The Long Road Ahead

And What An Hour It Is…

 Tomorrow we are back at Ain Shams and will be lecturing on Appreciative Inquiry. This is essentially a management tool to aid organisational development for those interested. However this comes at the end of a tough week and will make for a nice change. As the last 10 – 15 days have been very difficult because I have been really struggling to motivate myself. Its weird, as I know everyday is precious and everyday is a day less for me, but SubhanAllah I have really been struggling.  Arabic is something that is very important in our house and is something we are all seeking to invest much time into. But of late, through a fusion of headaches and an erosion of the barakah in my time, my ability to work and make progress has been compromised.

 When I started writing this entry, I was really feeling this and struggling to find a way out, and then SubhanAllah I went to my evening class and inshAllah resolved my issue. As through our Ustaaz going through the vocabulary in our class text, he spent much time exploring the concept of Sabr. And this was a real help.  Allah says, “Oh you who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer, for God is with those who patiently persevere.” (2:153) 

And just taking this reminder has been something fantacular (OK, its not a real word yet, but I am being patient) for me, as it has inshAllah enabled me to overcome my mental block. Time will tell, but I feel inshAllah I am back on the Long Road…. Your Dua is Humbly Requested… 

I think its important that we all take some quality time in our day to reflect. We are now living with a brother (Who will be known as Q), who bizarre as it may seem, has designated times for dealing with certain issues, for example 5.30pm – 6.30pm is ‘Problem Hour’. Now, this is not something I am advocating we all establish, but I think the concept per-se has some value. If we seek to reflect on the many bounties we have and seek to recognise Al Qadr, Bi’Ithnillah we can achieve great things and stay fresh at all times, managing our agendas patiently. Furthermore I believe it may even go some way to rekindle a spirituality which many of us increasingly speak about being absent in our lives. I was privy to a conversation today with a dear and most beloved brother of ours in the UK, who works in the Dawah in Bradford (May Allah Accept From AAW) and he highlighted some of the progress being made and some of the major challenges being faced. And thus I further realised just how important this principle of Sabr is for us all. For those of seeking to balance, family, work and Dawah life, or those of us studying, or those of us in any challenging endeavour, recognition and understanding of Sabr, is crucial. This is something many of us talk about, but struggle to come to terms with in reality, first and foremost myself. I believe one of the reasons for this is, it be that the nature of the Dawah today is, there is much less focus on the heart in the Dawah of the people of Sunnah, and thus in the level of knowledge of those who seek to walk the path of Sunnah, bi’ithnillah.

(NB: It seems, that this is unfortunately leading people to the paths that lead away from the Sunnah and thus to failure, as they seek a spiritual enlightenment from those people who live to the commands of the Khalaf in favour of the Sunnah and those who carried it.) 

 I don’t think, I am best place to speak about others, however only mention this as a point of discussion, in that wouldn’t Spirituality in the Sunnah be a beneficial mainstream topic in the Dawah of Sunnah? Maybe we should see a big much of the works of Ibn Jawzia? Suggestions for moving the Dawah forward on these lines, would also be most appreciated. InshAllah, I will take the lesson from today and seek to move forward my understanding, first and foremost from the book of Ar Rahman and then other good books on the issue, for which I am happy to take recommendations.  The Journey Continues… 

We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an, in order that ye may learn wisdom.Chapter 1, Ayat 2 

And when you see the state of the masses here, it becomes clear that there is a correlation in abandoning the language of the Quran and a general deterioration in morality and social order. Now this may seem a little bizarre, as we are usually very pro-Egypt, and to be fair we still are, but its just dawned on us that it just maybe that the fitna that does prevail here, may just be a directly related to the abandonment of the Arabic language and thus the understanding of the religion of Al Islam, which at one point, made this land something special. A place which held a great seat of learning, a rich and deep culture and a social provision without parallel on the face of the planet, is now, well, at best, a pit of social deprivation and bizarre contradiction, where the only sanity and enlightenment lies with but a few.   

Now this prognosis of the negative linear relationship between understanding of the Arabic language and general competence is one which was proven this week. SubhanAllah. 

We were walking back from class with the manager of Technia, and a ‘brother’ drew his car close to the curb. He subsequently asked for directions in ‘Armiya’, now the brother from Technia, started to explain the way in Arabic, and the driver failed to understand. Then, after several minutes, he asked the brother from Technia, can you speak English? And requested he give the direction in English, rather than Arabic, as his Arabic wasn’t very good. Yet he was an Arab. 

Now this was something that truly bambuzzled us all. We didn’t know what to do, laugh or cry? As it was obvious that the abandonment of Arabic was something widespread. And this is something that would explain the lack of organic progress in this nation and the increasing fasaad that prevails. Through losing their Arabic, they have lost their understanding of the Religion. Islam is something that has a great history here and essentially, that’s it. Its history.  

