As-salaamu 'alaykum,

I was just checkin out Na'ima & Zany's blog, when suddenly I had an urge to blog something, myself. So here I am.
I was also reading Maryam's blog and she was saying how the sense of unity and sister/brotherhood in Makkah & Madeenah is amazing. Like, there's Muslims from all over the planet who assemble at one focal point on this shared earth (@ the Ka'bah innit); arabs, malaysians, indians, jamaicans, vietnemese, pakistanis, somalians, afghans, iranians, italians, canadians, anglo-saxons, japanese, bangladeshis, turks, bosnians, albanians, chechens -- i could go on for days, man.
We don't know each other, don't speak the language of one another etc, but we're all there for the same reason and stuff. Really kewl.

Just yesterday, sumo and I had eaten and were making our way home. We were just getting the finalities over with; "take care and stuff", "we all need to get together sometime", "its freezing", "dont wanna go back to college man" - the usual. Then, all of a sudden 2 Muslim women came up to us, "as salaamu 'alaykum, [insert Arabic for 'do you speak arabee?']".
Me and sumo are like "laa, qaleel..qaleel..na'am"..lol. Tryna remember 5 years' worth of [forgotten] Arabic in that 1 minute. They were asking about a particular bus stop. It just so happened that it was the same stop I was going to. So I told 'em to tag along with me. So when we got to our stop they realised it wasn't the sixteen, it was the sixty ("sikas zero!") they wanted. I had no idea - so we looked around then I asked someone...it was quite a distance away and I knew they'd get lost..so I went with them. On the way I found out - with my broken arabic and their broken english - that they were from Yemen and had just come here recently, and some other stuff. One of the sisters kept saying something, "antee tab'ashee ma'ee?" (or something like that). I was like "laa afham..i don't understand!". So the other lady told her to speak with me in fus-ha - i dont think they knew fus`ha for 'tab'ashee' or whatever. So anyways...we found the stop and she wanted to thank me "shukran, jazaakillaah khair! [some other stuff in Arabic]!"
Realising I had no idea what she was saying apart from 'shukran' and 'jazakillaah khair', she took me hand and shook it - I knew what she wanted to say, I could tell they were extremely greatful.

Anyways, the point IS...wat is my point? I know: the fact that when one cannot speak/understand the language of another, one can always understand the language of the body/face - handshakes, smiles etc.

Thats how it is in Makkah.
Thats where I'll be goin soon.
Thats what I've been praying for.
Thats whats helped me understand the power of du'aa.
And that, my fans, is the end of this entry.

Peace.

Us And Them

Out of the oceans of their virtues, my pen's ink only drops a few.
Only a fleeting glimpse of the Sahabah's greatness is in this poem to view.

Abbaad bin Bishr was getting shot with arrows,
yet he still didn't want to break his salat.
Who are we compared to him?
We complain when the room we pray in is a little hot.

Our Masaajid are empty,
even though we drive fancy Cadillacs.
The Sahabah went to the Masjid for every prayer,
even though many had no cloths on their backs.

The Kuffar put massive rocks on Bilal's chest in the burning dessert sun,
All he said was "Ahad, Ahad" and from Islam he did not run.

They strove in the path of Allah,
doing Jihad even in the fierce dessert heat.
Who are we compared to them?
We can hardly make it to the Masjid right down the street!

Sumayyah loved Allah and for that the kuffar speared her most private part.
She was the first shaheed of our ummah,
to the end she had true love of Allah in her heart.

Who are we next to Sumayyah?
We hide our faith in fear of being teased.
We get a little laugh from a kaffer,
and we turn away from Allah displeased.

Khabbab bin Alarat was burnt on hot coals until his blood put out the heat.
How ashamed should we be?
While listening to a khutbah,
we find it hard to just stay on our seats.

Most of them were starving,
but this didn't keep them away from any part of the deen.
We have tons of rice and lamb,
but nonetheless, in us, Islam can hardly be seen.

Mus'ab Ibn Umair's hands were both severed when he was the flag bearer,
yet with his bloody forearms, he still kept the flag up high.
Yet how is our condition?
We can barely even give dawwah because we feel too shy!

If even the breeze grew a little stronger,
they would go to the Masjid fearing that it may be the last day.
Do we even notice what's going on around us,
or are we too busy thinking of our weekly pay?

Abu Bakr gave all of his wealth for Allah in His path.
Though if we were asked to do this,
we would probably laugh.

Out of their fear of Allah,
they had tear stains on their cheeks.
Out of our love of the dunyah,
we stay away from the Masjid and go shopping in the boutiques.

After being captured in Jihad,
Ibn Hudhafah was glad that he might be boiled alive.
Yet what about us?
For Allah, many just frown when they are asked to strive.

This noble man cried in pleasure that he might be boiled alive for Allah!
Next to him we seem like hypocrites, or worse,
many of us don't even do our salah!

Even when Umar was khalifah,
his clothes still had many tears.
Yet when we have even the littlest job,
we end up with many clothes that we don't even wear.

They established the empire of Islam,
they spread the deen throughout all the lands.
Yet when it comes to us,
we have trouble obeying the simplest of Allah's commands.

Aisha was thirsty for knowledge,
she was one of our greatest scholars.
She was busy searching for wisdom,
yet we're busy searching for dollars

With it's last drops of ink,
this poem is coming to an end.
But before I let you go,
there is one thing that I do recommend:

We can sit around and talk,
we can reminisce about them with much ease.
But unless we actually try to be like the Sahabah,
our words just drift away with the breeze.



By
Masood

Girl: Mum, what's a 'weapon'?

Mother: Something you fight with..

Girl: You mean like dad?



LOL!

