Refresh Your Imaan

When he was dying, Ubadah ibnu as-Saamit (radi Allahu anhu) told his son: O son, you will not find the taste of Emaan until you know that whatever you receive, you would have never missed it; and whatever you have missed, you would have never received it. I heard Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) saying: “The first thing which Allah created was the Pen. He commanded it to write. It asked: ‘What should I write?’ He said: ‘Write the Decree (Al-Qadr) of everything until the Day of Judgement.’” O son, I heard the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) say: “He who dies not believing in this is not one of my people.” [Abu Dawud – Jamu al-Fawaaid] Where you will be born, where and when you will die, what you will receive, what you will miss, what joys or sorrows will come in your life – these are all written. This is the exam paper of life that you are presented with. How you will deal with these events will determine your rank before Allah (subhana wa ta’ala). Pray to ...

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Let there be no harming, nor reciprocating harm.” [Sahih - Ibn Majah]   The meaning of this hadith is the prohibition of all forms of harmfulness, great or small, since the grammatical indefinite (of the words “harming” and “reciprocating harm”) in a negative context indicates generality. Thus, harming oneself or any other creature, without reason from the Shariah, is prohibited.   Based on this hadith many contemporary scholars hold it to be unlawful to buy, sell, use, or grow tobacco, because of the unlawfulness of consuming what has been proven to be harmful.  Epidemiological data link smoking and lung disease in the following ways: 1. Up to 50% of smokers may die of smoking-related diseases. 2. Smokers are three times more likely to die in middle age than are non-smokers. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: 1. COPD is very rare in non-smokers. 2. 90% of deaths from COPD are attributed to smoking. 3. 98% of people wi...

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “There was never a Nabi that Allah raised amongst his Ummah before me except that he had in his Ummah some Hawaaryyoon (helpers) and Sahabah (companions) who held fast to his Sunnah (way) and followed his commands. They were then succeeded by a people who professed what they did not act upon and did that which they were not commanded to do. So he who makes Jihad against them with his hand is a believer, and the one who makes Jihad against them with his tongue is a believer, and one who makes Jihad against them with his heart is a believer, but beyond that there is not even a mustard seed (worth) of Emaan (faith).” [Sahih Muslim] Innovation in religion is of two types. One is to innovate in actions, such as to celebrate the birth of Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam). The other far more dangerous type of innovation is in matters of belief and Aqeedah; such as the doctrine introduced by the Mutazilah that the Quran was created and n...

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Those evils which befell the Bani Israil shall befall my Ummah, so much so that if there were one amongst them that openly committed fornication with his mother there would be one among my Ummah who would do that too! And the Bani Israil split into seventy-two sects and my Ummah shall split into seventy-three sects. All of them will be in the Fire, except one group.” They (the Sahabah) said: “Which one is that O Rasul Allah?” Whereupon he said: “It is the one to which I and my Companions belong.” [Sahih – Narrated by At-Tirmidhi] Only one group from the seventy odd groups will go to Jannah while the others will end up in Jahannum. This is precisely because they cast aside the Sunnah and consider it better to formulate and originate religious beliefs and novel ways of worshipping Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) -- as if they know better than the very people who surrounded the Messenger (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and about whom Allah (subhan...

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “A party of the Bani Israil set out on a journey. They came to one of their several graveyards in the course of their journey and said to one another, ‘If we should offer two Rakaat Salat and supplicate Allah, The One Full of Glory, perhaps He will revive one of the dead men for us and bring him out that we may ask him about death.’” “They did what they had suggested. Meanwhile, from one of the graves, a man raised his head. He was wheat-coloured and between his eyes there was a mark of prostration. He addressed these people saying, ‘O you there! What do you intend with me? (Why have you gotten me revived?) I have been dead for the past one hundred years and the fever of death has not yet cooled on me. It is there till now! Pray to Allah, the Glorious, the Majestic, that He may return me to as I was.’” [Ahmad] Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) is able to bring the dead to life anytime, but He has set the principle that He will not rev...

