'I was a policeman and would often drink alcohol..."

“I was a policeman and would often drink alcohol. I bought a beautiful slave girl with whom I had a daughter. I loved my daughter greatly and doted on her and when she began to crawl on all fours I grew even more fond of her. Whenever I put an alcoholic drink in front of me, she would come to me and pull me away from it, or she would spill it from me. When she was two years old, she died. I became consumed with grief over her loss.

It was the night before Jummah, I stayed home and drank and I did not pray the ‘Isha prayer. Then I had a dream. I dreamt that the Day of Judgement had begun, the Trumpet was blown, the graves gave up their dead, mankind was gathered up and I was among them. I heard something behind me, I turned around and saw a huge snake of indescribable size, blue-black, rushing for me with wide-open jaws. I fled in terror.

I passed by an old man dressed in spotless clothes, smelling beautiful. I greeted him and he greeted me back. I said to him, ‘O old man ! Protect me from this snake, and may Allah protect you!’ The old man wept and said, ‘I am weak and it is stronger than me, I cannot overcome it. Go quickly, perhaps Allah will grant you something that will save you from it. I climbed up on one of the highest points of the day of Resurrection overlooking the layers of Hell. But someone cried out to me, ‘Go back! You are not one of the inmates of Hell.’ These words calmed by fears and I went back.

But the snake pursued me. I went back to the old man and said, ‘O old man! I begged you to protect me from this snake but you didn’t protect me!’ Again, the old man wept, and said, ‘I am weak, but go to that mountain. In it are kept the stores of Muslims. If there is something in store for you, then it will help you.’

I looked and saw a round shaped mountain of silver topped with domes of hollowed pearls and hanging drapes, and every dome had two large gates of red gold encrusted with emeralds and pearls and overhung with drapes of silk.

When I saw the mountain I ran to it, with the snake in hot pursuit. As I approached the mountain one of the angels cried out, ‘Raise up the veils, open the gates and look out! Perhaps this wretched one has something in store with you that will save him from his enemy.’ At this, the veils were lifted, the gates were opened and out of the palaces came children with faces like full moons. The snake was catching up to me and I was near despair!

One of the children cried out, ‘Woe to you! Come and see all of you! His enemy is very near him.’ At this, the children came, one wave after another, and among them was the dear daughter of mine that had died, two years before. When she saw me she wept and said, ‘my father! By Allah! ’ She leapt into a carriage of light and came near me with the speed of an arrow. She put her left hand in my right hand and I held on to her tight. Then she stretched her right hand in front of the snake, and it turned around and fled.

My daughter bade me sit, then she sat on my lap and began to stroke my beard and said, ‘O my father!’ then quoted from the Quran (57:16), saying, ‘Has not the time come for those who believe, that their hearts become humbled at the remembrance of Allah?’ I began to weep and said, ‘O daughter, you children know Quran?’ She replied, ‘My father! We know it better than you.’ I said to her, ‘Tell me about the snake which wanted to destroy me.’ She replied, ‘Those were your evil deeds that you built up and strengthened, and they wanted to take you to the Hellfire.’ I asked, ‘What about the old man I passed by?’ She replied, ‘O my father, those were your righteous deeds, you made them weak until they were no match for your evil deeds .’
I said, ‘O my daughter! What are you all doing in this mountain?’ She said, ‘we are the children of Muslims, we have been given this dwelling place until the Hour rises. We await whatever you send forth to us, and we intercede for you’.

Then I woke startled and saw that morning had come. I flung the alcohol from me and shattered the drinking cups, and I repented to Allah.”

This person who repented so sincerely was Shaykh Maalik Bin Dinaar(Rahmatullah alaiyhe), who later became one of the renowned Divines of his times. It is said that, in his early life, he was not a pious man and when someone asked him how he came to repent of his sins and abandon his evil ways, he related the above story about himself.

Taken from Al Islaah

Having Time For Others - Part 4

The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam was a man who was busier than any other person to have stepped foot on the planet. The task that was bestowed upon him contributed significantly to this and one would imagine that a job so daunting would not allow a person to do much else. If we analyse our own schedules, we realise that time is something we hold in high regard. How many a time have we received a phone call and have made excuses in order to pursue another goal? However, the fact remains that our struggles and difficulties do not tantamount even to a single difficulty endured by the Prophet salallahu alahyi wa salam. What man could have been busier than the Prophet salallahu alayhi salam? What student could have more work to do than the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam?

