Acacia

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim GOAL: to set up buffer zones that keep us well away from those clear borders and boundaries that Allah Ta'aala has set for us. “…tilka hudoodu Allahi fala taqrabooha…” [2:187] These are the borders of Allah Ta’aala, so don’t approach them. Allah Ta’aala has made very clear what is halal and what is haram – there is a very clear, distinct border between them; and, He tells us not to approach these borders. To avoid the possibility of crossing the border, we put up rings of defence or buffer zones around ourselves to safeguard us from the possibility. One way we do this is by avoiding places and things that bring us close to the border. Another way we do this is by increasing the amount of good deeds and ibaadah we do. Practical example for 1: If we avoid the places and things that bring us close to the border, we avoid the possibility of crossing the line. For example, we know that we need to lower our gaze and we can either choose to avoid going to the mall at 3:00 p.m. on a hot summer day when we know people will not be appropriately dressed, or we can go and face the very real possibility that we will fail to keep our gaze lowered. Practical example for 2: If we increase our ibaadah and good deeds, we will have a buffer to keep us within the limits. For example, if we normally pray sunnah and nafl prayers, then those days when we are short of time or in some other difficult situation, we can forgo the nafl and then sunnah but our fardh would remain intact, protected. If we don't have the habit of praying sunnah and nafl prayers, then when we are in such a situation, we might end up forgoing our fardh prayers. These barriers of defences not only help safeguard us but they also make it possible for us to progress and get closer to Allah Ta'aala. (Summary of Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar's talk on The Borders of Allah)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim Alhamdulillah, Allah Ta’aala has blessed us with the ability to critique but it is our responsibility to turn it inwards, towards ourselves, rather than towards others. If we can do that, then insha'Allah: we can start to realize the faults we know, with absolute certainty, exist within our hearts; we will realize that mere doubts about others can not compare to the absolute certainty we feel when we look to our own faults; we can begin to improve and get closer to Allah Ta’aala.; and, perhaps most importantly we will realize that nothing else matters - we are not any better than those we may have criticized - the reality is that Allah Ta'aala is the only One that matters, He is the only one who is Great and worthy of Praise. "If you have praise for anything, save it for Him; if you have criticism for anyone, reserve it for yourself." (Notes from Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar's talk on Recognizing our Place Before Allah)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim GOAL: to fulfill our necessities within the boundaries of shariah, while curtailing our desires. We strive to live within the boundaries Allah Ta'aala has created for us, and fulfill our necessities without overstepping those bounds and losing ourselves in endless desires. Alhamdulillah, our needs have an end and if we live within the parameters Allah Ta'aala has set for us, insha'Allah we can fulfill those needs in ways that are most pleasing to Him. But, if we step into the realm of desires, we must recognize and understand that while desire is a part of our being, there is no end to it; and, unless we crush our desires, we will be at a loss. A practical example: marriage and lowering the gaze, and keeping the dhikr of Allah Ta'aala every time we step outside our homes. Allah Ta'aala has created marriage for us to fulfill our necessities and has given us guidance on how to curtail our desires - by lowering our gaze. If we struggle with this, why not keep His words in our dhikr every time we step outside our homes: “Qul lilmu/mineena yaghuddoo min absarihum…” Tell the mumineen that they should lower their gaze (Summary of Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar's talk on Learning to Leave Our Desires)

The last one really made me smile :)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim Eid Mubarak to you too sister, and all Muslims around the world. Taqabbal Allahu minna wa minkum. ~~~ I wondered: what happens to the old Kiswah? Perhaps it has already been covered in the thread and I apologize if it has but here is the 'official' reply to the question: (Source: Ministry of Hajj - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)

Ameen!

Alhamdulillah, these are very helpful. The inspirational story was truly inspirational and brought me to tears, subhanAllah. Allahu Akbar! The description of the difficulties sisters encounter made me so sad, a different kind of tear was shed. Alhamdulillah for the blessings: “A group of Angels travel throughout the earth to convey greetings of my Ummah to me.” How blessed we are that these Angels are not confined to only those who are blessed to be in the immediate vicinity of our blessed Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam. Alhumdulillah. By saying one Durood as you read this, wherever you happen to be on the face of the earth, an Angel will immediately carry this to our Beloved Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam as he rests under the splendid Dome of Felicity. Alhumdulillah! And this is for everyday….EXCEPT Yaumul Juma’ah….when, wherever you are Al-Mustafa SallAllahu alaihi wasallam hears your greetings himself! SubhanAllah! sallallahu alaihi wa sallem.

