A Story

This story is the story of Brendan, an 11-year-old boy who suffered from Leukemia. He took chemotherapy, but all it did was cripple him and make his state worse. On one rainy day that he will never forget, his ‘nice’ doctor came in and informed him, (HIM, an 11-year-old) “The chemotherapy isn’t working anymore. You are going to die in two weeks.” La ilaha illa allah.
Brendan immediately packs his bags and leaves the hospital with his mom, expecting his death soon as certainly as humans need water. On their way home, they see a group of tents together on a bridge in Seattle. Brendan asks his mom, “Mom, what are those?” She admits that she did not know and he insisted that they go check out what’s going on. As soon as they get near enough, they find out that there is a group of homeless that had no shelter from the rain. They had no food as well but were at least able to find tents. Brendan gives one of them a sandwich he had with him. Realizing that this wasn’t enough, he and his mother immediately start a campaign to feed the homeless. They soon gather 200 peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches for these homeless. He then points out, “No mom, not peanut-butter. What if one of these homeless is allergic to peanut butter?” His proud mother says, “You are right," and they change the type.
Meanwhile, some reporters hear about this and they come over instantly to interview Brendan. After listening to his story, they ask, “What’s the most thing you like about life, Brendan?”
And he says, “Having one.”
“What’s the least thing you like about life?”
“The people that give up.”
They finally ask him, “Why Brendan? Your health will get worse. You didn’t have to do this. The doctor said you were going to die. What’s the point?”
And he says, “Just because I am about to die, doesn’t mean I can’t help someone else live.”
And Brendan did die a week later, but even though he was just eleven, he made a difference.

wonderful tidings for those who have lost a child

Bismillahi arrahmani al-raheem:

I was just reading my last post and not only was it unexplained, but I also forgot what I thought was unfair at the time (there are too many unfair things in life to keep track).

Yesterday, I listened to a dars by Sheikh Mahmood Al-Masry on Qanat Al-Hikmah (no, i dont have tv) that was called "The patience with the death of a son". It made me cry so much, but also made me realize that everything, EVERYTHING (in case u didnt see the first one) is compensated by Allah (SWT).

There are mainly 3 ahadith that I love. the first one was narrated in Al-Hakim and Al-Mustadrak that Abu Salamah (RA) narrated that he heard Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) saying: How excellent are five things and how heavy are they on the scale:

Saying Subhanallah (Glory be to Allah Who is above all faults)
Saying Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah) (3) La ilaha illallah (There is none worthy of worship except Allah)
Saying Allahu Akbar ( Allah is the Greatest )
and finally, A righteous son of a Muslim dies and the Muslims forbears patiently expecting a reward in return.

There is also another hadith that Allah (SWT) orders his angels to build a house for his slave who loses a son but patiently thanks Allah (SWT). Allah (SWT) asks the angels to build a house for him in jannah and to name it "Baytul Hamd" The house of gratitude.
This is because of the patience involved with losing a son.

There is also another hadith that (Im paraphrasing here)

There was one sahabi who loved the prophet very much and would always be with him. He had one son (his only son) who would always be with him and play around in the masjid. The prophet (S) asked him one day an interesting question. He asked, "do you love him?" and the man had an even stranger reply. He said, "May Allah love you as I love him."

Subhanallah, some time passed and this sahabi stopped coming to the prophet (S) or showing up and no one saw him. The prophet (S) finally asked about him and he was informed that this man's son had died and he (the sahabi) had refrained from coming out of his home. So the prophet (S) went to visit this man immediately and told him, "Would you rather that this son had lived with you in this dunya and you enjoyed his presence or that you go on the day of judgement and find him waiting for you in front of all the 8 gates of jannah and you enter from whichever you please?"
So this man without hesitation said, "Rather, that he wait for me in front of the 8 gates of jannah."
The prophet (S) immediately got a wahi from allah and told the man, "That is for you." Immediately the sahabah that were around the Blessed Prophet (S) saw an oppurtunity and asked, "Is this specifically for him or for all of us?"
And the prophet (salla allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: it is for all of you.

