Salat al-Duha

Salat al-Duha is a form of sadaqa (charity). The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said: “In the morning, every single joint of yours must pay a sadaqa. Every tasbih is a sadaqa, every tahmid is a sadaqa, every tahlil is a sadaqa, every takbir is a sadaqa, every commanding good is a sadaqa, and every forbidding evil is a sadaqa, and all this is accomplished through two rak’ats one can pray in Duha.” [Muslim in his Sahih from Abu Dharr.]

A Plan For Ramadhan

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem.
Assalamu Alaikum,

Ramadhan is approaching fast and i want use it to make some changes that (insha’Allah) i’ll be able to keep and be consistent with. To that end i came accross something from a really great book – at the end of this book, the author, gives the reader seven great recommendations and three injunctions. I hope that you’ll them it useful (insha’Allah).

Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas

A story about one of the Sahaba.

Taken from an excellent website:

http://www.masmn.org/documents/Biographies/Sahaba/index.htm

http://www.masmn.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=3&MMN_position=3:3

Supplication

I hope the following is of benefit to you iA. If there is anyone out
there who knows the Arabic translation and transliteration of the
following supplication, I would be very grateful if you would be able
to  send it to us so that i can post it here and benefit from it
myself iA. our email address is: nur313@googlemail.com

Taken from pg 121 of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s book – ‘The Invocation
Of God’ as published by the Islamic Texts Society (ISBN 0-946621-78-0).

A hadith related by Tirmidhi in the Sunan and by [Abu Hatim] ibn
Hibban in his collection.

‘The Messenger of God heard a man supplicating ‘O God, I suplicate
You bearing witness that You are indeed God, that there is no diety
but You, the One, the Self-sustaining; who does not beget nor was
begotten; who has no equal.’ Upon which, the Prophet said, ‘ By the
One in whose hand is my soul, he has supplicated God by His supreme
name. When God is called upon by it, He answers; When asked for
something through it, He gives.’

NPR Special:Between Faith & Country: Muslims in America

Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim

Assalaamu Alaikum

This morning on my drive to work, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the first broadcast of a special series entitled “Between Faith and Country: Muslims in America” on National Public Radion (NPR). NPR had based this story out of Chicago and had interviewed Ingrid Mattson, the newly elected president of ISNA. There are also excerpts from Hamza Yusuf’s lectures from ISNA. I am pasting the story and the link here. If you are able to, I strongly recommend listening to the broadcast in addition to reading the article. I also think people should reach out to NPR and the journalist for this story, Mr. Steve Inskeep, to express our appreciation for doing such a story.

If you would like to listen to this story live tomorrow (Tuesday, 12 September 2006), you can go to www.npr.org and find your local NPR station. I’m not sure how many days this series will last but I know it will definitely be airing tomorrow. I think the time will be around 8:40a.m. (EST) but they may maintain this time throughout all US time zones.

Shaitaan before and during Ramadan

Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim

With Ramadan being just weeks away, this is the time that shaitaan goes into full swing to throw us off our tracks. I thought it would be a good opportunity to compile some information on this as well as provide ways to protect one’s self from shaitaan.

Where will shaitaan be once Ramadan arrives? As related in the following hadith, the devils and all rebellious jinns will be chained in hellfire. The Prophet (SAWS) said, “When the first night of Ramadan comes, the devils and rebellious jinns are put in chains and the door of hell are closed, none of them remains open. The doors of heaven are open and none of them remains closed. And a caller calls, ‘O the seeker of goodness, come forward and o the seeker of evil, desist. And Allah has (many) who will be freed from Hell.’ This announcement is made every night. (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, Hadith no. 618)

Told by a Child

 

Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim

I asked my 12 year old nephew to write his favorite story in Islam. A child’s account is always so refreshing to hear J

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Allah said to the Angel of Death, “Have you ever been upset or feel sad about taking peoples life away?” He replied, “No Allah, but once I did feel sad when u commanded me to make a ship sink in which 100 and 1000’s of people were present. There was a mother and her new born baby on the ship too,” but the Angel of Death said “Allah, you commanded me to sink the mother and her baby too so I did it.” He said, “I am sad that he is dead.” Allah said, “No, he is not dead. Do u want to listen to what happened to him?” The angel replied, “Yes.”

Allah said that when the ship sank, the mother died but the baby was saved because when he was in the water Allah commanded the water to flow towards a beach and leave the baby there and the water did the same. Then on the beach Allah commanded a lioness to take care of him until he was grown up. When he grew up he had some incredible super natural powers: he could hear from a long distance, he could see from a long distance, and he could also smell from a long distance. Afterwards some people found him and started to know him as god because of his incredible powers. When that baby grew up he started to feel himself as god. Whatever he commanded the people did that for him. Allah got angry with him so he sent HAZRAT Ibrahim (pbuh) to tell him that he is not a god and that Allah made u survive that shipwreck and Allah is the 1 and only God and you should pray to Him. When HAZRAT Ibrahim (pbuh) did this, he refused and commanded people to light a red hot fire and throw HAZRAT Ibrahim (pbuh) in it. They threw him in it BUT as soon as he barely even touched the fire, the fire turned into flowers and all the people who were with that namrud (the man that thought that he was the god) saw the fire turning into flowers and they were amazed BUT namrud still didn’t accept Islam.

Before the Sand Slips Away

Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim

Assalaamu Alaikum. I came across this khutbah on Ustadh Muhammad AlShareef’s khutbah website (www.khutbah.com). With Ramadan approaching, I thought this was a good reminder of things to keep in mind during this blessed month. There are also some really cool tips for both individuals and families. I hope it is beneficial to all those who read it insha’Allah.

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“Ramadan is no small matter. It is one of the pillars of this deen (Islam) and without it one’s Islam would not be complete. In this month, RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam would intensify his worship of Allah ta’aala. In doing so, he laid the foundation for his ummah after him to emulate.”

The Hereafter

Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim

Assalaamu Alaikum.  The last time I heard this hadith was years ago and then I just came across it again today. I find it to be very grounding alhamdulillah. I hope to add more on this subject very soon insha’Allah Ta’ala.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The life of this world compared to the Hereafter is as if one of you were to put his finger in the ocean and take it out again then compare the water that remains on his finger to the water that remains in the ocean.” [Sahîh Muslim (2858)]