Chill Yo Islam Yo

The First Benefit

Is that you realize the power of Lordship over you - you realize Allah (subhana wa t’ala) is Rabb (Lord) and you are marbu (slave). When tribulations come over you “La Hawla wa Quwwatta [illa billah]…” I can control certain things in [my] environment - Allah (subhana wa t’ala) has given me that but He can take that away. People see the reality - illusion - I am free, I can do whatever I want. Delusion. When the calamity comes -suddenly that delusion is taken away.

There was a Republican Head of Election Committee who destroyed Dukakis who ran for Democratic Party. Wrote a confessional before he died young handsome wealthy - Machiavellian politician who basically destroyed people’s l[lives]. Based his life on Machiavellian’s “The Prince”. At 39, he got a tumor and wanted to ask forgiveness from all the people he destroyed. That is what it takes for some people to learn that lesson. Learning that Allah (subhana wa t’ala) is Lord.

* The Second Benefit
You realize your abject servanthood and your complete state of resignation and brokenness in front of Allah (subhana wa t’ala). Those who went into infliction, they say “surely to God we belong, and to Him we return” (from Qur’an). If I take something, I take it and I owned it and I throw it out - I can do that - property means the one who owns it does what he wills with it. Dunya (the world or this life) is not our property so we cannot do everything we want with it. God can do whatever He wants with it. I burn a book - [you say: I] can’t do that - maybe I shouldn’t but I can and you can’t stop me. [You ask:] Why did you burn the book? - [because] there [are] mistakes in it. You cannot make a judgement on a thing unless you know the entirety of that thing. A principle in logic. A judge has to know all the facts. If you prejudge - it is called prejudice. We cannot prejudge Allah (subhana wa t’ala)!!!

I was talking to a physician in the car and they were talking to another anatomy professor and they do not really understand why they urinate. I responded by telling him that Imam al Ghazzali was asked where is God and he responded by a poem that says you do not even know how you drink water….

Arrogant people are often completely oblivious to their own arrogance. To see themselves as better is a delusion itself because they do not know. Maybe they are but they do not know. He has hidden his Awliya (close friends [of Allah]) amongst his servants. The frightening thing might be that they are hidden amongst the non-Muslims. Because Imam Al Qurtubi said Sayyidina Umar was beloved to God when he was prostrating to idols. What he said was “you now know the truth and no excuse for any ignorance”. We believe people with no [prophetic] message will be forgiven.

* The Third Benefit
Sincerity to Allah (subhana wa t’ala). No place of return - in defense - except to Him. If you realize you have no other place of refuge except to Him. One of the Ulema (scholars) said, “A moment of ikhlas (sincerity) in this world is enough to save a person.” There is no source to remove that calamity except Allah (subhana wa t’ala). When they get on a boat and turbulence and they call on Allah (subhana wa t’ala) they call on Allah (subhana wa t’ala) sincerely. How many times has a calamity afflicted you and it has led you to that state.

* The Fourth Benefit
Returns to Allah (subhana wa t’ala) and suddenly is fervent with desire for his Lord.

* The Fifth Benefit
It leads to humble state before God and prayers. Dentist operation analogy. Dunya (this life or world) is [like] getting [a] tooth pulled out. If you [compare] it to infinity, it is canceled out, so stop complaining. They go into a state of complete panic and then when they come back they are good. You came from God and you are going back to God. A moment where you are in a complete panic.

The Moroccans says “relax the mind and learn to swim”! We are all drowning out there. If you would just relax - you wouldn’t drown. The panic wouldn’t cause you to drown. Human beings are created in a state of anxiety. When any harm afflicts them, they panic. When good comes to them, they withhold. That trust in Allah (subhana wa t’ala) is what saves you. Who will save you from the darkness of the land and the sea?

* The Sixth Benefit
You are forbearing towards the one who has afflicted you. [Prophet] Ibrahim was somebody who had compassion for other people - halim. The Prophet [Muhammad] (peace and blessings be upon him) said “You have two qualities that Allah loves, forbearance and deliberation.” There is a difference in the rankings of forbearance based on the calamities. A forbearance shown in calamities is greater than any other.

* The Seventh Benefit
You can actually forgive them. You get one of the greatest rewards in forgiving those who have actually done wrong [to you]. Allah loves those people who forgive [others]. The one who pardons and rectifies - his reward is with Allah (subhana wa t’ala). If you have family members who cause you problems, you have to forgive them for the sake of Allah (subhana wa t’ala). The more delayed the rift, the harder. If you immediately go, you can heal it. I myself, immediately took a shower and asked forgiveness to one who HAD WRONGED ME. Pride enters the heart “Oh, I deserve an apology.” Asking forgiveness of people is a great blessing of Allah (subhana wa t’ala). Allah (subhana wa t’ala) is with patient ones. To actually just wait for an opening from Allah is actually an act of ibadah.

