Islam – Page 2 – madin118

Reflections Dec 2018

I’m a proud Muslim should not make us arrogant. Clean your heart to build bridges. You have a solid relationships with Allah. Money brings temporary happiness. The Best of us is the one whose bridge is stronger with Allah and rasool. We render our actions to Allah not to his rasool. Prophet was a shining example. So follow him in everything you can. When you get closer to Allah, your heart becomes soft. It’s a sign from Allah that your heart is soft. Guidance is in the hands of Allah. Our task is to convey the message. The message of love and peace. We help each other to get closer to Allah. Respect those you disagree with. The same laws that are allowing you to practice your religion is allowing them to practice what they are practicing.We control ourselves from eating junk food so we are healthy. Likewise we control ourselves from committing sins so we have a healthy akhira.Treat the other gender with utmost respect. That’s building bridges. When you reach out to others, they see the beauty of Islam. None of you enters paradise except with the mercy of Allah. How do we get the mercy of Allah? We get the mercy of Allah through our deeds. He wants to see that we are doing our best. Try your best and Allah will give you the rewards. The fact that you do the deed with the correct intention then He will shower you with His mercy. Istigfar is very powerful. Be happy with what Allah has provided to you. Allah looks at the heart and the actions. You worship Allah alone. Treat other creatures with respect. Think good of others. Try and keep trying to get His mercy.Allah wants to forgive, so ask Him to forgive you. Do the deed then protect it. Allah has said: it is your deeds I reckon you with. Whoever finds goodness thank Allah you write your book. So proofread. You can still delete. Write a beautiful chapter everyday. Those who find goodness should thank Allah. We should always be hopeful of the mercy of Allah. One is to search for guidance. Second is to ask Allah for it. Don’t just sit at home and ask for it. Those who strive in our cause, we guide them. You have to try, Allah will do the rest. O Allah guide us to the straight path. Seek clothing from Allah. Ask Him to cover us. He is the one who covers and feeds. Thank Allah for whatever He has granted them. Deeds should bring humility. Do your deeds and be humble. Your hearts need to be cleansed. Whatever is asked of Allah and He bestows it to them, nothing is lowered or diminished from His treasury. Nothing is displaced from His kingdom. Having nothing of this donya, and their deeds are great. Materialistic matters, look at those who have less than you. In terms of Deen, look at those who have passed you. A sign of good deed is your heart being soft. This is a sign of acceptance. Allah requested Moosa to talk to pheroah in kindness.Always start with the name of Allah. He is the greatest. This is tauheed. He is the one who is going to grant us success. Then send blessings and salutation upon Mohammad PBUH. He was chosen by Allah. Allah says acknowledge the prophet the way I acknowledge him. Allah is the one who chooses. If Allah raises you, no-one can drop you. Praise be to Allah, the creator, the norisher, the provider, the protector, the cherisher. The control of the entire existence. Prostration is only for Allah and no-one else. I believe in the names and qualities of Allah without adjusting them. Who is our personal Savior? Allah. He is the one who made me. Mohammad PBUH is the best of creation, but we never render an act of worship for him. Because we believe in Allah. We respect the messenger at the highest level. Only Allah knows the condition of the heart. So never judge others by the condition of their heart. To go to a fortuneteller is an issue of Iman. We only say bismellah. Start with the name of Allah.

These are some reflections I noted while listening to some of the scholars such as Mufti Menk.

Arab & Arabic

Iman & Faith

We all say we have Iman (Faith). One might ask: what is Iman? the word Iman has the same roots as Amn (أمن) which means security or safety. To have faith (Iman) means what we believe from within us or from within our heart is going to give us safety and security. So when we say we believe in One God (Allah), we believe He is going to protect us. Hence He provides safety and security. when our believe is true and free from any forms of hypocrisy, then it will manifest itself on the outside. This is what the above quote says. The actions testify the faith within the heart. Furthermore, this is also what we understand from the Saying that the heart is like the king and the limbs are the subordinates. Whatever the king orders, the subordinates obey and follow. So if the king is corrupt, the entire body will be corrupt and there is no place in Jannah for what is corrupt. What we conclude is instead of focusing solely on the outward look, we need to focus more on our inside and try to purify our heart. The beauty within us is going to reflect to the outside. May Allah help us purify our hearts & shine our hearts with light of Iman & grant us entry into His Jannah.

Bodypainting

Here are some thoughts about the event that takes place in some mega cities around the world. The event is called Bodypainting and it is considered to be an art. Yes, painting is an art and the one doing the painting is an artist. We admire the talent that an artist has in performing the work of art. So what is the issue with bodypainting? There is no issue with bodypainting in and of itself unless the paint applied to the skin is harmful or contains harmful substances. The issue is going out naked. The bigger issue is spreading indecency in the society. That is to say going out naked is OK & acceptable while being fully covered is not acceptable. What direction is our society moving toward? If we look at how people used to dress two or three generation before us, we would see a big difference. Whose fault is it? Do the media have a role to play in this change? Definitely, yes. How about the porn industry? Definitely, yes. The porn industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry that is destroying individuals’ sense of indecency and corrupting the souls. Hence, what is good is considered evil and unacceptable and what is bad is considered acceptable. What we believe is that this the the devil’s agenda. Namely: to expose what is covered of the private parts. Shaitan’s (devil’s) ultimate agenda was to get clothes removed from Adam & Eve. So what the filth industry is doing now is simply accomplishing Shaitan’s goal. Based on what Allah says in soorah 7 v. 20: humans beings being exposed without clothes in public is something ugly; it is something indecent inherently; it is something evil. In the nature of human beings, it is not tempting to look at nudity. When our nature gets corrupt, we want to look at nudity. Because inherently, nudity is called ugly in the Quran.

