Date: February 13, 2015
Usthad Nouman Ali Khan is a great speaker and Islamic thinker well known for his video speeches on Islamic subjects. He is the CEO and founder of Bayyinah Institute, an Arabic studies, educational institution in the United States. He is a speaker at ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America Conventions about Islam, family and other topics. In the initial segment of his lecture on Surat Al QiyaMah, he says that all the religion is emphasizing three major things. They are Guard, Soul and an Afterlife. He says that we must learn well what Islam is before going to normal system of education. Spirituality is something related to psychology and we must pray to Allah all the time. Allah can create a security feel in your inner most soul, which will help you to stay alive peacefully in this universe. He says that Holy Quran is the only moral for the balance between the seen world and the unseen world.
In the great epic books, it’s noted that Aisha Ra was the most beloved to the Prophet SAW. She is known as the woman who exonerated by Allah SWT in the Qur’an. History and Prophetic words claims that it was upon her lap that prophet Muhammad SAW he breathed his last. Now you might have understood that who this elegant and great woman is. She is the lovable and respectful wife of Prophet Muhammad. She loved her husband, Prophet Muhammad. She was the most eloquent and compassionate wives of Prophet. She was a complete example for innocence, eloquence, wise, knowledge and much more. We can definitely say that she is the complete instance of what a Muslim woman should be like. Aisha Ra is the number four in the most prolific narrators of Hadith. There is no book of Fiqh, which does not have the opinions of Aisha Ra. Every Islamic book has mentioned the name of Aisha Ra. Aisha Ra was the daughter of Muhammad’s close friend Abu Bakr. She was born after four years of prophet hood of Muhammad. Muhammad called her Humaira, means one who has reddish skin. She was engaged to Prophet at the age of six. Many sources say that she stayed with her parents at home until the age of nine when the marriage was declared with Muhammad. Her role to the spread of Prophet’s message was astonishing, and she helped the Muslims for 44 years after the death of Prophet. Histories say that after the migration of Prophet, she lost her father and mother. Years passed and she was living under the rein of Ali Ibn Abi Talib and Muawiya Ibn Abi Sufian Ra. Many of her lovable people and companions of Prophet were assassinated in the war. Then she went to do the holy Haj. From there she returned by hearing these assassination and war news. Aftermath, many conflicts had took place and our mother Aisha Ra also participated in the great battle of the camel for peace. She was a great woman who struggled for peace and truth and the follower of Prophetic messages. In her last days in the earth, she was very calm and not even accepted a word of praise from the visitors. At the time of her last breath, she said: “I am OK if I fear Allah SWT. Aisha Ra was buried in Al Baqi at night time as that was her will.
Read MoreThe Arabic word Hijra means migration. It marks the beginning of the new year in the Islamic calendar and refers to the migration of Muhammad (SAW) and his companions, from Mecca to Madina. The Hijra was a great historical event marking a significant change in Islamic history. The early Muslims gained a position of strength and authority following the Hijra. The Hijri calendar was adopted during the Khilafah (successorship) of Umar Ibn-Khathab (RA). Umar (RA) rejected many other suggestions to start the Islamic calendar, including the birth and death of the Muhammad (SAW). He stated, "The Hijra has separated truth from falsehood, therefore, let it become the Epoch of the Era" (Fath Al-Bari, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani). Muhammad (SAW) publicly preached Islam in Mecca for more than a decade when the opposition was at its peak. The believers were harassed, abused and even cruelly tortured. Afraid for their safety, Muhammad (SAW) sent a group of Muslims to Abyssinia (now known as Ethiopia) where the Christian ruler extended protection to the Sahabahs. Shortly after that, Muhammad (SAW) sent seventy others to Yathrib (later re-named Madina) with the hope of establishing a new beginning for Islam. When Muhammad (SAW) set off for Yathrib with his closest friend, Abu-Bakr as-Siddique (RA), the leaders of Mecca decided to have him killed. They put a bounty on his head and sent people in pursuit. Muhammad (SAW) and Abu Bakr (RA) hid in a cave where Allah protected them from their assassins. Allah says,�"_It does not matter if you believers do not support him, for Allah did in fact support him when the disbelievers drove him out of Mecca, and he was only one of two. While they both were in the cave, he reassured his companion,�'Do not worry; Allah is certainly with us'. So, Allah sent down His serenity upon the Prophet, supported him with forces you believers did not see, and made the word of the disbelievers lowest, while the Word of Allah is supreme. And Allah is Almighty, All-Wise."