Meeting my Beloved..

Alhumdulilah I’ve been given the opportunity to go on umrah and shall be leaving tomorrow morning for two weeks inshaAllah.

First to madina to see the Beloved of Allah for a week and then to Makka for umrah for a week inshaAllah.

So I’ll be leaving you for two weeks, fee amanillah (In the hands of Allah)

By the way, the pic is of a card my nephew made me:

It says, “Hope you have a nice journey. Pray for us and ask to keep us safe. I hope your going to be safe aswell.”

Inside it says, “To Uncle, can you please buy me something (NOT CLOTHES)”

On the back it says, “Please come back.”

Sweet, eh.

I would wash his Feet..

Our respected Shaykh Saleem Dhorat commented upon the reaction of Heracilus in the following manner:

“Heraclius was the emperor of the Byzantine empire during the era of our Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam. He was also a scholar of the Tawraat. When the letter of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam reached him he enquired about the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam to find out whether he sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam, was really a prophet. Everything he asked proved that he was in reality the final prophet. The evidence was so strong that Heraclius exclaimed that:

‘If I could reach him, I would wash his feet (out of respect).’

(Source: www.shaykh.org)

A Grand Day Out..

Well, today being the first day of the school holidays, I decided to take my nephews to a museum. Why a museum, you ask. I have no idea! Well the initial thought was so that it would be informative as well as interesting, rather than wittering a day away doing something random.

I took my three nephews, aged 5, 8 and 10 to the museum and as I was leaving I saw that my mum was actually preparing a feast for them, which I had to lug along in a backpack. And to top it all off, I was taking the three of them on the subway. Yep, clever ol’ me.

But alhumdulilah it was ok except for the fact that kids are always complaining.

“I’m hungry”

“I’m tired”

“What is that?”

You get the drift.

I actually printed off some worksheets for them to complete and I got told off later and was told that it was supposed to be fun and not to have given the kids worksheets. I was actually called a teacher (of all the insults!).

By the way, that's the dinosaur we came across as we entered the museum.

Whisper of Peace..

A poem I wrote a few months ago and inspired by the three words in the title. I just had those three words in front of me and decided to write an interpretation/rambling upon them.

A Whisper of Peace

The roaring gun,
The angry words,
The setting sun,
The fleeing birds.

Each day drags along,
With each day fades hope,
I sing my song,
Of life, a slippery slope.

I look about me,
Looking for some solace,
But all I can see
Is hatred and malice.

But I raise my hands to the sky,
Bend down on my knees,
And from above comes a reply,
A whisper of peace.

~Musaafir
Early 2007

Trying to set an example..

Well today I was home in the evening and so was my nephew and I told him if he wanted to stay at home with me then he definitely wasn’t gonna watch telly and he’d have to read (this was my way of making him go with his mum). So yeah, he decided he wanted to stay at home with me and read! By the way, he’s only 8 years old.

So I got him reading Qur’an out loud whilst I just messed on the computer and sorted my emails. Then I remembered something I heard from Shaykh Riyad ul Haq last week.

During Ramadhan, the one who brought the Qur’an used to read it in its entirety to the one it was brought to. Thereafter, the one who received it, would recite it back in its entirety to the one who brought it. So one would read and the other would listen attentively and vice versa. Because the blessing of the Qur’an is not only in its reading but also in listening to it attentively. If you hadn’t realised already, these two were the Angel Jibra’il (alayhissalaam) who brought the Qur’an and the Prophet (Peace be upon him), the one whom it was brought to.

Continuing on with this evening, I decided that I would sit and read with my nephew. So I got him to read a page and I listened, then I read and he listened and we carried on.

The reasons I tell you this are many. First of all, consider how often you get to hear someone read Qur’an to you and how often you get to read to them. Secondly, we had two different versions of the Qur’an, that is the page sizes and lengths were different. This meant that he had to listen and follow very carefully to see when it would be his turn to read; I had to do the same.

The last reason and most important is the fact that we have to lead by example. It’s very easy for me to send him to another room and tell him to read whilst I just do whatever elsewhere. Now I’ve been considering the effect of this. Do I ever really expect him to feel motivated if I just tell him and I don’t set myself as an example?

I’ve not been a good example to my nephews and I’ve realised this. Yes, I tell them to do this and that but I’m not there with them doing it and showing them how.

We must remember that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) didn’t tell us what to do, he showed us in every aspect of his life.

May Allah help me, you and the entire ummah act as proper role models for our children.
Ameen.

What’s your speciality?

These words I gathered on a visit to Bolton last week. He was talking about what we should look for within ourselves and others.

