Priceless Pearls

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

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."

• 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

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]
 

"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.

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.