Accountable for Our Blessings

I'm still in Vancouver for a martial arts seminar, and it's so
beautiful here.Mountains, rivers, trees, beaches, shining buildings,
and perfect weather. When Allah has given a people so much, they will
be accountable for what they did with their blessings.
Are we doing what we should with our blessings? Are we grateful? Do we
share? Do we proclaim the truth? Are we fulfilling our potentials?
If not, then there is no better time to begin thanright now, this
moment. Choose one small way to be a better Muslim, and implement it
in your life today. That's how it starts. The road to Jannahbegins
with the first step.

Get Up and Do Your Thing

Life has been challenginglately. In July I've faced some financial
setbacks, and also some personal setbacks that have hit mehard, and
drained me emotionally to the point where sometimes I just sit in my
padded computer chair and don'tfeel like getting up. I feel like I
hardly have the energy to get up and prepare some food to eat, let
alone pray, work, go to class, care for my daughter…
And yet I do get up. I go out and teach a 2.5 hour martial arts class
and I doit with vigor, because my students are looking to me for
guidance and inspiration. I get up and do my volunteer job at the
Muslim community center. I get up and take my daughter to the lake or
the masjid, and have atea party with her, and read her the latest
chapter of "Fish Face". I laugh with her and love her with everything
I've got, because she needs me. I don't have time for self-pity.
I get up and do my thing,because that's what it is to be a man (or
woman), to be a father (or mother), to be a Muslim, to be a friend, to
be alive! You get up and do what you have to do. Youpick your foot up
and take a step, then lift the other one and take another step, and
before you know it you are moving ahead, and time has passed and your
problems have diminished and don't hurt quite so much, or maybe you
have overcome them entirely, because you are experiencing the joy of
life. Your love for Allah, and your gratitude, and your attentiveness
to the beauty and blessings around you, all wash the pain away like a
river.
That's what it is to be alive. SubhanAllah.
So, to all those reading this now, I send you light and love, and I
know thatno matter what physical or emotional aches you are
experiencing, you will rise each morning with gratitude, you will take
a step and move ahead, you will love and laugh, you will push
self-pity to the side and live your lives with commitment, in the
shorttime that we all have on this beautiful ball of brown and blue.
One last note: Eat healthyfoods, drink water and – very important –
get enough sleep. These are all critical to maintaining an emotional
balance and moving forward in life with a positive attitude.

Seeing Through Eyes ofHope

We all feel weary at times. We feel like we're fighting on so many
fronts and that we have no helpers. At times our passion drains away
and we feel like we're just going through the motions. This happens to
me. I think it happens to everyone.
At those moments, Shaytan (Satan) tries to push us into despair.
Despair is one of Shaytan's greatest weapons. If we are in debt,
Shaytan tries to get us to despair of getting out of debt. If we're
ill, he tries to convince us to despair of getting well. Ifwe have
committed sins, he whispers to us to despair of Allah's mercy and the
possibility of forgiveness. He tries to make us despair of our
futures, despair of our salvation, and fail to see the beauty in our
lives.
Believers must resist Shaytan's whispers. Believers must be people of
hope, and must see the world through eyes of hope. Believers make life
choices that are rooted in hope.
"Shaytan threatens you with poverty and orders you to immorality,
while Allah promises you forgiveness from Him andbounty. And Allah is
all-Encompassing and Knowing." – Quran, Al-Baqarah, 2:268
So we have two differentcalls echoing in our ears. Shaytan calls us to
fear, and grasping attachmentto this material world.
Allah the Almighty, on theother hand, offers us forgiveness and true
blessings. Allah offers us hope. Hope is not wishing on a star, or
daydreaming. Hope is a real thing, because it's a part of trusting
Allah. After all, prayer is all about hope.
The Quran tells us that with every difficulty comes ease. Hope is an
acknowledgment of that reality, that things will get better, and a
time of ease will come.
When life becomes hard, we need to see through eyes of hope, not eyes
of despair.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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Rabiah ibn Kab - Biographies of the Companions (Sahabah)

