The Share of Oneself- Inspect Yourself O Practicing Muslim!

By Dr Eyad Qunaibi

 

There is something noticeable in alot of us who are assumed to be practicing Muslims; when we abandon what we were used to from the forbidden things like songs, non-conservative relationships between guys and girls etc., then do the external acts of practicing e.g. beard, Hijab etc. without first passing through the stations of true purification, then the “share of our souls” will remain with us!

This share of our souls which used to drive you in the past to the apparent known sins will now search for a new outlet in your personality to make your practicing deficient. Sometimes even making it empty practicing of Islam. The share of your soul will manifest itself in a different way.

In the past you would satisfy the share of your soul by listening to music and looking at forbidden things. Today, after “practicing”, you satisfy the share of your soul by showing off and seeking fame through the Religion which you are externally practicing or by means of carelessly backbiting people or belittling them on the basis that you are the caretaker and defender of the Islam, or carelessness in people’s rights on the basis that you are more worthy of what you took from their money since you are serving Islam whereas they waste their money on things with no benefit.

She used to satisfy the share of her soul by openly displaying herself. Today after she covered her head she satisfies the share of her soul by tightening clothes, adorning herself and being less conservative in her relationship with the men around her.

The problem is that when all this happens we drug our conscious whenever it tries to wake up and we say to it
“I am okay, and the evidence for that is that I left listening to music and watching wrong things for the sake of Allah. I grew my beard and endured the negative perception of society towards me and I sacrificed for the sake of Allah.” That is correct, he did that for the sake of Allah but he didn’t get rid of the share of his soul, so it looked for a different outlet to make up for what he sacrificed !

Ponder the condition of the Khawarij; the ones who the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said ” You will look down upon your prayers, fasting and actions, in comparison to theirs.” Their worship in what is apparent is more than the companions but their downfall was that they didn’t get rid of the share of evil in their souls.
Ibn Kathir said:
(The first innovation that occurred in Islam was the trial of the khawarij and their beginning was because of something worldly. It was when the Messenger of Allah (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was distributing the war booty of Hunain. Their corrupt brains made them deluded into thinking that he (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) wasn’t being just in his distribution. They shocked him with their saying where one of the khawarij called Thu Alkhuaisira said “Be just, verily you have not done justice”).

This is their calamity! They didn’t purify their souls from its share even though they had many acts of worship. Their souls manifested the evil in it by feeling superior to the people and making people blood and money lawful. Otherwise, Allah is more merciful than misguiding a people who sought for the truth and were sincerely devoted to it.

My brother, my sister. Search yourself! Has it become devoid of its share? Know that uprightness is not real until you have gotten rid of this share and you are certain of the mercy of Allah that He will replace it with sweetness and faith like the one written in the hearts of the companions of Mohamed (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)

(Those – He has decreed within their hearts faith and supported them with spirit from Him) (Surat Al-Mujadilah, Verse 22 in translation)

Scenes from Syria: Newborn Babies Being Rushed Away From Assad Air-strikes

Newborns being transferred in the back of an ambulance from Al Bab, Aleppo after continuous Assad air-strikes.

What’s after Getting Angry for the Sake of Gaza?

By: Dr Eyadh Qunaibi

 

We witnessed a lot of massacres of the infidels against Muslims, from Indonesia to Bosnia, Chechnya, Turkestan, Afghanistan, Burma, Ahwaz, Iraq, Syria and southern Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Somalia, Nigeria and the Central African Republic, Mali and others. And here is the wound of Gaza bleeding again. Every time We Muslims, revolt emotionally and express abreactions : we exchange pictures with sad comments, curse the infidels and their allies, compose poems … our feelings vary between sorrow and joy, despair and hope, anger and fear, dissimulation and even selling Muslims  tragedies to seek fame sometimes! all this does not bring a single life back to the bodies that are buried under the soil, nor replace anyone of hundreds children of orphans for tenderness of their fathers and mothers,  and do not return any amputated leg or extracted eye due to bombing, and does not make a single scratch in the enemy.

