This Question has been running in my head these days a lot. Of course we are always tested but still I want to know what were some evil stuffs I did that led to my calamity. I surely am not innocent nor free of sins. When I think deeply, I find a few things that are common in some of us whose Emaan went down:
Haughtiness
Pride
Arrogance
Claiming to have knowledge
Looking down on others
Thinking oneself perfect as being 100% Honest, Free of Shirk and Innovation for 100% surety.
Feeling too proud to accept advice or sound knowledge from someone else (whom he/she thinks to be not good enough)
Being Harsh
Making fun of those who are weak in Emaan and who sins openly (due to weakness of emaan)
Criticizing others who are lower in state of emaan and knowledge
Lack of humbleness and humility
Quickness to judge others to be sinners, misguided, astray, and other terms
(There are more, I am sure, but these are few all of us should look into inshaaAllah).
And you can see below the Description of the Slave of Ar-Rahman. Hence, when we know what caused our illness of weakness of Emaan, we can seek for cure to be sound in our Emaan. InshaaAllah.
And the slaves of the Most Beneficent (Allâh) are those who walk on the earth in humility and sedateness, and when the foolish address them (with bad words) they reply back with mild words of gentleness. (Al-Furqan 25:63) [Ibn Katheer | Tabari | Qurtubi]
And those who say: "Our Lord! Avert from us the torment of Hell. Verily! Its torment is ever an inseparable, permanent punishment." (Al-Furqan 25:65) [Ibn Katheer | Tabari | Qurtubi]
And those, who, when they spend, are neither extravagant nor niggardly, but hold a medium (way) between those (extremes). (Al-Furqan 25:67) [Ibn Katheer | Tabari | Qurtubi]
And those who invoke not any other ilâh (god) along with Allâh, nor kill such life as Allâh has forbidden, except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse and whoever does this shall receive the punishment. (Al-Furqan 25:68) [Ibn Katheer | Tabari | Qurtubi]
The torment will be doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein in disgrace; (Al-Furqan 25:69) [Ibn Katheer | Tabari | Qurtubi]
Except those who repent and believe (in Islâmic Monotheism), and do righteous deeds, for those, Allâh will change their sins into good deeds, and Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Al-Furqan 25:70) [Ibn Katheer | Tabari | Qurtubi]
And whosoever repents and does righteous good deeds, then verily, he repents towards Allâh with true repentance. (Al-Furqan 25:71) [Ibn Katheer | Tabari | Qurtubi]
And those who do not witness falsehood, and if they pass by some evil play or evil talk, they pass by it with dignity. (Al-Furqan 25:72) [Ibn Katheer | Tabari | Qurtubi]
And those who, when they are reminded of the Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of their Lord, fall not deaf and blind thereat. (Al-Furqan 25:73) [Ibn Katheer | Tabari | Qurtubi]
And those who say: "Our Lord! Bestow on us from our wives and our offspring who will be the comfort of our eyes, and make us leaders for the Muttaqûn" (pious - see V.2:2 and the footnote of V.3:164)." (Al-Furqan 25:74) [Ibn Katheer | Tabari | Qurtubi]
Those will be rewarded with the highest place (in Paradise) because of their patience. Therein they shall be met with greetings and the word of peace and respect. (Al-Furqan 25:75) [Ibn Katheer | Tabari | Qurtubi]
In the Name of Allaah, the All Merciful, the Ever Merciful…
As reported by Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) and collected in the most authentic Hadeeth sources like al-Bukhaaree and Muslim, the Prophet (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace) forbade believing women from traveling without a mahram.
A mahram is a woman’s close male family member, like her father, grandfather, son, grandson, brother, or uncle.
Traveling means to leave one’s city, by a distance considered according to local customs to be a journey, not just normal daily movement around and outside of the borders of one’s city.
In the West, a woman often accepts Islaam and thereafter faces the difficulty of being the only Muslim in her family. She may ask: How am I to implement this hadeeth? Since my immediate male relatives are disqualified from being my walee (guardian) in a marriage contract, are they also disqualified from being my mahram during a journey?
