Why we study the Prophet's Chracter ( Peace and Blessings be upon him)

Some of us had the good fortune of spending the 27th night of Ramadan at Risalah Foundation this year, alhamdulillah wa shukrillah. It was a memorable night filled with much baraka.

One of the special parts of that night was where a few of us sat down with Shaykh Ramzy and had a wonderful Q & A ( generally about Ikhlaq) . In our discussions, the topic of knowing one's faults came up.

The discussion spiraled towards the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him). One of the reasons to study the Prophet's (Peace and blessings be upon him) character is to have something to measure our own character against. For one to measure dimensions on anything, one needs to know the units and one needs to have measuring tool. SO essentially the Prophet's (Peace and blessings be upon him) character is our measuring tool ( one which goes till infinity). And this is why we should strive to know about him and learn about him, so, we know, how much and where we lack.

For us its a difference in magnitudes. If, the Prophet's ( Peace and Blessings be upon him) character is measured in kilometres then our characters are measured in nanometres. May Allah SWT help us to learn, implement and improve!

Irin News: PAKISTAN: The darker side of glittering bangles

Sad to read about this:

LAHORE, 29 September 2008 (IRIN) - Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Muslim month of fasting, provides an annual boost for the glass bangles' industry, but behind the glittering bangles lies another story - one of child labour, poverty, deprivation and hardship.

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Rickshaw Diaries: Changing our Condition

Baraka Bajee from Rickshaw Diaries really summarizes the situation in Pakistan beautifully:

Of the people closest to where the bomb goes off they say there is nothing left but a pink mist to mark that a human once lived and breathed there. Further away and you begin to see shredded skin and disembodied limbs lodged in treetops. Then, burned corpses and dazed survivors.

Six years ago when I worked at a Boston-based human rights organization one of our areas of focus was the Occupied Territories - Palestine. The topic of suicide bombings and whether they were valid instruments of defense sometimes came up with family members and other Pakistanis. Many of them thought that even when used against civilians it was justified because of the miserable living conditions of the Palestinians and their lack of weapons against a well-equipped, occupying army.

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Islamabad Blast

Just learnt about the bomb blast in Islamabad. Its probably the most sad I have felt about something since the Pakistan earthquake in 2005. It really hurts when you see the places you associated with-while growing up-disintergrate, causing numerous casulties in the process.

The immediate problem is the blast, but, I guess what really makes one sad is that the root of the problem remains. In fact, the US attacks over the last few weeks have been adding fuel to the fire.

It really started going south after the Lal Masjid issue last summer when the authorities opted for a "forceful solution". To me, that really blew up the whole problem and we are where we stand today.

As things stand today, bombing the heck out of the tribal areas in West Pakistan is NOT solving anything. I dont think the US has learnt lessons in Iraq? As Owen Bennett Jones says in his recent report on Pakistan:

"There is, I think, universal agreement amongst Pakistanis that, if the US continues to rely so heavily on military firepower in Afghanistan, and increasingly in Pakistan too, then the Taleban will win."

And thats exactly the point. May Allah make it easy for everyone.

A Cup of Cofee

A nice article found on SunniPath:

You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again. A young woman went to her mother and talk her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled 3 pots with water. In the 1st, she placed carrots, in the 2nd she placed eggs and in the last she placed ground coffee beans.

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Good reads: Google, Muslims and practing what we preach

These articles are good articles I came across recently:

Is Google making us stupid?

About the pitfalls of being wired in current times.

Dont Worry we are going to do something?

Umm Zaid about the failure of Muslims to be honest with themselves

Pratice what you preach
A nice article about how to do what you say and vice versa

Arranged vs. Love marriage?

This article from CSM has forced me to blog about marriage again.

Whisper the words "arranged marriage," and images of women signed over as chattel are likely to rise in the minds of many Westerners. But, say culture watchers and sociologists, there's a rising interest in this age-old practice in the West, as shown by at least two books and three upcoming television series on the topic – as well as a growing number of matchmaking sites devoted solely to arranging unions.

I think it comes down to balance. In the west, people are counting on too much love before marriage, where as, in the ( traditional) east people are counting on too much love after marriage. there is a line somewhere in between.

