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The Stone and The Tree

There was once a dervish in Abadan, whose cell was always surrounded by disciples, people who had come from far and near to hear his wisdom and try to achieve knowledge and spiritual fulfilment. Sometimes he spoke to them, sometimes he did not. Sometimes he read from books, and sometimes he made them perform various tasks.

The disciples tried, for decades, to understand the purport of his words, to fathom the depth of his signs and symbols, and in every way possible to get closer to his wisdom. Those who understood what he taught were the ones who did not spend time trying to puzzle out things. They cultivated patience and attention, and refrained from looking for verbal associations from books and from what others had told them.

The majority, however, as is the way of the world, were sometimes elated, sometimes sad, and always covetous, even if it was only for wisdom and their well-being. They had all kinds of explanations for this way of thinking except the real ones.

At long last, after many years had passed, one of these disciples plucked up enough courage to approach the master directly and said: ‘There are a number of us, o wise one, who have been trying to follow the path of knowledge for most of our lives. Now, as some are old and others are getting older, we feel that we have to open our hearts to you, saying that we need a further indication of how we should proceed’.

The dervish gave a long sigh and answered: ‘Come with me to the seashore and I’ll show you something which tells you everything, if you can only hear it’.

At the pebble-strewn beach, the dervish took a stone from the water and asked a disciple: ‘How long has this stone been here?’

The man said: ‘It is worn smooth, so it must have been rolled back and forth, under the surf, for perhaps several thousand years’.

‘Now’, said the dervish: ‘Take this wet stone and crack it open, then tell me what you find’. They smashed the stone and saw that it was rough from the inside.

‘You observe’, said the dervish, ‘that although submerged in the sea for accounted ages, the innermost part of this stone is as dry as if it had never been near water. You people are like the stone. Surrounded by wisdom, you do not allow it to penetrate. Unlike the stone, there is a talisman, which will let the transforming quality suffuse you, to your innermost being. That quality is patience, forbearance and openness, things which you call three qualities, but which are in reality only one’.

Next the dervish took his followers onto a hill overlooking the sea, where in spite of the aridity of the place, a magnificent tree grew.

‘This tree’, he said, ‘can live and grow tall and fruitful where nothing else can. This is possible to it only because it has made worthy efforts, signalled by the inner quality of the seed which gave it birth, to penetrate deep into the earth to find water.

‘Learn the lesson, my friends’.

[It is indeed a fact that many of us know so little despite having learnt so much; we sit in the company of the learnt, we gaze at their magnificent presence, and we listen to the pearls of wisdom that fall from their lips; but for some reason we continuously tend to question them; or we don’t implement what they teach; or we don’t let that which we have learnt penetrate our being, cleanse our lowly desires and use it help us fight our ever vibrant ‘nafs’. I guess some of us have become the ‘stone’; Ya Allah, aid us in becoming the ‘tree’; Ya Allah guide us onto the right path so that we become the ones who respect our Shayukh; learn from them; put into practice their teachings; and through them find our most true inner reality; through them find absolute love; through them find our most beloved Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasallam), and hence, find You... Ameen…]

From Text To Tradition

Asalamualaikum WRWB… Inshallah I pray you are all exceedingly healthy and enfolded nicely in Allah’s mercy. Another month has soared by faster then one can comprehend but alhumdulilah we are in the most blessed month, rabi-ul-awwal, subhanallah; indeed the coming of our most treasured Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) was the biggest blessing ever and the greatest Mercy from Allah. So I want to start by wishing you all Mubarak/Congrats for the coming of our prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam); May we be totally inundated in his (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam)’s love. Ameen!

Asalatu-wasalamu-alayka-ya-sayyedi-ya-rasoolallah! 

The evening of the 8th of April was entirely outstanding for it was spent in the company of three great teachers: Shaykh Faizul Aqtab Siddiqui; Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam and our dear dear Shaykh Hamza Yusuf; May Allah increase them all inshallah!

The event was organised by Amal Press in launch of a new book called ‘Al-Hidayah,’ translated by Imran Ahsan Nyazee. The book is a book of fiqh of the school of our grand Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) and the evening was in honour of this great Imam. I must say that the event was organised excellently for everything ran smoothly and the whole evening had a splendid aura about it. Alhumdulilah!

I’ll stop dawdling on now and press straight onto my notes, which unfortunately are not much, but still I thought I should share them with you. I would like to say that any shortcomings are from me and not the shayukh, so please do pardon me for them, and correct me if possible. JazakAllah Khair.

Shaykh Faizul Aqtab was the first speaker and he related some beautiful stories about Imam Abu Hanifa (ra):

·        Our dear Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) said that ‘the scholars of my ummah are like the prophets of Bani-Israil;’ Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) is indeed one of the greatest scholars.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was born 80 years after the hijra and was classified as a ‘Tabi’in’ because as a little child he met (the Prophetic Companion) Hazrat Anas ibn Malik (ra) who was a Sahabi.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was taught by those ‘Tabi’in” that had been taught themselves by over 500 Sahabis.

