What Happened When My Son Disturbed Junaid Jamshed in His Prayer

From 2016:

The recent death of Junaid Jamshed has shocked and saddened to many inside and outside Pakistan. SeekersHub volunteer, Hammad Din recalls a chance meeting with Jamshed, and how it touched him in a very deep way.

Last year my son, then 2 years old, joined me for a congregational prayer at our local mosque in Markham, Canada. We arrived a little late and I noticed the back of a very familiar head in one the rows ahead of us. Not thinking much of it, we joined the prayer right away.

I was that parent

From the second cycle onward something very unusual happened. My normally quiet son started crying loudly and continued to do so for the remainder of the prayer. He was so loud that I was sure he had disturbed everyone around us.  Read the rest here

https://seekersguidance.org/junaid-jamshed-disturbed-prayer/

Healing hearts: Excerpt by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad about an anecdote by Sayyidina Jalaluddin Rumi‏

From the Healing Hearts Blog:

(The below anecdote is taken from the lecture entitled ‘Reliance on Allah’ which is currently available for purchase on the Apple iTunes Store and on www.meccacentric.com. I was hoping to upload the short excerpt where Shaykh AHM narrates the story, but for some reason it doesn’t allow me to upload it here, therefore I’ve transcribed (to the best of my ability) what Shaykh AHM said. It’s more or less word to word, but I refrained from using speech marks in case I’ve missed a few words out! Jazaka’llahu khayran to the very kind soul who emailed me the lecture details!)

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There is a story which Sayyidina Jalaluddin Rumi tells of an ant that’s creeping across the carpet in a mosque, and the ant complains to God saying: “what is this, these bumps,......READ ON

Being Pleased with One Self

"The source of every disobedience, heedlessness and desire is being pleased with the self, and the source of every obedience, awareness and self respect is your not being pleased with it. To keep the company of an ignoramus who is not pleased with himself is better for you than to keep the company of a scholar who is pleased himself, for what ignorance does and an ignoramus have who is pleased with himself and what knowledge does a scholar have who is pleased with himself?"

[Ibn Ata'ilah, Maxim 35 from Book of Wisdoms -al-Hikam al-‘Ata'iyya]

WiFi: Connecting to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

Last week Lote Tree had a wonderful program on Raising Pious Children and Loving the Messenger (SAW) during which Sahykh Zahid Ally stated that we should be connected to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). This connection should not only work when we are in Medina but it should work all over the world no matter where we are. He said lets get away from the wired connection and switch to Wi-Fi.

Subhnallah.

Shaykh Faraz: Trials and Blessings

"Trials are a blessings and blessings are a trial."

said Shaykh Faraz Rabbani in Seekers Guidance course Gardens of the Righteous: the Sunnah of the Sunnah

Quantifying Baraka

Shaykh Ramzy had his weekly halaqa at Risalah last weekend. In it he quoted Shaykh Yahya from Shaykh Yahya's talk at ISNA on Friday (which I was unable to attend) where Shaykh Yahya had said that:

"Doing a lot does not result in Baraka but it is Baraka which results in a lot."

Shaykh Ramzy commented that this could mean that you sleep less but your still not tired. It could mean that you eat less but still be full. It could mean that someone said a few words but their impact was a lot. Subhnallah. May Allah increase us in Baraka.

Pearl and Sea

"If you wish for a pearl

you must leave the desert

and wander by the sea;

and even if you never find

the gleaming pearl, at least

you wont have failed to reach the water"

- Sama'i

The Restart button and Tawba

We were reflecting on how restarting our computer can sometimes help the functioning of our computers and speed up things and help us start afresh. Sometimes, the closing of non functional programs is not good enough and one has to start with a clean slate.

Restarting our computers almost seems like its repentance (tawba).

Things are usually much better after we restart, alhamdulillah. We want to restart our computers and keep them in running condition before they deteriorate to a point where the restart button wont do the trick and they will be shut forever.

Pillars of Religon

Hafiz Abu'l-Hassan Tahir ibn Mufawwiz al-Muaffiri al-Andalusi wrote:

The pillars of the din for us are four expressions from the Best of Creation:

Beware of ambiguities

do without,

and leave what does no concern you

and act with intention

The Compedium of Knowledge and Wisdom Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali(translated by Abdassamad Clarke)

Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad: Bicycle

While covering Book 31 of Ihya in his Travelling Light DVD series, Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad said religion is like riding a bicycle i.e. we are in a constant state of motion.

