The Grand Forty of Akhlaq, Prayer & holding Temper

If one plants an orchard on a chemical dump without first digging it out and replacing it with good soil, it will produce poisonous fruit. Similarly, the spiritual traveller who harbours vile character in his heart cannot go very far in the path until he addresses it. 

This lesson works on two key fundamentals of akhlaq or good character: establishing the prayer and holding one's temper. It consists of forty days in a row of doing these two things. 

I. During this lesson (and each of the subsequent muraqaba lessons), if one delays any of the five obligatory prayers (including witr, if one is Hanafi) past its valid time by, for example, sleeping through the dawn prayer until sunrise unless there is a valid excuse such as one's monthly period or joining two prayers for travel or rain it immediately vitiates the forty days and one must return to begin them again from day one, and then finish from there. Its ongoing relation to subsequent lessons is explained in the last section of this lesson. 

Women In Islam: WHAT DOES THE QUR'AN AND HADITH SAY REGARDING THE STATUS OF WOMAN?

The messenger of God said:

"The most perfect in faith amongst believers is he who is best in manner and kindest to his wife."

O mankind! reverence your Guardian-Lord, Who created you from a single person, and created of like nature his mate, and from them, twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women (4:1).

SPIRITUAL STATUS OF WOMAN

The Qur'an categorically states that men and women who practice the principle of Islam will receive an equal reward for their efforts. 'Surely for men who submit to Allah and for women who submit to Allah, for believing men and for believing women, for devout men and devout women, for truthful men and truthful women, for steadfast men and steadfast women, for humble men and humble women, for charitable men and charitable women, for fasting men and fasting women, for men who guard their chastity and women who guard their chastity, for men who remember Allah much and for women who remember Allah much, for all of them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a mighty reward.' At another juncture, Allah says, 'Whosoever performs good deeds, whether male or female and is a believer, We shall surely grant him a peaceful and tranquil life, and We will certainly reward them for the best of what they did.'

Muslim Family: Just For Husbands!

By: Mona Abdussalam

Have you cleaned the house? Is dinner ready? Have you fed the kids? Did you wash my clothes? These are some of the questions that women hear, day in and day out, from husbands who assert that wives are nothing more than servants and baby machines. But a wife is neither.

Nevertheless, amidst busy schedules on the parts of both women and men, some husbands forget the real reasons behind marriage and likewise the rights of their wives. Subsequently, they deprive themselves, their mates and their children of the happiness and tranquillity that is the bedrock of a successful family. This unbalanced vision towards a couple’s ideal relationship is bad enough to plunge the family into a situation laden with troubles and worries.

Even among religious families, you will find some husbands who still do not have a proper understanding of the rights of their wives, nor a clear vision of the intended relationship between a married couple.

Love is a Journey

God out of His infinite mercy has given us as a gift, the beautiful feeling of love. "And God has joined their hearts in love. If you had spent all that is in the earth, you could not have done it, but God has done it. He is mighty and wise." (Quran 8:63).

Love is the sail which charts the course of life. Poet Khalil Gibron wrote, "Do not change the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, will change the course of your life." Love may be the only reason for living. Love cannot be demanded but has to be given before it is expected in return.

Love mandates us to please the beloved and avoid acts which displease the beloved.

The challenge before us is how to inculcate love in this world full of hate. Hate between men and women, between rich and poor, between white and coloured people, between tribes and nations and so on. How can we become love givers and plant seeds of love that we may receive God's love?

The source of our love is God Himself and the beneficiary of our love should be His creations.

How can we be recipients of God's love? According to Quran, God loves those who are conscious of Him, who turn to Him for repentance, who keep themselves clean, who do good, who trust in God, who does justice, who patiently persevere. We also must avoid being those whom He does not love.

God does not love evildoers, mischief-makers, oppressors, reflectors of faith, arrogant people or prodigal liars. Such folks not only deprive themselves of God's love but His guidance.

Halal And Haram: Is smoking Halal or Haram?

Discovery of Tobacco

Tobacco was discovered by the Spanish sailors on the American shores at about 1500 CE (900 AH). Since its discovery, the epidemic of smoking has continued to spread all over the world. In our times, one seldom finds a house not afflicted by it.

Smoking Among Muslims

The Europeans around 1000 AH introduced smoking to the Muslim countries. Its spread among the Muslims was similar to that in the West. The unfortunate fact, however, is that in the Muslim countries, no measures are exerted to protect the people from it.

To the contrary, the media continues to promote smoking and encourage people to do it. This caused the epidemic of smoking to continue to spread in those countries to such an extent that it has become hard to control.

Smoking has become the rule and abstaining from it the exception. Often, people look with astonishment and disdain at a person whom when a cigarette is offered to him, declines to smoke explaining that he does not smoke.

Muslim Unity: A Muslim is a Brother to a Muslim

Allah has made the relationship of the Muslim to a Muslim more sacred than any relationship, even that of blood, culture or nation. He has united us into one ummah, the Muslim ummah, and has made us responsible for each other. The relationship between Muslims is a sacred one:

A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim. He neither oppresses him nor humiliates him nor looks down upon him. The piety is here, (and while saying so) he pointed towards his chest thrice. It is a serious evil for a Muslim that he should look down upon his brother Muslim. All things of a Muslim are inviolable for his brother in faith; his blood, his wealth and his honour. Sahih Muslim Book 31, Number 6219.

We have special responsibilities towards our brothers and sisters in Islam that we do not have towards the non-Muslim, and the rights of Allah come first, and the rights of Allah include the treatment we give to our brothers and sisters in Islam. We are to consider the Muslim, first and foremost, regardless of our relationships. The Muslim is sacred for us in his faith, his blood and his honour. The act of looking down upon a Muslim brother or sister is a serious sin in Islam. Think about this. How many times do we look down to the Muslim for his or her position in life?

Muslim Family: Keeping the Spirit Alive

A thoughtful article by American convert and writer Yahiya Emerick on how some Muslim parents inadvertently drive their children away from Islam and lose them to western ways.

I just read a very interesting story. A teacher gave her students the following assignment: Ask a parent what their dream life was when they were a teenager, and then write an essay comparing it to your dreams for your future right now. Accordingly, a teenager asked her mom about her aspirations when she was young, and the mother replied, (reflecting her Sixties hippie roots,) "I wished for a simple life, living on a farm commune, growing my vegetables and being happy.

The daughter paused for a moment and stopped writing down her mother’s words. "What’s wrong?" Her mother asked. "It’s sort of embarrassing," the teenager replied, "because all I want is to drive a Lexus and get a good job."

In the first place, this may seem to be a harmless little story to elicit a chuckle. But it got me thinking. How many Muslim "activists" have I met, who spent all their free time doing Dawah and promoting Muslim causes, only to lose their children and spouses to the kufr lifestyle? Amazingly, that would ever be the case. But I’ve seen it first hand and it isn’t pretty.