·        A traveller once stopped at Imam Abu Hanifa’s (ra) masjid and saw him teach students from fajar to esha and spend the nights in ibadah; at first the traveller considered that this was merely to impress him, but soon realised that this was the Imam’s routine. Hence, he would teach and please people during the day, but during the nights he would please Allah (swt).

·        If ever Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was stuck in a matter or didn’t know the answer to something he would do wudu and read 2 nafl; the answer to what he was puzzled over would come to him upon finishing the nafl.

·        The Shaykh advised that in the day we should go find our answers on then internet and in the texts; but during the night, we should try to find our answers from Allah (swt). That is indeed Imam Abu Hanifa’s (ra) tradition.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was no simple intellect; he had a unique quality about him. Nowadays universities open anywhere and everywhere; however back then the university would be founded wherever the shaykh sat. [SubhanAllah].

·        The shaykh advised that we too should try and make ourselves intellectuals; we should continuously learn; we shouldn’t just do our degrees and leave it at that thinking our job is done; we need to have an appetite for learning that never gets full. This is the Imam’s tradition. Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) had 100s of sheikhs/teachers; we usually get tired of the first one or two.

·        Islam does not rationalise science and technology but the reverse, science and technology rationalise Islam.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was a man who never compromised with the duniya. He would come up against barriers and restrictions, i.e. kings of his time wanted him to compromise to them, to sell himself to them; but he never did. Sadly some scholars nowadays compromise for money.

·        Once, a king called Mansoor asked Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) to become his lord chief justice because though the king did not agree with the Imam’s views, he knew that the Imam was a great intellect. Nevertheless, Imam Abu Hanifa (ra)’s response to the king was that he thought he was not qualified for the job. The king, in his anger, called the Imam a liar, to which the Imam replied, ‘If you can call me a liar then indeed that tells you that I truly am not qualified for the job.’

[Shaykh Faizul Aqtab related a really nice account/story towards the end of his talk, but regrettably I never got that down as it was somewhat a lengthy account with much detail which my weak mind has forgotten. A stimulating talk; May Allah increase the Shaykh.]

There was a break for magrib salah before Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam came to the stage; he too talked beautifully about Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), his tradition, his fiqh and about the book ‘Al-Hidayah.’  I didn’t get much down of this speech due to something that was troubling my mind but here is the few points I managed to note down:

·        ‘Al Hidayah’ is unquestionably the most important book on the fiqh of Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), though there are many other great books too.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was known as ‘Hafiz.’ At the present time, a ‘Hafiz’ is regarded as someone who has memorised the Qur’an, however back in those days a ‘Hafiz’ was someone who memorised 100’000 hadith (and their chains of narration), understood them, derived from them and gathered rules out of them. Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was indeed a true ‘Hafiz,’ for to learn something is one thing, but to understand it completely is another.

·        ‘Al-Hidayah’ was originally a book that made up 80 volumes! But ‘Al-Hidayah’ is a summary of all those books, so it is to the point, concise and comprehensive, and through the centuries the importance of this book will increase.

·        A student scholar once had a trial in a court case for which he argued his own defence. His reasonings were so good that the people asked him where he obtained his law degree from, to which he replied that he had no law degree but was merely using points from the ‘Al-Hidayah.’ [Sweet! Alhumdulilah!]

·        A great Kashmiri scholar once said, ‘if I was to compile a book, I could imitate any other book except four; the Qur’an, the Sahih Hadith, the Masnavi by Rumi and ‘Al Hidayah’.

·        An amazing book worth reading but preferably with a qualified teacher.

[Mufti Sahib’s talk was longer, but like I said before, I wasn’t able to get much down. This was the first time I was hearing Mufti Sahib and was quite taken by his very clear and elucidated manner. May Allah increase him inshallah!]

And so Shaykh Hamza came, lighting up the room and all our hearts with his splendid presence and inspiring speech; I said a silent salaam and thanked Allah for him, and for this chance of sitting in his attendance again, [Alhumdulilah!]

·        Some people get upset over people visiting graves however in every single hadith that has described the reward for visiting a brother or sister for the sake of Allah, there is no differentiation of whether they are living or dead. Imam Shafi (ra), if he ever had a difficult day, would read two nafl and visit Imam Abu Hanifa (ra)’s grave.

·        The Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) stated a hadith in which he said ‘if you are to put saddles on a camel and travel it should be to three places; Masjid al-Haram, my Masjid (masjid al-Nabi) and Masjid al-Aqsa.’ But the great scholars in the ummah say that the hadith applies specifically for going to do ibadah, not in general for you couldn’t apply that to everything as otherwise we could not do anything, [We couldn’t be here today for this lecture.] When you visit someone (living or not) you don’t go to worship them, you go for the blessing in it, you go to say salaam to someone who has served the deen all their life, and you make dua for them.

