Jannat al Baqee

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim

Before I begin the short blog I have prepared please recite surah al fatiha for all the marhumeen around the world granting them the reward. 

So today I want to discuss What happened to jannat al baqqee and why is it a sacred place, also touching upon tawassul?

So the Literally meaning of “Al-Baqee” means a tree garden. It is also known as “Jannat Al-Baqee” due to its sanctity, since buried in this cemetery are many of our Prophet’s relatives and his companions. 

Al baqqee was an area in which today's day we call Saudi Arabia. The Holy Prophet Muhammad SAWA arrived in Medina from Mecca, during the construction of the Prophet's Mosque, on the site he purchased from two orphan children, jannat al baqee was also designated in that area. 

Within this cemetery there are many pious religious people, such as the Hamza the uncle of the holy prophet Muhammad SAWA,  the son of the holy prophet sawa his name was Ibrahim, the second imam (imam Hasan) AS, the fourth imam (imam Zain al Abedin) AS, the fifty imam (Imam Al Baqir) AS, the sixth imam (imam Jafar al Sadiq)AS, fatima bint Asad, um al baneen, haleema the wetnurse of the holy prophet, umm salama, umm habeeba and others who's lives were lost as a martyr in the battle of uhud, these are just to name a few but there are many other pious individuals also burried there.

Just the fact that so many pious people were buried there, out of respect people would usually honour this type of cemetary but here at al baqee you see it was not done, in fact it was far from being treated with respect. They the wahhabis have misunderstood tawassul and called it shirk and at the end I hope to touch upon if this is shirk. In the 18th century al saud took over and gained power in the area. The family of saud was backed by wahhabis. This ideology was and still is very intolerant to anyone that is not them, calling anyone who does not submit to their ways is a kafir, a disbeliever. They say that the graves and shrines of the imams and visitors to the mosque of the prophet were committing idolatry and therefore anyone who opposed this ideology was persecuted, massacred and their property was confiscated. In 1805 was the first attack on albaqee Cemetery and then the second order to demolish al baqee took place in 1925 they desecrated, and ruin the islamic sites and the cemetary of jannat al baqee was raised to the ground. The only Shrine that remained intact was that of the holy prophet. Anyone who opposed this was brutally massacred and on the streets women and children also had fallen victim to this brutality. 

But didn't they see in their very own books in Sahih, Muslim through the transmission chain narration from Aisha as saying the nights that the messenger of God spent with her would go to the baqee cemetery late in the evening and said, greetings to you all inhabitants of the abode of the Believers! You are are forerunners and we will join you. Oh God! Forgive the sins of the inhabitants of the baqee cemetery.

Here I want to discuss tawasuul as they have claimed these things to be shirk.

They will say that we humbly go towards the shrines just like we humbly go towards God and this is polytheism.

Our response to such claims are if you are humble to anyone is this worship?

Quran says to be humble in front of your parents.

Lower to your parents the wing of humility out of mercy and say: My Lord, have mercy upon them as they brought me up when I was small.

Surah Al-Isra 17:24

 In there own book:

Verily, Allah has revealed to me that you must be humble towards one another, so that no one wrongs another or boasts to another.

Source: Sahih Muslim 2865, 

Humble and worshipping are different:

When you worship something you believe that, that thing is the source of all the power in the universe and is the source of all that you need. Humbling yourself towards someone is to respect them, even this is worshipping Allah. 

They say asking help from somebody other than Allah is polytheistic, we say what about in your life when you ask somebody for help, if you need something done and you ask for help this is not polytheistic.

They will say it is useless if the person is dead, if the person was alive they can certainly help but if they have died how would they help you?

We reply to such claims: if it is shirk its shirk, no matter if they are alive or dead. Surah imran do not consider those who died in the way of Allah as dead ney they are alive with there a Lord receiving subsidence

What about in the Quran where the ayat prohibits calling upon someone else with Allah. 

When it comes to Idols Allah says he never has given them permission to do shafā. But the holy prophet, the imams and ahlu byte AS He has given them permission to do shafa.

Bukhari in number of hadiths. Narrated from Khatada and Anas ibn Malik, they say I heard this Hadith from the prophet, when a person is put in his grave and the family who were there leave he hears them walking away and he can even hear the flapping of their sandals.

This Hadith proves that they are hearing when they our dead.

Bukhari in another narration, when the battle of badr was over, the prophet came and he stood by the edge of a well the prophet started to call on those dead pagans by their names and the names of their fathers he tells them wasn't it better for you to follow Allah and his prophet and obey me now you have seen the truth, have you seen what Allah has promised you? 

Omar objects, oh rasulullah why are you talkin to bodies with no soul?

The Holy prophet SAWA response I swear by the one whos hand is my soul you cannot hear me any better than they can.

