بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Download audio.

As American Muslims struggle to negotiate their role in an increasingly hostile environment, beautiful Prophetic character should remain the core of the American Muslim identity.

Delivering the keynote address at NY’s M.E.C.C.A.’s 7th Annual Fundraising Event on April 21st, Sh. AbdulKarim warns us against the dangers of compound ignorance; of being ignorant of one’s own ignorance, and why in the wake of the Boston tragedy, it is high time for Muslim communities to reconnect to Prophetic teachings through the pursuit of sound traditional knowledge and active support of educational and outreach initiatives in support of this objective, particularly initiatives that provide spiritual and emotional support to new Muslims.

Those who have converted to Islam, Sh. AbdulKarim noted, have a clean slate and are willing to embrace knowledge in its purest form. They are also often known for their humility, empathy, and ability to connect with people from other faiths and non-faiths, which is a reason why they may serve as the best ambassadors of Islam.

Please benefit:

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://abdulkarimyahya.com/2013/04/29/advice-courageously-embodying-prophetic-piety/feed/ 0 http://abdulkarimyahya.com/2013/04/22/advice-the-believers-in-the-face-of-adversity/ http://abdulkarimyahya.com/2013/04/22/advice-the-believers-in-the-face-of-adversity/#comments Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:15:13 +0000 kadhimax http://abdulkarimyahya.com/?p=2269 In the midst of the trials and tribulations that have befallen the Ummah the world over, Sh. AbdulKarim reminds us how they are all part of the signs of the End of Times and how we; as individual believers and as a community, should respond to adversity and confront these increasingly difficult circumstances, which is by turning our affairs to Allāh, adhering to His commands and upholding God-fearingness (taqwā of Allāh) and Prophetic character.

Further, Sh. AbdulKarim highlights some of the reminders we can take from these trials that we can reflect on as we recalibrate our actions and intentions in conformation to the Prophetic way. He also talks about the realities of having firm conviction in [belief in] Allāh and also on the significance and realities of calling to Allāh during these trying times.

May Allāh Most High swiftly alleviate the difficulties of the Ummah of His Beloved ﷺ and may He rectify our states by His mercy and gentleness.

Please benefit:

Click here to view the embedded video.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The following are beneficial talks by Ḥabīb Kādhim al-Saqqaf (may Allāh preserve him and benefit us by him) on the three objectives of the Prophetic methodology, which are knowledge, spiritual wayfaring and calling to Allāh.

Please benefit.

Session 1: Knowledge and Its Rights (01:02:55)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Session 2: Spirituality and Its Categories (58:40)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Session 3: Da `wah and Its Conditions (51:28)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Session 4: Q&As and Closing Du `a (38:09)

Click here to view the embedded video.

In this recent talk at the Muslim Unity Center, Sh. AbdulKarim talks about the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)’s concern for the Ummah and the Prophetic quality of mercy, and gives some advice on how we can acquire this beautiful attribute and other similar Prophetic traits.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A little drop from the ocean of Sayyidi al-Habib’s words from last week’s mawlid in Dar al-Mustafa on the 20th of Rabi al-Awwal 1434 / 31st January 2013, as translated by Ustadh Amin Buxton (Allah preserve him and his teachers, and benefit us by them):

Your connection to the Chosen One (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and your knowledge of his prophethood, his greatness and his station in the sight of Allah is a blessing.

The more you thank Allah for this blessing, the more He will increase you in the blessing that is Muhammad. Your knowledge of his prophethood, his greatness and his station in the sight of Allah will then be increased. The more you thank Him, the more He will increase you.

He says: If you are grateful, I will surely increase you.[1] This increase has no limit and it will take you to the Abode of Goodness and more: For those who excelled is goodness, and more than that. No darkness or abasement shall cover their faces. They are the people of the Garden and they will abide therein for ever.[2]

May Allah make us among them.

The translation of this talk is available below and also downloadable from here. For Arabic, please see the attached Youtube video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

—

[1]Ibrahim, 14:7

[2]Yunus, 10:26

Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, related that Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Verily there is a chapter from the Book of Allah, Mighty Majestic, that is only 30 verses long which interceded for a man until it removed him from the Fire and caused him enter Paradise. It is the chapter Mulk.” [Hakim]

Ibn Masud said: “A man will be visited in his grave, he will be approached from the direction of his legs and they will say: ‘You have no way from our direction, he used to recite Sura al-Mulk while standing on us.’ Then his torso will be approached and it will say: ‘You have no way against me, he held Sura al Mulk in me.’ Then he will be approached from his head and it will say: ‘You have no way against me.’” [Abdur Razaq and Hakim]

Ibn Abbas said, “Recite: ‘Exalted is He in Whose Hand is sovereignty’. Memorize it; teach it to your spouse, all of your offspring, the children of your home, and your neighbors. Verily it is a savior and an intercessor. It intercedes and pleads on the Day of Rising with its Lord for he who reads it. It seeks from his Lord to deliver him from the Fire if it is within his breast. And through it Allah rescues its reciter from the punishment of the grave.” [Bayhaqi]

And Allah Most High knows best.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

At Sirah class today, it was mentioned that the Du `a of Ta’if—a beautiful, powerful supplication made by our Beloved Prophetﷺ after he had been driven out of Makkah by his people—is a great supplication for anyone to make, especially when we are at our low points.

