HE DUST IT OFF AND FROWNED

Bismil Laahir Rahmaanir Raheem

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatul Laahi wa barkaatuh

I pray that you are all doing excellent, alhamdu lil Laah. May Allah subhaanahu wa ta’aalaa continue to reward you bountifully for tirelessly reading each of my articles. May Allah favour all of us with the best of His rewards. Aameen.

Today is one of such days when the word I hear most is; ‘Death.’ Oh yes! These days, it is one of my most popular words actually. I guess you too. This article was inspired by that fact and also by some photos I saw posted by Sheikh Ahmed Nazir on facebook.

We do need to do some pondering in order to take caution. So I am coming to tell you about some encounter…

The Encounter

He was a young man full of energy. (I’m telling you a story, ok). One day, he got dressed up for work. As neat a guy as he was, he wore his black jalbab well-ironed and sleepers well-polished. Plus he added a hulla (Is it a cap they say) to it.

He went to sit in his sleek car and drove off. He parked his car at the entrance of his work place and wanted to buy something nearby. Unfortunately for him, a man carrying a pan of soil bumped into him and some of the sand poured on his jalbab.

Awwwccchhh! Just imagine that! How could he be all ‘soil’ at work? The frown on his face was enough to make the Soil Carrier’s stomach rumble.

‘Why don’t you look straight when you are walking? See what you have done to my jalbab (he starting dusting it off with his neatly ironed handkerchief). You’ve made me dirty all over.’

He said angrily.

The Soil Carrier was definitely not happy about what he had done to this young man so he apologized.

‘I am sorry my brother. I would never do that to you intentionally. Do forgive me and Allah would reward you bountifully.’

Our neat guy was touched and he regretted being angry. Of course he was a good Muslim but he doesn’t play with his neat appearance at all. He never meant to sound rude to the Soil Carrier anyway.

‘I’m so sorry for letting this get at me. I should be the one asking for forgiveness. I just don’t like getting dirty that is all. We are brothers so let’s forgive each other.’

He said regretfully.

So, they sorted themselves out and our neat guy crossed the street to the other side to get his ‘object of interest.’ Our Soil Carrier stood at a corner admiring this young Muslim gentleman and his kindness.

As our neat guy crossed the road to get to work, he was knocked down by a car. A fatal accident. Our Soil Carrier had rushed to the scene in shock and together with others, they had taken our neat guy to the hospital.

As the guy’s family and others waited, they were given the sad news: He was dead. The Soil Carrier had various thoughts going through his mind just as you would have had, had you been the one who witnessed all of that.

The Burial

So many people had come for the burial of this young man. He was indeed a good guy. Forefront was our Soil Carrier. He had asked for all the information concerning the neat guy’s burial and he had been told. He tried so much to be part of his prayers and then he made sure he was right by the grave where his friend was going to be laid finally.

The dead body was wrapped in pure white and smelling good and all ready to be lifted and buried. Our Soil Carrier had felt a little happy that his neat friend was really looking neat and smelling good just like he loved to be whilst he lived.

As they lifted him and were about to lower him into the grave, our Soil Carrier almost pulled his hands out to stop them. He was looking into the grave and wondering to himself;

‘How could they put such a neat guy in this hole that is full of soil?’

Besides, he wasn’t wearing black today; he was in pure white.

So, they did lower him into the grave and a tear had fallen off the Soil Carrier’s face. The pain came from deep within. Worse of it all, the beloved father of the deceased whose sorrow was written all over his face, had taken the shovel and fetched some soil and poured it on the deceased.

The Soil Carrier screamed within in deep sorrow. Soon everyone was rushing to pour his part of the soil and the grave was covered and everything was done and everyone left.

He Remains Behind

Our Soil Carrier still stood by the grave quietly. So many thoughts were going through his mind. So he began to talk sorrowfully to no one in particular. May be it was you and I he was talking to. What was he saying?

Oh my brother in Islam

You really loved to be neat and tidy in this Dunya

You hated to be dirty

My soil infuriated you

But you let your Islam overshadow your anger

Tears began to flow down his cheeks as he spoke. It was to him like a dream. What was Allah, our Creator, trying to tell him by making him encounter the neat Muslim brother? He continued talking.

Look at you today my brother

They had indeed kept you as neat as you would have loved to be

They bath you excellently

They perfumed you like a king

Yet… yet…yet… (He began to cry)

Yet they put you in this soil, this very dirty soil

Why didn’t you scream at them and stop them?

I wanted to do it for you but I couldn’t

And then look at what your dear father had done

He soiled your white dress with this soil

And everyone did the same

Yet, my brother!

