HOW SHOULD I LOVE MY MOTHER?

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How should I love my mother? As Allah has commanded me:

بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ إِحْسَانًا ۖ حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ كُرْهًا وَوَضَعَتْهُ كُرْهًا ۖ وَحَمْلُهُ وَفِصَالُهُ ثَلَاثُونَ شَهْرًا ۚ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا بَلَغَ أَشُدَّهُ وَبَلَغَ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً قَالَ رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَىٰ وَالِدَيَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَالِحًا تَرْضَاهُ وَأَصْلِحْ لِي فِي ذُرِّيَّتِي ۖإِنِّي تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَإِنِّي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ ﴿١٥﴾

Allah – the Most High – said:

[46:15] Yusuf Ali

We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents: In pain did his mother bear him, and in pain did she give him birth. The carrying of the (child) to his weaning is (a period of) thirty months. At length, when he reaches the age of full strength and attains forty years, he says, “O my Lord! Grant me that I may be grateful for Thy favour which Thou has bestowed upon me, and upon both my parents, and that I may work righteousness such as Thou mayest approve; and be gracious to me in my issue. Truly have I turned to Thee and truly do I bow (to Thee) in Islam.”

Hadith:

A man came to Allah’s Messenger and said: O Messenger of Allah! Who from amongst mankind warrants the best companionship from me? He replied: “Your mother.” The man asked: Then who? So he replied: “Your mother”. The man then asked: Then who? So the Prophet replied again: “Your mother.” The man then asked: then who? So he replied: “Then your father.” So this necessitates that the mother is given three times the likes of kindness and good treatment then the father. 

Related by al-Bukhari (no.59710 and Muslim (7/2), from Abu Hurayrah radialliaahu’anhu

 

**** Photo courtesy: http://islamicartdb.com/elderly-muslim-lady-reading-quran/

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

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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

What is a Muslim Father?

 

Muslim father and child: Courtesy: http://www.shaalom2salaam.com/2011/04/father-and-son-leaving-mosque.html

What is a Muslim Father ?

 It’s not easy to be a Muslim father. Here are some guidelines if you are a father:

1. The father must put Allah first above all else.

2. In all matters, ask yourself what Muhammad, peace be on him, would have done.

2a. Live according to Islam. Pray, fast, help those in need, be with the Muslim community and make sure your children have Muslim friends. ***

3. It’s your job to earn for your family, other than in situations beyond your control.

4. NEVER abuse your children or their mother, physically or psychologically.

5. Consult [do SHOORA] with your children and their mother in all matters concerning the family.

6. Give more care, honor and love to the DAUGHTERS over the sons.**

6a. In worldly matters treat your children equally with justice*

7. Teach the children to Love, honor and respect their mother.

8. Do not make obedience a personal matter. Obedience is to Allah alone.

9. Tolerate and respect differences of opinion within the family but do not tolerate violations of Islamic Law.

10. If a child is in open rebellion against Islam, he/she must be repudiated, but keep the door of repentance and love open. The punishment must be more in sorrow than in anger.

*** “O ye who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern and severe, who flinch not [from executing] the commands they receive from Allah, but do [precisely] what they are commanded.” [The Quran 66:6]

 ** From Abdullah ibn Abbas, r.a.: The messenger of Allah, peace be on him, said:

“One who is given a daughter and does not bury her alive [as in the Days of Ignorance], does not despise her, and does not prefer his male children to her, Allah will enter him into Paradise.” [Hadith, Sunan of Abu Dawud.]

*From Na’uman bin Bashir, r.a. ……………[From the messenger of Allah, peace be on him] :

Fear Allah and treat all your children equally with justice….Wouldn’t you like all your children to treat you well?…” [Hadith, Sahih of Bukhari.]

HADITH HATERS & HADITH DENIERS: A RESPONSE FROM THE QURAN

courtesy: http://muttaqun.com/scienceofhadith.html

WHAT DOES THE QUR’AN MEAN by SAYING that it EXPLAINS ALL THINGS?

A Refutation of those who Attack Hadith

Hadith deniers are not a new product of modern day western civilization but have been unsuccessfully chipping at this post for a long time. Now with the advent of the internet they have a wider audience than before.

In 1861 a Christian missionary writer named William Muir wrote a book titled THE LIFE of MAHOMET in which he attacked Hadith. A famous Muslim scholar of the time, Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan answered Muir in detail. Unfortunately Sir Sayyid was himself a great admirer of British power and was deeply overawed by the majesty of the British Empire. He gradually succumbed to Muir’s attack and start casting doubts on some segments Hadith. Gradually he narrowed down the efficacy of Hadith to a very few aspects of life.

Through Sir Sayyid’s influence on westernized Indian Muslims, the attack on Hadith gradually entered the mentally defeated segment of what we today call the Pakistani elites or the Pakistani ruling class.

In 1896 a Jewish scholar named Goldziher launched a massive attack on Hadith in his publication Muhammedanische Studien. It was not translated into English until 1967 but in 1950, its major thesis was taken up and built on by another Jewish scholar Joseph Schacht in his book ORIGINS OF MUHAMMADAN JURISPRUDENCE.

Under the influence of Sir Sayyid, a number of writers under severe inferiority complex to the west emerged. The most important of these was Ghulam Ahmed Pervez who carried out systematic and scurrilous attacks on Hadith. His magazine Tolu-e-Islam, started in 1938, became a rallying point for anti-Hadith writings with a clear pro-government bias.

In the 1960s came Dr. Fazlur Rahman who carried out a more sophisticated attack on Hadith.

All these anti-Hadith efforts were tackled by scholars of various schools of Islamic thought in Pakistan. Abul Ala Maudoodi was the most famous of these but there were others whose rebuttal of the anti-Hadith people was more far reaching than his. [Maudoodi was too polite towards the attackers.]

