speaking of physical sadaqah, we would really appreciate if you came along to the event and if you could volunteer some help on the day, then that would be fabulous!
But, even if you just attend, that would be enough to make us…
s m i l e
jazakAllah khair, see you there in sha Allah.
It was narrated that Abu Hurairah and Abu Sa’eed bore witness that the Prophet(ﷺ) said:
“No people sit in a gathering remembering Allah, But the angels surround them, mercy covers them, tranquility descends upon them and Allah remembers them before those who are with Him.” [Sunan ibn Majah]
Let us be in a gathering where Allah is remembered, and may we be of those Allah forgives and rewards, for each of us are in desperate need for forgiveness and reward. Allahumma salli alaa muhammad peace be upon him. ameen.
Alhamdulillah, with great delight, we welcomed the special month of Ramadan officially on Wednesday 17th June 2015 (first taraweeh prayers/first night of Ramadan) and Thursday 18th June 2015 was the 1st day of Ramadan. Alhamdulillah for Allah’s favours on us and that He permitted us to witness another Ramadan, The Month of the Qur’an.
We ask Allah, The Most Generous, to bestow His abundant mercy on us and grant us the ability to gain piety and to fast for His sake alone, and may He reward us and forgive us and keep us sincere and help us to hold fast to the Qur’an and sunnah in word and deed. May Allah keep us strong to serve Him alone, and may Jannat al Firdaus be our final abode, Allahumma salli wasallim ala nabiyyina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam! ameen! ya Rab al Alameen!
10 things that bring about the Love of Allah – Ibn alQayyim
1. Recitation of the Qur’an with reflection and understanding of its meaning.
2. Seeking closeness to Allah by performing voluntary deeds after obligatory ones, for that leads one to the highest levels of love.
3. Remembering Allah in every situation by one’s time, heart and deeds. One’s share of that love is to the degree of one’s share with that remembrance.
4. Preferring what He loves to what you love when your desires are strong.
5. Allowing your heart to reflect on His Names and Attributes.
6. Reflecting on His many favours and blessings both the apparent ones and hidden ones, for that leads to His love.
7. Having your heart soften as it is worshipping Allah.
8. Being alone with Him in worship when He descends during the last third of the night. To invoke Him, to recite His speech (Quran), to stand with all sincerity (in prayer) and with good manners and good submission (humility) and to end that with repentance and seeking His forgiveness.
9. Sitting with those who are truthful in their love of Allah.
10. Staying away from all that creates barriers between the heart and Allah.
Say (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم to mankind): “If you (really) love Allah then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur’an and the Sunnah), Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [Qur’an chapter 3 verse 31]
May Allah enable us to be of those whom He loves and is pleased with, and those who practise what we preach, ya Salam, ya Rabb al alameen! Allahumma salli wasallim alaa nabiyinaa Muhammad!
Asalamu alaykum all, Muslims in Thurrock, Basildon, Grays and worldwide. In Sha Allah everything’s good.
Can you believe it’s already one week into Sha’ban 1436, the month preceding Ramadan!
May Allah help us prepare and witness many Ramadan’s in total submission to Him alone and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon His final messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. ameen.
Here’s a short video on some beautiful dua’s and words of repentance we can make.
We are human, so we make mistakes and sin. And we sin, small or big sins, once or repeatedly. But don’t despair of Allah’s mercy. Allah is The Most Merciful, The Oft-Pardoning, The Perpetual Forgiver, so never think your sins are to big to be forgiven! Allah accepts us when we run back to Him sincerely repentant, so may Allah make us sincerely repent! ameen!
In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful
Name of Dua- Sayyid-al-istighfaar (The Best Form of Seeking Forgiveness)
(Transliteration of Arabic –approximate representation)
Allaahumma anta rabbiy laa ilaaha illa anta, khalaqtani wa ana ‘abduka wa ana ‘ala ‘ahdika wa wa’dika ma astata’tu. A’oodhu bika min sharri ma sana’tu, aboo’u laka bi ni’matika ‘alayya wa aboo’u laka bi dhanbi, faghfir li fa innahu laa yaghfir al-dhunooba illa anta
(English translation)
‘O Allaah, You are my Lord, none has the right to be worshipped except You, You created me and I am Your servant and I abide to Your covenant and promise as best I can, I take refuge in You from the evil of which I committed. I acknowledge Your favour upon me and I acknowledge my sin, so forgive me, for verily none can forgive sin except You.’
It was narrated from Shaddaad ibn Aws (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him):
“The best of prayers for forgiveness is: Allaahumma anta rabbiy laa ilaaha illa anta, khalaqtani wa ana ‘abduka wa ana ‘ala ‘ahdika wa wa’dika ma astata’tu. A’oodhu bika min sharri ma sana’tu, aboo’u laka bi ni’matika ‘alayya wa aboo’u laka bi dhanbi, faghfir li fa innahu laa yaghfir al-dhunooba illa anta (O Allaah, You are my Lord, there is no god but You. You have created me and I am Your slave and I am keeping my promise and covenant to You as much as I can. I seek refuge with You from the evil of what I do. I acknowledge Your blessing and I acknowledge my sin, so forgive me, for there is none who can forgive sin except You).” He said: “Whoever says this during the day, believing in it firmly, and dies on that day before evening comes, he will be one of the people of Paradise, and whoever says it at night, believing firmly in it, and dies before morning comes, he will be one of the people of Paradise.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (6306)
In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious The Most Merciful.
Peace people!
Guess what, it’s December again and we’re fast approaching the holiday period.
