ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGE

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Knowing Allah

Do you want to know Allah? Do you strive to obey Allah? Do you yearn to please Allah? Do you consider and ask yourself these questions daily? Do we reflect on who Almighty Allah is in our prayers? Do we understand the power of Allah when we stand before him?

Allah is more merciful than our own mother upon us. If it’s not Allah whom you desire to please, if it’s not Allah whom you turn to then where would you go to? Who would look after you and shelter you, aid you and protect you other than Allah? You were created in this world for a purpose, for a reason, and that is to know Allah. Do we not exist in this world except to know Allah SWT and to worship him? Allah in His glorious Quraan says, “And I did not create jinn and mankind except to worship me alone.”

In order to worship Allah you must strive to become closer to Him. You must ponder the attributes of Allah in order to try to know Him. In order to fear and love Allah SWT we are required to know Him. Part of our worship is to know Allah. Whenever anything other than Allah is in our hearts, whenever any other than Allah SWT is the one whom we love and submit to we invite corruption into our hearts and it leads to our destruction. Knowing that Allah is the cause of life for the individual is the second birth that every person who believes in Allah will experience.

Allah describes the life that was given to the person after he was dead. “And is one who was dead and We gave him life and made for him light by which to walk among the people like one who is in darkness, never to emerge therefrom? Thus it has been made pleasing to the disbelievers that which they were doing.” [Surah Al An’am, v 122]

There is no doubt that knowing Allah is the greatest and noblest of knowledge. It is the Ilm – the beneficial knowledge we are encouraged to seek. When you learn about Allah SWT, you are learning about the purpose of your existence. You are learning about living a life set on the right course.

The first article of faith, Imaan, is to believe in Allah. Imaan substitutes loneliness, sadness, depression, and confusion with happiness, peace of mind, the ability to sleep at night, a sense of purpose and direction, explains Ustad Ali Hammuda.

“I swear by Allah, the One who possesses your soul and mine, that these are values that cannot be attained without Imaan regardless of the smiles that people issue you in public. They cannot be attained without Imaan. Why? Because the human heart possesses voids. The human heart has compartments and in order for you to be a happy individual every one of these compartments need their fill. There is the compartment of food which needs its fill. There is the compartment of drink and marital relations which need their fill. Shelter, peace and security need their fill. There is another compartment and this is where the vast majority of humanity has failed in filling, this is the compartment that says, ‘I want to know Allah. I want to obey Allah. I want to please Allah.’ This is a compartment that needs its fill as well.”

While we strive to be the best dressed, the best athlete, the best employee, we should remember that the most profitable best to strive for is being the best Muslim we can be. This pleases Allah and Allah is Great. There is none other better to please. There is no other’s pleasure to strive for. And in pleasing our parents, spouses, children and friends in the correct way, we please Allah SWT also.

Ibn al Qayyim’s (rahimahullah) heart-softening words were, “Surely in the heart of every human being, there is a sense of scattering which cannot be brought back together except by turning to Allah. And in the heart of every human being there is a sense of loneliness which cannot be put out except by being close to Allah. And in the heart of every human being there is anxiety and there is a sense of fear and unease which cannot be removed except by fleeing to Allah. And in the heart of every human being there is a sense of guilt and regret which cannot be removed except by being pleased and content with Allah.”

To attain Allah’s love should be our primary goal. It is the most important thing absent on many a bucket list. We’ve become so consumed with the world and its acknowledgements and prizes we don’t know of the magnificent ways our Most Merciful Allah blesses us in this life.

Abu Huraira (radiallahu anhu) narrates that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said, “If Allah loves a person, He calls Jibraeel (alayhi salaam) saying, ’Allah loves so and so; O Jibraeel love him. And make an announcement amongst the inhabitants of the heaven, Allah loves so and so therefore you should love him also’, and so all the inhabitants of the heaven would love him, and then he is granted the pleasures of the people on the earth.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

It is also narrated by Abu Huraira (radiallahu anhu) that Allah’s Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said that Allah said, “I will declare war against him who shows hostility to a pious worshipper of mine. And the most beloved things with which My slave comes nearer to Me, is what I have enjoined upon him; and My worshipper keeps on coming close to Me through performing Nawafil (praying or doing extra deeds besides what is obligatory) till I love him, then I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hands with which he grips, and his legs with which he walks; and if he asks Me, I will give him, and if he asks My protection (refuge), I will protect him.” [Al-Bukhari]

There is no better aid other than Allah SWT. There is no better love to covet other than Allah’s love for His slave. There is no better acknowledgement to seek other than Allah’s

Sunnah of prophets

By Salmaan ibn Fahd al-'Awdah

I remember meeting a young man in al-Masjid al-Harâm once during the month of Ramadan. He had come to Mecca to perform `umrah. He was wearing a white turban and had hair falling past his shoulders. He wore a short robe that may possibly have reached to halfway down his shins. Above that robe he wore a black shirt that bore some resemblance to a cloak. He stood out, even in Mecca during Ramadan, and his appearance caused people to stare at him in amazement.

