O' Muslims Be Muslims Part4 (end)

Sheikh Riyad-ul-Haq (Leicester)

Surah Nisa, Allah says: ‘O those who have believed in Allah and his messenger and his book’ O believer be believers, what is that meant to mean? How can believers who already believe, believe? How can you achieve or attain something you already have?

There are many Grades in Faith, there is the simple testimony of faith, the declaration of faith is very important, and however the actions have to follow.

In the Prophets s.a.w’s time some Bedouins accepted Islam, and they said we ‘believe’ Allah used them as examples and he sent down the ayah in Surah Hujarah : ‘Say to them you haven’t yet believed, you have ‘apparently’ submitted, but Iman has just entered your heart’

There are many articles of faith, Prayer, is an article of faith, but it still isn’t full submission it is apparent submission,Zakah, Saum,Hajj in the same way these are all articles of faith, but isn’t full submission. If we carry out these actions we have ‘apparently submitted’

Prayer is NOT a routine of postures, Recitation and utterance, the prayer is meant to be a form of humbleness, devotion and total engrossment in the remembrance of Allah
‘These Muslims are successful who show humility in their prayer’
‘Woe on to those who pray but are headless in their prayer’

Even the hypocrites were punctual in their salat, ‘But when they stand they are lazy and they do not remember Allah’

Imam Muslim narrates on the authority of Hazrat Umar r.a. ‘Once we were seated with Rasullah s.a.w, a man entered, Clean with a black beard, and pure white clothes, no sign of journey was present on him, no one knew him: he greeted Rasullah s.a.w with salaam, he sat down, in front of Rasullah s.a.w his knees touching the knees of Rasullah s.a.w, this was very bizarre, he asked Rasullah s.a.w, ‘Ya Rasullah what is Iman?’ Rasullah s.a.w said, ‘shahada, establish salat, zakah and Hajj’. Having said that the man said ‘you have spoken the truth’, the Sahaba r.a was surprised. He then asked ‘what is Ihasan?’ Rasullah s.a.w answered saying ‘Ihasan is that you worship Allah as if you see him, if not that, then knowing he sees you, the man again said, ‘you have spoken the truth’

Do you truly believe?

Again in surah Nisa, Allah says about a certain group of people: ‘Give glad tidings to the hypocrite, O prophet of Allah, indeed for them is a painful punishment’

Even hypocrites, would speak about faith, but their actions were void of any.
‘They are hovering, in the middle, lingering, and not inclined to any set group’
‘Indeed the hypocrites will be in the lowest pits of Jahanam, even below the disbelievers’.
‘Indeed, he has erred a great deviation’

O’ believers, believe – believe completely, not partially, remain steadfast towards your faith, do not apostate from your faith.

We all as different communities, have a carved out image of ‘Islam’ according to some, prayer is everything, to others appearing to be pious is everything, having a beard, donning the eastern garments is everything. They all have their significance; however we should not base our understanding of piety on just these things.

To some as long as you’re not involved in Drugs or alcohol and avoid pork you are pious. We all have our definitions of piety, some of our definitions exceeds others, and vice versa. But we have to remember that ‘we convey the laws of Allah, we do not make them’

In Surah Bakarah, Allah talks about the Jews. In the pre Islamic days, their were two Arab tribes in Makah they were bitter rivals, and there were 3 Jewish tribes. When there were fights, within the two Arab tribes, the Arabs asked the Jews for assistance, the two Jewish parties would pare up with one Arab tribe, and one Jewish party with the other tribe. The Jews killed, looted and imprisoned their fellow brethren, who were fighting for the other tribe. When their brethren were captured, they would say ‘let them go, we will pay a ransom’ the Arabs would say, ‘why? You would have killed them anyway, it doesn’t make sense!’ they would say ‘god has commanded us to do so in our torah-if any of our brethren is captured it is our duty to help release them’ Allah says in Surah Bakarah, regarding these people, ‘Now look at you, you shed each others blood, you assist others over yourselves…-but when your brethren is captured, you remember Allah, when in fact it was Haram upon you to capture them or even partake in this’

This Ayah is a perfect example, you cannot pick and choose in Islam, Allah has made so many things Haram, we abstain from two, but we ignore the third! Are we making a mockery of Allah?

