Ramadan stuff

Salams

With Ramadan here see some excellent links/ articles below:

Ramadan Articles by Haq Islam

Holy Qur’an on Fasting

Ahadith on Fasting from Riyad as-Salihin

Sehri and Iftari

Virtues of Sehri
Virtues of Iftari

Taraweeh

1400 Year History of Taraweeh

Sawm

Sawm (Fasting) is a shield, as long as he (the fasting person) does not tear it up. [Nasa’ee]

Note: Fasting is a protection from Shaytaan or from Allah’s punishment in the hereafter. One ho indulges in sins while fasting, such as lies, backbiting etc., they become the cause of the fast becoing wasted.

Source: Profit from Ramadhaan by Shaykh Saleem Dhorat

Tarawih

“The one who observes the tarawih salah at night during Ramadan with complete faith and devotion only for the sake of the recompense of the hearafter, will have all of his previous sins forgiven by Allah.” [Bukhari, Muslim]

Month of Ramadhaan

The month of Ramadhaan, the month of blessings has come to you, wherein Allah turns towards you and sends down to you His special Mercy, forgives your faults, accepts prayers, observes your competition for doing good deeds and boasts to the angels about you.

So show to Allah your righteousness; for verily, the most pitiable and unfortunate one is he who is deprived of Allah’s Mercy in this month. [Tabraani]

Ramadhan Gem

The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) addressed his companions on the last day of Sha`ban, saying,
“Oh people! A great month has come over you; a blessed month; a month in which is a night better than a thousand months; a month in which Allah has made it compulsory upon you to fast by day, and voluntary to pray by night. Whoever draws nearer (to Allah) by performing any of the (optional) good deeds in (this month) shall receive the same reward as performing an obligatory deed at any other time, and whoever discharges an obligatory deed in (this month) shall receive the reward of performing seventy obligatory deeds at any other time.
It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Heaven. It is the month of charity, and a month in which a believer’s sustenance is increased.
Whoever gives food to a fasting person to break his fast, shall have his sins forgiven, and he will be saved from the Fire of Hell, and he shall have the same reward as the fasting person, without his reward being diminished at all.”
[Narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah]

99 Beautiful Names of Allah

Salams

Just thought I’d share this beautiful 99 names of Allah recitation with you.

**Please note: this post is in no way an endorsement for any other nasheed or audio material produced by Shaheed Alkawn**

Ramadan Fever

The heat is on! Once a year a dramatic change occurs in the Muslim community. Once a year Icky baby and the Sams becomes Brother Iqbal and Sister Sameera. Off come the baggy jeans, the Nikes and the Raiders cap. On come the yellow Shalwar Kameez (clothes most Pakistanis wear), out goes the brylcreamed hairstyle which glues on that terribly uncool Towpee (cap) and in comes the miswak in the top pocket, making you look like something like “Karachi cops”.

It’s during this HOLY month of Ramadan that we ditch the daytime raves and frequent visit to the library (and we don’t mean for the reference section) and begin to act it out. Icky baby becomes temporarily religious.

It’s a sort of spooky feeling. The Mosques are full and you feel good. Good cos’ you’ve done your bit for the year. One by one you scratch the days from your Ramadan timetable that your dad brought back from the Mosque-and then-thank crunchie it’s Eid.

Eid Mubarak!
The Mosques again becomes museums for the old and for those deprived “ACHA BACHA”- a good baby. The crease-free shalwar kameez comes off and comes the baggy jeans, whilst the libraries reopen for “business as usual”. Just 11 more months of “freedom” to go before the smelly breath season come back with a vengeance.

Year after year it goes on, almost as a ritual. You know it’s rough. Yet Allah(swt) is Al-Rahman and Al-Raheem as we are told by our parents (who probably also have gone through this). And anyway religion is for the old men in the mosques- with smelly breaths, and beards that sweep the floor everytime they walk from one end of the mosque to the other.

Religion is for those “fundies”(fundamentalists) at school/college, the “weirdoes” who only talk to the opposite sex about the benefits of the Khilafah ruling system or the fallacies of Western ideology such as Capitalism and Marxist Philosophy.(i.e.try saying that in one breath!).

The game
So you go around playing this game. It’s like an endless spiral. You think you’re a rebel or tough-yet you’re just one of the pack- a zombie, conforming to master-plan, when you turn 40s you grow your beard and take your seat in front row of the mosque, invest in a miswak, pack your bags for Hajj, and then everything is gonna be safe!
Well no! It doesn’t quite work like that. The million dollar question is will you ever turn 40?

Game Over
Suppose you die. Just suppose you snuff it before you turn 40? What then? It could severely damage that master-plan of yours. Alright, the chances may look slim yet the stakes are high. Nobody knows when he or she is going to die. Just suppose you’re locked up in a room and there’s no way out. Just suppose there’s a time bomb ticking away in this room. Now if this bomb has “6 days” on it you would probably turn “fundy” and spend all six days reading namaz(salah).

Just suppose the bomb had a “?” on it? What then? That’s exactly how life is!!! A ticking-bomb with a “?” on it, you never know when it’s gonna blow-up. Whereever you are, death will find you. Even if you are in tower built up strong and high!” (Translation of the meaning of the Qu’ran) 30 days or a lifetime? And anyway, even if you do go along with this “dodgy” game, don’t you think your Creator will know your intention? Many people have sussed out Islam as a blind faith or and emotional/spiritual/spooky belief which leaves you contemplating rationally about the meanings of life. Where did you come from? Why are we here? Or the question that puts a dampner on all raves, ” what’s going to happen to us when we die?”

Islam asks us to answer these vital questions and come to a conclusion, the correct one. Islam doesn’t rely on the dodgy culture we are brought up with either from our parents or from the Molvi-Saab(imam). Islam is far from being a “religion” as it is often coined in the media. Islam is a complete system of life- with solutions to all our problems be it for Muslims or non-Muslims. Check out Islam for yourself and free yourself from this shallow zombie-like culture. Before your credits run out!

Word out!
Remember there is no Life or Dignity without Islam. “O you who believe answer the call of Allah(swt) and His Messenger to that which gives you Life.” (8:24)

Rememberance of the people is the disease, and rememberance of Allaah is the cure. Yet how strange is it that we hasten to the disease and not the cure?

Source: Haq Islam