Date: February 12, 2015
Alexander, a French pilgrim who embraced Islam and adopted his Muslim name, Hamza is recently blessed by King Abdullah to do Haj as his guest. The King was in great happiness and proud of Hamza’s sacrifice to Islam religion that he drove 7,000 km in his car with his wife to perform Umrah in Makkah. He is s now in Makkah as the guest of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for Haj. He was in search for the truth and found that Islam is the religion of peace and truth and the man is now happy to embrace the world’s great religion. As there are millions of devotees across world who wish to perform Umrah/Haj in Makkah, Hamza was in the last queue to have an Umrah visa. But his devotion and sacrifice to Allah helped him to be in the golden list of King’s guests. And now he is in the divine route to pray at the Grand Mosque in Makkah. It was the entire Almighty’s compassion that we have been selected as one of 1,000 guest pilgrims of King Abdullah to perform Haj this year. I could not believe my ears.”- Says Hamza. Hamza intends to study Islamic law to gain more knowledge about the religion and spread its message among others.
Alhamdulillah, every time I read the Prophet&8217;s (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) sermon on Ramadan I find something new and moving in it. It never fails to inspire me, remind me how blessed Ramadan really is for us and take me back to why we fast and what we should be doing during this special month: Baihaqi reported on the authority of Salman Al-Farsi (Radhi Allah ‘Anh) that Prophet (Sallallaahu Alaihi Wasalaam) delivered a sermon on the last day of the month of Sha&8217;ban. In it he (Sallallaahu Alaihi Wasalaam) said: _O People! The month of Allah (Ramadan) has come with its mercies, blessings and forgivenesses. Allah has decreed this month the best of all months. The days of this month are the best among the days and the nights are the best among the nights and the hours during Ramadan are the best among the hours. This is a month in which you have been invited by Him (to fast and pray). Allah has honoured you in it. In every breath you take is a reward of Allah, your sleep is worship, your good deeds are accepted and your invocations are answered._ _Therefore, you must invoke your Lord in all earnestness with hearts free from sin and evil, and pray that Allah may help you to keep fast, and to recite the Holy Qur&8217;an. Indeed!, miserable is the one who is deprived of Allah&8217;s forgiveness in this great month. While fasting remember the hunger and thirst on the Day of Judgement. Give alms to the poor and needy. Pay respect to your elders, have sympathy for your youngsters and be kind towards your relatives and kinsmen. Guard your tongue against unworthy words, and your eyes from scenes that are not worth seeing (forbidden) and your ears from sounds that should not be heard._ _Be kind to orphans so that if your children may become orphans they will also be treated with kindness. Do repent to Allah for your sins and supplicate with raised hands at the times of prayer as these are the best times, during which Allah Almighty looks at His servants with mercy. Allah Answers if they supplicate, Responds if they call, Grants if He is asked, and Accepts if they entreat. O people! you have made your conscience the slave of your desires._ _Make it free by invoking Allah for forgiveness. Your back may break from the heavy load of your sins, so prostrate yourself before Allah for long intervals, and make this load lighter. Understand fully that Allah has promised in His Honour and Majesty that, people who perform salat and sajda (prostration) will be guarded from Hell-fire on the Day of Judgement._ _O people!, if anyone amongst you arranges for iftar (meal at sunset) for any believer, Allah will reward him as if he had freed a slave, and Allah will forgive him his sins. A companion asked: “but not all of us have the means to do so” The Prophet (Sallallaahu Alaihi Wasalaam) replied: Keep yourself away from Hell-fire though it may consist of half a date or even some water if you have nothing else._ _O people!, anyone who during this month cultivates good manners, will walk over the Sirat (bridge to Paradise) on the day when feet will tend to slip. For anyone who during this month eases the workload of his servants, Allah will make easy his accounting, and for anyone who doesn&8217;t hurt others during this month, Allah will safeguard him from His Wrath on the Day of Judgement. Anyone who respects and treats an orphan with kindness during this month, Allah shall look at him with kindness on that Day. Anyone who treats his kinsmen well during this month, Allah will bestow His Mercy on him on that Day, while anyone who mistreats his kinsmen during this month, Allah will keep away from His Mercy._ _Whomever offers the recommended prayers during this month, Allah will save him from Hell, and whomever observes his obligations during this month, his reward will be seventy times the reward during other months. Whomever repeatedly invokes Allah&8217;s blessings on me, Allah will keep his scale of good deeds heavy, while the scales of others will be tending to lightness. Whomever recites during this month an ayat (verse) of the Holy Qur&8217;an, will get the reward of reciting the whole Qur&8217;an in other months._ _O people!, the gates of Paradise remain open during this month. Pray to your Lord that they may not be closed for you. While the gates of Hell are closed, pray to your Lord that they never open for you. Satan has been chained, invoke your Lord not to let him dominate you._
Read MoreExcitement When a tried and tested product jumps into the 21st century, you can't help but feel excited about it. This is the exact emotion I'm feeling as I test drive the Alim.org website. I saw some of the familiar (from the 90s!) and lots that was new. But there is so much to explore, that I've only touched the surface. So I thought to myself...why not share my experiences of Alim.org as I Iearn more about the site? The Rundown Before I jump into specifics though, I think it would be useful to understand in layman's terms what the site is all about. Very simply....Qur'an, hadith, Islamic history, and much much more...all in a social network platform. Essentially, you have a plethora of Islamic information at your fingertips that you can discuss...ask questions about. So you may be thinking..."The web is full of such information. What makes Alim.org so unique?" A few things at least... 1. A one-stop powerful shop on the web that allows you to go beyond just Qur'anic recitations and hadith narrations to searches and comparisions and tafsir and transliteration and historical accounts and subject indexes and and...should I go on? Where else do you get ALL of that in one site?? 2. I do have to go on though...because I haven't even mentioned the most unique part! Alim.org is the first Islamic knowledge-based website of its kind to open its doors to social networking. Where else can you read a surah and then comment on it, ask a question about it, or share it easily with others? Right here, at Alim.org...that's where. I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences. There's so much to see and talk about it! Till then, happy Alim.org surfing to all of you. :-) Wa'salaam alaikum wa rahmatullah
Read MoreWhat are the good ways to lead a balanced family atmosphere? Did you ever think of? Do you care your children in a lovable way? You might have tried to keep your standards in cooking, housekeeping, taking care of children or your desire to write, create and plan for the future. The reality is that no matter how much you do, it is never enough – the house, children and life will never be perfect and at that one moment you get on top of things. You have to keep the things in a balanced way and to move on. You don’t need to do things in with haste. Slow down and try to be present in each moment. Spent your precious time for playing with Baby and enjoy his smiles and activities. So you can realize yourself in you that you are enough to lead a good family and you are the best to lead a happy family. You will study to slow down your haste to complete the house works. But you will be doing it all with your friendly efforts and playing with your dear ones and babies at the same time. Stop constantly looking forward and thinking about the next thing to do and instead take your current time to do the cute works.
Read More"When a person dies, his works end, except for three: ongoing charity, knowledge that is benefited from, and a righteous child who prays for him."
Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)
"The best of what a man leaves behind are three: a righteous child who supplicates for him, ongoing charity the reward of which reaches him, and knowledge that is acted upon after him."
Sunan Ibn Mājah
"Every day two angels come down from Heaven and one of them says, 'O Allah! Compensate every person who spends in Your Cause,' and the other (angel) says, 'O Allah! Destroy every miser.'"
Sahih Bukhari