Abdullah ibn Salam R.A, before his conversion to Islam he was a big Jewish rabbi, In the Jewish religion, Camel meat was not allowed, So he asked the Prophet s.a.w ‘if I don’t have this meat, I would be confirming to my old religion, but in Islam by not having this meat I am not sinning’ then the verse was revealed ‘O believers, believe in Islam totally’

In surah Nisa, laws of costumes of marriage, chastity, promiscuity, inheritance, truthfulness, honesty, justice, defending and upholding justice, integrity of character, fulfilling and honoring trusts and the hypocrites. All this is mentioned in just one Surah
In just Surah Nisa, we are taught so much; imagine how much the whole Quran can be of benefit to us.

Muslims will never be true believers, unless they submit with no hesitation or reservation and have no doubt in what they believe in. otherwise their faith is deficient and incomplete.
Submitting totally, we mean, to observe kindness, be good to orphans and neighbors, companion on your side or distant. Help the travelers indeed Allah does not love the arrogant or boastful.

There are two kinds of neighbors, one who shares a wall with you, a passage, same side of a street, neighbors of vicinity
Neighbors of proximity- are your immediate neighbor. Both have a right over you.
Along with prayer, Zakah, Hajj... We have to do what was said above, this is complete faith.

‘O believers be establishers of justice’

The whole universe rests on the equilibrium of justice. In regards of interpretation of the Quran, every one is an expert, except the experts! Let’s take for example, something is wrong with our car, if we are not mechanics would we try to fix it?

For a healthy community, do not rely on rumors word of mouth or gossip- ‘O you who believe, when you travel in to a land and you see some one who gives you salaam, do not say you are not a believer, verify the facts, ascertain the truth, remember you were like them before, who knows Allah may have mercy on them and guide them as he did to you’ (when sahaba, passed by a land they thought the people only said salam to save their skin)

‘Do not declare yourself to be pure only Allah knows’ when you are greeted with salaam, reply to the greeting as this is the right of a Muslim over another Muslim.

Religion is about fulfilling the rights of Allah’s creation, accepting that you are wrong.

Surah Nisa- ‘there is no good, in many of their conversation and speeches accept for the one who enjoins charity’
We are those people Allah talks about, whenever we emit a voice their is no good in what we have to say, this is a categorical rule of Allah, except those who enjoin charity- do good, promote peace harmony and recreation.

Refraining from major sin is very important, being unchaste is corruption, but the tongue is just as dangerous as ones lack of chastity. We should always think, are we opening our mouth to produce harmony or corruption?

Imam Muslim narrates on the authority of Abu Hurairah r.a, Prophet s.a.w asked the companions ‘do you know who the poor and destitute person is? The companions replied saying ‘a man who has no dirham on his name, penniless. The prophet s.aw said: ‘the poor and destitute of ummah is one who has countless rewards of prayer, zakah but in the world he would slander, physically hurt people, these wronged victims will compensate all of his good deeds. If his good deeds expire, the wronged victim’s sins will be flunged on to him.

We say that marriage is half of faith, this is correct, but incorrect in the way we people interpret it. You marry you don’t complete your religion why?

Rasullah s.a.w said reported by Imam tirmidhi. What are the two main things that will take people in to paradise? They are ‘taqwa’ and ‘good manners’ and what are the two main things that will take people in to hell? They are the ‘tongue and the private parts’

Sayyidina Anas r.a says: Rasullah s.a.w said, ‘when someone marries he has guarded half his Iman let him fear Allah in the other half!’

Shykh further went on to saying, why am I saying that just marriage is not half your iman, because if you do not find a pious wife then your iman is at risk, thus instead of fulfilling half of your iman it is being violated., but whomsoever Allah has showered with a pious wife then Allah has assisted and protected him in terms of his deen.

Surah Bakarah: ‘it is not Bir-righteousness facing towards the east and the west raising your hands. Rather piety is that person who believes in the final day, the books, who gives wealth to ones relatives, orphans, neighbors, traveler’s beggars. Establishes salat and who is righteous to those who honor their pledge and who remains patient in adversity, those are the people of Taqwa-god fearing’

‘O believers, believe’

May Allah give us the ability to believe totally.