·        When you speak about Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), you are really speaking about the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam). Anything you could say about Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), you could say the same about the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) (revelation being an exception). This is because, as the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) said, ‘the scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets’.

·        An inheritor has a relationship with whom he inherits, which is the basis of inheritance. In the Arabic language, a blood relative is referred to as a ‘karibi’, a close one, someone who shares the connection of the womb with you (at some level). However, Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) and all the Ulema have a ‘karaba’ with the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam), which is a spiritual and conscious heritage, a spiritual relationship.

·        All humans have the physical as well as a spiritual component in them. The first makes you an animal and the second makes you a human, ‘the rational animal,’ the ability to be rational, to reason, to think, to reflect, and to understand. Hence this is what the men and women who inherit the knowledge of the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) share with him; they have prophetic consciousness; a spiritual DNA; an intellectual DNA that they all share.

·        When you praise Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) or Imam Malik (ra) or Imam Shafi (ra) or Ahmad ibn Hanbal or any other Ulema/Shaykh, you are praising the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) because the difference between these people and everyone else is that they follow the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) in every aspect of their life.

·        The Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) encompassed all good; none of us can encompass all of that good so the good that we do encompass is from the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam).

·        All the sahabis are unique, yet they are all reflections of the (Light of the) Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam). All the Ulema are unique, yet they are all reflections of the Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam). This is the secret of our ummah.

·        Imam Shafi (ra) had a great gift, he could read his lesson one time and memorise it. Once he studied with Imam Malik (ra); he would look up and then quickly write on his hand (he would lick his finger and “write” using his finger on the palm of his hand - he was only 15 at this time). Imam Malik (ra) noticed this and enquired after the lesson about this “foolish” behaviour. Imam Shafi (ra) replied that he was merely writing the hadith down on his palm. Imam Malik (ra) asked whether he actually remembered anything, to which he replied he did and related the whole of the dars to Imam Malik (ra) word for word. [SubhanAllah]

·        Imam Shafi (ra) was once out and about when the wind blew a ladies jilbab up revealing her leg, and he did not quickly avert his gaze. When he got back to his lesson he could not remember anything. So he went to his teacher, and he asked him about it; the teacher knew what had happened and told him that this is from the sin that you have committed. Imam Shafi (ra) complained that it was his memory that had faded, to which the teacher said, ‘knowledge is a light from God, and God’s light is not put in the hearts of those who disobey Allah (swt)’.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), anytime he would not understand something, he would say that it was because of a wrong action that he had committed. So this light that these great men and women have, this is the secret of this ummah. It’s the gift of knowledge, the light of guidance.

·        The Shaykh said that you have to have the right understanding to have the right action; you have to have the right understanding of the world if you want to live in it correctly. This is what Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) did, he studied so that he could show people the right way; he said, ‘wallahi this is the right knowledge, the knowledge that is able to guide people about their actions,’ (what they should and should not do).

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was a man of great humility; he said, ‘anyone who seeks leadership in this world before his time will have a life of humiliation.’

·        One of the things Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) is most noted for is his Adab, (his courtesy).

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) met a Sahabi when he was a child and heard the Sahabi say, ‘whoever learns fiqh in this world will have no concerns, and he’ll have provision from where he does not expect it’.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) had about 30 scholars he was close with and he would discuss matters with them until they came to a resolution. In the difficult situations these days most people are not able to deal with them as individuals, but collectively, when people get together, they are able to do things they were not normally be able to do.

·        In the Maliki madhab, a great Maliki scholar said, ‘in an absence of a judge, if you bring 12 people together then they could make a sound judgment’ – some have said that this is the basis of the modern day jury system.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was free of hasad. What was beautiful about all these Imams is that they were free of hasad, they respected each other. They deferred to each other. Imam Shafi, (ra) when he visited the tomb of Imam Abu Hanifa (ra), he left the ‘qunut’ out of his (fajr) salah though he had strong opinions of the ‘qunut.’ When they were leaving, the people asked him whether he had left his opinion on the ‘qunut,’ he said no but out of respect for the Imam I left it out because it wasn’t his opinion. (That is respect!)

·        One of his students said that he had never seen Imam Malik (ra) sweat, but he had beads of sweat on his forehead after a talk with Imam Abu Hanifa (ra). Imam Malik (ra) smiled and said, ‘wallahi, he is a man of knowledge, if he wanted to prove that this pillar was made out of gold, he could do it’. 

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was a great debater; he would sit and talk to those who challenged. The shaykh said that that is what was so beautiful about those times, the fact that people used to talk rather then bite one another’s heads of.

·        Just as you can use logic to prove the existence of Allah, you can also use logic to disprove it.

·        There are two types of people in the world, the first are the people who see meaning and purpose in the world, and second are the people who don’t. Is the world meaningful or meaningless for you? Is there purpose for your existence or is there not? Suppose you have an accident, is there a purpose behind it, or is it a happening that has no meaning or purpose?

