Ramadan Reminders (9): The Best of Deeds - Faith, Prayer, Righteousness to Parents, and Striving

Ramadan Reminders (9): The Best of Deeds - Faith, Prayer, Righteousness to Parents, and Striving

An explanation of the Prophet’s response (peace and blessings be upon him) to Ibn Mas`ud’s questions on what the best of actions are. How is faith the best of works? What does it mean to be righteous to parents? How does one perfect one’s daily prayers?

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Toronto Event: Qurba Presents “Following Khidr to Divine Knowledge” - Sunday, August 30, 2009 - 5 pm to 10 pm

Qurba

Qurba Academy presents:
Following Khidr to Divine Knowledge

Qurba invites you to join us this Ramadan for an enlightening program on the story of Musa and Khidr. In this program, you will:
 
•    Learn about the many virtues and blessings of the month of Ramadan and the significance of the Qur’an in this blessed month.
•    Understand that the Qur’an is the source of all knowledge and be inspired to rebuild your connection with it.
•    Journey through the story of Musa and Khidr and extract lessons on embarking on the path to Divine Knowledge.
 
Allah Most High gave us the gift of the Qur’an in this month. Let’s make this month the month that we open His Gift.

Register Now! (Liimited Seats)

Living the single life…..**sigh** « The Chaplain - Ustadh Khalid Latif’s Blog

Living the single life…..**sigh** « The Chaplain - Ustadh Khalid Latif’s Blog

Ustadh Khalid Latif writes:

About two months ago, I had the opportunity to speak with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and Sister Dania Ayoubi on a panel [for the MSA National Program] at the ISNA conference in Washington DC entitled Living the Single life: Benefiting from Your Time Before You get Married. It was recorded and I was debating as to whether or not post this video during Ramadan but I figured it probably would make more sense to do so now rather than wait til afterward, as during this month of introspection it would serve many of us well to realize that there is nothing wrong with us if we are not married.

More often than not it becomes very hard for a person to make a critical sense as to why they want to be married so badly, but yet they aren’t married for whatever reason.   In the short time that I was allotted on this talk, I wanted to convey to the audience that it is hard to deal with the emotions that come from being single and wanting companionship, and how we need to learn to deal with those emotions constructively.   Please do share with others if you think there is benefit in it.

Thanks to Fatih Alev from Denmark for sharing the original video.   Fatih runs a group called Muslims in Dialogue that focuses on integrating Islam in a European context.  You can visit the MID website here and see the original video in its entirety here.

Single Life As A Muslim - Khalid Latif from Khalid Latif on Vimeo.

Single Life As A Muslim - Faraz Rabbani from Khalid Latif on Vimeo.

Single Life As A Muslim - Dania Ayoubi from Khalid Latif on Vimeo.

Single Life As A Muslim - Q&A w/ Faraz Rabbani, Dania Ayoubi and Khalid Latif from Khalid Latif on Vimeo.

Ramadan Pictures - Muslim Around the World

Ramadan 2009 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Some beautiful pictures of Ramadan across the world:

For more pictures: Ramadan 2009 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Israeli settlements and “ethnic cleansing” | open Democracy News Analysis

Israeli settlements and “ethnic cleansing” | open Democracy News Analysis

The argument that the dismantling of Israeli communities in the Palestinian West Bank would amount to “ethnic cleansing” is increasingly being heard. It deserves close examination of a kind its proponents may not welcome, says Martin Shaw.

Ramadan Reminders (Lesson 6): Making Ramadan a Month of Qur’an - SeekersGuidance Islamic Knowledge Podcasts - Faraz Rabbani

Ramadan Reminders (6): Making Ramadan a Month of Qur’an

Clear guidelines on how to practically bring the Qur’an into our lives in this month of Ramadan, and throughout our lives. How much should you be reciting? What about listening to the Qur’an? What about reading the translation of the Qur’an? What are the key inward manners with the Qur’an? These are some of the questions dealt with in this brief reminder.

Subscribe to the SeekersGuidance Islamic Knowledge Podcast @ iTunes (free!)

At SeekersGuidance: Podcasts

Ramadan Special: Daily Ramadan Reminders. Brief, inspiring reminders from the Qur’an & Sunna and the guidance of our scholars on making the most of his blessed month. (Don’t miss out.)

