Picture of the first Tsunami hitting shore

Subhanallah.

Doesn't that remind you of the ayah…

"…and when the Seas flood and overflow…" (al-Infitar, 3)

Aren't all these pictures just crazy?!

Anyway, I've been thinking: Reactive and Proactive. Very interesting words.

As long as we refuse to be proactive as an Ummah then we will constantly be hit and tested by huge calamities; to see how we 'react'.

But that is not how we should be! We shouldn’t need to have to react to all this but rather be proactive in all our actions; in our charity, our worship, our deeds…

So we don't wait till catastrophes to spend our money as sadaqah.

We don't wait until someone dies before we start to learn to pray.

We don't wait until our own mother's funeral before we learn the du'a for the Janaza prayer.

We don't wait until we are dying before we make repentance.

All the above is reactive. What is required from us is to be proactive in all the above. Only such a nation will be successful – until then, if we insist on staying as we are, then Allah 'azza wa jall will continue to send huge shocks to the system to force us to react.

But how many of these 'shocks' do we really want in our lives? The Bosnian massacre, the Kosovan massacre, the Bangladesh floods, the Gujurat Earthquake, The Chechnyan massacre, the Iraq invasions, as well as countless other examples of poverty, war and fitnah that has blighted our history in recent times.

All of the above – intended to make us think, reflect, act…and then build.

Interesting.

Keep giving that money away folks cos' as my father used to say, "That’s the whole reason we work for son." The best places are:

- http://www.islamic-relief.com/
- http://www.icruk.org/
- http://www.rmeducation.org/

Right, back to the serious stuff

How comes I was not nominated in the New Year's Honours list?? If I don't deserve a merit for my service to the British Empire then who does?!

Doh!

But considering that I'm a sports freak then I'm glad that our boys like Pinsent and Holmes et al have been recognised. And don't even bother arguing cos' I'm not in the arguing mood these days…

Hey another classic is that New Years Eve is the time I slate the most amount of customers over their medicines and alcohol. They all always ask 'I can have a drink tonight surely?'

"Err…no."

"What?! But it's New Year's Eve!"

"And?"

;-)

By the way, it's got to be said – Yvonne Ridley was marvellous in her role of presenter on the box last night. See? Told you it was nothing personal…

Just checking on you guys – how deep are those pockets? 'Cos we don't want the stuff that jingles!

I saw a bit of Islam Channel tonight – masha'Allah Tawfeeq, good job lad; you helped rally the masses to raise over a hundred grand in just a few hours!

Subhanallah, I always knew the guy was a Wali (you should all know that means 'Saint' by the way)! He even had a dream that this was going to happen tonight and it came true!! Tawfeeq, please remember mate next time that 'bills' is the last thing we want to see in our dreams, its 'notes' we want to see mate, 'notes'…

:-)

Isn't it just great to see Muslims calling in and committing themselves to their Deen? How is that you may ask? Well, the word sadaqah itself acts as a 'burhan' as mentioned in the Prophetic Hadith i.e. it acts as a clear proof of a Muslim's faith. As for the great glow you feel when the Muslims are buzzing and spending away – Ya Salam!

Anyone wanting a few good reasons to give sadaqah can very Blue Peter style check something I prepared earlier: http://www.islaam.net/main/display.php?id=1200&category=12

And hey, is it just me or did I hear our old friend Wayfarer on the TV donating a large amount of cash? Masha'Allah…

And hey you Mancs out there! What happened to you?! It was the Londoners and Brummies all the way with not even a whiff of Manchester. Sigh.

It's about time we had some good news in the midst of all this misery – but I've had a few other reasons to smile. And about time too...!

The latest news from our beloved brother and teacher Sheikh Ali at-Timimi is indeed good news. Thanks to Abu Abdis-Salam (or see http://www.altimimi.org/) for keeping us up to date in that the Sheikh has won the initial stages of his court case and more time has been granted for his defence. Remember that the Sheikh is still in need of urgent funds to pay for his defence team.

What's that? Charity fatigue!? You've given for the Earthquake already?

FOLKS – Muslims do not KNOW what Charity Fatigue even MEANS! We'll spend on South Asia today, then for Ali Timimi tomorrow and then for Iraq the day after and then back to South Asia again!

Kofi Annan reckons an 'unprecedented response' is needed; ikhwah, our Ummah is unprecedented because we have no limits in giving charity. Fact. That's because OUR Prophet (yes, that's my and your Prophet) told us sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam that, "Wealth is never diminished by giving sadaqah."

Indeed. Ay na'm!

Maybe we can go to sleep tonight with a smile, wal hamdulillah.

Oh, final thanks to Abdur-Rahman for getting this exclusive picture in to me in super quick time.

You might have been wondering what happened to the festive season and celebrations.

You might have wondered where Father Christmas got off to.

Well – we know now…



:-)

I think you've got to be a committed freak to win at the sales, but who's got the time? Hey if anyone sees a XL black duffle jacket in Next then buy it for me. I'll not be paying you back as soon as I see you…

Football. I think we should start a 'Support Wayne Rooney' campaign. Can you believe that the FA is going to ban him for violent conduct?!

And what for?

For battering that Bolton player. And like…so what? Didn't they realise that he's the international captain of 'pigs and monkeys'?

Well done Wayne – lamp him a few more times whilst you're at it…

More militant nutters in Riyadh it seems trying in vain to force the Khariji mentality upon the rest of the Muslims – any objective person will see the falsehood of such actions.

In fact when you think about it, Saudi as a country/state/entity/whatever comes under a lot of stick. It's desperately trying to keep so many different parties happy whether reformist, conservative right, the United Scum, or just even their own 'awwam people. Maybe we should give them a little breather and start on our ole mate Pervez…

On second thoughts, naah let's stick to the Arabs.

;-)

Right – that’s the dunya dealt with.

I'd be interested in your thoughts about the Asian tragedy unfolding; as you can imagine, Radio 5 Live has been unparalleled in its coverage so far of the disaster. The amount of information has been astonishing and with all the criticisms of the media we have today, I couldn't help but think how effective they have been to mobilise the nation into donating, working the emotions of the listeners just about right; not too much, not too little.

Difficult to do you know. When you have travel and sports bulletins to talk about and happy occasions to inform of, it becomes rather difficult to justify. People often feel very guilty. But we shouldn't be – that is not the way of the Muslims. Life for the believer is an ever-revolving drama of good and bad, where sadness is expressed in its right time, happiness in its right time and action at its right time.

Like this site as an example. When do we smile, when do we joke, when are we solemn? Has enough time passed to be 'normal' again, or are we 'moping around' for too long. Hmm, interesting dilemma isn't it?

I suppose ultimately it's about what's inside. As long as you are constantly aware and remembering the lessons, like some of those we thought of yesterday – then maybe that's ok. I was thinking today actually of more lessons to learn; what about how the Day of Judgement must be? If such terror can be realised on the Earth here and now, then what will it possibly be like when…

"…the Seas flood and overflow, when the graves are emptied out…" (82/3-4)

"…the Earth is convulsed and the mountains are crushed and become scattered dust in the air." (56/4-6)

"…and when the Seas shall be like a blazing fire…" (81/6)

Allahu Akbar.

And how many people are laughing now at their biblical school stories of Noah? How many times have you heard in recent days: "I have nothing to say about my experience except that it was Biblical in every sense."

See how the destruction of the previous nations is only recognised by us when our hearts and minds are put under the shock machine of Nature? Reflect folks, reflect…

On a separate point, haven't you been impressed by the relief effort so far? Sure, there are much difficulties in getting the aid to such remote areas but who even knew about the Aceh province except Islamic news junkies who have been aware of the Civil War there for years?? Who else would have informed us that over 100,000 people have died there alone!

I still cannot believe those people who have been criticising the £50 million donated by the government so far. Have they forgotten all the other staff and logistical teams that have already gone out there, all the emergency relief teams aswell, SEPARATE from the cash? And that's just a first instalment. What of the public? I've witnessed in this last week a huge feel-good factor amongst the public as they've donated over £25 million in a few days. Subhanallah, who'd have thought that giving sadaqah would have such beneficial spiritual gains in the dunya aswell as the Aakhirah. What a shame that so many will only gain in the dunya…

Still, you can't help feeling touched by random acts of generosity of Joe Bloggs to the Queen, from the England cricket team to Rushton and Diamonds Kid's Team pocket money. Let's lead the way here folks and spend ourselves, spend like our lives depended on it! Money will only get you so much in your pocket and bank account so put it to better use before the spotlight fades and we start to lose interest.

Why am I banging on about this so much? I don't know, but I've just been so affected by some of the actions of these individuals – has anyone heard that most amazing radio appeal by David Dimbleby? Subhanallah, what an honourable guy – how can anyone not donate after hearing such a well presented and noble public statement.

Hey can someone from the da'wah department leave the boxers and popstars for a minute and concentrate on Dimbleby? We need a guy like him on our side…

:-)

Talking of poptars…what on Earth is our boy Yusuf Islam up to? I still haven't heard this track he's recorded with that Boyzone bloke but does someone have any information that I don't?

Ajeeb.

Someone rang me and said that the song he's doing now was one of his favourites back in the days. In his words, "Bro, it was like…the CAT is BACK man!"

LOL. Miskeen.

My highlight of the day was another text SMS from our man in Madina Usama, who is currently sitting in Masjid an-Nabawi 'living it large' as we say. And why not? Yasir, I hope you took him and his whole family out to dinner – don't even think about chickening out! What's that? He's got 17 members with him!? Oh, well maybe that's understandable then…

;-)

Sunderland isn't that bad after all guys – and someone is definitely making du'a for me – I had a great drive down in the morning, fantastic conditions and great staff when I got here. Quality. And able to write a blog whilst dispensing. Sorted. Oh, the Reef has just confirmed that the South Africans have blagged us Brits on the last day of the Test with 'bad light'. Oh well.

And hey, can everyone delay getting their medicines until the 12th of January please, until I'm well and proper out of the country? Nice one.

I've got a fantastic article detailing the biography of one my favourite scholars, the inimitable Sheikh Muhammad Mukhtar ash-Shanqiti (may Allah preserve him). What if I include a few of the anecdotes surrounding him?

As you know, ethnically Mauritanian but born in Madina, the Sheikh (hadfidhahullah) is only 45 years old but still doesn't cease to amaze anyone and everyone who is lucky enough ever to meet him or sit in one of his legendary circles.

In terms of 'standard' education, he has completed his Masters and PhD with distinction from the Islamic University of Madinah, and is now a teacher at the same University. But it is his studies outside of the conventional 'norm' that has elevated him, wa masha'Allah, to another level.

Having studied so many texts with his father the great Shanqiti Historian (an 'Alim from the Kibaar in his own right as attested to by Sheikhs Uthaymeen and Bakr Abu Zayd, he was a prolific author and memoriser of texts such as the entire Bidayah wan-Nihayah!) such as tasfeer, fiqh, usul etc, for over 15 years, he was given ijaza by him to teach just before his father's death 16 years ago (rahimahullah).

It's his memory and staggering reading skills that distinguishes him above the rest. A student was discussing something once with Sheikh Mukhtar and claimed that he was backed up by ibn Taymiyyah. The Sheikh responded, "I've read the Fatawa ibn Taymiyyah completely no less than three times and I've never come across what you claim!" If that’s what he's covered from ibn T, then imagine all the other classical texts he must have memorised!

Wow man.

Now guys, we're not talking about your 3 english volume Fatawa Islamiyyah or Fatawa Rahimiyyah here – we are talking 37 old, huge, classical arabic volumes of some of the most eloquent language ever. This is no joke man!

Anyway, that’s enough joy for now – we'll release a bit more later…

Sadness and depression is quite normal in such devastating times especially as the magnitude of the disaster unfolds before our very eyes. Don't even waste your time with the death toll by the way - we aren't even anywhere near the final figure...

But like I said, it's time to be positive now. Remember, our Creator is the one who controls the affairs, all in His immense wisdom. That's one of the beauties of reading Surah al-Kahf so often every week at least, so we can see how clearly 'evil' occurs but in actual fact, it is all for the 'greater good.' See the discussion between Khidr and Musa ('alayhima salam) to understand the wisdom of keeping quiet when we don't know any better. Naturally, our inherent problems and lack of intellect often doesn’t allow us to understand such scenarios. There is no doubt that many beneficial lessons will insha'Allah arise out of this tragedy and hopefully the benefits will be realised by the human race, its believing and disbelieving folk alike.

Here are a few of the lessons that I believe we should be positive about at such a disheartening hour:

1. Fundamentally, all such circumstances are another test for the creation. How will we respond and react? Will we beseech Our Lord for mercy, or as the foolish and disbelieving folk do, turn against Him 'azza wa jall and blame Him for events which ultimately come from our hands?

"We will test you with a certain amount of fear and hunger and loss of wealth and life and fruits. But give good news to the steadfast. Those who, when disaster strikes them, say, 'We belong to Allah and to Him we will return.' Those are the people who will have blessings and mercy from their Lord; they are the ones who are guided." (al-Baqarah, 155-157)

2. 100,000 deaths but how many more millions spared? Everything is relative after all.

3. How many countless millions have been starkly reminded of the reality of death – that it may come to anyone at anytime; so that only the foolish and deserving will ignore such a fact.

4. Millions of Muslims will have rediscovered their relationship with Du'a; making supplications to Allah as they pray for help and mercy, attaining by this much reward too insha'Allah. Hopefully, this will be a habit that remains in times of sustenance and happiness and not just in times of dire need and desperation.

5. Again the millions of Muslims that will gain huge rewards for donating their sadaqah to help their fellow brothers and sisters as well as the rest of humanity, fulfilling the Prophetic advice to relieve the hardships of the Ummah.

6. How many Muslims have been drawn closer to their families and loved ones after seeing such tragic loss of life between families, often with the loss of so many children. Isn't it better to smile and hug your child instead of shouting at him for once?

7. Learn from the tragedy in terms of prevention. We need to develop an early warning system in the Indian Ocean and other places similar to the Pacific Ocean which has already proved to save thousands of lives. Yes, 100,000 die today but millions saved for tomorrow…

8. With the rebuilding and restructuring programme planned for the worst affected areas, maybe a more 'safer' life can be established than what has previously been experienced with more stable and concrete buildings that can withstand future problems. Allah knows best.

9. Muslims should learn from other governments in their response to such situations, their emergency organisations etc. Muslims must be able to deal with these scenarios without recourse to others unless in dire need such as today. Their rescue teams are the best in the world. The governments in our Muslim lands spend more on their private holidays - we can do better.

10. Muslims can witness indeed how well the Western governments look after their citizens caught up in the whole drama. Their swift response in replacing passports, money and emergency evacuation has been very quick and urgent, despite the petty claims of those who'd like to rubbish these facts. This is naturally in line with what our Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) told us in the hadith found in Sahih Muslim (no. 6925) concerning the 'Romans' as they, "are the quickest and best in responding to calamity…" and are "…good to the destitute and the orphans…".

11. Millions of pounds have been pledged by the non-Muslims – look and learn Ya Ummatal Islam! We of all people should be giving without count!

12. Some of the poor areas would never have received the attention of the international community concerning its poverty but hopefully all the publicity and media coverage will encourage more people to focus on such areas that needed desperate help anyway even before the recent tragic earthquake.

13. All the different people who will receive aid will insha'Allah feel closer and more belonging to their Ummah. How happy I would feel if I knew that millions of people were out there making du'a for me and spending their hard-earned money for me! This at a time of great selfishness and materialism can only help to bring the Ummah closer together insha'Allah.


Anyway, Allah knows best. The more you sit and think about it, the more lessons one could learn – but now isn't the time to sit thinking of more 'benefits' but rather it is time for action and hopefully start to actualise some of the lessons and benefits.

Have you noticed that my posts seem to be getting later and later? Yes you guessed it – I'm back at work again! Subhanallah mission man, was in North Wales today and in Sunderland tomorrow! Fajr on the motorway again…!

:-(

A brother mentions Saudi. Good point that actually cos' maybe I should clarify something. I love Saudi as a country and I actually have a lot of respect for what the government does in its attempt to preserve the correct form of Islam amongst it's people. How couldn't I when some of the things I have learnt have been studied there under its students and scholars?! That doesn't mean though that I should turn a blind eye to its often ridiculous actions and oppression – as for the expression of that…well, indeed that could be debated. You should have realised by now though that I generally wear my heart on my sleeve and I'm happy for others to disagree with that openly here. Fine.

By the way, I still think Saudi leaves all other 'Muslim' countries miles behind in terms of Deen etc. No doubt. I mean look at Pak and Shaam and everywhere else with their total destruction of classical Islam. But it's just more fun talking about the Wahabis…

;-)

Confused? Can't work me out? Haha…

Anyway, the Paks continue to do our baistee with the lame attempt at believing they could challenge the Aussies at cricket.

Sigh.

But hey Subhanallah, I don't mind getting battered by the Aussies if they can teach the Paks a lesson in honour and adab – they donated their entire match winnings to the Asian appeal. I hope the Paks will follow suit. I hope even more that we will too.

And anyway, the Brits are playing excellent and battering the South Africans so thats good - at least we got someone winning something out there...

Ajeeb, what about the stand of the Sri Lankan Government who refused aid from Israel who were donating a military hospital unit that would be run by Israeli soldiers? Interesting eh? Wouldn't it be great if the Muslim countries would also stand for principles like that…?

I heard that the Makki seminar was very good masha'Allah with the boys pulling out the stops as usual. Oh and Murtaza blanked us again driving back off home despite pleas to stay and eat. That guy is now on my boycott list bigtime…

;-)

Earlier whilst I was writing this, my dispensing assistant was reading it too:

"Hey, are you a preacher too?"

"Not really – I'm just writing a little something for my website."

"Listen, I've got the hiccups – have I sinned?"

"Girl, if you've sinned then hiccups are gonna be the LEAST of your problems…"

Man, Miskeena – people are just mashed out there! You wouldn't believe the kind of things I hear on a daily basis whilst I'm in the Pharmacy! I could make a separate blog composed of all that alone - We have just go SO much work to do…

About the right time to end with a knock out GP ('Goose pimples') verse to maintain the theme from a few days ago:


فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جَمَعْنَاهُمْ لِيَوْمٍ لا رَيْبَ فِيهِ وَوُفِّيَتْ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا كَسَبَتْ وَهُمْ لا يُظْلَمُونَ

"So how will it be when We assemble them for a Day about which there is no doubt? And each soul will be compensated for what it earned, and they will not be wronged." (Aali-Imran, 25)

This has to be my last day of official depression – it's time to get the cogs back into action and start doing something practical about things.

You might have also heard about Saudi Arabia continuing their purge or Kristallnacht on perfectly good and righteous Charity Aid organisations, yesterday closing down their third one at the whims and wishes of the United Scum of America. Excellent timing seeing that we don't obviously have any needs for charity and aid these days…

Allahu Musta'an.

I haven't got the will to write anything positive – not after hearing that the death toll of Muslims in Indonesia alone is reaching over 30,000. Subhanallah, 30,000! As for the total, then we're just wasting our time with these figures as they rise without respite – especially considering the disease that is setting in after the deluge.

Again, I appeal on behalf of all those who care for humans and their suffering to donate at either http://www.islamic-relief.com/, or http://www.kinniya.info/ or even personally to those who have contacts with the affected communities.

Depressing as it is, but this is my last photo reminder of the death and destruction this disaster has caused. Reflect my brothers and sisters, reflect…

Please do the following before you go to sleep tonight.

1. If you have any children or family, give them a huge hug and thank Allah that He has preserved them so far in such happiness.

