Taking the plunge

The Importance, Instructions, and Wisdom of Salaatul Istikhaarah

Ever been faced with indecision? Not sure which way to go in life? The Companions mentioned that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam taught them to make “istikhaarah” (which is related to the word “khair”, which means “good” - so in essence you are seeking what is “good” for you) just like he taught them any other du’aa. They would seek Allah’s guidance on even the seemingly smallest issues in their lives. It is one of the most concrete ways of displaying your tawakkul, or trust, in Allah.

To make Salaatul Istikhaarah, all you do is make 2 non-obligatory (extra) prayers. Then afterwards, recite the following prayer:

Allaahumma innee astakhiruka bi’ilmika was astaqdiruka bi qudratika wa as’alu min fadhlikal ‘adheem. Fa inna taqdiru wa laa aqdiru, wa ta’lamu wa laa a’lamu wa anta ‘allaamul ghuyoob.

O Allah, truly I seek guidance from you due to Your knowledge and I seek Your decree due to Your power and I ask of Your great bounty. For You are able and I am powerless, and You are knowledgable and I do not know, and You are the knower of the Unseen.

See how Allah teaches us how to pray to Him! He knows us the best and what we need- and in teaching us these prayers, He shows us the reality of our situations. So we come and seek Allah’s guidance admitting that all the power and knowledge belong to Allah, that He holds everything good in His Hands, and that we do not know the future while He does.

Allaahumma in kunta ta’lamu anna haadhal amru (mention it here) khayrul-lee fee deeni wa ma’aashee wa ‘aaqibati amri, wa ‘aajilihi wa aajilihi, faqdurhu lee wa yassirhu lee, thumma baarik lee feeh.

O Allah, if You know that this affair (mention it here) is good for me in my religion, my life, my affairs, in the short term and in the long run, then decree it for me, make it easy for me, and bless me in it.

See how perfectly Allah teaches us to ask! We don’t just ask for what we “want”. We ask first for our religion (the most important thing) and for our lives (because we can and should live “good” lives) and affairs (we live in the world and want the best in this life and Hereafter), we ask not only for what’s best now but for later, when we don’t know if what we choose will end up good or not. We ask for it to come to us easily and smoothly and for us to be blessed in it.

Wa in kunta ta’lamu anna haadhal amru sharrul-lee fee deeni wa ma’aashee wa ‘aaqibati amri, wa ‘aajilihi wa aajilihi, fasrifhu ‘annee wasrifnee ‘anhu, thummaqdur leelkhayra haythu kaana thumma radh-dheeni bih.

And if You know this affair is bad for me in my religion, my life, my affairs, in the short term and in the long run, then turn it away from me and make me repulsed by it, then decree for me the good wherever it is, then content me with it.

As for the opposite, if it’s bad for us, we are taught by the Most Merciful to not only turn it away from (deny it to us) but that we ourselves should not even want it! Sometimes we want something so badly but it’s not good for us. So see how Allah soothes our hearts and wants good for us. We ask if this is not good for us, then even further to go ahead and grant the good thing- the alternative- to us from wherever and whatever it is, and to content us with it- since we might not think we want it although it is good for us. Could there be a more perfect du’aa, which encompasses every single aspect of what we need? Subhanallah!

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After you recite the prayer, you should consult with people (make an informed decision) and come to the best conclusion you are able to, and just do it. The key here is not how perfectly you pronounce the words, but that you utterly trust Allah in the final judgement. In other words, once you are set upon a course of action, you no longer worry about it. Think if you were worried about some ailment and you went to the doctor’s and he said, “This is not a problem, it’s normal, don’t worry about it” - you’d probably feel relieved and not think twice about it. The same feeling of relief (how much greater since we are not talking about a mere mortal but the Almighty) should accompany you if you really trust Allah with the final outcome of your decision. It’s in His Hands now.

Now, a lot of people have a lot of superstition and baseless practices when it comes to Salaatul Istikhaarah.

Myth: You can’t make up your mind before you make Istikhaarah, you have to be “neutral”.

Reality:

It’s OK if you have feelings or inclinations one way or the other, but of course you are open to changing them. Why are you asking Allah anyway if you are totally sure? The point is you have uncertainty and to settle it you are asking Allah to guide you to what is best.

Myth: Istikhaarah is a mystical experience, best done at night before sleep, and the answer will
come to you in a dream or sign.

