Unity in Isalm

وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّـهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا ۚ وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّـهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا وَكُنتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنْهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّـهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ

Hold fast, all together, to Allah’s cord, and do not be divided [into sects]. And remember Allah’s blessing upon you when you were enemies, then He brought your hearts together, so you became brothers with His blessing. And you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, whereat He saved you from it. Thus does Allah clarify His signs for you so that you may be guided. (3:103)

Allamah Tabataba’i writes in this regard:

“Holding fast to Allah” is holding fast to the verses of Allah and His Messenger (i.e., the Qur’an and the Sunnah), in which guidance has been guaranteed. Holding fast to the Messenger of Allah is, in reality, holding fast to the Qur’an; they both stem from one source. The reason for this is that Allah, in the Qur’an, orders us to obey the Prophet (s). Fundamentally, obeying Allah cannot be achieved, except through His Messenger.”

وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ تَفَرَّقُوا وَاخْتَلَفُوا مِن بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ ۚ وَأُولَـٰئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

Do not be like those who became divided [into sects] and differed after manifest signs had come to them. For such there will be a great punishment. (3:105)

The Prophet stated that Muslim unity causes goodness and mercy while division is the factor behind destruction and punishment. He stated: “Congregating is good (a mercy) while division is torment.”

أَنْ أَقِيمُوا الدِّينَ وَلَا تَتَفَرَّقُوا فِيهِ 

وَمَا تَفَرَّقُوا إِلَّا مِن بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ

… Maintain the religion, and do not be divided in it…They did not divide [into sects] except after the knowledge had come to them, out of envy among themselves. (42:13-14)

Allamah Tabataba’i says: “Allah did not condemn division or differences in the Qur’an unless they were accompanied by carnal desires and opposition to rational guidance.”

 The Holy Prophet sawa said “Be with the community and beware of division,” “Do not cause division for those before you who caused division perished,” “Do not cause division or your hearts will become divided,” and “Whoever divided into sects before you perished.”

Again the Holy Prophet sawa  says “Believers are brothers: their blood is mutual. They are like one hand against those who are opposed to them.”

وَأَنَّ هَـٰذَا صِرَاطِي مُسْتَقِيمًا فَاتَّبِعُوهُ ۖ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا السُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَن سَبِيلِهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُم بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ

‘This indeed is my straight path, so follow it, and do not follow [other] ways, for they will separate you from His way. This is what He enjoins upon you so that you may be Godwary.’ (6:153)

مِنَ الَّذِينَ فَرَّقُوا دِينَهُمْ وَكَانُوا شِيَعًا ۖ كُلُّ حِزْبٍ بِمَا لَدَيْهِمْ فَرِحُونَ

Of those who split up their religion and became sects: each faction exulting in what it possessed (30:32)

Qur’an affirms that one will not be punished for his mistakes and for what he committed out of forgetfulness, an enormous amount of attention has been paid to those who cause division intentionally (ta’ammud) and out of rebelliousness (bagha). Such actions are not to be tolerated in this world and have severe consequences in the next. 

وَإِن طَائِفَتَانِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ اقْتَتَلُوا فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَهُمَا ۖ فَإِن بَغَتْ إِحْدَاهُمَا عَلَى الْأُخْرَىٰ فَقَاتِلُوا الَّتِي تَبْغِي حَتَّىٰ تَفِيءَ إِلَىٰ أَمْرِ اللَّـهِ ۚ

If two groups of the faithful fight one another, make peace between them. But if one party of them aggresses against the other, fight the one which aggresses until it returns to Allah’s ordinance ... (49:9)

The Prophet (s) considered the following to be one of the signs and traits of a Muslim:

“A Muslim is a person who makes other Muslims feel safe from his speech and hands.”

وَأَنَّ هَـٰذَا صِرَاطِي مُسْتَقِيمًا فَاتَّبِعُوهُ ۖ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا السُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَن سَبِيلِهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُم بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ

‘This indeed is my [i.e., the Prophet’s] straight path, so follow it, and do not follow [other] ways, for they will separate you from His way. This is what He enjoins upon you so that you may be Godwary.’ (6:153)

the ‘straight path’ is the path in which there is no division.

For You (Imam Mahdi)

Alone I sit waiting for you.
I remove my veil, it was ment for you.

I'm here waiting trying to stay strong,
The dunya I wish to divorce its wretched face so prolonged.

Where are you oh awaited one,
I wish I could be with you oh our dear Askari's son.

How blessed is the dirt that is the path you walk,
How blessed is the one who gets to hear your talk.

Interced for this poor soul,
Who's wish is to meet you but this hardship has taken its toll.

Alone I sit waiting for you.
I remove my veil, it was ment for you.

Bismillah

Salaam alaykom,
This will be a short blog but it is filled with much to reflect in sha Allah!

When we invoke Allah with the word Bislimllah we are asking only Him to help us and seeking His protection. We also gain a sense of confidence which helps us through the task we are about to perform. Starting off using Bismillah makes our intentions and the essence of the actions pure. The task that we are performing becomes blessed through these words and Allah has said “it is incumbent upon Me that I should complete his works for him”
When we start off by using Bismillah we humble ourselves and show acknowledgment that we are helpless without Him and that we need Him only to complete any task.
Saying Bismillah is not done with just the tongue, it must be done with the heart. We must truly understand the true depth of these words and feel it when we are invoking Allah with Bismillah. Through true remembrance of Allah when using bismillah we can gain virtuous and rid ourselves from vices and reach ultimate happiness which is nearness to our One and Only Beloved.