O Allah, To Thee I complain of my weakness, my lack of resources and my lowliness before men.

O Most Merciful! Thou art the Lord of the weak and Thou art my Lord.

To whom wilt Thou relinquish my fate!

To one who will misuse me?

Or to an enemy to whom Thou hast given power over me?

If Thou art not angry with me then I care not what happens to me.

Thy Favor is all that counts for me.

I take refuge in the light of Thy Countenance, by which all darkness is illuminated.

And the things of this world and next are rightly ordered.

I wish to please Thee until Thou art pleased.

There is no power and no might save in Thee.

Sh. Hamza Yusuf (may Allah preserve him and benefit us by him) briefly expounds on this beautiful, poignant du `a in the following video (up until 04:49), please benefit:

Click here to view the embedded video.

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

What follows is an extract from a talk given by Sayyidi al-Habib `Umar bin Hafiz (may Allah preserve him and benefit us by him) in the mawlid in Dar al-Mustafa 13th Rabi` al-Awwal 1434 / 24th January 2013.

Our Lord has not permitted us to love anyone in creation as much as Muhammad, because He Himself does not love anyone in creation as much as He loves Muhammad. If the King of Kings, the One True God, does not love anyone as much as He loves him, how can I; as a slave, love anyone as much as I love the Chosen One or prefer anyone over him (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)?

Where are the ones who know these truths and give them their due? The Noble Companions drank from these cups. Look at their words and actions, and look at how they spent their days and nights. Look at how the light of Allah spread through mankind at their hands. They loved him, were attached to him and their hearts were filled with his love. Had a single hair from the head of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq or any one of the Foremost, the first of the Emigrants and the Helpers been divided up among those in this gathering none of us would be able to sleep for a month. This is because every single hair on their heads contained such true, complete, perfect, sincere, deep love. For this reason they could not sleep. They would leave their beds, their families, their food and drink in order to see his face. They could not contain themselves until they had seen his face, even though they had seen it a few hours earlier. One of them said: “O Messenger of Allah, when I remember you at home when I am with my wife and children I become like someone insane.”

Do you see how they loved him? How they were attached to him? What they experienced? They loved the earth upon which he walked. No eye has seen anyone who venerates anyone as much as the Companions venerated Muhammad. No heart has known anyone who loves anyone as much as the Companions loved Muhammad.

O Allah, bestow prayers upon him and give us a portion of this love and this veneration. So much time has elapsed between us and them, and so many tribulations have befallen the Ummah, and so many voices call us to attach our hearts to people other than the Beloved ﷺ, but in spite of all this, Allah continues to allow people to drink from these cups.

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

At gatherings of remembrance; before reading about the Prophet and his life (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), the scholars traditionally make a number of intentions, followed by a recitation of Surat al-Fatihah; donating its reward to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) in the hope that their remembrance and their intentions are accepted.

Here are some of the intentions that Sayyidi al-Habib `Umar bin Hafiẓ (may Allah preserve him and benefit us by him) makes at these blessed gatherings. The original Arabic is also provided below.

We recite the Fatihah..

with the intention that Allah—by us remembering Him and remembering His Messenger, our Master Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him and his Family and Companions peace) and his birth and awesome attributes—opens the doors to attaining His support and assistance and guidance and to attaining uprightness and the speedy relief of the suffering of the Islamic Ummah..

with the intention that Allah deflects calamities from us and from all of the people of la ilaha ill’Allah in the East and the West..

with the intention that He grants us His guidance in all our movements and our stillness and that He makes us firm upon the truth in what we say, we do and we believe..

with the intention that He enables us to perfect our following of this Prophet, the Chosen One, Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him and his Family and Companions peace) in our words and deeds and intentions and aims and desires and our movements and our stillness and in every state, inward and outward, and that He allows us to beautify our emulation of him and allows us to walk along his path and drink from the waters he has drunk from..

with the intention that by him (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) He looks upon us, our families, our children, those dear to us and our descendants and upon those who are attached to us..

with the intention that He fills our hearts with the light of faith and certainty and knowledge of Him.. that He makes us among those He has chosen to bring close to Him and among those He has blessed with the realities of sincere and pure slavehood to Him..

with the intention that He protects us from all harm and that He rectifies the inward and the outward, and that He allows us to attain the realities of taqwa..

with the intention that He makes the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) pleased with his Ummah and that He makes us, our families, our children and our friends a joy to his eye..

and that He grants us the greatest portion of His remembrance and the remembrance of this Prophet, the Chosen One..

and that He grants us the greatest portion of His closeness and the closeness of this Prophet, the Chosen One..

and that He grants us the greatest portion of His love and the love of this Prophet, the Chosen One..

and that He grants us the greatest portion of His care and the care of this Prophet, the Chosen One..

