Bismillah walhamdulillah was salaatu wa salaamu ala Rasulilah
We are all aware what effort we put into the month of Ramadhan. A month in which Allah has made acts of worship easy for us to perform, the masjids prepare daily with taraweeh qiyaam and suhoor and iftaar. Do we have any excuse not to have raised ourselves in this month?
It is said that Ramadhan is like a mirror, a time for you to truly evaluate your relationship with Allah. In this month of ease did you fulfill your expectations and the goals you set? Do you feel that you have become more patient? Did you refine your manners? Did you become more charitable? And more importantly, do you feel you have gained Taqwa? Has Allah not told us that it is Taqwa that we are supposed to gain during the fast, Allah says “fasting is prescribed as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may attain Taqwa” - Surah Al Baqarah, verse 183.
Now that Ramadhan is over, I think we all realise that the leaving of food, drink and relations with our spouses only paved that way for us to recognise the greatness of Allah and what blessings He has given us. Allah tells us in the Quran, “and if anyone of you were to count Allah’s blessings you would not be able” - Surah An Nahl, verse 18.
Our bodies become weak, but our souls strengthened through the worship of our Lord. We thought after the Lailatul Qadr, we hoped for Allah’s forgiveness and mercy, but the questions arises, what action will remain with us after Ramadhan?
After praying taraweeh every night, after fasting day, after giving charity regularly, what stays with us? What will we continue to do after the month of Ramadhan? When this month of mercy and blessing has finished, it is important that we continue to worship Allah, Allah says in the Quran “and worship your Lord until there comes unto you the certainly (i.e. death)” - Surah Al Hijr, verse 99.
We are ordered to worship Allah as he has prescribed, with sincerity and devotion, but should be aware and very careful not to undo all that we have gained in Ramdhan.
Allah tells in the Quran, “And do not be like her who undoes the thread which she has spun, after it has become strong…” - Surah An Nahl, verse 92.
Ibn Kathir in his tafsir quotes Mujahid and Qatadah explaining this verse, ‘This is like the one who breaks a covenant after confirming it“. Like a person who offered all that worship in the month of Ramadhan, and when it was over, returns to disobedience.
If we look at the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him), he said, “Verily the beloved actions to Allah are those which are continuous, even though they may be little” - Recorded by Muslim.
We are not necessarily expected to keep up that level of worhsip after Ramdhan, but rather be continuous and constant in our worship. Imam An Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him), said commenting on this hadith, “the incentives for us doing actions continuously even though it may be little, is better than one who occasionally offers alot of worship“. Sharh Sahih Muslim
Why is this the case? The one who is continuous in his worship is constantlt remembering Allah, whereas the other who worships Allah in a great amount only occasionally, is seen as neglectful.
Another important point for us to contemplate is the matter of the acceptance of our deeds; this indeed is a matter of great importance. As we are fully aware, we do not know whether Allah has accepted our efforts in Ramadhan or any other time. So how should we be after worshipping Allah?
If we look at the pious predecessors, we will see that they went to great lengths to perfecting their worship, then after this they would show great concern for the acceptance of their actions. They did this because they feared that their actions would not be accepted. Allah tells us in the Quran, “Veily Allah only accepts from those who are Mutaqeen (pious)” - Surah Al Maidah, verse 27.
Malik bin Dinar (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Fear that an action is not accepted is more difficult than performing the action itself“. Fudalah ibn Ubaid (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “for me to know that Allah has accepted from me an action the size of a mustard seed, is more beloved to me than this world and everything within it“.
Does the reaction of the pious predecessors make us think about our own reaction? Or do we feel that the mere offering of that action was sufficient?
May Allah make us from those who not only offer our deeds but with sincerity and hope and also help us to reflect on what we have done.
We will not know whether our deeds have been accepted until the Day of Judgment, but the scholars have mentioned that there may be some indications or signs that a servants efforts have been accepted by Allah. For example, a servant upon reflection after Ramadhan sees that he has increased his worship and he is more sincere in his worship. During the month he made sincere dua to Allah, that he increases in his worship and now he finds himself like that Allah answered his dua. This is a state not only we should ask for during Ramadhan and just after it, but a state which we continue to be in, and also which we die upon.
