asSalaam ‘alaykum wa Rahmatullah, I present to you an awesome program by a great guy, a good friend, and an awesome brother – Synkronyzer – in Houston, TX
The Perfect Balance: The Moderation of Ahli Sunnha wal Jama’ah
Taught by Shaykh AbdulRahman Chao Saturday April 14th Mission Bend Masjid alHamza Dhuhr (2PM) to Isha (9:15PM)
Br AbdulRahman ibn Esa Chao
AbdulRahman Chao is an Islamic Studies teacher and khateeb at Darussalam Masjid and Alhuda School in College Park, Maryland. In the Summer of 2006, he became one of the youngest people to graduate from the Islamic University of Medinah at age 21. He memorized the Quran at a young age and used to study at the IIASA in Virginia. Besides English, he is fluent in Arabic, Mandarin and speaks Urdu.
The Perfect Balance: The Moderation of Ahli Sunnah wal Jama’ah
In this seminar Shyakh AbdulRahman Chao will teach us how the poeple that stick to the Sunnah avoid falling into religious extremes when they follow the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). After all the only yard-stick we have that is infallible are the Quran and Sunnah. Thus this path is the path that is the most moderate, it guides us to not infringe upon the rights of our creator as well as the rights of others. It is the most balanced path, where it shows us through the example of the Prophet (sal Allahu ‘alayhi wa Sallam) to balance our hereafter with the this world and the deen with the dunya. We all supplicate multiple times a day to be upon the straight path, and little do we realize that this straight path is the most perfect path which is the most moderate path devoid of religious extremes. Int he seminar, the instructor will give an analysis of how the People of the SUnnah (Ahlus Sunnah) fall in the middle, avoiding extremes, of not only the sects within ISlam but also they fall in the middle path between all the other religions. I refer you to a quote regarding this by Ibn Taymiyya (RA) here!
Will you ride a bicycle for two and a half months through 13 countries to go to Hajj?? (Special thanks to Abu Eesa and SisterinIslam for finding this. )
URUS-MARTAN — Seeking the greatest spiritual experience in a Muslim’s life, a 63-year-old Chechen criss-crossed 13 countries on his rusting bicycle to join nearly three million Muslims from across the world in performing hajj.
“I was only afraid, and am afraid, of God — and that I might not reach my goal,”
Dzhanar-Aliyev Magomed-Ali told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Monday, January 29, after retuning home from the spiritual trip.
Magomed-Ali finished a 10-week trip on his old bike from Urus-Martan, a small village in Chechnya, to the holy city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia.
The distance between the capital Grozny and Makkah is nearly 5,000 kilometers but the aging Chechen clocked up nearly 12,000 kilometers in his circuitous route.
…..
He said the inspiration came from his mother who visited him in a dream.
…….
Incredible Journey
Determined to make the journey, Magomed-Ali took the precaution of training for his tough road, taking short cycle-rides around Chechnya’s war-ravaged landscape.
The elderly Chechen also equipped himself with 11 spare bicycle chains and six replacement inner tubes for his bicycle.
He recalled the unprecedented route he made through 13 states on his mud-splattered “iron horse” as he calls his old bicycle.
He left his village on November 8 heading to neighboring Azerbaijan, where he camped outside the Saudi embassy hoping for a visa.
“The consulate’s employees took me to be abnormal and couldn’t understand how I planned to get to their country by bicycle,” Mogomed-Ali told AFP, wearing his traditional sheepskin hat and woolen jumper.
After 18 days of relentless efforts with the consulate officials, he gave up and headed south across the border into Iran.
But later came the hardest leg of his journey when he reached war-ravaged Iraq, where he faced a dilemma with the US soldiers.
“Because I hadn’t got a visa, they broke my bicycle, smashed it against the ground and called me a Russian pig,”
Mogomed-Ali recalled.
“I told them I wasn’t Russian but a Muslim and they seized my passport and pointed to the crosses on the cover.”
He was then forced to turn around and head back to Iran and around Iraq through Armenia and Georgia, down through Turkey, Syria and Jordan.
Finally, after further border wrangles, the Chechen faithful reaches Saudi Arabia to seek his cherished destination, Makkah.
In the holy city, Mogomed-Ali was well-received and offered prayers for his family and homeland, before turning round and heading back home.
Despite the hardships he encountered, the old Chechen is now counting his blessings.
“I did the hajj in order to fulfill the will of my mother, who gave me life and taught me love for my homeland, which for me is priceless,”
Mogomed-Ali said, standing beside the bike adorned with the emblem of Chechen independence fighters.