Well the title makes it more or less obvious that we’re looking at what our specialities are. Everyone has one and it’s about discovering what these are and utilising them in a manner which will be beneficial to others.

Look at Khalid bin Al-Waleed (Radiallahuanhu), a great companion of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) who led the muslims to so many magnificent victories. Khalid bin Al-Waleed was one of the greatest generals in history, and one of the greatest heroes of Islam. Besides him, Genghis Khan was the only other general to remain undefeated in his entire military life. A measure of Khalid's genius is that he was the only person to inflict a (temporary) defeat on the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

Now there was another Sahabi (Companion of the Prophet) who had never picked up a sword in his life nor partook in any battle. But in the battle of Uhud when the muslims were running away after losing their strategic position, he stood there reciting poetry, encouraging them back into battle.

Later, when the Prophet (Peace be upon him) heard of this, he asked this Aahabi to ascend the mimbar (pulpit) and recite his poetry. He replied, “Me and speak on your mimbar, O Prophet of Allah? I could never do that.”

He (Peace be upon him) replied, “O so and so, it is Allah who wants to hear the poetry you recited!”

So let us take these two very different people and learn a lesson from the contributions they made to Islam and society. Now it is time for us to find our own specialities and to put them to use in a positive manner.

I’m still looking for mine but I’m thinking at the moment it may be through my writing.

One last thing which is perhaps most important, NEVER write anyone off as useless. Like I said, everyone has their own speciality and you shouldn’t insult people but help them find their talents and nurture them so that they can benefit everyone.

A Child’s Lament: Geronimo Bay

This poem was inspired by Shaker Aamer, a brother held in Guantanamo Bay without charge.

Remember him in your prayers.


A Child’s Lament: Geronimo Bay

Where is daddy?
When is he coming home?
Can I at least see him?
Or speak on the phone?

Where is Geronimo Bay?
Is there a beach there?
Can he play in the sand?
And go to the fair?

When mummy cries at night,
I try to make her feel better,
“Daddy’s only gone to the beach”
I say to her, ‘til I found the letter.

It was under her pillow,
The address in a stranger’s hand,
It looked crumpled and well read,
The postmark of an alien land.

Tears flow down my cheeks,
Childhood comes to a sudden end,
My father is a prisoner,
It was all make-pretend.

Why did they take him?
Did he do something bad?
Did he kill somebody?
Or make someone sad?

So Geronimo Bay isn’t a beach?
Oh, it’s Guan-ta-na-mo,
My friend said it’s for the worst people,
It’s where terrorists go.

“Mummy, is dad a terrorist?”
She then breaks down again.
Falls to the floor weeping,
In uncontrollable pain.

“Your father’s a good man”
She says, her eyes betraying no lie,
“Then why is he there?” I ask,
“Why left there to die?”

Immediately the tears cease,
A deeper sadness clouds her face.
“It’s because us brothers and sisters are weak,
We’ve become a disgrace”

“We’re in love with this world, little one,
We cannot see beyond our own lives,
It is only for ourselves,
That each one of us strives”

I sit and ponder to myself,
What it was I learnt at madressah,
Didn’t maulana always say,
That we are all one big ummah?

If that is actually true,
Then why is daddy in jail still?
Why doesn’t someone say or do something?
If our brothers and sisters don’t, then who will?


Hang your heads in shame, dear muslims,
And ponder upon The Day,
When this girl is brought in front of you,
And Allah asks “What to you did she say?”

What will we answer?
How will we get out of it?
You think anyone will want to hear of us?
Especially our Beloved Prophet?

~Musaafir
6th July 2007

If you want to begin to help, visit www.cageprisoners.com

Your other option is to simply click elsewhere and get on with your lives.

Intro..

Assalamualaykum Warahamatulahe Wabarakatu and welcome.

I’m going to keep it simple.

This blog is about me and what I come across in my daily life, just like most blogs.

I’m not here to preach, mainly because I am not worthy.

But what I will do is share with you what I learn. When I do this, I first and foremost address myself and use the reminder for myself. I just feel it useful if I share it with you too.

The reason I created this blog is for me to post things that I need to remember and that I think are of significance to me. These may interest you and be of benefit to you, but you’re the best judge of that.

I think that’s all I will say for now. Anything else of importance will probably pop up in future posts.

Lastly, I thought I’d let you know that I’ve left comments unlocked for anybody to make and you don’t have to register because I myself sometimes want to leave comments in certain places but can’t be bothered to register. So yeah, feel free to say whatever you like.

Take care of yourselves.