In sahih Muslim it states from Ayesha that: The Holy Prophet (s) taught me the manner of visiting the graves. Here is the text of the tradition:

“My Lord commanded me to come to Baqi’ and seek forgiveness for them. (Ayesha) says: I asked him how one should seek forgiveness to which the Holy Prophet (s) replied: Say Peace (Salaam) be upon the people of this place from the believers and muslims, May God have mercy on those who have left and those who are to follow. We shall join you all very soon.”

So I think I have present enough here to show that even in their own books visiting the graves and praying to the dead is not shirk!

So if in their books it was clear where did this ideology come from? It came with he influence of ibn tamiyya. 

Ibn Taymiyya was among the first people who issued the prohibition of traveling for visiting the grave of the Prophet (s), supplication and asking requests near the grave of the Prophet (s). He claimed that anyone who travels to visit the grave of the Prophet (s) opposes the consensus of Muslims and leaves the religion of the Prophet (s). He also claimed that all Muslims prohibit touching, kissing and putting the face on the grave and none of great people in early Islam did such actions. He considered it an act of polytheism.

In the view of Ibn Taymiyya, travelling to visit the grave of the Prophet (s) is a sinful journey.

Ibn Taymiyyah writes:

This is what was said by Abu Hanifa and his companions. It is not permissible and they prohibited it, such that they said Allah is not asked by created beings, nor does one say: I ask You by the right of Your prophets.

Source: Majmū’ al-Fatāwá 1/202

So ibn taymiyya claims this is what abu Hanifa so what did abu hanifa say? 

"No one should call upon Allah except by Him."

But what does Quran say about calling upon other? 

They will recite verses to prove their claim we had touched upon it earlier how we respond but I will add a few extra points to confirm our beliefs and disprove their claims.

Surah 2 ayah 48 "And fear a Day when no soul will suffice for another soul at all, nor will intercession be accepted from it, nor will compensation be taken from it, nor will they be aided" 

Clear verse that Allah will not accept any Shafā. Here we respond, the exegesis of Quran state this ayah was revealed to the Jewish people, they believed that if you came from jewish ancestors you had a ticket to heaven. Quran says no, it doesn't matter who you come from, those ancestors will not save you. So this verse is not completely negating shafā, but it is negating this type of thought of shafā. 

When you examine the other ayats that state no shafā you see it is towards the pagans. Pagans believed that their idols had power of shafā. Allah responds to them in quran, he states these idols will not be able to ever give you shafā. 

Some verses give conditional shafā. Surah 2 ayah 255 "Allah - there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of [all] existence. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them, and they encompass not a thing of His knowledge except for what He wills. His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation tires Him not. And He is the Most High, the Most Great." 

Surah ta ha ayah 109 "That Day, no intercession will benefit except [that of] one to whom the Most Merciful has given permission and has accepted his word."

It clearly states in the Quran that's intercession is only with Allah's permission, everything is only with Allah's permission.

This is what they destroyed al baqee for, for misunderstanding true shafa, true intercession, mistaking their own books and interpreting Quran not correctly either knowingly or intentionally...

After seeing all these different aspects of wasabis we can see that the idology and rejection and opposing the prophey happened way back from the beginning. However ibn taymiyya did what no other scholar did and that was pushing the movement out that anyone that did this was a kafir, this rule and ideology had horrible consequences on many muslims, like the shia particularly. 

It is important to draw a line of differences between wahhabis and other sunni sects. Wahhabi are different then majority Sunni and have different ideology when it comes to visiting graves both shia and sunni stood together against the destruction of al baqee.

According to Shi'a and Sunni and contrary to Wahhabi beliefs, building shrines upon graves is not against Islamic beliefs, visiting the graves of religious figures are allowed and praying for them and to them is fine. 

So I pray that I was able to sum up what is al baqee and why it's a very important holy place. And I pray one day soon we see al baqee redone and fixed up. 

JazakumAllah khair for reading.  

5 Senses

Salaam alaykom respected readers,

How grateful are we to our 5 senses? Have we thought about this at all. Have we shown gratitude towards Allah swt for granting us our senses. Unless you have experienced losing one of these senses can you truly understand what that would be like? Many of us take our senses for granted, such as the sense to see, we look at the faces of our loved ones and the beauty of the outside everyday but pay little attention to being grateful for being able to have that experience.  The experience for seeing is not something you can make up in your mind if you are someone that has never seen before, you have no idea what seeing is really like. Likewise for any of the senses, if you have never experienced smelling a beautiful flower and could not, you can never describe to that person who's not able to, exactly what that experience is to smell that beautiful flower. Some God forbid may use the senses for haram, not being appreciative to what Allah has gifted them. 

