The Long Road Ahead

The Prophet Muhammad (Peace & Blessings Be Upon Him) Said;

“Take benefit of five before five:

Your youth before your old age,
Your health before your sickness,
Your wealth before your poverty,
Your free-time before your preoccupation, and
Your life before your death.”

Reported Al-Haakim & Al-Bayhaqee

And it is the second of these which I wish to talk about specifically.

Over the last few days I have been feeling increasingly unwell. And have been struggling through the days with a sore throat, headache and fever. Then last night I really began to experience sever pain in my throat and was unable to sleep. Therefore this morning I went to the doctors, and learnt by the Qadr of Allah, I had Tonsillitis. And my tonsils were inflamed to a shocking extent, and was prescribed Penicillin and a few other things.

So here I am, at home on a Thursday afternoon, feeling week, struggling to speak and genuinely in sever pain, every time I try to swallow something. And then I think what a useful reminder this has been?

One often gets into the invincible mode, where one is doing many, many things and despite feeling shattered continues, thinking I am young, healthy inshAllah, I will be alright – well maybe you will, and then maybe you wont.

I have many things to do, and am unable, and pray Allah makes me from the patient, as being sick is not good. There are many things I would have loved to have got done today or in the next few days, however am unable, and therefore I remind myself first and foremost, and then you guys, use your time wisely, and make the most of the opportunities good health provides you. Do not procrastinate in working good deeds, as by Allah, the opportunity may escape you. Maybe you will want to do something good, but will be unable. Maybe you will want to take 10 minutes out to even speak to your folks, but you will be unable, maybe you will want to make a long sajda before Allah, but you will be unable, maybe you will want to check on a friend, but you will be unable, or maybe call to Islam, but you will be unable. Maybe your health will just not survive the test of time, so your plans for doing goodness, will not materialise. Or maybe, just maybe, as the final point of the hadith points out, maybe you just wont survive, and the point where you will be craving the opportunity to do good deeds will be in your grave,

Last night as I lay awake in my room, I just looked around, and thought subhan Al Malik, what will it be like in our grave. As, I was in my bed, but drawing so many parallels, as it was dark, I was alone, I couldn’t call out, and I thought subhan Al Aziz, what will the grave be like?

Will we be in the company of our good deeds, in a bright space, with the distinct feeling of Jannah, or will we be in the exact opposite, feeling constrained, tortured, with the up close and personal feeling of Jahanam? May Allah protect the Muslims from this.

I guess this post is just to express my genuine desire for all of us to just take a check of ourselves, and consider are we doing what the Messenger, Upon Whom Be Peace Said, when he spoke the truth and said;

“Take benefit of five before five:

your youth before your old age,
your health before your sickness,
your wealth before your poverty,
your free-time before your preoccupation, and
your life before your death.”

إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

All believers are but brethren. Asad(49,11) ^[11] Hence, [when­ever they are at odds,] make peace between your two brethren, and remain conscious of God, so that you might be graced with His mercy.

Quran: 49:10

A friend emailed me and asked to write a paper on friendship in Islam. And I began thinking about friendship in Islam, and despite the ease I expected to be able to write something with, my mind went blank. Seriously, I thought about it a great deal, and then realised I don’t think it really exists.

Now you may find this to be strange, especially those of you that know me, but seriously I realised I don’t think friendship exists in its traditional sense in Islam. Now before you think the northern boy has gone mad. Let me refer you back to the ayat I opened with, and then let me ask you, in the face of the brotherhood that Allah sent down do we really have friendship? If we are a single community, then are we friends with some and not friends with others? As being a friend to someone typically involved making a distinction between someone and the general masses, and giving that person certain extra privileges and a place in your heart, yet how is that when everyone from the believers is granted that position, as Allah says;

إِنَّ هَذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ

VERILY, [O you who believe in Me,] this community of yours is one single community, since I am the Sustainer of you all: worship, then, Me [alone]! Asad(21,89) ^[89]

^{Quran: 21:92}

Allah Subhana granted the nation of Muhmmad Ibn AbdAllah, something truly special, he granted them something called brotherhood. He joined the followers of the mercy to mankind with something between their hearts, and that is brotherhood and a love, which I have already spoke about.

Therefore if we consider this, we should also consider the rights we give to ‘our friends’, how we treat them, what we do for them, what we think about them and the excuses we make for them when they let us down. I ask you this, do you judge your friends the way you judge you family? I am sure many of you like me, don’t, there is a distinct line, now I am sure some of this is natural, however there is a level which needs to be changed. There is something there that we need to start rectifying, and that is in our hearts. We need to realise that our ‘friends’ are closer to us than we may think, and the effect they have on us can be enormous, as the Prophet Said as narrated in Bukhari;

“The example of a good companion and a bad companion is like that of the seller of musk, and the one who blows the blacksmith’s bellows.. So as for the seller of musk then either he will grant you some, or you buy some from him, or at least you enjoy a pleasant smell from him. As for the one who blows the blacksmith’s bellows then either he will burn your clothes or you will get an offensive smell from him.”

