I know, I've been gone for so long. I was busy with end of the school year studying and planning the Seerah Seminar Alhamdulilah, I'm back now.

Seerah Seminar Review

We hosted a Seerah Seminar for children at our local Masjid, Masjid As Saber . Mashallah I thought it was a great success. We basically went through the entire seerah of prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) in two days, and mashallah, the kids loved it.


The main activities that we did were:

  • Family Tree of the Prophet competition: we drew the family tree of the prophet (on butcher paper) and left a lot of blank spaces and had them fill in the empty spaces. It was a competition of which group would finish first. Correctly of course!
  • Skits of early Muslims: We wrote out stories of how the early Muslims were punished for becoming Muslims and they basically had to act this out (one of my favorites).

  • jigsaw puzzle of Muhammad: We wrote "Muhammad" (s.a.w.) on a big sheet of paper and cut the paper up. Then we gave each group one part and had them color it in their own creative way. We put it together at the end and it turned out like this.


  • Gem Board competition: When we were nearing the end, we had all the groups write what they learned on sticky notes and post them up on their posters. The group that got the most sticky notes was the group that won.

  • Jeopardy

We had a lot of other "mini" activities as well, but these were the main ones. The way we pretty much did this was we would speak for a little bit (if you would call 45 minutes a little bit :D), and do an activity that relates to whatever they just learned about. A lot of kids loved the skits (boys mostly, probably because it was their time to let out all their energy), and the girls liked the arts and craft project. I think one thing that we did well was including a variety of activities, we had arts and crafts and skit (and competitions really helped!).

I think one thing that was really helpful was putting the kids in groups. They would encourage each other, and work together to get more points. It was easier to get them settled down in groups too.

One thing to keep in mind though, don't give kids too much sugar for snacks!

Part 2:
Sayings of others concerning Hassan Al Basri:
Khalid ibn Safwaan said: I met Maslamah and said to him, "Tell me about Hassan because I do not think anyone knows him like you do."
Maslamah said, " I am the best who will tell you about him because I am his neighbor and I attend his gatherings. Whatever is in his mind is similar to what he is doing. His speech and statements are like his actions. If he enjoins good, he is the first to do it. And if he forbids from evil, then he is the first to stay away from it. He didn't need people and he never asked people for what they had. However, I saw the people asking of him, and seeking his knowledge."
Khalid ibn Safwaan then said, "Enough Maslamah. How can people be misguided while he is around?"

Al Ashas said, " I've never met a man after Hassan Al Basri except that they would not be at the level of Hassan."

Hassan was said to be a man who would cry at night. He would try to elevate the the people around him so that they can imitate the sahabah who were the best generation.

Sayings of Hassan:
Hassan once saw a big funeral and asked why there was a big crowd. The people replied by telling him who it was that passed away. Hassan said, "There is the pillar he used to sit next to."
 (the man who passed away was a worshiper. So he was saying, why don't you do what he used to do.)

Hamza Al Amaa once said, "I used to go to the house of Hassan Al Basri while he was crying in prayer. One day, I told him that he cried too much.  and he said to me, "Oh my son, what will a mu'min do if he doesn't cry? Crying will bring the mercy of Allah to you. And if you were able to cry your entire life then do so because maybe Allah will look at you while you are crying and have mercy on you." 
Hafs Ibn Umer once said: Hassan was crying so the people around him asked why he was crying. Hassan said, "I fear that Allah will throw me to the hell fire and will not care about me."This is the mu'min. You have to have hope that Allah will forgive you, and yet fear his punishment.

A man once came to Hassan Al Basri and said: Why don't we feel shy from Allah? We keep making mistakes and asking for forgiveness. Then we commit sins again and ask Him to forgive us. Hassan replied by saying, "Shaytan will wish that you stop asking forgiveness of Allah, so never stop asking forgiveness of Allah."
A young man came to Hassan Al Basri and told him that he commits sins, yet Allah has opened the doors of wealth for him and had blessed him with children and health. Hassan asked if he prayed Tahajuud. the man replied in the negative. Hassan then said, "This is your punishment for not being able to stand at night."

More of  Hassan Al Basri's sayings:

  • "We are poor. We eat our provisions, and wait for our death."
  • "Son of Adam, you are nothing but a number of days. When one day passes, part of you is gone."
  • "Death has shown us the reality of this worldly life. It didn't leave any happiness for those who are wise."

Hassan Al Basri
A lecture by Sh. Mohamed Abdurrahman

Hassan Al Basri was:

  • A noble Tabii.

