I wonder what the reaction of the Muslim world will be to this. Personally, I’m a bit apprehensive about this…even though they say they will not portray the Prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wasallam), I’m still afraid of how they will portray some incidents in his life, or his wives, etc.

Check out these links for more info:

Gulf News

The Guardian

Assalamu Alaykum
Today is a happpy day =) My wordpress is working again yay. No more yucky email posts which do nothing to motivate me to write. I hope this lasts. InshaAllah.

So the past few days I have been listening to some new nasheeds by Zain Bhikha…from his new album The Beginning 1415. I really love this one:

That was his turning point in life. What was yours? Really made me think…mine wasn’t as dramatic or emotional but it was a wonderful time in my life, the point where you realize what your reason for living is..what is your ultimate goal.

The other nasheeds are alright…most of them are his old ones redone – they don’t really appeal to me. I do like another one called Who I Am, it has a different feel to it.

Have a great day, everyone!

No matter how low you feel, no matter how much your thoughts and feelings are leading you further into the deepest wells of depression, you know deep down inside that this won’t last and you smile…because you see the breathtaking shapes of fleeting white clouds in the blue blue sky, because you see the deep calming hues of green all around you, because you see the happy shades of pink scattered among the green, because you hear the bubbly laughter of a small child, because you sense the ephemeral scent of something you can’t place but you know you have smelled it before and it evokes happy memories, because you see someone smiling a beautiful smile back at you.

You realize that there will always be something to smile about.

At the end of the 10th juz [Surah Tawbah: 92], Allah talks about the Sahabas who wanted to go for the battle of Tabuk but didn’t have rides…they turned away with tears streaming down their faces because they were so desperate to go for the pleasure of Allah.

Allah said they get the same reward as the ones who actually went.

We can apply this to ourselves today, in any situation. Everything depends on our intention…if we are willing and eager to do something for Allah but for some reason that thing is not in our control and we are not able to, we will inshaAllah still get the reward. Then there are so many of us to whom Allah gives all the opportunities, the time, the energy, the facilities…but we just sit back and laze around, not willing to do it. If we do it, it is either unwillingly or for our own motives.

Or sometimes we are so unsure of our intentions…we need to make a special dua to Allah: ya Allah help us to purify our intentions for every deed, ameen!

The Night of Powerby Abu Eesa Niamatullah

http://ilmcast.com/night-of-power-39.htm

it is beautiful…and not too long (40 minutes) so take some time out and watch it!

I think Arabic characters are not appearing in my posts as I have to send through email and the Arabic doesn’t show up for some reason :( So I hope I can continue with the tafseer of Surah Yusuf without needing the Arabic verses. I could I guess but it won’t be as effective.

Anyway here goes.
Continuation of Story of Yusuf…

Some background about Yusuf (alayis salaam) and his family:
He lived in Canaan with his father Yaqub (alayhis salaam) who was also a Prophet, his mother Raheel, and 11 brothers. Yaqub (alayhis salaam) had four wives, (I think this is taken from Israeliyyat/Biblical narrations) and their names were Liya (Raheel’s sister), Zulfa, Balha and Raheel. Yusuf (alayhis salaam) had only one full brother who was BinYamin (Benjamin), and the other 10 brothers were from different mothers. They were: Yahuda (Judah), Rubeel (Reuben), Shumoon (Simeon), Lavi (Levi), Zebulun, Yashjur (Isacher), Daan (Dan), Naphtali, Jaad, Aasher, and these 10 were all older than him, while BinYamin was younger.
[Sorry, not sure about the spellings of all their names!]
Yaqub (alayhis salaam) had another name that we are all familiar with: "Israel". And due to this, the generations that sprung from him were known as "Bani Israel" (sons of Israel): the twelve tribes from his twelve sons.

Yaqub (alayhis salaam) had a special place in his heart for Yusuf (alayhis salaam) and because of this special love he had for him, his other sons were extremely jealous of Yusuf (alayhis salaam).

The story begins with Yusuf (alayhis salaam) going to his father Yaqub (alayhis salaam) to speak to him. He said: "Oh my father! Indeed I have seen (in a dream) eleven stars, and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me." (verse 4)

We see that Yusuf (alayhis salaam) trusted his father enough to tell him his dream and ask for advice.

Yaqub (alayhis salaam) replied to his beloved son: "O my son, do not relate your vision to your brothers or they will contrive against you a plan, Indeed, Satan, to man, is a manifest enemy." (verse 5)

This shows the great wisdom of Yaqub (alayhis salaam). Firstly he warns his son not to narrate his dream to his brothers who are already jealous of him, and secondly, he does not specifically attribute their bad feelings to them, rather he directs them towards Shaytan. He does not say, Oh your brothers are evil, they might do something to you. He knew that Shaytan could use the dream to make the brothers more jealous of Yusuf (alayhis salaam)

(There is a lot to learn about dreams in this story as well, but I will write a separate post on it inshaAllah.)

The Prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) narrated: "Seek to protect your granted wishes by hiding (them) because everyone who is bestowed with blessings is envied." [Ibn Abi-Al Hadid vol.1, pg.316]

Envy is the first trait of Shaytan and he traps man through this. As the Prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) also said that we should beware of envy as envy destroys good deeds in the same way fire eats up wood.