You cant find everything you want in that one single person before marriage. The consumer society we live in makes us think that there is a person ( product?) out there who meets all our criterion. The problem with trying to fit someone within your great expectations is many-fold. One, is that this may be self delusional. The person who may seem perfect today may only do so because your search for idealism has given you temporary sun glasses from which you like to see someone. However when those sun glasses disappear and reality sets in, things may appear different then they were. Unfortunately, this product ( person?) cant be returned to customer service to get a new and approved product. there are many emotional strings once your in a emotional, intellectual, physical, spiritual and cultural relationship with a person. Whats more, if you leave this person today, whats the guarantee that you will find someone better? Customer Service does not have perfect products. Also, this "apparently perfect" person will react and change under different circumstances and scenarios. You cant test all of these before marriage. i.e. at some point the person will fail your ideal standards, what will you do then? You are looking for "this" and "that". Okay! But are you perfect yourself? The love in a love marriage should also include how much love one is likely to have for the spouse's family after marriage. No matter what, one has to deal with spouse's family. You cant expect your spouse to be ignoring his/her family.

On the other hand you have the arranged marriage (for this post, lets assume it was arranged through family). You may not even see the person before you get married. Even if you see the person you may only literally see the person (i.e. you may not talk). the problem with that in the urban environments of today is that it may be too risky. Gone are the days when you could judge a person by how their family was. TV, internet and other societal factors have numbed the influence of a family in raising their child up. A good family could have a child who is bad and vice versa. Another issue is that today's popular culture encourages one to think in black and white terms i.e. either a person is perfect or he/she is evil. So a person could go into a arranged marriage with an ideal picture of what the spouse should be, only to be extremely disappointed later on when he/she realizes that the person cannot meet the "Standard"( this point has parallels with love marriage..). Also there is a difference between getting someone's input and/or letting them decide (probably) the most important step of your life. One needs to have a say in one's own marriage!

So I guess that leaves us searching for a line somewhere in the middle where you don't know everything about a person yet you should know what matters to you--and one should know there is no "perfect ladoo man or ladoo woman" out there. You will have to adjust yourself and so will they--but you just want to find out the best you can about them in the minimum amount of time before marriage and reasonably predict what compromises you may have to be ready for..We of course want do it in a halal way as well and also minimize emotional connections. Also, one should make sure that the families are somewhat comfortable with another ( or maybe you need to push them to get comfortable?) You cant specify the number of meetings you need with the individual and the family. It really depends on how fast everyone can get comfortable with the idea. It may also depend on how fast the person can learn how to make rotee..! Allah hu alam...

Ramadan Mubarek ( and some links)

Ramadan Mubarek to everyone! Inshahallah we all have a fruitful Ramadan!

We were lucky to get a reminder from Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad through BBC's thought of the day. Here is the amazing end of the "thought". The full text can be read here:

Yesterday, I returned to my endless conflict with the weeds in my garden. I know that when tackling the mortal enemy that is ground elder, or convolvulus, I have two options. Either I slice it off at ground level, which is quick, and fun, but allows it to reappear all too soon. Or I reach for the roots, which takes time and effort.

Weak human beings, Muslim or not, know that long training is needed before we gain the patience to uproot our tendency to crave and yearn for what is unnecessary. Fasting, in Ramadan, is a rigorous discipline, an opportunity to gain in self-restraint. We are unlikely to abolish the weeds in our souls, but when properly trained by this annual endurance event, we can keep them under control, and hope that, with God's help, we can start to enjoy the experience of detachment.

Keeping with Abdul Hakim Murad, here is a old Ramadan speech with him. It is a "must listen" for sure. One thing which he said which really stuck in my head was that a fast is sabar during the day and shukr during the night...

Zaytuna has a nice section on Ramadan on their website. In one of the articles on their site Imam Zaid quotes a poem:

How many deceased people have you known who fasted?

Amongst your family, neighbors, and brothers.

Death has erased them, leaving you behind.

Get serious [about your religion], for the living are quite close to the dead!

You take delight in the 'Eid outfits being cut out now for the festival.

But soon they will be your burial shrouds.

How long will the person be happy with his worldly home?

Knowing that his ultimate home is the grave.[1]

Shaykh Abdul Sattar also has a nice Ramadan Audio section on his website. His speeches are motivating mashahallah.

SunniPath has a Imam Ghazali text translation on the Inner Dimensions of Fasting. It also has nice collection of answers on Fiqh of Fasting.

Shaykh ABdul Kareem Yahya also has a very inspring message for Ramadan

SHaykh Faraz Rabbani has uploaded last week's Wednesday halaqa as a course. It is a MUST Listen as well.

May Allah SWT bless our Ramadan!