HAVE YOU TURNED SIXTY YET?

***

Allah Almighty says:

 “Did We not let you live long enough for anyone who was going to pay heed to pay heed? And did not the warner come to you?” (35:37)

112. Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Allah has excused Himself in the case of a man whose term He extends until he reaches sixty years of age.” [Al-Bukhari]

The scholars say that it means, “He does not need an excuse if He lets him live for this period.” It is said that this is when a man reaches the utmost point of being excused.

EXCERPT FROM: Riyadh us Saliheen chapter on:On the encouragement to increase good actions in the later part of one’s life

 

*** Image courtesy: http://www.utmb.edu/scoa/index.asp

WHOSE COMPANY ARE YOU IN? 4:69

 

Allah Subhanawataala defines who will be in the company of the person who obeys Allah and His Messenger Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him:

 وَمَن يُطِعِ اللَّـهَ وَالرَّسُولَ فَأُولَـٰئِكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّـهُ عَلَيْهِم مِّنَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ ۚ وَحَسُنَ أُولَـٰئِكَ رَفِيقًا ﴿٦٩﴾

[4:69] Yusuf Ali

All who obey Allah and the messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of Allah,- of the prophets (who teach), the sincere (lovers of Truth), the witnesses (who testify), and the Righteous (who do good): Ah! what a beautiful fellowship!

I PROTEST: THE DISRESPECT OF OUR PROPHET PBUH

***

Allah asks the Prophet  to remind his Nation that it is essential for those who claim to love God, to love His Prophet  :

“Say to them: If you love God, follow (and love and honor) me, and God will love you” (3:31). 

Love of the Prophet  is what differentiates the believers in the perfection of their imaan. In an authentic hadith related in Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet  said:

“None of you believes until he loves me more than he loves his children, his parents, and all people.” In another hadith in Bukhari he said: “None of you believes until he loves me more than he loves himself.”

Courtesy: Living Islam

Rebuttal of the Attacks on Prophet Muhammad, pbuh.

Courtesy: http://www.utsandiego.com/photos/2012/sep/14/685017/

After 400 years of slavery, Africa is rising up with the banners of Islam.

Excerpt from the Juma’ khutba at Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen in Baltimore.

 BACKGROUND:

The organized concerted effort by the secular intelligentsia, artists, moviemakers and writers who have made it their lifetime goal to chip at Islam from all aspects in a systematic manner.

The most recent one being a lighted match on an oil field by insulting the Prophet pbuh, and the edicts of the Quran regarding adoption and other injunctions for humankind in order to lead a just and righteous life.

The major ideological groups that have come together to fling mud on the pure persona of Prophet Muhammad pbuh and bring the Muslims of the world and the western Governments to butt heads are primarily Zionists (who though are called Jews are secular & imperialistic in their ideology): http://www.nkusa.org/aboutus/zionism/index.cfm) Now perhaps the secularized (under the Zionist influence) Coptic (Egyptian) Christians have joined them while seeking protection in the United States for their blatant inflammatory incitation against the heart of Islam.

Here are the main points of the Khutbah:

1. The enemies of Islam have made a serious mistake of attacking the best of men, and the beloved of Allah Subhanawataala: Muhammad, pbuh, who is dearer to Muslims than their own lives.

Allah Subhanawataala says in the Quran:

The Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves, and his wives are their mothers……….The Quran Surah Al Ahzaab 33:6 (translation by Yusuf Ali)

2.  The Zionist Jews began the systematic onslaught by attacking Hadith because they know US Muslims are deficient in the study of Hadith. However they did not realize that Muslim scholars have studied EACH hadith and categorized its strength and weakness.  There is nothing that these enemies of Islam can tell us about Hadith.

3. They then started attacking the beloved wife of the Prophet, pbuh, Aisha, r.a., not realizing that Aisha, r.a., is the greatest Muslim woman, scholar, teacher, orator, poet, leader; pious, virtuous and chaste as witnessed by Allah Almighty himself.

4. They then started attacking Abu Huraira RA to weaken the several thousand hadiths that Muslims rely on for ebadah and daily life.

5. Some “Muslim” agents of the government are trying to fool the Muslim public and say that Muhammad, pbuh, forgave his enemies so we should too! I would say to these agents: If you are personally attacked, forgive the attacker. That is not the issue.