Reality:

Istikhaarah is “miraculous” not due to any weird or unusual experiences, but the beauty of a believer trusting his/her Lord completely. I can tell you that EVERY SINGLE TIME I have made Istikhaarah “amazing” things happened- meaning the absolute best thing (even if it was unexpected or the opposite of what I wanted) happened. IT WORKS. Sometimes people do see dreams or experience something out of the ordinary or have a great story to tell, but if you just have “normal” experiences that is fine. Why else are we instructed to take “shura” (consultation with people) and make a decision (with our rational minds) and try to carry it out? It is a practical act in the end and Istikhaarah can (and should) be made at any time of the day or night- whenever you need it.

Myth: If I decided on something and I saw a small deterrent, it wasn’t meant to be. Or if things
weren’t “miraculously” beautiful and fast, it wasn’t meant to be.

Reality:

Sometimes people are “oversensitive” or try to read too much into normal events. Yes, it’s true that sometimes after Istikhaarah, things happen very quickly or smoothly or miraculously. But it’s not always like that. After making your decision, carry on as normal with confidence and assurance. You might still encounter the normal stumbling blocks of life, but that’s not a problem. Keep going. If it’s not meant for you, it just won’t happen.

A final word- trusting Allah is like jumping out of an airplane WITH NO PARACHUTE and KNOWING He will catch you. If you have doubts, it might not work. It might be scary, but you need to trust Allah completely. In an age where people are continually “stressed” and “worried”, it’s wonderful that Allah helps us with our burdens. Your utter trust and Allah’s helping you in your life- that’s the “miracle”. So take a deep breath ask for guidance, and take the plunge!

upon your death

Imaam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, radhiallaahu `anhu, narrated that Abu-d-Dardaa’, radhiallaahu `anhu, once said: "If only you knew what you will certainly see upon your death, you would never again eat a single bite out of a craving appetite, and you would never again drink an extra sip of water for the pleasure of unquenchable and insatiable thirst. Hence, you will remain outdoor in perpetuity, bewildered and awaiting the unexpected, and you will never again seek comfort in a shelter or seek a shade. You will wander aimlessly and climb the hilltops of every mountain, you will look up towards the heavens and beseech your Lord for mercy, and you will beat on your chest and cry endlessly, and you will wish that you were a little vegetable - a plant which is protected to grow, and then plucked to be eaten by a hungry person passing along."

a glass of milk...

A GLASS OF MILK..

One day, a poor boy was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water.The young lady and thought he looked hungry; so she brought him a large glass of milk.He drank it slowly, and then asked,How much do I owe you. You don't owe me anything, she replied. " Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness."He said.....Then I thank you from my heart."A little Umar left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God Almighty became stronger. He had been ready to give up and quit; but continued...Years later, that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the city; where they called in specialists to study her rare disease. Dr.Umar Al Shaibi was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life within his capacity. From that day he gave special attention to the case.After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr.Umar requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval.He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all.Finally, she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill.She read these words......PAID IN FULL WITH ONE GLASS OF MILK" signed Dr. Umar Al Shaibi.Tears of Joy filled her eyes; as her happy heart prayed: Ya Allah , As Sami, Al Baseer, O Almighty, Most Merciful of those who show Mercy, that You spread Your Kindness and Mercy through Human Hearts and Minds."

Abu Hurairah(R.A.) reports that Rasulullah(sallAllaahu 3layhi wassallam) said, that whosoever gives in charity, even such a small thing as a date, Allah Ta'ala takes this charity, provided that it is from legitimate income; then Allah Ta'ala fosters this charity and increases it, even a date becomes equal to a mountain.Aqaba bin Amir(R.A.) reports that Rasulullah(sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) said that if there is nothing to give in charity ,say something good to the people and if this is also not possible ,do not cause injury or harm to anyone.It will amount to charity

Hal Turana Naltaqi--هل ترنا نلتقي

هل ترنا نلتقي
Hal Turana Naltaqi
nasheed-mp3
3rabi lyrics

Do you envision us meeting, or has it already,
Taken place in the land of the mirage;

Then it withdrew and its shadow vanished,
And turned into torturous memories;

Thus asks my heart whenever,
The days grow long, after your absence;

When your shadow stares, smiling,
It is as if I am listening to the response;

Did we not walk upon Truth together,
So that Good can return to barren land;

So we walked along a thorny path,
Abandoning all our ambitions;

We buried our desires deep within ourselves,
And we strove on in contentment, expecting reward from Allah;

We had made a pact to walk together,
And then you hurried in responding and departing;

When a Benevolent Lord called me,
To a life amidst gardens and vast lands;

And towards a sublime meeting amidst divine favours,
With the Soldiers of Allah, joyful in companionship;

