Choose Wisely

“It is astonishing how people can influence others, simply by keeping their company. Don’t take a companion unless their state elevates you, and that they take you closer to God. Don’t have friends that complain all the time. There’s nothing worse than to be around a complainer. Be around people that uplift you, that are positive, optimistic. Help people with their problems, but put yourself in environments that help you move forward. And don’t be of the people out there that don’t want to see others succeed.”- Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Keep everyone in your du’as!

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

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“30 Mosques in 30 Days”

I found this on HAhmed, I think it’s such a cool idea. It’s about two brothers going to a different masjid on each day of Ramadhaan in the New York area [hence 30 Mosques in 30 Days]. It’s a cool idea, I’ve been to uhm…..two different masjids, clearly no competition but at least there are many masjids around me hamdulillah. Check out the site it’s interesting, and quite entertaining. Anyway, no more blogging time, the semester started last week for me and considering it’s Ramdhaan, time is quite limited.

Keep everyone in your du’as!

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

Confused? Didn’t understand something? Click here!

An Untold Story

Holocaust’s Untold Heroes: Their Story is Rarely told, but Albanian Muslims took in Fleeing Jews During World War II, Saving Thousands of LivesBy: SHAZADA IRFAN

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Aug.28, 2009, 10:47PM

When no other European country dared to withstand the wrath of Nazi Germany, it was the Muslims of Albania who saved a large number of Jewish people from extermination.

Albania, a Muslim majority country in Europe, opened its borders during World War II and took in thousands of Jews fleeing from different countries. They were treated like honored guests, and many were given fake names and even passports.

This little-known chapter of history is the focus of the photographic exhibition Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews During the Holocaust , which kicked off in July at the Holocaust Museum Houston and continues through February.

The exhibition displays photographs taken by Norman Gershman, a Jewish photographer based in Colorado, who traveled to Albania in 2003 to research the topic.

Gershman said it took him six years to complete the project. He interviewed Albanians who had harbored Jewish people at that time and were still alive and the relatives of those who were not. He took their photographs to accompany their individual stories in his book Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews During World War II.

The photographs and stories displayed at the exhibition are taken from this book.

Everyone had a different story to tell, but one thing was common.

“They were compelled to act the way they had by Besa, a code of honor deeply rooted in Albanian culture and incorporated in the faith of Albanian Muslims,” Gershman said.

He said they were dismissive of the attention they were getting.

“To them it was nothing unusual,” he said. “They believed any Albanian would have done the same in a similar situation.”

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Israel, is the sponsor of this traveling exhibition.

Taking action

Marci Dallas, director of Changing Exhibits at the Holocaust Museum Houston, said the exhibition gives the message that no one should stand by during human suffering.

Eileen Reed, a visitor to the exhibit, was surprised how different people could decipher teachings of their faith differently.

“The Albanian Muslims derived inspiration from their religion to save Jews,” she said. “They were so different from those who perpetrate violence in the name of the same religion.”

Unknown history

These stories have remained unknown for decades, even to students of the Holocaust. Rob Satloff, director of the Washington Institute of Near East Policy in Washington, D.C., offers an explanation.

“First, we — Jews, Israelis, Western historians — didn’t look very hard,” Satloff said. “And second, they — Arabs and Muslims, even those who rescued Jews — often did not want to be found. The result is a tacit conspiracy of silence about this lost chapter from the Holocaust.”

Satloff wrote the book Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands.

Ellen Kennedy, interim director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota, believes these stories remained untold because many surviving Jews and Albanians were reluctant to share them.

“When survivors first began speaking about their experiences in the years immediately after the war, they were met with disbelief,” Kennedy said. “The public simply could not imagine that such horrors occurred.”

Gershman’s work is an attempt at building bridges between Muslims and people of Jewish faith.

“Islam and Judaism are Abrahamic faiths, and we have lot of things in common,” said Dr. Aziz Siddiqui, president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston. “We must strive to highlight these as Gershman has done and avoid everything that tends to divide us.”

Source: Chron, Houstan&Texas News

Keep everyone in your du’as!

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

Confused? Didn’t understand something? Click here!

Ya Allah Bi Nadhraa

SubhanAllah, I wish that one day I can go to such a place, inshaAllah<3

Keep everyone in your du’as!

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

Confused? Didn’t understand something? Click here!

Ramadhaan Kareem

Ramadhaan Kareem everyone! I know, a little late, my apologies. But better late than never Hamdulillah by Allah’s grace we’ve been able to see another Ramadhaan! Let’s try to make the best of this Ramadhaan! Make a mends with those who may have been hurt by us, intentionally or unintentionally. As usual here are the notes that I post each year, inshaAllah they will benefit you or someone in some way.

