I have to say, i like Melvyn Bragg, in fact, i have always found him to be a very honest and likable person and his shows can be very informative. So when was i reminded, in a spate of text messages (that i am sure was played across every Muslim household across the UK) that a programme about Jesus (as) was to be aired by Melvyn Bragg..and that Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, amongst others, would be speaking on, i got very excited. Not least because finally we were going to get someone with knowledge on television speaking about Islam sensibly rather than some puppet Muslim who utters the kind of rubbish we are so accustomed to listening to on TV.

I tuned in (i must admit to sending a few text messages myself) and i really enjoyed it, i felt that they could have expanded on a few of the issues raised though, for example, they could have gone into much more detail about the second coming Of Jesus Christ (as) as this is an event that is so important to both Christians and Muslims. What we got was a glossing over of information about the second coming and so we never really got stuck into the ‘nitty gritty’ of it, unfortunately.

It was the first time i was watching something on TV that was presenting the Muslim understanding of things and i hope…i really hope it wont be the last.

It was also good in the sense that the issues that fundamentally divide Christians and Muslims were raised too. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf said:

“In the Christian narrative the most central and fundamental point of Christianity is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ but Islam basically denies that. The Qur’an states that it was made to appear that Jesus was crucified as when the Romans captured Jesus God organised a rescue operation.”

and that really did say it all as it is this issue alone that divides these two religions.

Melvyn Bragg interviewed a couple of Christians about the Qur’an stories and the stories of the hadith regarding Prophet Jesus (as) and i was not surprised to hear them refer to it as fairy tales and made up stories from the periods after Prophet Jesus (as). However, i was very surprised to hear them go down the route of authenticity in their defense of the Bible narrative. They claimed that the bible is rigorously authentic…which is absolute nonsense – Christianity does not have sanad which establishes authenticity for their Bilble like the Muslims do for the Hadith or the Jews did (at some point in their history) for the Torah – the Christians have actually no idea at all who wrote the Bible and who witnessed what event and moreover, they use a translation of a translation, of a translation, of a translation, of a translation, of a translation that was made many many years after the time of Prophet Jesus (as). The authenticity of the Bible passages are in total question…as apposed to the Hadiths where Muslims themselves have imposed the tightest and most rigorous quality and authenticity tests…

..anyway i digress..

Obviously, we are going to get uneducated idiot apostates like Patrick Sookhdeo, an Anglican canon, who said of the program: “How would the Muslim community respond if ITV made a program challenging Muhammad as the last prophet?” and we are going to get Christians, in retaliation, insulting Prophet Muhammad like they love to do.

But those of us, Christian or Muslim should be happy that we finally had some honest television about Islam and Christianity and the tenants of faith because, let’s be fair; we haven’t had much we could smile about on TV have we?

It could have been better though, i was not 100% happy because i felt that if some of the issues were discussed in more detail the Christians may have realised that they need to actually start to think more about what they believe.

tag: muslim, religion, doctrine, christianity, jesus, isa, Islam, Quran, hadith, melvyn bragg, ITV, the Muslim Jesus

Beauty itself boasts about the beauty of the Messenger (saw)
The beauty of galaxies are only the dust of your feet
O Caravan of the desirous! Walk barefoot towards Madinah
The thorns on your way are softer than flowers

When Allah Himself likes beauty, we can only imagine how beautiful He would have made the one whom He chose as his beloved. Hazrat Anas (ra) said that Prophet Muhammad was the most handsome amongst all the Prophet (as) and that his hands were softer than silk

“My eye has not seen anything as beautiful as you
No woman has ever borne anyone as beautiful as you
Pure from imperfections, as if your features were of your own choosing”

Hazrat Aishah Siddiqa (ra) is known to have said

“Oh Zulaikha, you only cut your fingers at seeing (Hazrat) Yusuf (as). Had you seen the Messenger of Allah , you would have cut open your heart.” She also said, “The sky has its sun, we have our own sun”

In another narration, we are told that Halima Sadia’s daughter Shima used to ask her mother to send her brother with her when she would go to tend the sheep. When asked why, Shima said to her mother, “I notice that the sheep graze quickly whenever my brother Muhammad is with me. The sheep then gather around where I sit with my brother, and both I and the sheep gaze at his beautiful face”

Hazrat Qurtubi (ra) said that Allah did not reveal His Messenger’s (saw) entire splendour because the people would not have able to bare it

“How can the beauty of Yusuf ever compare to you?
He was the beloved of Zulaikha: you are the beloved of Allah
Veiled in the secret of humanity is your flawless beauty
Unknown to all that you are part of the beauty of Allah ”

Taken from “Loving the Messenger” by Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmed (db)

Sayyidi wa Imami, Imam ‘Abdallah ibn ‘Alawi al-Haddad, (ra), (1044-1132 A.H) in expounding on tawakkul (trust and reliance on Allah ) in his spiritual masterpiece Risalat u’l Mu’awanah (The Book of Assistance) explains the signs of tawakkul and supports his position with the example of Shaykh ‘Abdul Qadir Jilani, (ra) whom he calls “sayyidi” (“my master”).