Take sometime everyday and pay attention to the senses, when you look at a beautiful scenery like the green trees and grass, the lovely bird flying here and there or your beloveds face looking at you, think about the gift Allah swt has given you to be able to experience seeing, if you lost your vision God forbid would that same moment be the same, wouldn't your experience in that moment change dramatically? Yes it would. If you go to hajj you want to see the holy kaaba, this experience is not the same if you couldn't see it, but even those that see are they grateful for the other senses Allah swt gave them to experience with such as hearing the chants as many walk around the kaaba. All these senses that Allah swt gave you and I are such wonderful gifts from Him and we should show our upmost gratefulness to Him for allowing us to have these experiences that can bring us closer to Him. We should be careful not to use these 5 senses, touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight for anything forbidden. This is a way of showing gratefulness to Allah swt. 

May Allah swt grant us an awareness and thankfulness towards the gifts He has bestowed upon us, and may He grant us the experience of true sight of the heart that opens the experience towards Him and brings us closer to Him in Sha Allah ameen. 

What are we Working for?

Salaam alaykom,

What are we working for? What a question to ponder on, often when we think about working we think of having a good job, earning enough money, buying that dream home or that dream car. Our achievement we are striving for is often based on this world, and often this striving for this world plays a huge part on forgetting the hereafter. Even if we remember the hereafter here and there, it's often forgotten most the time. Our want for material gain, mask what we should truly be striving hard for. Let us ponder over working hard for the material world, think about how much we work getting the job we want to be able to afford the house or car we have really wanted, but after so long the car gets old or something happens that the house gets ruined, we worked so hard to gain that item but it was never meant to be ours forever. Even if it stayed in the greatest conditions till our death, we still will depart it at this point, all we worked so hard for, we often trade our hereafter for this world without even realizing it. But for what, an item that was never meant to last forever, an item you will depart with, did it help to gain your hereafter? The hereafter after all is an eternal abode. How much have we worked to get the best in the hereafter? Now getting a home or owning a car isn't bad in itself, but what is, what could ruin you, is being attached to that item. Think to yourself, that item you hold so dear to yourself if it was to get ruined right now how would you feel? Would you be angry or upset or cry? If it will hurt you to lose that item this is harmful to yourself, to you soul. This attachment should be redirected towards your Lord, attach this love to those Allah loves, our Holy Prophet SAWA and his Ahlu Bayt AS. The same deep love that you had for that item once, attached it to those beloved by Allah, this deep attachment and love will create action of obedience towards Him the Almighty. At this time you begin to strive and work towards your hereafter, but stay vigilant not to become attached to any other item in this world, use the items to help you through this world and to better yourself for the hereafter. Use the money that Allah gives you and support the poor, help the sick, give much to orphans and widows. Know that working for this world leaves you and is quickly dissolved at the moment of your death. Ponder much on your attachment to this world and work hard for the hereafter. May Allah grant us this dis-attachment from this world such like Imam Ali AS said I have divorce this world three times.

The Beauty of Creation

Salaam alaykom,

For many years I observed beautiful scenery, tried to capture the best pictures, and when looking at art it brought a type of enjoyment on observing the beauty. As I was watching pictures on my TV as I have seen so many times before, I started to think about the reason to the ripples on the hill, being amazed that this could be natural, no man made, but God made.... I realized SubhanAllah all the beauty we see around is beauty from Allah. I started to truly realize that all the beauty I observed in past and am at this moment is all Allah's creation, painters just try to copy that beauty, a picture tries to capture Allah's beauty. Of course I could intellectually know this when in the past I would see beautiful scenery but it was a moment of a small realization. A realization that all the shapes, all the colors are highlighted and becomes awe stricken to the beauty Allah has created. 

Example to explain what I seen and felt, say you have never felt or seen snow, you knew about snow, but you never physically seen it nor have you touched it, but you get the moment that you look outside and see the snow fall outside, you run out and touch it this moment you experienced it. 

Try to look around today, observe all that you see and the beauty of Allah's creation. 

How to Better or Start Praying?

The Messenger of Allah (S) says,
“One who considers prayers light (insignificant) is not from us.” Another hadith mentions that such a person will not get the intercession of Ahl ul-Bayt (a.s.). 

So how do we better our state to either begin to pray or to better our namaaz?
One should realize that this act of namaaz was a command by Allah swt and therefore as a Muslim we should submit to His command. But doing this isn't always easy for everyone  this may be easy for sum while on the same hand a test for another. The more we learn about namaaz and its benifits to us we will come to realize its importance and will want to be doing it as perfect as we can.
So for those finding it hard to connect in namaaz and therefore finding ourselves not eager to pray we should first learn the meaning behind the words we are reciting so that way this would have an impact on our thoughts while we recite.  Don't feel overwhelmed when starting this processes as shaytan will be on the road trying to deteriorate you from achieving your goals and that is to worship Allah how He has asked us too, and to confirm this Quran says surah 7 ayat 16 "[Satan] said, "Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path."
So it shouldn't seem odd when we decide to try to go towards worshipping Allah we start to find the world tempting and hard. At this point we need to ask Allah for help and persistently push forward towards our goal and that is obidence to our Creator. 
Of course we could speak about this for along time, but let's start here and make our way to pleasing Allah swt in sha Allah.