(Note: the following information was mostly taken form Faza’il-e-A’maal and some random lectures, any mistakes made is my own fault/misunderstanding of the context and may Allah(SWT) forgive me, InshaAllah.)

• In Ramadan fasting is Fard by day, and Taraweeh is Sunnah by night.
• In Ramadan performing a Nafl act is equivalent to the reward of Fard act.
• In Ramadan performing a Fard act is equivalent to 70 Fard acts any other time.
• This is the month of patience.
• Show sympathy to one another.
• The first 10 days of Ramadan bring’s Allah’s mercy.
• The next 10 days of Ramdan bring’s Allah’s forgiveness.
• The Last 10 days brings emancipation from the fire of Jahanam.
• Allah turns to us and sends us his special mercy.
• Allah forgives our faults, accepts our prayers.
• Allah boasts to his Malaa’ikah about us.
• Try to recite Kalima Tayyiba.
• Try to think of Ramadhaan as a month of purification.
• Make Istighfar (to please Allah).
• Beg for entry into Jannah.
• Seek refuge in Allah from Jahanum.
• The fish in the sea seek forgiveness for the fasting person on their behalf until the person breaks their fast.
• The smell from the mouth of a fasting person is sweeter to Allah than the smell of musk.
• Allah prepares and decorates a special garden in Jannah everyday and says to it “The time is near when faithful servants cast aside the greatest trials of the world and come to you.”
• Angel Jibrael said to Prophet Muhammed(صلى الله عليه و سل) ”Woe to him who found the blessed month of Ramadan and let it pass without gaining forgiveness,” and Prophet Muhammed(صلى الله عليه و سل) said “Ameen!”
• The du’aa of a fasting person is not rejected until he breaks his fast.
• Allah and his Malaa’ikah send mercy upon those who eat suhoor.
• Daily recitation of the Qur’aan is encouraged.
• Great time for Dawah.
• Make sure you pay your Zakah.
• Try to stay in Wudhu at all times.
• Respect to all Adults(***especially children to parents***)
• Fasting is a protective covering for a man as long as he does not tear that protection.
• Try to think of this month as your last month of Ramadhaan.
• Try to be in continous Istighfaar. (Think, if the Sahaba and our beloved Nabi(SAW) made so much Istighfaar how many times a day should we be making Istighfaar?)
• Think of Ramadhaan as the month of training. Shaytaan is locked up, if you want to become a better person start now and do it continuously for 30 days, so when Ramdhaan is over it will not be as hard for you to continue throughout the year. (***Sisters this is a great time to start practicing Hijaab ***)
• Don’t waste a minute of your time, always make du’aa, or ask for forgiveness, or make du’aa for our Ummah, not everyone is as blessed as we are so think of our Ummah and keep them in your hearts and ask Allah to have some ease on the ones who are suffering!
• If you watch T.V. try to keep it off during the month of Ramadhaan.
• If you listen to music try to say goodbye to it for a month.
• If you find that you have nothing better to do simply pick up a Mushaf and start reading the Qur’an. If you don’t know how to read the Qur’an ask your fellow brother or sister to shed some light on to you, there’s no better time to learn than now and the blessing for reading Qur’an in Ramdhaan is tremendous.
• Husbands shouldn’t keep there wives stuck in the kitchen. If you are married try to help your wives out in the kitchen or by not throwing a lot of crazy iftaar parties.
• Make sure to help whoever is always in the kitchen with the coking and cleaning whether it be your mother, wife,sister etc…
• Also remember that during Ramadhaan you see people that you normally don’t always see, try to get to know a couple of new brothers and sisters and keep in contact with them after Ramadhaan as well, you never who you may effect for the better and vice versa.

Suhr:

• Waking up at a certain time before Fajr to eat.
• Make sure you wake up for Suhr because there is great barakah in Suhr.
• Allah and the Angels are giving blessings to those who make Suhr.
• The difference between a Muslims and Ahlay Kitaab is waking up for Suhr.