2. Read the reports of those affected - note how death came upon their beloved ones all of a sudden. That could be me or you next time. Are we ready for Judgement?

3. Support those who have been affected. If financially, then www.islamic-relief.com. If not, then by Du'a. If not even that, then by leaving those actions that put us all under the threat of the Anger of the Almighty.

Reflect on these (from Saeed Khan/AFP/gettyimages):







Innaa lillaahi wa innaa ilayhi raaji'oon.

The death-toll keeps rising, 23,000 confirmed dead so far, but how many of us have taken our lesson from it?

Just a reminder. Sigh.

Can someone cheer me up with some other stuff? Alright alright, even if it's at my expense…

Oh yeah, loads of duas for our friends like Nabeel and Saleem sitting their Uni exams in Makkah, we hope that Allah gives you what you deserve.

Eh?

Actually, let's try that again. I remember stopping people who said that to me and asking them to change their du'a! If I was to get what I deserved…well, put it this way, I wouldn't be where I was now!

;-)

So, we wish and hope that Allah gives you the best of results and success, Ameen!

Back to more depressing things – like life. Man, I hate work. :-(

Actually let me correct myself. I don't hate work, I just hate having to be here when I could be doing something more enjoyable than what I am at the moment (cos' it's not really all that bad being a Pharmacist to be honest).

Hope you all enjoyed the conference at Makki Masjid with Murtaza and Tawfeeq insha'Allah. I'll be hopefully 'touching base' with the boys later on tonight once I free myself from this forsaken Welsh pharmacy I'm stuck in today. Oh and anyone in the North East, the Bradford Seminar will be this evening between 4-7pm so check it out at Campden Terrace Masjid.

Alhamdulillah, at least it's not snowing – what a beautifully sunny day masha'Allah. Hope it's like that on Wednesday when I go to work in the land of no return – Sunderland! Arghhhhhh…

Still, been able to do some work and also catch up on a bit of cricket. It looks as if the Paks are trying to save some face in the 2nd Test but we'll probably still get a battering. And all the Bangla boys out there, I can't believe you guys beat the Indians – ridiculous or amazing? You choose.

Some excellent discussions seem to be playing out on the Multaqa about various different issues, one thread dedicated to those unique knockout verses of the Qur'an (even though it is all unique in one sense) that particularly shake you up – you know, give you that distinctive goose-pimply feeling of shock and awe. In fact, these verses are common only by the fact that one can't find enough superlatives to describe them without doing injustice. And sometimes, the verses might need deep reflection, looking almost 'normal' to the first casual listen but when studied and thought about…Subhanallah. Here are a few and let's see what you guys can come up with:

وَقَدِمْنَا إِلَى مَا عَمِلُوا مِنْ عَمَلٍ فَجَعَلْنَاهُ هَبَاءً مَنْثُورًا

"And We shall turn to whatever deeds they did, and We shall make such deeds as floating dust scattered about." (al-Furqan, 23)


أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَنْ يُتْرَكُوا أَنْ يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لا يُفْتَنُونَ
وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ

"Do people think that they will be left alone because they say: "We believe," and will not be tested? And We indeed tested those who were before them, and Allah will certainly make it known those who are true and will certainly make it known those who are the liars. (al-Ankabut, 2-3)

Woah that's enough for now – I won't be able to get any sleep tonight if we do any more – Allahu Musta'an.

Bigtime DT comes from the great 'Umar ibn Abdul 'Azeez (radhy Allahu 'anhu) after he heard the recitation of the ayah:

وَاكْتُبْ لَنَا فِي هَذِهِ الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ إِنَّا هُدْنَا إِلَيْكَ قَالَ عَذَابِي أُصِيبُ بِهِ مَنْ أَشَاءُ وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ بِآيَاتِنَا يُؤْمِنُونَ

"'And ordain good for us in this world, and in the Hereafter. Certainly we have turned unto you.' He (Allah) said, '(As to) My Punishment I afflict therewith whom I will and My Mercy embraces all things. That (Mercy) I shall ordain for those who are the Muttaqun, and give Zakah, and believe in Our Signs." (al-A'raf, 156)

He turned and supplicated to Allah, "Oh Allah, I am likewise just a thing and indeed your Mercy embraces all things."

Oh Allah, have Mercy upon us all!

Subhanallah. What else can one say other than "Ya Allah, 'Aafiyah, 'aafiyah". Oh Allah pardon us and protect us from your Anger and from your Sunan playing out in the World.

The pictures and reports of the devastating Earthquakes from the Indian Ocean cannot have failed to shock and terrify everyone. La hawla wa la quwwata illaa billah…it spread from Indonesia to Africa! I'm honestly lost for words and all I can say is that all who have been affected should be in our thoughts and prayers.

Another sign of the Hour? Maybe. The Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) did say that there would be years of earthquakes at the advent of the Hour (Sahih, Abu Ya'la and Darimi).

Of course, earthquakes have been with us from the very early days and maybe it's just that we are better at recording their incidences in the modern times. It is very difficult to interpret the various narrations concerning the signs of the Hour, and then try to relate them to events today, especially as the critic can always give an explanation that would not make a hadith applicable. In any case, there is no doubt about the onset of the Hour as one of the major signs has already occurred – the advent of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam).

Interestingly for those concerned in following the actions of the Salaf in such issues, Imam ash-Shafi'i relates that some of the Sahabah would pray nawaafil prayers at the event of such terrifying signs from Allah. Hurricanes, earthquakes, meteor showers and other such situations would always have a profound effect on the Sahabah, and they would often remember Allah much in such times. An earthquake occurred in the Khilafate of 'Umar (radhy Allahu 'anhu) so he gathered the people and gave them a khutbah in which he encouraged them to give in charity and to make repentance. They did not pray a congregational salah as for that is only legislated at the time of an eclipse. Rather, as 'Abbas (radhy Allahu 'anhu) did, they would sometimes pray individually, taking the opportunity to reflect on that particular Sign of Allah, to thank Him for His continuing mercy and to seek forgiveness from Him, 'azza wa jall.

Maybe this disaster in South Asia should be used for us to remember our Creator, seek forgiveness and repentance and help those who have been affected with our money and du'a, in emulation of the excellent example set by our predecessors.

I must confess that being a Pak means I have always had a very big soft spot for Queenie. It's something totally ingrained into the Britpak psyche, something my mother imbued into me whilst teaching me how to read and write…

Therefore, anything I say about the Queen is totally biased and subjective so tough.

Did anyone hear or even better actually watch her Christmas message to the UK? Go to the BBC link and you can watch it there.

I thought it was a marvellous display. Honest. This woman is our biggest supporter for safety in this country, whatever anyone else thinks. She's also incidentally probably one of the biggest miskeen women in the country too – aren't all rulers though? Especially those who are totally ruled by their government and foreign policy?

Of course – she has no REAL power of significance in this country. That’s the way we all like it. We want her to be there and just act out the royalty show and we're as happy as larry. She just has to fulfil her civic duties however painful they are to us such as support 'her' troops and regiments etc, and all other ambassadorial duties that the Foreign Office force her to do – but deep down, I honestly believe she is a good Christian and a good ally for the Paks in this country. That’s what I saw from the speech, especially the following points:

Christmas is for most of us a time for a break from work, for family and friends, for presents, turkey and crackers. But we should not lose sight of the fact that these are traditional celebrations around a great religious festival, one of the most important in the Christian year.

This whole speech is very 'loaded' and every statement is a deep message. Here she does an excellent job slating the massive secular lobby in this country that want to do away with religion altogether in the UK, such as France.

She confirms the well-known fact that Christmas is for 99% of the UK just a blag, a holiday, an opportunity to feel good for a few days i.e. totally secular. And that is how the majority of the UK, 'Secular Humanists' as they call themselves, want it to be known. But Queenie says, "Enjoy yourselves guys but it's because of a deeni thing that you guys have got this privilege."

Excellent. Even though of course Christmas has jack to do with any Deen especially Christianity according to Biblical scholars. No that’s not the point. The point is that she still maintains the importance of belief and God in a very increasingly secular and Godless society where our biggest enemy is indeed this Godless secular humanism that is eating up the World and even starting to affect Muslims themselves! 1-0 Queenie!

The implication drawn by Jesus is clear. Everyone is our neighbour, no matter what race, creed or colour. The need to look after a fellow human being is far more important than any cultural or religious differences.

Remember what I was saying yesterday (in the comments) about how the UK owes us nothing but we should still work as hard as possible to get as much ease and allowances from the Govt. to allow us to practise our Deen? Well whoever's been working on Queenie has done a marvellous job. The more we can get out of her in terms of tolerance and all that – well, excellent. The Paks need stability here in the UK and for people to accept Muslims as just another type of British before we launch our huge massive plan – the conversion of the Crown!

MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Sorry, got a bit carried away.

Anyway, I know it's a bit late now but you all know the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" which many think is a religious Christian thing but it is what most people take it to be: a secular song that celebrates the Christmas season with imagery of gifts and dancing and music. Anyway, Radio 5 made up their own version and I heard some classics whistling around. Anyone got any good Pak ones? How about this (of course, you have to put the rhyme to it and all that)…

"On the first day I grew up, my Molvi advised me…

Follow the 10 promised Jannah
memorise the 9 signs of Musa
aim for 8 doors of heaven
by making 7 circambulations (!)
using 6 points of tableegh
about the 5 pillars of Islaaaaaaaaaam
Get 4 lovely wives
3 of them French hens (!?)
Love the 2 companions in a cave
and worship 1 Allah, Ilaaaaaaaahiiiiii!"

Not bad for 3 minutes!

:-)

Another classic at Christmas time when you're working in a Pharmacy is when all these people come buying their painkillers and 'pick-me-ups' for the 'morning after'. They say:

"Oh! These medicines say you can't take them with alcohol."

"That’s correct, you can't take any alcohol whatsoever. At all. No way."

"Not even in moderation? It says here that a small amount is ok!"

"Not even a drop. Not at all."

"Hey – you're not preaching at me here are you? Excuse me, is this your regular Pharmacist?"

"Me? Preach? Never!"

;-)

So alhamdulillah, someone must have made a du'a for me cos' I got to work nice and safely, no problems at all. Now I've just got to think of how I'm gonna get back.

More pertinently, how can I blag an early Xmas eve closure? I'm aiming for 4pm guys so let's see…

Please see the comments page on the last post as a few close brothers have personally emailed their response to my Yvonne Ridley comments. Needless to say, they weren't very happy.

:-(

Still, that’s what I asked for; open criticism with good points. Indeed some points were good and others maybe a tad weak to which I have responded. I have also taken the advice to apologise if Yvonne took this personally. It was not meant to be personal but I can see how it might have not been as constructive as it should have.

Also, the only reason I went public is because she has done so likewise on a number of occasions. I know that’s what she wants to do and I know we should be more accommodating of newer Muslims, but this doesn't mean people shouldn't be more responsible for their statements in the Deen. Myself even more so. That is why I always ask for corrections and responses or refutations and I have kept my comments page unlocked so people can be heard.

There is nothing more valuable in this religion than advice. There is nothing more honourable then following it.

Finally, I can't believe the gall of the Scabbies (Black Cab drivers if you remember). Professional - unite to defend the honour of the academic ranks, for tonight there will be a baistee of monumental proportions. Oh, and the food isn't free. Since when was Kansas free?

:-)

FOUR miles today masha'Allah, FOUR! I can't even think that far normally forget about run it.

But you can rely on the boys giving me maximum motivation. Such as Bobs last night: "Not bad bro, stomach's still there though."

Cheers. Thanks a million.

Anyway, after my mega-marathon, checking the messages and I hear:

'G'day bro. Just touching base…'

Man – why is that half of us Brits LOVE everything Yankee and Aussie and the other half detest it? Naturally I detest the lot of course.

BUT we make exceptions for our favourite Aussie in the world Tawfique. Masha'Allah he's arrived safely in the UK today ready to tour all ends of the country. He will no doubt be at a masjid near you so make sure you don't miss him. Just tell him to speak British and not Aussie…

:-)

Jazakallah Khayran Imitaz for that excellent quote from the Iqtidhaa of ibn T. It's nice to know that ones gut feeling has the big boys behind it – shame I've stopped eating chocolates though!

Hey for all you connoisseurs out there, check this fantastic link about Sheikh Rashid Ridha (rahimahullah) answering questions about the wisdoms of Hajj in his magazine al-Manar:

http://www.ahlalhdeeth.com/vb/showthread.php?t=24564

For those who were asking about Ridley's article – well, this could get a bit messy.

Look, I've been working with reverts and new Muslims for years and years by the grace of Allah 'azza wa jall. One thing that is very well known (which many of our reverts even on this site will tell you) is that they often come into Islam with much baggage from their previous lives. Much of the baggage is a benefit to that person and Islam and the community as a whole. Unfortunately, a lot of that baggage often isn't so good and really affects a person's understanding of the Qur'an and Sunnah.

It usually takes a while to appreciate the real wisdoms behind Shari'ah rulings. Until then, many reverts use their intellect as a basis for understanding divine rulings. This is probably the most common problem that they carry with them for a while. Then, if they study the Deen properly for a while, then Alhamdulillah in 99% of cases, this is resolved and we have Muslims that are more often that not far above and beyond the quality of us standard Paks. Fact.

Right, that’s all the introductory spiel that we need to know from the usul ad-da'wah. Now lets apply it to Ridley.

She understands Hijab totally wrong. I think people didn't read my statement clearly when I said it was a poor article as I did mention that I agreed with a non-Muslim critic in what he said. I'll copy paste it again for those who missed it last time:

Yvonne Ridley seems to want it both ways. She wishes to demonstrate her allegiance to Islam, and asserts her clothing's symbolic significance; yet when that symbolism attracts less than courteous interest, she claims that symbolism doesn't exist.

If you read her article, you'll see that this man is absolutely right. She contradicts herself very badly. She starts off by saying that the hijab is:

basically a symbol of modesty and a very public statement.

You what?? That’s two opposites! The Hijab is meant to be everything BUT a public statement. It's meant to allow our women to go about their business without attracting the attention of the public like other 'loose', 'carefree', 'tart', 'liberal' madams do everyday. Hello?

And her poor understanding and naïve article has done nothing but put the Hijab even MORE into the Public eye! I mean that's exactly what we wanted isn't it? Sigh.

Her experiences are no doubt true and sad, but let's stop sobbing about it and go ahead and change that perception. Think about this carefully folks. If you go ahead and just BE a normal citizen, you'll be one. If you start TELLING everyone that you're a second class citizen, then you'll ALWAYS feel that social stigma that you actually are. Even worse, you're telling the public that you think you are. So when the next time they see a Hijabi in public, they now think, 'Oh poor oppressed 2nd class miskeen. She must be so stressed with that cloth round her head. Isn't that what that Journalist said?'

Fantastic.

Anyway, that is of course totally my own opinion on this article. I'd appreciate any good refutations of what I've just said. I await your replies.

I know that this is her job – to be paid to write things which will catch the reader's eye – but please don't write it on things you don't fully understand! Then you have to start stretching normality to fit the paranoia that one has created e.g. the taxi rank example that I explained. And alhamdulillah, we even got a scabbie to write in and confirm I was right!

Love the joke about the mud wrestling by the way. Classic.

Finally, du'as please as Muggins here has to go to work in Hell tomorrow – sorry, Hull. Yes HULL, the one that’s hundreds of miles away, over the worst road in history aka the M62, on what is being promised to be the worst weather possible too. Lovely.

Even worse, Fajr is gonna have to be a motorway job! Arghhhhh. Do you know how cold and windy it is on the hard shoulder in the North East? Ask Harry, he does this all the time!

And oh boys, it's you lot that better be praying the hardest – I get delayed, no articulate, no munchies, no jack.

Haha.

Clever guy David Beckham, definitely not just a pretty face...

After Brooklyn's birth, David remarked: "I definitely want Brooklyn to be christened, but I don't know into what religion yet."

LOL

Yep, you guessed it. There we are, listening in horror to some next freak going round re-living 'Jason' fantasies upon innocent people in London.

Of course, during all the news flashes and updates (it's rather dramatic when you're driving ad listening to the whole thing unfold in real time), you're thinking what on Earth is going on.

Except us Paks of course.

We're just waiting for some miskeen Jamaican yardie to be be blamed for it.

And newsreaders are happy to oblige. Not.

"Uncofirmed reports describe the attacker to be…"

(Oh oh.)

"Turkish or Middle Eastern origin…"

'Arghhhhhh!"

There we go. Two hours later, confirmation that it’s a mentally very very ill Turk. Another John summin' Mohammad, rising from the shadows of lunacy to hit the heights of freakdom.

Sigh.

Before it starts to get ugly for the Paks again all over the UK, can I just say…

"I'm a celebrity. Please get me out of here."

Anyway, our very own newsflash is that its time to be 'Articulate' again. Lads, 8.30pm in the Library Friday night (tomorrow). That’s when food will be served and then the war begins – the Scabbies and tooth fairies will be destroyed with aplomb.

Attendees to ring me for confirmation before 4pm on Friday.

:-)

Huge du'as going out to our new superstars Rumaisa Rahman and her sister Hiba – currently the latest examples of the incredible miracle of life that Allah has indeed gifted mankind with.

What a pair of heroines. Check this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4116665.stm

This was the best news possible to hear this evening after having a lame day at work of just stress, more stress and even more stress. I just hate working at Christmas where there are hundreds of chocolates given to you from customers but self imposed diets don't allow it (hey Abjadders, a little bahth for you all: is it halal to eat chocolate etc when given as a gift in celebration of a non-Muslim religious festival?)

;-)

Thanks to Atif for this link. As he said, 'Sign of the Times?' http://www.abrajalbait.com/

I don't know – this is part of the charity waqf project which the Kingdom has established by producing a money-making project to totally fund all the needs of the Masjid al-Haram. My question: couldn't they have thought of some other way??

Why not just a hotel? Why so high!?

Or am I over-reacting? Hmm.

Hey did anyone read Yvonne Ridley's article on her hijab experiences in Central London published in The Observer?

(http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1371871,00.html)

You might have heard of some campaign to petition the paper with positive responses due to the much negative feedback it created from non-Muslims (many of whom are clearly racist scum).

Anyway, I'd like to suggest that it was a rather poor and naïve article, and that this sister should think more carefully before she speaks to the media as she obviously likes to do. Any comments? I'd be interested to see what your views are on her article. One non-Muslim critic said:

Yvonne Ridley seems to want it both ways. She wishes to demonstrate her allegiance to Islam, and asserts her clothing's symbolic significance; yet when that symbolism attracts less than courteous interest, she claims that symbolism doesn't exist.

I'm afraid I agree. The sister still doesn't understand hijab yet and she has to be careful. Allah knows best.

Oh by the way, maybe some of the Scabbies (that’s what we call Cab drivers up here in Manc. by the way) can throw some light on this: Ridley complained about this scabby who shouted at her cos' she was going to take him off the rank for a 3 quid job. Now wouldn't ANYONE have been caned for doing that? That's certainly the reaction that I see from Faisal Sufi and his crowd when they get a local fare!

:-)

Remember Faisal, it's not just you who's doing body-building…and arm wrestling King is coming to get you big boy…

Brothers and sisters, will it start to look bad if I only post once a day? No? Excellent.

Can we end with like a little bit of deen? Oh before that – my Hajj group: if you haven't read the reading material as instructed TWO times by Saturday (I will be checking) then it might be time to start 'making Peace with God' – bigtime. The Hajj fiqh seminar on Sunday starts at Dhuhr by the way and not 12pm (it's the seminar on Monday which starts at 12pm) and we'll be done and dusted for Maghrib insha'Allah. Men, women, families as usual – just like we do it every year so you know the drill.