·        Looking at the world it is very hard to believe that it came out of nothing; the fact that we are flying 30,000 feet above the earth, protected by belts from solar rays, given oxygen so that we don’t pass out, etc. There is indeed intelligence behind this creation.

·        My choice is to disbelief that there isn’t a God, and that’s what separates me from those who have chosen to disbelief that there is a God. So in that way we are both disbelievers. It’s a choice; whoever wants to believe, let him believe, whoever wants to disbelief, let him disbelief.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) had a debate about this with an atheist but was late for the debate. When he did arrive the agitated atheist asked Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) what happened, to which he replied, ‘we came to a river but there was no boat, but fortunately a tree fell into the river, the bark came of, snapped into half and all the insides came out and a boat was made for us.’ The atheist said, ‘I hear that you are a great scholar, do you really expect me to believe that stupid excuse?’  And Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) said, ‘I find it quite odd that you can believe that these skies and there is order, this earth and its order, all of this could have just magically appeared without somebody to build it, like the boat builder has to build the boat.’ [I wrote this story mostly from memory so forgive me if it’s not fully accurate].

·        This was the way the early Muslims worked, they talked, they debated; they were indeed great people. We need to revive that tradition and come to an understanding of fiqh. All of us should really study a book of fiqh with a qualified teacher. We have to go back to our tradition and part of that tradition is to honour these great people.

·        The Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) said that, ‘a sign of the end of time is that the last portion of this community will curse the first portion.’ This is happening as people are slandering Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) because they think they are defending the Sunnah. And this of a man who recited the Qur’an in one rukuh every single day for 30 years! This of a man who prayed fajar with the wudu of esha for 40 years! This of a man who refused to be what we would call today, ‘scholars for dollars’ (somebody who sells his religion to the government). He would advice and give opinions to the government but never take anything form them. He did not want the greatness of the deen to be tainted by the government.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) said, ‘because my deen is so exalted, I have been exalted. Because I serve the exalted, I’m exalted.’ (If you are in the service of the great, you become the great).

·        1200 years later we are here honouring this man in Briton. He is in Baghdad and if people were following him there today, Baghdad would be a very different place right now, because everything that happens to us is form our own sins. That is what our Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam) taught us and that’s what the Qur’an teaches us.

·        We need to go back to tradition. The Shaykh said that he was riding with a student in Mauritania and asked him what the response of Mauritania had been to Denmark. He said all of the Ulema gathered with poems that they had written about what had happened in Denmark, and before going on their demonstration (which was led by great Ulema) they handed out leaflets of Adab. Amongst the things that they said on the leaflet was, ‘don’t use any destructive behaviour’, ‘don’t harm anyone,’ ‘don’t say anything unbecoming of a believer’, etc. This was the response of our traditional Ulema and this is what we are lacking in our time today.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) had no rancour in his heart; he had plentiful forbearance; he was a thin man; he was muscular without being fat; and when he was buried people said that they had never seen more crying.

·        Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) was indeed ‘Imam al-Azam’, and all the Hanafis will be in his scales on the day of judgement!

[SubhanAllah! What a talk! May Allah increase Imam Abu Hanifa (ra) and help us learn about him and his fiqh! May Allah bless Shaykh Hamza for being the wonderful man he is and accept all his efforts in trying to make us more humane, more like our dear Prophet (sallahu-alaihi-wasalam). May Allah give Shaykh Hamza and all our shayukh health and preserve them. May we learn to follow these ‘lights of guidance’ Allah has provided for us through His mercy. Ameen]

A huge JazakAllah Khair to all at Amal Press for making this inspirational night possible for us and giving us the chance to sit in the presence of our most loved Shayukh. JazakAllah Khair to all the organisers and volunteers for the directions, the smiles and all the hard work that we don’t really notice. God bless you! Wishing you all the best now and always, in the here and the hereafter, and the best of deen and duniya! Ameen!

I ask you all to remember this sinner in your duas. Walaikumasalaam.

The Prophet of Love

Asalamualaikum WRWB. A whole month on, and the 7^th of March brought with it yet another inspirational evening with teachers more remarkable then one can ever relate. I unfortunately missed Sheikh Abdul-Hakim’s talk; Allah’s will; though I was [and still am] greatly disappointed; but you just can’t get out and move those cars out of the way in a traffic jam, or make those red lights change faster can you? Still, I can hardly complain as I was able to attend and see, for the first time, with my own eyes, Sheikh Habib-Ali! Alhumdulilah!

As I arrived, Sheikh Babikr was making his way to the stage. We got a place up on the gallery, with a nice clear view of everything. I could see the back of Sheikh Habib-Ali, his turban stood out from all the rest and even though I hadn’t seen him fully yet, my heart was racing like nobodies business!

[Before I start I just want to say that these notes are from me, they are very close to what was said by the Sheikh, but nonetheless, any insufficiency is from me and only me; so please do forgive me if any are present.]