I hope you all benefited from the notes, may allah give me the ability to attain more Knowledge

'It is Obligatory for all believeing women to seek knowledge'

-Amatullah-

O muslims be muslims - Part 3

Shaikh Zaheer Mahmood (Khateeb in Birmingham)

Ibn Kathir: ‘to attain what you have is impossible, so how can you believe?’

Its is narrated that once, their was a tree which beared dates, the tree belonged to a Munafiq, when the children used to eat the dates that had fallen from the tree, the Munafiq would stick his hand down the children’s mouth and take it out. The prophet heard about this and asked the munafiq, if he could buy jus one date from the tree, and he would be granted 1 date in paradise. The Munafiq refused, Abu Dahda r.a heard this and he requested to the prophet s.a.w ‘O Rasullah what if I get that date, will I also be given a date in paradise?’ Rasullah responded in the affirmative, Abu Dahda was so determined to purchase that date because he knew that one he enters Jannah, their will be no leaving.

Abu Dahda then went to the Munafiq and requested to buy the date the munafiq said ‘I didn’t sell it to the prophet of Allah what makes you think I will sell it to you?’ Abu Dahda said he would give 60/600(2 narrations) of his gardens for just this 1 date, the munafiq said ‘is this some joke?’ Abu Dahda gave away his gardens, for just one date.
Abu Dahda, then came back to Rasullah s.a.w with the date, Rasullah s.a.w said to him ‘O Abu Dahda, when you went I promised you just one date, but I see your Janat is filled with many dates’

‘O you who believe, believe’
When Ali r.a. gave his first Khutbah, after the death of Rasullah s.a.w nothing was more terrible then the assasination of Uthman r.a
Help of Allah comes threw actions, if you want the mercy of Allah to descend then we need to transfer our words in to actions. Allah is not obliged to help us, we are the slave, we have to fulfill the conditions and the help of Allah will come. Our numbers do not make any difference what counts is our substance.

Khaleed bin waleed marveled at the Christian numbers in the battle of Yarmuk, the Muslims were 41,000 and the Christians were 140,000, after this war the Christians never entered or fought with the Muslims again.

After this war the war with the greatest super powers of the world was to be fought the war with the Persians. Khaleed bin walled made an announcement saying, whoever wanted to go home could do so, out of the 13,000 people only 2,000 stayed and fought, a message was sent to Abu Bakr for reinforcement, Abu Bakr r.a sent ONE man to take the place of 11,000 people, this man was Kahka bin Amr, and he said ‘an army with the likes of Kahka can never be defeated’

Rasullah s.a.w said: ‘last night I saw a dream, Abu Bakr was weighed in one pan and the ummah in the other, and Abu Bakr was heavier, Umar was weighed in one pan and the ummah in another Umar was heavier’ ‘A time will come when you will not even be as light as the froth on the ocean, but the dirt in the ocean, yet there will be so many of you’

We have forgotten our abode; we have lost concern for the Akhirah. We need to aspire for the highest, for Janna, Rasullah s.a.w said to his sahaba ‘when you ask for Janna, ask for Jantul firdous, the highest of paradise’

What is withholding the help of Allah? It is our actions and our characters, we have so much knowledge, and we need to translate that knowledge in to actions
‘None of you can enter paradise until you believe, and non of you can believe until you love your brother’

We need to create unity in the Ummah, we need to talk about our similarities NOT our differences, Our youngsters are so illiterate, we need to create love within the youngsters we need to be unified, and unity isn’t the attitude ‘you HAVE to believe in what I believe’ everyone has their differences as long as the differences are within the Ahlus sunnah wal jamah.
Before we were labeled ‘ah you’re a salafi, you’re a wahabi, I am Sufi’ now its gone far beyond this now it is ‘you’re a moderate Muslim, you’re a conservative Muslim’ these Muslims who label people like this are those that cant practice themselves.

