Thank You...!

As Salaamu Alaykum.

We are often quick to criticise each other, but very slow to express our gratitude. So I would like to offer my thanks to all the brothers and sisters I have benefited on here or previously via sunniforum and other forums. I love you all for the sake of Allah.

And as a brother on Sunniforum likes to say " May Allah bless you all abundantly with the blessed gifts of sabr and shukr ameen.

Traditionally it is etiquette, that as an expression of gratitude one presents a gift, since we are communicating digitally I would like to present the following story as a gift it brings tears to my eyes as to Allahs ways, and means of guiding his creation.

It is Narrated by Shaykh Ali Tantawi [May Allah (SWT) have mercy on him] in his memoir about Shaykh Ahmad Al-Zayaat [May Allah (SWT) have mercy on him].

Shaykh Ali Tantawi said:

“The Shaykh (Ahmad Al-Zayaat) was a teacher, who did not know anything of this world except: The Azhar where he used to teach, the house he used to live in, and the road between them.

As years passed by, and he got older, his health started to deteriorate, and he needed to rest. So the doctor forced him to take some time of, and suggested that he goes somewhere away from his place of work and residence, and advised him to enjoy the quietness and calmness of the parks next to the Nile.

So one day, the Shaykh went out and stopped a carriage (as cars were not that available at the time). He told the driver: My son, take me to a nice place were I can enjoy the view and relax.

The driver of the carriage, however, was a wicked person, and took the Shaykh to a place in Egypt, which at the time had several prostitution houses.

After arriving he told the Shaykh: Here [we are].

The Shaykh said: O son, Magrib prayer is drawing near, where can I pray? Take me first to the Masjid.

The Driver [pointing to one of those houses] said: The Masjid is over there.

The door [of the place] was open, and the lady running that house was sitting, in the manner those like her usually sit.

When the Shaykh saw her, he lowered his gaze. He saw a seat, so he headed there and sat, waiting for the Call for prayer (Adhan).

[The woman in confusion, just] stared at him.

What brought that man here?

He doesn’t look like any of her regular customers.

She kept thinking to herself, but did not dare ask him what he was doing here.

What kept her from asking was the shyness that remained in her heart, even as a prostitute. However, that shyness only appears in front of people of Piety.

He, on the other hand, kept doing Tasbeeh (saying Subhan Allah (SWT)), whilst looking at his watch, until he heard the Adhan of Maghrib from far away.

He asked her: Where is the Moazin (Person who calls for prayers) here?

Why didn’t he call for prayer when the time entered?

Are you his daughter?

She … kept silent.

He waited for a while, and then said: My daughter, Maghrib time is short, and it is not permissible to delay it, and I do not see anyone here, so if you have your Wudu (ablution) then pray behind me Jama’ah.

He gave the call for prayer, and without looking at her, as he was about to give the Iqamah, he noticed stillness behind him?!

He asked: What is wrong? Don’t you have your Wudu?

All of a sudden, as if her Iman (Faith) woke up and she remembered the old days. The days when she was filled with purity, and was away from sin, she started to cry loudly, and threw herself at his feet.

The Shaykh surprised, did not know in what way he can calm her.

She then, started narrating her story.

He saw in her words great regret, and felt the truth in her repentance. He realized the sincerity in what she was saying, so he told her: Listen, my daughter, to what the Lord of all creation says:

Say, “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the Mercy of Allah (SWT). Indeed Allah (SWT) forgives all sins …”

(39:53).

All sins, my daughter, all sins …

The door of repentance is open to every sinner and it is so wide that it can encompass them all no matter how heavy their load [of sins] is … even Kufr.

So whoever disbelieves in the all Mighty, after he was a believer, but repents before the hour of his death comes, and he was sincere in his repentance, and he renewed his Islam, Allah (SWT) will accept him.

Allah (SWT), my dear daughter, is the most Generous of all. Did you ever hear of anyone generous shutting the door in the face of those who come seeking him?

Stand up and go wash yourself, and cover yourself. Go and clean your skin with water and your heart with repentance and regret. Approach your Lord, and I will wait for you.

But do not delay, so that we do not miss Maghrib prayer.

She did as he asked, and returned to him with a new dress and a new heart. She stood behind him and prayed. She felt and tasted the sweetness of that prayer, and felt that this prayer purified her heart.

When the prayer was over, he told her: Come with me, and try to cut every relation you have with this place and everyone in it. Try to erase the time you spent here from your memory.

Consistently ask Allah (SWT) for his forgiveness, and increase in doing righteous deeds.

Verily, adultery is not as big a sin as Kufr, and Hind [bint ‘Utbah – May Allah (SWT) be pleased with her], who was a disbeliever and had animosity in her heart to the Prophet of Allah (SAS). After that she became from the righteous believers, and we started saying: Allah (SWT) is well-pleased with her.

The Shaykh then took her to a house of righteous ladies, and then found her a righteous husband and advised him to take good care of her” 1/252.

[Original writer on an Arabic forum said]: Notice [May Allah (SWT) shower you with Mercy] the state of this woman, how she was and how she changed. It was nothing more than simple words from an old man that led her into changing her life upside down.