Sheikh Babikr’s presence was illuminating, I have seen him many a time before, and each time, his face just seems to shine an extra bit more. May Allah bless him! The following is from the notes I made of Sheikh’s speech:

·        Tonight the topic is about love [The Sheikh says it’s his most favourite subject], so we shall talk about love.

·        Love is a word we predominantly take lightly; but for Allah, it is the greatest thing you can have.

·        To say to someone, ‘I love u’ is probably the best thing u can say if it is true and honest; not love that comes from desire or lustful thinking; but the absolute love that Allah created us for.

·        The events in Denmark are too trivial to talk about, our prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) is greater then that.

·        We must remember that the insults are minute compared to the insults the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) faced during his lifetime; but Allah (SWT) said to him, ‘stay on the side of forgiveness.’ So the greatest thing, for the greatest believers, is to always find it in themselves to forgive.

·        When there were protests going on against Salman Rushdie in the late 80’s, the Sheikh started writing poetry reflecting the anger he felt, but he knew that he could never make these thoughts public as they were words of anger and insult. And that is not the example of our prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam), who, in his lifetime, never ever insulted, or reacted in an angry way against anyone, especially not those who were rude or insulting towards him.

·        [The Sheikh recited a beautiful poem of love that he had personally written for our beloved prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam). I could never communicate just how delightful that poem was, but it did indeed express genuine love. SubhanAllah. Unfortunately I could not write it all down; I only managed to write the following few lines, but I know this will inshAllah give you an idea of the magnificence of this poem] ‘Oh beloved of Allah (SWT), oh you pure soul, ask Allah to purify my heart through your dua, for your dua is accepted in the sight of my Lord, who created this kingdom, and made you the highest of the rulers of this kingdom. All the creations are in His (SWT) hands, but we would not be today here, and none would have been in the past or in the future, had you not been. May Allah (SWT) shower you with His blessings and mercy; praise is to our Lord, my Creator, the One who named you Mohammad (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam,. [SUBHANALLH!!!]

·        When people shout and scream in the name of love, remember, it is not in the name of love. Many of us do it because it is all that we are taught. The Sheikh went to read Jummah Namaz and the Imam, in response to the events in Denmark, was saying to the people, ‘we are not donkeys to be ridden on, we are lions, we must roar!’ And at the end of the Khutba everyone was roaring; all because the sheikh made them feel like that! But we know that this is not the example of our prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam).

·        Love is everything. The Sheikh said, “before I got married, I went to see my future wife and I said to her, ‘I love Allah first, then Rasullallah (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam), then my sheikh, then my mother, and then you!’ (Daddies don’t mind, they are men, they understand!)” [LOL!]

·        The greatest of love is the love you invest for your Creator. Never ever put anybody before Allah. And then love the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam). The Sheikh said, ‘When I was little my mother said to me just recite La-ilaha-illalah-muhammadur-rasullulah, upon my asking why, she would say because it is the most truthful statement you will ever make!’

·        Try and find Allah in your hearts; Allah says that keep only me in your heart; take Allah seriously, for if you did, you will find him wherever you are; and the only way you can find this love in your life is by loving and thinking about the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) everyday.

·        We need to see the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) before us; we need to see everything he does, and hear everything he says, and implement him and his teachings.

·        Our Prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) stood up for everyone who was weak, disadvantaged or a slave. Didn’t he free the slaves? Didn’t he help the unprivileged? Didn’t he bring women from the life of dishonour into a life of dignity? People who say that women’s place is at home are not from the prophet’s nation because the prophet educated 700 women. Aisha (RA), through her love for him (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) and his love for her, became the best women scholar. It was only in the 70s that women were given the vote here, whereas our prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam), over 1400 years ago, gave women dignity and honour.

·        The Prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) taught people to give respect and dignity to their mothers.

·        Ask yourself, do I have the love of Allah in my heart? If you can’t find the answer then ask yourself, am I looking at the Prophet with the eye of love and wisdom? And if you can’t find the answer then ask yourself, do I respect women in general? And if you can’t find the answer, then ask yourself, do I love my mother? And the love of your mom will come in the way you treat her and respect her.

·        Many of us claim to love but we are indeed distant from love. Love is not just something you say. If you love them, you will respect and honour them. If at anytime you disrespect them, then indeed, you do not love them.

·        The burning of flags, the burning of embassies, etc is all wrong. Just think what would happen if all the embassies were to be burned?

·        If you love Allah (SWT), love and behave like the Prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam). For he said ‘if you don’t love me more then your family, your children, and more than anything in this world, then you don’t have faith.’ He (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) would point at his grandsons and his daughter (May Allah shower peace and blessings on them) and say ‘whoever loves them, he will be by my side on the day of judgment.’

·        If you love the Prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam), look after his family, his decedents. Today we need to give dignity to ourselves by turning to love Rasullallah and his family. As we can’t see the prophet, we should be honoured to see someone from his family like Habib-Ali. If you look at Habib-Ali and don’t find a little bit of love for him in your hearts, no matter whether you like what he is saying or not, then you have no faith.