This issue was recently addressed by Shaykh Muhammad ‘Umar Baazmool (may Allaah preserve him), Professor of Higher Studies at Umm al-Qura University in Makkah. He stated:
الذي عليه جمهور أهل العلم أنه لا يشترط في المحرم أن يكون مسلماً. بشرط أن يؤمن عليها من أن يزني بها أو يفعل بها ما لا يحل، و لذلك استثنوا المجوسي، فلا ولاية و لا محرمية له على ابنته المسلمة، لأن دينه المجوسية لا يمنعه من ذلك. وغير المجوسي من الكفار لا ولاية له، و له محرمية فيحل لها السكن معه والسفر معه، بالشرط المذكور.
بل هذا الشرط مراعى حتى في المجرم المسلم، فلا محرمية له إذا كان لا يؤمن عليها، ويعامل معاملة الأجانب، والله الموفق.
That which the vast majority of the people of knowledge hold to is that it is not a condition for one’s mahram to be a Muslim, so long as he can be trusted around her, not to commit incest or do something impermissible to her. Thus, they exempted a Majoosee (Zoroastrian), disqualifying him from wilaayah (being a walee for a marriage contract) and from being a mahram for his own Muslim daughter, since his Zoroastrian religion does not prevent him from such things. Aside from the Zoroastrians, other non-Muslims cannot be the walee (in a marriage contract), however they are valid mahrams which a Muslim woman can live and travel with, so long as they fulfill the condition mentioned.
This condition is even applied to a Muslim sex offender! He is not to have mahram status if he cannot be trusted around her. Instead, he is to be treated as someone outside the family, and Allaah is the One who grants success.
عادة كثير من الناس إن قيل له "ألا أهدي لك هدية" ينظر إلى يد المتحدث هل يحمل شيئًا؟ أوينتظر أن يدخل يده في جيبه، ويُغفل عن نوع من التهادي يعد أشرف أنواع التهادي وأحسنه وأجمله؛ ألا وهو تهادي مسائل العلم ، ولا يعرف قدر هذه الهدية إلا من عرف قدر العلم. قال ابن القيم : ((وإنما الهدية النافعة كلمة يهديها الرجل الى أخيه المسلم)).
Beneficial Gift
Usually, many people if it is said to him, "Shouldn't I give you a gift," looks at the hand of the speaker, is he carrying something? or waits for him to enter his hand in his pocket, and he forgets about a kind of the gift considered from the most honorable type of gift, best of it, and most beautiful of it: isn't it giving the gift of matters of knowledge, and no one knows the status of this gift except one who knows the status of knowledge. Ibnul Quyyem said: Indeed, the beneficial gift is a word that a man gifts his Muslim brother.
By: Shaykh Abdur Razzaq bin Abul Muhsin Al-Badr
Source: http://al-badr.net/muqolat/4049
Translator: Nasrin As.Salafiyah
Date: Thursday, Sept. 24th, 2015 @ 3:00 AM
قتل الوقت
يتضايق بعض الناس من الوقت ويعمل على تضييعه حتى في الحرام ، ولهذا تجد عند بعض الغافلين التعبير بكلمة «قتل الوقت» كأنه عدو!!، والوقت غنيمة وما ذهب منه لا يعود، والعاقل هو من يغتنم أوقاته ويحاذر من قتلها وتضييعها .
Killing Time
Some people are bothered by time such that they work to waste time even in doing what is forbidden. Therefore, you will find with some heedless people the expression with wording, "Killing Time," as if it is enemy. The time is booty (profit), and what leaves from it does not return, and the intellectual one is the one who takes advantage of his times and takes care not to kill it or waste it.
Ibn Mas’ûd – Allâh be pleased with him – used to say the takbîr during the Days of Tashrîq thus:
Allâh is Greatest, Allâh is Greatest, none deserves worship but Allâh. Allâh is Greatest, Allâh is Greatest, and to Him is all praise.