“The one whose reliance is sincere has three marks. The first is that he neither has hopes in nor fears other than God. The sign of this is that he upholds the truth in the presence of those in whose regard people usually have hope or fear, such as princes and rulers. The second is that worrying about his sustenance never enters his heart, because of his confidence in God’s guarantee, so that his heart is as tranquil when in need as when his need is fulfilled, or even more. The third is that his heart does not become disturbed in fearful situations, knowing that that which has missed him could never have struck him, and that which has struck him could never have missed him. An example of this was related of my teacher‘Abdal-Qadir al-Jilani, may God spread his benefit. He was once discoursing on Destiny when a great viper fell on him, so that his audience panicked. The viper coiled itself around the shaykh’s neck, then entered one of his sleeves and came out from the other while he remained firm and unperturbed, and did not interrupt his discourse”.

(Risalat u’l Mu’awanah, The Book of Assistance, translated by Dr. Mostafa al-Badawi, p. 121-122).

This incident demonstrates that Shaykh ‘Abdul Qadir Jilani was matchless in a very special way. It also reminds us about the following verses of the Holy Qur’an on the awliya Allah (friends of Allah ):

“Surely, on the friends of Allah , there is no fear, nor do they grieve. Those who believed and guarded (against evil). For them are glad tidings in this world’s life and in the Hereafter; there is no changing the words of Allah ; that is the Supreme Triumph.” (10:62-64)

Source

A really nice story I thought I would share with you about the saint Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra)

It is related that as he was about to leave home on this momentous journey, his widowed mother sewed forty gold coins inside his coat as part of his inheritance, and as parting advice told him to be forever truthful. The caravan with whom he was travelling had gone as far as Hamadan when it was attacked by a gang of robbers. In the course of their loot, one of the robbers asked him whether he had anything with him and he truthfully replied that he had forty gold coins sewn in his coat. The robber obviously thought he was joking and narrated this incident to his chief who decided to come and see this young man. When his coat was torn open, sure enough there were forty gold coins. The gang leader was astounded. He asked Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani as to why he revealed this when he could have very well kept it secret. Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani told him that his mother had advised him not to lie and he was duty bound to obey his mother, Hearing this, the gang leader was overpowered with remorse, repented, accepted Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani as his Shaykh and so did all his followers and they went on to acquire wilayah (sainthood) themselves. This is how Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani came to be ranked among the Siddiqeen.

Allahummaj ‘alna min-as-Siddiqeen, Aameen Yaa Rabbal ‘Aalameen.

There are a great number of teachers from whom Imam Bukhari (ra) gained his knowledge. It is reported that the Imam has heard traditions from 1080 different people, all of whom were great Scholars.

The Scholars who taught the Imam were the likes of Muhammad Ibn Salam and Muhammad Ibn Yusuf Baikandi, Abdullah Ibn Muhammad Musnadi, Ibrahim Ibn Ash’ath and even Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (ra). However, he had mostly benefited from Ishaaq Ibn Rahway and Ali Ibn Madeeni (ra).

Many stories have been told regarding the Imam’s remarkable memory and many considered his memory to be inhuman! The Imam was able to repeat a hadith immediately after it was recited to him.

During his student years, whilst visiting Baghdad, he had memorized 15,000 traditions in sixteen days. There is another spectacular incident that also took place in Baghdad when the Imam had taken up temporary residence there. People had heard about the Imam’s extraordinary memory and so they decided to test him to see if the Imam was worthy of the attributes that were being issued to him.

One hundred different hadith were chosen that had their chains of narration and text slightly altered. Those people who wished to test Imam Bukhari’s memory and mastery of Hadith gathered together within a very large crowd to hear the Imam teach some hadith. These altered hadith were to be recited to Imam Bukhari by ten people. By now, a crowd had gathered to witness the outcome of this deliberate test. One by one, each altered tradition was recited. The Imam remarked at the end of each recital:

“Not of my knowledge, I have never heard of such a hadith.”

After all the traditions had been presented, the Imam demonstrated the power of his memory by not only correcting the chains of narration and text of each tradition in order, Imam Bukhari also relayed back to each to the ten people their erroneous chain of narration that they had recited to him, correctly and in the same order that was narrated to him.

Subhanallah!

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Very interesting video on the letters to various leaders by our Master Rasulallah (saw). I have in my ‘download’ section, all the letters that the Prophet (saw) sent to various people translated into English. Reading them is really inspiring, I urge you to download them and take a look.

I have just returned form another glittering and sublime lesson of Saheeh al-Bukhari wherein Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadh ul Haq spoke about how our Master, Rasulallah (saw) would spend his night.

