficult too. Bilal (R) was made the Adhan giver because his "ahad" (one) used to be heard through out Makkah when the Kufar used to torture him for his belief in one God. That was the difficult that these companions faced but they got to see, hear, touch, and be in the companionship of the Prophet(S). That is what made them Sahaba, anyone today could practice every tenet of Islam but they wouldn't be a Sahaba because their defining characteristic was that they saw the Prophet(S) himself! SubhanAllah. However, we should realize that we are in the second best time possible - we are part of the Ummah of the Prophet (S). The Ambiya, the Prophets of God, used to make dua that they could be in the Ummah of our Prophet(S) - one Prophet's dua, Isa (A) or Jesus, did come true as he will return to be a part of the Ummah of our Prophet(S).

If I am not there, I'll meet you at the fountain of Kauther
If I am not there, I'll meet you at the fountain of Kauther
I won't let my Ummah go thirsty.
I won't let my Ummah go thirsty.
I will extinguish the thirst from your lips.
I will extinguish the thirst from your lips.
Lo, here is our departure.

The fountain of Kauther is something that is mind-blowing. On that day when there is no shade but the shade of Allah(SWT)'s ursh, when the sun is in your face, literally, the Prophet(S) will be handing out water to his Ummah at the fountain of Kauther. We can't take the heat of the Masjid when it is crowded, we can't take the heat of this duniya's summer seasons, how in the world can be even bear to smell or hear the heat of the sun in our faces? The Prophet(S) says that if he can't meet us at pul-sirat, he will meet us at the fountain of kauther. On that hot day, there will be no shade and no water except the shade of Allah for those seven people and water for the Ummah of the Prophet(S). But, to be qualified for that life-saving water, you need to be a part of the Ummah of the Prophet(S). We will see the fountain and go toward it and wait in line. We will tell the angels that yes we are part of the Ummah of the Prophet(S) but when the Prophet (S) sees us and looks at our state, that we have abandoned his Sunnah, what if he says, hey your not part of my Ummah. Ya Allah, save us from that horrible fate. Make us the recipients of water by the hands of the Prophet(S) on that fateful day. Make us exactly like the Prophet(S) so that on that day he recognizes us and smiles at us instead of frowning and wondering if we are really part of his Ummah.

If I am not there, I'll meet you at Mizan
If I am not there, I'll meet you at Mizan
I won't let your good deeds lessen
I won't let your good deeds lessen
I will try to lessen your sins
I will try to lessen your sins
Lo, here is our departure.
Lo, here is our departure.

Mizan is the part of the Day of Judgement where we will literally be judged. Our good and our bad will be put on a balance and tested - which is heavier and more abundant? The Prophet (S) says that he will meet us there if he cannot meet us at pul-Sirat or Kauther. He won't let our good deeds be pushed away and instead he will lessen our bad deeds. Ya Allah, how lucky we are that we are in the Ummah of the Prophet (S), the only Prophet given the ability to intercede on behalf of the members of his Ummah. The Ummah of the Prophet(S), we, will be the first to enter Jannah from all the Ummah because the Prophet (S) is the most dear Insan, man, to Allah(SWT). It is such that, whenever someone says, La-illaha-ilallah, they follow it with, Muhammad-ur-RasoolaAllah. SubhanAllah. Someone once asked the Prophet (S), when is the Day of Judgment coming? The Prophet (S) replied by posing a question, what have you prepare for it? The man replied, nothing except that I have great love for you and Allah. The Prophet replied that on the Day of Judgment, man will be raised with those he loved. Ya Allah, help us fall in love, become ashiqs, lovers, of the Habib of Allah, the Prophet (S) and consequently inhabitants of Jannahtul Firdos, the highest Heavens.

If I am not there, I'll meet you at the Ursh of Allah
If I am not there, I'll meet you at the Ursh of Allah
I'll cry and cry and make dua to Allah
I'll cry and cry and make dua to Allah
There, I will try to free you.
There, I will try to free you.
Lo, here is our departure.
Lo, here is our departure.
Lo, here is our departure.