The small mountainous republic of Chechnya has been ravaged by conflict since 1994, with just three years of relative peace after the first Russian invasion of the region ended in August 1996 and the second began in October 1999.
A good brother forwarded me this email with pics of people going to Hajj back in 1953. The photos were in an issue of National Geographic back in 1953. Click on the images to see the full size images, insha’Allah. I was talking to my dad after showing him these photos and he would tell me how different it was when he went back in the 1970s and then again in the 1980s, i think. And as we know Hajj has really changed now. Allahu ‘Alam.
The cover of the magazine.
These are people ready to go to hajj. This is probably the only thing that is the same now and has been since the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and Sahaaba (radi Allahu anha).
Passengers on a Hajj ship being unloaded.
No non-muslims beyond a certain point
Man writign a letter home that he has arrived safely.
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).”
There seems to be an issue with people being unable to find a working download destination for Kitaab atTaweed’s Sharh by Yasir Qadhi. I know it’s available on AudioIslam.com but everytime I go to that website it seems to be very slow and I think it’s mostly due to the high traffic they get and insufficient bandwidth. So to provide another source for downloading the audio I have uploaded these on FileFront alhamdulillah. One thing to note here is that this isn’t the same copy of Kitaab atTawheed that is available on AudioIslam. This copy is much better in quality and is a much bigger download. If you click on the link below it will tell you exactly how long and how big each file is. The total size of the series that I have is about 1.33 GB. I ripped this off the original CD set that was given to one of the students that took this class with Yasir Qadhi for doing well on the exams.
As a side note the way this series is taught is that a brother reads a section of each chapter and then Yasir explains it. He explains this methodology in the beginning of the lecture. If you want to know who the person that is reading the actual text is, you should ask Hood at Islamic Law Etc. A Sister is compiling the notes from this lecture series at her blog at InexplicableTimelessness.
Du’aa has a very deep and strong relationship with one’s aqeedah and tawheed, and thus it also has a directly profound relationship with the status of one’s eemaan (iman – faith). The very action of a person making du’ā shows his or her complete inability to do anything without Allaah () granting this to them and thus the person recognizes the perfection of Allaah ()’s Names and Attributes and His ability to Hear, Respond, and Grant or Bestow upon His servants His Infinite Mercy, Generosity, and Beneficence.
Another manner in which the relationship between du’aa and aqeedah is established is the relationship of one making the du’aa and his recognition of all the aspects of tawheed within this act. When one makes du’aa to Allaah () he is recognizing that Allah () exists and He alone is the True Lord, thus the supplicant is asking Allaah () alone, this is evident in the kaafir as well, but the Muslim’s du’aa is more likely to be answered than the kaafir’s as the kaafir only asks Allaah () alone when he is in a helpless situation. And upon this the supplicant also acknowledges that Allaah () alone is the one to be asked and the one to be worshiped, and the act itself necessitates that he recognizes that Allaah () Hears and Responds to his du’aa, thus affirming Allaah ()’s Perfect Names and Attributes, and He recognizes that Allah () is All Hearing and is the Most Gracious and Most Merciful to grant him his du’aa.
In Sūrah al Ghāfir V. 60, Allāh commands us to make du’ā to him and that those who dont do so due to their arrogance, Allāh threatens them with the Fire of Hell. Also the Prophet () in a hadīth narrated by Nu’mān ibn Basheer explicitly mentions, “Du’ā is worship” [Ahmad, the Four Sunans, Sahīh Al Jāmi’ #3407] and then the Prophet () recited the above verse form Sūrah al Ghāfir. Thus we see that du’ā is definitely a form of worship.
In another verse of Sūrah al Ghāfir V. 65, Allāh mentions that we must make du’ā to Him and making du’ā to Him is the dīn. No other act of worship has been paralleled with the entire dīn. Or connected to the entire concept of worship (ibādah).
Thus since we have established that du’ā is a form of worship just like any other act of worship like salāh (prayer) and siyām (fasting). And since its an established and agreed upon rule that the manner and ettiquette of performing any act of worship like salāh and siyām must be taken from the Qur’ān and the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet (), the same is the case with du’ā because it too is an act of worship like the others. Thus we restrain ourselves to the Qur’ān and Sunnah when it comes to the manner and ettiquette of du’ā.
May the Peace and Blessings of Allāh be upon the Prophet, his family and companions.
