Abu Huraira said: The Prophet of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: There is for every apostle a prayer which is granted, but every prophet showed haste in his prayer. I have, however, reserved my prayer for the intercession of my Ummah on the Day of Resurrection, and it would be granted, if Allah so willed, in case of everyone amongst my Ummah provided he dies without associating anything with Allah.
-- Shahih Muslim (Kitab al-Iman,0389)
Nasheed titled, "The Prophet" by Dawud Wharnsby Ali
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Ya Ummati!!!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Baby I'm A Soldier
I don't believe that people are inherently evil.
I don't believe that people have hearts that are stone cold.
People, whether soldiers or not, are not machines, no matter how much we may try to train them to be.
Sometimes, all we need to awaken ourselves is a little insight. And empathy.
This is a song by Kareem Salama, an Egyptian-American artist. Check it out.
Much love,
- Sumeyya
Baby I'm a Soldier (K. Salama)
He was a soldier who’d only been married two or three years ago
And he put his hands on her knees that night and he said I gotta go
She said why would you leave this home and me; I thought I was your baby girl
And he wiped away the tears from her eyes and said they’re sending me to save the world.
And you know I love you and I pray to God that he’ll join us once again
But now its time for this simple man to be one of the few good men...
(Chorus)
Cause baby I’m a soldier and I hear those trumpets calling again
And our kings and queens are saying this is a fight we must win
For truth and justice and for the way we live our life
And baby I’m a soldier in front of God I swore I would fight
Across the ocean and miles away there stood another man
Eighteen years, hugging his mama saying I’ll defend this land
Mama held her baby and cried and clutched him telling him not to leave
She said what will I do without my baby boy; son I’m begging you please
He said I love you mama but duty calls; I’ll write you everyday
She said I lost your daddy like this and I don’t wanna lose you this way.
(Chorus)
But Mama I’m a soldier and I hear those trumpets calling again
And our kings and queens are saying this is a fight we must win
For truth and justice and for the way we live our life
And Mama I’m a soldier in front of God I swore I would fight
Well the battle raged and shots rang out the two men fell to the ground
And they looked into the eyes of each other and were shocked at what they found....
One man saw the mother of the other in that young man's eyes
And the other man saw the crying and screams of the other man's beloved wife
And the two men stared across that smoky field and whispered to each other
Maybe you weren’t the demon they said, maybe you were really my brother
But I’m glad we’re passing cause I don’t think that I could forgive myself
For fighting you but maybe God will and we can live together in bliss
(Chorus)
Cause Ladies we were soldiers and we heard those trumpets calling again
And tell the kings and queens that sometimes there are fights no one wins
But we know for sure that there’s evil out there we must fight
But please be sure that this is one of those times
And please be sure to remember my mama and wife
And please be sure to think of my brother on the other side.
I don't believe that people have hearts that are stone cold.
People, whether soldiers or not, are not machines, no matter how much we may try to train them to be.
Sometimes, all we need to awaken ourselves is a little insight. And empathy.
This is a song by Kareem Salama, an Egyptian-American artist. Check it out.
Much love,
- Sumeyya
Baby I'm a Soldier (K. Salama)
He was a soldier who’d only been married two or three years ago
And he put his hands on her knees that night and he said I gotta go
She said why would you leave this home and me; I thought I was your baby girl
And he wiped away the tears from her eyes and said they’re sending me to save the world.
And you know I love you and I pray to God that he’ll join us once again
But now its time for this simple man to be one of the few good men...
(Chorus)
Cause baby I’m a soldier and I hear those trumpets calling again
And our kings and queens are saying this is a fight we must win
For truth and justice and for the way we live our life
And baby I’m a soldier in front of God I swore I would fight
Across the ocean and miles away there stood another man
Eighteen years, hugging his mama saying I’ll defend this land
Mama held her baby and cried and clutched him telling him not to leave
She said what will I do without my baby boy; son I’m begging you please
He said I love you mama but duty calls; I’ll write you everyday
She said I lost your daddy like this and I don’t wanna lose you this way.
(Chorus)
But Mama I’m a soldier and I hear those trumpets calling again
And our kings and queens are saying this is a fight we must win
For truth and justice and for the way we live our life
And Mama I’m a soldier in front of God I swore I would fight
Well the battle raged and shots rang out the two men fell to the ground
And they looked into the eyes of each other and were shocked at what they found....