So yeah, how about like a hadith or an athar or something? Let me have look – hold on…

Ok, here. I've just opened the Musnad of Imam Ahmed and here's something to reflect upon - Hope for the future, good expectations, not belittling any good deeds or actions, striving to the very end and even beyond – all fantastic lessons from this fantastic hadith.

Narrated Anas ibn Malik that the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, "If one of you has a seedling in his hand and the Day of Judgement starts, plant it." (Ahmad 12902; Arna'ut said Sahih)

Wow.

Boy, what a busy day. Trying to distribute 2o million quid amongst your pak relatives isn't as easy as I thought it'd be...

Well it is the festive season after all isn't it? I bet the soldiers in Mosul didn't think so. Bush wasn't expecting Xmas to be this jolly was he?

Anyway, it's been London Bus and scholars day today. You can't find one for love or money these days and then they come along in droves! I thought I was in heaven!

We had samaahatul waalid Sheikh Suhaib Hasan, the Muhaddith Sheikh Abdullah Juday', Sheikhna Haitham Haddad aswell as a few others (may Allah preserve them all).

Loads of anecdotes, loads of classics, just no time now except for a few points.

Firstly for all you tullab bloggers: It seems that upon tahqeeq, there is some doubt concerning the meeting of ibn abi Mulaykah and Ikrimah (radhy Allahu 'anhum) and maybe the truth is not what ibn Hajr has claimed. This of course is a major claim but it is the basis on which Sheikh Abdullah made the isnad jayyid. Anyone want to have a closer look at this 'liqaa'?

Reef? Yasir? Blogshareef?

Also, thanks to the clarification on the House of Lords ruling. All that flash language reminds of that lawyer Atif lad - whaddya think boys? If he's not at the lesson tomorrow, we'll go round and give him the bumps!

Wow, blogging is knackering me out these days so I think I'll sign off early. And hey, where are the Xmas card blags? You mean you're forcing me just to do a bobby blanker on everyone?

I thought it may come to this...

And YES blogfans...Sheikh Haitham and myself discussed HSBC for hours on end. Satisfied? Good.

:-)

You win some, you lose some.

I just lost.

After a two hour argument with the Sheikh, he eventually persuaded Sheikh Suhaib to stay the night with him. How did this happen? Well, I got to the scene too late - wrong information led me to believe Sheikh Suhaib was coming tomorrow morning!

Anyway, at least we had dinner at Abu Hamzas. Masha'Allah, reliable as anything that guy, always there when you need him at a silly hour to do a good job. Also a bit of dood pattee does the trick for all Paks so that went down well.

And hey, I've got Sheikh Suhaib for breakfast so thats not bad!

:-)

The other thing of course is that we might get some news tomorrow from the big fatwa council meeting. The ECFR (www.ecfr.org) are having their national meeting tomorrow in Didsbury and all the big boys are meant to be there including Sheikh Juday' aswell apparently. Now the real question is: how on Earth am I going to get in?

Any ideas? I need quick answers by tomorrow morning 10.30am. I have a very unstable relationship with their dodgy committee so I'm not expecting any favours from THEM. Anyway, here are my original thoughts:

1. Pretend to be one of the big Shuyookh? Yeah that should be easy...

;-)

2. Ok so that's not gonna work, so how about pretending to be a reporter for the local press?

3. If not that, then I could pretend to be the caretaker?

4. I could just beg - burst out crying and cling to the leg of one of the shuyookh...

5. I could play the guilt conscience on either Sheikh Juday' or Suhaib - 'Hey remember the old days, when I was a nice and serious student? Well, I'm trying to get back into the fraternity and ummm...this would be a really good way to start? Honest I won't speak, I won't even ask any silly questions and promise promise promise that I won't tell anyone that I know you. ok?'

;-)

Khayr, lets see what happens. Got to pick up Sheikh Haitham aswell tomorrow morning from the train station too - my goodness me, its raining scholars!

See Abjadders, I told you that Manchester is Madinatul 'Ilm - Sigh, you never listen...

Masha'Allah what a blessing. I just hope that we can all benefit from their barakah.

Oh Jazakallah for the links, and thanks Irfan for getting on the case of this legal ruling. Come on folks, we need to really raise awareness here!

Indeed it is an excellent reminder from the link below watching the images of incarcerated Muslims, being held for upholding Islam, being cut off totally from the wives and children. We should all just stop and reflect at those pictures and the words of the Khateeb - we might be that next person in a jump-suit simply for believing the fact that Jihad is a part of Islam that will continue until the Final Day. Fact.

SO if you're not going to act for your brothers and sisters, then at least look forward and try to protect your own future. Can't you see how America is turning on its Muslims? Thanks to Hood for the post showing that disaster looming in the States:
http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/headline.php?id=505

So again, we should keep banging on this point. Visit either www.stoppoliticalterror.com or www.cageprisoners.com for more info and ideas on what we can do or get involved in.

From the best of ideas is simply writing a letter of support to Muslim prisoners and even innocent non-Muslim prisoners! Just to let them know that we are not as pathetic as some might want to believe, that we feel for them, that we are thinking of them. All such initiatives are amazing; just put yourself in that scenario and think how it'd be if you were in total isolation for months on end and suddenly you receive a letter from a total stranger encouraging you to have hope and courage. Subhanallah.

How do you think Amnesty has reached the heights it has? It has been able to change the lives of prisoners all around the world, getting letters to those who haven't heard from anyone for ten years! If you read their happiness at realising that other people care still about them, it's something totally unbelievable.

By the way, thanks for the Trojan Horse Uranium post. Very interesting. I'm sure we all knew what had been happening in general but I bet no-one appreciated the seriousness of the whole thing.

Can I end this late post with a totally irrelevant rant?

How on EARTH did Henry not get World Player of the Year?

That is simply unacceptable. Period.

FIFA - be warned. Oppression is darkness. Justice is light. Think about it.

:-)

So there I am alhamdulillah, just finishing off the tax paperwork when the phone rings.

"01376…"

(Eh? Where's that from?) 'Na'm?'

'Salamu alaykum.'

'Wa alaykum salam?'

'It's Tarek.'

(Tee? That don't sound nothing like him…) 'Tariq?'

'Diwany.'

(Oh Oh!)

Haha, just joshing guys. Tarek is one of the most excellent guys you'll ever get to meet masha'Allah, with a smile to kill for, wa la nuzaki ala Allah ahad. Very few people in this country understand the banking system like he does, and can give Islamic solutions and answers as he is able to do so. And oh, he has the most amazing English accent…

:-)

But yes, it was time to have a discussion on recent HSBC issues and the like. He always has many good interesting points to make masha'Allah, and we had a great ding-dong over some points in Islamic contracts and the like. Very beneficial I must say alhamdulillah. We'll pick it up again sometime Tarek (we just spent an hour on the phone about it!)

Anyway, what's the news out there on the grape-vine with you guys? Masha'Allah a little dickie bird tells me that we have a new driver down Essex ways…

;-)

Hey, I wanted to ask you lot what you make of the major news story here in the UK concerning the Govt. rejecting the decision of the law lords (which found the anti-terror laws to be illegal).

I was discussing this with our Imam yesterday. Constitutionally, as he pointed out, this is a mjor crisis point not only for the Govt. but for the legal system as a whole. This is something which we Muslims should not leave to a few human rights lawyers to just push forward, but rather we must collectively pool our resources and come up with some ideas, strategies etc to take advantage of this incredible mess that the Govt. has produced for itself.

If we don’t owe it to those Muslims who have been found guilty of no crime, then we at least owe it to ourselves! If the Govt. is able to escape and get away with this one now, then there is absolutely no stopping them! What is the difference then between the Govt. and any other Arab dictatorship? No difference at all!!

Please raise awareness of this issue and get those of legal influence involved to really rally our cause here. This could be our last fighting chance. Maybe we can even sue the British Gov. for its illegal actions! I don't know, I don’t have the legal acumen but I'm sure many of you out there do.

SO don't just ignore what I'm suggesting – if you know something, someone, anything – then let us know what we can do. I'm certainly here to support any ideas. Irfan, maybe you can get Nadim QC and Saj Karim MEP involved as they MUST know how to defend our corner?

In any case, go to www.as-sahwah.com and read some of the excellently selected articles in the right column, which will explain to you the goings on of the last few days. If not, check some of the stuff from the Guardian and the Independent. Essential reading.

By the way, I hope you guys campaign for ME when I get banged up!

;-)

Hey what happened about the Xmas card blag? No ideas so far? My lot that I've received are piling up and I'm still not sure what I'll do this year. In previous years, you'd just do a 'bobby blanker' and just move on. In the really old days when I used to live with my parents, we'd always send a card back that had no mention of Christmas, or their New Year, but simply 'All the best for the New Season'. I used to like that you know…

SO any good blog blags out there fellow blogfans?

Benefit: Here's something I learnt today, taken from the fatawa of the late Sheikh Uthaymeen (rahimahullah) – if someone faints and/or loses consciousness for however long, he doesn't need to make up his Salah (qadha) afterwards because he is judged to be like the one who has no 'aql (intellect), and it is well known that the prayer is not an obligation upon the one who has no 'aql. If someone might ask 'what about the one who falls asleep? Isn't that similar?' The answer is no because we have a clear text that tells us he should make up the prayer as soon as he wakes up.

Masha'Allah interesting. For those of you out there who are drunk on life…

Finally, what a classic. Here is how you recognize that certain people are just on another level masha'Allah to us ignorant masaakeen…

As I was just writing the end of this blog, I received a phone call from our beloved bro Usama Hasan. I looked at the Caller ID and thought, 'Hmm, he must have missed his flight" as he should have left to perform the 'Umrah yesterday. I answered the call and it was him, in Saudi, in Ihram, just after performing the Tawaf! I was shocked as you can imagine, but we sorted out the urgent matter that was on his mind.

Half way through after about ten minutes, he says, "Hey, I'm not taking your time am I? Are you in the middle of something?"

Subhanallah.

Subhanallah.

Subhanallah.

That’s all I could think of when he said that. What unbelievable adab and humility - stuff we kids can only dream of. Wa laa nuzakki ahad 'ala Allah.

"In the middle of something?! ME!? You ring me during your 'Umrah before your Sa'ee and you're worried about ME being in the middle of something!?"

Alhamdulillah, we still have remaining role models left to look up to…..

Can you believe it?! Time Magazine's Person of the Year is………..George Bush?!

WHAT!?

Surely they mean CLOWN of the year right?

What a load of bakwas.

Anyway, have you noticed the cold? I hear some serious weather is coming our way so make sure you're equipped with all the necessities if you're thinking of any journeys.

For those who went to the Juday' link on the Multaqa, you'll be interested to know that the admin guys locked the thread cos' the silly rubbish people started to say about the Sheikh. I wonder whether we should follow suit…

;-)

And hey Tawfeeq, problem sorted. No worries.

Read some interesting stuff from the Islamic Fiqh Council in Jeddah, from their latest resolutions. I think I might copy a few here and there for us to discuss and benefit from. Also if some of the tullab want to comment then please do.

How about on the issue of marrying non-Muslims? Well, the resolution clearly states that a Muslim woman can never do that but for the Muslim male, he can marry a Jewess or a Christian. Interestingly though, and rightly so I must add in my opinion, they advise against it where there other Muslim women available.

Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah) said, "It is greatly disliked to marry the women of the Book when there are Muslim women available."

This is appears to be the majority opinion held by the major Imams too. Excellent.

The famous narration from 'Umar (radhy Allahu 'anhu) tells us that when the Muslims were marrying from the people of the Book, he commanded them to divorce the women, all obeying him except Hudhayfah (radhy Allahu 'anhu), and then even he divorced his non-Muslim wife after that.

Why? The 'Ulema used to say that there is a very real risk of you becoming infatuated by her and possibly leaving your Deen and leaning towards her religion. More obvious than that is the issue of kids, for the risk of them following their mother rather than their father is a very real and well known fact that often occurs. And Allah knows best.

Why did I choose this topic?

I don't know, it just stood out on the list! Don’t ask silly questions!

:-)

Finally guys, who can give me a solution to my little problem? My little one Yahya, nearly 2, has been taught to say 'Alhamdulillah' when he sneezes.

Fine.

Problem is that he says when it somebody else sneezes.

Ok, fine.

Problem is that he also says it when someone yawns.

In fact, add to that coughing, burping and sighing! For himself and everyone else!

Hmmm.

:-)

Just got off the phone with Sheikh Haitham. Two pieces of good news as a result:

1. He's not coming today, which means I can sort my life out.
2. He's coming on Tuesday. Not alone either, but with Sheikh Suhaib Hasan!

:-)

Ya Salam!

Now that’s what I call a Super Tuesday – better get the missus on the case now that she's got a few days to prepare. Maybe we can make Wednesday another 'Smile to your Wife' day…?

Man, what a baistee. Yep, the word baistee is all over the news again. I mean did you see Pakistan?? What a humiliation. What a disaster. Ok the Aussies are good, but not THAT good. We were just rubbish!

As for the second baistee (which means 'shame'/'humiliation' to all the white folks out there), then what a classic by the Sikh boys. They gave that show 'Behzti' a battering!

That got me thinking. I think we've lost our touch a bit don't you? Remember the good ole days of burning flags and effigies when anyone even thought of taking the mickey out of the Paks?

It was only the HT who used to do it then. Then they stopped and the Mojos took over. Now even THEY have become quiet! I miss them man!

;-)

We need to do some serious protesting guys! We need some new gangs and ring leaders to deal with all these scumbags that attack our Deen. And remember, don't just restrict it to 'Muslim' figures. What about all these attacks on 'Eesa ('alayhis-salam)??

Have you seen all these posters by those dogs at Channel 4 depicting 'Eesa ('alayhis-salam) as a Drunkard?! Allah's refuge is sought!

In fact, an excellent programme by Simon Mayo on Five Live the other day was looking into the massive increase in recent times in 'Christianophobia'. Also, the Vatican raised this issue at the latest UN meeting and want it recognised alongside Islamiphobia and Anti-Semitism.

Good on them I say. We should definitely be supporting them in that. Without these Christians and Jews' help, we'd find protection of our rights in the UK impossible. So lets be pro-active and support them instead of being pathetically reactive, and only supporting bills and amendments when it suits us or when we suddenly come under the cosh.

And there is no greater practical way to show our commitment to this cause than protesting with our maximum abilities especially when they defame the greatest of all women, Mary ('alayhi-salam) and one of the masters of mankind in Jesus ('alayhi-salam).

WE should be preparing the templates of letters to send to Channel 4 to vent our outrage over their depiction of 'Eesa, not the Christians! WE have more right to him than they have!

And we should write to the BBC when they attack Moses ('alayhis-salam), not the Jews. WE have more right to him than they have! Isn't that exactly what the blessed Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said to the Jews when he came to Medina and found them fasting the 'Aashura in his honour??

Well??

So if someone can prepare a few letters, do a bit of research and help us in our campaign, please let us know. We hope that Allah will reward you in the very best way, Ameen.

And just to end for now, here is exclusive proof that even our old friend the Pope is one of our secret supporter.

Here he is taking bay'ah...




LOL. Classic.

;-)

Tarek Diwany - masha'Allah nice guy...until he left an ominous threat of counter refutations on my answering machine!

Woops!

Haha, just joking. He's a great brother who has done much to advertise the inherent flaws of Western banking institutions and also to advertise the Ansar Finance scheme as well as others. I know he's a tad upset about my comments on the permissibility (according to some scholars) of the HSBC scheme, but I think I should ring him back and we can discuss things properly.

Tarek, when you read this: I WILL ring you insha'Allah tomorrow!

Oh, go and check out his nice site, www.islamic-finance.com

BUT before that...

I've got to tidy up my library - quicktime! My dear elder and Sheikh, Haytham al-Haddad is in town tomorrow for the fatwa committee and will no doubt drop in for a few hours.

Time enough to discuss HSBC?

;-)

But hey, I need some ideas where to take him for dinner cos' the Missus is refusing to cook. Doh! What do you reckon boys, Kebabish? Naah, they've got that in London anyway. Sanams? Naah, boring. Kansas? Hey, now we're talking...

By the way, I hope all you Londoners are taking advantage of the Sheikh and his good work at al-Muntada al-Islami. Also, I believe his tarbiyyah camp will be held soon, an good idea for those who live down South and have never been to one before.

I can see Sunday being a major stress day guys. The dreaded Accountant is on my case too, wanting tax accounts blah blah.

Sigh.

Not that I haven't done it Jav, I have honestly. But the office is in SUCH a tip man, its gonna take ages to sort out all this paperwork. And I got guests Jav. And its Sunday Jav...

;-)

What? You don't believe me? Look at this:



Yes, that IS my desk - and yes, I am busy, and yes, I am officially stressed.

So question - how do I get to do gym, get this tax bakwas done, watch the Scousers get battered by the Geordies AND entertain Sheikhna? Any ideas?

Anyway, nice to end on a hadith really isn't it? Bit of late night DT...

Narrated Abu Huraira that the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, "When it is the last third of the night, our Lord, the Blessed, the Most High, descends every night to the nearest heaven and says, 'Is there anyone who calls upon Me that I may respond to his invocation; Is there anyone who asks Me so that I may give to him; Is there anyone who asks My forgiveness that I may forgive him?'" (Agreed upon)

A better use of our late nights maybe?

:-)

Bah Humbug!

You know, you've got to give it to the ole geezer Ebeneezer – Scrooge that is for all you non English-Lit. types – he's set some kind of precedent for the Paks to be able to slate Xmas bigtime.

Obviously we have to forget the ending of the classic story, cos' he sells out in the end. Just be selective and use the first part – you know, slating Xmas, slating Xmas trees, slating this, slating that.

Ok I know he did it cos' he was a stinge, so that'll be ok for us Paks then too…

;-)

No seriously, when I'm working these days with my colleagues and they all talk about nothing else but the festive season and whatever else bakwas there is, I just give it my 'bah humbug!' line and they laugh it off. No stress. No comeback. No inquisition. Job done.

But it raises a question doesn't it? Should we just chicken out with a scrooge line or go into some deeni refutation of the whole thing?

Hmm. Experience shows me that it has to be on an individual basis. Sometimes you're able to slate the whole thing and prove it to be pure paganism and consumerism but only real Christians are interested in that. And how many real Christians have you come across on a day-to-day basis?

Exactly.

I remember last year, I was working with some non-Muslims who were clattering on about the whole thing but one girl was scowling all the way. I asked her what was wrong and she just launched into this massive attack on the paganism and falsehood of Xmas etc etc! Turned out she was a hardcore Christian – so we joined forces that day and gave the other kuffs a good battering. Boy that was fun!

But that’s the difficulty of trying to explain Xmas to the Brits – they're all secularists anyway, none of them give a monkeys about Christianity or religion or God etc. So to try and refute the one opportunity in the year when they get a chance to have a free holiday, eat loads of nice food and drink, see all their family etc etc – hard work guys, hard work. Allahu Musta'an.

Which reminds me. We need to compile a new list. The Pak list on 'How to Blag the Xmas Party'. So here's my suggestions off the top of my head – I'm sure you'll have some good ones too. In fact, maybe the lesson for us will be to NOT use this top ten, So lets start with their typical question:

"Hey, you haven't paid for the Xmas party on Thursday. You've got to be there, have a look at the menu man, it's amazing!"

1. 'Err, sorry guys, err…washing my hair that night?'

'But Matt, you don't have any hair!'

'Oh yeah.'

WOOPS!


2. 'I can't go out to enjoy myself and leave the family at home!'

'But we're all bringing our families. Bring them along!'

