Today is the day of Arafa, the best day of the year. Alhamdulillah I am so glad that Allah Subhana wa ta'ala has once again blessed us with this great day, alhamdulillah. We are fasting today as it is highly recommended to fast. According to our beloved prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam's sunnah, the fast will erase the sins of previous and and next year, bi'idnillah. May Allah Subahana wa ta'ala accept our humble deeds and shower us with His mercy , ameen! May Allah subhana ta'ala accept the hajj of all the people who are performing hajj this year, ameen!
I just heard this wonderful 5 minute talk on day of Arafa. MashAllah the brother did a great job explaining in a short time how amazing the day of Arafa is. What so special about the day of Aarafa
I have been watching the live coverage of Hajj at Islam channel and some other Chanel. The little mountain of Arafa always get packed with people, the pilgrims. There is no need for people to sit there . They can stay in their tent and concentrate on making duas to Allah subhana ta'ala. Alhamdulillah we are so blessed as Muslims. We can be anywhere but Allah subhana ta'ala can listen to our needs.
On FB I just seen a beautiful quote which just reminded me how blessed we are, alhamdulillah. "You don't have to be in Arafah to have your sins forgiven. Wherever you are - whether you're in a bustling city or in the depths of a small village, just sincerely ask Allah for forgiveness and He will forgive you!"
We have started our takbeer-e-tashreek since fajr salah today. The five days of the Month of Dhul-Hijjah starting from 9th (which is today) up to 13th are called Ayyam Al-Tashreeq. So Takbeer-e-Tashreeq begins from the ‘Fajr’ prayer of the 9th Dhul Hijjah, and shall be continued up to the 'Asr’ prayer of the 13th Dhul Hijjah. Takbeer should be recited immediately after every Fardh prayer, male Muslims should recite it loudly voice, while females in a low voice, whether performing Salah with Jama'ah, collectively or individually. "Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha Illallahu, Wallahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar wa lillahilhamd." (There is no god but Allah and Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest and to Allah belongs all praise.)
Every year during this time, I remember my hajj in 2006. Alhamdulillah it was an amazing experience. I hope and make sincere dua that Allah subhana wa ta'ala give us the opportunity to visit His House many times with family and friends, Ameen!
I hope everyone is having a very productive Arafa today, inshAllah.
Our beloved grandma, dadi ( my dad's mum) has died today. She was around 80 years old. She suffered from a heart attack. It is a very sad day for us. Seeing my dad crying was one of the hardest thing for me subhanallah. She left us during this holy month of Ramadan. InshAllah in couple of hours time, her burial will take place . Her body will go back to the earth which she was created from. Her soul, the most important part of her being, is going back to her Creator, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un (إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ) 'Surely we belong to God and to Him shall we return'
MashAllah she was blessed with twelve children, 8 boys and 4 girls. She has always been a very active person mashAllah. The last time I met her was in 2008. I never thought that it would be my last time with her. We will be missing her :-(
Life is so unpredictable. Just couple of hours before her death, she talked to dad . He even talked to the doctor who was in charge of her at the hospital. It's a shock for all of us. But I am trying to remind myself that it was Qadr of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. We must go when He Subhana Wa Ta'ala calls us. Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam told us to remember death atleast twenty times! Death is a reality but we are so busy with our daily lives that we don't really think about death. Ali Radiallahu Anha said that we human beings are dead and we wake up when we die! Subhanallah! When loved ones die, it just reminds us how trivial this life is!
Dadi wasn't given the opportunity to witness the whole of Ramadan. Her time was up. We must do our best to get the most from this blessed month. There is no guarantee that we will witness this month again or even can witness the rest of this Ramadan!
Once again, death of my dadi just reminded me that we are just travellers on this earth. Very soon we will also depart from this earth to meet our Lord.
Please remember my grandma in your precious duas.
O Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala please fill her grave with lights and please make the questioning easy for her, Ameen! O Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala please make her journey easy for her and please reward her with Jannatul Ferdous, Ameen! Ameen! Ameeen!
Allahumma 'ghfir li hayyina wa mayyitina, wa shahidina wa gha'ibina, wa saghirina wa kabirina, wa dhakarina wa unthana. Allahumma man ahyaytahu minna fa ahyihi 'ala 'l-islam(i), wa man tawaffaytahu minna fa tawaffahu 'ala 'l-iman(i).
O Allah, forgive our living and our deceased, our present and absent, our young and the old, our men and women. O Allah, whomever You give life to, let him live in Islam and whomever You give death to, let him die in faith.