Sometimes we are not even busy, we just be selective with who we speak to. We show kindness to those above us or equal to us in knowledge and actions but feel a need to ignore those wonderful souls who are still struggling on ‘Alif, Baa.’ This should never be the case. We must have time for everyone, even the worst of people. Hazrat Amr ibn al-Aas radiallahu anhu relates,

“The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam gave attention, spoke and showed love to the worst person of a nation so that, the person may feel he is being given special attention. He used to give me such attentions and spoke to me also in a manner that I began to feel that I was the best among the community.”

It is hard now to get even a handshake or a smile on the road. I find the state of business truly amazing while I am travelling by tube or bus to different destinations. I often peer out of the window and watch how people are running round, each person has a greater worry than the one before and I often wonder how far their awareness of other people is. Some people are so bad that if you greet them at the wrong time, you may end up with a strained relation! The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam, so beautiful was he, he would never be the first person to remove his hand from a handshake. When he would speak, he would turn his entire being to face that person and would not glance at them side on or show his back towards them. He, salallahu alayhi wa salam, would always have time for them – whoever they were.

May Allah Ta’ala give us all the ability to be considerate, compassionate and caring to others, May He forgive us of our indecencies towards other people and May He instil in us, the character of His Beloved salallahu alayhi wa salam. Ameen.

Sports car and the Qur'an

A young man was getting ready to graduate college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man waited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him.

He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box.
Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Quran. Angrily, he raised his voice at his father and said "With all your money you give me a Quran?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy book.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business.
He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day.
Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search his father's important papers and saw the still new Quran, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Quran and began to turn the pages.
As he read those words, a car key dropped from an envelope taped behind the Quran. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words...PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss ALLAH's blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?

Taken from Al-Islah Publications

Being Accustom To Sin

In this day and age, we as Muslims do not become upset from that which brings displeasure to Allah Ta'ala. The main example is sin. We do not feel hate or disgust for it because we have become used to sin.

We are all Muslims and if we see something happening before our own eyes that we know is Haraam then immediately we should realise that that act will also bring the displeasure of Allah. If we cannot stop the sin with our hands, then we should atleast use our mouths by advising the person involved in the sin to either stop or not to go ahead with the action. If a person cannot do that then he should atleast feel some sort of sadness in his heart.

It has been the practice of the great scholars of the past that if they saw a person involved in a sin then they would never look down on that person or treat him with hate. Instead they would make shukr and give thanks to Allah Ta'ala that He kept them away from such acts of disobedience. They would make dua that Allah Ta'ala removes that sin from that person's life.

A famous saying comes to mind where someone stated that, "An increase in evil occurs when good people fail to speak." Whether you pray 5 times a day or even if you don't pray at all, we as muslims are all equal and brothers to one another and nobody is superior in status. If a person needs to be advised or reminded then we should do so and not think "I'm not pious enough to do so" or "What if they laugh at me?" or "what if they reject me?" Forget about what people think your duty is to remind people especially when Halal and Haraam situations are present before you and you have the correct amount of knowledge to actually get your point across.

I've also noticed that some people have tonnes of knowledge when it comes to topics that are debatable in Islam and ones that cause controversy, but what about the basic topics of day to day life? Forget about all the Madhab issues and whether one is following the Qur'an and Sunnah in Salaah and focus on actually getting the people to pray their salaah!

Just to wrap it up I'll narrate the following analogy taken from Mufti Taqi Usmani's book Discourses on Islamic Way Of Life Volume 9:

Our behaviour may be compared to a bad-smelling house offensive to the mind. If any outsider enters it, he will find it difficult to stay even a while in the house, but anyone already staying in it will not sense the difference because he is accustome to-the smell. He will not understand why anyone should rebuke him for staying in the offensive atmosphere. The other man whom Allah has protected from the bad-smelling house and kept in a fragrant atmosphere will be repulsed from a distance when he gets the bad smell. In the same way, believers whose hearts are devoted to Allah and are clean like a shining mirror are replused from the darkness and abhorrence of sin.

May Allah enable us to enjoin in good and forbid the evil even within our own lives. Ameen.

Poetry: To The One Who Bears Me In His Heart

To The One Who Bears Me In His Heart,

What chance do you have of finding me?

Do not look at them! Surely, you are the body that clothes my existence!

Have you become so ignorant that you help others and exile yourself?

That, my friend is your illness, your constant need to gawk into he or she,

You’ve been observing all else so hard that you have completely forgotten me,

The irony of it all is that I am clearer than that which you breathe,

Although I must say my dear, you have left me lonely since you started to admonish.

Nevertheless I am here! I always will be! Like a moth that harnesses itself to the light,

And when that light ceases to glow... synonymous to your insignificant life, I too will go.

But until then, I will be perched, sitting veiled upon your heart,

And when you gaze in the mirror, I advise you to scrutinise the ‘work of art’.


With love,
Your Faults.