Why didn’t you stop them?

He stood there for a while and then he did series of du’a for him and then he left. As he was walking, he said to himself;

‘I wasn’t really talking to you my brother in Islam, I was only warning myself because soon, I will be there too.’

That was an imagination of mine. Now this is reality…

Reality

So, a few weeks after my dad’s demise (may Allah shower an abundance of His abundant rahma on him, aameen), some of my siblings and I went to do ziyara at his grave. As I stood there whilst a big bro of mine prayed for him, my mind began to wonder;

‘Was this really my father who’s now in the bosom of the soil? The man who had loved to look good always?’

Then I advised myself (and indeed, advise must always begin with yourself and no one else) and I keep advising myself.

‘Rubaba, someday, you’ll be gone so use the opportunity you have now to worship Allah.’

I pray I heed to that advice and you do the same.

Are You Reflecting?

So, what would you have done had you been our neat guy who had been soiled by another? Would you have quickly thought that of course someday it is in the same soil that you will go so there is really no need to be angry? Or would you have kept screaming at the Soil Carrier like he had committed murder? Be honest with yourself and take caution.

What does this story teach you? Would you let it stay with you forever so that you will always remember where you are going? Well, I don’t need the answers; You Do! And I would definitely answer to myself as well.

May we be among those who ponder. May Allah make us among those whom He favours. May we be able to fulfill the purpose of our lives which is solely to worship Allah. Aameen thumma aameen.

And do not ever forget that Rubaba will always love you fiisabi lil Laah and if you love her for the same reason, then may Allah love you and Rubaba even more. Aameen.

Jazaakumul Laahu khairan always!!!

Islam forever in shaa Allah!!!

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatul Laah!!!

Rubaba Mmahajia Rahma Sabtiu

www.mmahajia.blogspot.com

SHE REQUESTED FOR AN ADVICE

Bismil Laahir Rahmaanir Raheem

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatul Laahi wa barkaatuh brothers and sisters.

Alhamdu lil Laah for everything. May we be among the grateful ones of Allah’s slaves. Aameen.

Ok, so after an Islamic programme at the University of Ghana, I met a Muslimah who is so friendly with me. It was as if she’s known me all her life (well, that is what I believe Islam should do to us). She was all hugging and holding and chatting (don’t mind English rules, I threw them away long time).

I was touched and happy that such people still existed. Well, I did have lots of sisters be like that with me after the programme. But of course, Lateefa (that is her name) surprised me after Magrib and Isha prayers.

I was walking with my pals, going out of the Mensah Sarbah Hall when she came to me again then she stopped me along the way and said;

‘Please advise me on anything that you think would be good for me.’

That was a boom! Ok, it wasn’t that nobody ever asked me for an advice, no. But the look on her face and how she said it. I could not believe it. We just had a series of talks at the lecture (Three Muslimah speakers including me, don’t laugh) and here she was asking for advice again.

I tried to let her know that I am in need of advice myself and I kept blabbering. You know what? I never gave her any advice that night. We only decided to keep in touch by exchanging numbers.

The interesting thing is that; exactly the next day, a Muslimah sister of mine, an Ethiopian called Chaltu asks me almost the same thing; she wanted my advice. So I decided to share with her the advice that I keep giving myself.

Love Allah and His Messenger Most

Funny enough, I used to believe that I loved Allah, Al-Wadud, more than anything else and His Messenger as well. I could even prove that fact then. Soon, I came to the realization that; I was only lying to myself. Don’t be surprised. So, I have a popular question that I keep asking;

‘Do you really love Allah and His Messenger more than anything else?’

And then I quickly add that;

‘This is not a question you must be quick to answer.’

That is because even though majority of us think we love Allah and His Messenger more than anything else, truly speaking, it is not so. We don’t really love Him and His Messenger most. Allah, Robbil Arshil Azeem, tells us that;

‘Say, "If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, commerce wherein you fear decline, and dwellings with which you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and jihad in His cause, then wait until Allah executes His command. And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people."

Surah At-Taubah, the Repentance, Chapter 9 ayah 24

Now, read this ayah again and again and again. And ponder on it again and again and again. Put mothers, daughters, husbands, there as well and ask yourself sincerely, whether you are not a victim to these people and things being dearer to you than Allah and His Rasul. You are not answering to anyone but to yourself.

So I came to the true realization that; loving Allah and His Messenger most is a whole lifetime job. You don’t just do it. Ask yourself why you disobey Allah in some things when you actually think you love Him most. That is definitely not loving Him most.