Presenting their souls and lives, a sacrifice,
Responding without slightest doubts;

So to renew your heart from its slumber,
An ever-lasting meeting in such a land;

Oh traveler, Forgiveness from my complaints,
Unto me is your ghost, to him a patient reproach;

I abandoned my heart to bleed heavily,
Lost in the night, in the depths of fog;

And if I traverse, confused and alone,
I'll interrupt the path, long it is in depression;

And if in the night, I find a gloomy sea,
Encountering in it waves of pain;

Ceasing in my nights, is the radiance of lightening,
And the brightness of stars have disappeared;

Despite this, I shall continue just as,
You used to find me, in the face of adversity;

I shall continue keeping my head raised, And won't,
Consent to weakness in speech, nor reply;

I shall be guided by the sweet-scented blood,
And light has illuminated the horizons of escape;

Do you envision us meeting, or has it already,
Taken place in the land of the mirage;

Then it withdrew and its shadow vanished,
And turned into torturous memories;

Thus asks my heart whenever,
The days grow long, after your absence;

When your shadow stares, smiling,
It is as if I am listening to the response;

Muslim Inventions :D

How Islamic inventors changed the world

From coffee to cheques and the three-course meal, the Muslim world has given us many innovations that we take for granted in daily life. As a new exhibition opens, Paul Vallely nominates 20 of the most influential- and identifies the men of genius behind them

14 March 2006
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1 The story goes that an Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the Kaffa region of southern Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became livelier after eating a certain berry. He boiled the berries to make the first coffee. Certainly the first record of the drink is of beans exported from Ethiopia to Yemen where Sufis drank it to stay awake all night to pray on special occasions. By the late 15th century it had arrived in Mecca and Turkey from where it made its way to Venice in 1645. It was brought to England in 1650 by a Turk named Pasqua Rosee who opened the first coffee house in Lombard Street in the City of London. The Arabic qahwa became the Turkish kahve then the Italian caffé and then English coffee.

2 The ancient Greeks thought our eyes emitted rays, like a laser, which enabled us to see. The first person to realise that light enters the eye, rather than leaving it, was the 10th-century Muslim mathematician, astronomer and physicist Ibn al-Haitham. He invented the first pin-hole camera after noticing the way light came through a hole in window shutters. The smaller the hole, the better the picture, he worked out, and set up the first Camera Obscura (from the Arab word qamara for a dark or private room). He is also credited with being the first man to shift physics from a philosophical activity to an experimental one.

3 A form of chess was played in ancient India but the game was developed into the form we know it today in Persia. From there it spread westward to Europe - where it was introduced by the Moors in Spain in the 10th century - and eastward as far as Japan. The word rook comes from the Persian rukh, which means chariot.

4 A thousand years before the Wright brothers a Muslim poet, astronomer, musician and engineer named Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to construct a flying machine. In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba using a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts. He hoped to glide like a bird. He didn't. But the cloak slowed his fall, creating what is thought to be the first parachute, and leaving him with only minor injuries. In 875, aged 70, having perfected a machine of silk and eagles' feathers he tried again, jumping from a mountain. He flew to a significant height and stayed aloft for ten minutes but crashed on landing - concluding, correctly, that it was because he had not given his device a tail so it would stall on landing. Baghdad international airport and a crater on the Moon are named after him.

5 Washing and bathing are religious requirements for Muslims, which is perhaps why they perfected the recipe for soap which we still use today. The ancient Egyptians had soap of a kind, as did the Romans who used it more as a pomade. But it was the Arabs who combined vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide and aromatics such as thyme oil. One of the Crusaders' most striking characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash. Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who opened Mahomed's Indian Vapour Baths on Brighton seafront in 1759 and was appointed Shampooing Surgeon to Kings George IV and William IV.

6 Distillation, the means of separating liquids through differences in their boiling points, was invented around the year 800 by Islam's foremost scientist, Jabir ibn Hayyan, who transformed alchemy into chemistry, inventing many of the basic processes and apparatus still in use today - liquefaction, crystallisation, distillation, purification, oxidisation, evaporation and filtration. As well as discovering sulphuric and nitric acid, he invented the alembic still, giving the world intense rosewater and other perfumes and alcoholic spirits (although drinking them is haram, or forbidden, in Islam). Ibn Hayyan emphasised systematic experimentation and was the founder of modern chemistry.