Alhumdulillah, Alhumdulillah, wAlhumdulillah. If the Prophet (S) can't meet us at pul-Sirat, Kauther, or Mizan, he will meet us directly at the Ursh of Allah (SWT). He says he will beg and plead and cry - for our sake! Who are we that the Prophet(S) cry for us? We've abandoned his Sunnah, we think its weird and unfashionable. Even then, the Prophet(S) loves us more than anyone ever could. We are suppose to love Allah(SWT) the most, second to Allah is the place of the Prophet(S) - more than our mothers and fathers. Why? This is why. The Prophet (S) has the ability to intercede on our behalf on that day. That day when everyone will be running around like crazy screaming Nafsi, Nafsi, only thinking of themselves and not anyone else, their mother, father, spouse, children, no one will matter. Our beloved Nabi (S) will be saying, "Ummati, Ummati" My Ummah, My Ummah! If your not in tears thinking of what the Prophet (S) is saying to his Bilal and subsequently his Ummah, there is something not right here.

With that being said, we make dua that Allah (SWT) make us exactly like the Prophet (S). Make it so that the Prophet (S) helps us cross pul-Sirat, that he quenches our thirst from the fountain of Kauther. May the Prophet help our scales of good and bad deeds on the event of Mizan. InshAllah, we are not even accounted for our deeds and instead we enter Jannahtul Firdos directly. Ameen.

Wa Akira Tawana Anilhumdulillahi Wa rabil Alameen

Muslim Kid

Fajr Reflections! - Day 6 and 7 (Following Allah's Commands)

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Raheem

I will combine two days because it doesn't make sense to do two different posts when I have other important work awaiting me.

Following Allah's Command

From yesterday -

The hadith basically was a man asking the Prophet(S) , "Tell me more about Wudu" and so the Prophet offered him some advice which is important for us as it serves as a good reminder. First he said, do not hasten, that is, take your time and do it well. Secondly, don't forget the area between two fingers and clean that by rubbing it against the opposite area on your other hand. So interlocking your hands through your fingers then rubbing it under water. Be sure to clear out the nostrils well but be sure water doesn't enter it when you are fasting.

Shaykh Hussain made some wise comments about this basic hadith. First, it is interesting to note that Wudu is probably the only thing in the Quran that is actually outlined fully. The Fard steps of Wudu are stated in the Quran:

O ye who believe! when ye prepare for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands (and arms) to the elbows; Rub your heads (with water); and (wash) your feet to the ankles (5:6)

So Wudu is very important by that virtue alone. Above that, the Prophet and the companions didn't consider the Wudu as a requirement before praying Salah. I mean it was that but not just that, beyond that, it was an act of worship itself!

Shaykh Hussain basically re highlighted what the hadith was saying in terms of how to better your wudu, that is, he showed us what exactly the requirements were saying. Then he made a very interesting point that I can't imagine anyone else making.

The hadith highlights two specific parts of wudu. 1) Washing your hands carefully and 2) Being careful when washing your nose. The first mentioned step, is Fard and mandated by Quran and the second step is a Sunnah of the Prophet(S). Essentially, this shows that the Prophet didn't give preference to one over the other since they were both part of life.

This initiated a conversation on Sunnah and Fard. Sadly, we as Muslims now make a distinction between Fard and Sunnah. The Prophet and the Sahaba didn't make a distinction between these two. It wasn't that because washing out your nostril is Sunnah that I don't have to do it - if the Prophet(S) did it, then you had to do it too. There literally was no Sunnah and Fard back then, Follow the messenger, then you are obeying Allah. That was the basic principal, they did whatever the Prophet did.

The distinction between Sunnah and Fard came later after the Prophet's death when people would come to the scholars and ask questions. If someone asked, I forgot this step while doing Wudu, did it still count? Then the scholars would have to look into what was mandated by the Quran and what the Prophet did - they could only make what the Quran says Fard. But the point remains that Sunnah is just as essential as Fard if we wish to live a life abiding by the Sunnah and thus the Quran.

From Today -

I am hesitant to write the hadith again because I am not using the exact words. The hadith is a
hadith Al-Qudsi, which means that is something that Allah has said Himself. Please take this, cum grano salis, with a grain of salt.

The Prophet (S) said that Allah said the one most favorable to Allah is the one who breaks his fast quick.

