Isra' wal Mi'raj

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah,

This week sermon reminded us about the most important event in Islam in the month of Rejab (though, the Islamic scholars are not in consensus about the actual date when it happened, due to lack of Sahih Hadiths or any sayings from renown companions). It is the event of Isra' wal mi'raj (The Night Journey and Accension to Heaven of the Prophet Muhammad SAW. This year, the Night falls on 30 July (this coming Wednesday). This event was mentioned briefly in Al-Quran, Suratul Isra' (1 & 60)

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Glorified (and Exalted) is He (Allâh) [above all that (evil) they associate with Him]. Who took His slave (Muhammad SAW) for a journey by night from Al-Masjid-al-Harâm (at Makkah) to Al-Masjid-al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem), the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed, in order that We might show him (Muhammad SAW) of Our Ayât (proofs, evidences, lessons, signs, etc.). Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer[] (1) ...

And (remember) when We told you: "Verily! Your Lord has encompassed mankind (i.e. they are in His Grip)." And We made not the vision which we showed you (O Muhammad as an actual eye-witness and not as a dream on the night of Al-Isrâ'[]) but a trial for mankind, and (likewise) the accursed tree (Zaqqûm, mentioned) in the Qur'ân. We warn and make them afraid but it only increases them in naught save great disbelief, oppression and disobedience to Allâh. (60)

Let us refresh our minds with the whole stories. We can find many versions of Hadith regarding this matter, but below is only one of them which I selected.

From Sahih Muslim (Book 001, Number 0313):

Anas b. Malik reported: Abu Dharr used to relate that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: The roof of my house was cleft when I was in Mecca and Gabriel descended and opened my heart and then washed it with the water of Zamzam. He then brought a gold basin full of wisdom and faith and after emptying it into my breast, he closed it up.

Then taking me by he hand, he ascended with me to th heaven, and when we came to the lowest heaven, Gabriel said to the guardian of the lowest heaven: Open. He asked who was there? He replied. It is Gabriel. He again asked whe he there was someone with him. He replied: Yes, it is Muhammad with me. He was asked if he had been sent for, He (Gabriel) said: Yes. Then he opened (the gate). When we ascended the lowest heaven (I saw) a man seated with parties on his right side and parties on his left side. When he looked up to his right, he laughed and when he looked to his left, he wept. He said: Welcome to the righteous apostle and the righteous son. I asked Gabriel who he was and he replied: He is Adam (peace be upon him) and these parties on his right and on his left are the souls of his descendants. Those of them on his right are the inmates of Paradise and the parties which are on his left side are the inmates of Hell; so when he looked towards his right side, he laughed, and when he looked towards his left side, he wept.

Then Gabriel ascended with me to the second heaven. He asked its guardian to open (its gate), and its guardian replied in the same way as the guardian of the lowest heaven had said. He (opened it). Anas b. Malik said: He (the Holy Prophet) mentioned that he found in the heavens Adam, Idris, Jesus, Moses and Abraham (may peace be on all of them), but he did not ascertain as to the nature of their abodes except that he had found Adam in the lowest heaven and Abraham in the sixth heaven. When Gabriel and the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) passed by Idris (peace be upon him) he said: Welcome to the righteous apostle and righteous brother. He (the narrator) said: He then proceeded and said: Who is he? Gabriel replied: It is Idris. Then I passed by Moses (peace be upon him) and he said: Welcome to the righteous apostle and righteous brother. I said to (Gabriel): Who is he? He replied: It is Moses. Then I passed by Jesus and he said: Welcome to the righteous apostle and righteous brother. I said (to Gabriel): Who is he? He replied: Jesus, son of Mary. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Then I went to Ibrahim (peace be upon him). He said: Welcome to the righteous apostle and righteous son. I asked: Who is he? He (Gabriel) replied: It is Abraham. Ibn Shihab said: Ibn Hazm told me that Ibn 'Abbas and Abd Habba al-Ansari used to say that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Thereafter he ascended with me till I was taken to such a height where I heard the scraping of the pens. Ibn Hazm and Anas told that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: Allah then made fifty prayers obligatory for my Ummah and I returned with that and passed by Moses. Moses, (peace be upon him) said: What has thy Lord enjoined on thy people? I said: Fifty prayers have been made obligatory on them. Moses (peace be upon him) said: Return to thy Lord, for thy Ummah would not be able to bear this burden. Then I came back to my Lord and He remitted a portion out of that. I then again went to Moses (peace be upon him) and informed him about it He said: Return to thy Lord, for thy Ummah shall not be able to bear this burden. I then went back to my Lord and He said: They are five and at the same time fifty, and what has been said will not be changed. I then returned to Moses and he said: Go back to thy Lord. whereupon I said: I feel ashamed of my Lord. Gabriel then travelled with me till we came to the farthest lote-tree Many a colour had covered it which I do not know. Then I was admitted to Paradise and saw in it domes of pearls, and its soil of musk.

