Saturday 21 February 2009

The Prophet Muhammad S.A.W

His physical attributes

There is absolutely no way to conceal the fact that the Prophet is the worthiest of all mankind, the greatest of them in position and most perfect of them in good qualities and virtue. I am setting out to detail his qualities of perfection in the best way I can, which has filled me with longing to call attention to some of his attributes, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Know, may Allah illuminate my heart and yours and increase my love and your love for this noble Prophet! - that if you were to look into all those qualities of perfection which cannot be acquired and which are part of one's constitution, you will find that the Prophet has every one of them - all of the various good qualities without there being any dispute about it among the transmitters of the traditions.

The beauty of his form and the perfect proportion of his limbs are related in numerous sound and famous traditions from 'Ali, Anas ibn Malik, Abu Hurayra, Al-Bara' ibn 'Azib, 'A'isha, Ibn Abi Hala, Abu Juhayfa, Jabir ibn Samura, Umm Ma'bad, Ibn 'Abbas, Mu'arrid ibn Mu'ayqib, Abu't-Tufayl, Al-'Ida' ibn Khalid, Khuraym ibn Fatik, Hakim ibn Hizam and others.

He had the most radiant colouring, deep black eyes which were wide set and had a sort of red tint to them, long eyelashes, a bright complexion, an aquiline nose, and a gap between his fronth teeth. His face was round with a wide brow and he had a thick beard which reached his chest. His chest and abdomen were of equal size. He was broad-chested with broad shoulders. He had large bones, large arms, thick palms and soles, long fingers, fair skin and fine hair from the chest to the navel. He was neither tall nor short, but between the two. In spite of that, no tall person who walked with the Prophet seemed taller than him. His hair was neither curly nor straight. When he laughed and his teeth showed, it was like a flash of lighting or they seemed as white as hailstones. When he spoke, it was like light issuing from between his teeth. He had a well-formed neck, neither broad nor fat. He had a compact body which was not fleshy.

Al-Bara' said, "I did not see anyone with a more beautiful lock of hair resting on a red robe than the Messenger of Allah."

Abu Hurayra said, "I have not seen anything more beautiful than the Messenger of Allah. It was as if the sun was shining in his face. When he laughed, it reflected on the wall."

Jabir ibn Samura was asked, ''Was his face like a sword?" He replied, "No, it was like the sun and the moon. It was round." (In al-Bukhari and Muslim and elsewhere)

In her description, Umm Ma'bad said, "From afar, he was the most beautiful of people, and close up he was the most handsome." (Al-Bayhaqi)

Ibn Abi Hala said, "His face shone like the full moon."

At the end of his description, 'Ali said, "Anyone who saw him suddenly was filled with awe of him. Those who kept his company loved him."

All who described him said they had not see anyone like him either before or since.

There are many famous hadith which describe him. We will not take the time here to give them all. We have restricted ourselves to some aspects of his description and given a summary of them which is enough to serve our purpose.

You will find, Allah willing, that we have concluded these sections with a hadith which combines all these things.


- Qadi 'Iyad, Healing by the recognition of the Rights of the Chosen One (Kitab ash-Shifa bi ta'rif huquq al-Mustafa)

Monday 16 February 2009

Hazrat Rabia Al-Basri(ra) [The Jewel of Basra]

"I am a poor orphan and a slave. Now my hand too is broken. But I do not mind these things if Thou be pleased with me. But make it manifest to me that you are pleased with me." (Rabia Al-Basri)



Life sketch
Rabi'a's parents were so poor that there was no oil in house to light a lamp, nor a cloth even to wrap her with.

She was the fourth child in the family. Her mother requested her husband to borrow some oil from a neighbor. But he had resolved in his life never to ask for anything from anyone except the Creator; so he pretended to go to the neighbor's door and returned home empty-handed.

In the night Prophet (saw)

Rabi'a's father got up and went to the Amir straight with tears of joy rolling down his cheeks. The Amir was delighted on receiving the message and knowing that he was in the eyes of Prophet, he distributed 1000 dinars to the poor and paid with joy 400 to Rabi'a's father and requested him top come to him whenever he required anything as he will benefit very much by the visit of such a soul dear to the Lord."

After the death of her father a famine overtook Basra and she parted from her sisters. Once she was accompanying a caravan, which fell into he hands of robbers. The chief of the robbers took Rabi'a I his custody and as an article of loot, and sold her in the market as a slave. The new master of Rabi'a used to take hard service from her.

She used to pass the whole night on prayers, after she had finished her household jobs. She used to pass many her day observing fast.

Incidentally, once the master of the house got up in the middle of the night, and was attracted by the pathetic voice in which Rabia was praying to her Lord. She was entreating in these terms,

"Lord! You know well that my keen desire is to carry out Your commandments and to serve Thee with all my heart, O light of my eyes. If I were free I would pass the whole day and night in prayers. But what should I do when you have made me a slave of a human being?"