  • A taqii and a scholar.

  • Famous for his eloquence in his speeches and his deep knowledge.

  • Inspring speeches.

He was born in Madina, and scholars differ upon what year he was born. Some scholars say he was born on the 21st of hijrah, and others say the 30th of hijrah during the khilafa of Umar ibn Khattab.

His parents were both slaves.
  • His father was captured as a prisoner of war and taken to Madina when the Muslims captured an neighboring town of Basra. His father married a woman named Khayriah who was the slave of the wife of the prophet Umm Salamah. Umm Salamah freed Khayriah after Hassan Al Basir was born.
When Hassan Al Basri was young, his mother would go to the market and leave Hassan with Umm Salamah. Hassan would cry alot and Umm Salamah was old at the time. She would act like she was breast feeding him, and milk would come. This was the karamah Allah gave Umm Salama. Because of this incident, Umm Salamah is Hassan Al Bari's mother for nursing him (umuhu min ar rida3ah).

The fact that Umm Salamah nursed him underlines the importance of Halal Proficiency in Islam.
Imam A Juwayni was a very eloquent speaker, but sometimes, in a fraction of a second, the words just wouldn't come for him. He used to tell his students that he believes the reason for this was because his father told his mother not to let any other woman nurse him. One day, a strange woman came and nursed him. He used to say, "I think the reason behind this problem I have is that strange woman's milk." And think about it, no one knew whether she aquired her food by halal means or not.
So imagine, Hassan Al Basri being nursed by The wife of Prophet Muhammad (saw). How great of a blessing this was for him and all the good that this halal proficiency would bring.

He met many of the sahabah including:
  • Uthman ibn Affan
  • Umar ibn Khataab (who actually made duaa for him)
  • Anas bin Malik
  • Abu Musaa Al Ashari
  • Ibn Abass (who was his teacher)
  • 70 of the the sahabahs who fought in the battle of Badr. The sahabah who fought in the battle of Badr are considered to be among the best of the sahaba and have a special status. Allah has said to the Badriyeen, "Do whatever you want, for I have forgiven you."
-Next up inshallah: Sayings of Hassan Al Basrii

1. Middle of the night: 
The Messenger (Peace and Blessing be upon him) said: "The Gates of Heaven are open at midnight, and a caller calls, 'Is there a supplicant that his supplication may be granted? Is there a petitioner that his petition maybe granted? Is there a distressed person so that his distress may be removed?' 
At that time, no Muslim makes a Dua but that it is answered, except for an adulteress who trades with her body, or a person who gathers his money unlawfully." [Sahih al-Jami' 2968]

2. At the time of Azan and between it and the Iqamah:
The Messenger (Peace and Blessings Be upon Him) said: "A Dua between Azan and the Iqamat is not refused, so make du'a at that time." [Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Hibban]

3. When it is raining:
The Messenger (Peace and Blessings Be upon Him) said: "Two kinds of du'a are not rejected: du'a at the time of the call for prayer, and du'a during rain." [Abu Dawud]
 
4. Being a parent, while fasting and while travelling:
The Messenger (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said: "Three types of du'a are undoubtedly granted: a parent's du'a for his children, du'a of a fasting person, and du'a of the traveller." [Abu Dawud]

5. While Making Sujood:
The Prophet (Peace and Blessings Be upon Him) said: "The servant is closest to his Lord while in sujud, so ask Allah in that time."

6. Laylatul-Qadr:
Sayyedah Aisha RA asked the Prophet (Peace and Blessings Be upon Him) What should I say on Laylatil-qadr? And he replied, O Allah, indeed you are a Pardoner,and you love pardon; so pardon me "Allahuma inaka afuuin tuhibul
afua Fahafu Anni"

I came home from school the other day to sound of a beautiful Arabic nasheed playing. I followed the sound and found my dad sitting at the computer listening to the nasheed.

"Isn't it beautiful?" he asked me.
"Um.. yeah. It is." I responded.

I'm not as fluent in Arabic like my father is, but I was at least able to pick out the main idea of the nasheed. I noticed the nasheed was talking about the attributes of Allah. No wonder my father was grinning from ear to ear.
He turned to me and asked, "You do understand it all, Don't you?"


