A site I found many years ago in my early years after accepting Islaam that helped me on my travels in refuting the ignorant American theologians that I encountered was Islamic-Awareness.org. I stumbled, while searching through some of the more recently updated articles, upon a refutation of the orientalists, that in my view is one of the best researched articles they have on their site. It is regarding Hamanin the Qur’an. Who was he in relationship to Fir’awn? I will sum up their rather lengthy article, that I hope you all take your time in reading, here insha’Allah .
Allah mentions him in 6 places in the Qur’an:
ونمكن لهم في الأرض ونري فرعون وهامان وجنودهما منهم ما كانوا يحذرون
To establish a firm place for them in the land, and to show Pharaoh, Haman, and their hosts, at their hands, the very things against which they were taking precautions. [28:6]
فالتقطه آل فرعون ليكون لهم عدوا وحزنا إن فرعون وهامان وجنودهما كانوا خاطئين
Then the people of Pharaoh picked him up (from the river): (It was intended) that (Moses) should be to them an adversary and a cause of sorrow: for Pharaoh and Haman and (all) their hosts were men of sin. [28:8]
The Imam of the Shadhili Tariq, Abul-Hasan Ash-Shadhili said regarding sincerity,
“Sincerity is a light from the light of Allah that He has deposited in the heart of His believing servantand by which He cuts him off from all others. That is sincerity that no angel looks upon to record it, no Satan to corrupt it, and no evil inclination to cause it to deviate.From it emerge four wills: the will for sincerity in performing religious acts to honour Allah ; the wil for sincerity in honoring the command of Allah ; the will for sincerity in seeking recompense and reward; and the will for sincerity in freeing religious practice from blemishes, in which regard is shown to nothing but that practice.
With all of these wills has He subjugated us. If anyone holds fast to one of them, he is sincere. With Allah , there are various grades, and Allah behold whatever they do. It is to this that His saying alluded, in that which Jibril (alayhis salaam) reported as from Him to Rasulullah (alayhis salaam). “Sincerity is one of my secrets that I have planted in the heart of whomsoever I love of my servants.”
All of my friends, at least that I can recall, are skinny. I, on the other hand, need to lose at least 20 pounds. Nothing a good dose of tasawwuf can’t solve! I was reading this article called “Super-size Me — And All My Friends”1 published by Scientific American. The article basically states that if your friends are fat, you have a 57% likelihood of being fat as well. The article makes the following analysis:
“Researchers say the contagion effect may occur because we mimic or unconsciously adopt the behavior of people we hold in regard and that it should be taken into account when trying to counteract obesity. “
In another post, sister striving4jannah posted a letter from Adly criticising the mentally unstable pseudo-salafi Layla Nasheeba. In it he stated, in criticism of her,
1. The Prophet doesn’t commit sin.
To which Sidi Ibn ‘Ajibah responded with:
Imam al-Laqqani said in his poem on creed al-Jawhara:
Bil Mu’jizat Ayyidu Takarruman
wa Isma al-Bari li Kulli Hattama
Through miracles they were aided by [His] generosity
And the infallibility given to them by the Creator is clear
The fact is there is disagreement amongst the earlier and later scholars regarding this issue. Imaam Abu Bakr Al-Kalabaadhi writes in his “Ta’arruf” the following concerning the matter (translated by Arberry):
I recently received via mail a gift from a friend. A gift I had underestimated. In fact, when I saw its poor cover I thought to myself to just let Umm Layth read it so she could tell me what was contained therein of good, as she generally does. I happened to pick the book up off the kitchen table and decided to read the first bit of it. On the first page, the page where all of the information regarding the book is - I admit that in every book I ever buy I always look at the publishing information. The history of the book can sometimes be told in the catalouging, paper quality etc. - I noticed that it said “Edited by AbdulHaq Bewley and Muhammad Isa Waley”. Yet on the front cover no mention of Sidi Bewley is found, rather, as you can see from the attached picture Shaykh Yassin Roushdy is the only one mentioned. This sparked my interest further. Anyone who has any experience in reading english Islamic literature knows all too well the vibrancy as well as barakah of the Bewley translation machine.
