This is the final speech given to the muslims by the Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.)
After praising, and thanking God, the Prophet, may God send His praises upon him said:
“O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore, listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.
O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds. God has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital, however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. God has Judged that there shall be no interest, and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn Abd’al Muttalib shall henceforth be waived...
Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.
O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under a trust from God and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste.
O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God, perform your five daily prayers, fast during the month of Ramadan, and offer Zakat. Perform Hajj if you have the means.
All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; white has no superiority over black, nor does a black have any superiority over white; [none have superiority over another] except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.
Remember, one day you will appear before God and answer for your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.
O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me, and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O people, and understand words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah, and if you follow these you will never go astray.
All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and it may be that the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people.”
Thus the beloved Prophet completed his Final Sermon, and upon it, near the summit of Arafat, the revelation came down:
“…This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My Grace upon you, and have chosen Islam for you as your religion…” (Quran 5:3)
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
A Beautiful Prayer / Dua
O Allah! I ask of You integrity and soundness in my religion, my life, my family, and my possessions.
O Allah! Cover my shame, pacify my fears, guard me from what is in front of me and behind me, from what is on my right and on my left, over my head and under my feet.
O Allah! Grant health to my body. O Allah grant health to my hearing. O Allah! Grant health to my sight. There is no deity except You.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from unbelief and poverty, and from the punishment of the grave. There is no Deity except You.
O Allah! You are my Lord. There is no deity except You. You are my Creator and I am your creature. I try to keep my covenant with You and to live in the hope of Your promise as well as I can. I seek refuge in You from my one evil deeds. I acknowledge Your favours to me; and I acknowledge my sins. Forgive me my sins, for there is no one who can forgive sins except You.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from worry and sorrow. I seek refuge in You from impotence and sloth, from stinginess and cowardice, and I seek refuge in You from the burden of debt and from being humbled be men.
O Allah! Make the beginning of this day good, the middle prosperous, and the end successful. I ask You to grant me the good of this world and of the Hereafter, O Most Merciful of all Who show us mercy!
O Allah! I ask you to make me pleased with what You decreed for me return to good life after death, and I earnestly seek the pleasure of looking at Your Glorious Countenance and the craving to meet you, without distress or affliction or misguiding trial. I seek refuge in You from oppressing others or being oppressed, from doing wrong or suffering wrong, and from committing an error or a sin, which you will not forgive.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the feebleness of old age. O Allah! Guide me to the best of deeds and the best of morals, as none can guide to the best except You, and save me from bad deeds, as none can save me from what is bad except You. O Allah! Strengthen my faith, expand my living space and bless me in my livelihood.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from negligence, degradation and destitution; I seek refuge in You from unbelief, wickedness, vanity and show; and I seek refuge in You from blindness, deafness and leprosy and bad diseases.
O Allah! Give my soul piety and my conscience purity. You are the Master of my soul and the Guardian of my conscience.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from a knowledge, which does not benefit, from a heart, which does not tremble, from an ego, which is not stated, and from a supplication, which is not accepted.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I did and from the evil of what I did not do; from the evil of what I know and from the evil of what I did not know.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from a decline in Your favour, from a change in Your protection, from Your sudden punishment and all Your displeasure.
AMEEN
O Allah! Cover my shame, pacify my fears, guard me from what is in front of me and behind me, from what is on my right and on my left, over my head and under my feet.
O Allah! Grant health to my body. O Allah grant health to my hearing. O Allah! Grant health to my sight. There is no deity except You.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from unbelief and poverty, and from the punishment of the grave. There is no Deity except You.
O Allah! You are my Lord. There is no deity except You. You are my Creator and I am your creature. I try to keep my covenant with You and to live in the hope of Your promise as well as I can. I seek refuge in You from my one evil deeds. I acknowledge Your favours to me; and I acknowledge my sins. Forgive me my sins, for there is no one who can forgive sins except You.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from worry and sorrow. I seek refuge in You from impotence and sloth, from stinginess and cowardice, and I seek refuge in You from the burden of debt and from being humbled be men.