At once he felt that it was sacrilegious to keep such a saint in his service. He decided to save her himself. In the morning he called her and told his decision that thenceforward he would serve her and she should dwell there as the mistress of the house and if she insisted on leaving the house he was willing to free her from bondage.

She told him that she was willing to leave the house to carry on her worship in solitude. This the master granted and she left the house.


Was the door ever closed?

Salih Qazwani always taught his disciples, "Who knocks at the door of someone constantly, one day the door must be opened to him" Rabi'a one day heard it and said,

"Salih, how long 'will you go on preaching thus, using the future tense, saying 'will be opened'? Was the door ever closed? It was ever open."



Separation... simply unbearable !

One day, people asked why she kept no knife in the house. Rabi'a replied,

"Cutting asunder is the wok of the knife. I fear it may not asunder the bond between that exist between me and my beloved Lord."



A fervent prayer
One day she was going on an errand. Whilst passing a street a vagabond pursued her. She ran to save herself from him, and in doing so her foot slipped and she fell down and broke her arm.

She thereupon prayed to the Lord,

"I am poor orphan and a slave. Now my hand too is broken. But I do not mind these things if Thou be pleased with me. But make it manifest to me that you are pleased with me."

The Divine voice in reply said, "Never mind all these sufferings. On the day of judgment you shall be accorded the status that shall be the envy of the angels even." Then she returned to her master's service.


Thanking the Lord

One day Sufyan Thauri went to Rabi'a. She passed the whole night in worship, standing before the Lord. When the morning broke she remarked,

"God be praised that He conferred His grace on us that we could pass the whole night in prayers. As a mark of gratitude, let us pass the whole day in fasting."



The joy of pain!

A man was crying, "Ah! How great a pain!" Rabi'a approached him and said, "Oh! What a lack of pain" He asked her why she said the contrary. She replied,

"Because pain is the privilege of great devotees, who cherish even with the joy even so much anguish that even talking and drawing breath become a matter of strain to them."



Why no bandage for His bliss?
One day Rabia saw a man passing on the way with his forehead tied with a bandage. She asked him why he put on the bandage. He replied that he was suffering from headache.

"What is your age?" she asked.

He replied that he was thirty.

She asked, "Till today, how have you passed your life?"

He replied, "In perfect health".

She said, "For thirty years the Lord kept you sound, and you did not fly any colors on your body to express your gratitude for His gift, so that people could ask you the reason for your joy and knowing of God's blessings on you would have praised Him, but when for your own fault you have suffered from a little headache you have tied a bandage and go about exhibiting His harshness to you in making you suffer from headache. What a base act is yours!"



Neither this nor that world, You are enough for me
O Lord,
If tomorrow on Judgment Day
You send me to Hell,
I will tell such a secret
That Hell will race from me
Until it is a thousand years away.

O Lord,
Whatever share of this world
You could give to me,
Give it to Your enemies;
Whatever share of the next world
You want to give to me,
Give it to Your friends.
You are enough for me.

O Lord,
If I worship You
From fear of Hell, burn me in Hell.

O Lord,
If I worship You
From hope of Paradise, bar me from its gates.

But if I worship You for Yourself alone
Then grace me forever the splendor of Your Face.

Sunday 8 February 2009

Aadaabul Muaasharaat (Etiquettes of Social Life)



Aadaab of Salaam(Greeting)


* Adopt the practice of mutual Salaam. Upon meeting a muslim say 'Assalaamu Alaikum'. In reply say, 'Wa 'alaykumus Salaam'. All other ways are baseless.

* When a person converys the Salaam from another to you reply, 'Alayhim Wa Alaykumus Salaam'.

* One person from a group, making Salaam will be representative of the whole group. His Salaam will be adequate on behalf of the group.

*The one who begins the Salam obtains greater reward.

*When replying to the Salaam of a person, the Salaam should be made verbally, not by a sign of the hand or a nod of the head.

*It is Wajib to reply to the Salaam (in normal situations)

*A person who is engaged in a conversation or in some work, should not be greeted.

*It is not permissible to bow and make Salaam.

*When answering the call of nature, neither reply to anyones Salaam nor offer Salaam.

*On promising to convery someones Salaam, it becomes Waajib to do so, otherwise not.

*When making Salaam to elders, adopt a low voice. Do not express yourself in such term which conveys arrogance or disrespect.

By Shaykh Ashraf Ali Thaanwi (r.a)

Wednesday 4 February 2009

The Types of Mujahidah

There are two kinds of Mujaahidah.