The Beautiful Life of Bilal

Salaam alaykom respected readers,
As a convert you would have thought I gave the attention to the story of Bilal ibn Rabah, however it really didn't hit me as a story to read or reflect on until recently. I went to go on my search to find his story and found that it was hard to find any shia sources on his life.
I came to realise that Bilal's story was not just a convert story but it was a story of beauty, strength, obedience and a love for Allah we all pray we have one day. Bilal's story has not been realised by many of us, in fact his amazing journey is not just for converts, those of different race but it is a story for us all!
Bilal was tortured by his “master” so bad that he even had heavy bolder put on him, but Bilal refused to say that there was other Gods. He repeated that statement over and over that there is only One God. He was eventually saved by our Holy Prophet when he sent someone to buy him. After this Bilal was given freedom and was only a slave to Allah. How beautiful is this part of his life. He gave up all the religions around him for the true religion and endured so much physical pain but only had his spiritual become stronger through it, SubhanAllah!
Bilal was appointed by our Holy Prophet sawa to do the job of a  muezzim which is the one that calls people to prayer, this was a beautiful spiritual journey to call all to prayer as his nearness to Allah was becoming stronger and stronger by doing what Allah wanted from all of us. He obeyed Allah by obeying the Holy Prophet sawa. The most important part I believe in his life was that after the Holy Prophet sawa passed away.

Bilal did not give bay'ah to Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab grabbed Bilal by his clothes and said,

Is this the reward of Abu Bakr; he emancipated you and you are now refusing to pay allegiance to him?

To which Bilal replied,

If Abu Bakr had emancipated me for the pleasure of Allah, then let him leave me alone for Allah; and if he had emancipated me for his service, then I am ready to render him the services required. But I am not going to pay allegiance to a person whom the Messenger of God had not appointed as his caliph.
(Source Riz̤vī, Sayyid Sa'eed Ak̲h̲tar. Slavery: From Islamic & Christian Perspectives. Richmond, British Columbia: Vancouver Islamic Educational Foundation, 1988. Print. ISBN 0-920675-07-7 Pg. 35-36)

Similarly, al-Isti'ab, a Sunni source, states that Bilal told Abu Bakr:

If you have emancipated me for yourself, then make me a captive again; but if you had emancipated me for Allah, then let me go in the way of Allah.

This was said when Bilal wanted to go for Jihad. Abu Bakr then let him go."
(Source: ibd wa Abdullah, Ysuf. al-Isti'ab. Print. Pg.150)

Being exiled from Medina by Umar and Abu Bakr, Bilal migrated to Syria.

I say this might be the most important part in his life because right now we can all relate to this time. A time where we must stand strong like Bilal, stand firm in obedience to Allah, obedience to our holy Prophet sawa, obedience to our imam of our time (Allah hasten his reappearance). We need to really look at ourselves and ask ourselves have we given our life like amazing people like Bilal? Have we been given the boulder of life and refused to submit to the wrong path? Have we been exile from the land to be obedient to Allah?

May Allah swt grant us strong and firm faith to be obedient and to be strong in our faith, to follow the right way and to be granted a nearness to Allah like that of great personalities like Bilal. Ameen.

Tell the Believing Woman to Lower Their Gaze

"Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do." Quran 24:30

"And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, their brothers' sons, their sisters' sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed."  Quran 24:31

Salaam alaykom respected readers,

I am sure we have all heard these ayats before. Today I am wanting to emphasize on both men and woman lowering their gaze and guarding themselves against indecent actions. It is easy for us to read Quran but to really read it is to reflect. When we are out in this society where looking is seen as normal behaviour even if some dislikes it no one stops it and not many try to prevent it. Actually it is seen as the lookers fault completly even if one is not dressing right and has prevoked such indecent looks. Many of my readers may even say that they don't have bad intentions when looking at non mahram however it is so emphasized in Islam to lower the gaze and guard our private parts. So the question arises why? Well in a world where desires are handed out for all to lust over we need to really reflect on our own actions. First how to prevent indecent looks at ourselves. We should first see what we are wearing, are we covered properly or has bad thoughts entered our minds on dressing to impress! If we are not doing our part to help others not fall into sin then we should certainly take the first step in covering properly. Hijab has been discussed a lot so you can look into your marjas answers to hijab requirements. Secondly we should see if we are lowering our eyes from non mahram. Even if we don't have bad intentions we should still reduce our eyes as the look can penetrate and cause harm for either side spiritually. 

Imam Ali AS said "the eye is the Spy of the heart and the messenger of the intellect."

Thirdly we should not be in mixed gatherings and should segregate ourselves from non mahram. 

The Holy Prophet sawa said "segregate men from women, provider confronting each other, frequenting with one another, the society will be afflicted with a cureless pain."

We can not be friends with the opposite gender. We use terms in Islam like "my sister" and "my brother" to show a unity in a religious community that we are all one in belief and are to stay united with eachother. It is not a phrase to make you feel like your brother and sister are like real ones... this is a bad culture that started this by having non mahrams call eachother brother and sister and act as though they are your real ones by hugging and mingling. This is a trick from Shaytan and we need to be on guard for such thoughts. 

The Holy Prophet sawa said "a needle striking with full force on your head is better than touching a woman who is not mahram to you."

We should always be on guard for shaytan can whisper to us and this faculty is strong in us to be with opposite gender for obvious reasons (having children and giving marital rights properly) but we need to be careful we dont fall into sins with this desire being so strong. Many people have been destroyed because they did not regulate this power of the soul correctly. May Allah swt protect us all from falling into the traps of shaytan. May He help us to gain a firm virtue in chasity and be strong in our faith in obedience to Him. Ameen!