Ibn Abî Shaybah, Al-Musannaf Vol.2 p74. Shaykh Al-Albânî said its chain of narration is Sahîh.
‘Alî – Allâh be pleased with him – used to say the takbîr following the Fajr prayer on the Day of ‘Arafah until the ‘Asr prayer of the last day of Tashrîq – he used to say it after ‘Asr prayer (then stop).
Ibn Abî Shaybah, Al-Musannaf Vol.2 p72. Shaykh Al-Albânî said its chain of narration is good.
See IrwâAl-Ghalîl Vol.3 p125.
الحمد لله وحده، والصلاة والسلام على من لا نبي بعده، وعلى آله وصحبه، أما بعد
Shaikh Saalih bin Fawzaan Al-Fawzaan (hafidhahullaah) said during his explanation of the text of Mandhoomah Al-Adaab:
“These are the instances in which giving the salaam is disliked:
The first instance:it is disliked to give salaam to the one who is speaking, since he is busy in conversation with other than himself.
The second instance:‘with regards to the one who is busy withdhikr(remembrance of Allaah)’ – by way oftasbeeh(saying:subhaanallaah) andtahleel(saying:laa ilaaha illallaah) and in the recital of the Qur’aan.
The third instance:with regards to the one who is pre-occupied with the hadeeth from the sayings of Muhammad (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam).
The fourth instance:giving salaam to the khateeb except during the Friday sermon; since it is forbidden to speak during the Friday sermon; and so giving salaam to the khateeb and to those in attendance is impermissible.
The fifth instance:‘the one delivering a lecture’ – the one who is delivering a lesson relating to the Qur’aan or relating to hadeeth or Fiqh or in grammar – do not give salaam to him. Some people; when they come to a gathering and the lesson is in progress; he will give the salaam and raise his voice, this is disliked because this distracts the teacher just as it distracts those who are sat listening and so they turn their attention to him.
The sixth instance:‘those who are researching in the sciences’ – whoever is researching an issue from the issues of knowledge then do not extend the salaam towards him and thus disrupt his research; this is not legislated.
The seventh instance:‘one who is delivering an admonition’ – whoever is admonishing the people; then do not give the salaam if you approach, rather sit and listen to the admonition. Do not extend the salaam; because you will distract the admonisher as well as distract those that are listening.
The eighth instance:the one who is reiterating/revising in (an issue of) Fiqh; and he is the one who is revising/studying Fiqh.
The ninth instance:the muadhin; if he is giving the adhaan then do not extend the salaam towards him whilst he is giving the adhaan; since you will interrupt him from the adhaan.
The tenth instance:‘the one who is praying’ – if you arrive and someone is praying; do not extend the salaam towards him until he has concluded his prayer. It has been reported that one of the companions gave the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) the salaam whilst he was in prayer and so he responded to him with anishaarah(indication).[1]Therefore is someone gives you salaam whilst you are praying then you should respond to him with anishaarah.
The eleventh instance:‘the one who is observing purification’ – the one who is performing the wudhu then do not extend the salaam towards him until he has concluded his wudhu. As for the one who is bathing for other than the purpose of worship; in order to keep cool or to clean himself then there is nothing preventing you from giving him salaam.
The twelfth instance:likewise it is not legislated to give the salaam to the one who is preoccupied with eating.
The thirteenth instance:‘to the one who is defecating’ – this is more severe; and he is the one who is urinating or defecating – do not give him salaam whilst he is relieving himself. Since it is disliked for the one who is defecating or urinating that he should speak in this situation; so do not give him salaam.
The fourteenth instance:‘the one who is fighting the enemy in a war’ – the last type is the Mujaahid who is in the instance of fighting; you should not extend salaam to the one who is fighting because he is busied from you in fighting the enemies of Allaah.”
Sometimes, many sisters wonder where is the sisterhood in Islam because they feel lonely. I think there is a different way to look at it: what have we done to cultivate the sisterhood in Islam?