Single Life As A Muslim - Faraz Rabbani - ISNA 2009 (MSA National Session) - Vimeo

Single Life As A Muslim - Shaykh Faraz Rabbani on Vimeo

Single Life As A Muslim - Shaykh Faraz Rabbani from Khalid Latif on Vimeo.

SeekersGuidance Islamic Knowledge Podcast @ iTunes (free!)
Ramadan Special: Daily Ramadan Reminders. Brief, inspiring reminders from the Qur’an & Sunna and the guidance of our scholars on making the most of his blessed month. (Don’t miss out.)

Ramadan Reminders (Lesson 5): Fasting & Upholding Excellence of Character

SeekersGuidance Podcasts — Islamic knowledge, audio, video, songs, and more–at the SeekersGuidance Blog.

When fasting, it is easy to get annoyed, irritated, or angry–or, at least, to fall short of what good character entails. This reminder looks at making our fasting a means of drawing closer to Allah through upholding the Prophetic excellence of character. Five key aspects of good character are explained, so that we can strive to become of the best of believers–for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “The believers most perfect in faith are those best in character.” [Tirmidhi]

(Download this talk here)

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• Ramadan Reminders (4) Keys to Accepted Fasts
• Ramadan Reminders (3): Planning to Succeed

Ramadan Reminders (2): Fasting for Allah

Ramadan Reminders (2): Fasting for Allah

We need to have the highest of intentions in our fasts–and not merely go through the motions of fasting. The best of intentions for fasting is to have a clear sense of fasting ‘for Allah.’ This reminder explores what it means to fast ‘for Allah,’ and explains the Prophetic hadith, related by Bukhari, in which Allah says, ‘All the actions of people are for them, except for fasting. Fasting is for Me and it is I who reward it.’

(Download this talk here)

SeekersGuidance Islamic Knowledge Podcast @ iTunes (free!)
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=303712260
Ramadan Special: Daily Ramadan Reminders. Brief, inspiring reminders from the Qur’an & Sunna and the guidance of our scholars on making the most of his blessed month. (Don’t miss out.)

Source:
http://seekersguidance.org/podcast/ramadan-reminders-2-fasting-for-allah

Spirit Of Islam: ReliefWorks, the Swat Valley Crisis, and the Importance of Service - Nader Khan - YouTube

YouTube - Nader Khan - Spirit Of Islam

Part 1 & 2 of Nader’s recent interview with Spirit Of Islam’s host Br. Ashraf Zaghloul, where he discussed ReliefWorks, and our current campaign to raise funds for the people of Swat.

Fortress Europe: Solving Immigration by Outsourced Bouncers

Fortress Europe: Solving Immigration by Outsourced Bouncers

The European Union’s tough new stance on immigration and asylum policies has ramifications for the region’s labor shortages, coming demographic crises, and adherence to the rule of law. Brussels-based journalist Shada Islam writes that perhaps the most controversial aspect of this new stance is Italy’s choice to intercept refugees in the Mediterranean and the subsequently push them back with Libyan help. This tactic flouts international rules governing mass deportations and also raises the concern that Europe might be “outsourcing” asylum policies to countries with poor human rights records. But this is only one of many unsettling developments with regard to immigration. Across Europe, governments are reducing immigrants’ rights to apply for asylum and sending many of them back to their country despite evidence of potential danger and in contravention of international practice. While xenophobia is often pointed to as the cause of such a policy shift, the current economic crisis also plays a part, as job losses amid an influx of asylum-seekers poses further burdens on Europe’s social welfare programs. But the longer term challenge Europe faces with regard to an aging population and dwindling birth rate remains. In the end, the ultimate hurdle may be for Europe’s politicians to convince its own citizens that long term welfare is predicated on becoming a more open and inclusive society. – YaleGlobal

Read full article: Fortress Europe: Solving Immigration by Outsourced Bouncers

Sh. Hamza Yusuf - New Beginnings: Mobilizing & Motivating a Generation - ISNA Convention 2009 - MSA prog

YouTube - ISNA Convention 2009 - Session 12A Part 4

MSA Program - New Beginnings: Mobilizing and Motivating a Generation - As Muslims in a tumultuous age, we must develop the methods and tools necessary to improve our communitys condition. How can we utilize our various individual strengths and approaches to jointly propel our community into a brighter era? What can we do today to energize and mobilize ourselves? How do we get ourselves moving? What are ways that we can ensure the continuity of our actions?