Conforming to a Liberal way

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim 

Salaam alaykom respected readers,

Recently I was comforted with a lecture that got me thinking of how I see myself, and if I see myself as a Muslim, and if so what type of Muslim? The lecture went on to explain briefly what liberal Muslims stood for, and their side of the scope of being a Muslim.

In the past I've encountered several people calling themselves Liberal Muslim. If fact when I watched their behavior and the way they presented themselves, which obviously to those that aren't familiar with Islam one would think this is what Islam stood for. From no hijabs to partying like secular people, I had started seeing the unbelievable things being done. 

This got me thinking what is a Liberal as some said they believe in one way or Islam and another one said they believed in another way. However if we look at Quran, the book every Muslim adhered to as a book from Allah swt.  The ayat stands out quiet boldly
Surah 5 ayat 3
"..This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion."

And just to make it clearer another ayat
Surah 6 ayat 153
"This is my straight path, so follow it, and do not follow other paths, lest they scatter you from His Path. This He has enjoined upon you, that you keep from disobedience to Him in reverence for Him and piety to deserve His protection."

Now with just these two ayats I know that their is a straight path, and this straight path is the correct way Allah wants us to be on, this path is Islam. So with this throught in my mind I needed to find what exactly this path entailed. Was the liberal Islam the right and straight path or was it a path opposite to this?

First I want to give my observation on how I have seen Liberal Muslims that I have been in contact with. I believe the best detention for them and a simple one was they formed their thoughts and desires and moulded their ideas to say that this is Islam. For example they believe we should be more like others, to fit in and so others will see that we are similar to them. 

First this is the wrong way of thinking, to feel or believe you need to be like anyone else but what Allah has asked of you. So if we look at the example of hijab Allah has clearly asked us in Quran,

Surah 24 ayat 30-31
“Say to the believing men that: they should cast down their glances and guard their private parts (by being chaste). This is better for them.”

“Say to the believing women that: they should cast down their glances and guard their private parts (by being chaste) and not display their beauty except what is apparent, and they should place their khumur over their bosoms…"

Surah 33 ayat 59
"O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful."

So forming any ideas other then this is opposing Allah's command on us. But that's not it for us as Shias. We have more then this, as we also have sayings from our Imams AS in which one needs to look at as we believe they continued to teach what the Prophet Muhammad SAWA taught, and these teaching reflected what Allah swt ask from us. We really do not have any right to say we know better. Certainly anyone with a sound mind can clearly understand Allah, the One who created us, knows us better than we know ourselves.

Surah 50 ayat 16
"And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein"

With this beautiful ayat I will end this blog with saying that our souls can whisper to do what we desire but we need to oppose this when its conflicting with what we can clearly see in Quran. We can not conform to all those around us, these differences stand out and many will find truth because of our differences, I for one was that person. Don't feel the need to be like those around you, you don't answer to them on the day of judgement. Their way is not always the right way, we need to be careful not to go with our low desires and end up displeasing Allah.

For just one moment I want you to think, if others see you like them is there any reason for them to even look into our religion and see what it is all about? I tell you from experience that no they will not. They will treat you like all others and look right past the Islamic path, which I already established was the correct religion.

And to end now I want to just make a small note, it is perfectly fine to respect everyone as a human beings as our beloved Imam Ali AS said "People are of two types: they are either your brothers in faith or your equals in humanity."

I see you

I See You 
Written by Zaynab McCabe 

You don't know it but I see you. 

I see you wake up in the middle of the night to pray to Allah.
I see you silently whisper dhikr of Allah.

I see you take only three sips of your warm water,
I see you respect your mother and father.

I see you hold the tasbeeh in the dark night,
I see you tiered during the day as you mend everyone's right.

I see you leave your comfort of your home to meet with the poor,
I see you cry for ones that are oppressed and wish you could have done more.

I see you study whenever you can,
I see you when not many can.

I see you have to be criticized and verbally abused,
I see you turn to Allah and seek refuge.

I see you give the speeches day and night,
I see you mend a couples fight.

I see you translate another hadith to a knowledge seeker,
I see you watch tentatively to others while your not the speaker.

I see you, you are not alone.
I see you, your like a precious stone.

You don't know it but I see you!

Dedicated to all our respected scholars, may Allah swt bless you and grant you all a highest level of Jennah! AMEEN!