Consequently without religion, sinning is widespread, one of the greatest of which relates to lying. Anyone who has spent any time here will surely tell you that lying is widespread. Students experience this greatly in their dealings here, and just seek to accept it. However MashAllah today in Jummuah, our dear Imaam and Khatib sought to address this. He spoke at length about Shahadat As-Zour, and how it is from the kabeer of the kabir. This is something we should all seek to reflect on Arab and Non Arab and seek to rectify in ourselves, as;  

“Verily never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it themselves (with their own souls)” From 13: 11    

This country was famously opened by Amr Ibn’Alaass, and once excelled greatly, let us make dua that the hunger for knowledge returns to these people, the love for Arabic and competence in it is re-enlightened here, and the haramaat are banished.   

The Journey Continues….. 

Sweetness of Faith
The Prophet said, “Whoever possesses the following three qualities will have the sweetness (delight) of faith:
1. The one to whom Allah and His Apostle becomes dearer than anything else.
2. Who loves a person and he loves him only for Allah’s sake.
3. Who hates to revert to Atheism (disbelief) as he hates to be thrown into the fire.”
Volume 1, Book 2, Number 15, Narrated Anas, Sahih Al Bukhari

The brotherhood of Al Islam is something truly special and something one genuinely comes to realise from travelling.

On the weekend we went to Masjid Sahaba, (for those for who know Cairo, this is just before Souk As Siyaraat) and we met several brothers we had not met before. SubhanAllah, through the sincerity of one brother and his recognition of the stated hadeeth, he expressed his love for his Muslim brothers, for the sake of Allah, and invited several of us out for dinner. Alhamdulillah it was a great night and really made me reflect on the beauty of Al Islam, whereby one human being can spend his time and his wealth, purely for the sake of pleasing his creator. SubhanAllah. This experience was even more profound as we met at a masjid named after those who exemplified this standard, Masjid Sahaba.

Living in the West it is easy to forget the rights fellow Muslims have on one, and this post is meant to just simply remind you, if your in the West, that make time for your ikhwaan/ ikhwaat. As the effect it can have is profound, even though you may not know it. SubhanAllah, living here in this land we have seen some great examples of people recognising the rights of others and even going beyond that. For example, even as I walked home to write this post, I passed by a restaurant, and as I walked a brother eating his meal in the restaurant invited me to partake in his meal. The only thing driving him to do this was a love of the Muslims. This is something that many of us have lost.

Times are such today, never mind inviting brothers to share in our meals, many, make brothers their meals, through back-biting them. May Allah protect us from this.

Now for the big news, the Journey of Azim and Tehseen, has just had a twist. Yes, its grown to become, the Journey of Azim, Tehseen and Q. Yes, we have a new flat mate. Make dua, Allah gives us the Taufiq to exhibit the qualities we have mentioned in this post amongst each other, and Ar Rahman helps us all in our journey.

The Journey of Azim, Tehseen & Q Continues….

Ahad…Ahad…

Many of you have probably had the interesting experience of hearing the Sahaba series currently on offer by Darussalam. The one to which I am referring is the one where an American brother (and friends) narrate a biography of selected Sahaba and act out certain memorable occasions in their lives.

The one striking feature of this series is the strong NYBronx accent of the main narrator (May Allah reward him for his effort), who provides a very interesting listening experience. Now, I don’t know about others, but his voice carries such a strong accent, that you are really taken aback by it. I know some brothers in Bradistan have heard this series and this has also been something striking for them.

Well, Guess what…………We met him this week. SubhanAllah we went to a meeting in relation for doing some collaboration work with a brother running a major Darussalam affiliate program in Cairo. And when I walked into the office and I heard,

‘Asalamwalaykum Akh’ 

I realised this was the same brother, who’s voice I had heard through the Sahaba series back in the UK. The best of the collection is the biography of Bilal (May Allah be Pleased with him) and maybe this is because the brother himself is also called Bilal.

This entry may not mean much to people, but SubhanAllah for those what have heard the series, they will know what I mean about how it would feel to put the face to the voice. MashAllah this brother who is a revert is a real inspiration. He moved here from the states about 10 years ago and has a highly sophisticated Studio and Audio publishing operation. He MashAllah provides great hospitality and a sincerity which is rare these days.

Anyway, that enough for now, the Azaan for Isha is now calling and thus I must go and start making my way to the Masjid which makes every evening a pleasure, yes, Masjid Bilal. SubhanAllah just reflect on this name Bilal and see how Allah has made it something so big.

This companion was but a slave before his Islam. And then he was made a companion of the messenger of Allah, the first Mu’Azzin of Islam, a revered Sahaba, and his name is carried by believers and Masaajid to ensure all remember who he was.

“You give honour to whom You please and You disgrace whom You please.”(Qur’an: Translation of the meaning, 3:26)

The Journey Continues…