Wisdoms and Witticisms

This is one of the most beneficial books I have ever read. It discusses selfish planning about Islam and is a good reminder on reliance. This book is so amazing that I have trouble summarizing it. Just buy it and read it for yourselves. It’s a must-read for anyone trying to reach Allah.

Though the print press was introduced in the Western World in the 15th century, it was not used in the Muslim World until the 19th century. The reason for this was that the Ottoman Sultan forbade its use out of respect for the Arabic language. They did not want to see the same letters in the Quran being beat onto something. Until then, copying books was tedious. Anyone who has done calligraphy knows that lined paper is required and people had to draw their own lines. Dipping reed pens into ink every one or two words is also tedious. Scholars would also have to prepare their own ink by boiling a certain part of sheep and bring sand to absorb it better. They also made their own pens. Then the process of copying hundreds of pages could begin. Despite the difficulty in this, this system was not without its advantages. Only the best of books survived. Nothing was copied unless a qualified scholar believed it to be worth copying. Things have changed since then. Anyone with enough money and an agenda can print whatever they want. Mass literacy has also taught people to read but the overwhelming majority lack the critical thinking skills to discern good texts from bad texts. And don’t think that undergraduate degree gives you the ability to think critically. What then happens is the simplest answer, right or wrong, prevails. Because of this, I am cautious of any book written less than 250 years ago. I’ll leave the rest up to you, dear reader, to figure out. Talk amongst yourselves.

The old games are getting boring and the new games do not interest me. It’s all a big waste of time anyway. Plus with Syria and the 1L, I won’t have time anyway. I need to turn to Allah more too. Hamdullah this is happening. Video games have always brought out the worst in me. It’s all about nafs and a desire to win. Keep me in your dua’.

The story is well known. Prophet Ibraheem looked to the starsand turned to them as god. However, they were eclipsed by the brightness of the moon, so he turned to the moon as god. The sun then rose and eclipsed all of them in brightness. Later the sun set and he said “I love not that which sets.” It was then Allah spoke to him.

I find myself in a similar situation. I lived in the Tampa Bay Area for 15 years out of my 20 years as best as I can count. In a few weeks, I will have to leave and I will do so with a heavy heart. I’m going to Damascus for the Summer and then Tallahassee for Law School. I don’t know if I will ever come back to live here. Certainly I will visit my family and friends and I will do my best to keep in touch. This is the nature of the dunya. Everything sets except Allah. “Everything is fleeting and the countenance of your Lord shall remain.” What I should be doing is submitting myself to Allah’s will (the meaning of Islam) and accept the path Allah has put me on without turning back. However, my heart, by its weakness, is attached to other than Allah and does not rely on Him to take me to the best way. Allah promised in various points in the Quran that he will have mercy upon the believers. My lack of trust in Him is terrible adab, even sinful. It is attached to the sense of normalcy that I have developed. It is attached to that which will inevitably set, unlike Allah for nothing is anything like Him. I fear for myself when Allah will move me from this world to the next. If I become anxious about moving four hours away, how will I feel when I move a whole dimension! Learn this lesson from my mistake so you do not repeat it!

I ask everyone who reads this to make dua’ that Allah make my heart turn to nothing but Him, that Allah cure our hearts of its diseases and encompass us in His mercy, that we cross over the Sirat with ease, and that we are finally reunited with Allah’s beloved messenger where we will be allowed to drink a sip from the hawd from his blessed hand.

The question you posed to me forced me to think about why I follow what I follow.  And I organized some conditions to which a guide should have.

Firstly they should have sound knowledge.  If you do not know with whom or what institution someone studied at, do not take from them unless it is a basic universal (such as advising to pray or holding one’s tongue).  Imam Suhaib Webb studied at al-Azhar Sharif, one of the greatest Islamic institutions on the planet.  Though its prestige has taken some hits in the past couple of decades, there is still a tremendous amount of good.  I follow Sheik Muhammed al-Yaqoubi because I know he studied under Sheik Ibraheem al-Yaqoubi and Sheik Mekki al-Kattani, among many others for over 40 years.  I searched for where Anwar Awlaki studied and I could not find information specific enough.

