Keys to Paradise

Title: Sins Wiped Out

Hadith: Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever says, 'Subhan Allah wa bihamdihi,' one hundred times a day, will be forgiven all his sins even if they were as much as the foam of the sea. [Bukhari Vol 8 Book 75, Hadith 414]

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Prophet Muhammad ( peace be upon him ) Birthday

Exactly one week from now that is on 12 Rabiul Awwal (15 Feb) we will be celebrating Our Imaam, the Best of all Creation , Prophet Muhammad  saw birthday. It is very common to see people out of joy and tremendous respect to our Beloved Prophet saw, celebrating it not knowing if it is a sunnah or a bid'ah ( innovation). Below is the answer to the question should we celebrate Mawlid or not. by Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid.
I hope all Muslim brother and sisters please check with scholars before doing anything in our religion in the name of culture. Culture should not be religion and religion should not be culture. May Allah swt guide and prevent us from doing any innovation to our religion. Ameen.

Why some people accept and some unaccept the celebration of the Prophet (saw )? What is your opinion?   http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/249/mawlid%20nabi

Praise be to Allaah.


There is nothing in the Qur’aan to say that we should celebrate the Mawlid or birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). The Prophet himself (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not do this or command anyone to do it, either during his lifetime or after his death. Indeed, he told them not to exaggerate about him as the Christians had exaggerated about Jesus (upon whom be peace). He said: “Do not exaggerate about me as the Christians exaggerated about the son of Maryam. I am only a slave, so say, ‘The slave of Allaah and His Messenger.’” (Reported by al-Bukhaari). What has been reported is that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) made the day of his birth a day of worship, which is different to celebration. He was asked about fasting on Mondays, and he said: “That is the day on which I was born and the day on which I was entrusted with the Mission or when I was first given Revelation.” (Reported by Muslim, al-Nisaa’i and Abu Dawood).


Moreover, we know that the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them) were the people who loved the Prophet most. Was it reported that Abu Bakr, who was the closest of people to him and the one who loved him the most, celebrated the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)? Was it reported that ‘Umar, who ruled for twelve years, or ‘Uthmaan, did this? Was it reported that ‘Ali, his relative and foster son, did this? Was it reported that any of the Sahaabah did this? No, by Allaah! Is it because they were not aware of its importance, or did they not truly love the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)? No one would say such a thing except one who has gone astray and is leading others astray.


Did any of the imaams – Abu Haneefah, Maalik, al-Shaafi’i, Ahmad, al-Hasan al-Basri, Ibn Seereen – do this or command others to do it or say that it was good? By Allaah, no! It was not even mentioned during the first and best three centuries. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said in a saheeh hadeeth: “The best of mankind are my generation (or my century), then those who come after them, then those who come after them. Then there will come a people who will not care if their testimony comes before their oath or vice versa (i.e., they will not take such matter seriously).” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, Muslim and al-Tirmidhi). The celebration of the Prophet’s birthday appeared many centuries later, when many of the features of true religion had vanished and bid’ah had become widespread.


Thus this celebration became a sign of one’s love for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)? But can it be possible that the Sahaabah, the imaams and the people of the best three centuries were unaware of it, and it was only those who came later who were aware of its importance?! What the Qur’aan tells us is that love of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is demonstrated by following the guidance he brought. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):


“Say (O Muhammad): ‘If you (really) love Allaah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allaah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.


Say: ‘Obey Allaah and the Messenger.’ But if they turn away, then Allaah does not like the disbelievers.” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:31-32]


The first aayah explains that love is just a claim, but the proof of sincerity is following what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) brought. The second aayah reaffirms the importance and necessity of obeying Allaah and His Messenger. Hence Allaah ended the aayah with a very stern warning in which those who refuse to obey are described as kaafirs, and Allah does not love the disbelievers. We ask Allaah to keep us safe from that. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us of the danger of not obeying him, and the danger of adding to what he brought. The celebration of Mawlid or his birthday is indeed an addition to what he brought – as all the scholars agree. He said: “The best of speech is the Book of Allaah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The most evil of things are those which are newly-invented (in religion), and every innovation is a going astray.” (Reported by Muslim and al-Nisaa’i).


We ask Allaah to protect us from bid’ah and to bless us by helping us to follow. Allaah knows best. May Allaah bless our Prophet Muhammad.


Islam Q&A

Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

Addrasul Awwal ( First Lesson )

 At beginners level we  were only taught the basic greetings when we meet friends and family. Do say out aloud and memorise them. Better still if you can write them down in arabic and check your spellings in any arabic dictionary.

Greetings

Soba`hal Khoir     = Good Morning
Soba`han nu`r      =  Good Morning ( reply )

Masa`al Khoir      = Good Evening
Masa`an Nur       =  Goos Evening ( reply )

Fur sotun sa'idah  = Pleasure Meetng you
Fur sotun sa'idah  = Pleasure Meetng you ( reply )

Syukron               = Thank You
Afwan                  = You're welcome

Ilal liqo'                = Goodbye
Ma'as  salamah    = Goodbye ( reply )

Marhaban           = Welcome
Marhaban           = Welcome ( reply )

What you have to do now is memorize the greetings above and the best way is to use the arabic greeting instead of english when meeting friends and family. After that you can practice them in arabic writing.