Shaikh gave a very good example which we could relate to, Miss England at the moment is a Muslim, she was on a documentary called ‘Islam and terrorism’ she related this story on the programme. She was at one of the contests, Miss Lebanon was also present, every one had a bikini on except Miss England, and Miss Lebanon asked her ‘why aren’t you wearing a bikini?’ Miss England answered saying ‘I am a Muslim’ Miss Lebanon said ‘I am a Muslim too’ To miss Lebanon, miss England is ‘extreme’

If the Sahaba, and the Salaf didn’t understand Islam neither would we.
Abu Bakr r.a was the weakest in body, Aisha r.a said her father used to walk with a stoop, but when it came to the commands of Allah he was the strongest.
Abdullah bin Masood r.a had thin shins the sahaba used to laugh at him once the prophet s.a.w commented saying ‘if these shins were placed on a scale and mount uhad was placed in the other pan of the scale, his shins would out weigh the latter’ because every vein, every blood was constant in the remembrance and obedience of Allah.

Why do we respect people, because they have the best cars or the best houses? When the best of people barely owned one pair of clothes, when Abu Bakr had 14 patches on his clothes! When Umar r.a the sahaba who conquered countries from china to Spain, when he died he’s clothes were old, sahabas requested to his wife: ‘change his clothes’ she remained silent again the sahabas said ‘change his clothes’ she again remained quite, the third time, the sahaba angrily said ‘he is dying change his clothes’ his wife remarked ‘by Allah these are the only clothes he has’

Hazarat Saad r.a had no status, Rasullah s.a.w encouraged him to accept Islam, he asked ‘if I embrace Islam what rank will I attain in Janna’, rasullah s.a.w said ‘the ranks of Abu Bakr and Umar r.a’, he accepted Islam, and said to the prophet, and ‘why is it no body wants to marry me?’ Rasullah s.a.w asked if Amr was in the gathering, he was a leader and his daughter was known for her beauty, he was told he was absent. Rasullah s.a.w the told Saad, to Go to Amr r.a’s house and say that the Prophet s.a.w had sent him, and request for her daughters hand in marriage. Saad went, and asked, Amr was shocked, a man of his status giving his daughter to the likes of him! He refused. His daughter, who had been listening, quickly rushed to her father to stop Saad r.a saying, if the prophet has requested then I am ready.

Rasullah s.a.w advised that the mehr be 400 Dirham’s, Saad was startled he said ‘O rasullah, I have never seen that much money’ Rasullah s.a.w requested him to go to hazrat Ali r.a and Uthman R.a asking them for 200 dirham’s each. He then went to the market, to buy his wife some gifts. Whilst he was in the market the call of Jihad came, Saad remarked, ‘lord I will buy what is pleasing to thee’ and he bought a sword and armor. Subhanallah.

In the battle field he hid his face, so that Rasullah s.a.w could not see him and scold him and tell him to go back to his wife, the sahabas were all curious as to who he was, in the madness of the battle Saad’s horse was struck, he pulled up his sleeve and Saad’s dark arms were made apparent, immediately Rasullah s.a.w remarked ‘Saad, is that you?’ saad replied ‘yes’ Rasullah s.a.w said ‘O saad there is no abode for you then Janna’

A short while later, this amazing sahaba was martyred. Rasullah s.a.w rushed to him, placed his head on his lap, he then cried, smiled and turned away. The sahabas asked ‘O rasullah s.a.w why did you cry then smile then turn away? He s.a.w said: I Cried, because of his death, I then began to smile, because I saw his status in Janna, he had reached the ‘houz’- the well of paradise, I then saw his many wives-damsels rushing towards him so much so that their shins were made apparent and so I turned away’ ‘O sahaba inform the wife of Saad that, her husband has reached such a status, that he has wives even more beautiful then her’ May Allah keep us united, and reunite us in Janna

-Amatullah-

O muslims be muslims - Part 2

Sheikh Rafiq Sufi (Bury madresa Graduate)

‘O you who believe enter in to Islam totally….for shaytan is an open enemy for you’

Rasullah s.a.w said, ‘there is no intelligence without planning’

We should live our life according to the way Allah s.w.t has prescribed to us, not partially but we should follow the deen in its ‘totality’. We should not judge anyone, as a small deed may grant them high status in the eyes of the almighty.

The prophet s.a.w said to his sahaba r.a: ‘look at the honour of the kabah, should I tell you something more honourable then this? The honour of a Muslim’
To hurt a Muslim brother/sister is worse then breaking the kabah.