6. By attacking Muhammad, pbuh, the Zionists and Islam haters are attacking the ENTIRE ISLAMIC WAY of LIFE. The way we live, all our fasting and festivals, our marriages, our food, our child upbringing, our habits of cleanliness, EVERYTHING is connected to the example of the Prophet, pbuh.

7. Thus an attack on the Prophet, pbuh, is cultural GENOCIDE, an attempt to destroy Islam and the identity of Muslims and to make them ashamed to call themselves as such.  It’s like telling a child: Your mother is a whore and you are not legitimate!

8.  This is coming from the Zionists, the pariahs of the world. Look at their morality:

i)  They support fornication, adultery and the battering of women. More than 4,000,000 women are battered in the USA the moral and political guidelines of which are rapidly transferring to the control of Zionists.

ii) The movies the Zionists produce are chock full of images of violence against women.

iii)Now they have come out openly in support of homosexuality. Man on man, woman on woman.  Can scum cover the purity of the Prophet (pbuh)? They want to attack the Prophet, pbuh, and teach us morality?

iv)  Allah categorizes us as Muslim, Mumin, Muhsin, Mujahid, and Shaheed. These Zionists categorize Muslims as fundamentalists [those who pray and fast], extremists [those who protest peacefully against occupation of Muslim lands] and terrorists [those who resist occupation of their homeland with weapons].

12. Let us examine how “brave” are these people are who want to criticize our beloved, brave, just and gentle Prophet PBUH under the guise of the first amendment:

13. They sit in Tampa, Florida and fire missiles into Afghan & African villages. Their drones slaughter women children and old men under the guise of  “suspected militants.” Is this courage and justice?

14.They bomb villagers in impoverished Muslim countries who have no anti-aircraft guns and no food and then boast of their heroism and refer to their victims as “terrorists.”

15.They occupy Muslim lands and claim that Muslims are so violent that they don’t want their lands occupied!

16.Most of them are the progeny of those who carried on slavery for 400 years, raped every black woman and exterminated entire tribes of Native Americans. With this historical background they want to set the moral standards for Muslims and have the gumption to criticize the Prophet, pbuh?

17. For years under the guise of business corporations they have misled the innocent unsuspecting people of Africa and looted their wealth and polluted their soil and water.

Now Africa is rising up with the banners of Islam. Libya, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria… our African brothers and sisters are becoming game changers……..

End Khutbah

Allah Subhanawataala in the Quran describes the fate of those who harm or insult the Prophet pbuh:

سورة المسد

بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ ﴿١﴾ مَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُ مَالُهُ وَمَا كَسَبَ ﴿٢﴾ سَيَصْلَىٰ نَارًا ذَاتَ لَهَبٍ ﴿٣﴾ وَامْرَأَتُهُ حَمَّالَةَ الْحَطَبِ ﴿٤﴾ فِي جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌ مِّن مَّسَدٍ ﴿٥﴾

 

[111:1] Yusuf Ali

Perish the hands of the Father of Flame! Perish he!

[111:2] Yusuf Ali

No profit to him from all his wealth, and all his gains!

[111:3] Yusuf Ali

Burnt soon will he be in a Fire of Blazing Flame!

[111:4] Yusuf Ali

His wife shall carry the (crackling) wood – As fuel!-

[111:5] Yusuf Ali

A twisted rope of palm-leaf fiber round her (own) neck!

Allah knows best!

Respecting the Messenger of Allah, The Best of Adam (AS) progeny

Some sensation mongers go out of their way to incite violence against muslims and denigrate the status of Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon Him. However we know from His blessed lips what he told us about WHO IS THE BEST OF MANKIND IN ADAM (AS) offspring.

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said,

“I have been sent (as an Apostle) in the best of all the generations of Adam’s offspring since their Creation.”  

Sahih Bukhari

Is it time to recognize the “muslim” Rosa Parks?

December 1, 1955. That was the day when an unknown seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger beginning the Civil Rights Movement

 Rosa Parks: Symbol of Peaceful Resistance to Segregation & Racism.

