Until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself

Anas relates that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim]

The importance of this hadith:

When is it that Allah (swt) accepts repentance!

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When is it that Allah (sw) accepts repentance!

Praise be to Allah!If you committed evil but have repented sincerely, and changed your life around for better, then Allah has certainly promised to grant you mercy and forgiveness. It is one of the basic principles of belief in Islam that Allah is All-Relenting, All-Forgiving and All-Merciful.Allah says

“Didn’t they know that it is Allah who accepts repentance of His servants and forgives sins?” (At-Tawbah: 104).

Feeling down in the dumps, depressed, having the blues: these are just some of the terms used to describe a feeling of hopelessness and despair that can hit even the most optimistic of us at some point in our lives. While clinical depression requires proper professional treatment, the occasional feeling of sadness due to factors ranging from economic difficulty to harassment and discrimination can be helped through some simple spiritual practices. Here are a couple that can help:

1. Look at those below you

The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Whenever you see someone better than you in wealth, face or figure, you should look at someone who is inferior to you in these respects” (Bukhari, Muslim). If you are reading this article online, consider this: you are one of the lucky set of human beings on the planet who can afford a computer and internet connection or at least have access to one. The United Nations Development Program’s 2007 Human Development Report notes that there are still around 1 billion people living worldwide at the margins of survival on less than $1 a day, with 2.6 billion living on less than $2 a day. Also consider that in the Quran (14:7), God says that if you are thankful to Him for what you have, He blesses you with more.

2. Serve your fellow human beings

The best way to thank God is to serve humanity, especially those who have less than you. Serving others is uplifting and rewarding. It helps us gain a better perspective on life’s challenges, making us realize how very often, are problems seem so small compared to the awesome difficulties others face. That’s why when the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and the Muslims were a small, poor and persecuted community, they used to give to the poor even more. They understood that when you are generous when you have less, you achieve the perspective of a winner. You are focused on the bigger picture.

3. Read Surah Ad Duha

According to one report, after the Prophet had begun receiving revelation from God, at one point a long period of time passed with no such communication from Allah. As a result, the Makkans ridiculed the Prophet and he became severely depressed. That’s when this chapter was revealed (Quran 93: 1-11). The chapter is a beautiful reminder to us to see life in the greater scheme of things, to be grateful for what we have and to never give up striving for what is right. This chapter of the Quran can be considered a direct recipe from God for depression.

4. Turn to God in all situations

Remember that nothing can harm you without the consent of God. While you must take care of yourself, rely on God and know that He is always with you and only He can give you strength in difficult times. Also remember that He will help you can come out of a trying situation as a better person if you deal with it positively.

5. Remember God’s Names

God has many beautiful Names which describe His attributes and powers. These are reminders of His Love, Mercy, Forgiveness, Justice, Strength and much, more. Supplicating to God using these Names reminds us that God has these attributes more than any other being and that we can and must rely on Him during good and bad times.

6. Say ‘Hasbun Allahu wa Ni’ mal Wakeel‘;

This has been translated as “God suffices me and He is the best guardian.” It is an excellent way of reminding us that whatever worries we have or problems we face, God has the answer and cure to all of them and is the only One who can really do what is best for us.

7. Make sure when you leave home,

you read this Dua ‘In the name of Allah, I place my trust in Allah, and there is no might nor power except with Allah.’ Bismillahe tawakkaltu alAllahe la haula wa la quwwata illa biAllah.

8. Take your spiritual break from the world,

five times a day Taking a break away from school, work or other life activities to spend a few minutes to remember God helps you reconnect with the Creator of the Universe, fortify your soul and strengthen your resolve to live a better life that is in tune with your faith and principles.

