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.