Poem about Rasulullah

This is a beautiful poem written about the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) by Hasan ibn Thaabit:

و أَحْسَنُ مِنْكَ لَمْ تَرَ قَطُّ عَيْنِيْ

Better than you, my eyes have never seen,

وَ أَجْمَلُ مِنْكَ لَمْ تَلِدِ النِّساءُ

And more beautiful than you no woman has given birth to 

وُلِدْتَ مُبَرَّءً مِنْ كُلِّ عَيْبٍ

You were created free of every defect

كَأَنَّكَ قَدْ خُلِقْتَ كَما تَشاءُ

As if you were created like the way you wanted. 

The Night is Still Young

A view of Dallas from afar 

In the morning he was a Muslim, and by night he became a Kaafir

In the night he was a Mu'min, and by morning he became a Kaafir

The above is an excerpt from a hadith which the Prophet (s) is subtly telling us something about the night time. The first line describes somebody who had faith when he woke up in the morning, but lost his faith sometime during the day and by night time he became a disbeliever. The second line describes a person who had faith at night, but lost his faith sometime during the night and by the morning he became a disbeliever. The two lines are almost identical, except the person in the first line was described to be a Muslim, and the person in the second line was described to be a Mu'min. The degree of faith and worship of a Mu'min is higher than that of a Muslim, and Allah often uses this distinction in the Qur'an when addressing the Ummah.

The fitnah of the night is more than that of the morning. The fitnah of the day is enough to make a Muslim into a Kaafir, but the fitnah of the night is enough to make even a Mu'min into a Kaafir.

There is a prevalence of certain sins at night, and the darkness of the night conceals those sins and makes it easier to commit those sins. The believer needs to be on guard and cautious at night, even if you don't leave the house there is fitnah inside of the house on the computer or TV. Surround yourselves by your loved ones at night. 

Those who go out at night and sin lose something, and those who do ibaadah all night gain something. One may think that those who stay at home and sleep all night or just relax and chill neither gain, nor lose, but in reality they gain, because they kept their imaan. 

The Tradition of Seeking Knowledge- Humility

الإِسْنادُ مِن الدِّينِ

Al-Isnaadu min Ad-deen: The chain of narration is part of religion.

The succession of knowledge is the method in which the knowledge of our deen is passed on. The tradition of seeking knowledge is to humble yourself in front of a scholar and to get the correct knowledge from him, who learned it from a previous scholar, who learned it from a previous scholar. If it were not for the isnaad, then anyone could say whatever they wanted, and it would be difficult to verify what anybody is saying. This is done to preserve the deen.

There are two extremes. There was a time when knowledge was only for the elite, and the common people remained ignorant and were expected to blindly follow the scholars without question. We see this still happening in some third world countries such as India and Pakistan. In the other extreme, which is a huge problem in the Western world, there is no respect for the isnaad and the passing down of knowledge. We have self proclaimed scholars who read a few hadith or ayaat and then go around spewing them out, coming up with their own fatwas, and undermining the scholars, who have been sitting in front of these pages for years.  These people think they have a better understanding of the deen than the scholars who have humbled themselves in front of their teachers for years. The way you learn the knowledge will effect the way you carry it out.

Shaikh Abdul Nasir said: The mimbar (the pulpit where the speaker gives his khutba) is not yours. It does not belong to you. Think of it as an extension of the Prophet (salallahu 'alaihi wa sallam)'s mimbar, and you are borrowing it for a short amount of time. Humble yourself, and know that you will soon be passing it on to somebody else.

Don't Lose Hope

In Surah Zumar, Allah addresses His slaves in two different ayahs. In ayah 10, He says:

"Say: Oh My servants who believe! Fear your Lord. Good is the reward for those who do good deeds in this world. Spacious is Allah's earth! Those who patiently persevere will truly receive a reward without measure!"

In ayah 53 He says:

"Say: Oh My servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is oft-forgiving, Most Merciful."