1. Physical Mujaahidah. This is the imposition of practices upon the nafs in order to accustom it to difficulties, e.g. accustoming the nafs to Salaat by imposing upon it Nafl Salaat in abundance; reducing the greed of the nafs by means of abundance of Nafl Fasting.

2. Opposition. In this type of Mujaahidah the nafs is opposed in its desires. When the nafs urges to commit sin then opposition is offered. The main type of mujaahidah is this second kind. This second kind of Mujaahidah is Waajib (compulsory). The first type of Mujaahidah is employed in order to acquire the second kind. When the nafs becomes accustomed to difficulties then it will develop the habit of controlling its desires.

Those who possess the ability to control their desires without resorting to physical Mujaahidah (the first kind) are not in need of this type of Mujaahidah. However, because such people are extremely few, the Sufiya have stringently adopted physical Mujaahidah as well. According to the Sufiya physical Mujaahidah consists of four fundamentals (Arkaan) as follows:

1. Qillat-e-Ta'aam: To eat less.

2. Qillat-e-Kalaam: To speak less.

3. Qillat-e-Manaam: To sleep less.

4. Qillat-e-Ikhtilaat Ma'al Anaam: To associate less with people.

One who fully acquires these four qualities and becomes accustomed to observe them, will attain the ability to control his nafs. He will be in a strong position to check the evil desires of the nafs.
Mujaahidah against the Nafs in its urges for sin is acquired when the nafs is opposed to a certain degree in even its lawful desires, e.g. refusal to fulfill immediately the desire of the nafs for some delicious food, its urge for such food being rebutted and only fulfilled after vehement desire so that the nafs does not become frustrated.
When one becomes accustomed to oppose the nafs in things lawful then it will become relatively simple to oppose the sinful urges of the nafs. A person who grants his nafs absolute freedom in the Mubaahaat (lawful things) at times will not be able to suppress the urge for sinning.

Tuesday 3 February 2009

Last moments of The Holy Prophet (SAW)

Suddenly, there was a person at the door, he said salaam.

'May I come in?' he asked.

But Fatimah did not allow him enter the room.

'I'm sorry, my father is ill,' said Fatimah,

as she turned her body back and closed the door.

She went back to her father who had opened his eyes and

Asked Fatimah, 'Who was he, my daughter?'

'I don't know, my father. It was the first I have

seen him,' Fatimah said gently.

Then, Rasulullah looked at his daughter with a trembled look,

'Know one thing! It is He who erases the temporary

pleasure; he who separates the companionship in the

world. He is the angel of death,' said Rasulullah (SAW).

Fatimah bore the bomb of her cry. The angel of death came

towards him, But Rasulullah asked why Jibril did not come

along with him.

Then, Jibril was called. Jibril was ready in the sky to

welcome the soul of Habibullah and the leader of the earth.

'O Jibril, explain me about my rights in front of

ALLAH?' Rasulullah asked with a weak voice.

'The doors of sky have opened, the angels are waiting

for your soul.'

'All jannats doors are open widely waiting for you,' Jibril

said. But, in fact, all this did not make Rasulullah relieved,

his eyes were still full of worry..

'You are not happy to hear this news?' asked

Jibril. 'Tell me about the destiny of my people in future?'

'Don't worry, O Rasul ALLAH. I heard ALLAH tell me:

'I make jannat haram for every one, except the people of

Muhammad who are inside it,' Jibril said.

The time came closer and closer, the time for Malaekat Izrail

to do his work.

Slowly, Rasulullah's soul was pulled. It seemed

that the body of Rasulullah was full of sweat; the nerves of

his neck became tight.

'Jibril, how painful this sakaratul maut is!'

Rasulullah uttered a groan slowly. Fatimah closed her eyes,

Ali sat beside her bowed deeply and Jibril turned his face

back.

'Am I repugnant to you that you turn your face back o

Jibril?' Rasulullah asked the Deliverer of Wahy.

'Who is the one who could see the Habibullah in his

condition of sakaratul maut,' Jibril said.

Not for a while, Rasulullah uttered a groan because of

unbearable pain. 'O ALLAH, how great is this sakaratul maut. Give me

all these pains, don't give it to my people.'

The body of Rasulullah became cold, his feet and chest did

not move anymore....

His lips vibrated as if he wanted to say something, Ali

took his ear close to Rasulullah.

'Uushiikum bis salati, wa maa malakat aimanukum - take

care of the saalat and take care the weak people among

you.' Outside the room, there were cries, shouts

sahabah held each other. Fatimah closed her face with her

hands and, again, Ali took his ear close to Rasulullah's

mouth which became bluish.

'Ummatii, ummatii, ummatii?' - 'My people, my

people, my people.'

And the life of the noble man ended.

Could we love each other like him? Allahumma salle 'ala

Muhammad wa baarik wa salim 'alaihi. How deep is

Rasulullah's love to us.