29 September 2010

The people of understanding

Ibn Marduwyah recorded that `Ata' said, "I, Ibn `Umar and `Ubayd bin `Umayr went to `A'ishah and entered her room, and there was a screen between us and her. She said, `O `Ubayd! What prevents you from visiting us' He said, `What the poet said, `Visit every once in a while, and you will be loved more.' Ibn `Umar said, `Tell us about the most unusual thing you witnessed from the Messenger of Allah .' She cried and said, `All his matters were amazing. On night, he came close to me until his skin touched my skin and said, `Let me worship my Lord.' I said, `By Allah I love your being close to me. I also love that you worship your Lord.' He used the water-skin and performed ablution, but did not use too much water. He then stood up in prayer and cried until his beard became wet. He prostrated and cried until he made the ground wet. He then laid down on his side and cried. When Bilal came to alert the Prophet for the Dawn prayer, he said, `O Messenger of Allah! What makes you cry, while Allah has forgiven you your previous and latter sins' He said,
"O Bilal! What prevents me from crying, when this night, this Ayah was revealed to me,"
إِنَّ فِى خَلْقِ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ وَاخْتِلَـفِ الَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لاّيَـتٍ لاٌّوْلِى الاٌّلْبَـبِ

(Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding.- Quran 3/190-)
"Woe to he who recites it but does not contemplate it".

Source:http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=3&tid=10145

26 September 2010

Prophet Uzair

Ezra Sleeps For 100 Years

Ishaaq Ibn Bishr reported, on the authority of Ibn' Abbas and others, that Ezra was a saint and a
wise man. He went out one day to his own farm, as was his custom. About noon he came to a
deserted, ruined place and felt the heat. He entered the ruined town and dismounted his donkey,
taking figs and grapes in his basket. He went under the shade of the khaiba tree and ate his food.
Then he got up to look at what remained of the ruins. The people had long been lost, and he saw
bones.
"Oh! How will Allah ever bring it to life after its death?" (Ch 2:259 Quran)
He said this not out of doubt but out of curiosity. Allah sent the Angel of Death to take his life.
He remained dead for one hundred years.
After one hundred years had passed and there had been changes in Israelite affairs, Allah sent an
angel upon Ezra to revive his heart and his eyes in order for him to feel and see how Allah revives
the dead. The angel said: "For how long did you sleep?" He said: "A day or part of a day." He
said this because he knew he had slept early in the afternoon and woke up late in the afternoon.
The angel said: "You remained asleep for one hundred years." He ate and drank the food which
he had prepared before he was overtaken by that long sleep. Then the angel revived his donkey.
Almighty Allah said:
"And look at your donkey! Thus We have made of you a sign for the people. Look at the bones,
how We bring them together and clothe them with flesh." When this was clearly shown to him he
said: "I know now that Allah is able to do all things." (Ch 2:259)

22 September 2010

Some sayings of Raabi’ah al-‘Adawiyyah

She once said “I seek forgiveness from Allaah for the lack of my sincerity when I say, I seek the forgiveness of Allaah.”

A man once went to Raabi'ah bint Isma'il al-'Adawiyyah, who was known by the titles, 'Mother of Goodness,' and, 'The Famous Worshipper.' He said, 'Indeed, I have perpetrated a great number of sins. If I repent, do you think that Allah will accept my repentence?"
She said, "Woe unto you! Do you not see that He invites those who turn away from Him; then why wouldn't He accept the repentance of those who turn towards Him?"

Raabi’ah al-‘Adawiyyah once said to Sufyaan al-Thawri: “You are only a few days, and when one day passes a part of you has gone. Soon, when a part of you have gone all of you will have gone. You know about this, so act upon it.”

‘Abdah bint Abi Shawwaal, who was one of the best female slaves of Allaah and who used to serve Raabi’ah, said: “Raabi’ah used to pray all night long, and just before dawn, she would take a short nap until dawn came. When she awoke with a start, I would hear her say in a terrified manner, ‘O my soul, how long will you sleep? How long will you nap? Soon you will sleep a sleep from which you will not wake until the Day of Resurrection.’”
She [‘Abdah] said: this was her habit all her life, until she died.

Source: http://islamqa.com/en/ref/5994,
From the book "Stories of repentance"

20 September 2010

Some sayings of Al-Hasan Al-Basree

Abu Hilal said, "When al-Hasan finished his hadith, he would say, 'O Allah, you see our hearts full of idolatry, pride, hypocrisy, showing-off, reputation, doubt and uncertainty in your deen. 0 Turner of hearts, make our hearts firm in Your deen and make our deen Straight Islam!"'