·        Once, Aisha (RA) was sewing with her needle; it fell to the ground and she was unable to see it. The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) walked in and she immediately could see the needle reflecting on the floor from the light of his face! [SubhanAllah]

·        Ask yourself why you are deprived from seeing the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) in your dreams? Indeed, that is a tremendous gift for those who truly love him (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam). If you are in a desert and you are thirsty, you will dream of streams, water and the like. If you are hungry, you will dream of varieties of food. If you truly love the prophet and you are eager to see him, he will be present in your dream!

·        Live in tolerance and peace, follow and love the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam). Live and let Live!

[SubhanAllah, this was most certainly a bravura speech. Any shortcomings or deficiencies are from me, and I am more then certain that my weak words have not given enough light or reflected clearly what the Sheikh said, but inshaAllah I hope it makes sense and is helpful, even if a tiny amount]

Before we were blessed by S. Habib Ali’s talk, we were made audience to a pair of sisters, new to Islam, who lightly rapped their experiences and their love for the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) with such excellence. The words they used and their lyrical flow was truly amazing, and I am more then certain that I was not the only one they had in tears with their outstanding lyrics and sentiments; May Allah bless them. The brothers from Shaam were on next and they really set the mood with their God gifted voices and jovial lyrics.

And so Sheikh Habib-Ali took the stage, and as we all stood up out of respect, I felt I was going to fall over out of awe. Though I was up on the gallery, his presence on the stage was so luminous that it felt that he was standing equal to the gallery barrier. Wow! I’m going to go straight into his speech before I get carried away in describing him and the affect he had on me; may Allah preserve him!

·        Sheikh showed us three pictures. The first of a poor girl searching for food in a pile of rubbish. The second of a father crying with the body of his dead son in his hand (the results of injustice). The third of protesters of the cartoons, their faces disfigured in their rage.

·        The first two images are images we see often; but both reflect patience and earnestness, attributes that will be rewarded by Allah (SWT). Destitution like these can be caused by circumstances outside of ones hands; when one shows patience in these hardships and unjustified killings, then we can hope for a reward from Allah.

·        In the biography of the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam), it says that the prophet and the sahaba (may Allah be pleased with them) would tie rocks to their bellies to reduce their hunger (i.e. be patient). This girl looking for food amongst rubbish is showing the example of patience as the prophet did.

·        When you look at this father, with the body of his dead son in his hands, and the hurt on his face, caused by injustice, you see in him an example of the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) who went through something similar when he held the disfigured body of his uncle Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him) in the battle of Uhud.

·        The problem with the last picture is that it reflects anger, an attribute Allah will not reward. Also, a problem rises when you try to look for an example from the prophet’s life that may reveal something of the same nature as this picture.

·        Yes the beloved prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) was angry; he would be angered, but only for the cause of the truth. He would never be angered for himself or to give victory to himself. He, his family, his companions, all would only be angered if truth was covered up.

·        Umar Ibn Khattab (RA) once looked at the prophet and saw that his face had been cut and that he was bleeding. Ibn Khattab was so enraged at what he saw that he said, ‘oh messenger of Allah, pray to Allah to curse them for what they have done to you’. The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) replied, ‘Umar, I was sent as a mercy.’ Ibn Khattab then said, ‘but Rasullallah, they have caused you to bleed.’ The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) just lifted his hands up and said, ‘oh Allah, have mercy on the people.’

·        Yes the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) fought for truth, but never was his heart full of rancour and not once did his face look like that of the man in the third picture.

·        We [us living here in the west] are part of this Muslim world. But we are also part of the western world. This is something we need to ponder over. Throughout centuries, the Muslims have fought hard in order to establish mosques in cities like London, Paris, and Berlin; and WE are lucky that we have this opportunity open to us, that we have mosques in these places. We Muslims are part of this society yet we still talk about Islam and the west as two separate identities.

·        Now, Islam and the west is one thing. Islam is part of the west.

·        Two important questions: 1) Why is it that western society mocks Islam or fears it? 2) How can we change this?

·        The answer: 1) Because we have ceased to follow the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam). 2) We need to enter the sublime presence of the prophet of love (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam).

·        The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said, ‘keep Allah in your mind wherever you are, and treat people courteously.’ (Important point, the latter hadith says ‘people’ not just ‘Muslims’!) [I have to add here that S. Habib Ali said in English ‘only Muslim?’ and smiled. Aww mashAllah he sounded ever so cute!]

·         The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said ‘the most beloved action to Allah, after the obligatory actions, is to bring delight to heart of a Muslim.’

·        The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said ‘if there are three people present, two should not converse privately, as this will dismay the third man.’

·        The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said, ‘love for people what you would love for yourself’ (again, it says ‘people’, not just ‘Muslims’)

·        The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said, ‘the greatest of good deeds is to connect those who separate, to unite those who fall out and to forgive those who wrong you.’