With the love of the Prophet (saw) emanating out of is whole being, Shaykh described how Rasulallah (saw) would divide his night between rest and ibadah, resting for only 1 and half hours between his ibadah. The first hour and a half after he (saw) finished praying Isha and the second hour and a half before Fajr.

One of the ahadeeth describes how our beloved Nabi (saw) would stand in salah for so long that his noble feet and shins would become swollen and in some cases his noble feet would crack open as a result of his (saw) devotion.

We were reminded of the time when our mother Aiysha (ra) expressed her concern about his health due to the long hours that he stood in worshiping, she said, “Oh, messenger of Allah , Allah has forgiven your past and future faults…” his answer was: “O Aisha! Why, shouldn’t I be grateful to Allah ?”

The Messenger of Allah (saw) spent every night like this, he (saw) would sleep for a total of 3 hours – 3 hours divided in half, in between which, he would spend his time in total devotion to Allah (swt)

Indeed, if you have true love for someone, you want to spend the night with them.

“Allahumma Salli ala Muhammadin kama Amartana an Nusalliya ‘alayh, Allahumma Salli ala Muhammadin kama huwa ahluh, Allahumma Salli ala Muhammadin kama tuhibbu wa tarda lah, Allahumma Salli ‘ala Ruh Muhammadin fi’l Arwah, Allahumma Salli ala Jasadi Muhammadin fi’l Ajsad, Allahumma Salli ala Qabri Muhammadin fi’l Quboor.”

O Allah , send salawat upon Muhammad as you have ordered us to send upon him, O Allah , send salawat upon Muhammad as he deserves, O Allah , send salawat upon Muhammad as much as you love for him and are pleased with him to receive, O Allah , send salawat upon the spirit of Muhammad among the spirits, and upon his body among the bodies, and upon his grave among the graves.

The Rare Sermons of Jesus

Taken from The Ghazali’s Heritage Collection

As for the daughter of Al Ashir, a night had passed since her death. So Jesus supplicated to Allah so she lived and bore children. The people who witnessed these happenings said: ‘You revive those who have been dead for a short-time so maybe they were not dead merely temporarily paralyzed so revive for us Shem, the son of Prophet Noah.’ So he said to them: ‘Show me his tomb.’ So he went with the tribe until they reached his tomb and then supplicated to Allah . And Shem rose up from his tomb, his hair having turned gray. So Jesus asked him: ‘How is it that your hair has turned gray, in your time hair used not to turn gray?’ He replied: ‘O spirit of Allah , when you called me I heard a voice telling me to answer the spirit of Allah so I thought the Day of Judgment had come and out of fear my hair turned gray.’ Then Jesus asked him about the pain of the departure of the spirit from the body so he answered: ‘O spirit of Allah , surely, the bitterness of the departure never leaves my throat.’ – and he had been dead for more than four thousand years. Then Shem said to the tribe: ‘Believe him, for surely he is a Prophet.’ But some believed and others disbelieved saying: ‘This is magic.’”

tag: islam, prophet, Allah , ghazali, jesus, isa

Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadh ul Haq is scheduled to deliver a talk entitled ‘The Miraculous Achievements of Rasulullah ??? ???? ???? ???? Part 2′ on Saturday 28th April 2007 at the Azhar Academy, London. This event is for brothers and sisters and the talk will commence after Maghrib salah (8:25 PM).

The first part was simply amazing and part 2 should be even better, inshallah.

You can get full directions from your place of origin to any destination around the UK by using the route planners on either www.multimap.com or www.rac.co.uk

Please come yourselves and invite others for as the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him, said, , ‘Whomsoever guides towards a goodness, will get virtues equal to the one who performs that goodness.’ [Muslim]

At this time of year Prophet Isa (pbuh) is talked about greatly, so I have been posting a few things about him on my blog.Not a lot of people are aware that there are more sayings of Jesus (pbuh) in the hadith than in all the New Testament part of the Bible. And, as a former Christian, I find that statistic extremely interesting.Some of the sayings of Jesus (pbuh) in the hadith are quite amazing and so deep, thoughtful and very spiritual (as you would expect from the Spirit of Allah (swt)

I remember Hamza Yusuf saying years ago that he wishes to translate all the sayings of Jesus (pbuh) into a small book.Well, Alhamdulillah, here it is and it’s simply terrific, Subhanallah!

Jesus, the son of Mary, (as) said,

“God has given me the power to give life to the dead, sight to the blind, sound to the deaf; but He did not give me the power to heal the fool of his foolishness.”

Sufyaan al-Thawwri relates that Jesus, the son of Mary (as) said,

“Love of this world and love of the next world can never reside in the heart of a believer simultaneously,just as fire and water cannot be  contained in a single vessel at the same time.” (Ibn Kathir)

To read entire article, download PDF

tag: islam, Jesus, pearls of wisdom, sayings, christian, hadith