I've realised that some of the kewlest nasheeds and tilaawah cannot be found on the web. They can be found lying dusty and dark under piles of other cassettes and cd's.
The other day, I was cleaning some stuff out when I came across some old casettes. One was of some tilaawah by qari 'abdul-basit. He was reciting a surah during taraweeh and it was bee-oooootiful! One of those recitaitons when you can tell that its having a deep impact on the recitor..as well as the listeners.
Another one I found was of some nasheeds. I popped the cassette in and heard a melodious voice singing the praises of the Students in pushto.
I found some other really cool stuff, too.

Reminds me of what Muhammad Ali said to his daughters once; the most precious pearls and jewels are hidden, so they're protected. In the same way, you should cover up and wear hijaab, because you are a jewel and need to be protected and kept safe.
Something like that.
My findings are like jewels to me, and they were lying, dusty and hidden, under other stuff.

Yeah.

Am I even making sense? Probably not..

I'm famished. I better eat something 'fore I faint.

Wa-salaamun 'alaykum ajma'een.

The following is the summary of speech given by a scholar :

He said that the condition of the world is very bad today. All countries are facing terrible situations whether the country is rich or poor. Since all conditions are from Allah then is Allah oppressing us? No. Allah doesn't oppress anyone. Allah made oppression haraam on Himself and made it haraam on us. There is a thin white outer coating over the date seed which is so thin that it rips off when you open the date. Allah informed us that He will not do even that amount of oppression to us. Then where are all these problems coming from? They are from ourselves.

This world is a place of means. If we don't eat then we feel hungry and if we don't drink then we feel thirsty. If we hit someone with a iron rod, then he will feel pain. So, there is a system of cause and effect. So, the bad condition that we are facing today is from the effect of what the people are doing all over the world. Because our doings are bad, that's why the condition is bad.

Then the scholar talked about how Allah blesses those who are pious. If there is village where people fear Allah, then Allah will open the blessings of the heavens and earth over them. On the other hand, a village where people disobey Allah, Allah will cause the blessings of heavens and the earth to be closed over them. It may seem that the pious people don't have many things, but due to the barakah (blessings) from Allah, it's sufficient for them. The Shaikh gave an example of goats and dogs. The goats give birth to about 2 babies once a year. Every year millions of goats are slaughtered during Eid ul Adha. Then thousands during Hajj and thousands every day. Still, we don't hear an announcement saying that the goats are becoming extinct or that their population has decreases dramatically. On the other hand, dogs give birth to 2 or more babies every 4 months. So, the dogs give 4 times more birth than the goats. Also, the dogs are not slaughtered. But, we don't see the whole world full of dogs. That is because there is no barakah in dogs. The example of the pious people are that of the goats. Though there is little but it's enough for them. As for those who disobey Allah are like the example of the dog, they can have a lot but there is no barakah.

What you're listening to (*should* be listening to....?) right now is Surah Ar-Rahmaan - the 55th chapter in the Quran. Its recited by Qari Nour el-Deen. This is one of my favourite surahs...but then again, my favourites change every day because all the 114 surahs are beautiful and they're *all* the Words of Allaah [swt].

The actual name of this surah - Ar-Rahmaan - is one of the Names of Allaah which means 'The Most Merciful'.

Abu `Isa At-Tirmidhi recorded that Jabir said, "The Messenger of Allah [saw] went to his Companions and recited Surat Ar-Rahman from beginning to end for them, but they did not say anything. The Prophet said, 'I recited it to the Jinns, on the night of the Jinns and their response was better than yours! Whenever I recited Allah's statement: 'Then which of the blessings of your Lord will you both deny', they said, "None of Your favors do we deny, our Lord! All praise is due to you."'

And how can we? How can we deny the favours that Allaah [swt] has bestowed on us? He provided us with air to breath, water to quench our thirst, food to keep us going; He provided us with trees and rivers, the sun, moon and stars; He provided us with parents and teachers (and indeed the best of the teachers was the prophet Muhammad salallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). We can't deny something thats blatently obvious. If there wasn't any oxygen in the atmosphere, we wouldn't be breathing and living and if there wasnt any food or water, we'd surely not be alive for long. He is indeed ar-Rahmaan, the Most Merciful. Unfortunately there are weird people out there who are aware of the air they breath, the water they drink and the food they eat, yet they deny the Creator of these things! Its like a poet (named Masood) once said: "The existence of an author can be known just by seeing a book.
Yet people deny the Creator, while upon the creation their eyes always look."

The stupidity of these athiests never ceases to amaze me...its soo0o00o0o0oo obvious that there is a Greater Being who is ABOVE time and space..those particles of dust didn't just decide to get together and say "dude! lets create a universe!"..all those billions of years ago. There was a greater Force that provided the energy for the particles to go bang! and produce this universe we're here living in.

Aaaanyways, I better stop here and let y'all listen and ponder over the verses of this surah. (Click on the link and go to '55. Ar-Rahman' from the drop box).

A couple of students entering Al-Azhar University met up with a professor.
He asked the first student, "What is your name?". The student replied, "My name is Muhammad." The professor said, "Very well. Please recite Surah Muhammad". And the student did.
The next student said, "My name is Tariq." The professor said, "Ok, please recite Surah At-Tariq." And the student did. This went on with other students saying their names and reciting their namesake surahs -- Ibrahim, Yusuf, etc. Finally, the professor noticed this one student looking down at his shoes and mumbling something. The professor asked "What's wrong and what is your name?" The student looked at the professor and said, "I cannot lie. My name is Taha, but everyone calls me Kauthar!"

ROFL!!

(For those who dont gerrit: Surah Ta-Ha is a long surah with 135 ayahs, whereas Surat Al-Kauthar has only 3 ayahs! Plus, what makes me crack up is that Kauthar is a girl's name!)

hahahaha!