A Yearning for Hajj

Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabaraktuh

InshaAllah you are all in the best of health and highest of eemaan

The great days of Dhul-Hijjah began on Wednesday 18th November alhamdulillah. I'm not going to talk about these days in terms of what we should do because I will advice you to please read the following entries by fellow bloggers to understand its significance and importance:

http://alternativeentertainment.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/the-first-ten-days-of-dhu%E2%80%99l-hijjah-2/

http://diaryofamuslimgirl.blogspot.com/

http://muslimmatters.org/2009/11/17/retread-the-10-best-days-yasir-qadhi-video/ (theres a post and a link to Shaykh Yasir Qadhi video here)

http://www.happymuslimah.com/

http://www.igotitcovered.org/

Though all the links have information and advice regarding these days they are varied so i advise that you try read all of them,they arent too long!(honest)


For me when Eid-ul-Fitr ends and the talk of hajj begins and people start preparing for it thats when i start to feel a little sad. The reason being is that I have never been to hajj or to umrah and the emotions I have from the previous years are rekindled again and I begin to yearn for hajj.

Again this year i've been relying on good old Islam channel(Sky 813) and been watching it live twice a day whenever I can catch up with it. The vision of the millions of people performing tawaaf around the ka'bah,praying at the Harem where the reward of praying one salaah is multiplied many times and people drinking zam zam water,all just make me yearn for hajj and its experience. I imagine being there and seeing the ka'bah for the first time,how emotional would that be. Another aspect is the demonstration of unity of the muslim community,the ummah during hajj overwhelms me as everyones purpose is ONE,thier clothes is ONE,and their call is ONE.

I also think of the historical significance. The place and its link with the prophets (peace be upon them). It is the place where Ibraheem (AS) was commanded by his Lord to leave his wife Hajrah and baby son Ismaeel(peace be upon them) and she ran between the hills of Safa and Marwa to look for water. Allah has honoured her and now all the millions that perform Hajj be they men or women follow her footsteps and also run from Safa and Marwa. The water of Zam Zam that Ismaeel(Peace be upon him) was blessed with is still drunk every day by millions without running out subhanAllah.

It is also offcourse the place where our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him,his family and companions)was born,the place where he got married and lived together with our mother Khadijah (May Allah be pleased with her) The mountain of Hira where the Prophet (Peace be upon him) recieved the first revelation. Scared he ran to his beloved wife Khadijah,and she comforted him.It was the place where the enemies of Islam tortured many muslims and place of Islam's first matyr,Summayah (May Allah be pleased with her). Many years later it was the place where the Prophet(Peace be upon him) returned and took over Makkah,yet he was a humble with his eyes down and offering amnesty to those who tortured him,his family and companions for years before.

And offcourse most importantly its a command by Allah to perform hajj for those who can afford it and are physically able to do so. I was watching an interview with brother Baba Ali from ummah films and he said he and his wife saved money in an envelope for hajj and it took them 8 years mashaAllah.I pray that one day I will be in the position to go hajj inshaAllah and that Allah accepts it ameen. I pray that Allah grants all the hujjaj and accepted hajj,and gives all those who haven't been yet the ability and strength to do so ameen.

I have to remind myself though of the importance of these days and even though i'm not at hajj I can still do plenty here inshaAllah and gain Allah's love,pleasure and forgivness inshaAllah. May Allah keep my intentions pure and save me from all types of evil ameen.

All that I have said which was good is from Allah and all that I have said which was bad is from me and shaytaan and may Allah forgive me for it ameen.

Please remember me in du'as everyones and inshaAllah i hope we ALL take advantage of these days.

Until next time inshaALlah
wasalam

Selection of Du'as from the Holy Qur'an

رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُّسْلِمَةً لَّكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَآ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ
التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ

Our Lord! Make of us Muslims, bowing to Thy (Will), and of our progeny a people Muslim, bowing to Thy (will); and show us our place for the celebration of (due) rites; and turn unto us (in Mercy); for Thou art the Oft-Returning, Most Merciful
[2:128]

Rabbana wa-j'alna Muslimayni laka wa min Dhurriyatina 'Ummatan Muslimatan laka wa 'Arina Manasikana wa tub 'alayna 'innaka 'antat-Tawwabu-Raheem






رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
[البقرة :

Our Lord! Grant us good in this world and good in the hereafter, and save us from the chastisement of the fire
[2:201]

Rabbana atina fid-dunya hasanatan wa fil 'akhirati hasanatan waqina 'adhaban-nar






رَبَّنَا لاَ تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَحْمَةً إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الْوَهَّابُ
[8: آل عمران]

Our Lord! (they say), Let not our hearts deviate now after Thou hast guided us, but grant us mercy from Thine own Presence; for Thou art the Grantor of bounties without measure
[3:8]

Rabbana la tuzigh quloobana ba'da idh hadaytana wa hab lana milladunka rahmah innaka antal Wahhab






رَبَّنَا وَتَقَبَّلْ دُعَاء
[إبرهيم


Rabbana wa taqabbal Du'a

O our Lord! And accept my Prayer.
[14:40]

EID MUBARAK

EID MUBARAK EVERYONE!
HOPE U ALL HAD A BRILLAINT DAY INSHA ALLAH

You Love to Forgive

assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh

This is it now the last 10 days and nights inshaAllah i just wanted to remind everyone of the following hadith which I have taken 'I got it covered' and also Muslim Matters hope they don't mind. please remeber me and my family in your du'as wasalam



Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said: I asked the Messenger of Allah salla Allahu alayhi wasallam: “O Messenger of Allah, if I know what night is the night of Qadr, what should I say during it?”

He said: “Say: ‘O Allah, You are the one who pardons greatly and love to pardon, so pardon me.‘” [Ahmad, Ibn Majah, and Tirmidhi]

عن عائشة رضي الله عنها قالت : يا نبي الله أرأيت إن وافقت ليلة القدر ما أقول ؟
قال : تقولين : اللهم إنك عفو تحب العفو فاعف عني

رواه أحمد بسند صحيح

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My prayer for my community

Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabaraktuh

I live near the inner city of Birmingham, which has a large population of muslims mainly Indian,Pakistani and Bangladeshi. Recently many Somali families have also moved in. The non Muslim population are mainly Afro Carribbean. The area has many problems of drugs,crimes,poor housing, low income and poor education. Alhamdulillah there are many projects that are working to improve these conditions but its just a drop in the ocean in my opinion. However I feel that our local masajid have a role to play in this and sometimes I cant help feeling bitter about the inactivity in our masajids when it comes to the youth and women.


My prayer and hope for my community is that the crime rates will fall, drugs will become a thing of the past,the young people will have a strong sense of Islamic identity and will be moral,upright and contribute postively to the community. The masajid will be the place where the youth will turn to,where the imaams play football with the kids. They will be centres for the community which hold halaqahs for men,women and adolscnce. A place for childrens activities, homeowork help, help with jobsearch, fitness centres for men and women,counselling sessions,help for the refugee populations,places where weddings shall be be celebrated,dawah will take place and the non Muslim community would be welcomed in. They will be think tanks for how to deal with problems in the community and the commitee will allow the young and the women along with our first generation uncles.

Call me idealistic but I have hope. InshaAllah.

P.S Please do not think that I am pointing fingers at all the massajid in Birmingham I know of many that do great jobs such as Birmingham Central masjid and Greenlane Masjid I just hope many other follow suit inshaAllah.

If I have said anything wrong I pray Allah forgives me and guides me ameen

5 ways to make this Ramadan extraordinary!‏

Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,

My dear friends and students,

Welcome to our long-lost friend: Ramadan. How we have missed the days of self-restraint and the nights of mercy and delight! After eleven months of sinning, we now have the opportunity to avail ourselves of a month of mercy and forgiveness. For those whose duas have not been answered, the month of answered duas has arrived. For those who have drifted away from the soothing night prayer, or who have never achieved it, the month of the blessed taraweeh has arrived. Welcome to our Lord’s mercy: the month of Ramadan. No doubt each and every one of us approaches Ramadan with a special excitement. Alas for many of us, however: the excitement is met with fear and dread instead.

Will this Ramadan be like the previous ones where I failed to truly take full advantage and mend my ways?

Will this Ramadan only demonstrate to me how far away from Allah I truly am?

Will it be yet another month that passes by without my taking full advantage of it?