The following is summarized from Abu Ammar Yasir Qadhi’s book on du’ā entitled “Du’ā: The Weapon of the Believer”.
Before studying any topic whether large or small it is important to know what it means, only then will we realize the importance of the topic. So what exactly does the word du’ā mean?
Ibn Al Mandhūr al Afriqī (d. ?? AH)[1] in Lisān al Arab[14/258] also Hans-Wher[P.282] says that du’ā is the verbal noun (masdar) of the verb ‘da’ā’ which symbolizes ‘to call out , to summon’
The Qur’ān uses the word du’ā in different forms and meanings but mainly as a form of worship [Sūrah Yūnus V. 106] but also the seeking of aid, as a request, call, praise, speech, or as a question. One can refer to the book for the verses that are used as proof for these types of meaning for du’ā.
Then the book mentions how the scholars of Islām explained the Islāmic meaning of du’ā.
al Khattabī (d. 386 AH) said, “The meaning of du’ā is the servant’s asking his Lord for His Help, and asking his continued support. Its essence is that a person shows his neediness to Allāh, and frees himself from any power or ability to change (any matter by himself). This characteristic is the mark of servitude, and in it is the feeling of human submissiveness. Du’ā also carries the meaning of praising Allāh, and attributing to Him Generosity and Bounteousness.” [Sha’n ad Du’ā, p. 4]
Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751 AH) defined it as, “Asking what is of benefit to the person, and asking the removal of what is harming him, or (asking) the repelling of it (before it affects him)” [Badā’i al Fawā’id 3/2]
So it can be seen that any type of calling out to or requesting or invoking or summoning is considered du’ā along with all the meanings mentioned above when used in the proper context.
And with Allāh lies all success.
May the Peace and Blessings of Allāh be upont he Prophet, his family and companions.
[1] Anyone know the date of death, jazākAllāhu Khayran
I remember over three, almost four years ago, a brother, May Allāh have Mercy on him and Forgive him, gave a lecture at the masjid and he mentioned a hadīth that really caught my attention, and recently I decided to find the hadīth that he mentioned just to assure myself that it was authentic and thanks to IslamQA there was a question just dealing with this issue. The fatwa (link is at the bottom) starts off by mentioning a brief history of fabrication of hadīth to make people read the Qur’ān by fabricating virtues for them. And then Shaykh Salih al Munajjid (hafidhullāh) mentions some weak and fabricated hadīth for reading or reciting Sūratul Mulk or Sūrat As Sajdah between Maghrib and ‘Ishāas a vituous act of worship. Here is the excerpt on reading Sūratul Mulk in general and before going to sleep.
“And concerning the virtue of Sūrat al-Mulk, it is narrated that it may be recited when going to sleep or in general. Al-Tirmidhī (2891), Abū Dawūd (1400) and Ibn Mājah (3786) narrated from Abū Hurayrah (may Allāh be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: There is a sūrah in the Qur’ān, with thirty verses, which will intercede for its companion [the one who recites it] until he is forgiven: “Tabārak allādhī bī yadīhi’l-mulk (Blessed be He in Whose Hand is the dominion)” [Sūrah al-Mulk 67]. Al-Tirmidhī said: This is a hasan hadīth.
Ibn Hajar said in al-Talkhīs (1/234), “al-Bukhārī stated that there is a problem with it in al-Tarīkh al-Kabīr by noting that it is not known that ‘Abbās al-Jashamī (who is the one who narrated it from Abu Hurayrah) heard it from Abu Hurayrah.”
It was classed as hasan by al-Albānī in some places and as sahīh in others. See: Sahīh Sunan Ibn Mājah, Sahīh Sunan Abī Dawūd. Before him al-Mundhirī said: It was narrated by Abū Dawūd, by al-Tirmidhī, who classed it as hasan and this version was narrated by him, and by al-Nasā’ī, Ibn Mājah, Ibn Hibbān in his Sahīh, and by al-Hākim who said its isnād is sahīh.
Al-Tirmidhī (2892) narrated from Jābir (may Allāh be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) did not sleep until he had recited “Alif‑Lām‑Mīm. The revelation…” [Sūratul Sajdah 32] and “Has there not been over man a period of time…” [Sūratul Insān 76] Classed as sahīh by al-Albānī in Sahīh al-Tirmidhī.”
May Allāh’s Peace and Blessings be upon the Prophet, his family, and companions.
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
) granting this to them and thus the person recognizes the perfection of Allaah (
) in a had
IBN AL HYDERABADEE 