The first thing to understand is that this hadith is saying that we should break our fast as quick as possible. We shouldn't wait longer than necessary. It highlights an important rule about Islam, that again, we are the servants of Allah and we do exactly as he has commanded us. The purpose behind fasting is to please Allah by doing what he said.

Many times, we may think that by virtue of waiting maybe 10 minutes, we might be doing a good deed by waiting a bit longer but this is against what Allah has commanded us. Shaykh Hussain provided an example that, imagine if one morning you woke up and felt more righteous than you usually do and so you decided to pray 4 rakah for Fajr instead of 2 rakah Fard. This would be a grave violation against Shariah. Also, the term Deen, actually means the religion as set forth by the Prophet so since the Prophet prayed 2 rakah Fard and 2 rakah Sunnah, that is what we must follow. Deen isn't how we interpret Islam but how the Prophet practiced Islam.

This prayer example seems silly because we have an understanding of Salah and if one morning someone suggested that we pray 4 rakah instead of 2 rakah at the Masjid - we would strongly object. However, in other matter, that we don't fully understand what the Quran and Sunnah say, we often lack sufficient knowledge but assume that our cultural views on the issue are consistent with Sunnah. Shaykh Hussain said that an example of this was gender interactions, that we don't know what our Deen says about it but the Desi-culture often becomes our position because we confuse culture with Deen.

So this talk was kind of surprising to me honestly because you know, actions are based on intentions. If the purpose of our fasting is to please Allah, if we wait ten minutes just to make sure that the time is right, aren't we being proactive and preventing ourselves from breaking the fast too early? I guess not. See this is why knowledge is so important, being ignorant of this principle, most of us probably do break our fasts a little past the correct time.

Shaykh Hussain made an interesting point about another topic that we don't have enough knowledge on sadly and so we fail to go through with it the way we are suppose to: Zakah. Zakah is 2.5% but because we get confused about what counts, what doesn't count, how much we have, we just donate a certain estimation plus a bit extra in case. So the example Shaykh Hussain gave was that imagine that someone owed Zakah. This person usually just gives 2500 which is a lot more than he has to but figuring out exactly 2.5% is a hassle for him. This is actually not a good way to go about it.

Lets say that the amount the person actually owed was 2100.47, he should sit down and calculate that amount to the best of his ability. Then after, after giving that under the name of Zakah, he should give a certain amount like 500 more just to make sure in case he forgot anything. That is the correct method of calculating and giving Zakah. Shaykh Hussain wisely said that, "Zakah is a means to count our blessing from Allah. If we just give any amount, we are losing that aspect of it."

Shaykh Hussain made an awesome point where he said that we as Muslims never give up. This life is non-stop Ibadah. You would think that after Ramadan, a month in which many who people who don't pray at all force themselves to pray at least a little bit - there would be a break. I mean if you pray Tarawih, 20 rakah, every night, try to go to the Masjid as much as possible for Salah, and many people also do ten days of Itakaf (staying at the Masjid, isolating yourself from the outside world) , by the end of Ramadan, you are dead tired.

But SubhanAllah, the day after Ramadan ends, Eid is a day when instead of worrying about five Salah, you have the Eid Salah, that is, six Salahs! Additionally, after Ramadan, the day after Ramadan ends, is the official beginning of the days of Hajj. SubhanAllah.

To this Shaykh Hussain related a conversation between him and Shaykh Zulfiqar, his own Shaykh and teacher. He said that once he went to Shaykh Zulfiqar and said that he wanted to retire. Shaykh Zulfiqar said Oh no, we Muslims retired and relax in our graves. SubhanAllah, I've heard that before in his lectures. Actually I'm going to link that lecture below because it was a great lecture about working hard that we can all benefit from. (2 parts 10 minute each on Youtube, nothing intense!). But seriously, while Shaykh Hussain was telling us this, he was smiling and laughing as if he was recalling the best times of his life. Can we say SubhanAllah? Our Ulema have so much Baraqa in their lives that for Shaykh Hussain, he smiles about his conversations with his teachers from the past. We smile and laugh at the most ridiculous things ever - things we shouldn't!