Yaqub (alayhis salaam) had an indication from Yusuf’s (alayhis salaam) dream that he would also be appointed as Allah’s Prophet, and he told him : "And thus will your Lord choose you and teach you the interpretation of narratives and complete His favor upon you and upon the family of Jacob, as He completed it upon your fathers before, Abraham and Isaac. Indeed, your Lord is Knowing and Wise." (verse 6)

Certainly were there in Joseph and his brothers signs for those who ask (verse 7)
Through this verse, we realize that there is certain assimilation between the stories of Yusuf (alayhis salaam) and the Prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam). As this Surah was revealed in Makkah, Allah told the Makkans (the ones who ask) that there are signs for them in this story. There were 11 tribes in Makkah opposing the Prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam), just as Yusuf (alayhis salaam) was opposed by his brothers. The Makkans were also clearly jealous of the Prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam)

to be continued, inshaAllah :)

I feel really bad for not updating with the next tafseer notes :( May Allah put barakah in my time ameen.

It’s raining like crazy here just now. The du’a for rain is:

Allahumma Sayyiban Nafi’an. (Oh Allah make it plentiful and beneficial)
[Bukhari]

And the last ten nights are almost here so I would just like to share this little piece of advice from Shaykh Muhammad Alshareef and inshaAllah it will be beneficial. I found it pretty awesome!

Step 1: Go somewhere really beautiful, where no one can disturb you
Step 2: Imagine Allah says to you, "Ask whatever you wish and I shall grant it to you." Think of everything good you would ask for from this life and the next.
Step 3: After thinking of everything you can, sit down and write it out.
Step 4: Pick5 things, your favorites, and consistently ask Allah for these 5 every night in the last ten. Your dua will be guaranteed to have landed on Laylatul-Qadr! How cool is that?

Surah Yusuf is the 12th Surah in the Qur’an, with 111 verses, and it was revealed to the Prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wasallam) in the 10th year of his Prophethood, while he was still in Makkah, being persecuted by the Kuffar. That year was a particularly difficult year for him, as two of his biggest supporters passed away: his uncle Abu Talib, and his beloved wife Khadija (radhi Allahu anha). It was known as ‘Aam ul Huzn (The Year of Sorrow). This Surah was revealed to comfort him as Allah reminded him that he was not the first to be tested. Through this Surah, Allah teaches us Tawakkul (trust), Sabr (patience) and Taqwa (Allah-consciousness) in the best way.

To begin the Surah, Allah gives one of the many descriptions of the Holy Qur’an after the Huroof Muqatta’at (the broken letters that we do not know the meaning of) Allah says: "These are the verses of the Book that make things clear." (Verse 1)
The next verse states the reason for revealing the Qur’an in Arabic: ’so that you may understand.’ The Qur’an is best expressed in the arabic language, there is so much depth in each word of this beautiful language.

Next, Allah gives an introduction to the story of Yusuf (alayhissalaam) referring to it as the best of stories – Ahsan ul Qasas, and Allah is the best of storytellers. If you think about it, this is the only narrative of a Prophet in the Qur’an that is mentioned in one place. It has numerous lessons – for everyone. Anyone can relate to it, and there are a lot of emotions involved in it – love, jealousy, envy, respect, hatred, lust, you name it. Even though this is such an old story, there is something in it for everyone.

You see the characters of different people developing, of Yusuf (alayhissalaam), of his brothers, of the wife. Your heart will read this story, rather than your mind. You will read the account of a beautiful patience, and of ultimate trust in Allah amidst the most difficult of tests.

Hadith:

"Abu Huraira reported: It was said to Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as to who was the most worthy of respect amongst people. He said: The most God-conscious amongst you They said: It is not this that we are asking about, whereupon he said: Then he is Yusuf, the Apostle of Aliah and the son of Allah’s Apostle, Ya’qub, who was also the son of Allah’s Apostle, the friend of Allah (Ibrahim) They said: This is not what we are asking you. He said: You mean the tribes of Arabia? Those who are good in pre-Islamic days are good in Islam (after embracing Islam) when they get an understanding of it." [Muslim : Book 30 Number 5862]

Surah Yusuf touched me in a way it has never done before. The imam recited it in taraweeh last night and I felt it. Then I came home and read it on my own and I really felt it. Especially the end of the story where Yusuf (alayhi salaam) is reunited with his parents. I just cried. I am extremely motivated to do some posts on the tafseer of Surah Yusuf and am hoping this motivation lasts before it slowly dies out. InshaAllah I am gonna try and write the first post tomorrow.

Funny (but sad at the same time) story:
This one hyper little 4-year old girl at the class is extremely squirmy at salah time and will never stand still, always running off or doing something other than praying and we have to keep motivating her to pray. Yesterday she came up to one of the teachers and asked, "Teacher, can I please pray like my daddy?" And the teacher said okay…and next thing you know, she’s raising her hands for Allahu Akbar, ruku 5 seconds later, sujood by banging her head on the floor very, very quickly and in two minutes flat she’s done with her salah. She comes back and says, ‘Teacher I prayed just like my daddy!" Huge, proud smile.

What to do with kids…

Had a very strange iftar today, ending with my favorite chocolates – maltesers yummm.

alhamdulillah for Ramadan…I get a chance to revise at least some tafseer and this time I wisely chose the 30th juz to revise so I could be more aware of the meanings as I recite the surahs in my daily prayers. So yesterday I recited An-Naba’ with concentration and today An-Nazi’at. It makes such a difference in your salah, you must try it.

So today we had an iftar for the kids – as in, they had to put their own iftar together and then eat it. I think next time we decide to do the same thing, we have to cut out about 20 of the kids. Which would leave like 10. haha. Yeah, we should do it in batches. It was quite quite exhausting for the teachers, as we did most of the stuff and all they had to do was spread some chocolate and sprinkle some sprinkles over their cupcakes and put the toppings on their pizzas. and make a mess. But it was fun nevertheless. I took a couple of pics but wordpress is not letting me do anything so I dunno when I’ll ever get to post pics again.

Second ten days have started. In a few days, it’ll be the last ten days and we’ll be left wondering where the whole month went. I hope I get to utilize it better inshaAllah