One man saw the mother of the other in that young man's eyes
And the other man saw the crying and screams of the other man's beloved wife
And the two men stared across that smoky field and whispered to each other
Maybe you weren’t the demon they said, maybe you were really my brother
But I’m glad we’re passing cause I don’t think that I could forgive myself
For fighting you but maybe God will and we can live together in bliss
(Chorus)
Cause Ladies we were soldiers and we heard those trumpets calling again
And tell the kings and queens that sometimes there are fights no one wins
But we know for sure that there’s evil out there we must fight
But please be sure that this is one of those times
And please be sure to remember my mama and wife
And please be sure to think of my brother on the other side.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Subject Came Up...
I was talking to some friends the other day about where one should get sacred knowledge, and the subject inevitabely came up: Are Paki/Indo scholars worth it?
Honestly, at first I was shocked because I never thought that the ethnicity of a scholar was important (or whether Arabic was his/her language) because wouldn't you rather focus on the piety, character, taqwa, and above all, knowledge of the scholar instead? Admittedly, mastery of the Arabic language is a component of how much knowledge a scholar has, but if your studying the Qu'ran/Sunnah, every reputable scholar whom you study under will know the Arabic language very well, even if he/she does not necessarily speak it. But then I realized that my friend was referring to cultural factors; ie in Paki/India, culture and religion are too mixed up to get a sound education in the Islamic Sciences.
Well, true, in the general population, culture and religion are mixed up. But not necessarily in the Dar ul Ulooms or with the Shuyuks themselves, especially, those whose life's work has been concerned with the preservation of traditional Islam. And, I think, one would find that culture and religion are mixed up EVERYWHERE, not simply in the Indo/Pak world, but in pretty much any Muslim country. In non-Muslim countries (US, England, etc), culture sometimes plays less of a role simply because thier culture is so much at odds with the moral guidelines of Islam, so we tend to focus more on religion, less on culture....
Anywho, I was thinking about this discussion, and later, found a question at daruliftaa.com (Leicester, UK) that was almost identical. The article below also touches on some other issues in obtaining knowledge...Check it out:
http://daruliftaa.com/question.asp?txt_QuestionID=q-18034012
P.S.
For those of you who have studied abroad or here, with Arab or Indo/Pak scholars, what do you think about this (culture/relgion? And does it affect the knowledge you recieve at certain places, and also, does mastery of the Arabic language [particularly speaking it] make a scholar more/less reputable?) I'm just interested :)
PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE TOO!!!
- Sumeyya
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Never do I argue with a man with a desire to hear him say what is wrong, or to expose him and win victory over him. Whenever I face an opponent in debate I silently pray - O Lord, help him so that truth may flow from his heart and on his tongue, and so that if truth is on my side, he may follow me; and if truth be on his side, I may follow him. " — Imam As-Shafi’i
Honestly, at first I was shocked because I never thought that the ethnicity of a scholar was important (or whether Arabic was his/her language) because wouldn't you rather focus on the piety, character, taqwa, and above all, knowledge of the scholar instead? Admittedly, mastery of the Arabic language is a component of how much knowledge a scholar has, but if your studying the Qu'ran/Sunnah, every reputable scholar whom you study under will know the Arabic language very well, even if he/she does not necessarily speak it. But then I realized that my friend was referring to cultural factors; ie in Paki/India, culture and religion are too mixed up to get a sound education in the Islamic Sciences.
Well, true, in the general population, culture and religion are mixed up. But not necessarily in the Dar ul Ulooms or with the Shuyuks themselves, especially, those whose life's work has been concerned with the preservation of traditional Islam. And, I think, one would find that culture and religion are mixed up EVERYWHERE, not simply in the Indo/Pak world, but in pretty much any Muslim country. In non-Muslim countries (US, England, etc), culture sometimes plays less of a role simply because thier culture is so much at odds with the moral guidelines of Islam, so we tend to focus more on religion, less on culture....
Anywho, I was thinking about this discussion, and later, found a question at daruliftaa.com (Leicester, UK) that was almost identical. The article below also touches on some other issues in obtaining knowledge...Check it out:
http://daruliftaa.com/question.asp?txt_QuestionID=q-18034012
P.S.
For those of you who have studied abroad or here, with Arab or Indo/Pak scholars, what do you think about this (culture/relgion? And does it affect the knowledge you recieve at certain places, and also, does mastery of the Arabic language [particularly speaking it] make a scholar more/less reputable?) I'm just interested :)
PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE TOO!!!
- Sumeyya
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Never do I argue with a man with a desire to hear him say what is wrong, or to expose him and win victory over him. Whenever I face an opponent in debate I silently pray - O Lord, help him so that truth may flow from his heart and on his tongue, and so that if truth is on my side, he may follow me; and if truth be on his side, I may follow him. " — Imam As-Shafi’i
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