Learn the History of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam, radiyal Laahu anhum, and see how they truly did love Allah and His Rasul most. 

They would often say to the Prophet;

‘May my mother and father be sacrificed for you.’

They do so to assure him of the fact that not even their mothers and fathers are important to them as him. What do you even know about the Prophet and these people who truly did love him and his Message and our God, Allah? So then, what makes you think you really love them most?

My brother or sister, start this personal training on loving Allah and His Messenger most. Start by knowing them and appreciating the beauty and magnanimity of Allah’s creation. May we love them most. Aameen.

Minding Your Now Before Your Later

So the Prophet Muhammad suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam advises us;

“Take benefit of five before five: Your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before you are preoccupied, and your life before your death”

Narrated by Ibn Abbas and reported by Al Hakim

All of us are so much in need of this advice. Starting with me. I am full of youthful exuberance now but if Allah makes me live a lot more years, then I know what’s going to happen. I am definitely going to lose that exuberance. I see old people around all the time. The difficulty with which they go about their activities is so bare for me to see and advise myself with. You too I guess.

I have been sick before. Alhamdu lil Laah for my life today. Talk about ill-health, talk about Rubaba until my parents and others thought I wasn’t going to live this life but Allah, the One Who is Able, kept me until now and made me contrary to their thought, very healthy. And Ooooo! I am AA, what’s yours? Alhamdu lil Laah. So, I know how it feels like to be sick and that should only teach me one great lesson; to use my good health as positively as I can. You might have a similar story to say. Learn from it or from that of others.

We have seen rich people who have suddenly gone poor and they yearn to spend money on doing good but where is their wealth? To the wise, a caution. And don’t we while away time on useless things when there are a lot more important things we could have done? Answer to yourself because soon, time becomes a foe. Most definitely, we are all going to leave this world. We are like travellers passing through the Dunya to the Akhira. Imagine the people you know who are gone. Did they write a letter to Allah to come take them? Obviously no. So Allah will not be waiting for yours either.

Ponder! Ponder! Ponder! Leave everything else; the whatsapp, the facebook, the internet, the people around you and all kinds of activities and just be with yourself; you and you and have a very serious meeting; a chat with your conscience and choose the right course because sooner than you think; you will lie in the grave and you will stand before Allah azza wa jal to give account of;

‘Your youth and old age, your health and illness, your wealth and your poverty, your free time and your busy time and your life before your death’

This is more of an advice to myself first for indeed it will be a great lose not to take caution whiles I can.

Remember always that Rubaba loves you so much solely for the sake of Allah and if you love her for the same reason, then may Allah love you both even more. Aameen.

May we be among those whom Allah favours. Aameen.

Jazaakumul Laahu khair!!!

Islam forever in shaa Allah!!!

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatul Laah!!!

Rubaba Mmahajia Rahma Sabtiu

www.mmahajia.blogspot.com

 

THE INTERESTING CASE OF ABU LAHAB

Bismil Laahir Rahmaanir Raheem

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatul Laahi wa barkaatuh brothers and sisters in Islam. We thank Allah, Al-Haqq, for His uncountable mercies. We praise Him for the blessing of Islam. What would you and I have done had we been anything else but Muslim? Subhaanal Laah! What ingrates we are! 

May Allah, Al-Ghaffar, forgive our ingratitude to Him and everything else. Aameen.

So, I’m watching this series on Umar ibn Al-Khattab, radiyal Laahu anhu, that was given to me by a sister and friend, Kabeerah. I am grateful for this sister, ‘Sisters Forever.’

The life of Umar, radiyal Laahu anhu, the ‘Ameerul Mo’amineen does not cease to amaze me. He was a man so conscious of his actions and whether they were acceptable or not to Allah, Al-Khaaliq. But of course, in this article, I am not talking about him, may Allah make us like him. Aameen. 

Almost to the end of the third episode of the series, something interesting hit me hard. Well, it never really crossed my mind that there could be a great wisdom in that aspect of the Prophet’s mission in this life.

Almost to the End

Three uncles of the Prophet Muhammad, suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam, Abu Talib, Hamza, radiyal Laahu anhu and Al-Abbas, radiyal Laahu anhu, come to pay him a visit. They see Abu Lahab pour some nasty stuff in front of the Prophet’s door. 

After some exchanges with his brothers, they made him collect the stuff and walk away in shame. Well, something interesting that Abu Talib had said to him to cause him that shame was;

‘People say that: ‘You may have a brother who was not born to your mother’ but no one said: ‘You may have an enemy born by your mother.’