This made us reflect as we have heard other scholars say that one has to be in a constant state of increase in knowledge and effort to attain divine closeness. If we stop then we start going backwards. Perhaps its like walking on an escalator which is moving in the opposite direction or a treadmill.

Ice, slipping and life.

My friend and myself were walking on an iced area in a parking lot when I almost slipped. My friend asked if I was okay? I said I was okay and it wasn't bad as I expected to slip and was thus able to adjust immediately. The worse fall is when we fall when we don't expect to slip!

I was wondering how that is true for our lives too. We usually fall the worst when we think everything is under our control and things are going well. We usually do better when we take careful deliberate and considerate steps. This also made me reflect on the Quranic ayah:

"Turn not thy cheek away from men in scorn, and walk not in the earth exultantly; God loves not any man proud and boastful. Be modest in thy walk, and lower thy voice; the most hideous of voices is the ass's.'" Surah Lokman

King and the Boy

Shaykh Talal covered this hadith at the monthly halaqa at Lote Tree. Shaykh Talal mentioned that even though the boy died in the end, it was he who won. Amazing. Read below:

Suhayb reported hat the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Among those before you there was a king who had a sorcerer. When he was old, he said to the king, 'I am old, so send me a lad to whom I can teach sorcery.' He sent him a lad for him to teach. When the boy was on the way, he came upon a monk. He sat down to listen to his words and liked what he heard. Whenever he went to the sorcerer, he would pass by the monk and sit with him. When he came to the sorcerer, the sorcerer would beat him. He complained about that to the monk who said, 'When you are afraid of the sorcerer, say, "My family kept me." And when you are afraid of your family, say, "The sorcerer kept me."'

"While all this was going on, he came upon a great beast which was barring the people's way and said, 'Today I will find out who is better, the sorcerer or the monk.' He took a stone and said, 'O Allah, if what the monk does is preferable to You to what the sorcerer does, then turn this beast aside so that the people can pass.' He threw it and killed the animal and the people went on. He went to the monk and told him and the monk said to him, 'O my boy, today you are better than I am. I see the point that your business has reached. You will be tested and, when you are tested, do not point me out.' The boy used to heal the blind and the lepers and treat people for all their ailments. A companion of the king who was blind heard this and brought him many gifts. He said, 'All that I have gathered for you here is yours if you heal me.' He said, 'I do not heal anyone. It is Allah Almighty who heals. If you believe in Allah Almighty, I will pray to Allah to heal you." So he believed in Allah Almighty and Allah Almighty healed him. He went to the king and sat with him as he used to do. The king said to him, 'Who has returned your sight to you?' He said, 'It was my Lord.' He said, 'You have a Lord other than me?!' He said, 'My Lord and your Lord, Allah.' So he seized him and did not stop torturing him until he pointed out the boy. The boy was brought and the king said to him, 'O boy, your sorcery has reached the point where you heal the blind and the lepers, and you do such-and-such and such-and-such.' He said, 'I do not heal anyone. It is Allah Almighty who heals.' He seized him and did not stop torturing him until he pointed out the monk. The monk was brought and told, 'Renounce your religion.' He refused. He called for a saw and placed the saw on the centre of his head and split it until the two halves fell apart. Then the companion of the king was brought and told, 'Renounce your religion!' He refused, and the the saw was placed on the centre of his head and split it until the two halves fell apart. Then the boy was brought and told, 'Renounce your religion,' and he refused. He handed him over to a group of his companions and said, 'Take him to such-and-such a mountain, and take him up the mountain. When you reach its summit, if he has not renounced his religion, throw him off.' They took him and brought him up the mountain and he said, 'O Allah, save me from them in whatever way You will.' The mountain shook and they fell. He walked to the king and the king said to him, 'What has happened to your companions?' He said, 'Allah Almighty saved me from them.' He handed him over to a group of his companions and said, 'Take him and put him in a ship and take him to the middle of the sea. If he does not recant, then throw him into it.' They took him and he said, 'O Allah, save me from them in whatever way You will.' The ship capsized and they were drowned. He walked back to the king and the king said to him, 'What has happened to your companions?' He said, 'Allah Almighty saved me from them.' He said to the king, 'You will not kill me until you do what I command you.' He said, 'What is that?' He said, 'You should gather the people together on one plain and crucify me on a palm trunk. Then take an arrow from your quiver and put the arrow in the centre of your bow and say, "In the name of Allah, the Lord of the boy," and then shoot it. If you do that, you will kill me.' So he gathered the people together on one plain and crucified him on a trunk and then took his arrow from his quiver and placed the arrow in the middle of the bow and then said, "In the name of Allah, the Lord of the boy," and then shot it and the arrow struck his temple. He put his hand on his temple and then died. The people said, "We believe in the Lord of the boy." The king was brought and told, "Do you not see that, by Allah, your fear has brought about the very thing you were afraid of! The people have believed." So he commanded that a trench be dug with openings onto it and had fires lit in it. He said, 'Throw into it, anyone who does not renounce his religion or tell him to jump.' They did that until a woman came with one of her children. She hesitated to jump into it and the child said to her, 'Mother, be steadfast! You have the truth.'" [Muslim]