O Allah! Make the beginning of this day good, the middle prosperous, and the end successful. I ask You to grant me the good of this world and of the Hereafter, O Most Merciful of all Who show us mercy!
O Allah! I ask you to make me pleased with what You decreed for me return to good life after death, and I earnestly seek the pleasure of looking at Your Glorious Countenance and the craving to meet you, without distress or affliction or misguiding trial. I seek refuge in You from oppressing others or being oppressed, from doing wrong or suffering wrong, and from committing an error or a sin, which you will not forgive.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the feebleness of old age. O Allah! Guide me to the best of deeds and the best of morals, as none can guide to the best except You, and save me from bad deeds, as none can save me from what is bad except You. O Allah! Strengthen my faith, expand my living space and bless me in my livelihood.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from negligence, degradation and destitution; I seek refuge in You from unbelief, wickedness, vanity and show; and I seek refuge in You from blindness, deafness and leprosy and bad diseases.
O Allah! Give my soul piety and my conscience purity. You are the Master of my soul and the Guardian of my conscience.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from a knowledge, which does not benefit, from a heart, which does not tremble, from an ego, which is not stated, and from a supplication, which is not accepted.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I did and from the evil of what I did not do; from the evil of what I know and from the evil of what I did not know.
O Allah! I seek refuge in You from a decline in Your favour, from a change in Your protection, from Your sudden punishment and all Your displeasure.
AMEEN
Been a While
Assalamualaikum,
I haven't blogged in quite a while, due to life being busy. However, now I'm able to be back online, and InshaAllah, I hope to catch up with blogging again. Thank you to everyone who reads my blog posts - may Allah reward you.
I haven't blogged in quite a while, due to life being busy. However, now I'm able to be back online, and InshaAllah, I hope to catch up with blogging again. Thank you to everyone who reads my blog posts - may Allah reward you.
O Messenger of Allah, Indeed I Love you!
‘A’ishah reported that a man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and said: “O Messenger of Allah! Indeed, I love you more than I love myself, and I love you more than I love my family, and I love you more than I love my children. When I am at home and I think of you, I am unable to contain myself until I can come to you and look at you. When I think about my death and your death, I know that when you enter Paradise, you will be raised to where the Prophets are. But, if I enter Paradise, I am afraid: will I be able to see you?”
So, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did not answer him at all until Jibril revealed to him: {“And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, then they will be in the company of those on whom Allah has bestowed His Grace - of the Prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. And how excellent these companions are!”} [an-Nisa’; 69]
[‘Silsilat al-Ahadith as-Sahihah’; #2933]
So, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did not answer him at all until Jibril revealed to him: {“And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, then they will be in the company of those on whom Allah has bestowed His Grace - of the Prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. And how excellent these companions are!”} [an-Nisa’; 69]
[‘Silsilat al-Ahadith as-Sahihah’; #2933]
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Shaking Hands
Women are discouraged from shaking hands with men who are not close relatives. It might seem strange in a Western context, because then it comes off as "not being polite", however, women in Islam are given a high status of respect and dignity, therefore, the higher standards are followed.
A British man came to a Sheikh and asked, "Why is not permissible in Islam for women to shake hands with a man?" The Sheikh said, "Can you shake hands with Queen Elizabeth?" British man replied, "Of course not, there are only certain people who can shake hands with Queen Elizabeth". Sheikh replied with a smile on his face, "Our Women are Queens and Queens do not shake hands with strange men"...
A British man came to a Sheikh and asked, "Why is not permissible in Islam for women to shake hands with a man?" The Sheikh said, "Can you shake hands with Queen Elizabeth?" British man replied, "Of course not, there are only certain people who can shake hands with Queen Elizabeth". Sheikh replied with a smile on his face, "Our Women are Queens and Queens do not shake hands with strange men"...
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Why Are We Here?
When unhappiness and tragedy befall people, they start to question basic questions of life - what is my purpose? Why am I here? Some people are driven by an inner motivation to continue asking and asking and searching for the truth.