So with both of these somewhat related topics being written about, let us close with a dua. Ya Allah, make us among the people who correctly and thoroughly perform our Wudu and see it as an act of worship itself. Let us be among those individual who do not distinguish between Sunnah and Quran and see both as a means to become the beloved of Allah. Let us be among those who break their fast quickly and be those favored by Allah for following his commands as exact as possible. Let us attain knowledge so that we may extinguish our ignorance and follow Allah's command in its truest form. Let us be as exact as possible in our Zakah and truly get the most out of every aspect of our Deen. Let us emulate our Ulema when their everything is connected to Islam - where their jokes, their worries and their desires are all righteous - let mimic them.

Wa Akira Tawana Anilhumdulillahi Wa rabil Alameen

Muslim Kid

Fajr Reflections! - Day 6 (The Supremacy of Wahi)

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Raheem

You thought I forgot or was unfaithful to my promise of writing this everyday until August 27th (and InshAllah after that too!)? Shame on you for giving up on a brotha so easily. Sorry it has been a hectic day and it has been more than 20 hours since Shaykh Hussain talked at Fajr yesterday/today? I've slept less than 4 hours in the past 24 hours because of so much work. Stupid journalism articles but in the end, it will be worth it, inshaAllah.

So Shaykh Hussain was absent yesterday, remember "No Reflections! - Day 5" but guess what? He's back! The man is up and spitting genius as he always does, Alhumdulillah. I found today's short talk excellent. He used a very simple hadith to say some big statements that really define our Deen. InshAllah I can try to shed some light on what he said.

The Supremacy of Wahi

I think if Shaykh Hussain wrote this, its focus would be a little different. Personally, his talk today, the main point I gathered from it was what I am going to talk - but maybe that wasn't the main point per se.

That being said, the hadith, I have so much work to do that I will not look it up online instead just write it myself.

The Prophet basically said that anything that goes beyond the throat during one's fast invalidates the fast. However, if something does enter the throat while the person is fasting but forget that they are fasting - the fast isn't broken. However, if something enters the throat accidentally but they are aware that they are fasting, their fast does break.

The first thing to understand is what exactly the hadith is saying and then another larger lesson from it. If you are fasting and someone enters the room with your favorite candy bar and you grab it and eat it. After you've consumed it, you realize you were fasting - your fast doesn't break. That was Shaykh Hussain's exact example; the next example gets even better. Next, imagine if you are going ghusl and you know you are fasting but accidentally some water enters your throat. Shaykh Hussain made a funny mistake here. First he said imagine you are making wudu then said no ghusl because you'd be dealing with a more extreme amount of water that it would be easy to consume just a little. However, in his example he said, "imagine while your doing this, some little kid comes and pushes you from the back and you gulp the water in your mouth as you were gargling." That's is funny - a kid can push you while your doing wudu, no biggie but while your doing ghusl! LOL.

This reminds me of a statement about our scholars and Ulema, that their mistakes, their jokes, their worries, etc. even involve righteous things. Shaykh Hussain's blunder was confusing wudu and ghusl during a talk, wow. Just wow, our blunder might be confusing a song artist with another artist.

So obviously this hadith establishes that anything entering beyond the throat of a fasting person will break his fast. It also establishes that even thought that rule is firmly established, that if a person does so in forgetfulness he doesn't break his fast. Finally, if he is aware that he is fasting and accidentally consumes something, his fast is still broken. Here is where he started spitting out his usual genius.

This hadith highlights a very important aspect of the Dean. There are levels of knowledge. The first is the knowledge we can gain from our sense. So Shaykh Hussain touched the microphone and said I touch it and through my senses I can tell you it is metal. That is the simplest form of knowledge, next is aklq or intellect. So you gather data through your senses then using your intellect you can reason with yourself. This is now a days called science, that is, using your senses and reasoning abilities.

For most people, this is the pinnacle of their knowledge. However, subhanAllah, Allah has blessed Insan with Wahi, revelation, too. That is the highest form of knowledge for a Muslim, the knowledge, the guidance, the wisdom, the hikmah, that was given to man directly from Allah through the Prophet.

If someone asked us why we fast, we would start listing the health benefits and the purpose and all the reasons behind it. Notice the key word, reason. We don't fast because our reason allows us to understand its benefits because if that were true, couldn't we fast any month of the year? We fast simply because we are servants of Allah(SWT) and our master has commanded us to fast. We don't question our master. SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah.

