Recent Blog Entries

Feb

2009

The Big Box

posted by Mahd-ul-Huda on 17th February 2009 - 1 comment

[color=pink]The Influence of Television[/color] by Hazrat Maulana Yunus Patel Saheb (Daamat Barakaatuhum) One of the many sunnats of the Ambiyaa ( alaihimus Salaam) is that of Hayaa shame and modesty : a quality which is sorely missing in the lives of the majority of Muslims today and which should otherwise be an outstanding characteristic and feature of all Muslims, whether married or un-married. Television is such an evil that if our society only understood its reality, then they would find no excuse to watch. Its spiritual harm is that it takes away the hayaa and shame of our men, women and children. The content of most television programmes is nothing but immodesty and indecency, which invites nothing but immodesty and indecency into our homes, into our lives and the lives of our children. However, this truth and reality seems to just pass over the understanding of even those Muslims who have some link with Deen. Many are regular with Salaah, they are seen in the Musjid, they are wearing the garb of the pious and yet they will be the ones to present flimsy and feeble excuses to view television programmes. Let us consider this situation of sin from the following view which Alhamdulillah, has been a means of many getting rid of the television.

Feb

2009

TEN GUIDELINES FROM ALLAH

posted by Mahd-ul-Huda on 12th February 2009 - 15 comments

[colour=pink]1. QUIT WORRYING:[/colour] Life has dealt you a blow and all you do is sit and worry. Have you forgotten that I am here to take all your burdens and carry them for you? Alternatively, do you just enjoy fretting over every little thing that comes your way? [colour=pink]2. PUT IT ON THE LIST:[/colour] Something needs done or taken care of. Put it on the list. No, not YOUR list. Put it on MY to-do-list. Let ME be the one to take care of the problem. I cannot help you until you turn it over to Me. Moreover, although My to-do-list is long, I am after all... God. I can take care of anything you put into My hands. In fact, if the truth were ever really known, I take care of many things for you that you never even realize. [colour=pink]3. TRUST ME:[/colour] Once you have given your burdens to Me, quit trying to take them back. Trust in Me. Have the faith that I will take care of all your needs, your problems and your trials. Problems with the kids? Put them on My list. Problem with finances? Put it on My list. Problems with your emotional roller coaster? Put it on My list. I want to help you. All you have to do is ask.

Feb

2009

The V Day!

posted by Mahd-ul-Huda on 2nd February 2009 - 0 comments

"Allaah has chosen for us Islam as our religion and He will not accept any other religion from anyone, as He says: "And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers."(Al Imran 3:85) And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us that groups of his ummah would follow the enemies of Allaah in some of their rituals and customs, as it says in the hadeeth of Abu Saeed al-Khudri (may Allaah be pleased with him), who narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: [colour=lightblue]"You will certainly follow the ways of those who came before you, span by span, cubit by cubit, until even if they were to enter a lizards hole, you would follow them. We said, O Messenger of Allaah, (do you mean) the Jews and Christians? He said, Who else?![/colour] (Narrated by al-Bukhaari 4/2054) What the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) spoke of has indeed come to pass and has become widespread in recent times, in many of the Muslim countries. Many of the Muslims follow the enemies of Allaah in many of their customs and ways of behaving, and imitate them in some of their rituals and in celebrating their holidays.

Jan

2009

KEEP THE FAITH!!!

posted by Mahd-ul-Huda on 5th January 2009 - 2 comments

[colour=orange]"And neither lose courage nor grieve, for indeed you are to be elevated (triumphant) if you are (true and sincere) believers."[/colour] It is well-known that the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam) was sent as a Messenger amongst the most ignorant and uncivilized of nations. The Arabs of those days were lost in the darkness of ignorance, when came the shining beacon of light in the form of the Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). The way of life he invited them to was unheard of an unimaginable for them as the ways of their forefathers were deeply ingrained in them. Despite being taken aback by the miraculous nature of the Book of Allah, the Noble Qur'aan that he brought to them, and his own amazing nature, they refused to budge and deemed it below their dignity to adopt a new way of life. Anyone who chose to follow him risked being cut off from his family and being tortured to a pitiful state. As a result few dared to profess embracing Islam in the beginning stages, but those who did, did so with all their heart, with complete faith in Allah and His Last Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Slowly the number of Muslims grew as the lantern of Islam lit up the hearts of those who were drawn towards it. The point of my mentioning this is to draw to your attention the sufferings of the Muslims of those days, who were so few in number, with hardly any essential material possessions. They lived on the staple food of dates and camel meat, and dressed in thick canvas. They were under attack from all corners of the world, for nobody liked this new power that had seemed to emerge in the name Islam. All over, people who once drew their swords to kill at the mere sight of each other, united in order to topple Islam. Foes turned in to friends in order to achieve this common objective. The world was at war with the Muslims, who were at the time less than a thousand in number. At such a time the verse quoted above was revealed, assuring the Muslims that they have nothing to fear. They have every reason to keep the faith and expect victory, for as long as they are TRUE BELIEVERS they will be triumphant. They were promised that they will one day conquer the east and the west of the then discovered world that was under the rule of the Persians and the Romans respectively. The non-believers laughed at this prophecy and made a mockery of the Muslims for daring to entertain such thoughts, but the Muslims had one ingredient which ensured that they would achieve the impossible and eventually topple the superpowers of those years. That ingredient was FAITH. I ask you to ponder for a minute...if Allah had promised victory and power to such a weak, uneducated, uncivilized nation merely on account of their sincere faith, would not the same apply to us? We are far greater in number than the Muslims of those days, yet far behind in spirit. Yet the same Allah who helped them is still there waiting to help us. But we must first want to help ourselves! Unfortunately, there is an ocean of Muslims out there, but without any sign of water! An ocean of Muslims that is just an ocean by name!

