Abu Zahirah Abdullah Smith: Events in Houston 02/22 to 02/23

asSalaam ‘alaykum wa Rahamtullah,

We have an exciting week coming up for Houston, about which I am too excited about. We are having a speaker come down from Daytona Beach, Florida insha’Allah. His name is Abu Zahirah Abdullah Smith, a graduate form the Islamic University of Medina. He graduated fromt he College of Hadith with honors, ranking #15 in his class. He is also Hood‘s buddy while they went to school together. And the weekend is action packed, and I don’t have too much work either. Well to start off the first Event is on Thursday at 1.00 to 2.30 PM. It is a da’wah event for non-muslims (usually a lot of muslims end up coming which is also awesome) for Black History Month. The Flier:

MSA @ UH presents…

A LEGACY OF CONTRIBUTIONS
1:00 – 2:30PM at UH – Pacific Room UC
Free Food!

Then following this we have our monthly thursday night dinners where all the MSA peeps get together to just eat and have fun. The event itself is at Maghrib.

Then we move onto friday. We have the jumu’ah khutbah by Abdullah Smith and then followed by a talk by him: Tafseer of the last 3 verses of Surat alHashr a little after the jumu’ah khutbah. Followed by the Qur’an Competition.

Friday Night he will be speaking at a sister’s only halaqa at a Sister’s house.

Saturday is the class on hadith studies by Abdullah Smith again. He will be explaining a 34 line didactic poem written by Imam alBayquni (d. 1080 AH) on hadith terminologies. It is one of the msot popular traditional texts int he field of hadith studies and is taught all over the Muslim world. Insha’Allah I am working with one of the brothers to have a Live online class with this with not only audio feed but video feed as well. Insha’Allah I am really excited about this and I will post the information when itis available to me. Until then here is the flier for the explanation of Mandhumat alBayquniyya event:

You will recieve the poem in arabic and it’s translation for free for attending this event, insha’Allah.

Just for the record all this brought to you by the MSA @ the University of Houston. You can ask one of our elders, Amad or his wife Umm Reem or Irtiza Hasan, more about the legacy and history of our MSA.

A Meeting with Allaah…

Masha’Allah I thought this was a pretty moving video on the People of Paradise meeting with Allah. The text mentioned below is from Ibn al Qayyim’s Haadi al-Arwaah ilaa Bilaad il-Afraah. The text is slightly different than the video but majority of it is the same.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukBX2TvfyQE]

And if you ask about the Day of Increase (in reward) and the visit of the all-Mighty, all-Wise, and the sight of His Face – free from any resemblance or likeness to anything – as you see the Sun in the middle of the day and the full Moon on a cloudless night, then listen on the day that the caller will call: ‘O People of Paradise! Your Lord – Blessed and Exalted – requests you to visit Him, so come to visit Him!’ So they will say: ‘We hear and obey!’

Until, when they finally reach the wide valley where they will all meet – and none of them will turn down the request of the caller – the Lord – Blessed and Exalted – will order His Chair to be brought there. Then, pulpits of light will emerge, as well as pulpits of pearls, gemstone, gold, and silver. The lowest of them in rank will sit on sheets of musk, and will not see what those who are on the chairs above them are given. When they are comfortable where they are sitting and are secure in their places, and the caller calls: ‘O People of Paradise! You have an appointment with Allaah in which He wishes to reward you!’ So they will say: ‘And what is that reward? Has He not already made our faces bright, made our scales heavy, entered us into Paradise, and pushed us away from the Fire?’

And when they are like that, all of a sudden a light shines that encompasses all of Paradise. So, they raise their heads, and, behold: the Compeller – Exalted is He, and Holy are His Names – has come to them from above them and majestified them and said: ‘O People of Paradise! Peace be upon you!’ So, this greeting will not be responded to with anything better than: ‘O Allaah! You are Peace, and from You is Peace! Blessed are You, O possessor of Majesty and Honor!’ So the Lord – Blessed and Exalted – will laugh to them and say: ‘O People of Paradise! Where are those who used to obey Me without having ever seen Me? This is the Day of Increase!’

So, they will all give the same response: ‘We are pleased, so be pleased with us!’ So, He will say: ‘O People of Paradise! If I were not pleased with you, I would not have made you inhabitants of My Paradise! So, ask of Me!’ So, they will all give the same response: ‘Show us your Face so that we may look at it!’ So, the Lord – Mighty and Majestic – will remove his covering and will majestify them and will cover them with His Light, which, if Allaah – the Exalted – had not Willed not to burn them, would have burned them.

And there will not remain a single person in this gathering except that his Lord – the Exalted – will speak to him and say: ‘Do you remember the day that you did this and that?’ and He will remind him of some of his bad deeds in the Worldy life, so he will say: ‘O Lord! Will you not forgive me?’ So, He will say: ‘Of course! You have not reached this position of yours (in Paradise) except by my forgiveness.’

So, how sweet is this speech to the ears, and how cooled are the righteous eyes by the glance at His Noble Face in the Afterlife…

{Some faces that Day will be shining and radiant, l ooking at their Lord…} (al-Qiyaamah:22-3)

[from the amazing and beautiful book Haadi al-Arwaah ilaa Bilaad il-Afraah by Ibn al-Qayyim, pg. 193]