* The Eighth Benefit
Patience is based on understanding. You cannot call a donkey patient. They can bear things but not patience. This brings on the love of Allah (subhana wa t’ala) and also the abundant reward of Allah. He loves the patient ones. The sabeeroon [patient ones] are given their rewards without reckoning. No one was given a blessing better than or more vast than patience.

* The Ninth Benefit is to actually be happy about those benefits. Imam Ahmad relates a hadith: “They used to be as happy during tribulations as you are during times of abundance.” How wondrous those two distasteful things “death and poverty”. Imam Ali (radi Allah anhu) said, “What is halal from it is a reckoning and prohibited from it is a punishment.” People of zuhud [ascetism] - they give up [worldly] things [because] they don’t want the problems of it. The bitter cure will remove the disease - he thinks not of the bitterness in his happiness but about the benefit.

* The Tenth Benefit
To be grateful for it. Thank you so much doctor. HE JUST CUT YOUR HAND OFF. HE did you a benefit though even though he harmed you outwardly. Those with tribulations - know that Allah (subhana wa t’ala) only does stuff to benefit them.

* The Eleventh Benefit
The purification these calamities have towards their wrongs and their sins. Anything that afflicts you is from what your own hands have wrought. What you are afflicted with is much less than what you deserve. Imam an Nasafi in his tafsir [exegesis] - if you reflect on the meaning of that, then you will show gratitude. Allah (subhana wa t’ala) has pardoned so much.

* The Twelfth Benefit
The compassion Allah shows in tribulations. A scholar said: you have well being in your family but you get problems from other people (Allah will give you those problems if you do not help those). Tribulations of others is actually a blessing “DON’T COMPLAIN!” - it could get worse. One of the poets said, “the only people that really feel sorry for passionate love are those who have been in passionate love.”

* The Fourteenth Benefit
Tribulations give you knowledge of what well-being is. Allah (subhana wa t’ala) has prepared [us] for calamities with contentment based on different ranks. Patience and contentment are [different]. Patience is the lowest maqam. I missed a flight and I was relaxed. I don’t want to rush into a plane about to crash. No real delay. God’s choice is in every delay.

* The Sixteenth Benefit is tribulations prevent you from arrogance and pride and tyranny. Had Nimrod been a sickly, deaf or dumb person he would have never done that.

* The Seventeenth One
Whoever who is pleased with it is [because] he knows Paradise is better than anything in this world.

These are some of the blessings - there are many more. I want to end [on] this [note] and say these are not the worst [of] times. Read history and see how many times it has happen.

http://www.zikrcast.com/podcast/audio/SHY_ISNA06.mp3

Salam, brothers and sisters….

Have you ever asked yourself how much of something you really need? i did, and after realizing how much of an animal i can be at time’s, i felt like moving to the bronx zoo, well here is what im trying to get at. We all have these inner desire’s called the nafs. For those that don’t know the definition of nafs, it is the totality of sentiments, tendencies, desires, wishes, experiences, and our heredity characteristics, in short, it is man’s personality.

Now the Nafs has many different levels from Nafs-e-Ammara (Commanding Soul) to Nafs-al-Mutmainnah (satisified soul), the first level being the lowest a man can be in a position of and the second a level in between. I wanted to focus on Nafs-e-Ammara, because this state of the nafs relates to that of which i see in today’s society. In other word’s at time’s we forget our purpose in life.

One example i wanted to use is from the movie supersize me, i use this example because in the movie it was shown clearly our people surrender to their nafs, they eat until they become obese, they have no moderation in their eating habits. From small fries, to super big mac’s, to king size soda’s i mean come on when will people realize that they have a body that needs to be taken care of, yesterday 30,000 thousand people died of starvation and probably even more, and here we are just eating away, as if this world is just for us.

The prince of saudi arabia, built a home filled with 1,400 rooms, seriously, and these are the leaders of countries. In saudi arabia and even our country we have no balance, we have billionaires and then people who are on welfair, how can this be? this only develops when people forget their purpose in life. They completely surrender and give in their nafs. Sometimes i get into the car with people, and the first thing they do is turn on music, no dua, music!, where is our remembrance of Allah gone..we have to step up our game.

We are in temporary settlement as “Shakyh Hamza Yusuf said”. Everybody has a fixed clock that Allah has made for us, and its ticking away, people break their watches, they go buy new ones, and on top of that fancy watches to feel recognize, for pride, and thats just scratching the surface, but the reality is, when our life watches run out, there is no recharging, and even the energizer bunny knows that.