IF THE QUR’AN CONTAINS EVERYTHING and HADITH IS NOT NEEDED ….

The QUR’AN DOES NOT MENTION RAPE. I asked the anti-Hadith people to give me chapter and verse from the Qur’an on rape. What is rape, what is its punishment and how is this punishment to be implemented? Give chapter and verse. I sent my question to the Pervaizi followers and other anti-Hadith people. They are unable to give chapter and verse.

So the Qur’an does not mention the punishment for rape. It’s given in Hadith. [My book LIBERATION of WOMEN THRU ISLAM is the only book in English which gives the Hadith on rape.] Qur’an and Hadith have always been together.

So let’s look at the verses of the Qur’an which are misused by the Pervaizi cult and other anti-Hadith people.

SURA 16 VERSE 89

This is one of the verses which the “Qur’an Only” cult [Pervaizis] keep repeating. They quote it as follows:

“We have sent down to thee the Book explaining all things.” [16:89]

Actually the whole verse is as follows:

“On the Day we shall raise from all Peoples a witness against them, from amongst themselves: And we shall bring thee [O Muhammad] as a witness against these: And WE have sent down to thee the Book explaining all things, a Guide, a Mercy, and Glad Tidings to Muslims.”

[Note the extra-Qur’anic role of the Prophet, pbuh, as witness against his people. If Muslims are Muhammad’s, pbuh, people, then he, as leader through his teachings, is a witness against them till the Day of Judgment.]

NOW FOCUS ON THE WORDS “explaining all things” [“tibyaanal-li-kulli shay’in” in Arabic.] Does this mean that the Qur’an covers every possible issue and leaves nothing out, with emphasis on ALL?

Other verses of the Qur’an indicate that this is an idiom which indicates that fundamental or generic issues of a great variety are covered. Seminal issues are covered. For instance, harshness towards women is forbidden, as in Sura Nisa. But it does not mean that EVERYTHING is in the Qur’an.

Let’s understand this terminology from the Qur’an itself. For instance, about the Tablets or Commandments given to Moses, the Qur’an uses just about the same words:

“And we ordained for him in the Tablets in ALL MATTERS, admonition and EXPLANATION of ALL THINGS, (and said): “Take and hold these with firmness, and enjoin thy people to hold fast by the best in the precepts: Soon shall I show you the homes of the wicked.’ ” [7:145]

[The Arabic for the words I have put in capitals is “min kulli shay’in’ and “tafsillal-li-kulli shay.”]

Evidently ALL things could not possibly be written on explained on the Tablets. It is simply idiomatic expression for essentials and fundamentals.

Now focus on the word ALL [kull in Arabic]. Does it mean LITERALLY ALL and EVERYTHING in Arabic? Let’s see what the Qur’an says:

“And thy Lord taught the Bee to build its cells in hills, on trees, and in habitations: Then to eat of ALL [“kull’] of the fruits (of the earth) and follow the ways of thy Lord made smooth… [to the end of the verse]” [16:68-69]

Obviously the ALL here is idiomatic and not to be taken literally. No Bee can possibly eat of ALL the fruits, literally.

“And proclaim the Pilgrimage among men: they will come to thee on foot and on EVERY {“kull} camel lean, through deep and distant highways.” [22:27]

Again the word EVERY camel has to be idiomatic. It cannot be taken literally to mean that every possible camel will be ridden by the pilgrims!

In the story of the Queen of Sheba (known as Bilqis), the Hoopoe says:

“I found a woman ruling over them and provided with EVERY THING {“kull sha’yi”}, and she has a magnificent throne.” [27:23]

Evidently Bilqis did not LITERALLY have every thing. It is an idiom to indicate that she has all the fundamental riches of the world.

To conclude this section, the Qur’an includes ALL the fundamental and seminal issues which humanity needs but there are many important things not in it which were taught by the Prophet (pbuh.)

[Also, once Qur’an and Hadith are understood they can be used as basis for Islamic understanding, BUT BOTH do not cover many things for which ijtihad, qiyas, and many other forms of reasoning are needed.]

The Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) explain how Muhammad (pbuh) understood and implemented the verses of the Qur’an. Everything he taught is as much a part of Islam as is anything in the Qur’an.

Rape was defined and punished by the Prophet (pbuh) and he also indicated that the woman’s word be accepted and the man be punished after proper investigation for rape. It’s in the Hadith, NOT in the Qur’an. The Prophet’s pbuh word, in authentic Hadith, is LAW in Islam as much as the Qur’an is.

Courtesy:http://www.iappfind.com/app/396844916

DO REMEMBER YOUR MUSLIM BROTHERS & SISTERS IN PRISON IN YOUR DUAS AND YOUR SADAQA…..

Photo courtesy: Muslims prisoners praying: Courtesy: http://islamicsunrays.com/muslims-praying-in-amazing-places/

Please do think of the rewards that Allah Subhanawataala has reserved for you this Ramadan when you send food or money for the muslim prisoners all over the world:

Surah AL Insaan:

وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا ﴿٨﴾

[76:8] Yusuf Ali

And they feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive,-

 إِنَّمَا نُطْعِمُكُمْ لِوَجْهِ اللَّـهِ لَا نُرِيدُ مِنكُمْ جَزَاءً وَلَا شُكُورًا ﴿٩﴾

[76:9] Yusuf Ali

(Saying),”We feed you for the sake of Allah alone: no reward do we desire from you, nor thanks.

 ﴿٩﴾ إِنَّا نَخَافُ مِن رَّبِّنَا يَوْمًا عَبُوسًا قَمْطَرِيرًا ﴿١٠﴾

[76:10] Yusuf Ali

“We only fear a Day of distressful Wrath from the side of our Lord.”