Masha’Allah this is an awesome workshop by Ahmed Sidky. The recording was done at UT Austin on Friday February 9th, 2007. The same workshop but a little bit more detailed and intensive one was done at Masjid alHamza – Mission Bend Masjid on Saturday, February 10th, 2007 from ‘Asr to Isha which was recorded by Muslim Audio, alhamdulillah! So look out for the professional and official recording of this product soon from Muslim Audio!
This is a decent quality recording of the workshop by a brother from the UT MSA. I have edited the tracks due to the enormous length and split them according to the stages that Ahmed Sidky talked about. The Hereafter which includes Death, the Grave, the Last Day, Hellfire and Paradise, are fundamental concepts that every Muslim should know about. The more one knows about these concepts the more he or she will find his/her eeman increasing. Other concepts from the Hereafter like the Signs of the Day of Judgment are not mentioned in this lecture. Ahmed Sidky also did this awesome talk at the ISNA Dallas Conference in the summer of 2006 about Paradise which literally had the entire crowd in tears. Insha’Allah once I get a hold of that I will try to upload it as well. Allah Knows Best. The Total Run time for the entire recording of this workshop is about 3 Hours and 4 Minutes! Enjoy!
Like I promised earlier in this post that I would have the Q&A up within a week insha’Allah. Well here it is! I split the Q&A into different tracks so people can choose which answers they wish to listen to and I have also included a summary of the question asked right above each audio segment.
Question 1: Advice on going overseas to study Islam for a period of time. Recommended to go and study what?
Question 2: Traditionally students would stick with one teacher for long periods of time. Would you think that listening to different teachers give you a disadvantage in your Islamic Studies?
Question 3: How would you recommend one to prioritize one’s studies? Should we leave what we have started or finish it and then start?
Question 4: Advice on how to determine who to take knowledge from realizing there are many different groups out there.
Question 5: Manners and Etiquettes of the beginner Student of Knowledge
Question 6: Increase and Decrease in himma. Switching form CD Set to CD Set and Book to Book
Question 7: Higher Levels of Seeking Knowledge like Western Academia and Secular Institutions
Question 8: Other Options besides alMaghrib to Seek Islamic Knowledge with a High Calibre
Question 9: Advice on Acting Upon the Knowledge that you Seek Question 10: Advice Regarding Someone who asks Useless Questions that don’t Necessarily have Answers or Benefit
& Question 11: Advice on Someone who wants to Translate Classical Islamic Texts as their goal.
Question 12: Advice on Options for Single Sisters to study Islamic Sciences abroad.
Question 13: Advice on Encouraging others to take an Extra Step to Seek Knowledge
Question 14: Advice on Memorizing Verses for Quoting it to get Points Across
Question 15: Advice on Studying Arabic a Priority or Other than it
In spirit of the next alMaghrib seminar – Chain of Command: Intro to Hadith Sciences – I make yet another post in the field of the Sciences of Hadith. These are a 10 part lecture series by Shaykh Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips entitled “Uloom alHadeeth”. The series is about 9 1/2 Hours long, alhamulillah, and very intensive. I received these from an awesome brother masha’Allah from the alMaghrib forums. Listen, Enjoy, Gain Knowledge, and most importantly act upon what you learn, insha’Allah!
UPDATE: The download link is at the bottom and The Q&A is up as well – Click Here!!
asSalaam ‘alaykum wa Rahamtullah,
This is in regards to this post from earlier in the week. I got my hands on the audio alhamdulillah. I thought this was an awesome lecture, and really benefited from the few ahadithShaykh Yasir Qadhi quoted that I had never heard before. The other stuff he talked about was discussed many times before and I have heard it multiple times alhamdulillah. An example of this is at the lecture at MIST National in the Summer of ’06 in Houston, TX entitled – Advice from an Older Brother.
One thing I noticed about this talk was that he heavily emphasized learning two fields in Islam that every Muslim should ahve a basic fundamental understanding of, namely, ‘Aqeedah (He said theology, I’m not too comfortable using the word yet) and Fiqh. And he recommended some books and audio lectures that everyone should read or listen to. They are:
The available audio itself – Pros – I edited all the technical issues that we had and most of the disturbances. Also took out long pauses and breaks or questions about missed information from the call. Cons – No Q&A (read further) and no download for right now. I will post the Q&A later in the week insha’Allah, Make du’aa to Allah. There were about 14 amazing and really juicy (some of them) questions. I have it ready just need time to perfect it a bit more insha’Allah, and possibly post it here. And the download I am holding off on, it will take me a while to get all the files together into a high quality mp3 and also need to get approval from CZ MSA (The best MSA Zone in N. America), isnha’Allah. So just sit tight, and until then just listen to the audio insha’Allah!
Track 1: Intro by MSa Central Zone Rep Aamer Ahmed
3:13 Minutes
JazakAllahu khayran to brother GreenKufi from alMaghrib forums for the recording and sharing this with us. The following is a lecture entitled “The Last Nights with our Beloved Prophet (SAW)” given by Ustadh Muhammad alShareef (Director and Founder of the alMaghrib Institute) at the Ottawa Main Masjid on Friday, April 6th after Maghrib salah. The lecture itself is pretty good, and the recording is pretty good as well alhamdulillah. Enjoy!
ولقد أتـانا مـن مقالِ نبيِنا … قولٌ صحيحٌ صادقٌ لا يَكذبُ
لا يستوي غبـارُ أهلِ الله في … أنفِ أمرئٍ ودخانُ نارٍ تَلهبُ
هذا كتابُ الله ينـطقُ بيننا … ليسَ الشهيدُ بميـتٍ لا يكذبُ
This is an amazing poem written by the Imam, Zaahid, and Mujahid ‘Abdullah ibn alMubarak (d. 181 AH) to another great Imam and Zaahid Fudayl ibn ‘Iyaad (d. 187 AH). Both from amongst the Imams of the salaf.