7 The crank-shaft is a device which translates rotary into linear motion and is central to much of the machinery in the modern world, not least the internal combustion engine. One of the most important mechanical inventions in the history of humankind, it was created by an ingenious Muslim engineer called al-Jazari to raise water for irrigation. His 1206 Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices shows he also invented or refined the use of valves and pistons, devised some of the first mechanical clocks driven by water and weights, and was the father of robotics. Among his 50 other inventions was the combination lock.

8 Quilting is a method of sewing or tying two layers of cloth with a layer of insulating material in between. It is not clear whether it was invented in the Muslim world or whether it was imported there from India or China. But it certainly came to the West via the Crusaders. They saw it used by Saracen warriors, who wore straw-filled quilted canvas shirts instead of armour. As well as a form of protection, it proved an effective guard against the chafing of the Crusaders' metal armour and was an effective form of insulation - so much so that it became a cottage industry back home in colder climates such as Britain and Holland.

9 The pointed arch so characteristic of Europe's Gothic cathedrals was an invention borrowed from Islamic architecture. It was much stronger than the rounded arch used by the Romans and Normans, thus allowing the building of bigger, higher, more complex and grander buildings. Other borrowings from Muslim genius included ribbed vaulting, rose windows and dome-building techniques. Europe's castles were also adapted to copy the Islamic world's - with arrow slits, battlements, a barbican and parapets. Square towers and keeps gave way to more easily defended round ones. Henry V's castle architect was a Muslim.

10 Many modern surgical instruments are of exactly the same design as those devised in the 10th century by a Muslim surgeon called al-Zahrawi. His scalpels, bone saws, forceps, fine scissors for eye surgery and many of the 200 instruments he devised are recognisable to a modern surgeon. It was he who discovered that catgut used for internal stitches dissolves away naturally (a discovery he made when his monkey ate his lute strings) and that it can be also used to make medicine capsules. In the 13th century, another Muslim medic named Ibn Nafis described the circulation of the blood, 300 years before William Harvey discovered it. Muslims doctors also invented anaesthetics of opium and alcohol mixes and developed hollow needles to suck cataracts from eyes in a technique still used today.

11 The windmill was invented in 634 for a Persian caliph and was used to grind corn and draw up water for irrigation. In the vast deserts of Arabia, when the seasonal streams ran dry, the only source of power was the wind which blew steadily from one direction for months. Mills had six or 12 sails covered in fabric or palm leaves. It was 500 years before the first windmill was seen in Europe.

12 The technique of inoculation was not invented by Jenner and Pasteur but was devised in the Muslim world and brought to Europe from Turkey by the wife of the English ambassador to Istanbul in 1724. Children in Turkey were vaccinated with cowpox to fight the deadly smallpox at least 50 years before the West discovered it.

13 The fountain pen was invented for the Sultan of Egypt in 953 after he demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes. It held ink in a reservoir and, as with modern pens, fed ink to the nib by a combination of gravity and capillary action.

14 The system of numbering in use all round the world is probably Indian in origin but the style of the numerals is Arabic and first appears in print in the work of the Muslim mathematicians al-Khwarizmi and al-Kindi around 825. Algebra was named after al-Khwarizmi's book, Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah, much of whose contents are still in use. The work of Muslim maths scholars was imported into Europe 300 years later by the Italian mathematician Fibonacci. Algorithms and much of the theory of trigonometry came from the Muslim world. And Al-Kindi's discovery of frequency analysis rendered all the codes of the ancient world soluble and created the basis of modern cryptology.

15 Ali ibn Nafi, known by his nickname of Ziryab (Blackbird) came from Iraq to Cordoba in the 9th century and brought with him the concept of the three-course meal - soup, followed by fish or meat, then fruit and nuts. He also introduced crystal glasses (which had been invented after experiments with rock crystal by Abbas ibn Firnas - see No 4).

16 Carpets were regarded as part of Paradise by medieval Muslims, thanks to their advanced weaving techniques, new tinctures from Islamic chemistry and highly developed sense of pattern and arabesque which were the basis of Islam's non-representational art. In contrast, Europe's floors were distinctly earthly, not to say earthy, until Arabian and Persian carpets were introduced. In England, as Erasmus recorded, floors were "covered in rushes, occasionally renewed, but so imperfectly that the bottom layer is left undisturbed, sometimes for 20 years, harbouring expectoration, vomiting, the leakage of dogs and men, ale droppings, scraps of fish, and other abominations not fit to be mentioned". Carpets, unsurprisingly, caught on quickly.

17 The modern cheque comes from the Arabic saqq, a written vow to pay for goods when they were delivered, to avoid money having to be transported across dangerous terrain. In the 9th century, a Muslim businessman could cash a cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad.