Here is the story of Rabiah told in his own words: "I was still quite
young when the light of iman shone through me and my heart was opened
to the teachings of Islam. And when my eyes beheld the Messenger
ofGod, for the first time, I loved him with a love that possessed my
entire being. I loved him to the exclusion of everyone else.
One day I said to myself:
'Woe to you, Rabi'ah. Why don't you put yourself completely in the
service of the Messenger of God, peace be on him. Go and suggest this
to him. If he is pleased with you, you would find happiness in being
near him. You will be successful through love for him and you will
have the good fortune of obtaining the good in this worldand the good
in the next.'
This I did hoping that he would accept me in his service. He did not
dash my hopes. He was pleased that I should be his servant. From that
day, I lived in the shadow of the noble Prophet. I went with him
wherever he went. I moved in his orbit whenever and wherever he
turned. Whenever he cast a glance in my direction, I would leap to
stand in his presence. Whenever he expressed a need, he would find me
hurrying to fulfil it.
I would serve him throughout the day. When the day was over and he had
prayed Salat al-Isha and retired to his home, I wouldthink about
leaving. But I would soon say to myself:
'Where would you go, Rabi'ah? Perhaps you may be required to do
something for the Prophet during the night.' So I would remain seated
at his door and would not leave the threshold ofhis house. The Prophet
would spend part of his night engaged in Salat. I would hear him
reciting the opening chapter of the Quran and he would continue
reciting sometimes for a third or a half of the night. I would become
tired and leave ormy eyes would get the better of me and I would fail
asleep.
It was the habit of the Prophet, peace be on him, that if someone did
him a good turn, he loved to repay that person with something more
excellent. He wanted to do something for me too in return for my
service to him. So one day he came up tome and said: 'O Rabi'ah ibn
Kab.' 'Labbayk ya rasulullah wa Sadark - At your command, O Messenger
of God and may God grant you happiness,' I responded. 'Ask of me
anything and I will give it to you.'
I thought a little and then said: 'Give me some time, O Messenger of
God, to think about what I should ask of you. Then I will let you
know.' He agreed.
At that time, I was a young man and poor. I had neither family, nor
wealth, nor place of abode. Iused to shelter in the Suffah of the
mosque with other poor Muslims like myself. People used to call us the
"guests of Islam". Whenever any Muslim brought something in charity to
the Prophet, he would send it all to us. And if someone gave him a
gift he would take some of it and leave the rest for us.
So, it occurred to me to ask the Prophet for some worldly good that
would save me from poverty and make me like otherswho had wealth, wife
and children. Soon, however, I said: 'May you perish Rabi'ah. The
world is temporary and will passaway. You have your share of
sustenance in it which God has guaranteed and which must come to you.
The Prophet, peacebe on him, has a place with his Lord and no request
would be refused him. Request him therefore, to ask Allah to grant you
something of the bounty of the hereafter.'
I felt pleased and satisfied with this thought. I went to the Prophet
and he asked: 'What do you say, O Rabi'ah?' 'O Messengerof God,' I
said, 'I ask you to beseech God most High on my behalf to make me your
companion in Paradise.'
'Who has advised you thus?' asked the Prophet.
'No by God,' I said, 'No one has advise me. But when you told me 'Ask
of me anything and I will give to you,' I thought of asking you for
something of the goodness of this world. But before long, I was guided
to choose what is permanent and lasting against what is temporary and
perishable. And so I have asked you to beseech God on my behalf that I
may be your companion in Paradise.'
The Prophet remained silent for a long while and then asked: 'Any
other request besides that, Rabi'ah?' 'No, O Messenger of God, Nothing
can match what I have asked you.' 'Then, in that case, assist me for
your sake by performing much prostration to God.'
So I began to exert myself in worship in order to attain the good
fortune of being with the Prophet in Paradise just as I had the good
fortune of being in his service and being his companionin this world.
Not long afterwards, the Prophet called me and asked: 'Don't you want
to get married, Rabi'ah?' 'I do not want anything to distract me from
your service,' I replied. 'Moreover, I don't have anything to give as
