Time to Reflect - Lock down in London

  Ya Rab!   Let me, of my freewill,  be as obedient to You as those  who have no will of their own.    Let my eyes see what You want them to. Let my ears hear what You want them to. Let my tongue speak the words You want it to. and, let it enjoy the flavours you have made rightful. Let me inhale the fragrance Of being in Your presence, Perpetually.   Let my feet go where You want them to. And let my hands be busy in Your service. Let them rise in prayerfulness  beseeching You Alone, in my moment of need. Let my head bow before You,  and liberate itself from bowing before anything else.   Let it be, oh My Master,  That all of me, may always be  in an absolute state of worshipfulness.   Ba haqqe Chahardah Masoomeen (as)

    The Holy Quran (Al Hijr - 97 ) Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer - We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do.    Introduction   Over centuries, since his creation, the human being has made great progress. Especially in the recent past he has made advances in leaps and bounds in the fields of Science, Medicine and Technology. He has travelled into space; delved into the depths of the oceans; has made his and his fellow human’s life comfortable through various inventions and discoveries; found cures for diseases – the list goes on.   There is, however, one area of his life that has seen no progress – in fact there are clear signs of degeneration and that is his inability to annihilate social evils.   All around us we see a steady rise in crime, drugs, social inequity and discord, r...

If Imam Ali (as) had wished, he could have risen up in arms against the decision at Saqeefa – considering that just a few months ago the Prophet(pbuh) had clearly proclaimed him his successor at Ghadeer e Khum. However, there were a number of reasons for his not doing so. It is important to understand the political and social climate that prevailed amongst the Arabs at the time. Since the growth and expansion of Islam over the previous 10/11 years, there had been a growing sense of discontent among the Muslims. To begin with, the early converts and the Helpers of Medina were beginning to feel hardly done by when the later Muslims were given prominence and voice in the society. They felt this was a disregard and belittling of their own struggle and hard work in the propagation of the Deen in the early days. Also, since many of the latter converts had turned to the Prophet (pbuh)and Islam for political and economic reasons, their loyalty to him and the Deen lacked the sincerity of tho...

         The lock-down continues… March melted into April; and now, April is rolling into May. Every day is pretty much like the day before; if we’ve lived through one, we’ve lived through 30… save the moments of reflection, prayerfulness and enlightenment, alhamd; which make these days, worth the while.           The topic today was ‘Sadaqa’ – it being Ramadan and all. Although we are doing History, Tahera has a brief practical starter where she does some Amr and Nahi: timely reminders of how we can increase in our taqwa. Incidentally, I had been thinking a lot about   how I can give a bit of myself, fee sabeelillah too.   Especially, after having read in the Quran earlier that day an ayat that particularly touched me: Who is it that will lend Allah a good loan that He may multiply it for him several fold? (2:245) and I thought that is such a gentle and generous way of inviting people towards charity. He who is the Ma...

               The Muhajir in Medina had become economically weak having left their properties and business behind in Mecca. They were not farmers and found it difficult to adapt to life in Medina which was basically a farming community. They were dependent on their brothers in faith – the Ansar, for all their needs and this was not very easy. There was a sense of disquiet and impatience amongst them.                   To compensate this, the Prophet (pbuh) encouraged them to raid the Quraysh caravans that passed by Medina to reach Mecca. These raids were called ‘ghazua’ and were a common practice amongst the Arabs as a way of ensuring that wealth in the desert was more equitably distributed. As such, trading caravans were often challenged and if the merchants were not able to defend their properties the raiding parties helped themselves to the goods which were s...

The Beginning  In this blog I would like to chart the History of Islam with the history of the world as a back drop. An ambitious goal, and not a novel one, to be sure. Innumerable efforts have been made to achieve this, nevertheless, it is lock-down in London… and we are privileged to be having these lessons with Tahera… it would be shame not to record notes.                           Right, so…  although we started off with the Prophet's ancestors, exploring his linage, I am going to start my blog with the his (pbuh) birth, IA and refer back to his ancestors whenever the need arises.             It was the year 570 CE when Allah’s Mercy descended in the form of a holy little baby in the home of Hazrat Abdullah and Bibi Amina. Abdullah, however was destined never to see his son. ...