9. End your day on a good note

Shakespeare once wrote a play entitled “All’s well that ends well.” That’s good advice for dealing with depression too. End a day that may have been riddled with challenges and frustrations by making Wudu before going to bed, thinking of God and the Prophet and counting every blessings you have

10. Stop Shaytan in his tracks

Shaytan is the source of many of our negative emotions. It’s his job to make us feel pessimistic and to despair of any good in life. When you feel these feelings coming on, stop him dead in his tracks: say Aoutho billahi minash Shaytan ir Rajeem (I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed satan).

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10 Tips to Fight Depression !

Dua Related to Study

Many people have problems while studying. Here are a few duas to help them.

DUA BEFORE STUDYING.

Allahumma infa’ni bimaa ‘allamtani wallimni maa yanfa’unni.
Oh Allah!
Make useful to me what You taught me & teach me knowledge that will be useful to me.

Allahumma inni as’aluka fahmal-nabiyeen wa hifthal mursaleen al muqarabeen.
Oh Allah!
I ask you for the understanding of the Prophets & the memory of the Messengers, & those nearest to You.

Allahumma ijal leesenee’amiran bi thikrika wa qalbi bi khasyathika.
Oh Allah!
Make my tongue full of Your remembrance & my heart with consciousness of You.

Innaka ‘ala ma-tasha-u’qadeer wa hasbun-allahu wa na’mal wakeel.
(Oh Allah!)
You do whatever You wish & You are my Availer & best of aid. Protector & the best of aid.

DUA AFTER STUDYING.

Allahumma inni astaodeeuka ma qara’tu waroa hafaz-yu.
Faradduhu ‘allaya inda hagati clayhi.
Innaka ‘ala ma-tasha-u’qadeer waantahasheeya wa na’mal wakeel.
Oh Allah! I entrust You with what I have read & I have studied.
(Oh Allah!) Bring it back to me when I am in need of it.
(Oh Allah!) You do whatever You wish & You are my Availer & best of aid.

DUA WHILE STUDYING SOMETHING DIFFICULT.

Allahumma la sahla illama ja’altahu sahla wa anta taj ‘alu al hazana ctha shi’ta
sahla.
Oh Allah!
Nothing is except what You have made easy. If You wish, You can make the difficult easy.

DUA FOR ANXIETY.

Allahumma inni a’oodhoo bika minal-hammi-walhazan. Wa’a oodhoo bika minal-ghammi-wal-kasal. Wa’a oodhoo bika minal jubni wal bukhl. Wa’a oodhoo bika min ghalabatid-dayni waqarir’ rijal.
Oh Allah!
I seek refuge in You from worry & grief. From helplessness & laziness, from cowardice & stinginess, & from overpowering of debt & from oppression of men.

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Does Allah Still Help?

Here's a story for those who think that Allah has stopped helping people.

A young man had been to Wednesday Night Class of Quranic Studies.

The Mualim had shared about listening to Allah and obeying Allah through intuition.

The young man couldn’t help but wonder, ‘Does Allah still speak to people through intuition?’

After Lessons, he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message.

Several different ones talked about how Allah had led them in different ways and that at the end you’ll know it was Allah (SWT) Who has directed you.

It was about ten o’clock when the young man started driving home.

Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, ‘Allah…If you still speak to people, speak to me. I will listen.I will do my best to obey.’

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk.

He shook his head and said out loud, ‘Allah is that you?’

He didn’t get a reply and started on toward home.

But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk came into his head.

‘Okay, Allah, in case that is you, I will buy the milk.’

It didn’t seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home.

As he passed Seventh Street , he again felt the urge, ‘Turn Down that street.’

This is crazy he thought, and drove on past the intersection.

Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street ..

At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh.

Half jokingly, he said out loud, ‘Okay, Allah, I will.’

He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi-commercial area of town. It wasn’t the best but it wasn’t the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed.

Again, he sensed something, ‘Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street.’

The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat.

‘Allah, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid.’

Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk.

Finally, he opened the door, ‘Okay Allah(SWT), if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something, but if they don’t answer right away, I am out of here.’

He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside.

A man’s voice yelled out, ‘Who is it? What do you want?’ Then the door opened before the young man could get away.