Every time a calamity strikes, strong feelings of sympathy and grudge fill us, however, while the suffering goes on and on, our willpower increasingly depletes and don’t achieve significant change on ourselves… we stay the same self-indulgent sinners! The girl, who shed albeit sincere tears for Gaza yesterday, goes back dressing up in a way that causes fitnah to the Muslim youths, others go back and elect parliament members who would pass laws incriminating those who even think about helping their oppressed brethren! and for what? To get some position or to “honor” the family’s name by electing his relative! – The fruit merchant keeps on buying Zionists’ produce, and when asked, he’d reply: “What am I supposed to do?” – The engineer goes back asking, “Innocently” asking, whether it is permissible or not to work on a project to build an American military base or a training center for American troops or their allies, and he would still argue: “If I don’t do the job, someone else will definitely do it”. – Business owners, in a show of utter hypocrisy, go back decorating their premises with rulers’ portraits, rulers who are the Zionists’ safe guardians, while they KNOW that the rapist wouldn’t have been able to rape the chaste pure girl if he didn’t have reliable guards! – Store owners and mall managers indecent pictures causing fitnah to the Muslim youths advancing the lame excuse of ‘big brand’! – Muslim boys go back to watch series and pornographic materials while they wholeheartedly know that their enemies use desires as a bridle to steer them! they go back to vainly spend valuable days and years of their lives in futilities instead of acquiring the knowledge that would benefit them and without which the Ummah will never rise again.

Most of the aforementioned types of people were, in fact, deeply stirred and distressed. They used to put curses on those Jews and those who backed them up (even though this may include them, themselves!), and maybe they repeatedly sighed asking Allah for mitigation. It is undeniable that the media rage and the people’s wrath could help in reducing these crimes. And I am not attempting to undervalue the prevalent sympathy for our brothers. All I am saying, however, is that these feelings aren’t satisfactory and aren’t at all enough. This situation is quite analogous to a case where our brothers are prisoners undergoing torture, and all we’re offering is sympathy and wishes to free them. But we can’t free them; for we are being inundated with constraints and obstacles: inundated with ignorance, whims and freaks, and inundated with sickness of our hearts… Our souls and hearts are occupied as is our land. It is perhaps a consequence of our sticking to and coexistence with these constraints that Allah put us in this distress and tribulation, and gave the wicked people the power. Although the heads of the existing regimes seem to be the so-cause of distress, I would say they are merely a manifestation of a yet more fundamental cause: our own sins! These wicked rulers needn’t stop you from weeping, crying and desperately turning around the prison attempting to free them, because they already and safely know that you’ll end up failing after relieving your sorrows.

In our current tragic plight, when we come to some and say that we have to get rid of these obstacles (primarily, our sins), they always get stunned, wondering: “what obstacles!? Our brothers are being slaughtered, we need an emergent solution.” Well, during the long period of the previous plights, how many times was this response repeated!? Was an emergent solution ever available!? Well, neither a solution was available nor had we eliminated these obstacles. Like it or not, these obstacles wouldn’t be magically eliminated in the course of few moments. During the recent revolutions, Muslims merely raged, but neither enough awareness, a genuine change of the souls nor a real elimination of freaks and heart sickness was ever concomitant. What were the consequences? Well, the Kafirs succeeded in containing these revolutions. Furthermore, they succeeded in having the Muslims fighting against each other.

What do we do, then? Do we merely live in seclusion seeking knowledge, and become involved in purifying our souls? In what way, then, have we understood what the prophet (SAW) said: “The similitude of believers in regard to mutual love, affection, fellow-feeling is that of one body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches, because of sleeplessness and fever.”