Muqaatil ibn Sulayman ibn Basheer Al-Azdi, is an author of Tafsir and a liar Mujassim. Ibn Hajr states about him in his Taqrib, “He [was a] liar…he delved into tajseem (saying Allah has limbs etc).”1
Is-haaq ibn Ibrahim reports from Abu Haneefah that he said, “Two depraved opinions have reached us from East, those of Jahm [ibn Safwan] (d. 128/745), the nullifier of the divine attributes (Mu’attil), and those of Muqatil [ibn Sulayman al-Balkhi (d. c.a. 150/767)], the likener of Allah to His creation (mushabbih).” 2
Dhahabi, Siyar a‘lam al-nubala’ [Beirut: Mu’assasa al-Risala, 1401/1984], 7.202, also see Ibn Hajr’s Tahtheeb At-Tahtheeb entry number 7981 published by Daar Ihyaa’ [↩]
Shaykh ‘Alaa once told us that if two Muslims were fighting outside the masjid, the media would cover it. They would not, however, cover the good that the Muslims do. The objective of the west is to impart a negative image of Muslims and Islaam. So, in standing against such a baatil tradition, I stumbled upon a beautiful video from Sidi Hamza Isa Jennings, ghafar allahu lahu, that I would like to share with the readers of our blog.
I woke up to a sudden “Knock Knock Knock!” on my apartment door. I waited, hoping whoever it was would leave. To my dismay the “knocker” became the “pounder” and began pounding on my door instead. So I went to the door and there stood a woman. “Oh!” she says. I’m sorry to wake you! Interrupting I demand an explanation for the pounding on the door that gave me a pounding in my head. She opens a bag and pulls forth from the deep, black, ugly bag a bottle that says, “Best Spot Cleaner in the World!”
The other day we wrote about Imaam Ash-Shaafi’i and how he reminded himself with his walking stick that he was a traveler on the path of Allah , not upon the path of materialism and vain vanity. On sister “Veiled Muslimah’s” blog, an “anonymous” poster attempts in vain to degrade the Niqaab.
The “anony” individual states,
Abul laith, in places like Dubai, I see Muslims worshiping material wealth. I see them driving Mercedes; wearing gold rings and diamonds; building gigantic skyscrapers with luxury pavilions and swimming pools; the women wearing furs and the highest fashion; the men eating steaks and eating caviar. I see indoor-skiing, massive highways, luxury yachts, and more. And you say that Muslims do not care about the material of this world? Or do you say these people are not Muslims???
As I was reading through the great Haafith Al-Mundhiri’s At-Targheeb Wat-Tarheeb I read a hadith that made me weary of my own state. So I thought I would share the hadeeth with others.
From Maalik ibn Yukhaamir who said that Mu’aadh ibn Jabal (radhiya Allahu ‘anhu) asked the Nabi (’alayhis Salaam), “What actions are beloved to Allah ?” The Prophet (’alayhis Salaam) said “It is that you die and your tongue is moist from the dhikr of Allah ta’alaa!”
.
(alayhis salaam). “Sincerity is one of my secrets that I have planted in the heart of whomsoever I love of my servants.”
All of my friends, at least that I can recall, are skinny. I, on the other hand, need to lose at least 20 pounds. Nothing a good dose of tasawwuf can’t solve! I was reading this article called “Super-size Me — And All My Friends”
I recently received via mail a gift from a friend. A gift I had underestimated. In fact, when I saw its poor cover I thought to myself to just let Umm Layth read it so she could tell me what was contained therein of good, as she generally does. I happened to pick the book up off the kitchen table and decided to read the first bit of it. On the first page, the page where all of the information regarding the book is - I admit that in every book I ever buy I always look at the publishing information. The history of the book can sometimes be told in the catalouging, paper quality etc. - I noticed that it said “Edited by AbdulHaq Bewley and Muhammad Isa Waley”. Yet on the front cover no mention of Sidi Bewley is found, rather, as you can see from the attached picture Shaykh Yassin Roushdy is the only one mentioned. This sparked my interest further. Anyone who has any experience in reading english Islamic literature knows all too well the vibrancy as well as barakah of the Bewley translation machine.