'Yeah but you don't know Pak families. That means my mum, dad, grandparents, in-laws, cousins…'
'Matt, matt…you don't know us Irish mate ;-) !'

WOOPS!


3. 'Err sorry guys, but I don't eat pork.'

'No problem man! They've got beef too.'

'Oh there's beef is there? Yeah but I don't eat meat that hasn't been slaughtered Islamically.'

'Really? But you guys told us in Islamic diversity week that Islam was very close to the other major religions of Christianity and Judaism. And that you ate their meat!'

'Yeah well…yeah true. But they…have to be Christian.'

'They are Christians. I checked.'

'Oh.'

WOOPS!


4. 'I don’t drink alcohol.'

'Hey nor do I. We'll drink coke together!'

'But I'm not allowed in my religion even to sit at the same table that has alcohol served.'

'Fine! The drinks will come at the end, and we'll sit on a separate table!'

'Err…right…'

WOOPS!


5. 'Err…Thursday nights is Gasht night for me at Dewsbury. Sorry!'

GOAL!


6. 'Is that the only restaurant you've got?'

'Yes, no other choice now, we booked too late.'

'Ahh shame that. They are my dad's biggest rivals. He'd kill me if I went there!'

GOAL!


7. 'Sorry guys, I teach Islamic Law according to the Hanbali school on that evening.'

'But you said that was on Wednesday nights, not Thursday!'

'Oh yeah.'

WOOPS!


8. 'Sorry guys, I teach Islamic Law according to the Hanbali school on that evening.'

'But you said that was on Wednesday nights, not Thursday!'

'Normally yeah, but Man U are playing in the Champions League that week so the lesson has moved to Thursday…' ;-)

GOAL!


9. 'You do know that if I come, I'll have to condemn you all to hell right? I mean look at me, I'm about as extreme as they come!'

'Well, we're condemned anyway right?? I mean, might as well go out with a bang eh??'

'Err...ok...'

GOAL...? WOOPS...?


10. 'Sorry folks. In fact, no, I'm not sorry one little bit! My Creator doesn't allow me to sit with evildoers, drinking alcohol, eating dirty swine, singing rubbish and destroying the moral integrity that we have been commanded to preserve. This is utter evil, and I must condemn it in the strongest possible terms!

GOAL! GOAL! GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!

;-)

Just a bit of fun folks.

Stay tuned next week for the top ten best blags to avoid sending Xmas cards, especially after you've received one from everyone on your road!

Arghhh!

ANYWAY, back to more serious matters, how is the al-Ansar promotion scheme going? A few updates for those who've shown interest in buying a house with them. Firstly, the current waiting list is about nine odd months so join up quicktime! Insha'Allah as more investment floods in, this waiting list will fall.

On those who may be interested in investing with them, then the minimum is £5000 I believe and you'd hopefully expect a not-bad return of 6-7% on that per annum. That’s quite good considering you're not only investing monies and taking a profit (insha'Allah), but also really and truly helping the community. Or as my rather more angry side would say, 'putting your bleedin' money where your mouth is!'

;-)

Oh and for those who are interested, here's a link to someone trying to refute Sheikh Juday' on his book about the beard. Not very educational to be honest but worth a look:
http://www.ahlalhdeeth.com/vb/showthread.php?t=24805

By the way, I haven't forgotten all those requests for a photo so I've decided to put the hearts at rest. Here you are:




Doh! That silly boy cut out my head from the picture!

Sigh.

You'll just have to keep waiting guys…

;-)

Of course Chris's spelling is intentional. That’s how he spells!

Chris, we missed you man.

;-)

So, another Jumu'ah, another stack load of things to talk about. Good thing to start with was the exellent khutbah today about the origins of Hajj.

But there is just so much to reflect upon on my visit today, some of which thankfully the Imam himself picked up on and kicked off about between the two khutbahs.

For example, why DO people still talk, shake hands, and the rest of the malarkey during the khutbah?! That’s just unbelievable! The ahadith from the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) on this issue are so strict, that even a person warning another couple from talking during the khutbah stands at risk of losing his reward of the Jumu'ah! And your seating position must be focused, not holding your knees, facing the Imam, not leaning on walls etc etc. And WHAT about those who come in 5 minutes from the end, see a smallish kind of half-gap and jump over everyones' heads to get there, and then separate the two people to make space for him??

This might seem innocent enough to some, but was censured bigtime by the Prophet. And for good reason! What right does he have to be at the front anyway? What right does he have to disturb people who are listening to the khutbah? Come late, get the back. Come early, get the front. Simple.

Want another classic? You know when you're in your local masjid and you just KNOW that the guys next to you have come for the first time…

'Bai saab?' (whisper)

'Haa gee.' (whisper)

'There's only a few minutes left of this bayan. When do we get to pray our sunnah?'

'This isn't the bayan brother. This is the khutbah!'

'Achhaa, so after this I can pray my sunnah?'

'No no, after this we will pray the fardh.'

'Oh! I'd better pray the sunnah now then.'

Arghhhh! How many times have you witnessed that? By the way, this is just sheer ignorance of course, even though these brothers belong almost exclusively to the Hanafi madhab. But it just shows that they have no idea of their fiqh. The Hanafi madhab strictly prohibits any such actions during the Khutbah, to which listening to completely is an obligation! So how come you go off to do the sunnah when you are missing the obligation?!

SIGH.

Goodness me is it rant time again already?

Ok fine then, let me ask a serious question to you guys, cos' I need some ideas.

What's the best way to tell the guy next to you that he stinks to another level?

C'mon seriously.

Subhanallah, I couldn't breathe today man. I couldn't breathe at all! I had to move places! So, I need some kinda top five or summin' – honest I do.

I mean you just can't go up to the bloke, WHATEVER way you put it and say brother, there's come kind of problem with your this or that, and I can smell something strange blah blah. You just CAN'T put that kind of thing politely. My opinion so far is just to write a small note and see if you can slip it into his pocket?

I tried the old Lynx trick a while back on someone – you know, pull out a can and ask him, 'hey, do you wanna use this?' Naah, didn't work AT all!

SO give me some ideas, I reckon we could ALL do we some help here.

Someone else amongst our bloggers was obviously at the same Jumu'ah as me, asking about the Janaza prayer for the Ghaa'ib (ie the funeral prayer for the absent one (absentia)). I just knew this would come up today!

The classical scholars always differed over this. It really does depend on which madhab you follow on whether it is a recommended action or not.

The Hanbalis and Shafi'is believe it to be permissible due to the ahadith proving that the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) prayed the funeral prayer in absentia over the Negus of Abyssynia.

The Hanafis and Malikis do not believe it to be permissible stating that the above occasion was a unique one-off, and never repeated. They are supported in this by the fact that there are few if any reports of it ever happening again during the time of the Salaf, or for that matter, all the Muslims who were not in Madina when our beloved Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) passed away as well as his illustrious Khulafa ar-Rashidin (radhy Allahu 'anhum).

I personally follow the opinion of ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah) which is very close to the Hanafi position (which is the case in much of his Majmu' al-Fatawa by the way, whatever the Saudis boys tell you ;-)), which is that the prayer was done specifically for the Negus as there was no-one else to pray for him. If that situation occurred again today, it would be correct to pray it again.

That is of course just a summary to a major debate, but for more info, see ad-Durr al-Mukhtâr 1/813, al-Qawanîn al-Fiqhiyyah 1/94, al-Majmû' 5/209, al-Mughni al-Muhtâj 1/345 or al-Mughni 2/512. And Allah knows best.

I suppose the real question should be 'what happens when everyone stands up to pray and you don't believe it should be done?' Aah, now that’s the real issue.

Personally our teachers always told us to pray with them for the sake of unity and to avoid any fitnah and bad feeling from the rest of the congregation. Yes true, if you don't think it is correct and you want to walk out, then maybe you can.

But at such times of emotion and sadness, the last thing you want people to see especially the family of the deceased to see is you walking out of the masjid! Disaster. And that fitnah is often much greater than just praying with them. See Majmû al-Fatâwa for more details.

And hey, can I go on public blog record (just in case no-one sees my will after I die before the Janazah prayer):

1. I want my own Shiekh to pray the Janazah prayer over me. No-one else.

2. If that doesn't happen, then whoever does, he is NOT to pray aloud. Man, I can't stand the Janazah prayer recited aloud! Nothing personal, I know there's some daleel for it from ibn Abbas, but not for me folks. And I wouldn't want all those praying over me (if there's anyone left there who knew me, miskeen, forlorn, sob sob…), to be freaked out by a congregational 10 minute du'a going down in-between the 2nd and 3rd takbeers! Doh!

3. If Sheikh Na'eem is still around, I'd like him to make a group du'a for me at my grave. What a guy!

Don't let me down guys!

:-)

So, are we done with Jumu'ah? Goodness me, that was long!

Hey, lets get back to the dunya. The SPV C500 is so blatantly the best phone on the market BUT I've gone through THREE now so whats going on there? Anyone else got complaints?

Good thing about Orange is that they send you a new one out the next morning. Make sure you've synced your contacts between the phone and Microsoft Outlook though, otherwise you'll be beating yourself later when you've got no numbers in your contacts!

And oh my goodness me, how on EARTH did we get AC MILAN!?!?

Arghhhh!

And again the Scousers have blagged it! Some lame German Leverkeusen team. Sigh.

With that depressing note, I'm late for the gym…

Oh, and the poster for the event on the 27th is here


For those who asked for a reminder of death, I know no-one better to do that wa masha'Allah than Tawfique and Murtaza. SO be reminded...

Doh! Is there anything worse than being called from Australia? Especially when they have NO idea what time it is (4am)!! And then they tell you that they're chilling out drinking mango lassi and all we have is a Makky Dee's chocolate milk shake?

;-)

Anyway, it's been a while since we had a good photo, so here's one I prepared Blue Peter style earlier:



Yeah I know it’s not a funny one – its just a 'nice' picture, to calm everyone down and erase the rage!

So, what else? Oh, as the Reef (I can't be bothered writing Abu Rumaysah all the time) has just said, 'best thing since sliced bread' is an insult these days considering that the best loaf you can buy is a lovely steaming fresh UNCUT loaf from your local bakery. Ya Salam!

Humility and modesty? Translation please. Reef?

Sigh.

Umm Haleemah masha'Allah, jazakillahu Khayran for the advice. It's been gratefully accepted and I have purchased a side by side job from that website. They honestly are cheap with free delivery, and those RRP savings are real cos' me and Shazad went to the shops yesterday to check.

Hey, don't miss the following event in London on Kuffmas and Boxing Day:

Masjid al-Tawhid, 80 High Road, Leyton, London E15 2BP

SIGNS OF THE TIMES - Weekend Seminar 25 & 26th December

Saturday 25th : 4pm to 7:30pm

Al-Quds in the Light of Surah Al-Israa - Sheikh Suhayb Hasan
A Time to Return to the Quran - Murtadha Khan

Sunday 26th : 12:45 to 4pm

Countdown to the Coming of the Mahdi - Br Tawfique Chowdury
Preparing for the Hour - Sh Khalid Yaseen

www.masjidtawhid.com

On the brighter side, our friend Blogshareef has sent me a review (read it here
) of the excellent book 'A History of the Qur'anic Text' by Sheikh Muhammad Mustafa al-A'zami. Many of you will know the position of this amazing scholar in our world today, truly a man where anything he touches seems to turn to gold! Masha'Allah, and it’s a good review by Murad Hoffman too.

Hey Amir, I did it! I was able to produce a link that opens in a new page with only the words 'here' showing! Masha'Allah am I a programmer now? Can I earn millions like the Reef?

;-)

Man, Pakistan getting battered again by the Aussies. All out for 179! How depressing…

To end with a sad announcement: the Light of Old Trafford, our dear brother Yahya Goga, has had distressing news in that his aunt passed away last night. Her Janazah will be in Masjid-e-Noor in Old Trafford straight after Salatul-Jumu'ah. For all those who can attend, please do and seek the reward. For those who can't, pray for her and for her family. Innaa lillaahi wa innaa ilayhi raaji'oon. May Allah have mercy upon her and enter her into His Jannah, ameen!

Here we go again folks, we got some major unhappy individuals on our comments pages!

And Mohammad, who gave you permission to write all that? I'm sorry to publicly 'correct' you but that's because you made it public. Jamil has a point in you making yourself my 'spokesman'. You have no right to take that role. Not only that but I think I need to teach you some PR - you could have done a MUCH finer job...

;-)

I have left an open setting on comments to let angry brothers and sisters have their say, even if it is at my own expense. Hey, maybe they're right. Maybe they're wrong. If I close it down and ban comments then all we achieve is another partisan 'hizbi' site - and this is ANYTHING but a closed, partisan, 'hizbi' site!

Our dear brother Jamil is rather upset along with a few other chaps. Maybe I insulted his family or killed one of his relatives many moons ago! I certainly can't remember! Wa Allahu Musta'an.

Please brothers and sisters, let those who want to have a go, have a go. Thats my policy on this site, and thats why it's different. We shouldn't be so naive about Muslims, they are all thinking and intellectual grown-ups insha'Allah. They'll be able to sift out what they read and realise what is right and wrong. I mean if you look at brother Jamil's statements - well, his mind seems to be working in a very unique way, interpreting everything I write in his own way, which is fair enough. People will agree or disagree. Khalas!

I said this would be absolutely honest and transparent and I can't exactly claim that if I block people's comments. Of course, I get to read the comment first before it is published, and then I okay it. I have no problem with criticism that has basis or a point. I will not however waste time with drivel and ignorance - I'm sure you'll be able to work out what that is yourself.

SIGH.

Subhanallah, have the Muslims become SO depressed and down. Is this the Haqq of Muhammad (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) or some modern Nietzschism we are following?

Goodness me guys, lighten up!

So, swiftly moving on, how many people have been able to contact someone of wealth and influence to get involved and invest in the al-Ansar scheme? We should really push this as much as possible insha'Allah, I can see great rewards for all here.

Still stressed about my double pram although I might end up getting one of them sid-by-side jobbies. Found a very nice site that undercuts the big stores by a significant amount www.kiddicare.com. Check it out.

Latest news on events in Manchester over the kuff-mas period: There'll be a 'Fiqh of Hajj' seminar on the 26th of Decemeber in Makki Masjid, Longsight, Manchester between 1pm and 3.30pm insha'Allah, followed by a excellent seminar at the same place on the 'Day of Judgement' the next day on Bank Holiday 27th December between 12pm and 3pm. The talks will be given by my close buddy Murtaza Khan and our long lost Aussie Tawfique Chowdhury. Don't miss it. They will both be giving another seminar immediately after in Camden Terrace Masjid in Bradford so you'll get double moneys worth, except that you won't even have to pay in the first place!

Oh actually, I'd better give the isnads and shuyookh of these two brothers from Primary School until now right? Don't want to upset Jamil again...(sorry bro, couldn't resist)

;-)

As for my Hajj group, you'd be better doing the required reading. I'll be checking in a few days, all those du'a and the rulings of tamattu' so be warned. Yep, thats ALL of you groupies, no exceptions!

Final reminder to myself and everyone - make sure you catch the Fajr congregation in the masjid tomorrow guys - for as the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said in the authentic hadith, "The best prayer before Allah is Fajr prayer on Friday in congregation." Lets be there to catch it folks!

:-)

I think we've given the chaps at HSBC far too much coverage don't you?

So lets discuss and promote another Islamic scheme for buying houses. This is something that I am personally committed to; it's run by a fantastic group of brothers, living here in my locality - all the more reason to promote!

Its called the Ansar Finance Scheme. See www.ansarfinance.com

For those who have an interest then review their documents.

For the rest of us, there here is an initiative by some brothers who instead of spending their time making everything around haram (that is not meant to belittle any of Scholars who give fatwa of course, for you 'twisters' out there!) and not giving, providing or even supporting real Islamic solutions or alternatives.

Schemes like this always start small, require immense guts and determination and much much sacrifice from their founders. Indeed Ansar is no exception.

Still only small, it is seeking investors to put money where their mouthes are and invite wealthy people, businessmen or anyone else to invest their money into the overall kitty so that more houses for their members can be purchased.

A summary of the scheme is that it is a partnership between Ansar and the client, on a 80:20 ratio. The client rents his portion from Ansar and also agrees a 'buy-back' system where he will eventually buy his partner, Ansar, out. Naturally if the client pulls out and the house has to be sold, everyone will share proft or loss according to their respective shares.

Indeed an excellent scheme, known in the field as 'diminuishing musharakah' and the added bonus of all profit going to insha'Allah well intentioned Muslims.

So folks, its nice to be positive for once isn't it. Stop moaning guys, get as much support as you can, find as many businessmen as you can, tell them to invest with Ansar and they'll get a return for their money too! Fantastic!

Right, that's that.

Hey isn't a double pushchair with seats behind each other difficult to use? I need some experienced mothers or fathers here guys - tell me the score.

Aah, a phone call has just given us the latest newsflash: for all the Manc. brothers, good ole Saf (Doc's bro-in-law) has just got married today masha'Allah in Pak. About time too! And he's apparently extended his stay too for another few weeks.

Should be another few months if I had my way...cough cough...

:-)

Baarakallahu lahu, wa baaraka 'alayhi, wa jama' baynahuma fi khayr. Ameen!

Finally, masha'Allah read a beautiful hadith today:

The Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, "I wished I could meet my brothers, those who have believed (in me), but have not seen me." (Ahmed, sahih)

That's us! Folks, thats me and you! Isn't that just amazing? Doesn't that cause a little tingle? Ya Salam!

Ya Allah, unite us likewise with our beloved Prophet in Jannah, ameen ameen ameen!

Blunkett miskeeeeeeeeeen...

You know summin'? He was good for the Paks you know. You'd definitely want someone like him in charge of counter-terrorism and all that stuff. Why? Cos' he never got to see the Paks.

I mean imagine if he'd actually seen what a bro on the deen actually looked like! Imagine him turning up in Brixton or Birmingham or summin' and getting an eyeful of the motley crew - Allahu Akbar! We'd ALL be in jail by now!

;-)

Anyway, miskeen has gone and in comes another tillah who knows exactly what we look like, how long the beards are, how short the trousers are - doesn't look good folks. La ba's.

Alhamdulillah at least we've started to provoke some healthy debate at last. But guys, I really do think that we should have a tad more adab with each other and not have to be negative all the time. Smile guys! It's Sadaqah!

Those who know me will understand my provocative style. Either get used to it folks or go back to wherever you used to enjoy Islam before this site. Subhanallah folks, take it easy! Let's have a bit more honesty and transparency, lets stop hiding shamefully behind walls and let those who want to be serious and give real benefit to us all do it in the open with honour, not as Lord Anonymous!

Has the blogblag given benefit?! Helllooo??? Have you READ Imtiaz's bahth (research) on the hadeeth we were talking about the other day!? If thats not enough benefit for you then I think you need to check your definition of benefit!

Akhi Imtiaz (although I like Shareef Saab much better...), may Allah give you Jannah, Amin.

Firstly cos' I can gloat now. Haha, that feels excellent.

Secondly cos' I'm gonna have it out with the Nabster bigtime. ;-)

And thirdly, masha'Allah that was an excellent bahth. Hey bro, I wonder if our old teacher Juday' had any influence on you there...

;-)

So guys, anyone out there know where I can get these double tandem prams cheap? Someone said don't buy those three-wheeler jobs cos' they are too difficult to manouvre (is that spelt right?), others said don't get the 2 seats side by side etc etc. Give me some advice folks quicktime!

Why? Cos' I need to get the missus out of the house doing the errands and school run instead of me having to drive them all over the place! Come on men, where's the empathy?