May Allah accept whatever we offered in the month of Ramadhan, and may he make us from those whose duas are accepted.
Wa akhir dawaana anihamdulillahi Rabbil alamin
Waseem Kempson
Assalaamu ‘Alaikum warahmathullahi wabarakathuhu,
All Praise belongs to Allah (SWT) He is The Only One Deserving of All Praise, and May the Salaah and Peace be upon our beloved Messenger of Allah (SA) and those who follow him exactly in faith and worship.
Know a believer is afflicted with many kinds of afflictions in this dunya by The Most Merciful and The Most Wise, in order for him to achieve the best and the greatest of rewards; The pleasure of Al-Wadud (The Most Loving and Caring) Allah (AW). The greatest of these afflictions a believer is afflicted with are the whispers of shayaateen amongst Jinn, and the violent hatred and brutality of the enemies of Al-‘Azeez (Al-Mighty & Al-Powerful). But the greatest of all of these afflictions by far is the nafs (self). the devil iblees he did not have any shayaateen to whisper to him, nor did he have any kind of outer enemies, but he had an inner one and that was his self. This self is within the creation of jinn & mankind, if this self is defeated and won against than the outer enemies are also defeated and will be won against.
Therefore the first battlefield for Jihaad is the self; “So Steadfast it’s roots & ground with Thawheed, Assist it and make it Happier with Yaqeen, Strengthen it with Ikhlaas, Purify it with Worship of It’s Master, Abstain it from Shahawaath (all kinds of desires of the heart), Protect it from Shubuhaath (all kinds of doubts in the Deen) and Take Assistance with Allah;”
“Those who strive for Us We shall surley guide them to our paths, and verily Allah is with the Muhsinun”. (Surah ‘Ankabuth; 69)
Brief explanation of some of the above words:
Thawheed; Oneness of Allah (SWT); Believing and Affirming that Allah (SWT) is one in His Essence, Names & Attributes and that He has No partners, rivals, equals or alike “….There is nothing like Him….” “There is none coequal to Him”. So make it steadfast with “none has the right to be worthy of worship except Allah (AW)”.
Yaqeen: Certainty; opposite of doubt. Assist the self and make it happier by removing doubts through knowledge of Allah (SWT). Knowledge of His Ever Living, Majestic Beautiful Essence, His Perfect and Profound Names, and His Merciful, Just, and Caring Attributes.
Ikhlaas: Sincerity; Worshipping Allah (SWT) without associating anyone or anything in anyway in worship. Whether it be worship of the heart, worship of the tongue, or worship of the limbs. So Strengthen the self by worshipping Allah (AW) without polluting it with worship for the sake of others, showing off, thinking good about oneself, looking down upon other believers.
Shahaawaath; Desires; Abstain the self from all kinds of desires of the heart; desires of disbelieve, shirk, innovation, desires of dunya, desires of woman, desires of hatred, jealousy oppression, spying, deceiving, lying, abusing, backbiting…against the believers.
So ask The Creator and The Master of the self to make your self steadfast upon His (SWT) Deen, and Obedient and consistent in His worship. Ask Allah (SWT) with His Beautiful Names and Attributes to accept these words Khaalis for Him (SWT). And ask Allah (AW) to make our hearts and selves steadfast upon The Truth. Allahumma Ameeen.
May The Salaah and Peace be upon our beloved Prophet and Messenger Muhammad (SA), his Family, his Companions and those who follow them exactly in faith and worship. And my last words are; there is None Worthy of Worship except You Allah (SWT), To You Belongs All-Praise. And Allah Knows Best.
Wassalaamu ‘Alaikum warahmathullahi wabarakaathuhu
Below is a question that that was raised via email with regards to the Suhayb
Ar-Rumi lecture, the answer was given by Br Wasim Kempson.