We have completely forgotten our morals and values and purpose within our life. We should make ourselves invincible to the shatan, and the only way to do that is if we turn to Allah, its either heaven or hell, that’s the decision we have to take, we are suppose to be in this world as travelers. Yesterday i was sitting in the train, and as its moving in the tunnel, it was just moving fast, all i saw was flashes of light, thats how we have to be in this life, and Inshallah with sincere submission, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, our measurement of success will only hold value if we make it to heaven, so lets find the balance.

Allah says in the Quran “By the nafs and the proportion and order given to it, and its inspiration as to its wrong and its right; Truly he succeeds who purifies it, and he fails that corrupts it” (91:7-10). This is also a Meccan Sura. Futher on the Prophet said, upon him peace:The mujahid is he who makes jihad against his nafs (ego) for the sake of obeying Allah.

Without purification, the nafs remains a “soul that enjoins evil” (al-nafs al-ammara bil-su’ until it surrenders itself in total obedience to the call of animal passions and shaytan… Inshallah Allah protect the Muslim ummah from the shatan and give us hidayat along with patience and show us the hikma within the struggle..Ameen!

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Salam, There is none worthy of worship except Allah and Prophet Muhammad is his last messenger…

As a youth growing up in such a corrupt society, with my fluctuating iman, sometimes being a product of my environment, then gradually becoming a more practicing Muslim, and analyzing my surroundings and trying my best to absorb only the positive, I can say that without coming across certain Muslim brothers who I consider leaders i wouldn’t be able to mold myself to the way I think today, or even survive in the coldest times like a penguin, Alhumduillah.

Anyways, what im trying to say is that we all have to eventually think of ourselves as leaders, and you know behind every great leader are many great followers, of course the best leader of all time is our beloved Prophet Muhammad …and we should try our best to follow him and revive the sunnah in every aspect of our life.

Back in the jahiliyah days, when I wasn’t on point with my iman, I wasn’t a leader! Just floating on the haraam boat and not reviving the sunnah, eventually Alhumduillah after realizing I wasn’t happy, I had to make some power moves, since a wise brother told me the lesson is in the struggle. So now it’s a constant effort till this day and inshallah till the end to develop a stronger relationship with Allah

Well the main point is as humans, we make mistakes and it’s our natural inclination to forget, and we should always thank Allah that he let us live after making them and repenting for them and being able to build ourselves stronger, physically and spiritually. As our beloved prophet said “the one, who repents for his sins, is like the one who never did it at all” so we can see the mercy of Allah in the hadith.

Usually when you come across Muslim brothers in this society who are slipping like penguins on ice, you will notice they become most weak when they get with a certain group that lacks remembrance of Allah and im speaking from experience, im sure anyone reading this can relate also, and as Mufti Abdul Rehman said once ” don’t ever try to justify your mistakes, because then you’ll never change”, what we need brothers and sisters to do, is take a step back and just internalize criticism, including myself, the thing is if we become leaders of ourselves, then people will see we are being real with ourselves, and a lot of times I realized that we tend to act one way with one group and another character with another group, when in reality we just have to be open strong Muslims wherever we are, because just because our surroundings change doesn’t mean our beliefs change, and Allah knows best…

The five leadership traits are to be:

Honest
Forward-Looking
Competent
Inspiring
Intelligent

Sayyiduna Abd Alla Umar narrates that the Messenger of Allah blesses him and grant him peace said: “All of you are shepherds. Each of you is responsible for his flock. An amir is a shepherd. A man is a shepherd in respect of his family. The woman is a shepherd in respect of her husband’s house and children. All of you are shepherds and each of you is responsible for his flock.” (Sahih al-Bukhari & Sahih Muslim)..

Inshallah we got to step up our leadership skills, and become leaders of our flocks, it’s now or never, we got to lower our gaze, and say we have happy feet. Get it! So yea inshallah Allah guide us all and help us in increasing our iman…Ameen!

Salam, I hope you brothers registered for this years Summer Camp, its going to be hot like the Sahara desert.

This years theme: REFOCUSING THE ISLAMIC IMAGE

Confirmed Speakers

1. Imam Siraj Wihaj
   
2. Nouman Ali Khan

Activities include: Water Rafting, Hiking, Canoeing, Barbecues…and much more!

Time is running out. How often do you get to chill with your brothers like this?,You know you want to get away from home for a bit, get that stress out before school starts, and have some fun with the brothers up in the poconos, under no parent supervision..astugfurillah Allah swt is watching….pray salat in the forest, do dikhr, tell jinn stories, and make this trip a way for you to become a real man…

Chill yo islam yo register now inshallah!