Brothers and sisters! We have to know one thing: for each new plight of Muslims we are going to be accountable in the Day of Judgment: “But if it had been Allah’s Will, He Himself could certainly have punished them (without you). But (He lets you fight) in order to test some of you with others” (Quran: Mohammad 47:4)

What we have to do is transform this state of boiling into a positively motive force. Automobiles are propelled by fueled engines. This fuel could dangerously burn the car if it were out of its normal place. Similarly, how many of us have the Muslims’ miseries and distresses being transformed into skepticism in the act of Allah and in the predestination, into a spite at oneself and at others, and into contempt of others, so much so that he begins to add to the Muslims’ sorrows. However, if we manage to exploit our boiling state successfully, we will end up being freed of the aforementioned obstacles and constraints. Some will inevitably say to us: “This is a mere distraction of our real responsibilities; the solution is nothing but Jihad”. My dear brother, no one disputes that this is the best that can be done. But with the assumption that this is not the case, what do you do? Nothing at all?! How many times was this protest followed by no change at all on your own part?

Seriously now, let us make a genuine change in ourselves:

1. How many sisters will say: for the sake of backing Gaza, I will obligate myself to properly wearing Alhijab.
2. How many brothers will say: for the sake of backing Gaza, I will obligate myself to praying as required.
3. How many store-owners will expunge the bad pictures from the store facade, for the sake of backing Gaza.
4. How many Muslims will decide to withdraw their money from their usurious accounts, for the sake of backing Gaza.
5. How many Muslims will say: for the sake of backing Gaza, I will begin to teach my children useful texts as: (In this way, the generation of Saladin emerged)?
6.  How many Muslims will say: for the sake of backing Caza, I will create activities for the children in the neighborhood during the summer vacation, instead of letting them stay between drugs and idling and even uttering Kufr words sometimes! In a tragedy that is worse than Gaza’s!
7.  How many will say: for the sake of backing Gaza, I will give up smoking, and will pay its money to needy families instead, hoping that Allah have His mercy on us because merciful people, the Most Merciful will have His mercy upon them?
8.  How many will say: for the sake of backing Gaza, I will remove the portraits of Tyrants which I hanged in my store or my office in hope or in fear! Because I cannot flatter them meanwhile they are partners in the crime.

So, are we going to do some of this? Or, we will keep getting angry then calm down, while our brothers get buried in the soil and we get back to our inattention just like we were?

Who Will Stand Up For The Prisoners??

There are currently hundreds of thousands of Muslim brothers and sister languishing in the jails of the Kuffar, across the World. Many of them have to undergo unimaginable torture and suffering. Every day brings new hardships and pain. And perhaps one of the most painful things to them is the knowledge that the Ummah- this Ummah of brotherhood, unity and compassion- has almost completely forgotten about them.

But we need to ask ourselves the question- Who are the ones truly at a loss here?

When Allah imprisons Believers, there are two parties being put through a trial- the prisoners…and us. The prisoners are being tried to establish their patience and trust in Allah, and many of them, through doing so, are earning their Jannah. As for us, we are being tried to show who are those who will stand up in aid of our brothers and sisters.

Alhamdulillah, there are a number of sincere Mujahideen who have stepped forward and are giving their lives so that these evil regimes may be toppled and the prisoners may walk free; and others are tirelessly working to raise awareness regardign the prisoners and secure their release. But as for the majority of us, we have somewhat thrown this duty out of our mind and are contented with reading our salah, fasting, and doing a few other acts of worship. But if we have abandoned our brothers and sisters in their time of need, how can we expect Allah’s Help in Our time of need (The day of Qiyamah)??

Let us make a firm pledge to change our focus from the pleasures of the lowly World to that of the Eternal Hereafter, and let us strive to rescue our noble brothers and sisters from the shackles of the kuffar.

They are securing Jannah by overcoming their trials…are you??

This Will Break Your Heart

A little Palestinian toddler cries for her martyred father to wake up. She doesn’t understand that he will never open his eyes again, to pick her and and hug her and wipe her tears away…

Sacrifice

This woman had no time to spare, yet she stopped to save a wounded boy in those crucial moments. What will you sacrifice, out of your time, for your brothers and sisters in Palestine??