Q) My understanding of the early days of Suhayb ar-Rumi is that, like many of the Prophet’s companions, he escaped from his capture and was not released. He then became a halif of one of the aristocrats of Makkah, Abdullah ibn Judan, where he became a very wealthy man.All the literature that I have read on Suhayb refer to him as ‘escaping’ and not being released.
A) It was only claimed by some family members that Suhayb escaped his masters not the only position held, yes I should have mentioned that, I forgot to.
Suhayb being sold as a slave to Makkah is the widest reported narration amongst the schloars of Hadith this is why I mentioned this version not the other.
Assalamu’alaikum
JazakAllahu khair for all those who have given their feedback on the Suhayb Ar Rumi event. We shall post back the answers and also will display some questions and answers about the event on the blog inshaAllah. To all those attendees who signed up to our mailing list, an email will be sent to yourselves shortly asking for feedback. In general if anyone has any queries or questions about the event please email us on events@qadimoon.com
For your benefit inshaAllah, we have uploaded an article on the virtues of the month of Sha’ban, which was the topic of the khutba today.
Wassalam
Assalamu’alaikum,
JazakAllahu khair for everyone who attended the event, we hope the talk was beneficial especially in terms of knowing and following the sahaba. The numbers were a bit low, this could have been because of other events being exhibitioned on the same day or it could have been the bad weather that kept the audience away. What is important is that we hope it benefited everyone who attended. Please post your comments and suggestions on the event.
Those of you who missed out, we have uploaded an brief article on the importance of following the Sahaba. This is just to quench your thirst for the time being, inshaAllah the talk should be released on DVD in about 5-6 weeks time.
Wassalamu’alaikum
We have received the awaited DVD talk by Murtaza Khan and Jalal Ibn Saeed, on the topics of “The Description of Shaytan” and “The Promise of Allah“ delivered by the two speakers mentioned respectively. Once our website is finally completed we shall have it uploaded on the DVD section, and also we will be selling the DVD in our stalls listed in the stall category of the blog. In the meanwhile Darussalam will be distributing the talk, so check out your local Islamic bookshop retailer, this should take no more 3 weeks inshaAllah.
We have been receiving many emails regarding the release of the Pregnancy talk by Sheikh Tawfique Chowdhury. We know many of you have been waiting patiently and many promises have been made for the release date. As you can imagine the editing process has been lengthy, so please bear patience with our editors. InshaAllah, we are hoping the relase date to be before Ramadhan. In the meanwhile, we’ll keep you posted with the updates.
We will be exhibitng at the Bigland Summer Fair 2007, where we have been allocated 2 gazebo spaces.
Venue; Green Space (Opposite Darul Ul Ummah masjid)
Bigland Street, London E1
Date: Saturday 18th August 2006
Time: 11am - 6pm
Qadimoons stall will be located under 2 gazebos at the summer fete
Date; Sunday 19th August 2007
Location; Leyton Youth Cricket Ground,
Crawley Road, London E10 6RJ
Click here for a map
Times; 11:30am - 6:30pm
Qadimoon will be exhibiting at Islam Channels’ event;
GPU 2007
Venue; ExCel, London
Dates; Saturday 24th November and Sunday 25th November 2007
Location; We will be located at stand numbers; G18, G19 and G20
The event will be held this Sunday 19th August 2007, from 3pm-7pm. Tickets cost £4 and is payable at the door. Event venue will be at the Brady Arts Centre, 192-196 Hanbury Street,
Click here for a map.
This event will be split into two sessions. First will be a talk given by Abu Talha on “The Importance of following the Sahaba“, and the second will be a talk on the Sahaba “Suhayb Ar Rumi“.
Further enquiries; Brothers line 020 7159 0757, Sisters line 07944 352 393
Assalamu’alaikum,
As all of you may be aware from our barren homepage that our website is still under construction. As was the Qadimoon blog, but we’ve taken charge of the blog and promise to bring you all the latest info in relation to upcoming releases, events, lectures and news inshaAllah. We do not have a date as of yet on the completion date for the website - but we’ll keep you posted.
Jazakamullahu khayr for your patience