18 By the 9th century, many Muslim scholars took it for granted that the Earth was a sphere. The proof, said astronomer Ibn Hazm, "is that the Sun is always vertical to a particular spot on Earth". It was 500 years before that realisation dawned on Galileo. The calculations of Muslim astronomers were so accurate that in the 9th century they reckoned the Earth's circumference to be 40,253.4km - less than 200km out. The scholar al-Idrisi took a globe depicting the world to the court of King Roger of Sicily in 1139.

19 Though the Chinese invented saltpetre gunpowder, and used it in their fireworks, it was the Arabs who worked out that it could be purified using potassium nitrate for military use. Muslim incendiary devices terrified the Crusaders. By the 15th century they had invented both a rocket, which they called a "self-moving and combusting egg", and a torpedo - a self-propelled pear-shaped bomb with a spear at the front which impaled itself in enemy ships and then blew up.

20 Medieval Europe had kitchen and herb gardens, but it was the Arabs who developed the idea of the garden as a place of beauty and meditation. The first royal pleasure gardens in Europe were opened in 11th-century Muslim Spain. Flowers which originated in Muslim gardens include the carnation and the tulip.

People Are of Various Types- Azzam

[From a khutbah by Abdullah Azzam entitled 'an-Nas Asnaf' (People Are of Various Types), given on September 26, 1986]

"And the labels fill your pockets. Every pocket is labelled with a characteristic or title; this pocket is filled with labels that say 'Disbeliever,' and everytime you see someone that you don't like, you hand him a label. Another pocket is filled with labels that say 'Innovator,' and a third pocket is filled the labels that say 'Poor,' and another says 'Ignorant,' etc. This way, you have given everyone a label from one of your labels...

There are families in Peshawar who cannot find enough Clorox bleach in the marketplaces, so, they send off to Islamabad to purchase this bleach, so that they can use it to clean their clothing and the clothing of their families. So, you are also in need of searching for bleach; you are in need of success in finding that which will clean your heart and purify your insides. If you are part of a particular Islamic group, then beware of assuming that all of the truth rests with that group, and that all falsehood rests with everyone else, as some of the earlier zealous people said: "All of our statements are correct, with a possibility of a mistake, while all the statements of others are mistaken, with a possibility of being correct." This is the destructive type of allegiance! How many groups have been torn apart, and how many people who were close to each other became divided because of such a mindset?!

Pay attention to your heart, beware of raising yourself above others, and beware of belittling others. How many of these people have given for the sake of this Religion - but have kept it secret between them and the Lord of the Worlds - from he whose statement is belittled and his appearance mocked, and he might even have given more for this Religion than an Earthful of people like you ever would? So, pay attention to yourself, and may Allah have Mercy on a man who knows his limits and stays inside those limits. The virtuous people are those who acknowledge the virtue of the people of virtue, especially the scholars, and especially those who are old in age, and especially the parents...

So, my brother, it is enough for your good deeds to be annulled that you look to your actions as if they are great, as Allah Said:

{"Woe to al-Mutaffifin! Those who, when they have to receive by measure from men, demand full measure, and when they have to give by measure or weight to men, give less than their due."} [al-Mutaffifin; 1-3]

So, if he mentions himself, he only mentions his good deeds, and if he mentions the others, he only mentions their mistakes, as the Prophet said: "One of you sees a small speck of dirt in the eye of his brother, but fails to see the large piece of dirt in his own eye." ['at-Targhib wat-Tarhib'; 3/236]...

Just because you are part of a particular group doesn't mean that you are better than the people. Just because you read a particular book doesn't mean that you are better than the people. There is some good with the Ikhwan, and there is some good with the Tabligh, and there is some good with the Salafiyyah; every one of them has a portion of the good, so, try - if you are able - to collect all of the good from these groups. They used to study from a large group of the scholars, so, his Hadith instructor is different from his Tafsir instructor , and his instructor in spiritual nurturing is different from his Arabic language instructor. Take from the Tabligh their manners...and imagine if we were to follow their path in respecting the people, and their manners with the scholars... The Tabligh have very good speech, as they convey what they say and work magic on the hearts with their manners, and cause any envy one might have against them to vanish. Take from the Ikhwan their historical movements and revolutionary ideas, and take from the Salafiyyah their beliefs. Collect within yourself all that is good, become a student, and do not restrict the truth to your own shaykh... Take from this person, and take from that person; respect the people, and give them the credit they are due, and put them in their proper categories..."

- Sheikh Abdullah Azzam