The audio above starts off by quoting the narration of this poem/letter found in the Tafseer of alHafidh Ibn Katheer (d. 774 AH) which is quoted below:
Al-Hafiz ibn `Asakir mentioned in the biography of `Abdullah bin al-Mubarak, that Muhammad bin Ibrahim bin Abi Sakinah said,
“While in the area of Tarsus, `Abdullah bin al-Mubarak dictated this poem to me when I was greeting him goodbye. He sent the poem with me to al-FuDayl bin`Iyad in the year 170,
‘O ye who worships in the vicinity of the Two Holy Masjids!
If you but see us, you will realise that you are only jesting in worship.
He who brings wetness to his cheek with his tears should know that our necks are being wet by our blood.
He who tires his horses without purpose, now that our horses are getting tired in battle.
Scent of perfume is yours, while ours is the glimmer of spears and the stench of dust [in battle].
We were narrated about in the speech of our Prophet, an authentic statement that never lies.
That the dust that erupts by Allah’s horses and which fills the nostrils of a man shall never be combined with the smoke of a raging Fire.
This, the Book of Allah speaks among us that the martyr is not dead, and the truth in Allah’s book cannot be denied.’
“I met al-Fudayl ibn `Iyad in the Sacred Masjid and gave him the leter. When he read it, his eyes became tearful and he said, ‘Abu `Abdur-Rahman (`Abdullah bin al-Mubarak) has said the truth and offered sincere advice to me.’ He then asked me, ‘Do you write the Hadeeth?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Write this Hadeeth as reward for delivering the letter of Abu `Abdur-Rahman to me.’ He then dictated,
‘Mansur bin al-Mu`tamir narrated to us that Abu Saalih narrated from Abu Hurayrah that a man asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah! Teach me a good deed that will earn me the reward of the Mujahideen in Allah’s cause.’
The Prophet sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam said, ‘Are you able to pray continuously and fast without breaking the fast?’ The man said, ‘O Messenger of Allah! I cannot bear it.’
The Prophet sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam said,
‘By He in Whose Hand is my soul! Even if you were able to do it, you would not achieve the grade of the Mujahideen in Allah’s cause. Did you not know that the horse of the Mujaahid earns rewards for him as long as it lives?'”
[Ahmad]
The following is Brother Shibli Zaman’s write-up on this beautiful poem which I got from MENJ:
“Yaa `aabid al-haramayni, law abSartanaa; la`llimta annaka bi-l `ibaadati tal`abu; Man yakhdubu khaddahu bi dumu’ihi; Fa nuhuruna bi l-dima’i tatakhaddabu…”
This nasheed is mentioned in Imam ad-Dhahabi’s “Siyar al-A`laam al-Nubalaa'”:
“Narrated by al-KhaaTib ibn `Asaakir, on the authority of Muhammad bin Ibraaheem bin Abee Sakeenah who said: ‘Abdullaah ibn al-Mubaarak recited these couplets to us in Tarsus and recited them to FuDayl bin `EeyaaD.’ This was in the year 170 (Hijri).”
Tarsus is “Tarsoos” in Arabic. Back then it was Byzantine Anatolia, or Greece, which the Muslims called “ar-Room”. Today it is in modern day Turkey.
This is also found in Tafseer ibn Katheer at the end of the interpretation of Surah Aal `Imraan from ibn `Asaakir instead of Abdullaah bin Muhammad QaaDee.
The Nasheed is also found in the Tareekh Damashq (History of Damascus) of Ibn `Asaakir.
The translation is as follows:
“O you who worships in the Two Holiest of places, If you had seen us you would know that your worship is but mere play;
You whose cheeks are tinted with tears, our chests are tinted with our blood!
And if your horse is busy in frivolity, our horses are busy from the morning of the day;
The scent of your fragrance to you, and our fragrance to us!
The debris and dust of the hooves of the steed are superior;
Perchance we received this from the sayings of our Prophet;
A speech of rectitude and truth, that can never be perjurous;
There is no equality between the dust of the horse of Allah in the nostrils of a man, and the smoke of a kindling fire;
This is the Book of Allah enunciated between us;
Nay! The martyr is not dead, nor is he false.”
[This is an approximate translation and I have attempted to preserve the poetic nature when rendered into English]”
Note: Shaykh Ahmad Jibril starts off by saying AbdulMalik ibn alMubarak instead of Abdullah ibn alMubarak but he fixes it later on in the audio. This is taken from the Intro to the lectures on Legends of Islam: Noorud Deen Zinki
“Oh you who offer prayer in the sacred mosque!
Had you witnessed us in the battlefield
You would known that, compared to our jihaad,
Your worship is child’s play.
For every tear you have shed upon your cheek,
We have shed in its place blood upon our chests.
You are playing with your worship,
While worshipers offer your worship
Mujahideen offer their blood and person (life).”
Chapter 4: Repayment 1.Missing a day of fast in Ramadhan 2.When does one make up a missed fast 3.If missed fast are not made up until few dats before next Ramadhan 4.Missed fasts first or voluntary?
Chapter 5: Recommended, Disliked, and Impermissible Days of Fasting 1.Recommended Every Other Day Sawn Dawood 2.The three white days of every Islamic month 3.Six days of Shawwaal 4.Month of Muharram and the 10th 5.Ten days of Dhil Hijja and that of Arafat 6.Disliking of the month of Rajab 7.Disliking of the day of Friday 8.Disliking of the 30th of Shabaan 9.Impermissibility of fasting on the two Eids 10.Completing of a voluntary fast is not Wajib