YouTube - Creating and Sustaining North American Muslim Scholarship - Yasir Qadhi & Faraz Rabbani

YouTube - Creating and Sustaining North American Muslim Scholarship - Yasir Qadhi & Faraz Rabbani

Creating and Sustaining North American Muslim Scholarship, a session with Yasir Qadhi and Faraz Rabbani at the 2007 MSA National Continental Conference.

This session will discuss and describe the current state of Islamic education in North America. What opportunities and institutions currently exist and how these institutions and resources can be cooperate to increase our ability to create viable North American Muslim Scholars. This session will also describe in detail where the gaps are and where North American Muslim communities should focus their resources to expand future opportunities.

Produced by www.wasatstudios.com

The Spiritual Retreat (i`tikaf) - SeekersGuidance Answers - Faraz Rabbani

The Spiritual Retreat (i`tikaf) - SeekersGuidance Answers - Faraz Rabbani

Question: Could you please give some details regarding the rulings of i`tikaf?

Answer: The Spiritual Retreat (i`tikaf)

The Fiqh of I`tikaf (spiritual retreat)

Based on Shurunbulali’s Imdad al-Fattah, and other Hanafi texts

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate. May His abundant blessing and most perfect of peace be on His Beloved Prophet, the best of creation, and his family, companions and followers.

I`tikaf means ‘remaining’ somewhere.

The technical usage of the term is:

a) for men: to remain in the mosque, with an intention,

b) for women: to remain in their designated prayer area (musalla) at home, with intention, or at the mosque (though it is normally somewhat disliked for them to do so).

I`tikaf is a means of great reward. It says in the Fatawa Hindiyya,

“Its excellence is obvious, for the one make such a spiritual retreat:

- Has submitted their entire person to the worship of Allah Most High;
- seeks closeness;
- distances themselves from the worldly distractions that prevent one from proximity;
- drowning their entire time in actual or effective worship, for the basis of its legislation is to wait from one prayer time to the next prayer in congregation;
- it also makes the one is retreat resemble the angels who do not disobey the command of Allah and do what they are commanded, while glorifying Allah by night and day without tiring…” [1.212]

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SeekersGuidance Free Ramadan Course: Registration Closes Soon!

Free Ramadan Course: Registration Closes Soon!

Dear Seeker, Ramadan is quickly approaching.  SeekersGuidance will be marking the presence of this blessed month with a FREE course — Ramadan Explained: Virtues & Fiqh of Fasting.  This essential three-part course is designed to: Remind you that Ramadan is a true blessing from Allah Most High Teach you the proper way in which you should be approaching this blessing Motivate you to make the most of this blessed month Ensure that you understand and can implement all the key aspects of Ramadan, including the Prophetic sunnas Give you an opportunity to ask all of those fiqh questions you have ever had about Ramadan and fasting The course consists of three fully downloadable lessons, a live Q&A session and an online forum where you can interact with your teacher, Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.  This inspirational course is being offered FREE, as a gift on behalf of SeekersGuidance.  Register online now, and return to your Lord this Ramadan.   The course will open on August 14th. Live session has been tentatively scheduled for September 12th.

Ask a Scholar Got questions? Our new Islamic Answer Service has been designed to provide clear, reliable and relevant answers to all your religious questions. You can submit your question by filling out a simple online form and the answer from one of our scholars will be either published on the SeekersGuidance website or emailed to you directly.  Recently Answered Questions: - Brief Miscellaneous Q & A Relating to Fasting Answered by Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam - Accidentally Inhaling Perfume While Fasting Answered by Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam - Lately I’ve been feeling really down & depressed. Can you post some du’a’s or adhakār that might help with this? Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

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Al Jazeera English - China Buys The World - China puts people before banks

Al Jazeera English - China Buys The World - China puts people before banks

Samah El-Shahat, Al Jazeera’s resident economist, writes a regular column analysing key elements that have contributed to the global financial downturn and its impact across the world.

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Review: ‘Empire of Illusion’ by Chris Hedges - Bethune on Books Books Reviews - Macleans.ca

Review: ‘Empire of Illusion’ by Chris Hedges - Bethune on Books Books Reviews - Macleans.ca

Like Christopher Hitchens, in so many ways his opposite number, Chris Hedges occupies an isolated and occasionally lonely spot on the ideological spectrum, angering progressives as much as conservatives.

He may be a socialist and the author of American Fascists (2007), the title of which pretty much sums up what he thinks of the Christian right in his country.