To end with some good news, the treadmill has finally declared that with the magnificent and outstanding fit test score of 48...I am now officially above average in fitness.

Wahey!

:-)

Whatever you guys decide to do, just don't mention houses, I've got a stomach ache.

:-)

By the way, love Abu Haleemah's comment about Anonymous posting all over the 'ocky. What a guy masha'Allah!

But he's right. Why are people staying anonymous? It's not good adab, it's not exactly very honourable, and some scholars actually believe that it's not permissible to do that! Can you believe that?

And the classic one is when one of the anonymous lads asks me who I am, and where this, and what that blah blah. Err bro, I don't know whether you noticed mate but I think I'm the one who's splashed out his whole indentity on the site for everyone to see - Mr Anonymous.

Sigh.

Anyway, so back to Abu Haleema - bro you never told us what exactly happened, or was said on the BBC4 programme with Hamza. And Sal, you were the one who told me! Give us a review or anyone else for that matter. Post a nice, objective, complete review as if you were a normal critic or something so that I can get a flavour. Jazakallaho Khairan in advance.

Right, I think I need a bit of DT, forget about anyone else, SO:

DT - The Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, "If Allah had willed that people would not commit sin, he would not have created Iblis." (Graded Hasan by Albani)

So insha'Allah, by His immense Mercy, I still have some hope guys...

Masha'Allah. You can 'bet your house' (pun intended of course) on a right ding-dong amongst the Muslims once the whole Islamic finance thing gets pulled into the light.

Anyway, I'd just like to make a few points firstly:

1. If any of you were fortunate to have attended Saleem Abu Zubair's lecture at the PG conference in July, then you will know the importance of the rulings concerning the Mufti and Mustafti (i.e. the one who asks for a fatwa and the scholar who gives it). This is vital for all people who are asking for or wishing to follow a fatwa. For those who missed it, read an article about it here: http://www.as-sahwah.com/viewarticle.php?articleID=1168&

2. I cannot reiterate enough (I apologise for those who know this already and are sick of me repeating this) but when there is a discussion of evidences going on between whoever, whether on this forum or any forum, class, lecture, internet board – either you'll be in, or you'll be out! Either you've studied the field and know exactly what's going on and you'll be able to contribute and benefit and maybe even decide yourself what your next step is, or you won't be able to! Only the individual themselves will be able to determine this. As for those who are unable, call them masses, 'awaam, myself Abu Eesa (or whoever you want to keep those people happy who find great offence at 'them' and 'us' and Allah knows what), then you don't! Simple. There is no shame in that, rather only honour. That person has stopped at their rightful limits and will follow their scholars who they trust. That is the only obligation upon them and for them is their reward.

Ok?

Good.

Now, I'd like to make a few comments about the fatwa from Sheikhna Haitham, to illustrate the position of some of the scholars who believe this scheme is permissible. It's not brief unfortunately, and you'll need to be referencing the original fatwa by the Sheikh to follow what's going on. The aim (for those who are very particular about such things) is naturally to provoke debate and healthy discussion with adab and knowledge. It is not to convince people to take another opinion, it is not to put people down, it is not to cause fitnah – I'm sure people will make of it what they want – rather it is for those who will benefit from it. For anyone else, all the best to you too!

Firstly, the whole area of using schemes such as the ijâra scheme to purchase houses has been discussed for years. The senior kibâr 'ulemâ of the Islamic world have had their own opinions and often discussed them at their International Fiqh Councils, particularly the Majma' al-Fiqh al-Islami, a branch of the OIC (mentioned by Sheikh Haitham in his fatwa). This whole chapter is called "al-Ijâra yantahi bit-tamlîk" in the science of Fiqh ("A lease which ends in ownership"), and has been differed over by all the major scholars.

Why? Because it is an area of Ijtihâd. There are no clear cut right and wrong answers in ijtihâd as you will all know, and one can never criticise the ijtihâd of a certain scholar over another scholar's ijtihâd when the whole issue is one of Ijtihâd! It's simply not possible! This is the first and most important lesson we must learn in such issues.

Emotions often run high in such debates. The whole area of mu'amalât (all the transactions that affect us in day-to-day life) is very different to the concept of worship in Islam. There is much more space and ease in this field, with the principle that all transactions are permissible until proven haram whereas it is the opposite in worship. This should also be taken note of. Naturally, most of the new areas of discussion in the councils are of the mu'âmalât type, always issues of Ijtihâd. We don't need to discuss those things which the Ummah have agreed upon, and it's not permissible to differ on them anyway! So how can people get so worked up about these issues?!

Anyway, for those who wish, please refer to the excellent discussions between the kibâr in the 5th session of the council, held in 1988, between Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, Sheikh Abdullah Muhammad Abdullah, Sheikh Bakr Abu Zayd (may Allah preserve them all) and others. More of the senior kibâr discussed this issue in the year 2000, at the 12th session of the council, including the masters of this field such as Sheikh Abdullah bin Manî', Sheikh 'Ali as-Sâlûs, Sheikh Abdus-Sattâr Abu Ghuddah, Sheikh Wahbah az-Zhayli, Sheikh Taqi-ud-Dîn al-Uthmâni and so on. Needless to say, many of these scholars allowed the contract to be used. And many of them didn't. Please refer to 12/1 and 5/4 for those who'd like to see the detailed niqâsh (debate).

As for the HSBC contract itself, here are a few observations against what Sheikh Haitham says. Remember, in such a format, this question/answer format might seem quite rude but the Sheikh (hafidhahullah) knows better and I hope you all do too:

1. The Sheikh asks what kind of contract is this? It is a combination contract.

2. He says that 'some scholars have prohibited combined contracts'. Indeed, and many have allowed them. The Sheikh mentions that the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) 'prohibited two transactions in one transaction (al-bay'atayn fi al-bay')' could be applicable here. This has been refuted by many of the scholars of Islam, notably ibn al-Qayyim and ibn-Taymiyyah who said all these ahadîth refer to what is known as the 'înah' contract (something which Sheikh Haitham actually explains the nature of later in his document). Therefore this argument is not strong and Allah knows best.

3. The Sheikh notes that 'the presence of a significant amount of ambiguity (gharar) invalidates a contract' which is of course true. Naturally a 'small' amount or 'yasîr' amount as the Salaf used to call it, is not a problem. A look at the HSBC contract does not show a significant amount of gharar and Allah knows best.

4. On page 2, the Sheikh says that the Fiqh Council have ruled, 'that if one cannot distinguish at any point of time whether the client is a tenant or buyer, then such a contract is invalid' referring to Resolution No. 110. It is very clear though that the client is a tenant throughout this contract and the bank is the owner. That is a fact from the details of the HSBC contract. So the above is not applicable and that is why if one reads the same Resolution (110), you will find the Fiqh Council ruled that this contract of ijâra ending with ownership as permissible!!

5. The Sheikh's claim that this scheme is 'closer to a conventional loan' has no evidence. A 'guise' must be proved and the Sheikh has not done that. The Bank remains the owner and Lessor. The Client remains the tenant and Lessee. That’s what the contract states and that’s what the reality shows and Allah knows best. The discussion here enters the well-known debate considering "al-ibrah bil alfâdh…" and should return to the books of Usûl-ul-Fiqh for more details.

6. The Sheikh asks 'why the tenant has to pay 10% or such a large sum in a tenancy agreement when the norm would be something much smaller'. The answer is because the Bank has made such a commitment a condition to them entering this contract! The Bank can insist on whatever it likes, such as if you wanted to rent a house from me for £1000 a month and I said to you, but I want £10,000 deposit first. You accept or reject! So there can be no problem here. As for whether it is a 'down-payment' or a 'deposit' then the intention is well understood and Allah knows best.

7. The Sheikh asks 'who pays the insurance, and then asks about who will pay other costs' etc. The fact is that the Bank, like any landlord, has come to a deal with the Client. If the client wishes to pay for all such costs, it will be down to him. If the Client wants the Bank to deal with everything then the Bank will willingly do so, but will increase the rent. Indeed quite rightly so. Again, the tenant and landlord can agree to anything they wish between themselves as long as that issue is not haram. This does not affect the overall contract of ijârah. In the HSBC contract, the Bank has calculated all its costs and evaluated the market rental rates and has come to a final rental cost per month. This default sum means that the Bank will cover any costs from loss or damage to the property and the client will not be liable for one penny, unless the Client takes on that responsibility themselves. His rent will decrease accordingly. This is all in the legal contract signed by the two parties, and has been confirmed to me by the head of Amanah Finance (HSBC), Noman Hasan.

8. The Sheikh notes that 'if the tenant decides to pull out, he will lose all payments that he has made to the Bank if the property has depreciated in value.' We ask, where is the problem in that?

The fact of the matter is the Bank only became involved in this contract because we approached them to buy a house at their risk, so that I could rent it from them for a set period of time until I gather enough money to buy it outright. The Bank agrees, covers it costs, calculates it risks and profits and then goes and purchases the house, taking ownership, and then gets a promise from us that we will not 'cheat' the bank and run off halfway through! It does this by making us commit a large deposit to show our intentions etc. Now, if for example, I decide to change my mind and go elsewhere or I have become redundant from my job and I cannot afford the rent anymore – what happens now?

As a tenant, I should be allowed to stop this agreement. And indeed I can. But what about the Bank now? Is this fair to the Bank that I have placed it in such a position? Of course not, but that is the risk that the Bank takes in this contract. This is what makes the contract essentially halal according to many of the scholars. What the Bank will do is to demand it is recompensated for you pulling out of a legal agreement to rent this property for 20 years. So it will ask you to return its original investment which you can only do by selling the house. If you sell if for more, the Bank allows you to keep the profit if you wish. If there is a loss, then the Bank will want to reclaim its loss (which it only incurred because you wanted them to get involved in such a contract) and whatever money they have of yours will be used to offset the loss. Let us suppose that they have £10000 of your money but the property has depreciated by £50000. And you do not have the remaining £40000, then what happens now? The Bank loses £40000. That maybe not fair on the Bank but that’s the risk the Bank took.

This is important to understand for in a conventional mortgage, the Bank will pursue you to the very end to reclaim its lost money. Here in the Amanah contract, the Bank accepts the risk and will accept your claim of bankruptcy and accept the loss. This is again in the legal contract and was confirmed again by Noman Hasan.

9. The Sheikh (hafidhahullah) then says that these points 'when taken as a whole, such practices may invalidate the contract.' The reality is that each of these points provide no evidence to show a problem either individually or collectively and Allah knows best. And 'may' is not good enough to make the entire contract harâm.

10. The Sheikh again repeats that all the risk is being borne by the Client. This is incorrect as we have shown above and therefore this point is invalid and Allah knows best.

11. The Sheikh gives a good example of how individual halal components may produce a haram collective contract. This is not applicable here and therefore an invalid analogy.

12. The rest of the document discusses related issues. In conclusion to these points, the Bank whether run by disbelievers or believers is out to make profit. It does so by the size of its capital and being able to minimise its risks. This is called business, wa hallallâho al-bay'. We as the consumer want to find a way of being able to use the financial power of these institutions to our benefit, i.e. to gain our basic human right of owning our own houses. They will condition certain things and we will accept them or leave the contract and look elsewhere. The Bank is taking on a risk whatever anyone claims and therefore its profit is permissible due to the level of risk.

And Allah indeed knows best.

Just to finish with few important points: What I have written above is of course not my own work rather it is simply translating and putting into reality what many of the senior scholars who allow this scheme have said in defence of the ijârah contract, such as Mufti Taqi-ud-Dîn, Sheikh al-Manî', the Majma' al-Fiqh al-Islâmi, aswell as many many other scholars and Professors around the world, some known, and some unknown, a small few of these experts on Shariah supervisory boards and the majority of the other experts in insolation as such.

I have been able to add a few more details other than present sources because I have been able to, wal-hamdulillah, along with our beloved Sheikh Haitham, attend the seminars held by HSBC and other financial companies where Mufti Taqi, Dr Imran al-Uthmani and Sheikh Nizâm al-Ya'qubi have been present and argued and defended their case. I have been in contact with the Amanah finance team leadership, as has been our Sheikh, and we have both obtained a copy of the contract. Noman Hasan, head of the UK Amanah finance team organised a specific meeting with the head of Amanah HSBC International who travelled from Dubai to meet us (Yasir Qadhi and Tawfeeq Chowdhury) in Madinah to have a detailed discussion surrounding the contract.

I have also had recourse to many legal experts who have been working on the details of the ijârah contract for a few years now and so have been able to clarify a few legal points too.

And Allah knows best.

Again, I am not here to tell you to take out an ijârah contract. If I did, I'd want at least £10000 per person from HSBC, but the Bank refused (that’s a joke by the way). The reality is that the international scholarly community is in difference over this issue. The national scholars in the UK differ over it too. For those who love names, then Sheikh Abdur-Rahman al-Leebi, Sheikh Haitham al-Haddâd amongst others believe that this contract is harâm. Sheikh Abdullah al-Juday', Sheikh Suhaib Hasan, the entire Deobandi school in the UK (following Mufti Taqi) and many others believe the contract to be permissible. And Allah knows best.

What is an obligation upon us all is to consult those whom we trust in our Deen and follow their advice and NOT to make this issue so divisive as it is turning out to be!

Wa Allâhu Musta'an!!

And I'm knackered now so we can argue some more tomorrow. And yeah, it IS turning into a bit of a blag all this isn't it? Hey, so what? Blog. Blag. What's the difference anyway, they're both tiring...

:-)

HSBC, HSBC - Laa di daa, laa di di.

Yep, it’s the buzzword of the moment – and quite rightly so. House buying has been a natural desire for all nations throughout time immemorial. It's a basic human right, to own your own home, to establish a base, to nurture your family, and to leave to your inheritors.

The asl (or basic principle) is to own your own house (to many 'owns' in that sentence aren't there?) and not to rent someone else's house, unless you are unable to afford your own house.

Agreed?

And we can find support for that in the Sunnah of the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) when he said, "Indeed it is from good fortune to have a spacious house…and it is from misfortune to have a small house." In other narrations, "a very large house", "a very spacious house" etc etc.

I think you get the point. All related by al-Hakim, at-Tayalisi, ibn Hibban and others, graded fair by Albani and saheeh by Juday' and Arna'ut amongst others.

So not just have your own house, but a nice house. And not just a nice house, but a nice neighbourhood too! One of the above narrations mentions that from happiness is to also have nice neighbours. So choose wisely folks, wherever you move to, renting or buying!

The point I'm trying to make is that there is no 'piety' in renting, even though people may think so. All of us should be living with our parents or renting until we have the financial capability to get a proper place for our families and our lives to progress. And there's a huge difference between establishing oneself and family and between chasing a materialistic dunya. Having nice clothes, car, house etc etc is not an invalidator of taqwa! "At-Taqwa haa huna! At-Taqwa haa huna!" Yes, "Taqwa is here! Taqwa is here!" said the Prophet (sallallhu 'alayhi wa sallam) whilst touching the heart.

SO, whats all that about?

Well, just wanted to say that house buying is something which we should care about and take seriously, just as seriously as we take these possible schemes that allow us to do that.

The most important thing though in such situations is to remember not to go fatwa shopping, something which becomes very common in such times. It is upon the Muslims to stick to whoever they use to teach them their religion. It is not right for people to start jumping around from here to there based upon mere whims and ignorance. This is a real problem that many of the youth are caught up in and this is why they are so confused where to go next in their deen!

I must say that on the fatwa by the noble Sheikh Haitham, I have some disagreements. Many people have differed with him, many bigger and senior scholars have refuted some of his points. Likewise, many bigger and senior than them have also counter refuted. This is not the playgroud of the masses, but the realm of the students, to discuss and reflect upon the arguments.

For the massive majority of us, the 'awâm or masses, we'll just make taqleed ie follow our normal scholars that we trust day in and day out for our deen. Khalas. End of story.

I might write a few points later about that fatwa anyway if Allah wills.

Had a busy day today though! We had a guest from the Emirates, the Baghdadi Sheikh Professor Abdur-Rahman al-Hajji, who is currently teaching the history course in Didsbury Masjid.

What an amazing individual. As our Sheikh said about him, "This man is a walking encyclopaedia." And goodness me was he!

But his most classic line to me was over a late lunch down at Abu Hamza's place. I ordered loads of food, and we started to eat masha'Allah (even though I wasn't very hungry, I had to make it at least look like I was hungry, otherwise that is very very bad karam of course).

He leans over to me and whispers, "Ya Aba Eesa. I don't know what hunger means."

"Err…Ok Sheikh."

"Akhi, my wife says to me every year at the beginning of Ramadhan, 'Ya 'Abdar-Rahman, how on Earth will you fast this year!"

Haha! My hero……

:-)

'Asr salah - mission!

I hope its not just me that's finding praying this salah on its proper time a quality challenge.

No wonder it is specifically mentioned by Allah 'azza wa jall in His Book here He orders us to guard this prayer particularly. Ya Allah, help us in practising Your Perfect Deen, Ameen!

I forgot to tell everyone - I am feeling very happy today alhamdulillah, as a long long lost friend has come back to our ranks and the thanks and praise are for Allah. Oh and Saleem, what a hero you are akhi - you've done Bradford proud! Jazakallaho Khairan!

The comment left by Anonymous (can people have a bit of guts and honesty please and register!!) reminds me something - for the sake of academic satisfaction, I'd like to challenge anyone to prove the authenticity of the aforementioned hadith. I'll be very interested in your results. Naturally, this is an evidence based challenge - anyone who is going to quote names, please don't waste our time. I'm sure the Tullab al-'Ilm will help us out here - BlogShareef?? Reef always loves a challenge too...

;-)

I don't know whether it's the HSBC fatwa, Islaam.net's latest article or just the latest batch of questions these days amongst brothers and sisters on the phone or the internet, but the issue of riba (usury/interest) seems to be very prominent.

Have you noticed?

And indeed it should be. Riba is something we take far too lightly in our daily lives here in the West. And how can that be when Allah has declared war on those who indulge in it in His Book, and the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) has warned that it is from the major deadly sins and that a person's du'a is rejected if he gets involved!

Pretty disasterous I think you'd agree.

At the same time, when warning against such a heinous crime, we shouldn't step outside the boundary of the Qur'an and Sunnah. I often find people, who whilst trying to bring home the seriousness and severity of the sin of Riba, often leave the authentic and proper narrations I have mentioned above, and go for more spurious 'threats'.

Such as saying that the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said Riba is worse than having intercourse with one's mother, and it is worse that 36 parts of adultery or whatever etc etc.

The simple truth, and Allah knows best, is that none of these hadith are authentic and therefore shouldn't be attributed to the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam). And there's just no need to use such statements at all! We have enough warning and prohibition as it is surely!

Doh!

This always gets my goat to be honest. Anyway, there is a deeper issue here in the science of hadith of whether these kind of strange statements would have been uttered by the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) but thats more a discussion for the scholars etc.

As for the argument of using weak hadeeth in promoting good actions and warning against bad ones, then even if we were to use that principle and agree to its correctness, it is well known that we must state clearly that this is a WEAK hadith (and therefore not claim it to be otherwise such as the above two examples) and the hadith musn't be very weak or at risk of being fabricated.

Anyway, the article by Sheikh al-Jaza'iry (hafidhahullah) is otherwise excellent, read it here on www.Islaam.net.

Finally, who saw this BBC4 interview with Sheikh Hamza Yusuf last night? Anyone? I'd be interested in your comments if you saw it.

Just been discussing getting fit with our beloved Sheikh. What a fantastic motivator masha'Allah. After I told him how much weight I'd lost and how many miles I could run, Sheikh gives it:

"It's not climbing the mountain akhi, its staying there that counts."