If you are feeling this way, know that you are not alone. Many of us feel this way and do not know how to tackle it. As a result, the fear and dread are enough for us to avoid setting new goals and higher aspirations for this month. As a result, we find ourselves at the end of the month in the situation of having failed to benefit from this opportunity and languishing in sorrow at the thought that we will never improve.

I too used to get these whispers and thoughts in my mind. However, I overcame these thoughts with the help of Allah. Here are five things that I have done to tackle these "Ramadan blues". Let me share them with you; perhaps the suggestions may benefit you, and help you to overlook the past and focus on the future.

Good thoughts about Allah: I remind myself that my Lord is most Generous and Kind. He loves me sincerely. The proof is that even when I disobey Him He still provides for me. That is why He is giving me yet another Ramadan: yet another opportunity to get closer to Him again. He loves to forgive, and His best friends are those who seek His forgiveness the most. He has brought me to another Ramadan so that I can have yet another chance at Laylatul Qadr, and yet another chance to make my duas accepted at the time of iftar, and yet another chance to do Hajj with Rasul-Allah (sall-Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) by doing umrah in this month. He has brought me to Ramadan to sooth the sorrows in my heart with His remembrance, and for me to be reminded of the nights in my grave by the solitude of i’tikaaf: by seeing how it feels to be alone with Him in the mosque. He wants me to lighten the load on my mind, so that is why He has given me the month of the Qur’an: so that I can relive the amazing Word of my Rabb (Lord and Master). The salaf (pious predecessors) would beg Allah for another opportunity for Ramadan, so how fortunate I am that He has given me this chance once again. How fortunate I am that He has given me the chance to know when this month is, so that I can take advantage of it. How fortunate I am that He has given me the yearning in my heart to meet my Lord in this month - and I know that the one who loves to meet His Lord, Allah subhaanahu wa ta’ala also loves to meet him.

Forget the past and focus on the future: I remind myself that past deeds are just that: a matter of the past. I live for the future, not the past. The past will be forgiven insha’Allah if I can mend the future. My concern should be the next deed that I do, because Allah loves to forgive; so I can have every confidence that He will forgive the past because I have nothing but regret for my past sins. The most important consideration for me is what sort of amends I make now. I remind myself of what Imam Ibnul-Qayyim (rahimahu-Allah) said in his Nooniyyah:

By Allah I am not afraid of my past sins,
For indeed they are upon the path of repentance and forgiveness;
Rather my real concern is that [in the next deed] this heart
Might cease to act upon revelation and upon the noble Qur’an.

Evaluate previous attempts in order to plan a strategy to make it work this time: I remember that it is illogical to think that my future chances of success are a reflection of my failures in the past. My past inabilities only show me what to do better this time so that I can increase my chances this time around. So if I tried to pray taraweeh every night but failed, I should look back at what happened in order to learn lessons from those failures. Was it that the Imam’s recitation was not good? If so, then let me try to find a mosque to go to whose Imam recites better. If I failed to complete reciting the whole Qur’an last year, let me look at why that was the case and how I can change it. Can I put up reminders to read the Qur’an, or shall I buy a few more copies of the Qur’an and put them in more convenient places, such as one in my car, another in my briefcase and another on my table, so that I have a mushaf always on hand? If I missed getting up for fajr last Ramadan, why did it happen and how can I change it? Perhaps I should buy more alarm clocks, so let me go to the store right now. Perhaps I should SMS my friends to start a fajr prayer-calling group so that each day one of us is responsible for waking the others up. Perhaps I should make my suhur my heaviest meal so that my body feels hungry at suhur-time and so I get up more easily.

Reward, challenge and penalise myself: I can plan and prepare to reward myself if I finish this Ramadan satisfactorily. So I tell myself that if I can make myself pray all my prayers at the earliest time this Ramadan and recite the Qur’an five times this month, then I will buy myself a new laptop; if I can recite it ten times then I will go away with my family for a holiday, or some other significant reward that I know I would definitely like to treat myself with. I warn myself that if I fail to at least recite the Qur’an five times in this month, then I will donate a thousand dollars to charity. I remind myself that even Allah’s Messenger sall-Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam used to give worldly rewards to those who excelled in battle: e.g. half the war-booty from the raids to the Muslim knights who had taken part in the raid; he (saw) would consider it a great sin upon the one who fails to join the obligatory battle. In the same spirit of reward, challenge and penalty, I would do this for my children and my wife as well by helping them with a reward if they do something extraordinary this month, and a penalty if they did not even do the minimum extra level. In this way I can give them an added incentive to do good in this limited time of Ramadan. I remind myself that ultimately we must do it for Allah and never for a physical prize, but associating an emotional desire with an action and fear of a punishment at the non-performance of it will cause that action to be foremost in the subconscious part of my mind. I remind myself that the worst thing about not making this Ramadan special is going to be something worse than the penalty I have stipulated. It will be the disappointment of a Ramadan wasted, and the risk of Allah’s wrath.