Everything doesn't have to make sense. Ever heard of the hadith of doing wudu when you are wearing socks, you put water on the top of your foot. Logically, this doesn't make sense, such that washing the bottom of your feet (barefooted) which does make sense. The wisdom of this lies with Allah and our duty is just to act upon what has been revealed to us.

Think about it. Now a days, we as Muslims shy away from certain topics because we think they are Audubillah, 'weird' or 'backward'. For example, as Muslims, we tend to not discuss homosexuality because if you can't really tell someone that Islam condemns it. That Islam isn't 'accepting' of such a sin. Right? We are all afraid. Essentially, anything that we can't reason with, we put it aside. Recently with the whole Ground Zero mosque (My friend suggested that is what he might be addressing very generally), Muslims are degrading Islam to however people in the America might want to view it. Here is a perfect example of this:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2010/08/19/patriotic_muslim_american_on_the_mosque_mess

Islam isn't a class that you take on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It is a bunch of servants doing as their master says because they seek the pleasure of their master. Again, a lot of things in the Deen are explainable and understandable through science and we accept those but we also accept those things that science doesn't seem to fully grasp yet. I really like this line by Shaykh Hussain:

I mean if the creator of this universe gave us this Quran then it makes sense that the Quran is consistent with how the universe works.

So inshaAllah, let us be among the more wise Muslims who are able to accept Wahi as the highest form of knowledge. Let us be faithful to the words of the Holy Quran and accept and share what it says, how it says it and exactly how it says it. Additionally, as obviously pointed out by the hadith, let us not ever break our fasts accidentally such that it gets negated or forgetfully eat and have to make up our fast. Let us stay away from academics in our Dean as much as possible. Finally, being the month it is, let us take full benefit of this month. Specifically, let these ten days not finishing without each and everyone of us having gained forgiveness for our past sins. Ameen.

Wa Akira Tawana Anilhumdulillahi Wa rabil Alameen

Muslim Kid

No Reflections! - Day 5 (Achieving Forgiveness)

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Raheem

Why hello there friends. Its so interesting to know that people come here even though the title said "No Reflection". Anyway, Shaykh Hussain was absent today - I'm sure he had some amazing reason. I was bummed but then I mean give the man a break. Imagine the sacrifice he and his family must make to serve the community. Imagine how much time he could spending with his wife and kids that he spends at the Masjid for people like us.

Nevertheless! Here's some food for thought that Maulana Mobeen offered today at the midnight talk for youths.

Achieving Forgiveness

"A real man never backs down. You know when you play Xbox 360 or PS3 and you have these achievements. Usually they are easy but every once in a while you come across one that is hard to achieve so what do you do? You step it up a notch! Sometimes it is super hard and so we spend all night and maybe even play after Fajr. We lay down and play because we are so tired, we just won't stop until we complete it. We forget when it is day and when it is night, we can only see that we need to achieve this goal. My dear brothers, we should realize that this whole life is trying to get this one achievement, to enter Jannah.

When I was younger, I got a job at a call center. Everyday I would receive 200 calls from people who hated me (why else do you call customer service?) and by the time I got home, I hated myself. I hated the job but I decided I would not back down from it. I did the job for six months. Finally, I was offered the post of assistant supervisor. I said no keep your job and I quit. The purpose was to achieve that sense of worth and knowing that if I put my mind to it, I can do anything. That is one of the unique characteristics of Insan, he has will power. He can do whatever he wants if he allows himself.

That being said, we can do whatever we want. We can enter Jannah, all we need to do is be determined and remind ourselves this is what we truly want. Brothers, the first ten days of Ramadan have passed, subhanAllah, where have these days gone by? The days of Mercy are gone and day of Forgiveness have just begun. Let us make it our goal, that we will forget when it is day and when it is night, all we need to do is get that achievement, that is, get that forgiveness. Let us take advantage of these next ten days and complete this achievement so that on the Day of Judgment, we will be among those who are given their book of deeds on their right hand. Ameen."