Allah is addressing His slave in both of these ayaat, but He is addressing two different types of slaves. In this first example, He says "Oh My servants who believe!"

يَا عِبَادِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا

He is speaking to those who are believers, those who already have taqwa and have already surrendered themselves to Allah.



 In the second example, Allah says "Oh My servants who have transgressed their souls!"

يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ

Allah is speaking to His servant who have wronged themselves and are falling into sin, and have not yet fully submitted themselves to Him. 

Notice the difference in the word servant in these two ayaat. When talking to the believers, He uses عِبَادِ  and when He is speaking to the transgressors He uses عِبَادِيَ . Both words in Arabic still mean "my slaves", but they are in different statuses. The kasra on the last letter in عِبَادِ  still denotes the posessive "my", but it is lacking the يَ and is less possessive. The believers already know that they are the slaves of Allah. For the servants who sin, عِبَادِيَ shows that Allah is subtly saying, no matter how much you have sinned, you are still MY slave, so don't lose hope from the Mercy of Allah. Allah is assuring them that repentance is still possible.

There are two extremes when it comes to the Mercy of Allah. There are the defeatists who think they are too evil to earn any forgiveness from Allah and they think there is no point in repentance. And are those who use Allah's Mercy as a crutch and think they can do whatever they want and that Allah will forgive all their sins. Your sins cannot be bigger than Allah's Mercy. At the same time, you have to make sincere effort to stop sinning and do everything you can to remove yourself from what would make you to continue sinning.

How do we know as Muslims where we fall in earning His Mercy? How do we know that we're doing "ok"? The answer is that we don't know. We have to keep trying our best and never be comfortable with where we are at.

But how we spend our time is a good indication of where we are at with Allah.


May Allah make us among the Mu'mineen.

Don't Settle for the Bare Minimum

وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَى صَلَوَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ ﴿٩﴾

And those who strictly guard their prayers. These will be the heirs, who will inherit Paradise: they will dwell therein forever. (Chapter 23, verse 9-11)

وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَى صَلَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ ﴿٣٤﴾  

And those who guard their prayer. Such will be the honored ones in the Gardens. (Chapter 70, verse 34-35). 

At first glance, these two ayahs look the same. They are describing the characteristics of those who will enter paradise; specifically those who guard their salah. If you go solely from translation, these ayahs are basically saying the same thing.

Wrong. Take a closer look.

وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَى صَلَوَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ 

وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَى صَلَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ 

In the first ayah, Allah is talking about the characteristic of a Mu'min (from Surah Mu'minoon), as one who guards his salawaat. In the second ayah, Allah is talking about a characteristic of a Musalli, as one who guards his salaah.

A Mu'min is not the same thing as a Musalli, and their characteristics would not be the same either. A Mu'min is at a higher level than that of a Muslim. A Mu'min and a Muslim are both believers, but the  degree of faith of a Mu'min is much higher and in how much they strive to please Allah. A Musalli is one who prays (one who does Salah). All Muslims should be Musalleen. However there are varying levels, some have lower levels of faith and others have higher levels of faith.

So obviously, Allah would not describe a Mu'min to have the same characteristic as that of a Musalli. What is the difference between the two? Why does Allah say that the Mu'min guards his salawaat, and a Musalli guards his salah?

In arabic, if there are two versions of a word, the version that has more letters means more. So a Mu'min guards his salawaat: he does more than just the essential five prayers. A mu'min will pray the sunnah, nawaafil, tahajjud. He will be in the highest gardens of paradise.

A Musalli guards his salah. The word for prayer is shorter, and connotates that he does the essential acts of worship. A Musalli will make wudu properly, face the qiblah when he prays, and prays his prayers on time. Doing all these things does not make you a Mu'min. Doing all these things is just what makes you Musalli, and all that really means is that you barely escape from the burning fire. It is the bare minimum.