Let's take a deeper look. So, when was the last time you invited some sisters and cooked lovely dishes and ate with them? I mean, sisterhood isn't all about praying and reading books and talking about religion. You have to have both. Invite some sisters, eat and talk and then pray together in a Jama'ah. BEST THING ON EARTH.
I heard long ago that eating and praying together keep people close to each other. Could be true and Allah knows best... I didn't test it...
Next time, go out to park and enjoy a good sunny day and nature, and let the kids play and you guys, as you talk daily stuffs, talk about something useful like sharing knowledge of Islam... something simple, something that fits in the conversation, something you learned, something you want to learn, something you want to share, something you want people to help you out...
It is not hard but it does take courage... Courage to start something new and different, courage to be with new people and introduce yourself as who you are, courage to be yourself without fearing what others may think of you, it is NOT EASY. I find it very hard myself to open up sometimes, to talk about things other people may find very weird or strange or even outright negative.
And yes, as you invite and share what you have, other sisters will do the same to you, so YOU INITIATE instead of waiting to be invited to parties and gatherings and more... You open up and allow others to enter into your life... and share their lives with you...
[I can't do many things I said here, InshaaAllah, someday I will try when I have means to carry them out. InshaaAllah].
Until then, writing is a way to express and share and communicate for me... [:D]
So, this is how I started this cold shower, let's hope I can keep up. I felt so hot, so uncomfortable, so sweaty, and tired etc. I just went to the bath and took a plain cold shower unexpectedly. I just didn't care. I just wanted to feel cold. After I took the cold shower and put on my fresh clothes and was going about my normal day, I realized how LIGHT and FRESH my body felt. It is the feeling I have been searching for like ages. When was the last time I felt this good, I do not know.
I heard something about taking cold shower but I never read on it. When I realized how good I was feeling, I started reading on the cold shower. Just to boost my motivation. Let's hope I can keep up.
I took my showers in the evening. Morning shower, I have to think about it.
But it is really great to feel light. That's what I seek the most I guess these days. I just want to feel light, fresh, simple, and happy.
They sound terrifying if you’ve never done one. They sound amazing if you’re a veteran.
I talk a lotabout cold showers around here. I’ve used them to get in shape, start a blog, and launch a business. They come with a ton of benefits, including clarity of mind and fearlessness. In the past I’ve focused specifically on the mental and psychological aspects of cold showers but, as it turns out, there are quite a few scientifically proven health benefits of taking cold showers as well.
There seems to be quite a bit of misinformation and folklore surrounding cold showers, so I’ve tried to comb through that and sort out the scientifically backed facts from the urban legends.
There are countless studies that show that exposure to the cold improves your immunity.
Cold water immersion has been shown to increase metabolic rates because it causes shivering and activates your immune system. Experiment participants who participated in six weeks of immersions benefited from an increase in plasma concentration, as well as T helper cells and lymphocytes.
In Sweden, it’s common practice to let small babies take naps outdoors in the cold. It has been shown that these babies end up more resistant to disease and that they sleep deeper and more soundly.
In Siberia, they take it one step further and dump a whole bucket of cold water over children’s heads in a ritual called Rodnichok or cold springs. They do this year-round for children between the ages of two and six. Again, this is in Siberia. These kids are tough. It’s been shown that about 95% of the kids who participate are healthy through the flu season. On the other hand, only 75% of the the children who don’t participate in this ritual stay flu-free.
Lesson learned: if you want to be healthy, stick to the cold setting on your shower!
Fat Loss
When your body is exposed to cold, it requires more heat to warm you up. To heat you up, it has to process more energy, which means it has to burn more fat more efficiently than normal. Being cold can also activate brown fat, which is a sort of good fat that helps generate heat, boost your metabolism, and burn fat.
Improved Circulation
Over time, cold water exposure improves circulation. Since exposure to cold causes your blood flow to be redirected to your vital organs, your body is forced to circulate your blood more efficiently.
Temperature Regulation
Regular cold showers help to reduce heat loss, decrease your core body temperature, and regulate your overall body temperature.