Haha, his video game example was a bit extreme I think but then again I never played video games so I wouldn't know the isqh of playing video games, lol. Speaking of Isqh, yesterday Qari Mannan used a line that I thought was alhumdulillah very beautiful. "Once you've tasted the isqh of reading Quran, there is nothing more sweet. All we want is to be left alone. Us and the Quran, nothing else." Isqh, for those who might not know, can be roughly translated as craziness, love or extreme devotion.

MashaAllah, the midnight session was pretty cool. First Maulana Mobeen talked for about forty-five minutes, then there was pizza. Next, four different Hufaz (plural of Hafiz) led 2 rakah Nafls for Qiyam-al-Layl (Literally standing at night). Alhumdulillah hearing their voices was amazing since all the lights except were closed except one dimly light green lantern. Next, Abdul Hadee, who has the most beautiful soft spoken voice ever, made an awesome dua. In that group of 30-50 male youth, no one could have been left with dry eyes. After that for an hour it was quiet Ibadah time then Sahoor and Fajr.

It should have been called a hufaz fest. Let me seriously try to name all the hufaz that I personally knew there. Tariq. Owais. Abdur Raheem, Nasir, Muztaza, Abdullah, Abdul Hadee, Hamza Khan and a few who are currently doing Hifz: Abdur Rahman and his 3-4 buddies! that doesn't include the 20 or so people who I didn't know at all. Alhumdulillah, what better company can you find than a group of people with the Quran firmly in their heart with some pursing Alim courses too.

Finally, because Shaykh Hussain wasn't here, Hafiz Sohail (Abdul Hadee) read a few hadiths. The second was particularly interesting. It went something like: The person who fasts, Allah furthers him a 70 years-worth journey away from the hellfire. So when you fast, Allah removes you from the hellfire by such a distance that it would take you 70 years to travel there again.

With that being said, let us be among the people who are able to achieve forgiveness in the next ten days. Let us fall in love with the Quran and may our fasts be accepted so that we are furthered away from the Hellfire. Ameen.

Wa Akira Tawana Anilhumdulillahi Wa rabil Alameen

Muslim Kid

Fajr Reflections! - Day 4 (Fasting for Paradise)

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Raheem

Everyone who I tag and others who I haven't been tagging, thank you. I did this for myself because I like to write and wanted to preserve what I was learning throughout the month for later. Alhumdulillah, people are really benefiting from this and its amazing. As Shaykh Hussain would say, we don't have faith in our deficient deeds but we have hope in the good deeds of others that we bring them to. I hope you really enjoy these as much I enjoy writing it. Better than reading this, come to ICC yourself! InshaAllah!

Everyone was super tired at Fajr today and by chance his talk was very short today. Before I even begin on that, I want to talk about Noor Masjid a bit. While I usually go to ICC for Tarawih, I asked my friend to go to Noor Masjid to hear Qari Mannan's voice. Qari Mannan has an amazing voice so its easy to stand for almost three hours to listen to 3 Juz a night. Thus, they finish every ten days, today being the first of three katams (finishings). He gave a short speech in urdu then a dua. The speech had some great points that are worth sharing.

He started off by reminding us of the blessing of what had just happened. We just finished the Quran, Allah's greatest gift to Insan. He said something following this which is also another statement we take for granted. "He gave us this book and he allowed it to enter into our hearts." When he said that, I began thinking, imagine if the Quran was impossible to memorize. It would be a different religion, subhanAllah.

Next he said some very eloquent lines in Urdu and the translator guy did a horrible job, no offense to him. His statements were regarding the effect of the Quran being revealed on different things:

"The Quran was revealed in this month and so Allah made this month the Sardar, the king, the best, the most noble of the months. The Quran was revealed on the Night of power and so Allah made that night the most noblest and greatest of nights. The Quran was revealed through Muhammad(S) and so he is the king of righteous men. and the time when the Quran was revealed, that generation is the best of generations. SubhanAllah, look at the power of the Quran."

He said it very nicely in urdu. Anyway, I'm so tired that I won't bother to find the exact text of the hadith that Shaykh Hussain read toady but I should remember it pretty well. If I say anything wrong and you were there, correct me please.

Fasting for Paradise

Someone asked the Prophet a question possibly and the Prophet started talking about Raiyan, the door of Jannah for the fasting people. The door will call out to the people who fast and only those who fasted. Once everyone enters, it will close forever.