So we’re all dazzled by the funky lights, surrounded by lofty pine trees, bombarded with special offers and advertisements and perhaps even, confronted by some big old man in a red hat and suit… and ho, ho, how has this got anything to do with this post? Well, I’m getting to it : ]
Now since we are in Britain, and it has traditionally been known as a Christian country, Christmas day, i.e. 25 December is considered a national holiday. You can argue all you want that its been commercialised and it’s no longer a religious thing, but my friend, that’s not the point.
Let’s have a look at the history of Christmas:
According to Britannica Encyclopaedia, Christmas has become a Christian festival where Christians believe they are celebrating the birth of Christ, or Jesus. Historically, however, the date coincides with pagan Roman festivals which celebrated the winter solstice. It is believed that early Christians wanted to celebrate the 25th to coincide with the pagan festival. There is no clear statement in the New testament supporting the celebration of Jesus’ birth on the 25th. Nevertheless, it is still widely celebrated in that manner.
So basically in a nutshell, Christmas day has pagan origins!
Now I’m going to tell you WHY MUSLIMS DON’T CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS, with due respect and no offence intended my friend. : )
In Islam, the MOST IMPORTANT belief is that of Islamic monotheism. That is, we are commanded to submit to and believe in Allah (The One True God), and attribute complete Oneness to Allah as He deserves in His Lordship, Names and Attributes and right to be worshipped alone.
Consequently, as a Muslim, i.e. one who submits to Allah (The One True God), we believe that we must abandon and turn away from anything that contradicts the principles of Islamic monotheism. Polytheism, idolatry and ascribing partners to Allah are MAJOR SINS! The biggest sin which Allah will not forgive, is ascribing partners to Him !
‘Verily, Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with Him (in worship), but He forgives except that (anything else) to whom He wills; and whoever sets up partners with Allah in worship, he has indeed invented a tremendous sin.’ [Qur’an, chapter 4, verse 48- English interpretation]
Allah is so self-sufficient, it does not befit His Majesty to take a son or wife, or to beget or be begotten. He does not resemble His creation, for He is the uncreated Creator, and there is no similitude to Him.
In fact, a remarkably concise description of Allah can be found in chapter 112 of The Noble Qur’an, which is the verbatim words of Allah, and Allah’s final revealed book to mankind.
Have a listen to this chapter here:
Regarding Jesus (peace be upon him), in Islam we believe he was a mighty messenger of Allah. Jesus, or Isa in Arabic, was born a miraculous birth, from the virgin Mary. We refer to Jesus as ‘Isa ibnu Maryam, which means Jesus son of Mary. Jesus did not have a father, and he is not the son of God/Allah, because as we mentioned earlier, it does not befit the majesty of Allah to beget. Allah decreed that Jesus would be born miraculously without a father from the pure chaste virgin Mary. We respect them very much and we know that Jesus never claimed divinity, rather Jesus called his people to worship Allah alone, the same message each prophet and messenger of Allah called to. Jesus’ (peace be upon him) story can be found in the Qur’an in numerous places. (for more information, please see the upcoming post on chapter 19 of the Qur’an entitled Maryam!)
Incidentally, Paganism supports polytheism. Polytheism means worshipping multiple deities. Therefore, the Christian Trinity is essentially polytheism. And as previously mentioned in this blog, Islam means submission to the One True God, Allah, and our purpose in life is to acknowledge Allah’s complete Oneness, to uphold Islamic monotheism, and to attribute absolute Oneness to Allah in His Lordship, names and attributes and right to be worshipped alone.
I hope you understand now, why we don’t celebrate Christmas, why we don’t exchange Christmas greetings and why we don’t give or take cards and gifts on this occasion. It’s nothing to do with you personally, so please don’t take it personally! Because the truth is, as Muslims, the most important One to us is Allah, and the only reason we are alive is for Allah, to serve Him, to worship Him, because we need to worship Him and He doesn’t need us to do that. Whether or not we worship Him, it does not detract or add to His majesty at all. Rather He is The Self-Sufficient, The Majestic, The Rich, Free of all needs. The Lord of all that exists, He is Allah.
Besides, our kind behaviour and gifts to you is not supposed to be limited to a certain day of the year, as Muslims we are required to deal with everyone in a just manner at all times, exhibiting the best character. If we have fallen short in fulfilling our rights towards you as our neighbours, please do forgive us. We make mistakes, after all we are human. Although, we endeavour to follow the best example of excellent moral conduct,as taught to us by Allah’s final prophet and messenger, Muhammad peace be upon him.
I’ll leave you with a verse from the Qur’an to get you thinking.
‘Say (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم): “I am only a man like you. It has been revealed to me that your Ilah (God) is One Ilah (God – i.e. Allah). So whoever hopes for the Meeting with his Lord, let him work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord.” ‘
[Qur’an, chapter 18: v110, english interpretation]
In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.
In sha Allah, we begin a new enlightening section entitled Knowledge is Light.
Through this beauty, we hope to equip you and ourselves with beneficial knowledge which will bring us closer to Allah, the Most Generous Lord, The Sustainer, The Provider and Protector. We ask Allah The Real Bestower to provide us with beneficial knowledge, from the Qur’an and Sunnah, and may He enable us to implement it to the best of our abilities, sincerely for His sake alone, as undoubtedly, the right to be worshipped belongs to Allah alone, The Almighty the Majestic, The Ever-Living Creator of all things. Laa ilaha illAllah, MuhammaduRasoolullah. May Allah abundantly bless our beloved rasool Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam always, ameen!
8. Being alone with Him in worship when He descends during the last third of the night. To invoke Him, to recite His speech (Quran), to stand with all sincerity (in prayer) and with good manners and good submission (humility) and to end that with repentance and seeking His forgiveness.
Thurrock Muslim Community 