'Umara ibn Mihran said that al-Hasan was asked, "Why do you not visit the rulers and command them to the correct and forbid them the incorrect?" He replied, "'Thee believer should not waste himself. Their swords precede our tongues when we speak. They speak thus with their swords." And he made a striking gesture with his hand.

'Umara said, "I did not see anyone whose words are in harmony with his actions except al-Hasan."

It is related that al-Hasan said, "When a young man is devout, we do not recognise him by his speech. We recognise him by his actions. That is beneficial knowledge."

'Umara said that al-Hasan told him that he disliked voices trilling when reciting the Qur'an.

Al-Hasan said, "Guard against having a bad opinion of people."

Ar-Rabi' ibn Subayh said, "Al-Hasan disliked being praised to his face. If invocation was made for him, that delighted him."

Ghalib al-Qattan said, "I brought al-Hasan a letter from 'Abdu'l-Malik ibn Abi Bashir and he said, 'Read it.' So I read it and there was a supplication in it. Al-Hasan said, 'Many a true brother of yours was not actually born of your mother."'

It is related that 'Imran ibn Khalid al-Khuza'i said that a man told him, "Matar asked al-Hasan about a question and said, 'The fuqaha' oppose you.' He said, 'May your mother be bereaved, Matar! Do you see a faqih at all? Do you know what a faqih is? The scrupulous ascetic faqih is the one who does not care about who is above him nor mock the one below him, and who does not accept ephemeral rubbish in exchange for the knowledge which Allah has taught him."'

It is related that when al-Hasan saw a funeral, he would say, "Praise belongs to Allah who has not made me part of that which is snatched away." He said, "He would not relate anything that day."

Muhammad ibn 'Umar said, "Al-Hasan died in 110." Isma'il ibn 'Ulayya said that it was in Rajab. There were a hundred days between the deaths of Muhammad ibn Sirin and him, al-Hasan dying first.

Hammad ibn Zayd said that al-Hasan died on Friday night. He said that Ayyub and Humayd at-Tawil washed him. He was brought out when the people left. He said, "My father took me with him," and Mu'adh ibn Mu'adh said, "Al-Hasan was ten years older than Muhammad."

Source:http://www.islaam.com/Article.aspx?id=242

19 September 2010

Ibn Umar

(radiyallhu anhu)

The Most Disciplined Youth

Some narrations collected in adh-Dhahabi’s ‘Siyar A’lam an-Nubala‘‘ (4/346-373) and Ibn al-Jawzi’s ‘Sifat as-Safwah’ (1/214-222) give a taste of Ibn ‘Umar’s character:

1 – His Discipline as a Youth:

Ibn Mas’ud said: “From the most disciplined youth of Quraysh in the face of the dunya was ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar.”

Jabir bin ‘Abdillah said: “None of us experienced the dunya but that it affected him, except Ibn ‘Umar.”

Nafi’ said that Ibn ‘Umar presented himself to fight in Uhud when he was fourteen years old, and the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) refused to allow him. He then presented himself during the Battle of the Trench when he was fifteen, and he was allowed to fight.

2 – His Discipline as an Adult:

Ibn Shihab said that Ibn ‘Umar was about to curse one of his servants, and said: “O Allah, cu-” without completing the word, and he said: “I don’t like to say this word.”

3 – His Love of Imitating the Prophet in Everything:

Zayd bin Aslam said: “Ibn ‘Umar would dye his beard with saffron until his clothes were colored with it. He was asked about this, and said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) dye his hair with it.”"

Hisham bin ‘Urwah said: “I saw Ibn ‘Umar’s hair reaching down to his earlobes,” and Anas reported that the Prophet’s hair also hung down to his earlobes.

‘A’ishah said: “I never saw anyone holding tighter to the original affair than Ibn ‘Umar.”

Malik said that someone informed him: “Ibn ‘Umar would imitate the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) and follow his traces and lifestyle and be very keen in this, to the point that we feared for his sanity because of his keenness in this.”

Nafi’ said: “Ibn ‘Umar used to follow the traces of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) in every place he prayed. This was to the point that there was a tree that the Prophet would sit under, and Ibn ‘Umar would frequent this tree and water its trunk so that it wouldn’t weaken.”

Nafi’ said that Ibn ‘Umar told him that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) told him: “If only we could leave this door (of the mosque) for the women.” So, Ibn ‘Umar never used that door until the day he died.