"Cheers Sheikh."

:-(

Then I receive a call from a brother on his '3' network phone. "Bro, I can't hear you properly," I said to him.

"Yeah, I'm just taking my phone in to get it fixed. There's something wrong with it."

"No bro, your phone's fine. It's your network that you want to change mate."

I am committed to educating all Muslims not to be duped by the offers that '3' offer – it is simply the worst mobile phone network in the world – bar none. Even my dad's mobile on the North West Frontier in Pak works better than '3'!

If you want all these offers, find a plan you like, ring Orange and tell them to give you an OVP i.e. match the competitor's plan and price – you'll be laughing. Saying that, have you noticed how Orange's customer service is going down the pan? Oh, and don't try the 'tantrum' trick anymore with them if they don't give you what you want. Remember back in the days? We'd say, "Right, I'm leaving, cancel my contract!" Now they say, "Ok!"

Woops.

Classic one by a brother the other day when it happened to him. He goes, "What was that sorry? Hello? Can't hear you! Sorry, repeat that again!" and made a mega-quick exit. Wise choice bro.

;-)

By the way, I'm taking a few days off ranting – my throat hurts. But when I come back, then as requested, it HAS to be kids in the mosque. They are SO going down...

Oh yeah, I'm still trying to find how to post the fatwa by Sheikh Haitham (hafidhahullah) but having no luck. Its too long to post here cos its 5 pages. Any ideas? Anyone got some free web-space to put it on just for storage and access?

SORRY! I've just seen it now on www.as-sahwah.com. Go there and check it out.

Finally, you know what the total solution to the mobile phone mosque fiasco is? The Jammer. Yep, the mobile phone jammer is the only thing that works with 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Illegal though. Did you know that? Works a treat though and you can get hold of one from people in Manchester for about 300 quid to cover a masjid the size of Makki. Anyone know any other sources?

Nabeel and Tariq (in Saudi), do you remember the jammer in Tawfique Saaigh's mosque? What a quality device, comes on as soon as the microphone for Salah is turned on. Excellent.

Ok true, there is a debate here. It is dangerous if someone can't make an emergency call due to the jammer, but conversely, one would have the common sense to either go outside, turn it off, or someone else turn it off? Of course, there might not be someone in the congregation who knows where it is etc. But then if you look at your phone and it has no reception, what's the first thing you do? You go outside!

Hmm. Its an interesting debate this one…

Gutted that our Ryder Cup team didn't win best team, but at least the Paks got maximum exposure – who actually knows this Abdullah ben Kyamal bloke? Top man.

That got me thinking. Sport equals life to so many people in the world. Sport is strangely that only one thing that often bridges all political and ethnic divides. Its athletes become the single most respected people in the world. So, we need some more. Honestly, we need more athletes to be the very best in the world. Islam deserves that respect, and the opportunities for da'wah are well known.

You can only really appreciate sporting achievement if you yourself have participated. Subhanallah, these long distance runners are simply incredible. Our job of course is to make sure the balance is met – and that pursuit of the dunya doesn't overtake our key objective of the akhirah.

Oh by the way, a dear friend of mine in Bradford is rather upset by my 'scholarly' musings, modernist tendencies and characteristics of the hypocrites. I told you they were bonkers! He urges me to reflect and do some soul searching instead of telling miskeen old Chris to do so. So, I'm currently doing some soul searching at the moment, and when you read this bro (even though you said you'd never read this but of course you are you sly little lad you!) you can be happy that I am following your advice.

Nice way to end the weekend is to all remember our brothers in Chechnya. The Mujahideen must never be kept out of our thoughts and du'a. Any support we can muster becomes an obligation for us. The BBC have an anniversary thing on it too seeing at is was ten years today when the Russian criminals invaded our land:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/04/europe_war_in_chechnya/html/1.stm

Remember that the Western media is still lost in the lies of war so take all 'facts' about the conflict with a good pinch of salt.

Great end to the night alhamdulillah with the destruction of some more of the oppression of the Zionists – an illegal outpost this time. The Palestinian people need our support in every way, and we must not let the intellectual fancies of the West force us to totally silence our basic human right of speaking the truth.

Oh – just in! The latest news to end the night with is the release of our honourable Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad's fatwa on HSBC 'Islamic mortgages'. He concludes that they are Haram and as soon as I can sort my life out and learn how to post files to this site with a url, it'll be up for you all to have a read of and reflect over.

So who do you guys think will win BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2004? Remember that you heard it here first – Kelly Holmes. Anything else would be a travesty.

Young one will go to our local boy Amir Khan. Don't even bother starting the whole boxing debate because I've had enough of that!

Personally speaking, I'd like the Ryder Cup squad to get some kind of prize – I just love it when we batter the Yanks, and gosh did we batter the Yanks.

:-)

As for young Chris and his comments – have mercy on him, he's a bit of wild nut, lives absolutely on his own in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Scotland. No Paks, no studying, no quality, just himself and the internet. You can see the dangers of isolationism upon Islamic thought.

I still love ya Chris.

On the other hand, you get the other bunch of extremist freaks that go into their own isolated state – I've had many close friends that have ended at this hole; a black hole at that. Speaking to them is just an utter waste of time, full of rage and false piety – living the dream that they have perfected their lives in Islam. Bradford be careful – the disease is spreading amongst you after it was destroyed in London, Manchester and other places.

Take the excellent advice of Sheikh Muhammad Isma'îl al-Muqaddam (hafidhahullah) in Alexandria, Egypt, when he told the Muslims, "They are like a fire. So treat them like that. As they go and burn everything around them, don't give them any attention or time, don't be their fuel. Starve them of their oxygen, and they will burn themselves out in due time."

Wallahi, that's major DT for those who have been affected by these nutters or witnessed their destruction. And if you have no idea who we are talking about, then count yourself as blessed, wal-Hamdulillah.

Blimey, that was depressing.

On that note, please visit www.as-Sahwah.com and read the Obituary of one of the greatest scholars we've seen for a while. And make du'a for him too, may Allah grant him Jannatul Firdaws al-A'lâ, Ameen.

Ok, I know that I said boxing is harâm and all that, but we did want Danny to leather the Ukranian didn't we? Interesting debate this – do we want a Muslim 'champion' or do we want a Muslim 'loser'?

Some would argue that winning and becoming champion would encourage him to continue and defend his title as much as possible, along with all the lucrative fights that would come his way due to him being champion.

Others would say no, losing will depress and him and make him step down while he can and therefore leave the harâm. Well, just hearing him on Five Live saying that he will continue for as long as he can doesn't seem to have helped our little debate.

But I still wish that he'd battered that other bloke…

;-)

Actually, I feel like doing a bit of battering myself. Yeah, all those plums with musical tones on their mobile phones. Wallahi, we need to be easy and gentle with the people, but nothing freaks me out as much as those disastrous ring-tones, especially in our Mosques and during the Salah!We should be turning our phones off anyway during times like that, but hey, many forget and that’s fair enough. If you heard 'ring ring' during the prayer, it doesn't affect you. But when the bloke forgets and it starts playing Waltzing Matilda, Beethoven, Eminem and that Arabic bakwas too – this is just unforgivable! Why does he need that?! What's the difference between putting the Hi-fi on during salah whilst we're trying to get into audience with Allah, and this 'polyphonic' stuff we have these days??

And goodness me have I heard some lame excuses in the last few days. Here's my not-top ten:

1. Brother, I can't work out how to change it!

Give it here ya Pak and I'll do it – in kuntum sâdiqîn. Naturally, its just a blag, cos' they'll not give it to you or they'll give it to you and change it back outside.

2. But brother, this is a new polyphonic phone that doesn’t do normal ring tones!

Oh really – meet my phone, polyphonic, and no stupid ringing tones either!

3. But brother, I need to differentiate my phone from everyone else's!

Stick it in your pocket and turn the vibrate function on. Alternatively, paint it purple.

4. But I like my ringtone!

And I like my silence. And I have a beard, so I win. Oh you have a beard too? My beard is longer than yours, so I win again.

5. Brother, who said Music is haram anyway??

Err – virtually everyone?

6. What about Sheikh Juday' and his new book making music permissible?

Hey – you're not from Saudi too are you? I thought only the Saudis judged Juday's books before they read them! Don't claim for people what you have no knowledge of.

7. But ringing tones isn't real music anyway!

Neither is talking, or laughing, or giving salams – but they're still all forbidden in salah!

8. That’s not a valid analogy! My ring-tone has nothing to do with talking etc!

Oh really? Surprisingly enough, the issue is of disturbing the musalli (the one who is praying) not whether your ring-tone is talking, laughing, singing, music, or not music! It disturbs me!

9. Brother – are you a Wahabi?

No, but goodness me I'm considering it!

10. Can you have mercy upon me and leave me alone with my ringtone?

No – I will hound you all to death until we reclaim back our Masjids! We shall fight them on all corners, on the beaches, in the streets, we will not be defeated!

Ok ok, so that wasn't really ten excuses, but I couldn't think of anymore. I'm sure you guys will have some though.

Good news is that our old Aussie pal Tawfique Chowdhury is coming to the UK on the 23rd of December to give us some of the excellent knowledge he has learnt masha'Allah, wa lâ nuzakkî ahad ilallâh. And hopefully we'll have him here in Madinatul-'Ilm. Yes, Manchester!

Apparently we need to petition some brother called Raheem Raouf – so here's his email and send him enough reasons to make sure Manchester get him. If you want the knowledge folks, you gotta fight for it. Mail RaheemRaouf@hotmail.com.

:-)

Oh, for those who have been asking about the Muslim Prep School for kids, then the address is
551 Wilmslow Rd, Withington, Manchester, M20 4BA. Tel. 0161 445 5452.

And yes, we've done the Paks and the Saudis – the Guji/Deobandies have not been forgotten blogfans – all in good time, all in good time…

Masha'Allah good job Blogshareef saab - it does seem that what you say is indeed the truth, therefore al-Faqeeh from the Multaqa wins - for now...

:-)

Much much better news is that our Sheikh Ali al-Timimi (may Allah preserve him) has achieved his PhD from the States in 'Chaos and Complexity in Cancer.' As you all probably know, he is going through a very difficult time at the moment, facing a fabricated charge of some terrorism bakwas in the States. Problem is that the Kuffs are seriously out to nail the Sheikh - they know the people to take out of da'wah - but Allah indeed is the best of Planners.

Please support our Sheikh in anyway you can: www.altimimi.org

Do we need a bit of late night DT then? Apart from the fact that its going to be early morning DT behaviour for the majority....ok, here goes:

DT reflection: The dawn never comes to waken a man twice.

Yep. Think about it.

Subhanallah, who saw the Ukranian oppositon leader miskeen? Now thats what I call poisoning man, he looked mashed! There is some serious crazy stuff going on there you know.

Also, keeping with the theme of 'Sorry Everbody', here's another one of my favourites:



Thats just nice. Really folks, everyone in the States is not our enemy. Honest.

And can someone please tell me why we haven't accepted some of these apologies? Well? How comes our miskeen Brit gori are doing the job for us, when it's OUR job in reality:



Man, these people have so much good in them - we have got just SO much work to do to help perfect these peoples' lives here and in the akhirah. Sigh.

So lets make some of our own folks - and send them to me so we can post them up, guage public Pak opinion and then send in our best ones. Ok?

Anyway, its late, I'm tired, and I'm working tomorrow (in Blackpool!) so I'm off.

Oh, and Liverpool lost the derby today. Haha! Gutted you scousers!

;-)

After thinking about it for a while, I've just signed up my three boys on to the waiting list of Manchester Muslim Prep School, the private place opposite Christies Hosptial in Didsbury. It cost me £25 a head, and the waiting list is about 2 years (!) unless someone pulls out or summin'.

Hmm.

I wasn't really too bothered about this Islamic school lark to be honest - I've generally been an advocate of home tarbiyyah plus local good quality schools, to ensure a balanced mix of deen, language, and both cultures. As long as you're in a nice-ish area, the quality is good, teachers are good - then thats fine surely.

Especially when the alternative is 20 minutes away by car, costs over three and a half grand a year per kid (!!), and as per the syllabus, only study 30 minutes of arabic and 90 minutes of Qur'an a week!

Thats an Islamic school??! And the best of the lot as its reputed to be??

I thought to myself, "We do that much at home per DAY!"

But then, there I was, signing them all up, and insha'Allah they'll be going there as long as I can afford it and Allah knows best.

Why? Well, I've decided that I'm paying over 3 grand a kid to avoid the nativity play. Yep, thats it - the nativity play. Because although schools allow the kids to sit out the play and such, they are still affected by the experience, losing out on being with the crowd etc etc. Hard stuff to put young kids through you know.

And when you let them go ahead for the sake of it, its just a disaster. A good friend of mine relates that his neice will be playing Mary in the nativity play, and has been coming home practising her lines of bakwas. Yep, bakwas. Not only does the girl miskeena have no idea, neither do her teachers, neither do their theologians, no-one. Rubbish built upon rubbish - and we expose our kids to that!?

A brother said to me recently, "You're not exactly sending your kids to Islamic schools to really learn anything Islamic as such, rather just to prevent them learning rubbish and harm at other places."

And that statement is spot-on when I think about it. No other reason really. We have plenty of out-of-hours Islamic educational institutes for memorising Qur'an and Arabic such as al-Manar school in Chorlton 3 times a week in the evenings and weekend. We also have a regular sunday 'madrassah' for kids to learn Qur'an and Du'a etc.

So he is right. Don't expect these national curriculum based Islamic schools to be producing 'ulema! Thats your job outside of these schools, in their spare time, at other madrassahs, at home, and even away - as I plan in a few years time insha'Allah, for my children to get a year or two of memorising the Qur'an and the sciences in foreign institutes in Arab or Asian countries before they return to finish off schooling.

Which is another point. An excellent comment from Tawfique Choudhry highlights that we are spending so much on extending and building new mosques but the equivalent concern is simply not there for our schools to cater for a massively young population. Without this funding and concern, these select few schools that are available, will only ever be available to the select few who can afford them. And often, these families are 'practising' anyway and as such, their children are 'less' of a dire need for such places!

If we don't start to support such local places for our kids, then we can expect another generation of disaster in the UK - the BritPak who is already blighting the streets of Blighty, strutting his/her stuff on Green Lane and Wilmslow Rd, leaving Moss Side drug dealing behind in the wake with Cheetham Hill, Pak Central, overtaking all other areas in gun running and drug dealing. Fact. And more paks in prison and increasing. Fact. And more social dropouts than ever before amongst the Paks. Fact.

Far too many sorry cold facts.

Just a reminder guys, just a reminder.

Also, we should support these institutes abroad aswell, that are still trying to maintain imbibing the classical sciences to their and our children. They are SO dependent on our donations, without us they'll collapse. Trust me, we'll be using these places for our own kids for small periods of time if we really want to produce home grown serious 'Ulema, if we want our kids to become people of the Qur'an, the Qur'anic generation that will lift this Ummah out if its gloom.

Anyone interested in helping or supporting financially traditional Islamic institutes abroad in Mauritania, Pakistan etc, then drop a mail to info@propheticguidance.co.uk. Those who want to help in our own schools, get in contact with your local people, raise awareness with the people that matter, the business-men, the mosques and their committees - any action plans needed then drop me a line and I'll help as much as possible insha'Allah.

I was just reading al-Jâmi li-Shu'ab al-Imân of Imam al-Bayhaqi (rahimahullah) where he relates a hadith with a good chain on the authority of Abu Hurayrah (radhy Allahu 'anhu) that the blessed Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said:

من تعلم القرآن و هو فتي السن، أخلطه الله بلحمه و دمه

"Whoever learns the Qur'an whilst they are still young, Allah will blend it into his flesh and blood."

Wow. Now that’s a kick-off hadith. So if you really do want to produce that living, breathing Qur'anic generation, then we got to start teaching these kids the meaning of this Qur'an! And not just rote memorisation indo-pak style, but a deep appreciation for it, its tajweed, its meaning, its adab, everything! Quicktime!

Oh Allah, have mercy upon us all and allow our children to be the supporters and carriers of your noble Deen, as taught by your blessed Messenger (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam), ameen!

Subhanallah how did we used to live before without 24 hr Tescos??

Ajeeb.

I attended the Jumu'ah prayer at Didsbury Masjid where alhamdulillah, we got a nice khutbah today about the importance of seeking knowledge and respect for our scholars. The 2nd half was all about the death of the master of hadith, Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Arna'ut (rahimahullah) – it goes without saying that I was very content with today's offering.

But hey, Didsbury have got a serial thief too! In fact, there seems to be a serial group of thieves targeting all the mosques in Manchester on Jumu'ah! How ajeeb is that?! And as Amjad has just said, they are still vandalising the mosque in Altrincham, in one of the most affluent areas of the country! Don't forget they tried to burn down our mosque in Cheadle too a little while back – but you'll never notice it on the streets or amongst the community.

And you must have heard about the huge spate of robberies that have been targeting the Paks specifically, going for gold and cash only. The police are convinced it's some badmash Paks from down the road in Longsight – be alert!

I'm going to introduce a bit of Deen Therapy (DT) in the form of a point, advice, parable, etc just for us to dwell on, hopefully every day insha'Allah. So…

DT reflection: If the sun shone all the time, we'd have a desert

Next, can any of the tullâb out there find me some proof or evidence that ibn abi Mulaykah at-Tâbi'î (rahimahullah) narrated or met 'Ikrimah ibn abi Jahl (radhy Allahu 'anhu). I'm sure there's something out there but one of you Abjad boys must have some references.

As for all this niqab and hijab stuff then look – those who want to believe that wearing a niqab is extremism, then let them. Ignorance can't be helped. Extremism has never been practised by the early Muslims because the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) prohibited it very clearly, and warned that ghulû (ie religious extremism) would destroy the nation. So how can something such as a niqab or beard which was practised by the Sahabah in front of the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayi wa sallam) be extreme!? Ridiculous of course.

Of course, those who believe that even hijab is too much, then they are unfortunately lost in the hallucinations of modernity and insanity. Without doubt.

But this does not mean that people wearing niqab and a beard can act as irresponsibly as they so often do! This is naturally not a general statement, as alhamdulillah one can see many many good people veiled etc setting excellent examples for their fellow Muslims and non-Muslims. The danger of course is that significant minority that doesn't know the rulings concerning the niqab and interaction with the other sex etc. How often do we indeed see rude, arrogant and totally unacceptable behaviour from 'practising' brothers and sisters as such – doing permanent damage and putting others off from following the Sunnah more?

I wouldn't make this point if it was the exception. Unfortunately, the last 7 years in da'wah has shown this to be the reality. When I think back to all the pain and hurt and insult caused by such ignorant Muslims to their parents, their family, their extended family due to the insistence of such Muslims that they and only they know what is real and pure Islam – then I think my point is very clear and should not be twisted as an attack on the niqab and beard. Na'm!

:-)

Take this statement as you wish – we don’t need more beards or niqabs. We need MEN. We need WOMEN. We need people who give away from what they dearly love, who can go to sleep without grudges against other people, who pull out the stops to keep others happy, who look at everyone else and believe that only he will be the loser on the Day of Judgement.

Once we've sorted that out, then we'll deal with beards and niqabs.

Finally, tomorrow, as I've been reminded, all you mobile phone ballad boys are going down.

Bigtime.

I can't believe I forgot to tell you guys about the other day.

A good friend called me and said, "Ya Aba Eesa, can you interpret dreams??"

"No."

"Oh," he said.

"But I know a Sheikh who can."

"Ok excellent, ask him for me and let me know please," he said. He then narrated it to me fully.