*tears* inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji3oon

Life is so unfair
الدنبا سجن المؤمن و جنة الكافر

Sadness and Grief: remember Allah and they will leave

Assalamu alaikum everyone

I am feeling sad today. Alhmadulillah, I am feeling very sad today. To begin with, the Almaghrib class I was taking ended yesterday and I was crying hard because a chance to learn about Allah has packed its bags and headed somewhere else. I am also sad because I got so confused, studied the wrong section for math, and flunked a quiz. It's worse than flunking, really. It's when you don't even get a number. It's below an F actually, propably in the Zs. I feel not so sad for myself as I feel sad that my Algebra 2 teacher might think Muslims are dumb or something. I was doing it for the sake of Islam and I failed myself, my parents, and now, Allah. How horrible could things get?

So I just opened up this book (Saheeh al-kalim al-tayyib for sheikh Al-albany) and it was the hadith of Umm Salama where when something bad happens to you and you say:

inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji3oon
allahumma ajir ly fi museebaty wa ukhluf ly khairan minah

I said it just once and I felt so happy suddenly and my heart stopped crying and I decided I have to spread the word. I am telling this to myelf, though of course I knew this before:

Islam works!
Islam really works!

Pink Hijab Day!!

Today is Pink Hijab Day! Well, it was but since the athan for maghrib just went off....anyway, it is Pink Hijab Day. And if you are a man, I am not discriminating against you. It could also be Pink Sock Day, Pink Shirt Day, maybe Pink Hair Day. The point is pink.

Subhanallah, I found out about this recently while reading Islamic Horizons [the matrimonial section is my favorite (seeking religous hyderabadi muslim woman; no scarf ...)] and it was saying how this middle school girl started it because all her friends were wearing pink hijabs on the same day. So today, I went to college wearing....brown!

I am so mad and guilty and angry and upset. I had really been looking forward to wearing a pink costume on october 28, but I forgot!! I forgot, I forgot, I forgot!!

I felt like crying. Like I was betraying the ummah or something. I hope you guys had better luck....groan

Bu the way, just an afterthought, is there luck in Islam? Is it halal to tell a muslim "good luck" Just wondering.

SaLaMz

Al-Maghrib rox!!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Masha'allah, I am feeling very very excited about this weekend. I am taking an AlMaghrib class about Salah and it is phenomenal (spelling?)!!! Just amazing. You find out why you do what you do in salah, and whether or not the Prophet (S) did it, and which madhab it is in. It is by a wonderful scholar and 3alim, Sheikh Yaser Birjas, and he is really funny. Alhamdulillah, the timings of the seminar help me imagine how it feels to live like a monk, but at least I can honestly say I spent my weekend in the masjid (friday included).

I am very (oh, just soo happy) and I don't know how to thank Allah enough. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, AlMaghrib is basically an institute that offers classes about specific topics in Islam and gives you a chance to get a degree in Islamic Studies (which is my dream, btw). It has seminars in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. I wish it was possible to go to all of them.

I found out that you can't actually say "alhamdulillah" if you sneeze in salah, even though it's thikr. You can't giggle in salah, and if you do, your salah is invalid. Imam Abu Haneefa (I am not hanafi by the way) may Allah be pleased with him actually said that if you laugh or giggle, your salah AND wudu are invalid (oops). You also can't check the time (you know, if taraweeh is getting too long), though alhamdulillah, I have never done this yet. A very interesting fact is that for several years, the adhan in turkey used to be in Turkish, not Arabic!! subhanallah, though of course that is not halal. I can't wait for the end of this week.

God, at this point I can't wait to meet Allah (SWT)!!

Support Niqab, Support Islam

Assalamu alaikum wa ramatu Allahi wa baraktuhu

Every Muslim in the world believes without doubt that the hijab is a fard. We all agree that the niqab is even higher in status. How high-that is where we differ. What never happened bafore was a sheikh claiming that it is not even part of Islam. A Burqa is culture, a Niqab is deen. Someone tell me why this is hard to understand. I wanted to write this a long time ago and this is long due. Why do we have to disagree on everything. Prayer: how to pray? When? Where? Fasting: When? When? (did I mention when?) Even Zakah and Hajj have arguments. It's a good thing the shahadah is still preserved. Wait...Nation of Islam?

I am not saying that there is any religion in the world as united as we are. Christianity broke the record and Judaism, let's not go there. But Islam is supposed to be different. We are the newest and most recent of all. Why can't we set the example? Are we not aware of the ayah:

"And let there arise from you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong"?

I am talking to everyone in this ummah: You don't have to wear the niqab. You don't have to force your female relatives to wear it. But you have to support it. You have to.