The Wake Up Call

I hope everyone is in the best of health and in the state of ever increasing iman. Mashallah many people are benifiting from Almaghrib institute, the recent class is about the names and atributes of Allah (swt), Subhanallah. I was not able to attend this extraordinary class due to family concerns, but anyway what I wanted to say was this: As i was driving back from work a few days I was planning on what to do when I got home and what I was going to do after whatever I had planned, my thoughts were so far from the remeberance of Allah that it surprised me later, Iam driving the speed limit and out of absolutly no where a deer comes running full speed into my car, out of impulse I swirved to the left and almost lost control of the car, but I was in the mercy of Allah. As I regained control and stopped to get out, it hit me "that could've been it" my qiyamah could have started right then and there! As i was swirving around I thought to myself about my last salah, my last deed, was it pleasing to Allah or not. Was I ready to meet Allah, was I ready to be worthy of jannah, was I even able to show my heart to Allah. Its amazing how close we are to death, when I pass by a cemetary, I see the only difference between us and them is the fence, we are just on the other side. My little incident with the deer opened my eyes again. But, the question is for how long will they stay open. Subhanallah, If you were to die in a matter of two days and u knew that in two days it was going to be it, what would u change about yourself.....(reflect on that), the scholors of old would say that we would not change a thing in their lives, Subhanallah. Absolotuly amazing. The heart needs to beat....and so we stay alive. salaam

Road to Guantanamo

I hope everyone is in the best of health and in the state of increasing iman. Subhanallah since snow is coming down outside the college has decided to give us another snow day, alhumdulilah. On a down note, I saw a movie called Road to Guantanamo, it was a huge shock for me, even though we know what our brothers and sisters are going through, we dont know its extremeity until we actually see it with our own eyes. The three British brothers, may Allah give them the highest levels of paradise, endured so much that we should thank Allah that we have such brothers in the Ummah in this day and age. When you all watch this movie, and I encourge everyone to see this movie, whether or your muslim or non muslim. The American goverment is full of lies and they really become are clear as day when you watch this film.

Watch this movie people and do somthing about it. Inform people, spread the word in your communties, make flyers and distirbute them on your college campuses, work,neighbors, etc. Lets remember all of our brothers and sisters in our duas, all the time, its the least we can do for them. May Allah bless them each and every second, may he ease their suffering and grant them istiqamah and the highest level of iman and jannahtul firdous. The heart needs to beat...and so we stay alive.salaam

How to Achieve

I hope everyone is in the best of health and in the state of ever increasing iman. Subhanllah we had a snow day this week, we were hit by almost a foot of snow on tuesday night and into wednesday, it was awsome. Didnt have to go to class or work, its been a long time since I have been as lazy as I was that day. I did have to blow away all the snow from the garage but that was fun. Playing in the snow is the best. Anyway I have been going through this feeling for a long time, its frustrating at times. Its my intentions. I ask myself, "who Iam I praying for", "who Iam I reciting quran for", and things like that. The more i ask myself the less I can tell what my own intentions are. How iam I to acheive iklas in my actions. Its not like I do what I do for people, I want it to be only for Allah, but i find myself wrestling with my intenitons and always worrying about the last good deed. We know the hadith that the Prophet(saw) said they have failed who gained knowledge, without doing amal, and they have failed who did amal but without sincere intentions, and the ones who do have sincere intentions are in trouble because intentions sway like the wind. I just powerphrased it but thats what he said. If iam not doing what iam doing for Allah's pleasure then iam wasting my time. I dont know what to do, i read and listen about the scholors in the past who spent the whole night in worhship and then they would cry to Allah, because of their intentions, they use to say "Ya Allah, forgive us if our intention faultered at any time" Subhanallah. The only thing i guess i can do is make dua and continue to wrestle with my niyaah and i know that Allah is just. If any one has suggestions, Iam here to listen. (Btw dont you just love that picture)


On a diffrent note, I came across this absolutley beautiful hadith
"Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a traveler/wayfarer.
"When evening comes, do not expect (to live till) morning, and when morning comes, do not expect (to live till) evening.
Take from your health (a preparation) for your illness, and from your life for your death." The heart needs to beat...and so we stay alive.salaam