From this we learn a lot of things. One, Jannah has gates. These gates again, are literally excuses put forth by Allah's mercy to allow Insan to enter Jannah. Thus, of the gates of Jannah, one is Raiyan, the gate of fasting. This door is for people who fasted and only those people who fasted. Finally, once all the fasting people enter it, it will close.

To put all this in context, Shaykh Hussain spoke about the Day of Judgment. On that day everyone will run around in utter chaos because they will know that it is time for judgment and that they will be taken into account. Everyone will be running and screaming, not knowing or remembering anyone from this world. Before them will be Jannah and Jahanam (Heaven and Hell).

You know if you go on a trip with a huge group, most likely the tour group will have different group leaders within that giant group. Similarly, to organize this chaos on that day, these gates of Jannah are going to be the leaders and they will call to their selected people. This specific door will call to the people who fasted.

Now imagine, anyone who fasted, this door will call out to them and they will remember that yes we are the people who fasted and head towards the gate. SubhanAllah, next Shaykh Hussain started talking about what a bargain this is. We are being given a ticket into Jannah, for what? Think of it this way, we are being offered entry into Jannah through this specific gate - for doing nothing.

Yes, nothing. Fasting requires nothing. It is in a way a negative deed, a deed where you don't have to go out of your way to perform a deed. To fast, all you need to do is abstain from food, drink and relations. Essentially, one could sleep through most of his fast and it would be perfectly valid. How easy is it to fast, such that, so long as you intend to fast - once the clock ticks Fajr time, you are automatically fasting unless you go out of your way to break your fast. What a sweet deal!

So with that being said, let us not think of fasting as a burden but as a opportunity to find some relief on that day when all will chaotic. Let us be among the people who are called by and enter the gates of Raiyan because we were the people who fasted. Ameen.

I feel like I'm missing some stuff but that's alright. It was a good talk Alhumdulillah. I just wish it had been longer! :P

Notice, I'm going to give each talk a short title so I can remember which day was which discussion. Also, I started with Bismillah and ended with this short dua, exactly how Shaykh Hussain starts and ends. I'm sure there is Baraqa in it or he wouldn't start and end with these words.

Muslim Kid

"Wa Akira Tawana, Anilhumdulillahi Rabil Alameen."

Fajr Reflections! - Day 3

I'm so tired because I had to go to Columbia college for this meeting and so I had to wake up early. Already sleep deprived, I have to leave at 11 today for junior year orientation. I still have to finish the stupid CSP essay that is due Friday, err, today.

So I will be super concise, actually concise, not like yesterday. Today Shaykh Hussain worked some magic again where he actually used the same Hadith, for a fifth time! Each time he has commented on a different aspect of it. To be honest, when I first heard the Hadith for today, I thought to myself, "c'mon Shaykh Hussain, stop trying to pull things out the Hadith when you know its time to move on to a different Hadith". Alhudulillah, he proved me wrong. He talked about asking questions, that is, when you should and should not ask questions and what type of questions are permissible.

He recited the Hadith which is pasted below:

Abu Hurairah (Radhiallaho anha) reported:

The Messenger of Allah (Sallallaahu 'alaihi wasallam) said,

"He who spends a pair in the way of Allah will be called from the gates of Jannah:

`O slave of Allah! This gate is better for you' and one who is constant in Salat (prayer), will be called from the Gate of Salat;

and whoever is eager in fighting in the Cause of Allah, will be called from the Gate of Jihad;

and who is regular in observing Saum will be called from Ar-Raiyan Gate.

The one who is generous in charity will be called from the Gate of Charity.''

Abu Bakr (Radhiallaho anha) said:"O Messenger of Allah (Sallallaahu 'alaihi wasallam)! May my mother and father be sacrificed for you! Those who are called from these gates will stand in need of nothing. Will anybody be called from all of those gates?'' He replied, "Yes, and I hope that you will be one of them.''

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

After the Prophet(S) shared this tidbit about how merciful Allah is, that he finds five different excuses for man to enter into heaven, Abu Bakr asked a question. Abu Bakr was a man of few words and so him asking a question was already extraordinary. The way in which he asked the question shows his sincerity in asking this question.