So I went to the Sheikh and related to him, "Sheikh, this is the dream. He's walking back from the battle of Badr he believes, dragging like a wooden cart full of booty from the Quraysh. So he's walking back through rough land, and then through a dry river bed full of beautiful white sand and he knows, just knows, that 'Ali (radhy Allahu 'anhu) is by his side too, on the same return. Suddenly, a female lion jumps out of a bush right in front. Everyone just stops. After a few minutes, a huge male African lion jumps out and approaches him. He shouts out to Ali, 'Pass the sword!' to which he throws the sword to him. He picks it up and does an 'Indiana Jones' special with all the waving and flaying it around his head and showing off etc. Then he takes a stance against the lion. At this point, the female lion runs off in fear, and the male lion takes a reluctant look at her and then to him and also trundles off. Thats the dream in totality Sheikh, what do you think?"

The Sheikh looked me and said, "I think your friend was watching too many late night cartoons..."

Surely there has to be a way of washing kids without hurting your back so much!

Anyone?

Anyway, more good news is that our Masjid in Cheadle has got a new carpet and a very nice one it is too.

And its a Wilton. Ooooooooooh. Raaather poash I must say.

Also I demand that the Chairman be replaced for missing my 'Aqeeqah and sending one single miskeen representative from my OWN mosque!! In fact, the whole board should go!

Saying that, maybe not. At least they speak English and have some idea of life in 21st Century Britain. I hope you all read the excellent advice from our respected Sheikh Abu Muntasir (may Allah preserve him) on his JIMAS list (if you're not a member, then join at www.jimas.org).

Far too many lame Imams, lame committees, lame ideas = dead da'wah, dead hearts, and just more death anywhere you can find a noun to prefix it to.

There is indeed a fine line between producing educated, home grown leaders of the community who don't practise a deviated modern strand of Islam as opposed to a flexible, sunnah form of Islam - the next move is critical for to have the old boys turn against us would be disastrous. They are still reverred in their respective communities by the masses, yet one can see the desire for change and therefore we must produce more leaders from amongst ourselves and we must even more so make it a real worthwhile position, both financially and socially.

To be the Molvee is still seen in the community as being the butt-end of all life, a bigger baistee is not possible! Peverse or what!

Anyways, lets have a look at photo of the day so far:


Iran TV Newsflash: The Mahdi has been found!

Sorry to all those who are disappointed in me, I just couldn't resist.

:-)

Just listening to Matthew Bannister on Radio 5 on the way back home, reporting a new study has shown that if we watch the news on TV daily, we will increase in depression, anxiety, anger and irritation - all due to the mass of bad news we get all the time.

Therefore...

I welcome you all again to my plan of a blog that started a while ago and will continue for as long as Allah 'azza wa jall gives me the tawfeeq - 'Deen Therapy'.

Yep, Deen Therapy is where we can just enjoy being Muslim for once instead of treating it like a plague stuck to our faces. By the way, Deen Therapy (DT for short) allows me to be all relaxed and chilled and not have to act all serious and pious as I normally do - excellent!

;-)

So, lets have a few pieces of good news for once, as is the Sunnah! Ok, lets see....

1. Ahh. Masha'Allah good news for me personally is that my little one Yahya hasn't got a mental disability, a life-threatening disease, or the loss of any limbs. He was diagnosed as either having a rare form of genetic rickets or an achondroplasia scenario which insha'Allah will be able to be sorted out soon.

When I heard that first time, my blood went cold for a second. Then I thought, "Subhanallah, hold on. This kid is in the very best of health, always happy, always smiling, getting the best treatment in the world, so where is the trial and test for him and his parents? There isn't! And what of all the other MILLIONS of children and parents throughout who are being tested day in, day out, with far far greater problems.

Ahamdulillah Ya Rabbi, Alhamdulillah. I don't care who you are reader, but our first piece of good news today is to look at your children and be happy that Allah gave them much much more than many other people in the world today.

:-)

If thats not the Sunnah then I don't know what is.

2. Err - The Abjad list has had its ranks boosted by some more quality elders, which now gives 'us' proportional representation in our discussions surrounding various masaa'il - watch out Qadhi Wahhab saab...

;-)

3. Gosh this is hard work - ok, 'lets be nice to women day' is officially over and I can stop pretending now to be nice. Excellent!

4. Shaykh Juday' is about to publish his new research papers within the next few months insha'Allah. I'm sure I'll tell you all about that some time soon.

5. I'm really struggling here guys - Err....aaah - Its Friday! Thank God for that! I need some reward today folks and theres nothing like good old Jumu'ah to fill up the credits.

Lets see, Fajr in congregation on Jumu'ah, reciting Kahf in the morning, sending Salams upon Sayyidina Rasullullah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam), making ghusl for the Jumu'ah, perfuming and beautifying ourselves for the salah, going early to the Masjid, reading some more Qur'an, listening to the Khutbah (find a good one guys!), praying Salat-ul-Jumu'ah, sending more salams upon the Nabi (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam), probably praying the 'Asr in congregation too cos' its time already, making du'a in the last hour before Maghrib, sending more salams and reading more Qur'an! WOW - Thats like, err, 14 specific sources of reward and forgiveness man! All authentic, all supported by hadith, all there for the taking in a few hours! What more good news do you guys want!!

And all in lovely soppy technicolor too.

So on that very happy note - have a good evening! Thats what I call DT!

:-)

Zionist Kilaab - one wonders how long before they self-destruct in their misguidance and oppression. After the almost unbelievable murder of 13 year old Iman a little while back, one notices that the only sensitivies shown by the Zionist population is when their holocaust bakwas comes under some kind of criticism or the like. Read the link to see what I mean:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1361755,00.html

To other things, I think I can feel a rant coming on, especially when I saw the advert for a talk in London soon, "THE UNSMILING HIJABIS & THE HOLIER THAN THOU BROTHERS". You know how true that is? If there is anything that really gets me, its the sheer ignorance of many of the very 'pious' sisters in niqab who seem to have no idea whatsoever about what Islam requires from them!

I witnessed something the other day, where a 75 year old man turned to say hello to a Niqabi sister, who totally blanked him and turned away! Masha'Allah sister what a great act of taqwah! After my furious enquiries, the sister was apparently 'reducing the path to sin'.

Oh really?

"She's very cold that young girl isn't she Matt?" he said to me. "Naah," I said, "I think she might be veiling her heart at the same time Alf..."

I honestly can't stand this sort of behaviour - this ignorance which comes with the ruling of hijab and niqab, what is permissible from speaking and contact with the other sex, the issues of isolation with the other sex, the rulings associated with all such interactions in either a social, business or religious sense etc etc.

Unfortunately, you'll find many of these sisters with such nice and good intentions, ie to try and be as pure and chaste as possible as demanded by Allah 'azza wa jall, but how often do such sisters miss the mark?

And they shouldn't! These are meant to be the more 'practising' and 'knowledgable' sisters! Ask them anything to do with such rulings, or any of the many hadith showing much ease in this field, and they're absolutely lost!

Sigh. This is our state when practising, 'aafiyah ya Allah for our non-practising.

Wallahi maybe my ranting will force me to mention some hadith and incidents but the saddu adh-dharai'i crew from the Kingdom might boycott me more than they already have...

Never mind eh? And by the way lads, the rant on the bearded ones who have no idea what that beard is there for is coming soon at a cinema near you...

Another disappointment today was JIMAS deciding not to go ahead with an Xmas Seminar programme in Manchester over the Boxing day holiday. This can not be tolerated! We must petition our Sheikh, Abu Muntasir, to reconsider and not shut us off in the dark with the Scousers and the Geordies. What a disaster!

Oh, even though my extreme love for the Kingdom scholars is well known, I must admit that their fatwa banning camera phones is starting to come home now, especially after Amjad's outrageous breach of privacy of photographing me whilst in the Masjid. The Masjid I tell you! That bastion of sanctity and privacy - breached by the leering lens of a Sony Ericsson!

Oh the shame! Oh the ignominy!

Off to the gym now - I need to run a couple of miles just to get over the shock of the joiner bloke who just wanted 50 quid for fixing my kitchen door lock and my niqabi special purdah (between the kitchen and the rest of the house for those more cautious amongst us who might believe that a full niqab doesn't do the job already) - 90 minutes work!

I'm in the wrong job!

Anyway, gave him 30 quid in the end so thats not bad.

What??

Yeah 30 quid, I'm a Pak you know!

;-)

Masha'Allah, another great winter morning (spot yesterday's deliberate mistake) and more trees to chop up no doubt. And yeah, the chainsaw is still not working, so I'm using Alf's pruning clippers - mission!

Another thing that I noticed during our reading from Shaykh as-S'idi's (rahimahullah) book on Hanbali Fiqh 'Nur al-Basa'ir' is how he emphasises that the wife has a greater job bearing with the deficiencies of husbands as opposed to the other way round.

Now think about this. The Sheikh instructs the men to put up with any mistakes that his wife may commit, quoting the beautiful hadith in Muslim, "The believer never hates his believing wife. If he dislikes something from her character, he is happy with another aspect of her character."

As for the women, he makes it clear that it will be more difficult for them, and more importantly that every single moment in a blessed marriage is a source of double reward, every moment! Why? Because we're such hard work thats why! So the respectful and patient wife is honoured by her sabr and thereby called righteous and blessed as Allah tells us in the Noble Book.

And wallahi he is SO right when he says that. Women miskeenas are always snowed under with everything with jack recognition - be honest guys.

So lets give it up for the ladies!

Masha'Allah if everyone of us today can do something nice for their wife in recognition for their hard work which has been recognised by Allah, His Messenger and all the scholars in history except US, then maybe we might go some way to repaying our debt to them.

Oh, and I've not turned soppy Refi - we'll be back to normal tomorrow.

;-)

The Hajj places are still there but dwindling! Details for me ole mucker Nurud-Deen from Essex ways (my bestest Essex boy mate in the world by the way) are:

- 12th Jan to 29th Jan, direct Luton to Jeddah there, and direct Madina to Luton on return.
- Nice hotel in Makkah, a cracker in Madina, both close and fine, 4 to a room
- £1750 a head plus the Qurbani cost when we get there (about 50 quid) which is cheap by the way cos' next year will be about 2.5 grand!
- Finally, the best companionship in the world (me!)

I was never one for modesty. :-)

If you've got more money to spend and want to stay in 5 star hotels (which is the only real difference), then go for Muntada, White Jewel and...thats about it! Don't trust all these other dodge packages I'm afraid...

Anyone wants details, they must ring or email me immediately. I'm sure you'll find my details of someone you know.

Right, I've got to go and grovel to my mate Naseer about why I haven't returned his camera and DVDs. Nas, honest, I came to Longsight on Tuesday AND Wednesday evening and forgot totally to bring them. I am on my way NOW!

Just got back a little while ago from our lesson in Hanbali fiqh. Nice chapter we're doing at the moment - "Rights of the husband over his wife". The funny thing is that when I'm normally dictating, the brothers write their notes in normal case but today I saw them writing in CAPITALS and bold print – hmmm…

What's even more strange is that they said they were leaving their notebooks at home for the next few days and not in their bags as usual – double hmmm…

Silly me! They just want to revise like good students of course! Why should I be paranoid and suspicious of such excellent and Sunnah-following brothers; they wouldn't try and foolishly take a sly one at their wives would they? Naaah…

:-)

Hey don't even think of trying to nick anything from Makki Masjid by the way – they've just installed a full CCTV system! Masha'Allah, cameras all over the show, and thats after a spate of pickpocketing incidents during Jumu'ah and Eed prayers. We got pure clever scallies in our part of the town, who have worked out when our Imam goes for sujood; well, he's not exactly your average Pak – I mean, he does actually make sajdah properly for more than 5 seconds! Enough time for these guys to leg it in and leg it out with whatever! Insha'Allah we'll get them next time and give them a hiding – oops, sorry I mean fight back in self-defence after their vicious racially motivated robbery of course…

The other bonus for me at the masjid was that I picked up a lovely present masha'Allah left by brother Mas'ud during the 'Aqeeqah for young Zakariya.

Yeah, strange though – he's named the card to a Sulayman ibn Niamatullah…hmm. Don't have one of them just yet but here's for the fourth…!

Aah, the only downside of tonight was that I picked up something which I promised (in jest) to display keeping in line with the recent festivities. Apparently, whilst I was doing my civic duties after the 'aqeeqah and cleaning the Masjid (by the way, may Allah give Jannah to all those who helped, especially Tahir, Bobs and Rashid), it seems that I have been snapped on the sly…


Mary Poppins, eat your heart out!


Now look here, this is just wholly unfair but at least I did it – I can keep my word at all costs! And all you freaks who are desperately trying to zoom in on the picture to see the length of my beard, just give it up cos' I've tried that already. What? You really think I'd put up a proper pic of myself on a website?! The Saudi boys would kill me!

Talking about beards, have you ever heard such rubbish in your life from the tabloids in the last few days?

Our boy Danny Williams, who is a Muslim by the way, might have to shave his beard cos' its too long for fighting. Too long!?! There'll be nothing there if he trims it – what will the Saudi's say!? I think it’s a fantastic length Danny boy, and you just keep it like that son, masha'Allah.

And bro, give up the boxing because I can't see for the life of me how it can be still Halâl for you now, especially as you've 'seen the light' and started to 'practise'. The Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) did actually say in the Sahîh of Imâm Bukhâri, "If anyone of you fights, let him avoid the face." This applies in real and 'entertainment' fighting.

Ibn Hajr (rahimahullah) whilst explaining the above narration in al-Fath, makes a stunning deduction from another hadith narrated by Imâm Abu Dâwûd where whilst a woman was being stoned to death for adultery, the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) commanded, "Stone her but don't strike the face." Ibn Hajr said that if this is the command during capital punishment where she is to be killed anyway, then what do you think if the hitting of the face is for a much lesser reason such as an argument or a fight. And then what do you think when it is for a 'sport'?!

Sigh. I don’t know, this is difficult because boxing is made out to be so exciting and it’s the only thing that Muslims have been any good at in the last million years. Darn, and I like young Amir Khan so much too….miskeen.

Anyway, if you want to see the beard size of brother Danny, for all those who like to measure people's taqwa levels by their beard length (you know who you are!), then here you go:


Making Wudhu - Boxing Madhab style.

Anyway, I think that’s all for now. Chris, I'd love to hear the Imam and Vicar joke. And I don't like the idea of a 2nd hand digital camera – 2nd hand Mercedes Benz S-Class maybe, but not a camera.

And come on! Where are those clever Paks out there who can manipulate this silly dollar rate we got at the moment?? I tried ordering summin' from Amazon USA at some silly silly price it worked out to in pounds – problem was that it was gonna cost me $100 dollars in postage and taxes! Whats the answer? Whats the solution? There is NO way that the Paks haven't clocked this one already….

Finally, I've got 10 Hajj places left on our group for early January departure – so roll up, only a few days to go before lines close!

:-)

Lovely autumn morning - I need to get one of those digital cameras to show how fortunate we are to have mu'tadal ('balanced', not too hot, not too cold) days here in the North (known to the rest of Manchester's enemies as dull and dreary...)

Hey does anyone know where I can get a good cheap digital camera from? Doc Nas is trying to sell me his one for 170 quid 2nd hand! Ok its a very nice one but I don't have that kind of money, I was looking at the under 50 quid mark, 4 megapixels and the rest of the malarkey it comes with - Aria have one for about that much but I don't know whether its a good brand or not - help out here folks.

Jazakallahu Khayran to Blogshareef for his info on the Rotary club - I knew something was a bit strange although that Arab response seems a tad over the top maybe, Allahu a'lam. Lets play things by ear. And yeah, I've been rejected by all the masjids but found solace with the politicians and clubs - this isn't exactly looking to good for my Da'ee CV is it?

;-)

Good to see that the discussions surrounding the new modes of Islamic finance to purchase houses in the UK is hotting up - more and more of the scholars are now committing themselves to either claiming it to be haram or halal, and there really is a split. I hope no-one goes fatwa shopping on this though, rather you should be asking the opinion of those you have always asked and trusted in your deen - not just going for the easier option.

Maybe we'll share some of these discussions soon insha'Allah....

Finally, in celebration of Abu Ammar's graduation, I'll post a joke he sent me ages ago which I still have cos' its still one of the funniest things I've read.

An old Arab man who has been living for 40 years in Idaho wanted to cultivate potatoes in his garden, but to remove the earth was getting to be too hard for his age.

His only son, Ali, was studying in France, so he decided to send him an e-mail explaining the situation:

"Dear Ali: I feel very disappointed because this year I'll be unable to plant my potatoes in my garden. I am too old to plough the ground. I wish you were here, and then my problems would be solved, because you would remove the soil for me. I love you - Dad"

The next day Ali sent an email in reply to his Dad:

"Dad: For God's sake, DO NOT remove the ground of that garden. It's there that I have hidden 'you-know-what'. I love you - Ali"

At 4 a.m. the next morning the local Police, FBI and CIA agents, along with Pentagon delegates, came in and put the garden upside down looking for dangerous material to build bombs, anthrax or whatever. They found nothing and they left.

The same day the old man received another e-mail from his son:

"Dear Dad: I am sure you can plant your potatoes now. It was the best I could do in the current circumstances. I love you, Ali"

Can you believe it? Refused admission to Cinderella's Ball tonight because I'm not ugly enough!

;-)

Yeah, they didn't allow us to attend Musharraf's bash tonight because we've been deemed a 'security risk'. Security risk?! Do they know who I am?? If you think there was a hoo-haa over Yusuf Islam not being allowed into the US, wait till' they hear about this! I'll have them know that I live 10 minutes from Alex Ferguson and Imran Khan is from my tribe! Actually… maybe that’s the reason. Hmmm. :-)

But I am disappointed I must say, but Qaddar-Allah masha'a fa'al it's not a major problem really, just means that I'll carry on blaming Musharraf for everything under the sun and I still won't have confirmed it with him personally. Oh well, nothing new there then.

Anyone looking to do a bit of gardening then don't bother buying a chainsaw – I spent over a hundred quid on a petrol job because I had to clear quite a few trees in the garden. I spent more time putting the chain back on than cutting! It felt like I was 9 years old again, do you remember? When your Raleigh Chopper or Boxer's chain kept coming off and you sat there for donkey years trying to put it back on again – Subhanallah what a mission!

But at least Irene's happy at the end of our house – keeping her happy is part of my deen after all, however much hard work it is.

Had a great couple of hours with Alf last night too, my 70 yr old next door neighbour. I think he's the only bloke in history who actually likes and drinks my tea considering I haven't got a clue how to make it properly. But a plate of Mcvities hob-nobs, a warm library and talking about his Rotary Club kept us content for a while. Lovely guy.

Hey, he wants me give a lecture there next month to his club for their annual dinner show thingy – what exactly is a Rotary Club anybody? Is it not some kind of association/membership thing like the Freemasons or am I being too sinister? Let us know please.

Oh finally, got a great few pictures borrowed from the website of the excellent Ali Omar Ermes. Masha'Allah I love his work, and you can see that his 'Iqra' has become my site moto. Quite munasib really considering that as a nation, we've left reading all together. Anyway, check these few out (and by the way, these prints are 500 squids a go!):


Baa - Ali Omar Ermes


Kaaf - Ali Omar Ermes


Alif Baa Taa - Ali Omar Ermes

Masha'Allah wa tabarakallah, Sheikh Yasir Saab has graduated from his Masters (and not PhD as I said before) after his Viva with the highest of honours. Excellent news. Let's hope that we can persuade him to take a position for PhD at either Oxford or Cambridge in the coming year...