_ (Quran, 9:40) The early Muslims made great sacrifices to move to Madina (Hijra) to begin the first ever Islamic community. Allah says,_"As for those who emigrated in the cause of Allah after being persecuted, We will surely bless them with a good home in this world. But the reward of the Hereafter is far better, if only they knew."_ (Quran, 16:41) Muhammad (SAW) and his followers were joyously welcomed by the people of Madina (the Ansar or "helpers"). Muhammad (SAW) established a concept of brotherhood among the Muslims and unity with the non-Muslim communities, including the Jewish tribes. The Hijra from Mecca to Madina marked the Muslims' transition from one stage to another on several different levels. They went from a position of weakness to one of strength. In Mecca, they were humiliated and abused at the hands of Quraysh, in Medina they were the ones with power. They went from spreading Islam individually in Mecca, to converting whole nations at a time in Medina. From implementing Islam individually in Mecca, to implementing a full, comprehensive, political, and economic system that governed a nation in every aspect of life. From being a small group of believers in Mecca to, becoming the heart of an Islamic nation encompassing Muslims in multiple countries. The Alim Foundation: NPS / NH; September 29, 2020
Read MoreHiba Masood a writer, speaker and a story teller talks about her Baba's influence in teaching Quran and its holy threads in her wonderful opinion piece "Baba, The Quran and Me". When she was in her younger age, she had to recite Quran every day, that her Baba taught her to do so without fail. She memorizes her childhood experience in the holy month of Ramadan as well as her Baba's powerful Ramadan experiences. Her Baba looked after all his children with extreme care. She had not faced poverty or any other means difficulties in life. Baba used to talk about his life and his days spent with his eight brothers and sisters used to look like. They were like in abject poverty, splitting one bowl of food for Iftar amongst a family of eleven and so on. Baba used to say that once all the work is done, you should recite Quran in every single possible minute. Every letter you recite during Ramadan has 70 times the regular reward? That means every letter, like saying Alif, gets you seven hundred good deeds. Years passed and with all the impetuous, rebellion of youth, of spending my days in smoke-filled rooms, strategizing with socialist/activists, and my evenings protesting against the Iraq war on the frozen streets of Toronto. Of not praying at all, of not so much as glancing towards the dusty shelf where my Qur'an sat the entire year. Next year Hiba got married and her brand new husband got astonished by her behavior and activities. She never proper placed her shoes and she always misplaced her cell phone. And she blessed with a baby boy just before the month of holy Ramadan. And there have many, many more years filled with anxiety, scary financial strain and a stormy marriage of sickness and grief. Years passed with no changes. Hiba recited Quran verses just as a routine, or just like fasting in the month of Ramadan without knowing the rewards of reciting. At last wisdom came to her brain at the age of thirty and she started to settle in life. Slowly, as an enthusiastically expected reconnection, she started reciting Quran well to Allah to the Qur'an to her childhood, to her father and to herself. Now her beloved father is aging and sick and she is in great agony by thinking about her sick dad. She used to caress his dad's grey hair, press her cheeks to his. She says that she misses him a lot and she is afraid of the future. But most of all, she whisper her gratitude. Gratitude for gifting her so freely all the things, all the lessons, all the beliefs, all the forces of habit and inspiring stories and abiding, enriching traditions that have blessed her life. Ultimately he was the lighthouse when he was able.
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