Prison then Heaven inshallah!

Im a muslim, and this life as we know it as written in the Quran ” is a prison for a believer”, so while we are locked up, its important that we keep ourselves in check and dont escape prison, if you know what i mean, prison is hard, your blocked from the outside world and you just have yourself and the time which you use to rethink your actions and prepare for your future, and i am amazed how it makes so much sense in the Quran to the life we are in today.

I mean look around, if your a practicing muslim and follow islam in its right way, your lifestyle is so different in comparison to the regular person who isnt serving to the universal purpose of life which is ” to submit to the will of Allah Swt”, often we slip on our deeds and get caught up with immediate pleasure, but that pleasure whether it be partying, music, wasting time doing useless things, or getting out of hand with our gender interaction dosent last too long, and “bang” right in your face again, you realize that life is short, your going to die one day and be judged for the time you were on earth for. So what do we conclude from all this? we say that this life is nothing as the Prophet Muhammad (s) compared it to a dead donkey.

We have to understand that we are just here for a short period of time and the hereafter is the real deal, the pleasures of heaven go far beyond our imagination, the rivers, the food, the fruits, the hoors (woman of paradise), the mansions, inshallah. As said,“What no eye has ever seen and no ear has never heard and no human heart has ever perceived.” (Narrated in the book of compiled hadiths by Imam Muslim.) So inshallah we learn from the guidance of the Quran and Sunnah to strive best for the After life, may Allah help us all. Ameen.

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salam, so i was on sunnipath.com as i usually do with the random search for questions..that confused muslims put up.. and i came across a question, about whether or not your allowed to shop at wal mart? at first i was laughing and burning mad calories in my stomach like wal mart haraam?, but i got back in iman mode and it actually made me retort to one of own memories! gotta chill with the laughter, alot of this stuff is serious!

The question is would it be permissible to shop at Wal-mart, knowing that it’s business organization has some dishonesty and cheating?

Anwerserd By

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, SunniPath Academy Teacher

Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

This would not, in itself, make it a religious duty or expectation to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart. In general, however, it is praiseworthy to support businesses of with good business, employment, and environmental practices, as much as one reasonably can without personal hardship or harm.

me again..

makes sense, but recently i went to a deli in new york, around my way, and i walked in with a friend, when i walked in i saw beer, lotto, all the haram stuff that delis carry, but what was funny was i saw a sister in hijab at the register, then a brother at the lotto machine!

i dont live under shariah law or anything, but when i see muslims doing wild things out of there limits, i tend to ask them sometimes, depends how pissed off i am. Im not part of no fitnah police or anything just to let you know.

So anyhows i go up to the brother, i asked him if he was muslim, he said “alhumduillah”, then i immediately asked him right after why does he sell all these impermissible things, and he said “alhumduillah” again, which is kind of slick, but saying all praise is due to “Allah swt”, to shut me up, but then he went on and said “brother this is america, we do business for everyone” so i decided to say something again, but my friend just told me to leave, he bought me two packs of chips from his deli, and i ate them, i was confused about whether or not i should support the business, but in america its real hard, to walk into a store and not see other haraam things being sold.

As our beloved Prophet Muhammad s said ” The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) told us,

“Allah is Pure, and accepts only the pure.” [Related by Muslim and Tirmidhi]

Its just sad to see how some Muslims are dependent on haraam consumption to make a living! astugfurillah, inshallah Allah swt guide the muslim ummah and open there hearts to official islamic practices, and give them a better understanding of living life righteously according to quran and sunnah! ameen.

Imagine the haram consumption coming in, and with that they buy food, and a house and everything, there is no baraqa in that, and its like you are branching the haraam, the source is haram, and of course its deception to try to cover up and act like we are living all good with this kind of consumption, because Allah swt knows best always! and of course islam discusses about all this interest, to selling drugs to selling haraam meat, so lotto, to beer, you know the deal!

In a narration, the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him eternal peace) described the consumption of Haram food as the main cause for the non-acceptance of supplications (dua).

He (Allah bless him & give him peace) mentioned a man having journeyed far, is dishevelled and dusty and who spreads out his hands to the sky (saying): O Lord! O Lord! - While his food is Haram, his drink is Haram, his clothing is Haram, and his nourishment is Haram, so how can his dua be answered! (Sahih Muslim).

….

till next time im out wasalaam!!