That really would please the alMaghrib-UK crowd! :-)

That reminds me - a belated Eed mubarak to everyone! Now come on, everyone MUST have done Eed by now!! But on a serious note, if you'd like to get involved in serious discussions and solutions for the whole moon-sighting issue aswell as other excellent stuff about the link beween our Deen and Astronomy as per the limits of the Shari'ah, then join:

UK_Islamic_Astronomy-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

It is supervised by my very good friend and teacher, Usama Hasan - you're in the safest of hands masha'Allah.

:-)

And for those who want to get more involved in such stuff, such as Nasa satellite pictures and stuff, and you've got a large hard drive with a broadband connection, then check this out too:

http://learn.arc.nasa.gov/worldwind/

Its an amazing program to play around with - if you're bored that is...

Brothers and Sisters, something I totally forgot to request from everyone yesterday was copious amounts of du'a for our old friend Abu Ammaar (Yasir) in the blessed city of the Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam). He is sitting his final PhD viva today where they are going to grill him on the finer points of 'aqeedah!

My hero.......swoooooon.

:-)

Next, for all of you self prescribers out there, take it easy on the Timodine cream for baby nappy rash, especially when they are only 2 weeks old! I think the steroids have given young Zakariya a bit of a problem so I diluted it 1:4 with E45 and its doing the trick fine alhamdulillah! For those who were asking, he's ok masha'Allah but has a cold which doesn't help during feeding as you can imagine but Alhamdulillah 'ala kulli haal.

Hey have you guys seen the dollar rate?! Thats like 1.94 for a quid! Surely some of you folks know how to take advantage of that right? So roll up, tell me (someone who has a very poor business sense) on how to use this to our advantage - and don't bother telling me to go to New York for my Christmas Shopping this year - you could find yourself being made takfeer of or summin'...

;-)

No seriously, what practical ways can us Brits use to take advantage? Going to Saudi, should I use dollars because of their special fixed rate with the riyal, should I use pounds, should I convert pounds to dollars now and then store them, should I buy some stuff on the net from the USA that can avoid import taxes etc etc.

Come on all you London city yobbos - speak up!

Just a thought to those who try to justify that everyone who isn't a Pak (by the way, you've probably realised that as a Pakistani myself, I find it very easy to refer to Muslims as Paks) should be attacked and hated etc, then I just love this from the classic site 'SorryEverybody':


1


Yeah friend, I'm sorry too that other Muslims don't see things my way. They hold you and me accountable for everything that goes wrong in their lives!

You see, some Muslims find it very easy to blame others for their own shortcomings, as it is said:

"To blame others for our misfortunes is always a victory for the nafs"

Anyway, to sign off for the night, here are two nice ones:

:-)


2



3

I totally forgot to tell you about the star of the Lib Dem dinner the other night.

Firstly, a lesson to all people: Never judge the people whatever you've seen of them before.

Okay, now let me tell how I forgot this first lesson.

The MC on the night calls up this bloke to speak, and up steps the old Imam of Victoria Park Masjid in Manchester, yep the main Pak mosque in the North West for ages and ages.

'Here we go' we groaned on our table.

What happened next was the most living kick-off rant against Blair, Bush, Labour, the 'War on Terror' and then check this, THREAT to the Lib Dems should they be thinking the same way! Amazing! Oh Allah, forgive me for judging people before they open their mouth!

Sorry Imam Gee.

Anyway, just been invited to a dinner again tomorrow evening (wow, it must be that time of year) and you'll never guess who its in aid of - General bleedin' Musharraf!

So all you HT and Mojo lot out there, if you want to do your normal rabble-rousing show then please feel free to be there at the Alexander Sheridan Suite for tomorrow.

As for me then yeah, I think I'll go along and see what me ole' mucker has to say for himself - don't worry folks, I'll quosh all the rumours and confirm his Qadiyaniship, his treachery, his hypocrisy, his Kufr and everything else all you fitnah lovers want me to find out.

;-)

That is of course if they even let me in....

Can you feel it? Have you noticed….?

Subhanallah, you can already feel the buzz of Hajj – in under 30 days, the first Hajj groups will have already arrived!


The Haram Sharif in Makkah

Allahu Akbar! I got a picture in the right place! Wahey! :-)

But yeah, I'll be leading our own Hajj group for the Tawaf-Makkah brothers this year. Nice package, quite cheap, direct flights between London and Madina, nice hotels, good 'ulema – not bad really.

Other good packages incidentally for those who want a more 5 star package (which we didn't have time to arrange) are Muntada of course, White Jewel etc – I know the guys behind these packages and you'll be guaranteed good advice and guidance along the way which is of course the most important consideration. We've got a few places left too but you'd better be quick…!

Hey, what on Earth are these crazy people in Saudi people up to!?! They go around shedding the blood of non-Muslims and Muslims as if it were water! In the Name of Allah?! Man, and you want to know why we can't get anything done for ourselves? If it's not the whole pacifist modernist movement then it's the whacko freaks on the other end of the scale blattering anything that moves! Allahu Musta'an!

When will regain our sanity?

Has anyone got any GOOD news for us Paks….?

You know something? This HTML stuff isn't so difficult after all!

You can probably see a few changes just to make things neater but thats all I can do to be honest - I have no idea what else to do it so I think I'll leave it like this now.

You can see the links part on the side which is quite useful. Obviously the world's kick-off link is not there cos' its known already to everyone who has ever used a PC in their life - Google.

It's late, I'm tired, you're tired, and I want to pray Witr with my eyes open tonight. Refi STILL hasn't got home yet cos' the M40 is closed. How true is the Prophet's (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) statement that "indeed in travelling is a portion of punishment" May Allah facilitate all our journeys, Ameen!

Oh yeah, I forgot.

I've only been called self-pretentious twice so far about this blog.

Now that can't be bad can it?

;-)

The day after the night before. Great evening, great lesson by the Sheikh, excellent all round.

Whenever my old mate Refi comes down, we HAVE to go to the Bolton book shop. For those of you don't know this place, it's run by some excellent deobandi brothers who import Islamic books, mostly Arabic, from Lebanon and Pakistan at virtual cost price. They also get in all the Dar-ul-Ishaat books in English from India and Pakistan. This place is a MUST for any general reader and student of knowledge/daa'ee in this country.

If you want more information, ring them after 11am on 01204389080.

Anyway, Sheikh and Abu Rumaysah bought their normal huge box of books. All I did today was return a set which I bought by mistake and was able to swap it for loads of kids colouring books, arabic numeral colouring books etc. I also bought 25 Hisnul-Muslims in English (yeah, the little green dua book as they call it) and another load in urdu. These are just excellent little presents to give out to people whether for da'wah or a gift or whatever - and at 60p at go, you can't go wrong!

True, its not as useful as the new flashy one that has the English transliteration with it too, but then you'd go and buy that for a new Muslim specifically. The extra cost is well worth it in such a case isn't it?

What else? Oh man, that Refi killed me at the gym today! That guy is a monster! He ran and ran and pushed and crunched and pressed and curled and...I started to get dizzy! Masha'Allah he taught me a few techniques aswell - alhamdulillah what an excellent time we always have when he honours us with a visit.

To the chap who posted a whole article in the comments page - Jazakallaho Khayran for that but I don't think that this section is the best place for it - thats website material not blog pages but hey, why don't you paste a link next time instead? Shukran.

:-)

And so that concludes another 'aqeeqah wal-hamdulillah. May Allah enable us to witness many many more insha'Allah with His Grace and Kindness.

Actually, is it me or are there not many 'aqeeqahs around - but people are definitely having the kids! Hmm....

The meal went well, rice could have been better, the korma was fantastic masha'Allah and naan was great. I think the halwa was a diet version especially for me so sorry about that...

:-)

For those who wanted to know, Abu Hamza from Baba Jaan made the curry and nan - he is a top cook masha'Allah and I took my guests from the summer PG conference to his place for lunch. They were very impressed which is good, cos' these Saudis are hard to impress you know!

The best thing of course was the gathering of all the brothers which I haven't seen for a while, from all over the country. And my bestest mate in the world came down with his family too which made the weekend just perfect. Thanks to all that came down and made all those du'aa for me and the family - goodness me I need it!

Then our Sheikh gave us the tafseer of ale-Imran, the verses of the birth of Maryam ('alayhas-salam) which was excellent as usual. Nothing like a bit of deen after a nice meal - all in all a great day.

Oh and if you're wondering then it was the Sheikh's idea to have it just for men and not the women ok? The Sheikh's. You have a problem with that, take it up with him, not me, him, not me ok?

Good.

:-)

Alhamdulillah, big day today with Zakariya's 'Aqeeqah at Makki Masjid at 6pm. I did tell you all that you were invited right? Tried to get it on 7 days but there was another 'aqeeqah in the masjid! Must be that time of year....but never mind, cos' the scholars like 14 days and 21 days etc too - Alhamdulillah.

I still have to tell you about his birth masha'Allah, now two weeks ago. Suffice to say that a combination of my stubborness to accept my wife being in actual labour plus a monumental blunder at the hospital meant that my wife actually delivered just like that at home! So yours truly, by the immense immense and even MORE immense Mercy of Allah had to deliver his son himself! Boy, that was hard work I tell ya - I was knackered at the end of it, pure pain, pure stress, pure heroism to be honest.

Oh, she did alright too.

;-)

The great thing for me alhamdulillah was the reminder how millions of our sisters in the Muslim lands that don't have midwifery services cope day in day out with unassisted births, no help, no pain relief, no warm blankets, no central heating, no carpeted floor, no ambulances on hand, no injections, no immunisations and on and on.

Wallahi if we want Islam to be dominant again and spread social justice in the world, we must give our people what they want and need - mosques and more mosques are great but equal concern must be given to basic infrastructre building. Our professionals and businessmen MUST start to develop more and more hospitals, centres, educational institutes alongside the all important Islamic ethos - as I delivered Zakariya, all I could think of was how fortunate I was that I had all the tools and education at hand that my extended Muslim family had no access to wa Allahu Musta'an. Don't you get scared sometimes when Allah gives you so much of His blessings every SINGLE day - do we deserve all this? Are we even being a little grateful? Doesn't the knock-out verse of the Qur'an resonate in your mind now:

ثُمَّ لَتُسْأَلُنَّ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَنِ النَّعِيمِ

"Then you will be asked that Day about the pleasures you enjoyed." (at-Takathur, 8)

Oh Allah forgive us for our shortcomings in being grateful to You and praising You, and strengthen us to bring back true Islam to this world. Ameen!

So alhamdulillah, a rather special 'aqeeqah celebration tonight - and all the praises and thanks are due to the Almighty, indeed He is deserving of that!

Got to go, backsides to clean, nappies to change, mouths to feed - what IS all this mother stuff about!!?? The missus better get back to health super quick time cos' I can't handle it! Help, I'm drowningggggggggg...............

Man, what a classic evening. Who'd want to be a politician!

As for the evening, then it was meant to be a double celebration organised by Sajjad Karim, the Lib Dem MEP for the North West – his election success and an 'Eed bash thrown in too.

It was going to be attended by all the biggies of the Lib Dems and so it was actually important to be there, especially as one of our close friends and supporters, Patsy Calton MP was also going to be speaking. To be close to your local politicians is vital in these times of uncertainty – take heed brothers and sisters.

ANYWAY, loads of Paks came for the ride as it was held in a large banqueting hall which is popular round here for its functions and food and stuff. I don't know if any of you guys have ever done such things like political fundraisers, rallies and the like – Subhanallah, it is HARD work man, hard work. Hey was anyone else there by the way? I'd love to hear your views.

Oh my goodness, we had the world's worst MC –some miskeen Pakistani guy who just couldn't speak for jack! Thank God he was replaced by the regional leader of the Lib Dems, who spoke confidently, respectfully and was funny too. When will we produce people who can speak properly for crying out loud!?

There were many quality points but the most unbelievable one of the night was when Dave the MC suddenly hushed his voice and whispers to us all, "And now, I hope you'll all join me as we listen to a prayer, a prayer that should be very well known to you by now."

So there's silence all round. All the guests and paks and everyone. The Imâm next to me goes, "This is a good result for the adhaan!"

Suddenly, there is this huge bang of bass drums and this ridiculously loud bhangra song starts blasting out of the speakers! We (all the fundies) were mortified! Everyone was in a state of shock thinking this was all some huge mistake right? Wrong! The singer then starts singing, "Insha'Allah Sajjad will win! Oh Allah give us the victory! Blah blah blah" in Punjabi! THAT is the Prayer? THAT’S the PRAYER!!??!

Allahu Akbar. We all cringed for 3 minutes as the torture went on. It was a total disaster man. It ends, we look up at each other and just burst out laughing! What a joke, what a disgrace, what a….

See? This is the kind of bakwas we have to put up with to try and get these people on your side to try and benefit the Muslims in someway. It's hard work man, hard work – WHO would want to get into politics… but some Pak has to do it – otherwise we'll get thrown into the sea in the next few years if we don’t get more brown faces in those Houses of Parliament.

Oh well, never mind. Another evening wasted. Missed the Isha Jama'ah of course, but so did the two Imams of the two mosques that were there too so that’s not too bad I s'pose. ;-)

Oh and before I sign off for the night, blog-respect in the comments section to the best hand-shake avoider I've heard. "I'll have to marry you then you know…" – now THAT’S a classic.

:-)

Assalâmu ‛alaykum wa rahmatullâhi wa barakâtuhû

By the way – that’s a full salaam there, and I want that to last for at least the next month so don't expect me to repeat it!

;-)

As for the obituary then that is on its way as we speak to the excellent website http://www.as-sahwah.com/ so give it a few days as the webmaster is alone in uploading to the server with the worst connection in the world!

Hey is it me or are Jumu'ah khutbahs getting more and more lame? Obviously we have exceptions but I seem to be the exception too, always getting a dud every time! What happened to this great moment of remembrance, benefit and inspiration?? We HAVE to do something folks – in fact, can I sense a comeback from early retirement……?

;-)

But seriously folks, if you guys aren't benefiting or the Khateeb is not up to the job because of language or poor communication issues then what about all them others paks out there who need a good kick up the backside even more than you do?? We must make our point nicely and clearly to these Khateebs and committees, constructively of course and not destructively. We do want a positive result in the end…

I'll be going to a Lib Dem function for the Pakistani community later on so I'll be reporting back from there – should be interesting….

We get depressing news day in and day out, but this announcement really hurt me.

As many of you will know, the great Muhaddith and 'Aalim of Syria, Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Arna'ut passed away last week on Friday morning.

Innaa lillaahi wa innaa ilayhi raaji'oon.

May Allah bestow His immense mercy upon him, grant him the very highest of Paradise, and give his family patience and reward. Ameen.

I shall be completing his orbituary soon for the benefit of English readers. Subhanallah, what a loss...

:-(

I'm actually off work today, so just doing things at home if you're wondering....

By the way, I apologise in advance to international readers, I'm a total Brit-centric Pak I'm afraid and you'll need quite a bit of extra British background to appreciate our certain nuances - but I will try and keep things as general as I can...

If you guys like cricket (which I very much do so by the way) then you can't have failed to miss the furore over Zimbabwe and England visiting them blah blah blah.

What made me laugh was the whole stress that the ECB (The England Cricket Board) were going to to avoid shaking hands with Robert Mugabe if he turned up at any of the games. Classic!

Listening to Five-Live (which I must admit I'm totally addicted to), different callers were offering ways out of shaking his hand. GUYS - we need to help these poor people out! We have HUNDREDS of ways we can advise them on this scenario - God knows how many times we've had to use them ourselves against all those women out there!

So, here are a few suggestions for the ECB, someone send them a copy with our best regards:

1. I've got to start with the up-front-honest approach. "Sorry, I don't shake the hands of women." Oooooooh, as you see her face look totally bamboozled, there goes the job!

2. You can always blank the person. I mean look, Jack Straw shook Mugabe's hand saying it was dark and he couldn't tell until it was too late - well if it's so bleedin' dark in Zimbabwe, they can always say they never saw the hand, can't they?

3. You've got the bandage option - thats pure lame though...

4. Carrying a whole load of files? That used to be my absolute favourite back in the days, used it hundreds of times to great success. Ok, its a bit cowardly but it works for people whilst building up the courage over the years to be upfront and honest about it! Warning: whatever you are holding MUST be substantial, not just a couple of files. I remember a classic when someone actually waited for me to put the things down to shake his hand (it was a bloke alhamdulillah!) so make sure you've got LOADS of stuff in your hands...

5. This is for experts only - or arrogant people like me. This is what I get away with on a daily basis where you just walk straight in and immediately make yourself at home, talking to the person in question as if you've known him/her all your life and therefore an introductory handshake is not needed whatsoever. Warning: this needs major extroverts to pull this off and you must then throughout the remainder of your session explain something of the Deen and make him/her feel better and not humiliated.

How this would apply to Mugabe I have no idea. Anyway, theres got to be loads more out there so lets have some comments on that.

What else? I'm getting fit again alhamdulillah. Decided that it can only be haram to be unfit (which I've known for ages to be honest) but now I've made it a priority. Subhanallah, its amazing how things start to become easier such as general chores, looking after the family, the Sunnah and Nafl prayers - Excellent!

But guys, David Lloyds are a RIP OFF! They charge DOUBLE what everyone else does as a gym and most of the facilities are shared so you have to go down at silly hours to get any peace and quite or even benefit. What a waste of money!

Got to go now to get the stuff for Saturday's Aqeeqah - tell you all about that later as it's Dhuhr time now too. Oh yeah, you're all invited: Makki Masjid, Beresford Rd, Longsight, Manchester at 6pm on Saturday the 4th of Dec.

Be there or be totally square.

Subhanallah.

Isn't life so fickle? I spent ages thinking of a good title for this blog! I just can't think of one at all though so you're just going to have to stick to this one.

Is it me or do I sense a bit of arrogance about this whole thing? You know, with the name, 'personal', 'look at me! look at me!' etc etc. No? Oh thats alright then - we'll leave that thought then....

;-)

No seriously, being involved in this Deen at an 'active' level for a while now, I really do think that we need some more downtoEarth-ness (yes it IS in the dictionary) amongst our so-called 'practising' people/preachers/students of knowledge. SO here is my attempt, it might get a bit boring but maybe you'll see how some of us apply what we know in the dunya these days.

Also, I need somewhere to rant. I LOVE a good rant....

Also, I haven't got a clue how to work this thing either! I'd like to post some pictures and make the surroundings more cool and relaxed - not having too much luck with that one JUST yet...

Just starting off....

There is simply no barakah (blessing) whatsoever without starting something with the Name of Allah, our immensely Merciful Lord.

SO, I begin with his Name, I ask Him to bless our work and purify our intentions and to send His Peace and Blessings upon His Messenger Muhammad (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam)!!

Do you guys know HOW long I have waited to do something like this?!

In fact, I'm so excited, I don't even know what to write! Anyway, as this is my first test blog post, I'm sure you guys can find some space to forgive me for a while as I get into the swing of things insha'Allah.

What can you expect from this 'Islamiblog'?? Well, just hold on for the ride! This is my opportunity to take a break from life's more serious challenges of work, family and da'wah - and pour out my thoughts and ideas to share with you all out there.

Okay, okay - for those who know me and my work, this might be a bit strange. But that's what I think we all need - more honesty in the real search for spirituality and hope in our mad times. No point pretending to be all high and mighty when we're all on the same quest....

SO you'll see the raw and uncut version of Abu Eesa on this blog - it'll upset many, surprise others, a few smiles...but hopefully benefit us all in someway insha'Allah!

So with your du'as...away we go!

Wa salam!

:-)