Relief from Symptoms of Depression
Cold showers have been shown to help relieve symptoms of depression. Due to the high density of cold receptors in the skin, taking a cold shower sends an overwhelming amount of electrical impulses from peripheral nerve endings to the brain, which can result in an anti-depressive effect. So, if you need a pick-me-up, jump in the shower and turn it to the blast setting.
Cold water helps to close pores. Closed pores keep your skin looking smooth and healthy, without drying your skin out as hot water can. The cold water helps keep your hair shiny and your skin soft, rather than itchy, ashy, and dried out.
Testosterone Increase
A 1993 study conducted by the Thrombosis Research Institute in England showed a link between having cold baths and having high testosterone levels. We don’t have the direct link to the study, but try it out for yourself and see. We promise that, after spending five to ten minutes in the freezing cold water, you’ll at least feel like more of a man.
Fertility Increase
As you can imagine, an increase in testosterone can lead to an increase in fertility. Hot baths and showers drastically decrease sperm count. So, if you’re looking to pop out a few mini-mes, and want to give your little swimmers a fighting chance, make sure to turn your shower to cold.
Energy Increase
Besides the fact that there’s nothing quite like ice cold water to wake you up, cold showers can actually boost your energy levels. When you jump into a cold shower, the nerve endings in your skin stand up because of the ice world you just entered. Your heart starts racing and you start breathing rapidly as your body adjusts. That’s a response that the best cup of coffee in the world can’t beat.
Lymphatic Movement
Your lymphatic system takes waste away from your cells to help you fight disease. It’s separate from your blood vessels, but it’s moved around by the contraction of your muscles. Cold showers cause your entire body to contract and this forces your lymphatic system to push lymph fluids throughout your body, stopping them from pooling in one part of your body as they would if the lymphatic system were compromised or inefficient.
Inflammation Decrease
Ice baths have long been used by elite athletes to help reduce inflammation after a workout. They alleviate DOMS by constricting your veins, thereby removing toxins from your blood. When you get out of the bath, your system is flushed with fresh, nutrient-rich blood that can help repair muscles and tendons.
Breathing
Cold showers can get you to breathe deeply by forcing you to pause and hold your breath as a sort of automatic reaction when the cold water hits. This helps open up your lungs (just like physical exercise does), bringing in more oxygen.
Better Sleep
Remember the sleeping babies from earlier? Well, they’re not the only ones sleeping better at night thanks to the cold. Insomniacs are often advised to take cold showers. This might be because after the initial shock of the shower, your body calms down and relaxes.
Personal note: I’ve noticed that I sleep better and deeper when I take cold showers.
Tolerance to Stress
In general, exposure to the cold gives your body a higher tolerance to stress. Over time, this leads to the strengthening of your body and immune system (as we talked about earlier).
Cold showers have also been used to reduce chronic pain, body aches, and inflammation, improve hair health and kidney function, regulate the nervous system, deepen your breathing, help fight fatigue, and improve sleep quality. Whew!
Health Benefits of Cold Shower Therapy™ Video
Additional Benefits
One of the main benefits of taking cold showers is developing the ability to subject your body to a certain level of stress in a controlled environment. By doing this, you teach your body to adapt to stressors and become stronger. Whether it’s respiratory, circulatory, or simple temperature regulation, you’ll find your body becoming stronger.
Of course, these are just the physical health benefits of taking Cold Shower Therapy™. I personally think the mental and psychological health benefits of taking cold showers alone make it worthwhile.
TLDR: Take cold showers. They might just change your life.