 

Touching Story from Syria – You Heart Will Never Be The Same After Reading This

I walked up the stairs along with my daughter Nour in the poorly lit corridor. I entered the room shyly & in broken Arabic greeted all the sisters in the room. A family in this Syrian village had invited me for dinner & I looked forward to such invites. Not only because I finally got to eat well-prepared food but also because I met new sisters in such gatherings. Some of these sisters & their stories in this war-ravaged country astonished me, &  some ingrained themselves in me, forever changing me.

After we had eaten, a sister brought in a frail man & gently sat him against the cushions on the wall. I was struck by the noor emanating from the sister’s face. I stared at her in wonderment of why her face lit like a bright light. The brother had a white beard humbling resting on his face & the softness of his face resembled that of a child.

She fed him soup, & he barely moving, swallowed slowly. I assumed that this must be her frail father she is taking care of, though he looked too young to be her father.

When I got home, I couldn’t forget the sister & the brother. Coincidently, I found myself at her house few weeks later as we were passing through the village. I noticed the brother again in her house.

“Umm Muhammad, who is he, the one u take care of?”
“He is my husband. He wasn’t always like that. In the 80’s my husband was part of Muslim Brotherhood, he was an active da’ee & a hafidh al Qu’ran. When Bashar’s father released his relentless force against the Muslims in Hama, my husband was arrested. I was left with 3 young children. For nearly a decade, I had no idea if he was alive or dead.

She continued.
“One day, he was home. Just like that. But he had been tortured severely, he was beaten ruthlessly, electrocuted, & made to endure all sorts of psychological torture during his time in detention. Even though a year after his release, I was blessed with a son- his health started deteriorating every year…..

Today, he has lost all normal function. He doesn’t remember his children, he doesn’t speak at all, & he can barely comprehend anything around him. So I feed, bathe & take care of him as a child”

I couldn’t believe how much this sister had borne. A decade without a husband, & now have lost her home, her wealth & are refugees on the border of the country. Though her husband is now finally with her, he is not her companion in the loss & pain this war has brought her family. He can’t help her or their children nor even comfort her.

“Subhaan Allaah, sister, how did u manage all these years?”
“I chose Quran, the words of Allaah to accompany me. I read Quran every single day, each day increasing in the amount I read. I found a teacher to teach me tajweed. And subhaan Allah by the time my husband was released, I had memorised the whole Quraan & had raised our 3 children in his absence”

She got up to head for the kitchen & prepare the afternoon meal. I heard her reciting Quraan the entire time. She brought a tray of rice & soup. After we ate, I asked her more questions about her life.

“My 16 year old was shaheed few months ago. The son that was born after my husband’s release”

She said this with a smile & u could not find misery in any corner of her eyes.
“Would u like to see what happened to him? They caught it on video”

She pulled a laptop & searched his name on YouTube. She showed me the picture she took of him on the day he went out for the protest. In the video a young masked man is seen dragging an injured man on the street. But as soon as he brings the man to safety, he is shot & falls flat on the pavement. Her son was killed saving another. As this mother watched the video of her son getting shot, she did not wince, nor tear up. Rather she smiled, as if watching the moment she was given an award.

“Does ur husband understand that his son is now killed?”
“No, he has no understanding. I buried my son & sat in his grave and asked Allaah to remove all grief in my heart & He did.”
This is why this mother’s face endeared me to her. Her patience, her tawakkul in Allaah, her love for the Quraan & her struggle &  sacrifice in the path of Allah was inspiring.

“There is one time though, my husband does speak”
“Oh, when is that?”
“I recite all day, reviewing a juz or 2 a day. No matter where in the house, I am reciting- if I make a mistake, he speaks up & corrects it.”

I felt hair on my arms stand up in amazement of their faith. These are the sisters in war that we do not hear of. We hear of misery & pain but we rarely hear of the sisters who are backbone of resistance, who are an inspiration not just to other women but to the men in their path.

– Aasiya Victoria Walling