Here is one such story. This might possibly be my favorite Revert Story of all time - I can watch this dozens of times over, and it always touches me deeply. An ordinary guy living in the western world, a western life, had a few things going badly in his life, and it lead him to question existence and its purpose. He researched so many different religions, but never found a satisfactory answer. He kept asking for a sign from God - anything, big or small. And in the end, he got it. A must-watch. Plus, its really hilarious!
Part 1:
Part 2:
Here is one such story. This might possibly be my favorite Revert Story of all time - I can watch this dozens of times over, and it always touches me deeply. An ordinary guy living in the western world, a western life, had a few things going badly in his life, and it lead him to question existence and its purpose. He researched so many different religions, but never found a satisfactory answer. He kept asking for a sign from God - anything, big or small. And in the end, he got it. A must-watch. Plus, its really hilarious!
Part 1:
Part 2:
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Online Store Review: Shop the Souq
Well, well. I received my package from Shop The Souq (http://www.shopthesouq.com/), so another review is in order.
If truth be told, I have a bit of an emotional attachment to this store, even though this was my first time buying hijabs from them. (Last time I just ordered tons of junk food... more on that later.) It's interesting how I found this place, because actually the store owner used to have a halal food blog (http://www.isithalal.blogspot.com/) which I found two years ago and diligently read all the posts of to figure out what we actually could and could not eat. I won't focus on the details of halal (Islamically permissible) food in this post, because that should be a completely different topic. Anyway, since then, I've had a huge amount of respect for the hard work that this person put in her blog, phoning or emailing each company to demand the truth of what enzymes and other animal derivatives were in various food products. When I found out she also had a hijab store, and also sold tons of halal food which we could not find anywhere else in the US, I just had to go visit. My first purchase from them was a box-full of Halal Flamin Hot Cheetos and Doritos (ones without the pork enzymes shipped in from Saudi). Yes, I'm not kidding.
Anyway, Shop The Souq is primarily a hijab store. It carries a vast array of scarves and other accessories such as underscarves, gloves, fancy pins, greeting cards, halal snacks, etc. They've recently started carrying jewelry, and oh my goodness, the storeowner has excellent taste! There's tons and tons of bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings and brooches in so many new designs! (I especially loved the little charm bracelets with handbags and shoes as charms. It is a must-see.) I have been watching this store for quite a while, and even though I have enough hijabs, I wanted to buy something from them at least once. Finally, I gave in and made a purchase.
I placed my order last weekend. They have so many different designs and styles and colors, its difficult to choose from. In the end, I ordered a Fairy Dust Solid Pashmina, a Sour Apple Solid Pashmina, a Multicolored Stripey Pashmina and a Turquoise underscarf. It seems like I grabbed the last of the fairy dust and stripey pashmina in that particular color, because when I went to look at those items again, they were out of stock. The package arrived pretty fast within a week, and everything has been so carefully packaged. Here are pictures from the Souq's website of the three of the four items I got:
If truth be told, I have a bit of an emotional attachment to this store, even though this was my first time buying hijabs from them. (Last time I just ordered tons of junk food... more on that later.) It's interesting how I found this place, because actually the store owner used to have a halal food blog (http://www.isithalal.blogspot.com/) which I found two years ago and diligently read all the posts of to figure out what we actually could and could not eat. I won't focus on the details of halal (Islamically permissible) food in this post, because that should be a completely different topic. Anyway, since then, I've had a huge amount of respect for the hard work that this person put in her blog, phoning or emailing each company to demand the truth of what enzymes and other animal derivatives were in various food products. When I found out she also had a hijab store, and also sold tons of halal food which we could not find anywhere else in the US, I just had to go visit. My first purchase from them was a box-full of Halal Flamin Hot Cheetos and Doritos (ones without the pork enzymes shipped in from Saudi). Yes, I'm not kidding.
Anyway, Shop The Souq is primarily a hijab store. It carries a vast array of scarves and other accessories such as underscarves, gloves, fancy pins, greeting cards, halal snacks, etc. They've recently started carrying jewelry, and oh my goodness, the storeowner has excellent taste! There's tons and tons of bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings and brooches in so many new designs! (I especially loved the little charm bracelets with handbags and shoes as charms. It is a must-see.) I have been watching this store for quite a while, and even though I have enough hijabs, I wanted to buy something from them at least once. Finally, I gave in and made a purchase.