mahr (dowry) to a wife nor any place where I can accommodate a wife.'
The Prophet remained silent. When he saw me again he asked: 'Don't you
want to get married, Rabi'ah?' I gave him thesame reply as before.
Left to myself again, I regretted what I had said and chided myself:
'Woe to you, Rabi'ah. By God, theProphet knows better than you what is
good for you in this world and the next and he also knows better than
you what youpossess. By God, if the Prophet, peace be on him, should
ask me again to marry, I would reply positively.'
Before long, the Prophet asked me again: 'Don't you want to getmarried
'Rabi'ah?'
'Oh yes, Messenger of God,' I replied, 'but who will marry me when I
am in the state you know.' 'Go to the family of so-and-so and say to
them: the Prophet has instructed you to give your daughter in marriage
to me.'
Timidly, I went to the family andsaid: 'The Messenger of God, peace be
on him, has sent me toyou to ask you to give your daughter in marriage
to me.' 'Our daughter?' they asked, incredulously at first. 'Yes,' i
replied.
'Welcome to the Messenger of God, and welcome to his messenger. By
God, the messenger of God's Messenger shall only return with his
mission fulfilled. 'So they made amarriage contract between me and
her. I went back to the Prophet and reported:
'O Messenger of Allah. I have come from the best of homes. They
believed me, they welcomed me, and they made a marriage contract
between me and their daughter. But from where do I get the mahr for
her?'
The Prophet then sent for Buraydah ibn al-Khasib, one of the leading
persons in my tribe, the Banu Asiam, and said to him:'O Buraydah,
collect a nuwat's weight in gold for Rabi'ah.
This they did and the Prophet said to me: 'Take this to them and say,
this is the sadaq of yourdaughter.' I did so and they accepted it.
They were pleased and said, This is much and good.' I went back to the
Prophet and told him: 'I have never yet seen a people more generous
than they. They were pleased with what I gave them in spite of its
being little...Wherecan I get something for the walimah (marriage
feast), O Prophet of God?'
The Prophet said to Buraydah 'Collect the price of a ram for Rabi'ah.'
They bought a big fat ram for me and then the Prophet told me: 'Go to
Aishah and tell her to give you whateverbarley she has.'
Aishah gave me a bag with seven saas of barley and said: 'ByGod, we do
not have any other food.' I set off with the ram and the barley to my
wife's family. They said: 'We will prepare the barley but get your
friends to prepare the ram for you.'
We slaughtered, skinned and cooked the ram. So we had bread and meat
for the walimah. I invited the Prophet and he accepted my invitation.
The Prophet then gave me a piece of land near Abu Bakr's. From then I
became concerned with the dunya, with material things. I had a dispute
with Abu Bakr over a palm tree.
'It is in my land,' I insisted. 'No, it is in my land,' Abu Bakr
countered. We started to argue. Abu Bakr cursed me, but as soonas he
had uttered the offending word, he felt sorry and said to me: 'Rabiah,
say the same word to me so that it could be considered as qisas -just
retaliation.' 'No by God, I shall not,' I said.
'In that case, replied Abu Bakr. 'I shall go the Messenger of God and
complain to him about your refusal to retaliate against me measure for
measure.'
He set off and I followed him. Mytribe, the Banu Asiam, also set off
behind me protesting indignantly: 'He's the one who cursed you first
and then he goes off to the Prophet before you to complain about you!'
I turned to them and said: 'Woe to you! Do you know who this is? This
is As-Siddiq... and he is the respected elder of the Muslims. Go back
before he turns around, sees you and thinks that you have come to help
me against him. He would then be more incensed and go to the Prophet
in anger. The Prophet would get angry on his account. Then Allah would
be angry on their account and Rabi'ah would be finished.' They turned
back.
Abu Bakr went to the Prophet and related the incident as it had
happened. The Prophet raised his head and said to me:
'O Rabi'ah, what's wrong with you and as-Siddiq?' 'Messenger of God,
he wanted me to say thesame words to him as he had said to me and I
did not.'
'Yes, don't say the same word tohim as he had said to you. Instead
say: 'May God forgive youAbu Bakr.' With tears in his eyes,Abu Bakr
went away while saying: 'May God reward you with goodness for my sake,
O Rabiah ibn Kab... 'May God reward you with goodness for my sake, O
Rabiah ibn Kaab..."

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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