Alhamdulillah last week I watched the documentary on BBC iplayer . It is not available on iplayer anymore. So I tried to search on YouTube. Alhamdulillah you all can watch this good video inshAllah. These three Muslims loved their faith and did their best to serve Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. Do watch the video as it inspires us to be better Muslims inshAllah.
You can also watch another video done by Tim (Yusuf) Chambers as he explores the life of Henry William Abdullah Quilliam.
Abdullah Quilliam open the first Islamic Centre in 1889 en -in the heart of Liverpool. Abdullah Quilliam was born in Liverpool to a wealthy Manx family in 1856. His father, Robert Quilliam, was a watch manufacturer. William was educated at the Liverpool Institute and King William's College on the Isle of Man. He began work as a solicitor in 1878, building a successful legal practice in Liverpool.
Courtesy of BBC
Quilliam was brought up a Methodist but converted to Islam after visiting Morocco to recover from an illness at the age of 17. Returning to Liverpool, he began to promote Islam in Britain as Abdullah Quilliam. He had earlier learned about Islam while visiting southern France in 1882 and crossing over to Algeria and Tunisia.
Quilliam established the Liverpool Muslim Institute at 8 Brougham Terrace, West Derby Road, Liverpool in 1889, opening on Christmas Day. This was England's first mosque, accommodating around a hundred Muslims, This was followed by a Muslim college, headed by Haschem Wilde and Nasrullah Warren, which offered courses for both Muslims and non-Muslims. A weekly Debating and Literary Society within the college attracted non-Muslims.
Quilliam influenced the paths of other converts, including his mother Harriet, his sons, and scientists and intellectuals and his example lead to the conversion of over 150 Englishmen to Islam. Quilliam was influential in advancing knowledge of Islam within the United Kingdom and gained converts through his literary works and the charitable institutions he founded.
An active writer and essayist, he produced a weekly paper, The Crescent, from 1893 until 1908. He published three editions of his The Faith of Islam which, translated into thirteen languages, gained him fame across the Islamic world.
He travelled extensively and received many honours from the leaders of the Islamic world. He had contact with English-speaking West African Muslims and toured the region's coastal cities on his way to Lagos to attend the consecration of the Shitta Bey Mosque in 1894. He was appointed Sheikh-ul-Islam of the British Isles by the Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hamid II in 1894 and Persian Vice Consul to Liverpool by the Shah. He also received money from the Emir of Afghanistan to help fund the Islamic Institute in Liverpool.
Western Muslims, particularly converts to Islam, see Quilliam as a pioneer of the path they have taken. His legacy is maintained by the Abdullah Quilliam Society which was formed in 1996. The Society is raising funds to restore 8-10 Brougham Terrace to re-open the historic mosque and establish an educational centre. For more info visit: http://www.abdullahquilliamsociety.org/aboutus.htm
Alhamdulillah this year so far has been quite a productive
year for me. At the start of this month I went to Being me Sisters event in London organised by Mercy Mission UK Alhamdulillah. Last year for the first time, they
organised a sisters only event at Tower Bridge. I really wanted to go but couldn’t
get the chance.
Alhamdulilllah this year they invited some great speakers. I
was really looking forward to sister Zohra Sarwari’s talks and workshops on home-schooling.
I have always been quite fascinated by education and tarbiyyah of children so
this was my opportunity to learn more. Alhamdulillah I wasn’t disappointed J
she is really inspiring mashAllah. I wish she was based here in London! Her first talk
was titled “Importance of Islamic Education, tarbiyah and manners in children”
No doubt, parenting is a difficult job, full of challenges.
We as parent can feel sometimes quite overwhelmed with all the problems. But we
should try our best to fulfil this great responsibility. Zohra told us that we
need to remember three points to tackle all the challenges:
First: Acknowledging the problem: Sometimes parents don’t
want to admit that they got a problem to deal with.
Second: Being proactive
Third: Waiting patiently (Sabr)
She mentioned a beautiful hadith “One who has good manners
may attain the same level of merit as the one who prays all night” Narrated by
Abu Hurairah (RAW) [Bukhari]
As parents our goal should be to teach children the best
manners and behaviour and not just that, they grow up to have a respective
profession. Unfortunately, we live in a world, where acheiving professional success is the ultimate goal. Life as a Muslim is more than that. We are here to serve Allah Subhan Ta'ala. Allah Subhana Ta'ala wants us to excel in both worlds.