And therefore if this is their position, they deserve some serious attention. They need the attention that we may grant members of our very own family, as the bearing they have on us is truly immense, both in this world and the hereafter.

This may seem a bizarre entry, but its just from my train of thought today on the reality of friendship and the possibility that we don’t really have it. For us it is something that goes beyond that, so our most basic relationship with our friends, is that of one of brothers (sisters), and that is the starting point. And from then on it deepens to be some thing of love and then something that is the purest of love, that which leads to the muqaam of Khalil. Just have a think about this, maybe I am loosing it, or maybe I am just realising it. I leave you with the words of the Messenger of Allah, as recorded in Al-Tirmidhi.

“A person is likely to follow the faith of his friend, so look whom you befriend.”

“Muhammad (PBUH) is the Messenger of Allah. And those who are with him are severe against disbelievers, and merciful among themselves.”

Quran, 48.29

And this is what I wish to speak on today, this mercy between the believers, this mercy that is seen through loving for the sake of Ar Rauf.

Subhan Al Malik, we live in a time whereby the Muslims talk about one another, with not a care in the world. They are eager to destroy character, lie, and defame a fellow Muslim to build their own brands, to the extent now we find that not even the Ulema are spared.

However in this fitan we can appreciate something, more than we could without it, and do you know what that is? I share with you now, by Allah, that is loving for the sake of Allah.

Yes, as Allah says in the Quran,

“The Believers are but a single Brotherhood.”

Quran, 49.10

And despite many of us failing to realise the essence of this there are those who do. And they stand out like the moon in the night sky. And why is that, I tell you it is because of their faith. As narrated Anas,

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.” Sahih Bukhari

Hence, they have a sweetness of faith which radiates, and like Misk, brightens up any surrounding, and I don’t know if you such people, but by Allah I do.

I have had the privilege to know some such people and it is those slaves of Allah I wish to make mention of today. One of these people is someone called Rayyan. Rayyan is a person that when you speak with them your heart is overcome by joy, and your face is eager to give Sadaqah with a natural smile. When you read an email from them you wish you were with them, as you know they do only but Good. When you think about them, you think about working righteousness, you think about things like being good to your parents; kissing your mother on the forehead, bringing your father his favourite food, and biting your tongue when they, well you know… And that is Rayyan, maybe you know a Rayyan, and those of you that do, you will know what I am saying.

My Rayyan is someone that enables me to focus on working for Allah, making Mercy Mission and IslamBradford the focus of every spare minute I have, and for that I say, JazakAllahkher.

If you don’t know a Rayyan, I pray Allah brings one to your life. Or if not a Rayyan, maybe a Abu Abdul Wahab (AAW). AAW is someone that when you see him he puts a smile on your face, someone who knows what your thinking, someone who inspires you to work for the Dawah as he seeks to match you in the work you do, while at the same time managing a range of family commitments, which are a distant vision for bachelors people like me. However his sincerity is something that transcends the day before you, as Subhan Ar Rahman, he will even dream about you. wAllah. I met him a couple days of ago and he told me how he saw our most beloved Shaikh, Ibrahim Al Fouzan (Hafiz Ullah Subhana), himself and I in a dream, and we were sat in the IslamBradford centre and remembering Allah. Subhan Allah, what kind of slave of Allah is this, that his hunger to please Allah, transcends even his consciousness. And moreover he will smile and tell you such things, and that is the kind of thing that makes him special; he loves for the sake of Allah, and open’s himself to you like we saw the ansaar open themselves to the muhaajiroon. And that is my Abu Abdul Wahab.

I draw this entry to a close now, and remind you of the obligation upon you to be merciful to the believers, and strive to be from those that love for the sake of Allah. Love others before yourself, love your brothers like you love your blood brothers, love your sisters, like you love your blood sisters, and remember what you forsake for them, is really what you give for yourself.

This is a love that transcends emotion, and is complete, as it involves putting the love for Allah and then his messenger in the paramount position in your heart, and this is proven through the righteousness you will work with the creation, with your parents first and foremost, and then me and all the believers. If you have had the privilege to meet people like Rayyan, Abu Abdul Wahab, Wajid, Abu Ubaydah or any of the Manchester Alkauthar team, you will know what I am talking about, and if you haven’t, be that person and I pray Allah brings such people to you.

In conclusion, remember the words of the amin of the creation, the most merciful from amongst the creation, the one who epitomised loving for the sake of Allah, Muhammad Ibn AbdAllah;

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, “By Him in Whose Hand my soul is! You will not enter Jannah until you believe, and you shall not believe until you love one another. May I inform you of something, if you do, you love each other. Promote greeting amongst you (by saying As-salamu `alaikum to one another)”.
[Muslim].