Dec

2008

Passive Participation

posted by Mahd-ul-Huda on 25th December 2008 - 0 comments

Would a Muslim participate in any Jewish religious occasion? Would he join the Christians or people of any other faith in a religious ceremony? The obvious answer is no since this would compromise ones faith and belief. One cannot compromise faith, otherwise one will eventually have no faith at all. Indeed on a humanitarian level one must treat every human being with dignity, kindness and compassion, but without transgressing the boundaries of Imaan.. RELIGIOUS CELEBRATIONS One of the very common ways in which the boundary of belief is compromised is by means of participating in the religious celebrations of other creeds. For instance, Christmas is a Christian religious celebration. This is clearly ascertained from the following: The Roman Catholic Church chose December 25 as the day for the Feast of the Nativity in order to give Christian meaning to existing pagan rituals. For example, the Church replaced festivities honouring the birth of Mithra, the god of light, with festivities to commemorate the birth of Jesus, whom the Bible calls the light of the world. The Catholic Church hoped to draw pagans into its religion by allowing them to continue their revelry while simultaneously honouring the birthday of Jesus. (Encarta) Therefore if one participates in any way in Christmas celebrations, actively or passively, he will in reality be aligning himself with that creed. A Mumin cannot align himself with any creed other than Islam.

Dec

2008

X(not) - Mas

posted by Mahd-ul-Huda on 17th December 2008 - 1 comment

What is this - Christmas? The word Christmas comes from the words Cristes maesse, or "Christ's Mass." Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus for members of the Christian religion. Most historians peg the first celebration of Christmas to Rome in 336 A.D. Muslims Celebrating Christmas - Is This Possible? While you may find this strange, we have received letters asking about the permissibility of allowing Muslim children and adults to join along Christians in celebrating Christmas; giving gifts, decorating their homes, lighting candles, putting up Christmas trees and lights and greeting each other with "Merry Christmas."

Dec

2008

Eid Mubarak!

posted by Mahd-ul-Huda on 7th December 2008 - 0 comments

[colour=green]May the blessings of Allah fill your life with peace, joy and prosperity. Ameen.[/colour]

Dec

2008

O' heart of mine...

posted by Mahd-ul-Huda on 4th December 2008 - 0 comments

One day the blessed Prophet was counselling his Companions. As they listened to his sweet words, some of them wept from fear of Allah and some from love of Him. The venerable Usama was the only one not weeping. He lamented his state to the blessed Messenger of Allah, who placed his blessed hands upon his breast and said: 'ukhruj ya iblis (Out, O Satan!)' Now at last Usama began to weep. The blessed Messenger turned to his Companions saying: [colour=orange]'The inability to weep is caused by hardness of heart, hardness of heart is caused by multiplicity of sin, multiplicity of sin is caused by forgetfulness of death, forgetfulness of death is caused by ambitious expectations, ambitious expectations are caused by excessive love of the life in this world.'[/colour] The religion of Islam and the Noble Qur'an are censorious of this world. What is this world? It is not wealth, property, status, money, rank, clothes and children. Whatever keeps you from your Lord, that is this world. For instance, a person who owns all this world has to offer, yet does not forget his Lord and serves Him with perfect devotion, that person is no worldly materialist but Allah's beloved servant, a member of our Prophet's Community. A poor person, on the other hand, may deserve to be called materialistic if he becomes a beggar and lets his begging prevent him from worshipping his Lord. He is not acceptable in the sight of Allah and His Messenger. In short, while your hands are about their work your heart should be with the beloved. Let the whole world belong to you while you belong to Allah. You should work for this world as if you were immortal, while preparing for the Hereafter as if you would die tomorrow. Treat everyone well. Have compassion for every creature. Be just, loyal, honest, hardworking and upright. That is how you must be, for that is how believers are. -Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak al-Jerrahi

Dec

2008

Become Like Flexible Water...

posted by Mahd-ul-Huda on 4th December 2008 - 0 comments

[colour=lightblue]There are few things as inspiring as a good analogy, don't you think? Here's another one:[/colour] Become Like Flexible Water The following incident took place last year when I was travelling with an elderly Muslim brother. We call him "Brother Wali". We met a Muslim family and the family told brother Wali to give them some advice. Here is what brother Wali told them: A Muslim is like water. Water is so flexible that where ever you place it, it takes the shape of that object. For example, if you put some water in a glass, it takes the shape of the glass. If you run the water through a tangled hose, it will take the shape of that also. The same way, a Muslim should be flexible to the orders of Allah. He should fit into whatever Allah wants. If we put an iron into the glass, then either the glass will break or the iron will break. The same way, if we are not flexible to the orders of Allah and become hard like iron, then either we will break or we will break the orders of Allah. A hadith states:

Dec

2008

All fogged up??

posted by Mahd-ul-Huda on 3rd December 2008 - 0 comments

An interesting analogy given by my Sheikh Hazrat Maulana Yunus Patel Saahib (db)..... If there is heavy mist on the windscreens of our cars, then we de-mist those windscreens when driving. If we do not do so, then we are liable to meet with an accident. In a like manner, when our hearts become misted with sins, with evil desires and passions, it becomes necessary to de-mist our hearts with Tawbah and Istighfaar (repentance). According to a Hadith of Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) , everything rusts according to its nature, and the hearts rust with worldly desires and sins. Zhikr (Praise of Allah Ta'ala) removes the rust of the (spiritual) heart - it purifies and cleanses the heart. If we do not de-mist our hearts of evils like malice, greed, pride, jealousy, anger, etc., then we will be always causing accidents in society.

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