Thursday, June 28, 2007

zain121 - Forum

السلام عليكم

I have recently created a new forum for members to be able to seek a different Islamic information.

This forum has been created to achieve a different purpose to other Islamic forums on the internet.

The aim of the forum is not to provide the Muslim community with a place to be able to interact with other Muslim's and benefit from the various and vast knowledge that other members hold.

It is neither a place that will be filled with articles, talks, audios and sections that are found on other forums.

The main objective and aim of this forum is to educate the Ummah in regards to the detailed information and knowledge of the religion of Islam, going, at times, into depth and presenting the pearls of wisdom safeguarded from our pious predecessors.

It will be a place where the Qur'an and Hadeeth will be discussed in depth and its relevance to today's world will be depicted.

Whatever is produced on this forum will be from the Shari'ah and I pray that it is beneficial to the Muslim Ummah as well as those who seek the understanding of Islam.

This forum is an attempt to gather Knowledge of different areas of Islam and present them in a range of depth which will be suitable for beginners as well as people who have a greater level of understanding and Knowledge.

The link to the forum is: Zain121 - Forum

May Allah make it a source of salvation for me as well as the readers. Aameen.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Lying Down

A week or so back, whilst I was driving home, I saw a man lying on the floor just outside the park entrance. Surrounding him were two officers and a large group of audience, spectating from their cars or houses.

The traffic lights were on red, and I was looking at that person trying to get up, but was being held down by the officers, ensuring that he didn’t injure himself further. It wasn’t long before the ambulance arrived to administer first aid to the person below.

The traffic continued to move slowly as all the drivers were taking a look at what was happening at the person. No doubt, different thoughts would be entering the individual minds of people.

Similarly, I had a few thoughts of my own, which changed from time to time…

Point

It occurred to me later that we may have all looked at that person making assumptions of his health and condition. But it did not occur to me at that time, that the person lying on the floor would have perceived this was going to occur to him today. Similarly, all the people who were looking at him were looking at the problem that had befallen him; none thought that it could be them in his place.

In this world, we are many a times negligent of the signs of Allah, mostly because we perceive them to be the calamities or problems of others without thinking that it could have been us if Allah had chosen; or without realising that what has occurred to another person today will be the same thing that will occur to us tomorrow.

Another thought that occurred to me was the actions of the man who was on the floor. Despite being aided by the local police, he was making every attempt to get up from the fall he had just experienced. This is not something fascinating or new; a person, after a fall, always attempts to recover from that fall and get up once again. In fact, at times, we make haste in getting up from our fall in order to avoid embarrassment and attention.

Despite this ideology and thinking we are very negligent of making an effort to get up spiritually after we have sinned and fell into the trap of Shaytaan and our Nafs (Desire). At times we make no attempt to get up from the fall (by seeking sincere forgiveness) and at times when we do intend to recover from our fall, we are quite relaxed and care-free.

It made me think, that the only reason for this could be that there is no regret and remorse; neither is there any concern of people seeing us sinning as the true severity of sinning has been eradicated from our minds due to our ‘luxurious’ social lives.

Had the above not been the case, we would be attempting to recover from a spiritual fall in such haste that every sin would be wiped out from our deeds and our tears would flow from the fear of Allah. We would be alert and look around to save ourselves from embarrassment, ‘has anybody seen me committing a sin’; ‘let me get up quickly before I am humiliated for committing a sin’; these should be our thoughts and our priorities.

May Allah give us all the wisdom to look at the calamities of others as a sign of reformation for ourselves. May He give us the knowledge to prioritise our duties and to inculcate humility, shame, regret and remorse into our lives. Aameen.


إن السعيد من وعظ بغيره

Fortunate is he who takes heed from others

[عبد الله ابن مسعود رضي الله عنه]

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

'Skinny' Cats

Although summer is here, we still see rain and experience cold weather. However, on my recent trip, I experienced hot weather, really nice, hot weather. The temperature reached up to forty degrees Celsius at times and the humidity was shown at seventy-nine percent; all in all, a very hot, sticky and humid atmosphere.

Though the heat was tolerable, as I love the hot climate, it was a reminder for me that there are places in the world that are so different to ours in many ways; places which were inhabited by people totally different to us when we compare their lifestyles to ours, their food, their poverty and richness, their aims and struggles, we can see that throughout the world life is challenging in one way or another.

During my recent trip I saw many things I had seen before, the same place, the same people, the same lifestyle but always a new struggle. I saw people, animals, buildings, nature and much more from a different view than I saw it previously.

POINT:

I learnt many things from my journey and it made me realise that we are blessed to be where we are, no matter where we are, who we are and what we do. If we believe in Allah and follow is shown path then we are in the best possible state and circumstance. Our struggle is not for the world but for the Hereafter, our reward is not limited to this life but continues in the Hereafter. Therefore, we receive endless rewards for limited suffering and struggle.

Whilst abroad, my sister pointed out to me the cats that were roaming the streets in search of food, asking me whether I noticed something about the cats there. I failed to see what she saw and she informed me that all the cats were ‘skinny’ especially in comparison the ones we have in the UK. Concentrating on this point, I realised how fortunate yet ungrateful we are for all the blessings we receive.
It is to no surprise Allah states:

قُتِلَ الإنْسَانُ مَا أَكْفَرَهُ

Cursed be man! How ungrateful he is!

[Surah Abasa – 80:17]


Another thing which came across my mind is the heat of the Hereafter that Allah has promised us; when the sun shall hover above the heads and the people will drown in their own sweat. May Allah save us all. Aameen.

May Allah give us all the appreciation of that which we have and to be grateful for all His blessings upon us. May He give us the strength to look at those who are less fortunate than us in the world, so that we are appreciative; and to look at those above us in regards to the Hereafter so that we can struggle in attaining a higher status in the Hereafter. Aameen.