JazakAllah khayran sis! Insha'Allah, I have a friend who is learning about schools of jurisprudence and I will share this post with her.

An inspiring quote shared by Shaykh Sulaiman Moola last year during a talk in the UK: Our past may be spotted, but our future is still spotless! SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah!

Beautiful reminder, masha'Allah. JazakAllah khayran sisters.

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim As noted in chapter 40 of the Khanqah Imdadia Ashrafia revised edition of Shaikh ul Arab wal Ajam Hazrat Maulana Shah Hakeem Muhammad Akhtar's book Beautiful Sunnah of Beloved Nabi (saw): Also, below you will find Aisha Bewley's translation of chapter 39 of an-Nawawi's Riyad as-Salihin on the rights of neighbours from which we can glean some beautiful sunnah practices regarding dealings with neighbours: 39. Chapter: The right of the neighbour and treating him well Allah Almighty says, 303. Ibn 'Umar and 'A'isha reported: "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Jibril continued to advise me to be good to my neighbour until I thought that he would have me make him my heir.'" [Agreed upon] 304. Abu Dharr reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "O Abu Dharr, if you cook a stew put a lot of water in it, keeping your neighbours in mind." [Muslim] In one variant, Abu Dharr said, "My friend, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, advised me, 'When you cook a stew, put a lot of water in it and then go and see the people of a neighbouring house and give them a reasonable amount of it." 305. Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "By Allah, he does not believe! By Allah, he does not believe! By Allah, he does not believe!" It was asked, "Who is that, Messenger of Allah?" He said, "Someone whose neighbour is not safe from his mischief!" [Agreed upon] In Muslim's variant, "No one will enter the Garden whose neighbour is not safe from his mischief." 306. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "O Muslim women! No one should look down on a gift from her neighbour, even if it is only a sheep's trotter." [Agreed upon] 307. Abu Hurayra reported the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "No neighbour should prevent his neighbour from inserting a piece of wood in his wall." Then Abu Hurayra said, "Why do I see that you are averse to this? By Allah, I will hurl it at you between your shoulders!" [Agreed upon] 308. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day should not harm his neighbour. Anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day should honour his guest. Anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak well or be silent." [Agreed upon] 309. Abu Shurayh al-Khuza'i reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day should be good to his neighbour. Anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day should honour his guest. Anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak well or be silent." [Muslim. Al-Bukhari has part of it.] 310. 'A'isha said, "I asked, 'Messenger of Allah, I have two neighbours. To which of them should I give?' He replied, 'To the one whose door is nearer to you.'" [al-Bukhari] 311. 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The best of companions in the sight of Allah Almighty is the one who acts best towards his companion. The best of neighbours in the sight of Allah Almighty is the one who acts best towards his neighbour." [at-Tirmidhi]

Waalaikumussalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu: alhamdulillah.

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim A reminder for myself first-and-foremost and us all insha'Allah. Protect the windows to your heart and utilize the tools Allah Ta'aala has blessed you with to maximum benefit. Protect your eyes - what you read and look at. Protect your ears - what you hear and subject your hearing to. Protect your tongue - what you say and how you say it. Protect your hands and feet, etc. - what you touch, do with your body, and what deeds you allow your hands and feet to carry forth. Allah Ta’aala has created us with needs and desires. He has given us tools and directions. Now, it is up to us to utilize these tools, control what we allow in through the windows to our heart, and utilize His directions to control our needs and curtail our desires. Allah Ta’aala tells us what we need to do in order to curtail our desires. For instance, He tells us to lower our gaze. If we obey His commands, insha’Allah we will taste the sweetness of imaan. What you allow in, will affect your thoughts and heart. And, in turn, what you put in your thoughts and heart will dominate what you allow in. So, the more you use the physical body for good, the more control your heart will have over your physical body; and the more you use your physical body for bad, the more such thoughts and desires will overtake your physical body - demanding and wanting more. Insha’Allah we all can strive to hold, look at, read, recite, learn about, talk about, understand, emulate and do amal on Kalamullah and His commands through Qur’an Kareem and through the perfect example of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallem) - His Blessing and Mercy on us all. Nothing is hidden - it is all very much accessible, simple, and straightforward Alhamdulillah.