Signs Of Laylatul-Qadr : Compiled & Translated by Dawud Burbank
July 7, 2015
Imaam Muslim -rahimahullaah- reported in his “Saheeh” (The Book of Fasting: no. 762):
“And Muhammad ibn Haatim and Ibn Abee `Umar narrated to us, both of them: from Ibn `Uyainah. Ibn Haatim said: Sufyaan ibn `Uyainah narrated to us: from `Abdah and `Aasim ibn Abin-Nujood, who both heard Zirr ibn Hubaish say:
“I asked Ubayy ibn Ka`b, saying: Your brother Ibn Mas`ood says: Whoever stands in (Night) Prayer throughout the whole year will attain Laylatul-Qadr (The Night of Decree). So he said: “May Allaah have mercy upon him! He intended that the people should not just rely (upon a single night). Indeed he knew that it was in Ramadaan; and that it is in the last ten; and that it was the twenty seventh night.” Then he swore an oath, without exception that it was the twenty seventh night.” So I said: ” O Abul-Mundhir! Upon what basis do you say that?” He said: “Based upon the sign which Allaah”s Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم) informed us of: that it [i.e. the sun] will rise on that day having no rays“.”
Imaam an-Nawawee -rahimahullaah- said in his explanation of “Saheeh Muslim”: “…al-Qaadee `Iyaad said:
It is said that the meaning of its having no rays is that this was just a distinctive sign which Allaah -the Most High- made for it [that year]. He said: Or it is otherwise said: Rather it is on account of the great number of Angels coming and going on its night; and their descending to the earth, and their ascending, with that which they descended with. So their wings and their subtle/ethereal bodies screen the light of the sun and its rays, and Allaah knows best.”
Imaam Aboo Daawood -rahimahullaah- reported the hadeeth (The Book of the Prayer: Chapter 319: What occurs regarding the Night of Decree), (no. 1378), with the wording:
“…On the morning following that night the sun enters the morning like a brass dish, having no rays, until it has risen higher.”
[Declared “hasan saheeh” by Shaikh al-Albaanee -rahimahullaah.]
Imaam Ibn Khuzaymah -rahimahullaah- reported in his “Saheeh” (no. 2192): “ Bundaar narrated to us: Aboo `Aamir narrated to me: Zam`ah narrated to us: from Salamah -he is Ibn Wahraam-: from `Ikrimah: from Ibn `Abbaas: from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) that he said regarding the Night of Decree:
“It is a pleasant night, being neither hot nor cold. The sun enters the morning of its day being red and weak.”
-Shaikh al-Albaanee said: “A hadeeth which is “Saheeh” because of its witnesses…”
Imaam an-Nawawee -rahimahullaah- said in his explanation of “Saheeh Muslim” (The Book of Fasting: Chapter 40: The virtue of the Night of Decree):“al-Qaadee [`Iyaad] said:
They disagreed about its place. So a group said: It moves about, so in one year it will be one night, and in another year it will be a different night, and so on; and this harmonizes the ahaadeeth ; and it is said: Each hadeeth refers to one of its times, and there is no contradiction between them. He said: And the like of this was stated by Maalik, ath-Thawree, Ahmad, Ishaaq, Aboo Thawr, and others. They said: It moves about within the last ten nights of Ramadaan…”
al-Haafiz Ibn Hajr -rahimahullaah- said in “Fathul-Baaree” (4/260) in explanation of the chapter heading: “Seeking the Night of Decree in the odd nights of the last ten”:
“This title contains an indication of the preference of the saying that the Night of Decree is restricted to Ramadaan, then to the last ten nights of it, then to the odd nights from them, and that it is not one particular, fixed night. This is what is indicated by the collected narrations concerning it.”
-And he said (4/267):
“So the most correct saying out of all of them is that it is one of the odd nights from the last ten, and that it moves around – as can be understood from the ahaadeeth of this chapter.
So the most likely nights are the odd nights of the last ten; and the most likely night from the odd nights of the last ten in the view of the Shaafi`ees is the twenty-first night or the twenty-third night, in accordance with what occurs in the hadeeth of Aboo Sa`eed and `Abdullaah ibn Unays; whereas in the view of the majority the most likely (night) is the twenty-seventh night, and the evidences for that have preceded.
The scholars said: The wisdom behind Laylatul-Qadr being concealed is so that the people strive to seek it contrary to what would be the case if it were a certain known night – for then they would restrict themselves to that, as has been mentioned concerning the hour on the day of Jumu`ah….”
[Translated by Aboo Talhah Daawood ibn Ronald Burbank rahimahullaah]