·        The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said ‘the most beloved slaves to Allah are those who are sincerest to others.’

·        The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said, ‘engage gifts and mutual love will rise, shake hands and hatred will fall.’

·        The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said, ‘shake hands so that rancour can be dissolved from your hearts’.

·        We may have heard these hadiths before, but do we truly reflect and act upon them? We need to live by them, and take on board the sayings of the prophet.

·        The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said ‘these act will keep you sincere in your bothers love for u; greeting him when you see him; making room for him in a gathering; and calling him by his name is.’ (This hadith teaches us how to inject love in our hearts for each other.)

·        The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said ‘hearts are naturally inclined to love those who are kind to us and hate those who are cruel to us.’

·        The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said ‘those who show mercy have Allah’s mercy shown to them. Have mercy on those here on earth and Allah there in heaven will have mercy on you.’

·        The prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) said, ‘a kind word is charity’, (yet you will hear some say that kind words show your weakness, how ignorant. Never belittle any deed of kindness, even that of greeting your brother with a cheerful countenance.)

·        Implement these teachings.

·        Teach people what our prophet taught us. If you bring people to know about the prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam), then the prophet will come to know about you! [SubhanAllah]

·        Make him alive in your hearts and show this to people through your actions.

·        Wear t-shirts and the like saying that he (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) is alive in your hearts, but don’t just wear them, make it real, make him alive in your hearts! Show people what Islam really is by being like him!

[Again I want to say that any shortcomings are from me and not the Sheikh; please do forgive me for them; I hope the above makes sense and is somewhat helpful to those who read.]

Alhumdulilah! May we all learn and implement inshAllah! JazakAllah Khair to the organisers, May Allah increase you in all that’s good and help and guide you always; Ameen. My salaams and duas to you all; please do remember this sinner in your prayers. Walaikumsalam.

One Faith, Many Voices

 Asalamualikum WRWB. Alhumdulilah the 7^th of February was an inspirational evening with three highly inspiring scholars: the outstanding Shaykh Abdullah bin bayyah; the motivating Iman Zaid Shakir; and the remarkable Shaykh Hamza Yusuf.

As can be expected, I was very excited about the event, not particularly because of the theme of the event, but because, once more, we would be blessed with the exceptional company and teachings of some of the best teachers around. Merhaba merhaba was all I could think as I sat up on the gallery waiting for our respected teachers to enter. The outcome was massive; this in-turn increased my excitement as it felt exceedingly good to know that the love and respect for these deserving scholars was instilled in hundreds and hundreds of young and old hearts. SubhanAllah!

I won’t go on much about my own personal feelings as I know they are of no interest to you all :-P, so I’ll just press on. Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring my notebook, and throughout Imam Zaid and Shaykh Abdullah’s speeches I sat their somewhat gloomy for I could not note it all down. Undeniably, they were beautiful speeches, indicating to us that difference of opinion is indeed a mercy from Allah, and differences mostly come from us interpreting or understanding things in our own diverse ways. That doesn’t necessarily mean that one is right and the other is wrong, it just means that our differing in thinking has let to a differing in understanding. Great examples were given of great Sahabas and Awliyas about how they too used to differ yet still went on to respect each others understandings and thinking even whilst they may have hugely contrasted. [As I said before, I didn’t have my notebook, so was not able to write these examples down, and so I will not narrate them here for no doubt my weak mind will get the names and the situations all wrong, sorry!] Imam Zaid illustrated how we spend too much time ‘worrying’ and ‘arguing’ about these differences when there are so many more important things in the world that need our attention and energy, for example, the increase in aids. Shaykh Abdullah stressed what I wrote earlier, that from one source, a hundred meanings can be interpreted an understood depending on the individual and we need to respect that these differences do occur and that they are from Allah. [I just want to add here that Shaykh Abdullah’s presence alone was remarkable, his soft spoken Arabic touched me within and his humbleness and sweetness was a form of teaching in itself.] Alhumdulilah two great speeches of which I sadly can’t relate anymore as my feeble mind not only has forgotten but without my notes I’m finding it tricky expressing the few thing I do remember. Please forgive me.

However, when it came to Shaykh Hamza’s speech, I had by now managed to borrow some paper and a pen from my friend, who had dug it out form somewhere deepppp within her bag (may Allah bless her). So what follows are bullet points of our great Shaykh’s speech, which though was very brief (due to lack of time), was highly enlightening. His talk was based on the recent cartoon fiasco, so here goes:

·        Yes the British government is concerned about what is going on in their country but they have every right to do so. The British government do a lot more than other countries like the USA to ‘engage’ and understand Muslims and hence we should count ourselves lucky.

·        We are all ‘committed to social order’; those who are not are shaytaan, they are ‘human demons’ because social order is a grand blessing that you will realise if you ask the people living in countries where social order has totally broken down, countries like Iraq, Palestine, and Kashmir. Even Allah says that ‘you should worship God for the lone reason that he has given you security and saved you from hunger.’