Revenge

I hope everyone is in the best of health and in the state of ever increasing iman. Subhanallah its friday and the week is coming to a screeching hault. This week went by extremly slow, i guess because i didnt have to much work at college and worked 3 days excluding today. Anyway who cares, I saw a movie recently called Fearless with Jet Li. It is an awsome movie, the martial arts and all of that stuff was great,iam really fond of martial arts. Their was a line that he said in the movie that really jumped out at me and it was quite relevent to us muslims. He said, "Revenge only leads to more bloodshed". As I thought about it, it became more and more clear to me that he was absolutly right. If we look at the condition of the muslim ummah, we see that we are fighting amoung ourselves. Why?? Because we cant agree on a political matter so we start to kill each other. In Iraq the Shia Sunni thing, which is so out of hand thats it seems like its a civil war. If one group just says STOP and think and look at the others ideas or where they're coming from, we would be in a much better situation. It would also unite us, and we need as much unity as possible.

All we need to do is try to understand where the opposing person is coming from. For example we have so many sects in Islam, if two sects got together and respectfully related their views and the others tried to understand without judging them and telling them so bluntly "you will burn in jahanum" that would ease our basless tensions. We need a little sacrifice a little patience and a little unity, and it will go a long way for us, people. Think about it, if someone smacks you and you forgive him, it will bring you closer. They will feel bad and soon apoligize and if we are united in our communities then society will follow and then eventually the ummah. The heart needs to beat....and so we stay alive. salaam

Mother

I hope everyone is in the best of health and in the state of ever increasing iman. Alhumdulilah my beautiful mother has returned from pakistan, as she went their for the nikah of my brother. In the past two weeks that she wasnt around, my house was just so empty and lonley. I told a very good friend of mine that their is nothing in this world that is more important then our parents. They take care of us when we are so helpless, they teach us the things that we need to learn, and they sacrifice so much for us, that it is beyond our imgination. Subhanllah, and then we speak to them like they are our slaves. Allah has "say not to them a word of disrespect and lower to them the wing of humility, and say, oh Allah have mercy on them as they did on me when i was a child." My mother and I are Mashallah very close, and your mother is really your best friend. She knows when your down, and upset, she knows when your happy and content, I ask myself, how?? The answer is a poem in arabic which i will relate to you in english.

There was a boy who met a man one day amd the man said to him "If you bring me the heart of your mother I will give you all the riches of this world". The boy was overjoyed and ran home, he grabbed a knife from his kitchen and stabbed his mother and ripped out her heart and began to ran to the man who had made him the promise. While running fear gripped him when he understood what he had done to his beloved mother. In his aniexty he tripped and fell, the heart then rolled out of his hand. Then the heart spoke out "Oh my son are you okay, are your hurt?" They boy again was overwhemled with what he had done, and out of rage decided to kill himself. But then the heart spoke again "Oh my son kill me not twice, kill me not twice."

That is the heart of our mothers and we can only understand the mother when she is no longer their. Lets thank Allah for what we have today and take advantage of every second with our mothers because soon Allah will call them back. And we will have nothing left except for the memories. They are our jannah, lets serve them and please them, for the sake of Allah. That is our succes, inshallah. Iam glad my mother is back home with us, because she is my best friend. I have the answer to my question that I asked above, if you havent already figured it out, it is love. They love us more then anything and everyting in this world. Mothers are our best friends. The heart needs to beat....and so we stay alive. salaam

If the Prophet Visited You

IF THE PROPHET VISITED YOU,JUST FOR A DAY OR TWO,
IF HE CAME UNEXPECTEDLY,I WONDER WHAT YOU WOULD DO.

OH, I KNOW, YOU’D GIVE HIM YOUR NICEST ROOM, TO SUCH AN HONOURED GUEST;

AND ALL THE FOOD YOU’D SERVE HIM,WOULD BE THE VERY BEST.

AND, YOU WOULD KEEP ASSURING HIM,YOU ARE GLAD TO HAVE HIM THERE,

THAT SERVING HIM IN YOUR HOME,IS JOY BEYOND COMPARE.

BUT… WHEN YOU SAW HIM COMING,WOULD YOU MEET HIM AT THE DOOR.

WITH ARMS OUTSTRETCHED IN WELCOME,TO YOUR VISITOR?

OR…WOULD YOU HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR CLOTHES,

BEFORE YOU LET HIM IN?OR HIDE SOME MAGAZINES AND PUT,

THE QURAN WHERE THEY HAD BEEN?