My Understanding of the Statement Above

A detail study of the Arab culture prior to Islam shows a strong feeling of brotherhood amongst them. Even when a clan member is doing something bad, they would never for anything in the world give the person up to be punished by another clan which was deemed as a great insult and demeaning of their status among the others.

We see how Abu Talib who never became Muslim stood by the Prophet suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam even though he was the leader of the Quraish. And sometime in the history of Islam, the whole Hashimite clan suffered together with the Prophet because others threatened to kill him.

It was therefore such a shock and disdain that the Prophet’s own uncle, Abu Lahab could stand against him so vehemently. It was well known among them that someone who has your blood could never be your enemy but here was Abu Lahab doing his worst.

Continued…

After Abu Lahab had left, Hamza, radiyal Laahu anhu, asks Abu Talib what Abu Lahab meant by the fact that Prophet Muhammad, suallal Laahu alayhi wa sallam, had denounced him in the Qur’an. Abu Talib recites to him the aayaat;

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

May the hands of Abu Lahab be ruined, and ruined is he.

His wealth will not avail him or that which he gained.

He will [enter to] burn in a Fire of [blazing] flame

And his wife [as well] - the carrier of firewood.

Around her neck is a rope of [twisted] fiber.

Surah Al-Masad (the palm fibre/flame), Chapter 111

Hamza, radiyal Laahu anhu, laughs his head off and said;

‘If there were a second life and a fire, our brother Abu Lahab, has deserved it by his actions. He is the most stupid of people or probably Muhammad is truly supported by revelations.’

Al-Abbas, radiyal Laahu anhu, asks him what he meant by that and he said;

‘Had Abu Lahab willed, he would have shown Muhammad’s claims to be false in a moment.’

He is asked again, how can that be? He said;

‘Hasn’t he condemned him for the fire by this Qur’an? It is a final judgment.’

Then suddenly Al-Abbas, radiyal Laahu anhu, gets the point that his brother was trying to make all the while so he adds;

‘Yes, indeed. All he has to do is to say in public that he believes in Muhammad and he has adopted Islam to lead a life of piety. He will thus render these verses false and show our nephew as a liar.’

Hamza, radiyal Laahu anhu, is happy that his younger brother had understood him and so he adds;

‘Thank God that he is such a fool. We can now say this of him, if we don’t say anything else.’

What I learnt from that Conversation

Most definitely, guidance is only in the hands of Allah and He guides whom He wills unto His path. Allah azza wa jal says;

“This is the Guidance of Allah. He gives that guidance to whom He pleases, of His servants. But if they were to join other gods with Him, all that they did would be vain for them.”

Surah An-am, the Cattle, Chapter 6 ayah 88

Imagine that Abu Lahab who was condemned by Allah in the Qur’an to Hellfire even before His death continued to intensify his enmity to his own nephew instead of trying to prove him wrong by showering him with love even if he couldn’t accept his deen.

Abu Lahab’s own younger brother found this out and so they all came to terms with the fact that indeed, ‘Abu Lahab was a fool’ and that if really there was going to be a life after death and a Hellfire, then he rightly deserved it.

Facts about Abu Lahab

He succeeded Abu Talib as the head of the Hashimite clan. His real name was Abdl Uzza. His wife; Umm Jamil used to help him in his fight against the Prophet’s message. She would carry firewood and put them in the Prophet’s way. So she was featured in the Surah. He was hit with a tent pole by Lubaba bint al-Harith, the wife of the Prophet’s uncle, Abbass radiyal Laahu anhu. That subsequently led to his demise.

Are there the likes of Abu Lahab among us?

We pray that we never ever get into the kind of fix Abu Lahab was in. Such destruction is something that we should feel scared about. May Allah save us. Aameen.

Are there the likes of Abu Lahab among us? He had really loved the Prophet before his message. He knew the Prophet was like no other yet a message from him that went against a wrong believe he had held onto for so long made him make an enemy out of his own beloved nephew.

In this there are indeed lessons for those who ponder. May we be among them and may Allah favour us with knowledge, wisdom and understanding that lead only to Him. Aameen.

Bear me witness O brother or sister, that;

‘Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illal Laah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasulul Laah’

‘I bear witness that there is no god except God and Muhammad is His Messenger.’

May Allah, the Sustainer, sustain us on this testimony. Aameen

Jazaakumul Laahu khair!!!

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatul Laah!!!

Islam forever in shaa Allah!

Rubaba Mmahajia Rahma Sabtiu

www.mmahajia.blogspot.com