Also, Perform Salat-tu-Tasbeeh, this Salah can be prayed once a day, every Friday, once a month, once a year, or at least once in a life time (Its been reported that the reward for this Salah is forgiveness for all sins, whether committed knowingly or unknowingly, minor or major.) Many people tell me that they aren’t familiar with Salat-ut-Tasbeeh so here’s juss some quick notes about how to perform it:

• Make niyyah for 4 rakaats Nafl Salat-ut-Tasbeeh.
• After Takbeer Tahrima recite Thana.
• Recite the 3rd kalima 25 times.
• Recite Surah Fatiha.
• Go into ruku and recite the 3rd kalima 10 times (while in ruku)
• In qaumah recite the 3rd kalima 10 times.
• First sajdah read 3rd kalima 10 times, repeat for second sajdah.
• Continue above steps, when you are done the 3rd kalima will have been read 300 times!

May Allah give us all a beneficial Ramadhaan. May Allah make us all come out of Ramadhaan as a better person. May Allah keep us all preoccupied with countless forms of Dhikr. May Allah accept all of our Salah’s, du’aas, Fasting, etc… May Allah protect us from Adhaaban-Naar and put us in a higher level of Jannah by the end of the month. InshaAllah.

“O Allah, make us firm on the path of steadfastness, and safeguard us in this world from matters that will bring shame on the Day of Judgment, and lighten for us the burden of our sins, and grant us lives of the righteous and protect us from the evil ones. Save our necks and the necks of our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters from the fire of Hell by Your Compassion, O Most Powerful one, Most Forgiving, Most Knowledgeable, Most Overwhelming, O Allah! O Allah! O Allah! By Your Mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful, O First before the first, Last after the lasts, O Possessor of Strength, Everlasting, Compassionate to the destitute, Most Compassionate of those who are compassionate. There is no god but You, glory be to You, verily I am of the wrongdoers, And may Allah bless our Prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings be upon him) and all his Followers and Companions. All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord and Cherisher of all the worlds.” [Taken from Imam al-Ghazali's 'Dear Beloved Son']

Ramdhaan Mubarak everyone!

Keep everyone in your du’as!

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

Confused? Didn’t understand something? Click here!

40 Hadiths

A friend of mine posted this on fisaadbook, it’s very nicely done mashaAllah. Take some time out and watch it:

Ramadhaan is almost here

Take care inshaAllah, and keep everyone in your du’as.

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

Confused? Didn’t understand something? Click here!

Generation Islam

I found this on Chill Yo Islam Yo, it aired last night, I caught the first hour and kind of dozed off and got busy with other things, inshaAllah I’ll watch the whole thing tomorrow night. The original air date was Thursday at 9PM, it will also be shown on Saturday and Sunday at 8PM, if you’re free take some time out and watch it.

Click here to go to the CNN page.

Take care inshaAllah, and keep everyone in your du’as.

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

Confused? Didn’t understand something? Click here!

Utilize Power Carefully

“Sometimes it’s the people who have no firsthand experience with combat who make the worst decisions. Madeleine Albright was that way as well-all fired up to use American forces wherever and whenever she wanted. Power, however, must be utilized carefully and thoughtfully. It’s like holding a dove. You want to hold it tight enough to keep it in your hands, but not so tight that you crush it. The military is a tool that needs to be very carefully considered before you unleash it. There are inherent challenges in leading eighteen-year-old kids with no more than high school education into combat. They do not necessarily understand the importance of diplomacy; they have not been trained to win  hearts and minds. They have been trained to fight and win. Period. In my estimation, about 80 percent of Iraqi citizens can be classified as traditional Muslims; 20 percent are extremists or fundamentalists. It was a constant struggle to get our kids to understand that whenever we damaged or destroyed a home while conducting a search, we were encouraging that traditional  family to move into the extremist category. It’s so difficult and complex. You’re asking young soldiers to exercise the power of the American military to wrest control of a situation, then immediately to back off and exercise restraint and maturity and compassion. This would often happen on the same day on which some of their fellow soldiers had been killed or maimed. It was, from the very beginning, an enormously difficult task, one that became increasingly complicated as time wore on, and U.S. forces became viewed less as liberators and more as occupiers [Sassman, pages 55-56].”

Taken from Warrior King: The Triumph and Betrayal of an American Commander in Iraq. By Lt. Col. [RET] Nathan Sassman with Joe Layden

“We Trust You”

SubhanAllah, this article made me feel so much better. [To skip all my rambling, go towards the bottom of the post to read the article]