May Allah help us to purify our souls and protect us from all sorts of filth and indecency.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMfj0YjNk7E

Why does Allah give human beings a hard life?

In islam, our fundamental relationship with Allah is Rabb (Lord/Master) & Abd (slave). The thing about a master is that you don’t negotiate with a master. You negotiate with an employer; you can also negotiate with a partner; you can negotiate with a family member. When there is a master and slave, who negotiates all the terms? The master. The slave’s only position is to follow all these terms. The other thing about a master is that if he gives you something, it is a bonus and if he does not give you something, he did not have to. Because you are not salaried. You are a slave. Slaves are not salaried. Usually when you think of masters, they are oppressive; you think of chains, beatings, etc. that is human masters. Allah is a different kind of master. He is the only kind of master. As Allah states in soora Fatiha: this is the kind of master that before you even know that He is your master, you know that He deserves praise and gratitude. No other master deserves praise and gratitude right off the bat. The first thing you think of a master is someone you should praise; someone you should be grateful to. The only thing a slave would think of is when can I get free of this guy? But for Allah, all you think is praise and gratitude. Now coming to the idea of why Allah does not give me a perfect life. The question assumes that Allah owes you something. Like an employer who owes you something. i.e. your pay-cheque. Your business partner owes you something, your cut. Your parents owe you something. They are responsible to raise you. Your children owe you something, your wife, husband, they owe you something. Allah owes you nothing. He does not owe you anything. As a manner of fact, you owe Him every breath. So when you phrase this question, I should have a perfect life, you have already undercut the idea that Allah is your master, like you are in some sort of position to make demands. Right? When you take that away, it is an uncomfortable thing. ‘’I want God to be my friend; I want Him to be someone who helps me like I pray to Him.’’ You want to dictate what this relationship should look like similar to any relationship, friendship. There are different kinds of friendship. I talk to some friends different from other friends. So in every relationship, we figure out what is going to be the give & take. Some figure they should figure out what their relationship with God is going to be like. For example, they say: I am going to do this for Him, He’d better do this for me. The give & take. The bigger problem with this kind of attitude is you are deciding what the terms are. To put this into perspective, who should decide what the terms are between you and the supreme being? -The one who knows everything. His terms override yours. What you have in mind is less relevant and what He dictates is far more relevant. This might sound harsh, but if you give His terms a chance, for example if you study Quran. Quran is His terms. Here is what it means to be my slave. When you study quran, you find that it is not a book of do this or If you don’t do this, this is going to happen. As a matter of fact, for the most part, it is the relationship of loyalty, gratitude, love, friendship, remembrance, longing. It is a really beautiful relationship. This Master wants me to be a slave who loves Him, who is friend with Him, who talks to Him all the time, remembers Him all the time. He says: remember Me, I will remember you. Who talks like that? That doesn’t sound like a master. right? So Quran shatters your view of what Allah means as a Master. He wants to be your Friend; He wants you to be His friend. But first understand that He is your Master. Then understand that He is your friend. He wants to be a giver of gifts to you, but before He gives you gifts, He wants you to understand that He is your Master and you are the slave and He wants to give gifts to you. He wants to show you love; He wants to show you mercy, forgiveness, wisdom, knowledge. He wants to give you all these stuff. He wants to teach you. He wants to be your teacher too. He wants all of these things. All these relationships. So it is not one relationship. It is a lot of relationships. But at the helm of them all, He is the Master & you are the slave. Which means whatever happens in this relationship, your humility should never go away. Because the idea of slavery is: it is the most humble job description in existence. There is no more humble a job than a slave; you can’t get lower than that. These questions lack humility because they reek of entitlement. “I want, I want, I want” you could still want, but you if you want as a slave, it is different than when you want as someone who is entitled. Allah is not saying you cannot ask. You can ask, but He will decide when to give & what to give. So the answer to this question isn’t actually what Allah decides to do or not to do, but how we perceive Allah ourselves. The problem lies in our perception, so when you correct the perception, the problem is solved. People -around the prophet pbuh- who did not believe. If you were to ask them who made the skies and the earth. They would say Allah. They have no problem accepting Allah as the creator. Ask them who the master is. There is silence because that requires me to be a slave. If I call Him the Master, this makes me slave, makes me humble. If I ask you who made this car and you say lexus or honda. I can accept that. Who is your boss? Who is your ultimate authority? But who owns the car? That is my car. This is the line that has to be crossed when somebody enters into islam. They have to accept Allah as Rabb (Master), they have to accept themselves as slave.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S047WdXLLa0