"Somewhat." I confessed.
He began explaining the nasheed and even added his own commentary on the subject. Our conversation somehow shifted to the eloquence and importance of the Arabic language. He recalled the time he used to read the Arabic book "La Ta7zan" (Don't be Sad by 3a'aid Al Qarni) to me and my siblings , and we loved it so much. He bought us the English version so we would be able to read it on our own. We all took turns reading it, but none of us ever finished it. Don't get me wrong, I think the English version is very well written, but its no where near the Arabic version.
"The same thing applies to the Qur'an, but unlike other books, its written with even more eloquence, precision, and beauty. If you really read Surat Al Fatiha and think deeply about it's meaning," He told us, "You would not be able to hold back tears."
"But Baba," I asked, " We read Surat al fatiha everyday in salah. Is it the fact that we don't contemplate on what we're reading, or..."
THAT'S when he told me this gem that i will inshallah, never forget. "Uthman bin Affan may Allah be pleased with him, once stated: "لو طهرة قلوبكم، ما شبعة من كتاب ربكم " He told me. Which roughly translates as "If your hearts were pure, you would not have enough from the book of Allah.
Subhanallah, there are many people in the world who read the Qur'an without fully understanding it. And I'm not trying to criticise anyone by saying this. I’m speaking to myself first. So we may try to read it in a different language – one that we understand. But reading the Qur'an in another language, whether it be English, or Spanish or any other language is no where near the Arabic Qur'an. This is why I encourage everyone to at least try to learn the Arabic language.
Now, one of my biggest goal is to learn how to read and speak Arabic...fluently...inshallah.

Allah Will Help His Righteous Believers
There was once a tabii' by the name of Yaqoub ibn Abi Sufyan. He was a very righteous man and he wanted to study hadith. He would always read and record the ahadith everyday. He studied the hadith and went about compiling it for 30 years. He was sitting in the masjid one day as he was about to write down a few ahadiths of the Prophet (s.a.w) when he heard a big gush of wind tap on the masjid's window. Startled as he was, he looked around, then looked up and discovered that the ceiling of the masjid was caved in and soon dirt from the celing began to fall into his eyes.
He lifted his hands to rub the dirt out of his eyes. He tried blinking them several times in order to clear up his vision, but for each attempt he found that he was unable to see anything. He became agitated and restless knowing that this would delay him from writing down the noble words of the blessed Prophet (s.a.w).
He continued to rub his eyes with the hope that the dirt will eventually come out and his vision would clear up. His hope came to no avail. With the rememberance of Allah still fresh in his heart he began to weep and cry out, "By Allah, I only shed these tears because I don't know how I will be able to write this hadith." He continued to pray to Allah and ask for forgiveness until the drug of slumber crept into his eyes. Eventually he went to sleep.
It has been said and recorded in history that the blessed Prophet Muhammad(s.a.w) appeared in his dream. Yaqoub was still weeping in his dream when the Prophet approached him and asked why he was crying. Yacoub told the prophet he was crying because he didn't know how he would read and write the hadith. The Prophet asked him to come closer. The Prophet raced his hands over the face of Yaqoub, and when Yaqoub awoke the next morning he found that he was able to see again by the grace of Allah.

- A story I heard at the friday halaqah


Ibn al-Mubarak said: I have seen wrong actions killing hearts, And their degradation may lead to their becoming addicted to them. Turning away from wrong actions gives life to the hearts, And opposing your self is best for it.

Bismillah

Today is Friday! Well, at least here in Oregon it's still Friday. I was reading Surat Al-Kahf on my way to school this morning (as I usually do), and I came across this ayah:

وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ كَانَ مِنَ الْجِنِّ فَفَسَقَ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهِ أَفَتَتَّخِذُونَهُ وَذُرِّيَّتَهُ أَوْلِيَاء مِن دُونِي وَهُمْ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ بِئْسَ لِلظَّالِمِينَ بَدَلًا
Which translates as:
18:50 Behold! We said to the angels, "Bow down to Adam": They bowed down except Iblis. He was one of the Jinns, and he broke the Command of his Lord. Will ye then take him and his progeny as protectors rather than Me? And they are enemies to you! Evil would be the exchange for the wrong-doers!
When reading the Qur'an, most people don't really think about the full implications of the Qur'an. But subhanallah, a man once read this ayah and said, "Oh Allah, I will never exchange Iblis and choose him as my protector over you." What is the significance of this ayah?

Lets rewind and see what Iblis said on his first encounter with Adam. (Note: this is when Allah created Adam and let him dry when he was clay)
"This is a creation that is weak. If I am given influence over you, I will lead you astray. And if you are given influence over me, I will disobey you."