More importantly than just to know and commemorate this event is to learn a few lessons from it.

TBC

Shedding Tears for Fear of Allah

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah,

Last Friday's sermon was about a feature that a Muslim should have. It relates to the condition of the heart of a Muslim. The better the condition of the heart, the easier to gain this feature. It is also correct in reverse. The more we are able to do this feature, the cleaner our hearts will be. The feature that the khatib spoke about last week was "Shedding Tears for Fear of Allah."

From Islamic point of view, shedding tears will cleanse and tenderize our hearts, and clean hearts shall bring about good manners that are acted by our limbs and other organs. Similarly, in medical perspective, a good heart shall keep other parts of the body in a healthy condition.

Remember one Hadith (from the collection of Malik's Muwatta (also in Sahih Bukhari & Sahih Muslim)) that shows how this feature is recognized by Allah s.w.t.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Khubayb ibn Abd ar-Rahman al-Ansari from Hafs ibn Asim that either Abu Said al-Khudri or Abu Hurayra said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'There are seven whom Allah will shade in His shade on the day on which there is no shade except His shade: a just imam, a youth who grows up worshipping Allah, a man whose heart is attached to the mosque when he leaves it until he returns to it, two men who love each other in Allah and meet for that and part for that, a man who remembers Allah when he is alone and his eyes overflow with tears, a man who refuses the approaches of a noble, beautiful woman, saying "I fear Allah," and a man who gives sadaqa and conceals it so that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives.' "

So, how do we get this feature? There are many practical ways with which we can achieve to gain this feature. Among others;

1) Set a specific time in a day (normally at night) for us to ponder about what we have done for the whole day. Reflect on our wrongdoings, on our laziness to do good deeds, on our lack of knowledge, on our weaknesses to fight with satan's whispers, on the lack of struggles to overcome our own "self"(nafs), so on and so forth.
2) Avoid doing sins, whether minor or grave sins since a sin will represent a black dot on our hearts and as hearts become darkened with sins, they harden and shedding tears for Allah will become difficult.

Wallahu'alam and TBC

Know Your Enemy

Assalamualaikum,

Last week sermon was about realizing about the strategies used by syaitan to set us astray from the path of Allah.

Syaitan is one of our greatest enemies. To be successful in this life and the hereafter, we are bound to make ourselves known of the traps set by syaitan.

Remember satan's covenant with Allah in Suratul Isra (61-65)

And (remember) when We said to the angels: "Prostrate yourselves unto Adam." They prostrated except Iblîs (Satan). He said: "Shall I prostrate to one whom You created from clay?" (61) [Iblîs (Satan)] said: "See this one whom You have honoured above me, if You give me respite (keep me alive) to the Day of Resurrection, I will surely seize and mislead his offspring (by sending them astray) all but a few!" (62) (Allâh) said: "Go, and whosoever of them follows you, surely! Hell will be the recompense of you (all) - an ample recompense. (63) "And befool them gradually those whom you can among them with your voice (i.e. songs, music, and any other call for Allâh's disobedience), make assaults on them with your cavalry and your infantry, share with them wealth and children (by tempting them to earn money by illegal ways - usury or by committing illegal sexual intercourse), and make promises to them." But Satan promises them nothing but deceit (64) "Verily! My slaves (i.e the true believers of Islâmic Monotheism), - you have no authority over them. And All-Sufficient is your Lord as a Guardian." (65)