Abdullah bin Umar (radi Allahu anhu) said that he heard the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) narrate this hadith – and he did not hear him say it once or twice or even seven times, but he heard it more frequently than that. He (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Kifl was a man of Bani Israil. He never shied away from committing a sin. A woman (once) came to him (on an errand) and he coaxed her to let him perform the immoral act with her against sixty dinars which he gave her. Thus, when he sat down with her to perpetrate the immoral act, she began to tremble and shake violently in fear. He asked her why she was crying, did he not like her? She said that it was not (what he thought) but that she had never committed the sin before and her destitution had compelled her to do that (otherwise she would never have agreed).” “He said that on the one hand she spoke thus and on the other she had committed herself (having taken the money). He added, ‘Go, go away from here! That...

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “He whose last words are, ‘La ilaha il Allah’ (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah), will enter Paradise.” [Abu Dawud] This hadith is like a password given away. Is it really this easy to enter the beautiful land of everlasting happiness? Sometimes death comes after an illness when it is anticipated, sometimes it comes unannounced. Regardless, a Momin is blessed with the ability to die on the kalima (La ilaha il Allah). This is because a Momin has lived his/her life on the kalima and the fact is that a person dies on the same that he/she has lived on. A pious man was called to make dua for an old man on his deathbed. When the man entered the house of the dieing person he was surprised to hear loud music being played. He admonished the relatives, “Is this the time to be listening to the instruments of the Shaitaan? Why do you not recite the Quran and ask the dieing one to recite the kalima?” Accordingly, the music was...

Jabir (radi Allahu anhu) stated: “As the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) taught us the Quran, so also he instructed us to observe Istikhara in every matter. The Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) used to say, ‘When anyone among you is perplexed over an important matter, he should perform two Rakahs of supererogatory (nafl) prayer and then make this dua: O Allah, I ask You to show me what is best through Your knowledge, and bring it to pass through Your power, and I ask You of Your immense favour; for You are All-Powerful and I am not, You know and I do not, and You are the Knower of the Unseen. O Allah, if You know this matter to be better for me in my religion, livelihood, and final outcome, then bring it about and facilitate it for me, and bless me with abundance therein. And if You know this matter to be worse for me in my religion, livelihood, and final outcome, then keep it from me, and keep me from it, and bring about the good for me whatever it may be, and make me plea...

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “When I was taken towards the heavens I got a very pleasant odour. I asked Jibril about it and he said that it was the odour of the beautician of the daughter of Firawn and her children. I asked him to tell me more about them and he said, 'One day she was engaged in the routine task of beautifying the daughter of Firawn when the comb fell from her hands. While picking it up she said, ‘Bismillah’ (In the Name of Allah). Firawn’s daughter asked her if she referred to her father when she called the name of Allah. She replied, ‘No! But my and your father’s Lord is only Allah!’ The girl asked, ‘Shall I reveal what you say (to Firawn)?’ She replied that she may tell him if she liked. So, she revealed it to her father, Firawn, who summoned the beautician and asked, ‘Do you have any other Lord besides me?’ She answered, ‘Yes, my and your Lord is Allah.’ Firawn had a fire kindled and a brass cow-shaped vessel was heated over it. Wh...

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Allah does not compel belief, and leaves the people free to believe or disbelieve.” [Sahih Muslim] Winners carefully choose their beliefs whereas losers adopt them from others. “Supreme success” and the “greatest success” (as defined by Allah in the Quran) is admittance into Jannah. Just as a person cannot be compelled to try to get admission into an excellent university, nobody can be forced into having the set of beliefs (and resulting actions) to get into Jannah either. There must be sufficient motivation in the individual himself/herself to gain admission. What we choose to believe or disbelieve is up to us. But the consequences have been clearly spelt out.

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “If a woman offers prayers five times a day, protects her honour and chastity, remains faithful to her husband, she may enter Paradise by whichever gate she likes.” [Al-Targhib-o-Al-Tarhib] This hadith tells us how much Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) values the woman who takes care to guard the rights of her husband. A believing woman is a very personal possession of her husband. Her sweetness is for him alone. She is like dessert. If it is left exposed in the open, with no covering, all kinds of flies will come and sit on it. To help her to keep herself unpolluted, Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) has made it incumbent on the males (husband, father, brother, etc) around her to take care of her and provide for her. She is reserved for her husband and for the upbringing of the Sahabah-like individuals that the society needs. A faithful wife guards the reputation of her husband, never backbiting about him. She uses his money and property under her car...