Muhammad al-’Umari said: “I never heard Ibn ‘Umar mention the Prophet without weeping.”

Nafi’ said that Ibn ‘Umar was once on his way to Makkah, and stopped the animal he was riding and said to it: “Maybe my footsteps will fall where his footsteps did,” meaning the footsteps of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم).

Tawus said: “I never saw anyone praying like Ibn ‘Umar who was stricter than him in facing the Qiblah with his face, hands, and feet.”

4 – His Friendliness With People:

Ibn ‘Umar said: “Sometimes, I go out for no reason or need except to greet people and have them greet me.”

Abi ‘Amr an-Nadabi said: “I went out with Ibn ‘Umar once, and he didn’t leave a single young or old person except that he greeted them.”

5 – His Care to Look and Smell Good:

‘Abdullah bin Waqid said: “I saw Ibn ‘Umar praying. If you saw him, you’d see him shivering about, and I saw him putting some musk in cream and rubbing it on himself.”

6 – His Humility:

Nafi’ said: “Ibn ‘Umar and Ibn ‘Abbas would sit with the people when the pilgrims arrived, and I would sit with one of them one day, and the other the next. Ibn ‘Abbas would answer every question he was asked, and Ibn ‘Umar would refuse to answer most of the questions he was asked.”

14 September 2010

50 Signs of the Day of Judgment

From the Words of Allah and His Messenger (sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam)

The Signs are listed in roughly chronological order, although the order is not necessarily precise, especially for those in the future.

This is a brief summary of the signs; there are many books, articles, cassettes etc. which discuss these in greater detail. May Allah enable us to recognise and heed the Signs, and strengthen us in the times of tribulation.

"Are they waiting for anything except the Hour, to come to them suddenly? But its Signs have already come!" (Al-Qur’an, Surah Muhammad)

Past

1. Splitting of the Moon.

2. Death of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

3. A form of death which will kill thousands of Muslims. (Understood to refer to the plague of Amwas during the
caliphate of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab.)

4. A major fighting in Madinah (understood to refer to the battle of al-Harrah during the caliphate of Yazid, 63 AH).

5. The Muslim conquest of Jerusalem.

6. The Muslim conquest of Constantinople.

7. Two large groups of Muslims will fight in war.

8. A war between the Muslims and a reddish people with small eyes, wearing sandals made of hair (understood to refer to
the Mongol Tatar invasion of the Islamic lands.)

9. A peace agreement between the Muslims and non-Muslims from the yellow race (Chinese, Mongols, etc.)

10. Thirty impostors (dajjal) will appear, each thinking he is a prophet.

Description of the companions

by Ali Ibn Abi Talib.

Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah honor him, was once overwhelmed with sadness after completing the dawn prayer; He said, " Never did i see anything like the companions of the Messenger of Allah. Their hair was disheveled. Their faces were pale, they were covered in dust, and the space between their eyes looked like the knees of goats. They had spent their night in prayer and in recitation of the Quran either on their feet or in prostration. When the dawn came they would spend it in remembrance of Allah,swaying like a tree on a stormy day, with tears flowing from their eyes till their clothes soaked. By Allah it seem to me the people around me now have passed the night in fast asleep." Then he got up and was never seen laughing untile he was stabbed to death by Ibn Muljim.

Source: Purification of the soul/ P133.

13 September 2010

The Advice of al-Hasan

Al-Hasan once wrote the following short letter to Umar bin Abdul Azeez:

"Fear what Allah told you to fear. Take what is in your hands, and use it for what is to come. At the moment of death, sure news will come to you and peace."


Umar wrote back, asking al-Hasan to advise him some more. Al-Hasan wrote back:

"Indeed the terror of the Day of Resurrection is greater than you might think. Indeed, frightful matters are near at hand. You will have to face all of that, either by facing it all and being saved, or by facing it all and being destroyed. Know that he who takes account of his own deeds will succeed, and that he who is negligent in this regard will fail. Whoever looks at the outcomes of his actions will be saved, while he who obeys his desires will be misguided. Whoever is patient and forbearing will gain profits. Whoever remains awake and vigilant regarding his deeds will be safe, whoever is safe reflects, whoever reflects sees, whoever sees understands, and whoever understands knows. Then if you slip, return and repent. And when you are remorseful, then refrain [from sins]. When you are ignorant, ask. And when you are angry, restrain your anger."

Source: from the book "Stories of repentance"