And in Suratul Sad (72-85)

So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him (his) soul created by Me, then you fall down prostrate to him." (72) So the angels prostrated themselves, all of them: (73) Except Iblîs (Satan) he was proud[] and was one of the disbelievers. (74) (Allâh) said: "O Iblîs (Satan)! What prevents you from prostrating yourself to one whom I have created with Both My Hands[]. Are you too proud (to fall prostrate to Adam) or are you one of the high exalted?" (75) [Iblîs (Satan)] said: "I am better than he, You created me from fire, and You created him from clay." (76) (Allâh) said: "Then get out from here, for verily, you are outcast. (77) "And verily!, My Curse is on you till the Day of Recompense." (78) [Iblîs (Satan)] said: "My Lord! Give me then respite till the Day the (dead) are resurrected." (79) (Allâh) said: "Verily! You are of those allowed respite (80) "Till the Day of the time appointed." (81) [Iblîs (Satan)] said: "By Your Might, then I will surely mislead them all, (82) "Except Your chosen slaves amongst them (faithful, obedient, true believers of Islâmic Monotheism)." (83) (Allâh) said: "The Truth is,— and the Truth I say, — (84) That I will fill Hell with you [Iblîs (Satan)] and those of them (mankind) that follow you, together." (85)

The traps used by satan to mislead us can be summarized as follows;
1. Seduce us to take partnership with Allah s.w.t (Shirk)
2. Taint our sincere intention in doing good deeds with pride etc.
3. Encourage us to create innovation in the religion (bid'ah)
4. Tempt us to do grave sins
5. Tempt us to continue doing small sins

Wallahu'alam and TBC with more quotations.

Resource Management

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah,

Today's sermon revolved around how we, as Muslims, should manage the resources granted by Allah to us. The resources can be in many forms, financial, materials, intellectuals, time, so on and so forth.

When speaking about the management of all of these resources, Muslims should be the frontrunners in doing this efficiently. Why? Because we have the history, we have the unbeatable legacy, we have strong references (Al-Quran & Hadiths) and we have enough manpower. And above all, all of us will be accountable to the way we spend our resources, thus we should be more careful than the others in managing all of these resources.

It is sad to admit that, we are very bad in it. Our carelessness and insensitivities about time-keeping, for example, have resulted in below average productivity in our countries. The consequence is that we are depending on non-muslims countries in almost every aspect of our lives. Food, education, clothing are mainly imported from them. More important than that is the fact that we will be judged and repaid by Allah according to what we have done to the resources (which are ni'mah) given by Allah to us.

Remember when Allah (s.w.t) says in Al-Quran, in Suratul Asr,

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
By (the Token of) time (through the Ages), (1) Verily Man is in loss, (2) Except such as have Faith, and do righteous deeds, and (join together) in the mutual teaching of Truth, and of Patience and Constancy. (3)

In Suratul Kahfi, verses 102-108, the meaning of people who lose is again defined;

(102) Say: "Shall we tell you of those who lose most in respect of their deeds?― (103) "Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life while they thought that they were acquiring good by their works?" (104) They are those who deny the Signs of their Lord and the fact of their having to meet Him (in the Hereafter): vain will be their works, nor shall We on the Day of Judgment, give them any Weight. (105) That is their reward, Hell; because they rejected Faith, and took My Signs and My Messengers by way of jest. (106) As to those who believe and work righteous deeds, they have, for their entertainment, the Gardens of Paradise (107) Wherein they shall dwell (for aye): no change will they wish for themselves. (108).

Even though it is not directly mentioned in the above verses, in essence, we, as Muslims should be managing our resouces more effectively and efficiently than other people. When we promise, we should keep our promise, when we eat, we eat just to relieve our hunger so that we can worship Allah, when we dress, we use clothings that are adequate to protect us from different weather condition and to close our dignity and aurah. We should not be wasting resources by not keeping time, by having too much food leftover, by wearing more-than-needed clothing, by using nice and expensive car just for the sake of status in the society and so on. We are asked to be moderate in consuming and using all of these things which should be used only for their practicalities instead of for protecting the status or for indulging in excessive lifestyles.

Wallahu 'alam and TBC