WOULD YOU STILL WATCH FORBIDDEN MOVIES,ON YOUR TV SET?

OR WOULD YOU RUSH TO SWITCH IT OFF,BEFORE HE GETS UPSET?

WOULD YOU TURN OFF THE RADIO,AND HOPE HE HADN’T HEARD?

AND HOPE YOU HADN’T UTTERED,THE LAST LOUD, HASTY WORD?

WOULD YOU HIDE YOUR WORDLY MUSIC,AND INSTEAD TAKE HADITH BOOKS OUT?

COULD YOU LET HIM WALK RIGHT IN,OR WOULD YOU RUSH ABOUT?

AND, I WONDER… IF THE PROPHET* SPENT,A DAY OR TWO WITH YOU,

WOULD YOU GO RIGHT ON DOING THE THINGS,YOU ALWAYS DO?

WOULD YOU GO RIGHT ON SAYING THE THINGS,YOU ALWAYS SAY?

WOULD LIFE FOR YOU CONTINUE,AS IT DOES FROM DAY TO DAY?

WOULD YOU KEEP UP EACH AND EVERY PRAYER,WITHOUT PUTTING ON A FROWN?

AND WOULD YOU ALWAYS JUMP UP EARLY,FOR PRAYERS AT DAWN?

WOULD YOU SING THE SONGS YOU ALWAYS SING,AND READ THE BOOKS YOU READ?

AND LET HIM KNOW THE THINGS ON WHICH,YOUR MIND AND SPIRIT FEED?

WOULD YOU TAKE THE PROPHET WITH YOU,EVERYWHERE YOU PLAN TO GO?

OR WOULD YOU, MAYBE, CHANGE YOUR PLANS,JUST FOR A DAY OR SO?

WOULD YOU BE GLAD TO HAVE HIM MEET,YOUR VERY CLOSEST FRIENDS?

OR WOULD YOU HOPE THEY’D STAY AWAY,UNTIL HIS VISIT ENDS?

WOULD YOU BE GLAD TO HAVE HIM STAY,FOREVER ON AND ON?

OR WOULD SIGH WITH GREAT RELIEF,WHEN HE AT LEAST WAS GONE?

IT MIGHT BE INTRESTING TO KNOW,THE THINGS THAT YOU WOULD DO,

IF THE PROPHET MOHAMMAD,IN PERSON CAME,

TO SPEND SOME TIME WITH YOU.

The heart needs to beat....and so we stay alive.salaam

Baitullah

I hope everyone is in the best of health and in the state of ever increasing iman. Salaam to everyone, alhumdulilah allah has given me the opportunity to perform the hajj. I ask you all to pray that allah accepts my humble efforts inshallah. Hajj is somthing that is so physicaly challenging, that its unbelievable. But it is the most beautiful thing that a muslim goes through in his life. It requires so much sabr, and one really has to be mindful of where they are, if one does not understand the magnitude of the sacredness of the haraam, then they will utter words that are displeasing to allah. Subhanallah, in a hadith of the Prophet (saw) he said that an accepted hajj has no other reward than paradise. The way one gets their hajj accepted is simple, allah says you can't be intimate with your spouses, you can't sin, and you can't fight. If one does these 3 things and adds ikhlas then jannah is their final abode inshallah.

The best part about the whole trip was spending time in the haraam. As I walked through King Abdul Aziz gate for the first time, i went down the stairs and slowly walked with all the poeple waiting to lay eyes on the kabah for the very first time. As i came closer and closer to it, i started to see the black cover through the pillars in the beatiful masjid. Then all of a sudden, there it was in front of me and i was in a state of awe, the sight was absolutly breathtaking . Then i went down the small stair case and in the courtyard where the kabah itself is, and began the tawwaf. Subhanallah it was beyond words. While doing tawwaf one can do anyform of worship, obviously accept for salah. You can recite quran, make dua, make zikr, or any form of ibadah, and the best part is walking around the kabah is worship itself, so while walking and making dua we are doing 2 types of ibadah at the same time. I hope that made sense. I took alot of pictures there, but as i said hajj is so physicaly straining that i need to catch up on sleep and things like that. Inshallah i will have the pictures up soon, and the 5 or 6 people who read this can check them out. The heart needs to beat.....and so we stay alive. salaam