On the Day of Judgement, if there is a lack of any of our fard salah, then Allah will look at our sunnah salah and take those to fill in the gaps of what is missing from our fard. The sunnah prayers protect our fard prayers. If we only pray the fard salah, then when our imaan starts to slip, as iman always goes up and down, then the first thing to suffer will be the fard salah. But if we pray our sunnah salah regulary, then when we begin to slip and our iman is suffering, it is only the sunnah salah that begins to suffer. Our Sunnah salah is a sheild for our fard salaah.

Don't settle for the bare minimum.





Update: Salaah literally means "connection".

Allah's Mercy- Surah Fatiha Part 3

"Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem" (Surah Fatiha Verse 2)

Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem are two names of Allah that stem from mercy. It is usually translated as “The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful.” They both sound similar; what is the distinction between the two? Why are they used one after the other?

When two words are close to each other and similar in meaning, it is to highlight the differences between the two. When two similar words are found apart from each other they can mean the same thing, when they are found close to one another they mean different things.

Ar-Rahman linguistically means mercy that is extreme, temporary, and immediate. For example, thirst is also extreme, temporary (until you do something to remove it), and immediate. Anger is also temporary, extreme, and immediate.

When you say somebody is merciful, its is a quality that person tends to have. When you say that somebody is being merciful, it is immediate. If you are in trouble, you are only soothed if the person has the quality NOW. If you are waiting for a friend and he tends to be punctual, you are still not going to be soothed until you see his car pulling in to pick you up. He could still be late. You wan't to know for sure that he will be punctual today, and now.

Ar-Raheen has the quality of mercy that is dormant. It doesn't necessarily imply action taking place. It implies mercy that is constant and long lasting.

Allah is telling us He is Ar-Rahman to secure our immediate concerns. We know that Allah is merciful, but we want to know that He will shower His mercy on us at this very moment because we are in dire need of it. And He is also telling us that He is Ar-Raheem to secure our future concerns. We want to know that Allah will continue to shower His mercy on us. Allah has covered mercy in all possible ends.

Ibn Abbas said about this ayah that Ar-Rahman is for the creatures of this world (immediate mercy), and Ar-Raheem is for the aakhirah (a constant, long lasting mercy for the hereafter).

The reason Allah uses the name Ar-Rahman in Suratur Rahman is because He mentions specific instances and situations in which He is Ar-Rahman, because the blessings that He has given us in this life are immediate and temporary. It will remain there unless there something to remove it, such as His anger.

In the third verse, Allah says that He is Maaliki Yawmiddeen; Owner and King of the Day of Judgement. He adds this to balance out His Mercifulness and remind His slaves that even though He is the Most Merciful, we are still accountable on the Day of Judgement. Some Muslims have started to develop a way of thinking that even if we sin, it is okay and Allah will forgive us.

Allah's mercy is unfathomable. If you compare Allah's mercy to an ocean that is wild, raging, and unpredictable, that is Ar-Rahman. And you can compare his mercy to a calm and peaceful ocean, that is Ar-Raheem. We cannot fathom an ocean that has both qualities at once. That is Allah's mercy. We cannot comprehend it.

Accepting Allah as Rabb- Fatiha Part 2

We already talked about in detail of the meaning of Alhamdulillah from the first ayah of Surah Fatiha in a previous post. The ayah continues  رب العالمين, Rabbil 'Alameen, which is often translated as "Lord of the Worlds".

Some of the names of Allah point to a relationship- somebody at the other end- and some don't. For example, خالق (Khaaliq), which means Creator, points to a creation at the other end. To better understand our Creator, we look at the creation around us. There is a phrase in arabic which means, "We know things by their opposites."

The meaning of the word رب Rabb, roughly translated as Master, can be better understood when we study its opposite: عبد ('Abd). An 'abd has two meanings included: 'aabid is one who is engaged in worship; in other words a worshipper. An 'abeed is somebody who is enslaved.