We should go through hardship with patience and steadfastness and the end result will inshallah be jannah, steadfastness comes in many ways, controlling ones desires, his lust, the ‘look’

Total submission we mean, submit to Allah with our eyes, our tongue and our hands
We pray for the sake of Allah, we preserve our chastity and honour, this is total submission, we act on every branch our Aqeedah, our mushafirats our Akhlaaq, and this is total submission.

Rasullah s.a.w said to the nearest meaning: ‘music creates hypocrisy in the heart of a person, like watering a plantation how it grows, and then he becomes a munafiq’

The most abused word on the face of the earth is ‘halal’
Noman bin Bashir reported by ibn Muslim says: rasullah s.a.w said ‘halal is clear, and haram is clear and there are some aspects in between which are doubtful many a people are not aware of their doubtfulness’

Whosoever guards himself from doubtful matters he has gone to the utmost limits in seeking to be clear in regards to his honour and deen.
Rasullah s.a.w said: ‘leave what gives you doubt, to that which does not give you doubt’

Sheikh then went on to talking about HMC, how they went to Brazil to investigate in the abattoirs regarding the meat brazil was providing for the middle east that includes makkah and medina, he said only 11 of the 18 abattoirs granted HMC access, the other outwardly refused, in the 11 of the 18 abattoirs HMC ranked them to be ‘highly doubtful’ why? Because the meat was slaughtered by non Muslims, these same abattoirs provide meat for Makah and medina!

“whosoever falls in to doubtful matters, will fall in to haram, like a Sheppard whose pasturing his flock around the boundary of someone else’s field, it is very likely the sheep will graze outside his boundary and on to someone else’s’

‘Take heed every ruler have their boundaries and Allah has his boundaries also’
Surely in the body there is a piece of flesh, when that lump of flesh is good everything will be good, but if that lump of flesh is bad everything else will be bad, surely that is then heart.

Abu Hurairah r.a reports, Rasullah s.a.w said ‘Allah is pure, and only accepts deeds which are pure’

‘O prophets eat from which is Halal and do righteous deeds’

A man dishelved, has been travelling, tired raises his hands in supplication, and prays ‘O Allah have mercy on the ummah’ but his clothing is haram. His food is haram. So how can their duas be accepted, when they are earning haram sustenance? Someone who strives they are given the ‘silm’ peace.

Sheikh closed his speech talking about the world, the terror e.t.c; he left us with a question that we had to think about... he said that Micheal that John that Diane they are all accepting Islam, are they accepting Islam because of my actions or are they accepting because of what they see as true in the Deen? Am I a means of someone coming towards Islam, or am I means of someone going further away from Islam?

Next up inshallah will be Moulana Zaheer Mahmood

-Amatullah-

O' Muslims be Muslims

Asalamualikum

I recently attended the event, 'O' Muslims be Muslims', it was aimed at the youth of today, mashallah they had a brilliant lineup, the speakers that attended were: Moulana Shamsuduha (Ebrahim college, Dewsburry madresa Graduate) Shaikh Rafiq Sufi.. (Bury Graduate) Moulana Zahir Mohammad (bury Graduate) and the most honourable Shaikh Riyadul Haq.


Here are some notes i made on the talks that were given. I hope they benefit others Inshallah, most importantly, if there are any mistakes, then they are from me, and please do not hesitate to correct me Inshallah.

1st speaker Shaikh Shamsuduha (Ebrahim College)

If we emulate the ways of the prophet s.a.w there is strong chance we will achieve what they had achieved

Allah s.w.t says: ‘Mohammad and those with him are severe towards the kufaar’
But they are the most ‘ruhama’ amongst one another.

Allah s.w.t declared he is pleased with the sahaba and we are also told that if we follow them Allah will also be pleased with us.

‘sabiqoon wal mujahidoon wal ansaar’ they were the ‘ridhwan’ of Allah, Allah utilised the sahaba sin for us to learn for example: zina, if this didn’t occur there would be no example of ‘rajam’ stoning, our prophet led their janazah salah, when sahabas asked ‘why are you leading janazah of those who have fornicated’ he said they have received their punishment in this world.


Allah looked at the hearts of his creation, and he chose Muhammad s.a.w and sent him as a messenger, he again looked at the heart of his people and he selected the sahaba r.a, and made them his ministers, who would strive for the deen with the beloved.