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Salam, this time i decided to write about pigs!, not because i eat them, or enjoy their presence or there smell “astukfurillah”, and i hope anybody who reads this and does eat them, inshallah stops! after reading below. So recently i’ve been reading some interesting things about pigs, i’ve always known they were haraam, and never enjoyed watching porkey the pig on looney tunes, toons? dont know how to spell it, but anyways, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf commented on pigs and human relation to them, i was pretty astonished

He said

“The closest animal to us genetically is the pig. And the pigs organ system is very close to the human organ system. So it’s very easy for us to become pigs. Besides the filth of the pig, you know where this don’t fight the feeling has brought us? Pigs eat everything. They lie in their own filth and eat their own filth. Pigs also eat their babies. They have no concern for their future generations. See how piggish we’ve become as a society. Perhaps that’s why the pig is haram. You are what you eat.

yup yup, so don’t eat haraam food, cause what you put into yourself, is what you’ll get out! meaning will affect your actions, our submission to ALLAH swt is complete, and should be complete in every aspect of our life, i have a question maybe someone can anwser it ” can you put halal consumption in a piggy bank??, just thinking about, its funny how some things in this society are so normal, but to a muslim they can be strange! in addition at the recent ICNA convention, i saw hijabman selling these pig dolls.

don’t really like that idea, though some people might think its funny, but none of that in my house! the closest ill get to a pig is google images =P, so yea inshallah lets get our zabiha on, and think about ourselves, our inner desires, lets not become animalistic, i don’t know if thats a word, but you get what i mean, alhumduillah we have the ability to choose between right and wrong, we are servants of ALLAH swt, so inshallah yo, no oink oink,

The Qur’an, which is a comprehensive framework of guidance for humanity, makes it very clear that consuming anything derived from the pig is impermissible.

Allah Most High says,

“He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name hath been invoked besides that of Allah. But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- then is he guiltless. For Allah is Oft-forgiving Most Merciful” (Al-Baqara, 2:173).

inshallah Allah swt guide us on the straight path, and help follow Quran and Sunnah in our everyday life!

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Just when i thought the dirty south grill movement wasn’t haraam enough, spending 30,000 on icing on your teeth, it got even worse when a company headed by Hollywood writer-producer Kevin G. Boyd decided to roll out The brand of bling h20, which features hand-crafted bottles decorated with Swarovski crystals and commands $35 each!!! mad haraam yo!

You serious 35 dollars for for a bottle of water, Alhumduillah we have free water from Allah (swt), rain from the sky see how little thanks we give to Allah swt, now we have people who have the nerve to sell it for 35 a pop packaging it all fancy, making it prestigious ,but on top of that sadly consumers who are willing to buy it, this is mad haraam, dunya deception, and mad materialism, considering it taste just as a bottle of poland spring or even worse as one person stated. but seriously how far can you go?? we all know the only official water on this earth is Zum Zum water… which can only be purchase in saudi arabia =P I believe. Alhumduillah, inshallah this society realizes how much we have and how little others do and thank Allah swt more…ameen!

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Astukfurillah recently after doing some research about lowering the gaze, and guarding our modesty, i was real suprised and happened to come across a link backed by google statistics showing the highest searched word in so called “Muslim Countries” is “Sex”, Astukfurillah, this is the state of our ummah, here is the link google trends: sex, that shows the sad statistics, inshallah Allah (swt) help the muslim ummah and help them to guard there modesty, i want to inshallah quote what Shaykh Hamza Yusuf said regarding this situation

“the highest rate of pornographic downloading per capita is in muslim countries, because people are complete slaves for themselves, and thats a complete state of total headlessness, and now shatan has machines, technology, vehicles that completely destroy a human being, youll put out your inner eye, blind it, the scholars of science say the “inner eye (spiritual eye) is more sensitive than the outer eye”, , just like when you get a small specs of sand in your eye, and you cant see, you just wanna clear your eye, anything you look at that is haraam, its like that except for that its stabbing it….”Shakyh Hamza Yusuf”.

thats pretty deep so lets worry less about clear eyes for our outer eyes, and start washing our inner eye, i don’t know about you guys, but i’d rather be blind from the outside rather from the inside, so inshallah lets work on that

Allah swt states in the quran in relation to restraining your gaze and protecting your privates

“Enjoin believing men to restrain their gaze and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Surely Allah is well aware of all what they do.

And enjoin believing women to restrain their gaze and guard their private parts and additionally not to reveal their adornment except that which is revealed of itself.” Quran 24:30-31

so watch out for shataan movement, put your haraam radar on, and be prepared to look down..inshallah Allah swt help guide us and help us in this pig society and give us the strength to become better muslims.. NA I MEAN, AMEEN!

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