Create peer-pressure and responsibility: I remind myself that if I make my friends and family aware of some of my goals, then they might help me. So I share some of my goals with them, ensuring that I am doing it to engage their help in performing it, not in a spirit of boasting. I hope that this will give me added support and encouragement to ensure that they help me in achieving the good things I have set out to do. If they do not help, at the very least they should not mind when I excuse myself from their service or company in order to spend some time on working towards my goal.

I hope that some or all of these things will help you to look upon this Ramadan with a fresh outlook. Make lots of dua to Allah that this Ramadan will be special for you, for your family, and for the Ummah of our beloved sall-Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. I am interested in hearing from you if you have other things that you do to focus positively at the advent of another Ramadan.

Jazaakumullahulkhair and my duas for you and your family for a fantastic and blessed Ramadan, insha’Allah;

wassalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,

Tawfique Chowdhury
Director General
AlKauthar Institute and Mercy Mission World

Heart Wheel Journal by Shaykh Muhammad Al Shareef

i forgot to mention in my last post about the heart wheel journal which everyone can download and print and use to help us maxmise our good deeds in ramadhaan and set ourselves goals inshaAllah.
you can download it here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6377253/Heart-Wheel-Journal-102

also you can watch it on youtube inshaAllah just search heart wheel journal

wasalam

Ramadhaan mubarak everyone!

assalaum alaikum warahmatullahi wabaraktuh everyone, inshaAllah everyone is in the best of health and highest of eemaan just a quick post to wish you all and your families:

RAMADHAANUL KAREEM MUBARAK !!!

May this month be a means for us to get closer to Allah subhanahu wa Ta'la,to purify ourselves,attain His forgiveness and save ourselves from the fire,a means to enter jannatul firdaws togther with our families and loved ones ameen ya Rabb

with best wishes,du'as and love
eternal peace

Cannon Hill Park - Changing Times

Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabaraktuh

inshaAllah everyone is well

Yesterday,late afternoon my dad and I decided to go to Cannon Hill Park. We usually just go to our local parks for a walk but yesterday I fancied going a little further. I have many fond memories in that park and while I was there yesterday I started to reminisce ,playing during summer in the huge(well seemed like it at the time) adventure playground,boat rides,climbing trees,wearing shorts and tee shirts,or sometimes pink frocks with pink plastic sunglasses LOL,taking pictures by flowerbeds and shaking hands with clowns on stilts! The park was almost identical to the one I remember many years ago but there one massive change I coudn't help noticing; the people.

Years ago I would see many non muslim white faces and saw the odd asian family here and there but hardly ever saw a sister with hijaab or a brother with a beard. (There maybe a few but I may have missed them because I was too busy playing!) Yesterday I saw many Muslim families and soooo many hijabi sisters mashaAllah. The park is usually quite busy espcially in summer and really ideal for family days out. I saw many hijabi sisters having picnics with families,taking a walk, one bike riding and there was even a group of hijabi sisters playing badminton. I really loved the atmosphere mashaAllah and glad to have seen so many Muslim sisters and brothers. It was a positive image of Islam in todays age of media stereotype. Ethnically it was a nice mix of ,Indian, bangladeshi,pakistani,arabs,chinese, african and jamacian to name a few. I mean the style of hijabs was so diverse that the team at hijabshigh blog would have had a field day!

I guess the point is that alhamdulillah I think our community is changing and many young sisters have started to embrace the hijaab and brothers the beard.

Yesterday as I watched the people pass by on a warm breezy evening I was proud of my city, different coloured faces,a range of clothing,heard many languages. So diverse.

until next time
wasalam