In the Qur'an Allah Subhans Ta'ala teaches us an amazing dua:
Our Lord! Grant us
good in this world and good in the hereafter, and save us from the chastisement
of the fire [2:201]
Usually people tend to take these steps below in bringing up
their children:
Blame game: “Oh
he learns all bad stuff from that certain kid at school”
Sunday school: Unfortunately,
most of the parents expect the Sunday schools ( most of the times taking place in the mosques) to teach their children about
Islam. “My kid will learn everything from his mosque teacher.”
Bribery: Always
telling the children that if they listen then you will give them something nice
in return. “Honey, if you do your homework, I will give you a candy.”
Punishment: If
they don’t listen, just punish them.
Now the tips for effective parenting according to sis Zohra:
We must stop blaming others if our children misbehave. We
are the parents so who should teach our children the right behaviour. If we rely on the
Sunday schools to teach our children manners and values of Islam, then shame on
us! Wow! I thought it was just me who thought like that! I definitely agree with her on this point. I still don’t get it why people
send their children to the mosque to learn about their faith. I strongly believe
that this is our responsibility to educate our children about Islam as a way of
life inshAllah. No way I would like to delegate this huge responsibility on someone else. My husband also believes that we need to teach them about our faith. Also we need to remember that our children are our investment. If we help them to be better Mislims, we will get the reward from our Rabb Insh-Allah. Why would I want somebody else to gain that reward?
She also told us to be proactive as parents. What do you
want from your kids? What is your goal? I want my children to behave well and
grow up in a good environment. Then I must get rid of all the bad influences
i.e. TV, video games, internet, PlayStations and all the distractions.
We need to check who they befriend and advise them to
befriend the right kind as bad “friends” are too easy to find. Some may think “Do
we isolate the kids then?” “Yes! For a while.” She said.
When they are growing up if we as parents can isolate them
from satanic tricks, deceit and means then when they are responsible young kids
, they will Insh-Allah have a strong enough imaan to avoid the evil influences
on their own.
“Richness does not lie in the rich goods and the person but
it lies in the richness of a pious heart.”
Focus!
Focus only on bringing the kids up the best way possible
insh-Allah. If they make mistakes, try to bring them back with your help and
tenderness. Reward them occasionally when they do something good. Don’t get mad
when they do something wrong. Explain to them what they have done wrong. Don’t
hit them as they are weaker than you and helpless too.
You need to fill your home with books. Books on our faith,
history, sociology, science and so on. The more books our children can read the
better inshAllah. Instead of buying all the brand stuff and hi-tech gadgets to
kill their time, buy them good books which will broaden their mind inshallah.
MashAllah her talk was so captivating that I really didn’t
have that much time to take notes. I just kept listening. She mentioned about home schooling and how this is the best option for our children. I can't agree more with her alhamdulillah.
Below is an interview of her on the Deen show where she talks about homeschooling. Do listen if you are interested in educating your own children inshAllah.
MashAllah she is
indeed a very inspiring sister. Alhamdulillah I have managed to buy some of her
books. You can find more about her at http://zohrasarwari.com/
I believe that duas are the essence of good paretning. We cannot be good parents without duas. Here below are some great duas you can keep making inshAllah:
Supplication to protect children from Shaytan (dua of Maryam’s (AS) mother):
“Allahumma inni u-idhuha [hu] bika wa dhurriyyataha [hu] mina’sha-shaytani’r-rajiim(i).”
“O Allah, I put her [him], and her [his] progeny under Your protection from Satan, the accursed” - (part of Qur’an Surah 3:36).
Supplication to have children (dua of Zakariyya (AS)):
“Rabbi laa tadharnii fardaw wa Anta Kharu ‘l-waarithin(a).”
“O my Lord! Leave me not without offspring, though You are the best of inheritors” - (part of Qur’an Surah 21:89)
Supplication to have a blessed family:
“Rabbanaa hablanaa min azwaajinaa wa dhurriyyatina qurrata a’yun(iw), wa ‘j’alnaa li’l muttaqiina imaaman.”
“And who say: Our Lord! Bestow on us from our wives and our offspring, the comfort of our eyes, and make us leaders for the Muttaquun (pious).” - (part of Qur’an Surah 25:74)
On FB I just seen a beautiful quote which just reminded me how blessed we are, alhamdulillah. "You don't have to be in Arafah to have your sins forgiven. Wherever you are - whether you're in a bustling city or in the depths of a small village, just sincerely ask Allah for forgiveness and He will forgive you!"
