They've been right here all along

Thread... “Are we alone? Are there extra-terrestrials?” These are two questions Americans have always been fascinated by, observed Shaykh Mahdi Lock recently, and even more so after the topic of UFO’s made it to a Congressional hearing.

The dreams in Surat Yusuf:

• Came to a prophet and concerned his whole family

• Came to prisoners and concerned them individually

• Came to a king and was for the entire nation and region The dreams in Surat Yusuf:

• one became reality after a long time (40 years)

• became a reality after a short time (the prisoners)

• became a reality after a medium amount of time (14 years)

The West woke up to critical thinking about history when Rennaissance linguists realized they had been duped by the Church on many essential things, including key verses of the Bible. Hence, the starting point of Western critical thinking was suspicion towards authority, religious in particular.

Recently I saw a video of Sh Asrar Rashid on the Baby Hitler Question. It goes like this...

If you were sent back in time to the day Hitler was born, knowing what he would do in WW2, would you kill him or not? If you believe you must kill him to avoid the atrocities of the Holocaust, you then cede any argument against evil, for God knows even more than us, and hence when a bad thing happens, it is for the same reason: to avoid a worse thing.

An amazing admission from Ibn al-Jawzi that many smart people fall into, with their cleverness serving their nafs. It's in such gray areas that one ought to follow their heart...

"When I was young... "When I was young, I found peace of heart in worship and seclusion. As I became an orator, the rich and powerful inclined towards me, and I inclined towards them. But gradually, my adept legal reasoning convinced me that the doubtful things they did were in fact lawful.

Hadith: "If your animal goes astray call out, 'O slaves of Allah, block it!' for Allah has servants in the land that will stop it for you."

Nawawi: Our shyakh lost his animal so he said it, and it stopped running away on the spot... 1/2 Nawawi: I was with a group once when animal ran away, so I said it, and it stopped immediately.

Recently, I had a little back and forth about a university assignment that asked students to "Create your own religion." When I scoffed at the idea, one guy said, "You're supposed to be open-minded." The pre-requisite of "open mindedness" is that you are not fully certain about something. For example, I'm open minded about a lot of political positions, health habits, forms of schooling, or the best way forward for my local community.

.@kalamunveiled Salam wasnt able to reply to your post for some reason.
Here’s Imam Abu Hanifa:
وقال أيضا قلت : أرأيتَ لو قيل أين الله تعالى ؟ فقال – أي أبو حنيفة: يقال له كان الله تعالى ولا مكان قبل أن يخلق الخلق، وكان الله تعالى ولـم يكن أين ولا خَلْق ولا شيء وهو خالق كل شيء @kalamunveiled Izz ibn Abd al-Salam in his commentary on this line:
ومن توهم أن للحق مكاناً فهو مشبّه

From Imam Sakhawi in his book on rulings about salat on the Prophet ﷺ

“It was said to the people of piety: What did your Lord bring? They replied: Goodness” (16:30 Nahl).

They did not even know what Allah revealed, or brought into existence, but because they knew it came from Allah, they already concluded its ending will be good. This is how the eternal optimism of the believer is based on firm faith rooted in knowledge, not mere hopes and emotions.

There was once a scholar named Ahmad ibn Miskeen, of Basra in the 3rd Hijri Century. He tells us of the amazing way in which he learned ikhlas, or sincerity, before beginning to seek knowledge... "I was tested with poverty, and had a wife and child. I decided, the only way out is to sell my home. So I went out to do that.
A friend saw me and we talked about how business was so bad I had to sell my home, so he gave me two fresh loaves of bread that were shaped like wafers.

Ibn al-Munqidh tells the following story...

I was making tawaf around the Ka'ba when I saw a young man making salat on the Prophet ﷺ the entire time. I said, "Young man, salat on the Prophet ﷺ is excellent, but tawaf is a time for dua and tasbeeh."... He signaled with his hand that he would talk after tawaf.

When he was done, the young man said, "I have a reason that all my dhikr is salat on the Prophet ﷺ. I was very close to my father, and we decided to go for Hajj. On the way, he got sick and died at a rest stop.

When Allah loves a believer, He puts signs and indicators on him:

• He protects him from the dunya in the same way that we protect the ill from certain foods. (And for the wealthy, even if dunya is in his hand, he does not think about it nor chase it with his heart.) • He opens the doors of various acts of worship.

• He teaches him deeds that he never knew before.

• He opens a matter for which the person fervently makes dua.

• He makes him meet other good people that remind him of Allah.

For some bizarre reason, I've been blocked from posting on Facebook. So here we go...will just post here...

Between any two people there are different foundations for love. This is important in relationships where people need to get along. Pay close attention to what Allah says in Surat al-Rum, "From His signs is that He created for you from yourselves, mates that *you* may find tranquillity in them; and *He* placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought."

Nobody is born deserving of any special favor or superiority due to what their forefathers did. Likewise, nobody is born in shame or guilt due to what their fathers did.

Consequences, good and bad, can be transmitted generation to generation. But superiority and guilt are not. A good example of this is how the children of Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab were treated. After entering Islam no Companion ever tried to guilt them, or use their fathers’ wickedness against them. The Prophet ﷺ forbade it and said do not even mention their fathers anymore.

The Khawarij were a group of Muslims who thought they were so pious, they rode right off the cliff. Their zeal was mingled with ego, and they failed to decipher one from the other. They cut themselves off from any cure when their ego moved them to deny the teachings and understandings of the Companions themselves. They deemed Sayyidna Ali and Ibn Abbas to be wrong, and to be heretics, and even out of Islam altogether.

Dua is the core (or bone marrow) of worship because unlike other acts of worship, people’s hearts are always present when they want something. Wanting things, along with the process of receiving it, is one of the best ways for iman, character, and love for Allah to grow. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Love Allah for the blessings He showers upon you.”

Better off rolling through beads than scrolling through feeds.

Allah never mentions dhikr in the Quran except that He says, "much," while noting that doing small amounts of dhikr is the habit of hypocrites: "They do not remember Allah except little." For the body: you are what you eat.
For the soul: you are what you ponder.

Feeds turn our attention to the creation, things that will one day disappear.
Dhikr direct our minds to what it eternal and will never fade.

When the Prophet ﷺ Tore Down A Mosque...

Just as the Prophet ﷺ had political rivals that envied his authority in Madina, he ﷺ had religious enemies that craved his spiritual authority. One of these was Abu Aamir the Monk. Abu Aamir was a pagan who became a Christian. He wore a wool frock, had long hair and beard. When the Prophet ﷺ came, Abu Aamir refused to submit and moved to Mecca. After the conquest of Mecca, he moved to Jerusalem.

أولى النَّاسِ بي يومَ القيامةِ أكثرُهُم عليَّ صلاة

"The most worthy of people to be with me on the Day of Judgement are the most in sending salawat upon me" (Tirmidhi).

Some of the ulama said that "alot" of dhikr is 300 repetitions. The best expression of salawat is the Salat Ibrahimiyya, which we recite after the tahiyya in salat.

The simplest expression is "Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aali Muhammad."

Sultan Abd al-Hamid used to recite 1,000 salawat on the Prophet ﷺ every day without fail.