As Shaykh Hussain said, it is more so like the Prophet(S) telling the people of Allah's great mercy and upon hearing this, Abu Bakr sincerely asks, while those who are called from anyone of these gates won't need anything, will anyone possibly be called from all five because Allah's mercy is so great that our poultry deeds are acceptable to him even though he has no use for worship that is lacking and deficient such as ours? The Prophet replied yes, such is the mercy of Allah. In fact, the question was so sincere that Allah put that dua, "I hope you are one of them." in the heart of the Prophet for Abu Bakr at the moment.

So now using this as a exposition, Shaykh Hussain talked about when to ask questions, and when not to ask; and what questions are appropriate and what questions are not. It was honestly very useful and I hope many people benefit from this specific post.

He began by talking about the Sahaba were very cautious of asking questions. They rarely ever asked questions and so whenever a Bedouin would come, they would be really happy because they knew they would ask the Prophet questions. This is highlighted in the Quran in the "Ya-a-loo-na-ka" ayahs which translates to, they ask you referring to the Sahaba. This occurs few times in the Quran showing that while the companions of the Prophet(S) asked few questions, these questions were so sincere that Allah preserved them and their answers in his Holy Book.

And We sent not before you, [O Muhammad], except men to whom We revealed [the message], so ask the people of the message if you do not know. --- Quran 21:7

In the Quran, the above ayah it tells the believers to ask the people of remembrance if they do not know. While Shaykh Hussain didn't mention this specifically today, in the past he has mentioned that this ayah refers to the idea that there will always be people of knowledge and remembrance around till the end of times or else Allah would tell believers to resort to them in times of need. (Horrible run on sentence but oh well my eyes are half closed.) Additionally, this ayah reveals that when one has a question regarding practicing the Deeen, ask our Ulema.

Now. Notice what I wrote above because it is a distinction that Shaykh Hussain clearly pointed out. You ask a question when it is necessary for your practicing of the Deen, not an academic question. When you ask trivial questions and do not rest until every 'if, then, so, maybe' question is answer - you make Islam harder upon yourself. The Quran also says not to ask questions because it can make Islam harder for you. It reminds me of the narration about Bani-Israel where they need to sacrifice a cow but they keep asking Musa(A) to find out which specific cow until eventually the only cow is owned by a group of orphans. They make the need to fulfill the requirement really hard for themselves.

The example Shaykh Hussain cited was someone asked a mufti, Can you talk about the using of the American Dollar? If under some principal using the American Dollar can be denied in a fatwa, what will someone who lives in America do? However, it was you who asked and made it difficult for yourself because once you find out that you can't use it for whatever reason, you would be in a conflict.

These academic questions are not sincere. They do not affect how we practice our Deen and live Islam. Living as a Muslim, that is, following the Quran and Sunnah is easy; it is these academic questions that make it hard. Again, as the Ayah says to ask the people of remembrance, our scholars - it also establishes a protection for the one who asks. If Allah(SWT) told us to ask a mufti for when we have a question on a legal matter, then we are protected by that command of Allah's. That is pretty easy to understand. However, Shaykh Hussain said something very interesting which I didn't ever think about.

While the questioner is under Allah's protection, so is the mufti granting the fatwa so long as he is sincere and true to what he thinks is right - not the most convenient and acceptable fatwa. How can the mufti be under Allah's protection too? What if he answers the question wrong and basically just mislead someone? Well, Shaykh Hussain provided another narration, that is, that the mufti who issues a correct fatwa gets two rewards and the one who issues a wrong fatwa sincerely gets one. So, even the mufti is under the protection when he answers a question.

So basically sum up everything in a short paragraph, ask questions out of sincerity and because you need to know the answer to be able to practice Islam - not because you have an academic interest such as debating an issue or proving your point. Islam isn't a class and its laws aren't meant to be food for thought. We as Muslims are commanded to ask questions if we don't know something that we need to know. We are commanded to ask the people of righteousness and remembrance. At the same time, our Ulema discourage asking questions for the sake of asking questions, so let us refrain from that. Ameen.

Sorry if this is really crappy, the talk was honestly very good.

Muslim Kid