Well, what do you know, our BIGGEST enemy. Big Time. And yet, people take him as their protectors, their close friends, and their supporters over Allah. Think about it. The story of Adam is mentioned numerous times in the Qur'an. Probably one of the stories mentioned THE most by far. This means serious really serious business. When Allah told Iblis to prostrate to Adam, Iblis denied. Allah could have just destroyed him right then. After all, He does have all the power and might to do so. But Allah didn't. Instead, He gave Iblis the opportunity to dwell on this earth until the end of time. And Iblis is dedicating every moment of his life-from the being of time until the end- to lead US- the children of Adam - astray. And he gets better at it every time (people get better through experience, right?). Allah allotted for us a certain time frame to dwell on this earth. Let's use this time wisely and not in disobedience of Allah.

And Allah knows best!

A real nice story. mashallah.

The Secrets of Worship

You can not worship until you love
You can not love until you fear
You can not fear until you understand
You can not understand until you learn
You can not learn until you have been found
You can not be found until you seek
You can not seek until you yearn
You can not yearn until you remember
So remember,
Remember
La illah illa Allah
There is no God but Allah

-From Caravanserai

Bismillah

Inshallah, I plan to update you all on any art projects I am working on. I'm currently working on a couple of big projects and inshallah hope to post them up here once they are complete. This is actually a drawing I did a while back. I focused mostly on using chalk pastel, but I also used prisma colors to kinda help with the highlights. Just in case you're wondering, its not a specific masjid, its just a random masjid I decided to draw from the top of my head (people keep asking me what masjid it is). Done on 8X11 paper.



Allah is Enough for Me




This a surprising true story I heard from a friend
She was ridding a private bus home from the university in Saudi. Her stop was the last stop so she patiently waited to be dropped off. She watched as all her classmates were dropped off at their homes. Before she knew it, she was the only one left on the bus besides the bus driver. She saw the familiar stop she would always be dropped off at, but the bus driver just drove past her stop. Fear crept into her heart, not knowing what would unfold. Keep in mind that in Saudi, if any shameful acts were to occur between two genders, the girl is usually the one to blame. She began reciting Qur'an as the bus driver drove out of the city and into the desert. All of a sudden, a car stops in front of the bus and she finds people stepping out of the car. To her surprise, these people turned out to be her father and brother. These two men approach the bus, and the bus driver lets her out. She follows them back to the car and they drive her home without conveying a word to her. When she arrives home, she discoverers that her father and brother were actually in a deep sleep. Upon seeing this, she was left in surprise and wonder as to how this can occur. Thus, she decided to contact a Shaykh and tell him about the incident. The Shaykh asked her what she was doing the moment the bus stopped. She told him she was reciting the Qur'an. The Shaykh told her that those two men were in fact angles Allah sent to help her. He told her that it was Allah (swt) who sent them in the form of her father and brother so she would go with them and arrive home safely.
Subhanallah, if you put your trust in Allah, He will help you in ways you can never imagine.
Allah mentions in the Qur'an: أَلَيۡسَ ٱللَّهُ بِكَافٍ عَبۡدَهُ
Is not Allah enough for His servant?

And not only that, Allah has a special reward for those who put their trust in him!
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas: The Prophet said, "The people were displayed in front of me and I saw one prophet passing by with a large group of his followers, and another prophet passing by with only a small group of people, and another prophet passing by with only ten (persons), and another prophet passing by with only five (persons), and another prophet passed by alone. And then I looked and saw a large multitude of people, so I asked Gabriel, "Are these people my followers?' He said, 'No, but look towards the horizon.' I looked and saw a very large multitude of people. Gabriel said. 'Those are your followers, and those are Seventy thousand (persons) in front of them who will neither have any reckoning of their accounts nor will receive any punishment.' I asked, 'Why?' He said, 'For they used not to treat themselves with branding (cauterization) nor with Ruqya (get oneself treated by the recitation of some Verses of the Qur'an) and not to see evil omen in things, and they used to put their trust (only) in their Lord." On hearing that, 'Ukasha bin Mihsan got up and said (to the Prophet), "Invoke Allah to make me one of them." The Prophet said, "O Allah, make him one of them." Then another man got up and said (to the Prophet), "Invoke Allah to make me one of them." The Prophet said, 'Ukasha has preceded you."
In another narration, Ukasha asked the Prophet, "Am I one of them, O Allah's Apostle?' The Prophet said, "Yes."
Help from Allah, and entering to Jannah without reckoning. What more can you ask for?

Bismillah

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