He sat down with me, so I asked him about his appearance. He told me that he was following the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him)in his manner of dress and in the way he kept his hair.

I took this opportunity to explain to him that the correct ruling regarding the turban is that it is not Sunnah. It is merely an Arab custom that existed from pre-Islamic times. The only reason the prophet (peace be upon him) wore a turban was because it was the customary dress of his people. We cannot say that wearing the turban is something our faith enjoins upon us any more than we can suggest that it is prohibited. It is purely a matter of culture and custom. There is no authentic hadîth regarding the turban.

Then I explained to him that the strongest legal verdict regarding the hair is that it is also a matter that is governed by custom. The length of the prophet’s hair is not a Sunnah for us to follow. What is Sunnah is what the Prophet (peace be upon him) enjoined upon us, and that is simply for the person who has hair to keep it nice. The question of hairstyle is not something serious.

Then I said to him: “You are performing `umrah. The Sunnah about which there is no disagreement is that a man who performs `umrah should shave his head. The Prophet (peace be upon him) supplicated to Allah saying three times: ‘O Allah! Forgive those who have shaved their heads’ and then only after that said once ‘…and those who cut their hair.’ Why did you abandon such a clear and certain Sunnah?”

Finally, I advised him, saying: “Be wary of your true inner motives, especially when you find that you are setting your self apart and attracting the attention of others. Be careful not to adopt some outward behaviors, that are matters of disagreement among scholars, in to make people pay attention to you. That is one of Satan’s subtle tricks. Do not forget that the Prophet (peace be upon us) forbid us from wearing close that draw inordinate attention to ourselves.”

Indeed, that was a Sunnah that this young man had certainly forgotten.

This is an example of a misunderstanding of the Sunnah, where a person places such great attention on particulars of custom and habit that are themselves inconsequential, that he ends up violating major rulings that he most certainly should be following and neglecting the Prophet’s guidance.

The Sunnah is not there to test people about the smallest particulars and minute details. It is not there to impose upon people a host of regulations and theoretical assumptions that they cannot bear to uphold. People should not find themselves in a state of worry and anxiety about matters that would otherwise not even have crossed their minds or would have passed beneath their notice. It is worse when investing those matters with such a serious emotional commitment causes people to violate the limits of Islamic Law with respect to the sanctity of other people, their rights, and the good treatment that is due to them. It is wrong when attention to such matters causes people to neglect their duty to others and the need for unity and the nurturing of faith.

The Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is something great and profound. It is not limited to the particulars of our acts of worship, even though those particulars are certainly part of the Sunnah. Its is far broader in scope and far more general in its relevance. It encompasses all the noble ideas by which the purpose of the Prophetic Message is realized. The Sunnah provides the means to achieve the noble purpose for which Allah created the human being. Allahh says: “I only created the jinn and humanity so that they would worship me.” [Sûrah al-Dhâriyât: 56]

The Sunnah is there so people will uphold the meaning of their faith, go forth in carrying out good works, and conducting themselves in a good manner. The Sunnah also explains to us how to carry out the essential pillars of our religion –our testimony of faith, our prayers, our Zakâh, our fasting, and our pilgrimage.

This is why, when Allah tells us about the Prophets of old, He informs of the greatest Sunnah acts associated with them. He says: “And We made them leaders, guiding people by Our Command, and We sent them inspiration to do good deeds, to establish regular prayers, and to practice regular charity; and they constantly worshipped Us.” [Sûrah al-Anbiyâ’: 73]

These are the objectives that all the Prophets (peace be upon them) stove to bring to realization. This is the essence of their mission and their Message. This is the foundation of the Sunnah that Allah tells us about in the Qur’ân and that His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) elaborated to us in the hadîth.

We can see this in the hadith where he speaks to Gabriel about the pillars of Islam, of faith, and of excellence. We see this in all of the good works he carried out and in how he established the principles of Islam and put them into practice. We see it in how he fortified his faith with certainty and humility and with the worship of his heart, how he perfected his character and his manners, and in how he united the Muslims in the worship of Allah.

He never endeavored to bring about strife or division among them. He never did anything to compromise the establishment of mercy among them. The Prophet peace be upon him commanded his followers: “Give good tidings and do not drive people away.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (69)]

These are the most important aspects of the Sunnah. Do we ever see in the Sunnah of the prophet (peace be upon him) any violation of good morals or any abandonment of the meaning of mercy that Allah has made a primary purpose of His Message?

We do not find in the Sunnah any cause for inspiring intolerance and loathing; rather we find in it every opportunity for magnanimity and the conveying of glad tidings.