The sahabas were ‘hudal mustaqeem’ mullah ali Qari in his book mirqatul masabeeh states that the sahaba were the least pretentious in their actions, they walked barefoot, if no footwear was available, they prayed on the bare earth, if prayer mats were unavailable they were humble, they ate from any vessel, if necessary they would drink from leftovers, they had no ‘takaluf’ in these things. They did not speak, if it did not concern them. Similarly there recitation was recited with no melody or lengthening.
They were very high spiritually however, they did not dance or scream and they did not join circles of zikr nor did they make noise in the masjid.

Ibn masood says, said the tabioon, strived more but still the sahabas were much better why? Because they were not interested in the dunya, their qualities could not be matched, because they benefit by being in the presence of the prophet s.a.w ..It is said that one moment with the prophet s.a.w elevates a person spiritually so much so that even a life time of mujahidah couldn’t reach that level. Subhanallah.
How different would we be if we spent just a little time with the holy prophet s.a.w
But as the verse goes ‘Allah gives to whomsoever he wants’ Allah will take in to account that the sahabas saw the prophet s.a.w, however we can achieve great stations with very little effort.

It is said in a hadith to the nearest meaning that rasullah s.a.w said, if you do only 10% of good you will be destroyed, but a time will come that if you do just 10% that will suffice and you will be elevated. ‘My ummah is like the rain, I do not know whether the first of it is better or the last of it’

We never even saw the prophet s.a.w yet we still believe in his teachings, ibn masud says “no believer has possed faith better then the faith in the unseen”
A sahaba may be more virtuous but we can be with them in them paradise “whomsoever obeys Allah and his messenger will be raised amongst the shuhada the saliheen and the sidiqeen’

Abdullah ibn Abass was just 13 yrs old when the prophet s.a.w passed away he was the hibul hazizul ummah, the greatest scholar we have ever seen, can a 13 year old in this day and age give an opinion of how a state should be run?

Hazarat Ali r.a he was great in battle a just rular, a great scholar, a judge, first man to accept Islam, he was given tarbiyah by our prophet s.a.w himself. Prophet s.a.w said to him ‘you are to me as Haroon was to Musa accept that you are not a prophet’

Zaid ibn thabit was advised and encouraged by our prophet to learn different languages so he could write letters to different rulers of the world.

The story of Ali r.a and Muawiyah r.a their disputes are all in the books of history. When Ali r.a passed away, Zirar ibn Zamuah (Ali r.a’s right hand man. someone correct me if I am wrong)
Muawiyah r.a said to him, ‘describe Ali r.a to me’
Zirar due to the relationship between both of them refused and said ‘excuse me’
Muawiyah further said ‘I have not excused you’

Zirar then said, ‘by Allah he was foresighted, very strong (in the battle of khayabar he ripped out a castle door, and use it as his shield, and this door even 8 people found it hard to carry) knowledge gushed forth him, he felt estranged from the world, he was at ease with the night and its darkness, he was always in the state of ihtibaar (thought) he like clothing that was rough, food that was simple, when he smiled he displayed strong pearls, the powerful could not hope to corrupt him or accept any favours from him, I testify by Allah that during the night he was like a restless man bitten by a snake, or a grieving person, he used to raise his hands and say ‘lord! Lord! Oh world you deceive me to way with you, I have divorced you three times! Your life is short your assembly is lonely, O the little provision and the lonely road ahead’

When he finished muawiyah’s beard was wet with tears, people around him were crying so much that they were loosing their breath, muawiyah said “true, that is how Abul Hasan r.a was”

Muawiyah then asked Ziar, how are you? What state are you in? He said ‘my grief is like a mother who has lost her child, her tears shed, she grieves and her life is not settled’

Overall, we are liberated due to Islam, we can make the whole world Muslim if we take the chracter of our beloved nabi and embody and take in the universal characters of the sahaba.
May Allah give us the quality to emulate the ways of the pious, and may we be a good example to the people of Britain

Any shortcomings is from me alone, if I have noted something wrong feel free to correct me jazakallah khair.

Yes I know its long, inshallah I’ll post the other speakers notes up soon. Next inshallah will be Sheikh Rafiq Sufi's talk.

Amatullah -