Its been a long time since I was last here, and the repsonse this post gets, to be honest, will determine, when it is I return.

By the fadal of Allah, we have been back from Egypt now over three months, and have unfortunately settled back into life here. And today I wish to just spend a little time on the nature of time and how it is maximised only through the obedience of Allah.

Allah makes clear in the Surah many of us read many times a day, the Surah Al Asr.

In this Ar Rahman swears by time, and makes clear,

‘Verily All Mankind Is In Loss’ (Al Asr, Ayat 2)

Subhan Al Malik consider this statement for just one second. Allah makes explicitly clear all of mankind is in loss, and the mufasireen highlight that loss means heading for the hell fire. Now just look Allah does not say the kuffar here or the munafiqeen, i.e. all men and women. And this is a harrowing statement and one we should ponder on. Especially because of what it is followed up with, as Allah then goes on to say,

‘Except those who have Faith, AND work righteousness and stay on the Truth and are Patient’

Therefore Allah makes clear who is excluded from his opening statement, i.e. the destination of the hellfire. Therefore if we are not those who have faith, AND work righteousness, AND stay on the Truth AND Be Patient, we have had it. We are destined to the fire.

STOP then and notice Allah uses the word AND all the way through the exclusion to Ahl Naar, therefore it means to be in with an opportunity to win the mercy of Allah we have to fulfil all the exceptions, and therefore that says for all of those people who are MashAllah are practising, they too should listen up, and climb out of the ivory tower, as we need to realise the True nature of Ahl Jannah, and what are the entry criteria. Wake Up People. Jannah is not Cheap. It needs work.

And Subhan Allah I have found since returning from Egypt the reason this is so much harder, is that as we engage Dunya and take the 12hrs out to go to work, we reduce our efforts to win the pleasure of Allah, the working of righteousness, the steadfastness on the Truth and the patience. And hence, we loose the fruits that we were so happily eating from when we were out in the path of Allah.

This is no self affirmation, but just a simple recognition, when your away studying like Akh Al Karim, Ameer Al Manchester for example, you find you are constantly in the pursuit of the pleasure of Allah, working righteousness, steadfast, and patient, as that is the nature of the life of anyone in the path of knowledge. As Allah makes clear;

“Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest” (Surah Ra’d, 28)

We found that rest, and then we found an ability to work and do things with much barakah. A prayer outside the masjid would be bizzare, not studying Arabic/ Quran or its sciences for 10-12hrs a day would be unimaginable, and now, its simply reality.

Many of us have come back, and maybe are a little better informed, but have had to get back into dare I say it ‘dunya’, and this is why we find ourselves complaining we have no time. We have no time for this and no time for that. Or is it simply we are not giving ‘this’ time or ‘that’ time?

I entitled this entry Muharamaat, not because it is Muharam, but because I wanted to draw attention the haraam that have creeped into our lives living in the West. We have become emersed in a culture which is based in haraam, to the point we now find some haramaat acceptable, or if not acceptable, just fact of life.

For example, this evening I spoke with a brother about TV, and he expressed how the sales of Satellite TV maybe ok, as long as it were not Adult (I only use that word, as it is maroof, however I think the more appropriate word is filth, as there is nothing adult about such programming) TV programs. However, this made me think well is it? Isnt all TV be it the even the news we watch from the haraam, with the slick news readers and the music on queue? This is the most simple way to look at the situation, but I think its a fair reflection of how the muharamaat have penetrated ourlives, and effected our hearts.

The point I am trying to make is, many of us have fallen back into just going through a routine in our lives and are thus not making the effort to win the pleasure of Allah, and even some of those who are trying, increasingly fall into a false sense of confidence. Maybe taking the few hrs they dedicate to Islam, as a proof for themselves. By Allah, this in itself is a plot from Shaytaan, that of self-righteousness. We need to aware of this and turn to Allah. Allah says;

“I created the jinn and humankind only that they worship Me…”
[ad-Dhariyat, 56]

And therefore remember this. Be vigilant of your purpose and work to make all your actions sincere in seeking the face of Allah. When you commute to work, make it productive in the Hamd of Allah, when your at work/ college, make istigfaar, when your online, be careful with your time, and when you work for the sake of Allah, make sure you refresh your intention as much as you can.

Therefore this is just a reminder from us, (as you know when one of us speaks, he speaks for us both), that be careful of the haraam, and pursue the pleasure of Allah, which is something that is a complete package. Deficient by even one element being absent, lets be sincer, pursue Islam as it should be, and for those of us who have spent some time in an Islamic environment, lets rekindle that urge for righteousness we had not so long ago and the effort we put into realising it.

1. وَالْعَصْرِ

2. إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ

3. إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