Slavery is something you are entrenched in; it is a state of being. On the other hand, a worshipper is identified by an act; somebody may be a worshipper at 3:00 but may not be a worshipper by 4:00. A slave is going to do what the master wants whenever the master wants it- he has given up his free will. Sadly, it is possible for a muslim to be a devout worshipper, but still not see themselves as slaves of Allah and realize that they have to completely submit their free will to Him. Many of us have accepted Allah as the Master but we still have not given up our free will to Him and given ourselves away as slaves. 'Abd is someone who is a worshipper and a slave.

Characteristics of Slavery (as thought of generally, not as it related to slavery to Allah):

1. Coerced
2. Humiliating
3. Slave dreams of freedom
4. Hates the Master
5. Master is oppressive
6. Master is unfair
7. Master is not worthy of genuine praise and thanks

When you compare slavery to the characteristics of Slavery to Allah, you see that it is far superior to be the slave of Allah than anything else:

1. Slavery is coerced. When you become the slave of something in the dunya, you are forced to do it even though you do not want to. Slavery Allah has given us the choice to obey or disobey Him. We live this life as we wish and will face the consequences in the next life. When a slave sees all of the favors Allah has given Him, he wants to enslave himself to Allah to continue benefitting from His Mercy. 
2. In slavery to Allah, the believer finds honor. Allah will raise your rank on the Day of Judgement and with Jannah. In slavery to anyone else, one finds humiliation. For example, people find themselves becoming slaves of certain brand names. If one cannot even afford expensive brands, he MUST buy it because if not, he will not find the approval of others. He is humiliated by being the slave of consumerism. 
3. Slavery to Allah leads to real freedom- paradise. Be enslaving yourself to Allah, you free yourself from others' shackles Slavery to fashion, one's body, one's own entertainment, or consumer society is not really freedom at all. A slave in this world will dream of freedom- when he no longer has to be a slave. A true slave of Allah dreams of a day he will become a better slave. 
4. A master is oppressive. A master will immediately punish his slave for mistakes. Allah allows us to talk, walk, and roam the earth even though we are sinning constantly. Allah can wipe us away in a moment. However He continues to shower us with blessings.
5. A master is unfair. Not only does Allah us allow is to live and enjoy this life, but if we lie, you don't see a bolt of lighting come down from the sky and cut your tongue off. In fact, He tells us that if we ask for forgiveness, He will convert our bad deeds into good deeds.
6. A master is not worthy of genuine praise and thanks. But all of the above qualities is what makes Allah a Master worthy of all genuine praise and thanks. 

Definition of Rabb: الرب هو المالك و السيد و المربي والمنعم و القيم

Al-Maalik, As-Sayyid, Al-Murabbi, Al-Mun'im, Al-Qayyim

• مالك Maalik- He is the Owner (more to come in a following post)
• السيد As-Sayyid- He is in charge. He does what He wants, whenever he wants. One may own a car, but he or she may not be able to drive it they way they want, or tint it the way they want. If one owns a house, it doesn't mean they can add on to it or remove whatever they want; they have to get special permits and permission. You cannot even do your yard the way you want. But Allah's ownership is different, you cannot ask Him why He did something a certain way because who are we to ask?
• المربي Al-Murabbi- He ensures our growth. Our growth and development is in His hands. Unlike us, we may own our houses but we may not even take care of our backyards. 
• المنعم Al-Mun'im- He gives us gifts. Allah doesn't pay us for everything we do because we are His slaves, we have  to do it. Everything Allah gives us are gifts, and they are priceless. For what price are you willing to give up your eyes, arm, or legs? We do not deserve these gifts. Some of us may think we are entitled to everything we have, and if we do not get something that we want, or one of us is born with a birth defect, we must realize that it was never ours to begin with. Those who understand what Rabb means and accept Allah as the Rabb will not complain.
• القيوم Al-Qayyim- He takes care of our survival. We are where we are today because of Him.

If you want to sum up the message of the entire Qur'an, it is this: Accept Allah as the Master; We are His slaves.