I placed my order last weekend. They have so many different designs and styles and colors, its difficult to choose from. In the end, I ordered a Fairy Dust Solid Pashmina, a Sour Apple Solid Pashmina, a Multicolored Stripey Pashmina and a Turquoise underscarf. It seems like I grabbed the last of the fairy dust and stripey pashmina in that particular color, because when I went to look at those items again, they were out of stock. The package arrived pretty fast within a week, and everything has been so carefully packaged. Here are pictures from the Souq's website of the three of the four items I got:
Fairy Dust Pink Pashmina, Sour Apple Green Pashmina, and Turquoise tube undercap
Here are the items I received, unopened. Look at that top stripey pashmina - it's gorgeous!
A close-up of the Sour Apple and Fairy Dust pashmina
And my ultimate favorite hijab of all time - the Stripey pashmina. I had been casually browsing the store one day, when this caught my eye, and the colors and design on this are so much my taste, that this was the reason I placed my order
Aren't these colors beautiful?
The pink and green hijabs are viscose, and the stripey one is a cotton blend - and all of them are so soft! A friend of mine had recommended that I should try viscose, as they have a nice fall, and aren't as bulky, and it's true. I'm wearing my sour green apple scarf today, and it is so comfortable, I just cannot explain. I'm nearly falling asleep in it. =)
I have to admit, when I opened my pink scarf, I was having a serious case of 'Consumer Post-Purchase Dissonance' (please excuse the use of terminology, it's the business administration major within me :p), and I was having some misgivings, because the pink was a bit too strong and darker than what it appeared in the photograph and I worried it wouldn't look good on me. But then I had the idea to pair it with the turquoise underscarf, and oh my goodness, I love it! The blue and the pink go so very well with each other, I couldn't stop looking at it - I mean, by itself, I might not have liked it as much, but I will forever be wearing this along with the blue underscarf, because it really brought out new life to it. What a relief!
The Souq is an amazing store. They have a wide variety of product items, reasonable prices, and fast shipping. They have free giveaways from time to time. The last giveaway just passed, and three people who entered the contest will be winning a choice of any two scarves plus an accessory of their choice and have them shipped to them for free! I mean, how amazing is that?
Though, the best thing about this store are not the products. I mean, the products are excellent quality and everything. But the main reason I like this place is because of the store owner herself - she is the most kind-hearted and friendly person. Customer Service at this place is beyond excellent - you can ask any sort of question, and you can be sure to receive an answer within a couple hours, with tons of helpful suggestions. If there's something out of stock, you can feel free to let her know you'd want to make an order on it, and she will be do her very best to get those items and let you know when she has them again. I mean, in this day and age, with everyone focusing on making a profit, who really cares about these things? But her personality is the epitome of what a true muslim should be like - making sure she helps people out, not because it's benefitting her, but simply, because as a muslim, this is what we're all told to be like. I paid a standared shipping cost of $5. My package arrived, and I noticed that the postage on the packet said $7.90. Do you know who paid the difference? The store owner did. This wasn't a one time thing either. She always covers the extra cost of shipping for most products sold at her store. I've also heard she regularly throws in free items, like free scarves, or hijab accessories, at no extra cost to people who purchase around $40-$50 worth of stuff. Again I ask, in this day and age, who does things like this?
Lazeena ukhti, if you ever do come across this, I want to say, may Allah bless you for everything you do. Your akhlaq (manners and personality) are the epitome of a true muslimah, and may we all be like you, inshaAllah. I pray Allah gives you an increase in business and happiness and peace to you and your family.
So these were my two reviews on two different stores. I am not going to bring any rivalry in here and say that one is better than another - no, we already have too much strife going on out there in the world to have petty rivalries amongst ourselves. Both of my muslim sisters-in-faith are doing an excellent job bringing these hard to find items to us, and I wish them well. They are both unique in their own ways - Middle Eastern Mall has more of a larger store feel to it. And Shop The Souq has a very 'personal boutique' atmosphere. May Allah give them both an increase in business and bless them and theirs always, ameen.
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