Miracle Makeover....physically or mentally?

It has been sometime since I last involved myself in any kind of business or trading. Recently I met a childhood friend of mine who has joined a skin care and cosmetic direct selling company. She was havinfg a skin care class in my hometown and as a show of support for this sister, I enrolled in the class. The class was very informative and the sisterhood among the participants was great and without much persuasion, I joined in as a member. So now here I am as a Beauty Consultant.

When I reached home after the class, I was amused to see my three children and husband waiting eagerly for me...to see my transformation ( You see, they thought I went for a miracle makeover ). Alas it was just me....with a little bit of colors on my lips and cheeks but with a whole lot of determination and confidence to start my new trade InsyaAllah.

Please make du'aa for me so that I do not back out from this opportunity that Allah swt has put forward for me. May He grant all of us qualty activities to fill our time with. Alhamdulillah

Arabic For Beginners

Last year I had enrolled in Arabic for Beginner class. My intention is to learn and understand this beautiful language which had been chosen by the Almighty. Here I will try and share what I had learned and hope someday Allah swt gives you and I the gift of understanding the Arabic language.

Introduction to Arabic Alphabets

There are 28 alphabets in the arabic language. Below is how it is used in words.

Alphabet                                                          Meaning

A - Al Alif                         Alif ( the alphabet )                   


B - Bait                                  House  


T - Tilmidh                        Student in primary 


Th - Thalathah                            3


J - Ja`mi'ah                           University


H - Hur`uf                              Alphabet   


Kh - Khoir                              Good/ well


D - Madrosah                          School
     
Dh - Dha`lika                            That


R - Rob                                 God/ Almighty


Z - Zauj                                 Husband


S - Sayya`roh                              Car


Sy - Syamsiyyah                     Umbrella


S - Soba`h                            Morning


D - Abyad`                                White ( color )

T - To`lib                             Student in Secondary/ University  


Z - Bu`zoh                           Ice cream


`A - `A`ilah                          Family


Gh - Ghurfah                          Room


F - Fursoh                              Pleasure


Q - Qolam                                Pen


K - Kitab                                  Book

L -  Ha`l                                         News     


M - Mudhakkar                          Male 


N - Laun                                        Colour


H - Ahlan                               Welcome


W - Huwa                                 He 

Y - Yaum                                 Day


Here I try my best to deliver the sounds and words used say these alphabets, As a student of this beautiful language I ask  Allah swt to forgive me for any errors that I make  knowingly or otherwise. The first step is to be able to recognise the alphabets in this words and better still practise writing it in arabic.

99 Names of Allah

Hadith:
Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah has ninety-nine Names, i.e., one hundred minus one, and whoever believes in their meanings and acts accordingly, will enter Paradise; and Allah is Witr (one) and loves 'the Witr' (i.e., odd numbers). [Bukhari Vol 8 Book 75, Hadith 419]

A new beginning.

For almost the whole year of 2010 I had not updated my blog. There are many reasons and excuses but none of which is good enough an excuse for not maintaining my blog. It had become an abandoned project just like somethings that we drop off half way in our life. Maybe it could have been boring, monotonous or maybe I just run out of idea on what to write. After my pilgrimage to Mecca in 2009, I came back with many resolutions. One was to decrease my time on the Internet so that I can spend more time in my prayers and gain knowledge about my religion. But then I realised that by sharing my knowledge through this blog, I am doing something worthwhile where others could learn and share their experiences. Thus with renewed determination, I decided to continue with my blog. InsyaAllah, I am planning to continue Recipe for my children for now. And if time permits I will be starting a new topic on "Teaching Reading for 2yrs - 6yrs using the Montessori Method. InsyaAllah.

My Own Little Business

Today I am writing more on my new business interest. The friend I was talking about, decided to do her skin care class for my two daughter and also as a training session for me. My daughters naturally did not mind being the lab rats for this kind of experiment. I had called my friend over for lunch. I had prepared for her a special lunch and insyaAllah I will share the recipe with you soon. It was my late mom's recipe Coconut Rice, Chicken Masala Curry, Tandoori fried Chicken, Beans and Carrot stir Fry and ice cream with fuit cocktails for dessert. (Whoa, after puttting it down in words, only do I realise how much of excessive calories that would have cost me!)
After lunch we settled ourselves at the dining table where she will be conducting her demo.To my amazement, my friend took out a cabin size luggage bag which has all the cosmetics, lotions, creams, mirrors, cotton etc. According to her, I too must bring along this kind of bag when I conduct my skin care class!! 

I had a look at how she demonstrated all the various layers of lotions, creams, and foundation to prep my daughters faces. Then she applied the various application for the cheeks and eyes. Also lipstick and lip gloss. My daughter of course were absolutely over the moon to be given a makeover by my friend. They were encouraging me to learn all the tricks on how to apply all these colours. I agreed to attend this companys business meeting just to see what it was all about. During the presentation of this company, I found it hard to concentrate and focus on what was happening in front of me. I have attended many classes, religious and for self improvement before. I never feel so detached to what was happening around me as I felt during this meeting. After I reached home, everyone was eagerly waiting for me. That was when I told my children and AK that this is not the kind of business I would like to do. So there goes another dream of me opening my own business. Nevertheless, I will still continue my search. To own and run a small successful business. Till then pray that my dream comes true.