The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn’t seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep.

‘What is it?’

The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, ‘Here, I brought this to you.’

The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway.

Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face.

The man began speaking and half crying, ‘We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn’t have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking Allah(SWT) to show me how to get some milk.’

His wife in the kitchen yelled out, ‘I ask him to send an Angel with some.

Are you an Angel?’

The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man’s hand.

He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face.

He knew that Allah (SWT) still answers prayers .

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Gary Miller – The Man Who Challenged the Quran

In 1977, Professor Gary Miller, the active Canadian preacher and mathematics and logic lecturer at Toronto University, decided to provide a great service to Christianity through exposing scientific and historical errors in the Noble Quran in such a way that would be beneficial to him and his fellow preachers in calling Muslims to Christianity. However, the result was completely to the contrary. Miller’s writings were fair and his study and comments were positive, even better than many Muslims would write about the Noble Quran. He considered the Noble Quran, as it should be and reached the conclusion that it cannot be a work of a human being.

The first surprising issue for Professor Miller was the challenging tone in many ayahs1 such as the ayahs that can be translated as “Will they not then contemplate the Quran? And if it had been from (anywhere) other than the Providence of Allah, indeed they would have found in it many difference (s).” (TMQ2 4:82) and “And in case you are suspicious (Literally: in suspicion) about what We have been sending down upon Our bondman, (i.e., the prophet. A bondman or slave is the highest title conferred by Allah upon his chosen men) then come up with a surah of like (manner), and invoke your witnesses, apart from Allah, in case you are sincere.” (TMQ 2:23) Although Professor Miller was challenging at the beginning he ended astonished at what he found.

The following are some of the points he mentioned in Miller’s lecture The Amazing Quran3 :
There is no such author who writes a book and then challenges others that this book is errorless. As for the Noble Quran, it is the other way round. It tells the reader that there are no errors in it and then challenges all people to find any, if any.

The Noble Quran does not mention the hard events in Prophet Muhammad’s (SAWS)4 personal life, such as the death of his dear wife Lady Khadijah (RA)5 , death of his daughters and sons. Strangely enough, the ayahs that were revealed as a comment on some of the setbacks proclaimed victory while those revealed at time of victory warned against arrogance and called for more sacrifices and efforts. If one writes his own autobiography, he would magnify the victories and justify the defeats. The Noble Quran did the opposite and this is consistent and logical: it was not a history of a specific period but rather a text that sets general rules for the relationship between Allah (SWT)6 and worshippers.

Miller thought about a particular ayah that can be translated as “Say, “Surely I admonish you with one (thing) only, that you rise up to Allah by twos and singly; thereafter meditate: in no way is there any madness in your Companion. Decidedly he is nothing except a constant warner to you, before (Literally: between the hands of) a strict torment.” (TMQ 34:46) He indicated the experiments one researcher had carried out at Toronto University on “Effectiveness of Collective Discussion”. The researcher had gathered different numbers of interlocutors in discussions and compared results. He discovered that the maximum efficiency of the discussion was achieved when the interlocutors were two while the more the number the less the efficiency.
There is a surah7 in the Noble Quran called Maryam (Mary) in which Lady Maryam (AS)8 is eulogized in a way not even found in the Bible. At the same time, there is no surah in the name of Lady Aisha (RA) or Lady Fatimah (RA). The name of prophet Isa (AS) (Jesus) is mentioned 25 times in the Noble Qur’an while the name of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) is mentioned only five times.
Some attackers say that devils used to dictate to Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) what to write in the Noble Quran. But the question is how could this be while it contains ayahs that can be translated as “And in no way have Ash-Shayatîn (The ever-Vicious (ones), i.e., the devils) been coming down with it; And in no way does it behoove them, And in no way are they able to do (that).” (TMQ 29:209-210) and “So when you read the Quran, then seek refuge in Allah from the outcast Shaytan (The all-vicious, i.e., the Devil).” (TMQ 16:98)