But he’s also a religion-friendly guy—the son of a Presbyterian minister, and the possessor of both a master’s degree in theology and a firm belief that spiritual seeking is hard-wired in humans—a stance that provokes many on the militant atheist left. In fact, Hedges is as much a throwback as a revolutionary: an old-fashioned, passionate, moralist America-Firster. And none of that is meant as criticism.

Hedges is not likely to win a lot of new friends with his latest work, Empire of Illusion (Knopf). The “illusion” part of the title is made clear in Hedges’ savage assault on celebrity/pop culture that focuses on two soft, but richly deserving targets, pro wrestling and the porn industry. Read more

The Way of Seekers - Prophetic Guidance on Seeking Knowledge as a Means to Paradise Explained - Faraz Rabbani

The Way of Seekers

In this lecture, Shaykh Faraz discusses the characteristics of the way of knowledge, its virtues, and how it can be used to seek Allah (the Most Exalted) and Paradise. Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) relates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said “Whoever pursues a path seeking knowledge, Allah facilitates for them a path to Paradise.” (Muslim, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood, et al)

The following slides can be used by the listener to assist them in following along this podcast. (Download Slides)

Download Options:

(1) Download this talk here. (right click and “save”) or

(2) Download podcasts directly onto your iPod by going to Seekers Guidance Islamic Knowledge Podcasts (iTunes)

Hiroshima, 64 years ago - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Hiroshima, 64 years ago - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Tomorrow, August 6th, marks 64 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan by the United States at the end of World War II. Targeted for military reasons and for its terrain (flat for easier assessment of the aftermath), Hiroshima was home to approximately 250,000 people at the time of the bombing. The U.S. B-29 Superfortress bomber “Enola Gay” took off from Tinian Island very early on the morning of August 6th, carrying a single 4,000 kg (8,900 lb) uranium bomb codenamed “Little Boy”. At 8:15 am, Little Boy was dropped from 9,400 m (31,000 ft) above the city, freefalling for 57 seconds while a complicated series of fuse triggers looked for a target height of 600 m (2,000 ft) above the ground. At the moment of detonation, a small explosive initiated a super-critical mass in 64 kg (141 lbs) of uranium. Of that 64 kg, only .7 kg (1.5 lbs) underwent fission, and of that mass, only 600 milligrams was converted into energy - an explosive energy that seared everything within a few miles, flattened the city below with a massive shockwave, set off a raging firestorm and bathed every living thing in deadly radiation. Nearly 70,000 people are believed to have been killed immediately, with possibly another 70,000 survivors dying of injuries and radiation exposure by 1950. Today, Hiroshima houses a Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum near ground zero, promoting a hope to end the existence of all nuclear weapons.

Hiroshima, 64 years ago - The Big Picture

An Islamic history is a vital part of Ethiopia’s richness - HA Hellyer - The National Newspaper

An Islamic history is a vital part of Ethiopia’s richness - The National Newspaper

by HA Hellyer

‘We are sorry if you get woken up by the Muslim call to prayer in the morning.” Those were some of the first words I heard at my hotel when I arrived in Addis Ababa, on my first trip to Ethiopia. I confess – I was a bit confused. Call to prayer? In the capital of a “Christian country in a sea of Muslims”, as Ethiopia is sometimes called? Perhaps I was in a Muslim quarter of Addis Ababa that had been recently established?

No, the situation was far more complicated than that, and one about which I had a surprisingly limited awareness. Most non-Ethiopians, including the immediate neighbours of Ethiopia, also believe that Ethiopia is predominantly Christian. The more sophisticated might believe that there is a Muslim minority – and it was to learn about that population that drew me to Ethiopia in the first place. But it is not a minority. About 55 per cent of Ethiopia’s parliament is Muslim and representatives from the country’s Islamic community insist they are at least 50 per cent of the population. While the US State Department estimates that this number is a bit lower, Islam might actually be the religion with the most adherents in Ethiopia.

If there is any “Muslim quarter” in Addis, it must be an old one. Christianity was the first religion to arrive in Ethiopia – but only in the north of the country. Where the capital, Addis Ababa, is located, the area of Shawa, was the domain of a Muslim sultanate in the early 8th century. Most historical narratives portray Ethiopia’s as a Christian story. If Islam is even mentioned, it is associated with disconnected tribesman in the lowlands who battled Christian kingdoms in the highlands. But history is written by the powerful and now academics are rediscovering the Muslim history of this country of such noble heritage.
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