Another condition is good character.  Good character is defined as being the character of our beloved messenger, may peace and prayers be upon him.  As one follows Allah properly, then their character will improve and they will have more light.  There are non-Muslim university professors who know more about Islam than many Muslims do but we do not follow them.  We know from our sacred texts that worship purifies the soul and prevents us from sinning because of the effects on the heart.  Compare Habib Ali Jifri and Bilal Phillips and youtube and decide who has the more Prophetic character.  I think you know enough to discern.

Finally, they should have reverence and respect for anything related to Allah, the Lord of Might, and His Beloved Messenger.  Sheik Muhammed would not permit me to put books, pens, or paper on the floor because these were things used in studying Allah’s law.  One of the Salaf would not touch a bow without ritual purification because the Prophet touches a bow.  Many of them would cry and shudder just at hearing mention of the Prophet.  When Imam Malik, may Allah be well pleased with him, was looking for a teacher, he would ask them about the Prophet and he followed the one who reacted with the most reverence.  Imam Malik himself was once relating a hadith and was stung by a scorpion 16 or 60 times (I forget) without noticing because of his reverence to the word of the Prophet.  I was once in Damascus speaking with my cousin, a scholar, and I paraphrased a hadith.  He corrected me saying that many of the righteous can feel light when they hear Prophetic hadith.

These conditions are the best I can come up with.  If you can talk to Imam Suhaib again, ask him about this and he will probably give a better answer.  Also, do not always assume those who describe their qualifications as doing so out of arrogance.  The Prophet described himself as the messenger of Allah on many occasions and he did so without arrogance.

Also, it helps if one is a descendant of the Prophet.  Allah in the Quran says “Allah only desires O! The members of the family of the prophet! That He may remove from you every uncleanness and purify you well after cleaning you thoroughly.” (33.33).  Imam Muslim narrates that the Prophet said “O people, I am a human being. I am about to receive a messenger (the angel of death) from my Lord and I, in response to Allah’s call, (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah in which there is right guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it. He exhorted (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and then said: The second are the members of my household I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my family. He (Husain) said to Zaid: Who are the members of his household? Aren’t his wives the members of his family? Thereupon he said: His wives are the members of his family (but here) the members of his family are those for whom acceptance of Zakat is forbidden. And he said: Who are they? Thereupon he said: ‘Ali and the offspring of ‘Ali, ‘Aqil and the offspring of ‘Aqil and the offspring of Ja’far and the offspring of ‘Abbas.”

and Allah knows best.

People will work their entire lives sometimes in a field just to have enough to eat.  However, Allah asks only for very little in terms of what is obligatory and rewards with that which is better than the entire dunya and what is inside it.  Reflect upon this.

A carpet is large enough to accommodate two sufis, but the world is not large enough for two Kings. -Sultan Selim

I don’t understand why people watch them. The eyes are a pathway to the heart. Bad goes in, bad comes out. So all the violence, sexuality, and everything else wrong in movies wreaks havoc on the heart and blinds it from the divine light.  I used to watch movies. My siblings were watching a movie on the TV and it showed terrible things being done to people. I can understand how the lower-self would be entertained by this but it is unacceptable to the higher-self. Going by this fact, I am bothered that this is such a large industry.

You can learn about people through their language.  I was contemplating the words “master” and “mistress” because I have this strange interest in etymologies.  Something I noticed was the word “master” was a strictly positive and formal connotation and the word “mistress” had a definition, the most widely used one in fact, as a negative connotation.  Theoretically, if there was true sexual equality, both words would mean the same thing.  Even the language has been altered to accommodate the idea that women are sex objects.  Perhaps women are less free that they were 200 years ago.  For anyone who does not believed, I challenge you to read Sheik Abdul-Hakim Murad’s essay “Boys Will be Boys.” I also challenge you to listen to the movie “Killing us Softly” which is about the advertising the female body.