A student`s Blog: April 2008

Thursday 24 April 2008

Who or what is a Salafi?

What I am trying to say is that there is a large fictional element involved when someone comes to the Muslims and says, "No one has understood Islam properly except the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and early Muslims, and our sheikh". This is not valid, for the enduring works of first-rank Imams of hadith, jurisprudence, Qur'anic exegesis, and other shari'a disciplines impose upon Muslims the obligation to know and understand their work, in the same way that serious comprehension of any other scholarly field obliges one to have studied the works of its major scholars who have dealt with its issues and solved its questions. Without such study, one is doomed to repeat mistakes already made and rebutted in the past.

Most of us have acquaintances among this Umma who hardly acknowledge another scholar on the face of the earth besides the Imam of their madhhab, the Sheikh of their Islam, or some contemporary scholar or other. And this sort of enthusiasm is understandable, even acceptable (at a human level) in a non-scholar. But only to the degree that it does not become ta'assub or bigotry, meaning that one believes one may put down Muslims who follow other qualified scholars. At that point it is haram, because it is part of the sectarianism (tafarruq) among Muslims that Islam condemns.

by Sheikh Nuh Keller

Source : http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/salafi.htm

Wednesday 23 April 2008

Incessant salaam giving

Read SunniPath answer at: http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?id=18763&hd=7&cate=0&t=rss

:)

Hundred Colours of Rainbow at SunniPath

A master speaks from his zawiya,up on the hills
he brings to life aphorisms of ages by-gone
and brings one closer to the author and his Author
the silent audience is awe-struck , humbled and hopeful
Near the end of the session,
you ask what you ask for everyone`s welcomed
and then make a note of the answers

Perhaps not raised as well as we could have been
and arabic was praised but never taught
and so one took the 101 for starters
it really is for starters
those early morning sessions
differentiating the howa from the hiya
certaining go a long way in ridding oneself of the
hawa

Had doubts all along as to when and how to pray
Is this the right way?
the one who taught me
seemed unsure himself
so one learns it all at fiqh sessions with a splendid teacher
he doesn`t take one to task
and welcomes questions all along
and yes there are lovely examples quoted all along
a few smiles along the way as well

Dear lovely SunniPath people
thank you for letting us in and
marvel at the rainbow

When Hearts Change

Sometimes the Shaykh banishes the novice both inwardly and outwardly, such that he drives him out of his house and shuts his door on him. Sometimes the Shaykh banishes the novice inwardly. This is more harmful to the novice for, in this case, the latter is not aware that he has been banished or that he deserves expulsion. This state of banishment will remain until the novice hearkens to his Shaykh: repentant, remorseful, meek and heartbroken.

Al-Suhrawardi then says about the same theme:
One of the students of Junayd asked the latter a question, but when Junayd answered, this student objected. Quoting a Qur'anic verse, Junayd said: But if you believe me not, go you apart from me! [44: 23]

Source : http://shadhiliteachings.com/

Thursday 17 April 2008

The ordinary muslim with broken shoes

Not from the mighty and definitely not the majestic
just the common folk with broken soles and broken words

not a scholar by far,not a student by much
with coarse hands , just mending our ways
I notice your smile,whenever we meet
a jest , a laughfor everything goes

you ask so muchwhile I evade when possible
those open-ended, unending questions

why must you know,
and why must you ask?
I so often wondered , but now I know

our broken shoes, small rooms with nothing
unwittingly draw your attention
and so you ask
while we listen
to the unending
woes and miseries of
our life
with silence
it must be interesting
putting our scattered
pieces
together and
sighing in
wonderment,

thank you.

Wednesday 9 April 2008

The marks of those who know God - Sheikh Ahmad Zaruq

Sheikh Ahmad Zaruq says , "The marks of those who know God [al-`arifin] are three: The first is turning away from all besides Him-they-know, in every state and in every way. The second is going toward Him by leaving aside ulterior motives and fulfilling what is due. The third is acceptance of Him on the flow of events He has destined."
[Iqaz al-himam, 139].

Source : Interpretors Log, page 65 by Sheikh Nuh Keller.

"If this is from God, He will bring it to pass"

During this same year that followed Khadijah`s death , the Prophet [Allah bless him and give him peace] dreamed that he saw a man who was carrying someone wrapped in a piece of silk. The man said to him :"This is thy wife , so uncover her." The Prophet [Allah bless him and give him peace] lifted the silk and there was A`ishah. But A`ishah was only six years old , and he had passed his fiftieth year.Moreover Abu`Bakr had promised her to Mut`im for his son Jubayr. The Prophet [Allah bless him and give him peace] simply said to himself : "If this be from God , He will bring it to pass."

Source: Muhammad , his life based on the earliest sources, by Martin Lings.