If you were in the situation of the Prophet (SAWS) while he and Abu-Bakr (RA) were inside the Cave of Hira’9 surrounded by the unbelievers who could have seen them if they had looked down. The human reaction would be to search for a back exit or some other way out or to shush in order not to be heard. However, the Prophet (SAWS) told Abu-Bakr (RA) “Grieve not; surely Allah is with us.” (TMQ 9:40). This is not the mentality of a deceiver; it is the mentality of a prophet who has the confidence that Allah (SWT) would surely take care of him.
Surat al-Masad (Palm Fibres)10 was revealed ten years before the death of Abu-Lahab, the Prophet’s (SAWS) uncle. He had ten complete years to prove that the Noble Quran was wrong. However, he did not believe or even pretend to believe. How could the Prophet (SAWS) be that confident unless he was sure that the Noble Quran was Allah’s (SWT) revelation?
Commenting on the ayah that can be translated as “That is of the tidings of the Unseen that We reveal to you; in no way did you (yourself) know it, neither your people, even before this. So (endure) patiently; surely the (fair) end is for the pious.” (TMQ: 11:49) Miller writes that none of the Scriptures uses this kind of style; that is, giving the reader the piece of information and then tells him it is new information. It is really a unique challenge. What if the people of Makkah, even by pretence, had said they knew that before? What if one scholar discovered later that this information was already known before? However, this did not happen.
Professor Miller mentioned what Contemporary Catholic Encyclopedia includes under the entry ‘Quran’. It mentions that despite the plethora of studies, theories, and attempts to attack the veracity of Quranic revelation under many pretexts none of them can be logically adopted. The Church itself did not dare to adopt any of such theories but at the same time it did not admit the truthfulness of the Muslims’ theory that the Noble Quran is, without doubt, the last heavenly revelation.

In fact, Professor Miller was fair enough and was honest enough to change his position and choose the right way. Blessed be he and those who search for truth and do not allow their prejudices to prevent them from reaching it.

Final Comment

In 1977, Professor Miller had a famous debate with Islamic preacher Ahmad Deedat. His logic was clear and his justifications seemed based on intent to reach the truth without pride or prejudice. Many wished at the time that this man would embrace Islam.

In 1978 Professor Miller embraced Islam and called himself Abdul-Ahad11 . He worked for some years at Oil and Minerals University in Saudi Arabia and then devoted his life to da’wa12 through TV programs and public lectures.

Just think and do not let your prejudices prevent you from the right path.

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1-A verse in the Quran.
2- Translation of the Meaning of the Quran.  This translation is for the realized meaning, so far, of the stated (Surah: Ayah) of the Quran.  Reading the translated meaning of the Quran can never replace reading it in Arabic, the language in which it was revealed.
3- It is a small tract of about 25 pages but a very thick one indeed.
4- Salla Allah alayhe Wa Salam [All Prayers and Peace of Allah be upon him].
5- Radya Allah anhu/anha [May Allah be pleased with him/her].
6- Suhanahu wa Ta’ala  [Glorified and Exalted Be He].
7-  A chapter; the Qur’an is comprised of 114 surahs.
8- Alayhe (alayha) as-salam [All Peace of Allah be upon him/her].
9- This was during the hejira to al-Madinah. The Cave of Hira’ is in the Mount an-Nour. It is only two miles from Makkah, a small cave 4 yards long and 1.75 yard wide.
10- It can be translated as “Would the hands of Abu Lahab be cut up, (i.e., perish) and would he be cut up (too)! In no way did his wealth avail him, neither whatever he earned; He will roast at a flaming Fire, (Literally: fire comprising flame). And his wife, the constant bearer of firewood, Upon her (long) neck she will have a rope of palm-fibers.” (TMQ: 111:1-5)
11- This name literally means ‘Worshipper of the Only One.’
12- Islamic call.

 

 

The Man Who Challenged the Quran

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Footprints in the Sand

This article has been removed due to the possibility of Shirk in it.

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