So it was sometime last semester where a friend and I were walking and she dropped all her stuff and she juss said “FML” [the letters, I do not endorse profanity it's juss story] I juss stared at her and said “huh?” And then she said what the letters stand for and I was like oh, I wish I didn’t ask. She continued talking about the website, and how she reads it to make her life seem better. We went to the library and she showed me, I was kinda scared but she assured me that there’s nothing bad on it, well according to her dictionary of bad. So basically it’s a website where everyone says how things stink and blah blah blah… La hawla wa la quwwata illa bilha, whatever happens, happens- no need to post your misery to the entire world and say how terrible it is. Life isn’t always happy and la la la skipping down hills made of ice cream and roads of licorice, sometime you trip, sometimes you scrape a knee or break a bone. When a bad situation happens we need to take a step back and juss breathe. I know, easier said than done, but lately I’ve had so many problems and I juss try to hold it all down. The occasional getting angry, sometimes emotions kinda take over, then the ice cream comes in and then I think subhanAllah, I am being so ungrateful. If you lose your job, think of those who have been jobless, think of those who are homeless, think of those have no friends or family to lean on when things get rough. If you get sick, no worries, there are so many diseases and health problems inthe world, there is always room for a case worse than yours so be thankful and focus on getting better, not thinking, “why me???” So I really do not like fmylife.com. I mean yes, they may seem funny to you, and terrible to the person, but if something bad happens that doesn’t mean you have to curse your life. Anyone that knows me well knows that my whole life is pretty much a joke, my friends always tell me that one day I need to publish a book containing all the things that happen to me, and then I tell them that there wouldnt be enough paper in the world for such a book.  I’m actually quite serious, from the people that I meet, the things that they say, the fact that I can trip over flat surfaces and have delayed responses, laughing at at the wrong times, smiling to myself and then of course my insane rambling on my blog….. it all does add up…. but la halwa wa la quwwata, everything happens for a reason, and we shouldn’t be cursing our lives over every little tiny thing that might not not be what we have planned or wanted.

So today I discovered, via facebook, of a website that I thoroughly approve of, GivesMeHope.com There tagline: “Like FML, but for optimists.” I love reading things that make people happy, or as the site say, things that give me hope. It’s beautiful and I found a specific post that made me really happy, it said this:

This town was featured on CBS news tonight. In this town, you don’t need a bike lock, people put notices up for lost $20 bills, shopkeepers leave their stuff outside everynight, kids pay for their candy into a jar without a storekeeper. Nothing is ever stolen. This town GMH.

SubhanAllah this town sounds AMAZING and was immediately added to my “Places to Visit” list very quickly! Take a couple of minutes out to read the article below, it’s very short and worth the time: [If you survived my ranting then you will love the article below so please read it!]

The Most Honest Town in the Country?

By Steve Hartman

(CBS) On the southern shore of Lake Erie sits the tiny town of Lakeside, Ohio. I know about this quaint little summer spot because my family has been vacationing here forever. We started coming back when I was still living in my parent’s crib, by which I mean, crib.

I learned how to swim here. Got my first shuffleboard trophy here. I even took a music class that is still offered today.

But what makes this place really special to me – what sets apart from almost every other place in America – is that here in Lakeside, people still actually trust one another.

Where else in America does somebody find a $20 bill and put up signs telling you where you can claim it? This town is so trusting in all my years I’ve never seen anyone lock their bike.

I asked Jackie Sypherd, who runs Sypherd’s Cycles, if people are surprised when the come to town for the first time and she tells them they don’t need a lock for their bicycle.

“They can’t believe it,” Sypherd said.

When you rent a bike from her Sypherd, she doesn’t ask for a driver’s license, credit card, nothing – she just trusts you to bring it back.

“We’ve never had a bike stolen in 28 years,” Sypherd said. “If you expect the best from people that’s what you’re going to receive.”

It’s the honor’s system and this whole town seems to operate on it. A lot the stores leave their merchandise out all night.

At Robert Retzke’s shop, he has an little box where people can put in their payment.

“Yesterday I went to the doctor’s office – this morning I had three envelopes on the floor,” Retzke said.

At Marylyn’s place they even trust the proverbial kid in a candy store. The owner, Marylyn Burns, has a note that says, “We trust you. You are an honest and wonderful child of God. Wait on yourself and make your own change.”

“We’ve had kids come in from the inner city and say, ‘What do you mean you trust us?’” Burns said.

I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic myself on this one. So I set up a hidden camera to see if I could catch someone red-licorice handed.

Dozens of kids came and went. But they all paid – right down to the penny.

This week, my son George got his first taste of Lakeside. And although the character of the place didn’t impress him nearly as much as the radio in the rental car. My hope is that the more he grows, the more he will appreciate Lakeside. And that the more he changes, the more his vacation spot doesn’t.

Source: CBS News

SubhanAllah, may Allah make more places like this in the world!

Take care inshaAllah, and keep everyone in your du’as.

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

Confused? Didn’t understand something? Click here!