·        It is the Muslim community’s responsibility to teach people our religion, the ‘true sense’ of our religion. Sadly, our religion is now being determined by news headlines when it should really be determined by the great Muslim scholars like Imam Al-Ghazali and others. But now news showing people wearing suicide bombings and doing demonstrations is what is defining our religion today. So it is upon us to teach our correct religion.

·        These people don’t realise who the Prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) is; they don’t realise what a huge blessing to the world the coming of the Prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) was; they don’t know that they are using the benefits of his existence; they don’t know that much of the benefits of modern society come directly from him.

Shaykh Hamza then went on to quote 3 extraordinary Englishmen who in their time realised the greatness and uniqueness of the Prophet Muhammad (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) and the Shaykh emphasised how we need such people in this day and age. We need to teach people what a blessing our prophet was! The three men quoted were; Duncun McDonald, Edwin Arnold and Samuel Scott. All three men comprehended and appreciated the enormity and exceptionality of Prophet Muhammad (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) and the dominant important figure that Islam has and always will have in the world. [I will write the bits and pieces I managed to get down form the quotes.]

Duncan McDonald says. ‘… there is little doubt that the three antagonistic and militant civilizations of the world are those of Christendom, Islam and china, when these are unified or come to a neutral understanding then, and only then will the cause of civilization be secure.’

Samuel Scott said, ‘Muhammad was that lofty genius and political sagacity of an Arabian Shepard who was deficient in the very rootlets of learning and was reared amongst the barbarous people divided into tribes…’

Samuel then goes on to describe the people before our Prophet Muhammad’s reign with words and phrases like, ‘hostility’, ‘degrading’, ‘knew no gods but a herd of grotesque and monstrous idols’, ‘robbery was their profession’, ‘murder their pastime’ ‘deceitful’ ‘cruelty’ ‘arrogance’, ‘relentless enmity’.

 He then says, ‘…to undertake the radical amelioration of such political and social conditions was a task of appalling difficulty…’

Then he says, ‘…Credit is due to the man who carried it out…if the object of religion be the integration of moral, the demolition of evil, the promotion of human happiness and the expansion of human intellect, then the performance of good works will avail…’

Lastly he says, ‘…So on that great day when mankind with be summoned to its final reckoning, it is neither irreverent nor unreasonable to admit that Muhammad was indeed an apostle of god…’

[SubhanAllah, even these unbelievers believed and knew the greatness of our final Prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) for we all know that what he carried out, the way he changed sooooo many unbelievers into believers was indeed a miracle; especially in a time and place where corruption was at its peak!]

Shaykh Hamza ended with the following vital points:

·        We have to restore the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) to the Muslim community.

·         The prophet honours ambassadors; he would never have allowed the destruction of an embassy; he would never have allowed the destruction of property or this type of want and rage. All this is not our prophet’s tradition.

·         It is the Akhlaak of the Messenger of God (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam) that needs to be reintroduced into this discourse and until this Akhlaak of the prophet is restored we are going to see more madness.

·        So those people/those of you, who really want to defend the honour of the prophet, defend it first and foremost by behaving like him!

Alhumdulilah I need not add anything more. I hope and pray all the above makes sense and aids you all in some way or form. May Allah bless our shayukh and elevate them to greater greatness. May Allah give us tawfiq and the ability to listen to our shayukh with our eyes, ears, and hearts (as Shaykh AHM said.) May we all learn our Prophet (Sallaluhu-Alaihi-Wasalam)’s teachings and follow his Sunnah and act and live life the way he would have wanted us to. Finally may Allah bless the organisers and all the volunteers of this event (yes it was crowded but trust me there was barakah in that crowd Alhumdulilah!). Ameen Ya Rabb. Walaikumsalam.

Muharram

May you all have a blessed, prosperous new year full of Allah's peace, mercy, love and forgiveness. I can't add much to my former 'New Year Blog' but Ameen to all the duas mentioned in it; May Allah kabool them and aid us in being better human beings and more loving and understanding towards one another.

Remarkably, our new year starts with the month of Muharram. Other religions and their followers commence their new year on a note of happiness, gaiety, and cheerfulness. However, in contrast to this, we start our new year on a subdued, passive, poignant note. This is remarkable due to the fact that our first month of the year brings with it great lessons; lessons of admonition and reflection; lessons of sacrifice, altruism and humanity; lessons of patience, tolerance, sincerity, and authenticity; and lessons of love, strong faith/emaan, and seeking the pleasure of the Almighty.

May we spend this month in remembrance of the great occurrences that took place in our history and hence spend time in abundant prayer, especially the first 10 days. May our ibadah be accepted so that we can gain the forgiveness of Allah. Ameen

I ask you all to remember the whole ummah, all our brothers and sisters, our wonderful shayukh and myself, my family and my friends in your Duas. JazakAllah Khair. Salaam and Dua.

http://al-islam.org/history/history/journeypoem.html