I doubt there are any English-speaking Muslims that have pursued the path of learning Arabic(fus-ha) and have not heard of the “Madina Books” or it’s author Dr. V. Abdur Rahim. Yet, to my surprise, I had some difficulty trying to find any biographical information about the man behind the books. In my search I came across a few things which I might post later, but for now lets just stick with the biography. I tried finding his first name but haven’t found it yet, if anyone knows let me know, insha’Allah.
Dr. V. Abdur Rahim
V. Abdur Rahim was born in the small town of Vaniyambadi in the state of Tamil Nadu, India in 1933. After finishing his secondary school studies, he joined Presidency College, University of Madras where he majored in English Language and Literature. He graduated in 1957. In 1964, he joined al-Azhar University, Cairo, where he did his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Arabic Philology.
It is to be noted that Abdur Rahim learnt Arabic by himself. The school where he did his secondary school studies offered Arabic, but the lessons it offered consisted of only memorizing the conjugation tables. Abdur Rahim detested this method. He thought that it was the most unnatural way of learning a language. Only dead languages like Latin, Syriac, etc. are taught this way. Living languages teach sentences straightaway. He decided to design a curriculum to teach Arabic to non-native speakers of Arabic.
Aboo ‘Uthmaan as-Saaboonee, Shaikhul-Islaam, Ismaa’eel ibn ‘Abdur Rahmaan an-Neesaabooree, al-Waa‘idh (the admonisher), al-Mufassir (the exegete), al-Musannif (the author), one of the outstanding scholars. He narrated from Zaahir as-Sarkhasee. He died in the year 449H at the age of seventy-seven. He was the Shaikh of Khurasan of his time.
SubhanAllahthis is one awesome production by some of the youth in Houston. It was first found here at MuslimObserver‘s blog who also happens to be one of the actors, I wont say who though. Click here, watch the play and enjoy. BTW it was first played at the Texas Da’wah Conference ’06 this past December!
I mentioned earlier in this post about Shaykh Isam appearing on TV on The Connection. Well my ‘ghetto’ camera phone pics of the show on my TV pale in comparision to this great video recorded by Khalil and hosted on Google Video. Everyone should listen to this, I highly recommend it, it is only like 27 minutes. So Enjoy!
I got this email that Amad referred to here about Shaykh Isam Rajab coming on ‘The Connection‘ on PBS – KUHT. I happened to check my mail last night at around 8:15 PM and realized it was on now. So I ran to the TV told me brother to turn off his game and turn to Channel 8 and called for my entire family to watch Shaykh Isam on PBS. My mom came down real quick and she was hooked to the TV. It was a nice show alhamdulillah, couldn’t catch the entire show because I had to leave to go to Family Night at Mission Bend, but took pictures of Shaykh Isam on TV. The show itself was about the concept of “Good and Evil” in different religions and philosophy, as there was a professor of philosophy present there as well, along with a Jewish Rabbi and Christian Priest. Shaykh Isam is an awesome guy masha’Allah, and I love him for the sake of Allah. The pictures aren’t that clear because I was snapping pictures of the TV with the camera on my phone.
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).”
Masha’Allah a dear brother (AbdulHasib) sent me this audio recording entitled “Giving the Adhaan according to the Sunnah”. Shaykh Yahya alHajooree – hafidhuhullah – is giving the adhaan in this 2 minute piece. I haven’t been able to find a bio of Shaykh Yahya alHajooree on the web in English. If someone does then please comment with the link, jazakAllahu khayran. From what I have heard he is heading up Dar alHadeeth in Dammaaj, Yemen. The madrasah is like a camp style setting where they have a traditional method of instruction. They have classes for beginner students as there are many foreign students over there. Also they have accomodations for sisters to study as well as Shaykh Muqbil’s – rahimullah – daughter is an alimah and she intructs the female students form what I understand. If anyone knows better then please correct me. jazakAllahu khayran. waAllahu ‘Alam.
It’s a pretty good interview gives you a small glimpse into the life of the ‘ulemaa of our ummah. If you don’t know who Shaykh al ‘Uthaimeen (Rahimullaah) is then please read the Shaykh’s biography here.
When you read about the great ‘ulemaa of our time and their life and the way they conduct themselves with others and their manners. Wa’Allahi. it always increases your eemaan. It is a completely unique experience when you actually hear it from a person who has personally spend time with these personalities. I remember Shaykh Yasir Birjas, who spent a great deal of time and studied with Shaykh al ‘Uthaimeen, always has these heart warming and uplifting incidents that he experienced with Shaykh al ‘Uthaimeen. It really blows your mind away when you hear of these ‘ulemaa conducting halaqas with not hundreds but thousands of people in the audience.
I remember hearing Shaykh Waleed Basyouni talk about Shaykh bin Baz (Rahimullaah) over a year ago, and it completely changed the way I thought of Shaykh bin Baz (Rahimullaah). Just learning about their path to knowledge and their ibaada and their dedication to this deen makes us seem like a ‘joke’ compared to them. I had planned on writing a blog entry, a long time ago, about my experience with Shaykh Waleed Basyouni and Muhamamd Faqih (at IHOP over a very late night dinner) and the beautiful words they had to say about Shaykh bin Baz (Rahimullaah), but after reading this it has given me a renewed inspiration to write about this experience and the great esteem in which they see and now I see Shaykh bin Baz (Rahimullah). May Allah give me the ability to do this. But before I end this entry I just wanted to quote one statement that Shaykh Waleed gave us by one of the senior scholars which really blew me away. The Shaykh said that the big scholars would say about Shaykh bin Baz (Rahimullah) that he was someone who in respect to his worship and piety was from the generations of the salaf (pious predecessors) but Allah out of His Mercy and Generosity Willed that he be with a generation of the khalaf. And I really think that there is more to what words can describe these ‘ulemaa, really they are servants of Allah who are on a “whole ‘nother level”(of eeman). And we pray that we benefit from their works and efforts here and enjoy their company in the Hereafter.
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
IBN AL HYDERABADEE 