SHaykh Zahir: Zuhd

Shaykh Zahir's defination of Zuhd:

"Zuhd is knowing what is important and what is not"

Subway Station and Beliefs

At the beginning of SunniPath's highly recommended Tahawi course, Shaykh Hamza used this analogy to make us understand the need to understand our beliefs:

"You woke up suddenly in a crowd of people at a subway station (These people were busy entertaining themselves in various activates).

You then notice that an underground train pulls up repeatedly (at random intervals), and station guards select people (seemingly) at random, tie them up, and shove them into the train. The train disappears into a dark tunnel and the people are never seen again.

This happens again and again.

The people's disappearance is strange enough but whats even stranger is that people who are busy entertaining themselves continue to distract themselves with their activities even though they know that they will also be shoved into the train one day.

Any sane human being would want to know:

What brought me here?

Where are all of these people are disappearing to?

What do I do to ensure my safety?"

Subhanllah.

Marriage Advice 1: Shaykh Faraz

As some of you know may know I had my nikah done a month ago. Alhamdulillah, as I tell people about this life changing step, I always ask for advice they have for marriage specially, if they are of age and married. To document this advice we will do a series of posts on this topic.

The first advice that comes to mind is advice from Shaykh Faraz who told me that people talk al kinds of theories, etc, but what it all comes down to at the end of the day is good character. if you have good character towards your spouse, you will have a good marriage inshahallah.

Rihla 2009 Quotes

Quotes from the Rihla 2009 Blog:

"It is astonishing how people can influence others, simply by keeping their company. Don’t take a companion unless their state elevates you, and that they take you closer to God. Don’t have friends that complain all the time. There’s nothing worse than to be around a complainer. Be around people that uplift you, that are positive, optimistic. Help people with their problems, but put yourself in environments that help you move forward. And don’t be of the people out there that don’t want to see others succeed.”

Taken from Shaykh Yahya Rhodus’ class onPurification of the Heart.

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“The dunya is the daughter of the akhira. If you marry it (the dunya), the akhira is forbidden to you.”

Taken from an Evening Session with Shaykh Yahya Rhodus

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“”You can’t reach everyone with your wealth nor your status, but you can reach everyone with your character.”

Taken from the Q & A session with Shaykh Yahya, Shaykh Faraz and Sidi Umar.

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“If you see people being like wolves, don’t be a lamb. And if you see people being like lambs, don’t be a wolf”

Taken from Shaykh Yahya Rhodus’ class onPurification of the Heart.

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“Be not content with stories of those who went before you. Go forth and create your own story.” – Rumi

Taken from Shaykh Yahya Rhodus’ class onPurification of the Heart.

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Imam Malik said, “I knew a people who had no faults, and they preoccupied themselves with faults of others; God gave them faults. And I knew another people and God gave them faults, and they preoccupied themselves with purifying themselves, ignoring the faults of others; God purified their faults.”

Taken from Shaykh Hamza Yusuf’s lecture on Israa Wal Mi’raaj.

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“Every single situation you are in is an opportunity to bring you closer to Allah.”

Shaykh Yahya Rhodus, during the Sister’s Q & A session.

......the great aim of education

"..the great aim of education is not knowledge but action" Herbert Spencer

Good and bad companions

It is related that Abu Musa reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The metaphor of a good companion and a bad companion is that of someone possessing musk and the bellows of the blacksmith. From someone possessing musk you either buy it or smell its scent while the bellows of the blacksmith either burn your body or your clothes or you smell a foul odour from them."

Sleep with the dogs....

I heard a scholar use the following phrase when explaining the importance of keeping good company:

"Those who sleep with dogs will rise with fleas"

Watching what one says

I was once talking to a learned Shaykh about watching what one says. He made an interesting analagy.

He told me the problem with some people ( who talk to much ) is similar to hadath ( a condition where one cant control one's excrement's).

Scary!

May ALlah help us control our tounges!