Great Islamic Women who refused to go to the “back of the bus” Should be recognized

An African-American family I know stood for six hours in line for a final view of Rosa Parks before her burial. A simple, peaceful act of non-compliance with an oppressive law made this seemingly ordinary woman famous. The symbolism of her gesture [or non-gesture] caught the public imagination.

Rosa Parks was a kindly, soft-spoken woman but she knew what was right and was willing to stand [sit] for it. She refused to give up her seat in the bus to a White man and would not go to the back of the bus where the “law” said she belonged.

Segregation is a thing of the past but institutional racism refuses to go away. In spite of laws to the contrary, most American cities are unofficially segregated, with Black areas and White areas, blurred increasingly by Hispanic and Asiatic areas. Even churches remain Black and {largely} White churches.

There are no signs saying, “Whites only” but the “class” component of racism persists, and the aftermath of Katrina brought out the reality of institutional racism.

Within this American imbroglio, the power of Islam is emerging, slowly but surely. American women are saying a clear NO to the power of Madison Avenue, Hollywood and even Wall Street. I spoke at a mosque in Philadelphia and tried to explain the misunderstandings, which are prevalent in America about Afghanistan.

At this a woman got up and said: Bush should stop attacking the Taliban for making Afghan women wear the burqa. We are wearing it right here in Philadelphia.

Sure enough, she was wearing a head to foot covering but it did not stop her from being eloquent.

Eid prayers in Philadelphia and other big cities bring out the power of Islam in America. If Bush and Wolfowitz were to see the serried ranks of Muslim women in full hijab on these occasions, they would probably have nightmares about an end to their efforts to “liberate” women.

The history of Islam is replete with examples of women who stood up to power because they had faith in Allah and loved the messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace be on him.

It’s not strange that the first person to advise and encourage Muhammad, pbuh, about the authenticity of his mission was his wife Khadija, r.a., who put her entire capital at his disposal. Here are a few salient examples we should recognize and honor:

• Summayya, the first martyr of Islam. She was a slave woman but was liberated by Islam. [“Free the slave,” says The Qur’an, chapter 90.] When she refused to ‘go to the back of the bus,’ her slave master tortured her to death.
• Fatima, the sister of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, defied him for the sake of Islam. He was a big, strong man. He beat her but his heart softened when he saw her bleeding. He accepted Islam, r.a., and sought Allah’s forgiveness. His life was transformed by her.
• ‘Ayesha, the daughter of Abu Bakr, r.a., married the messenger of Allah at a very young age. Poet and genealogist, educated by the Prophet himself, she became teacher, leader, Hadith-transmitter, Qur’an-commentator. She led men at the battle of Jamal. Her oratory had no equal.
• Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad, pbuh, known for her great piety and wit, stood by him on the field of battle and at Uhud became the first Muslim physician. She, as the mother of Imam Hasan and Imam Hussain, is the symbol of sublime motherhood in Islam.
• Umm Ammara shielded Muhammad, pbuh, at Uhud with her own body against the attacking oppressors when most of his male defenders had fled. She is known as a great warrior who participated in Islam’s classical battles even after the Prophet, pbuh, passed away.
• Umm Waraqah was Hafiz of the Qur’an and led men and women in prayer as ordered by the Prophet, pbuh. [See Hadith in Sunan of Abu Dawud.]
• Ghazala, in the era after the Caliphate of the Rashideen, defied the power of the kings, sword in hand. Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi has chronicled her exploits when she went to the main mosque in kufa [controlled by the King] and prayed two rakats and recited the longest chapters of the Qur’an in them. The historian attacks her as a “Kharijite.”
• Nafisa [daughter of Hasan bin Zayd bin Hasan, r.a, son of Ali, r.a] great teacher and leader. Imam Shafi’ii was her devotee and student. She LED the JANAZA prayers of Imam Shafi’I. [There was a series of prayers for him that day.] Ibn Hajar Asqalani has listed 150 visionary aspects of her life. Ibn Khallikan described her as one of the Awliyya Allah.

In our own times, Chechen, Palestinian, Iraqi, Sudanese, Nigerian, Somali, Kashmiri, Pakistani, Afghan, African-American women devoted to the message of the Qur’an and the example of the Messenger, pbuh, have made great sacrifices to fight oppression, exploitation and imperialism/Zionism/occupation.

It’s about time we recognized our “Rosa Parks.”