Bismillah.

I am loathe to write and post lengthy articles, but I Hope that Insha'Allah the following will be of benefit, for those who take the time to read.

There seems to be too much negativity around concerning the Muslim community in general, that we have forgotten to appreciate our strengths and accomplishments often in a very hostile environment.

Years ago in 1998 I attended Jumah at Birmingham Central mosque as I was leaving after the Jumah Prayers a Brother invited me to attend the Friday evening lecture delivered by the resident Shaykh.

So that evening I decided to go along and listen to the lecture of this Young Shaykh! I would learn later that this speaker was very popular with his audio cassettes being distributed across the country and his name was Riyadh Ul Haq.

During that talk the Shaykh mentioned an anecdote that has stuck in my mind all these years, I may not remember it exactly word for word but he stated, that when he was a Student at the Madrassah, he and his fellow students where sitting in Hadith Class waiting for their Hadith teacher to arrive who was unusually Late, when the Teacher finally arrived he was in deep reflection and did not say a word for about 20 minutes other then the occasional word of Zikr.

Finally the class began and the Teacher explained the reason for his late arrival, as he was making his way to the classroom his eyes fell on the blades of grass emerging from the concrete pavement, and it reminded him of the greatness of ALLAH and this had left him awestruck, seeds of grass covered in the darkness beneath the concrete remaining dormant until finally emerging through a small crack that ALLAH had caused too appear.

The other day I was in Small Heath Train station one of the many small local Train stations that are dotted around Birmingham. As I was waiting for my Train to arrive staring at the paved floor on the trains platform, I noticed the blades of grass and weeds and flowers emerging through the hostile environment.

It transported me back to my childhood, I grew up in a terraced house in the 1970's a stones throw from where the grand structure Ghamkol Sharif Masjid stands today. Those houses where demolished decades ago, to make way for the Dual carriageway that runs past the masjid.

I remembered the group of a Dozen or so elders, that used to gather regularly at weekends the last of whom passed away a few years ago. These individuals for me where like those flowers and blades of grass surrounded by concrete.

It has become fashionable now adays for the youth to malign the first generation of Muslim immigrants, for their lack of foresight and for being backward. I am left awestruck at the seeds that generation of individuals planted their efforts are bearing fruit today.

These were individuals who grew up, in remote villages, with very little education, no electricity, no plumbing, ended up immigrating to a completely alien environment to hopefully make a better life for their families.

They worked double shifts, and looking back one of things that is quite amusing for me is that all of them wore sleeping pyjamas beneath their trousers because in those days the winters were so Cold. Hardly any of them spoke English, they were too busy working to attend classes, for similar reasons most never learned to drive.
They would have to find someone to read letters for them or help them fill in forms, that task alone would take several hours of on their day off from work, they would have to endure the occasional brick thrown through the window by racists, would get shouted by racial slurs as they walked on the street, wake up sometimes to find the Milk Bottles stolen from their door steps, thats in those days when milk was delivered by the local milkman and hardly sold in shops. Amongst them were those who
could not even read numbers, they would remember peoples address by the colour of the door or the bush or shape of the fence outside it.

But they were hardy individuals, and generous to boot, trudging on foot miles in the snow in the middle of the night to offer support to a family whose member had just passed away or carrying boxes of grapes or apples too the houses of friends to celebrate happy occasions, Births, engagements, graduations etc.

Rushing to visit someone who had fallen ill, hospital having to change several busses to get their and several busses back, trying to raise a family whilst supporting several families back home and much, much more.

With their lack of education and illiteracy and all the challenges they faced in their everyday lives, their were those who would go door to door with donation book in hands trying to raise money for a masjid and maktab (and this was something you would see regularly). Help setup free Quran classes on their streets.

Attend gatherings and meetings to help set up, provisions for Muslim funerals and section in the cemeteries, and planning permission for masjids often this sort of thing would take years. Fighting for religious provision in Schools and work places to provide prayer rooms, the right for their daughters to wear hijab, and have separate girls only swimming classes.

What is truly amazing for me is that highly educated Muslims immigrated to western countries around the world. Despite their sophistication and advantage in education they have been unable to lay the foundations for even even half of what those uneducated villagers that arrived here in the U.K.

Alhamdulillah Wa Shukrulillah..! Despite their lack of education, even lack of religious understanding and alot of culture baggage they brought with them, ALLAH did not allow their efforts to go to waste because these people were sincere, they had deep love for ALLAH and His Messenger (saw)

, and the Ulemah state, the greater the struggle the greater the reward. For these villagers because of their lack of education everything was an obstacle but they kept struggling and persevering sometimes for years.

As for us we Quit when dealing with any type of bureaucracy after making a few phone calls, if anyone asks us to attend a meeting with a local branch of government we lose our temper and complain we are being harassed.

So I would like to say THANK YOU! to all our elders and the sacrifices they made and the foundations they helped lay for us in this country.

May ALLAH reward and bestow mercy on those who are still alive amongst them and grant them the goodness in dhuniyah and akhirah and a place in firdaus for those who have passed Away ameen.

Thank You...!

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