and that He grants us the greatest portion of His pleasure and the pleasure of this Prophet, the Chosen One..inwardly and outwardly in every state and in every affair in this life, the Barzakh, the next life and that He gathers us together in the highest level of Firdaws while He is pleased with us.

with the intention that He gives us the greatest portion of being with him in the Barzakh and in the shade of the Throne and at the Pool and when he passes over the Bridge, and when he enters Paradise (may Allah bless him and grant him and his Family and Companions peace).

with the intention that He rectifies our hearts and our bodies, our inward and our outward and all our affairs, that He deflects all evil from us..

with the intention that He raises the ranks of the pious people of this Ummah and all the pious people and that we receive the blessings of the Prophets and Messengers and their families and those that follow them with excellence and that He gives them the greatest of rewards on our behalf and that He unites us with them in the Abode of Mercy while He is pleased with us, without any prior punishment or reprimand or trial or account..

with the intention of removing the tribulations that have befallen us and all the Muslims inwardly and outwardly..

with the intention that Allah blesses us with the most noble of attributes and unites us with the best of groups and that He rectifies every affair inwardly and outwardly in this life and the next..

with the intention that he gives us the best of endings in goodness, gentleness and wellbeing..

with the intentions that the pious people have made and will make and all pious intentions that the knowledge of our Lord, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful, encompasses for us and the whole Ummah..

We donate the reward of the Fatihah to the spirit of the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him and his Family and Companions peace) – al-Fatihah.

Please include the translator, Ustadh Amin Buxton (Allah preserve him and his teachers, and benefit us by them), in your prayers.

***

الفاتحة أن الله يفتح لنا بذكره وذكر رسوله النبي سيدنا محمد صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم وذكر مولده الكريم وشمائله العظيمة أبواب التأييد والنصرة والتسديد والاستقامة والفرج العاجل لجميع أمة الإسلام وأن يدفع البلاء عنا وعن أهل لا إله إلا الله في مشارق الأرض ومغاربها، وأن يلهمنا رشدنا في حركاتنا وسكناتنا وأن يثبتنا على الحق فيما نقول وفيما نفعل وفيما نعتقد وأن يرزقنا حسن المتابعة لهذا النبي المصطفى محمد صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم في الأقوال والأفعال والنيات والمقاصد والإرادات والحركات والسكنات في جميع الأحوال والشؤون في الظهور والبطون، وأن يرزقنا سبحانه وتعالى حسن الاقتداء به والسير في دربه والشرب من شربه، وأن ينظر به صلى الله عليه وسلم إلينا وإلى أهلينا وإلى أولادنا وإلى ذوينا وإلى ذرارينا وإلى من يوالينا وأن يملأ قلوبنا بأنوار الإيمان واليقين والمعرفة، وأن يجعلنا سبحانه وتعالى ممن ارتضاهم الله لقربه وشرفهم بحقائق العبودية له المحضة الخالصة، وأن يقينا الأسوى، ويصلح لنا السر والنجوى ويحققنا بحقائق التقوى، وأن يسره صلى الله عليه وسلم في أمته وأن يجعلنا سبحانه وتعالى وأهلينا وأولادنا وأصحابنا قرة عين له ويجعلنا من أسعد الناس بذكره وذكر هذا النبي المصطفى ومن أسعد الناس بقربه وقرب هذا النبي المصطفى ومن أسعد الناس بحبه وحب هذا النبي المصطفى ويجعلنا من أسعد الناس بعنايته وعناية هذا الحبيب المصطفى ويجعلنا من أسعد الناس برضاه ورضا هذا الحبيب المصطفى صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم ظاهراً وباطناً في كل شأن وحال في الدنيا والبرزخ والآخرة وأن يجمعنا به في الفردوس الأعلى وهو راضٍ عنا ويجعل لنا سبحانه الحظ الأوفر من الاجتماع به في البرزخ والاجتماع به في ظل العرش والاجتماع به على الحوض المورود والاجتماع به عند المرور على الصراط والاجتماع به عند دخول الجنة صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم، وأن الله يصلح قلوبنا وقوالبنا وظواهرنا وبواطننا وشؤوننا كلها، وأن يدفع عنا الشرور كلها ويعلي درجات الصالحين من أمته وجميع الصالحين ويعيد علينا عوائد النبيين والمرسلين وآل كل منهم وتابعيهم بإحسان ويجزيهم عنا خير الجزاء ويجمعنا بهم في مستقر الرحمة وهو راضٍ عنا من غير سابقة عذاب ولا عتاب ولا فتنة ولا حساب وبنية كشف البلايا عنا وعن جميع المسلمين في الظواهر والخفايا وأن يهبنا الله أعلى المزايا ويلحقنا بخيار السرايا ويصلح لنا كل الشأن ظاهراً وباطناً في الدارين ويختم لنا بأكمل الحسنى في خير ولطف وعافية وعلى ما نواه الصالحون وعلى ما ينويه الصالحون وعلى ما أحاط به علم ربنا الله الرحمن الرحيم من صالح النيات لنا وللأمة أجمعين وإلى حضرة النبي محمد صلى الله عليه وآله وصحبه وسلم . الفاتحة