When giving advice, insha'Allah let's not forget to take it as a reminder for ourselves first-and-foremost - especially for those things we know we, ourselves, are negligent of. "Maulana Ashraf 'Ali Thanavi used tosay that when he became aware of a certain bad habit in himself, he would expressly denounce this particilar tendancy in his sermons so that the barakah of the sermon should help him to get rid of it" (Ma'ariful Qur'an, volume 1, commentary related to Surah Al-Baqarah, ayah 44).

Waalaikumussalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu: JazakAllah khayran for the warm welcome :) Alhamdulillah, wa iyyaki. Insha'Allah, I will benefit from posts here and will try to contribute as much as I can.

Bismillahirrahimanirrahim Give for the pleasure of Allah Ta'aala - remember that nothing (material or otherwise) is truly ours to begin with, everything belongs to Allah Ta'aala. ✿ ✿ ✿ Turn to Allah Ta'aala for all of our needs - rather than asking creation, we ask Him. ✿ ✿ ✿ Take from the blessings Allah Ta'aala has gifed us with - when someone offers us something, so long as it is Islamically permissible, we take it, offer a du'aa "jazakAllah khayran" and give thanks to Allah Ta'aala - Alhamdulillah! ✿ ✿ ✿

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim Waalaikumussalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu: Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon. Ameen. May Allah Ta'aala accept the sacrifices of this family, forgive their sins, and accept them as shuhada, elevate them in jannah, and grant them the companionship of the nabiyyeen, siddiqeen, shuhadaa, and saliheen; and may He grant the father, family, fellow students, and friends sabr and support. Ameen. I first heard this news elsewhere and insha'Allah here are some remarkable things that were shared: ~~~ "... Aslm just thought I’d share this with my dear sisters from my nephew whose currently studying Alim in jamiah ... You know that boy from first year yeah, he had his first Anjuman Speech today, we do Bayaans on Fridays, so today was his groups turn to do Bayaan, and he prepared his topic and notes and everything. Guess what his topic was? Death They had all four four privileges man. 1. Travellers, who came to seek knowledge; Shaheed. 2. Students of Knowledge; Shaheed 3. Died in a fire; Shaheed 4. Died on a Friday; Shaheed Maulana Imran said that the boy prepared his speech, topic on death. Maulana Imran said forget speaking to us about death, Allah actually practically USED him in the topic of death to show us all and make us all take a lesson from it and make it go down deep into our hearts, instead of him just speaking about it He was about to speak on the topic, but he actually showed us. Subhanallah!! Maulana Imran started crying he said that he saw Bilal everyday, he used to walk into the class to teach and Bilal used to be there with a smiley face every day. And today he walks into class and there's that seat empty" Just shows...our lives are so short n temporary in this dunya, n we r well aware that the akhirah is the real n true abode, but we busy ourselves with petty little useless issues, n Allah knows better than ourselves how many other useless things we busy ourselves with. May Allah truly make this incident a real eye opener n make us all n our families n all the muslims all over the world true n sincere servants of His, forgive us n guide us on the right path, unite us all with respect towards 1 another, regardless of which country we live in or cum from, which culture or language we speak. Ameen Yaa Rabbal Aa'lameen ~~~ ...That lady mother of those 3 teenagers shehnaz aapa , I have met her twice and she was such an innocent , loving and Allah wali aunty. I really don't have words to write about her. This year she herself completed her aalimah course at jamia (Molana Adam db's madarsa). And in her bukhari sharif jalasa Molana Adam db praised her and told the whole gathering how this whole family was passionate about deen. They had bought place in Ireland to open madarsa there and they were about to move back next year.. But Allah has moved them from this temporary abode to a more peaceful place now. May Allah tala grant them higher ranks in jannah and give their dad Dr. Tauqeer sabr e jameel. And make this event an eye opener for me and all other muslimeen. And grant us ability to make each and every moment of our life pleasing to Him. ~~~ Ameen thumma ameen.