Monday, July 30, 2012

ramadhan dessert 9

Ramadhan desserts (part 9)


أبو حنظلة محمد زهري

c) Not grateful with the blessings given to them

وَظَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ الْغَمَامَ وَأَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَىٰ كُلُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَمَا ظَلَمُونَا وَلَٰكِن كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ

And We made the clouds to give shade over you and We sent to you manna and quails: Eat of the good things that We have given you; and they did not do Us any harm, but they made their own souls suffer the loss.

وَإِذِ اسْتَسْقَىٰ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ فَقُلْنَا اضْرِب بِّعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانفَجَرَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَّشْرَبَهُمْ كُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا مِن رِّزْقِ اللَّهِ وَلَا تَعْثَوْا فِي الْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ

And when Musa prayed for drink for his people, We said: Strike the rock with your staff. So there gushed from it twelve springs; each tribe knew its drinking place: Eat and drink of the provisions of Allah and do not act corruptly in the land, making mischief.

وَإِذْ قُلْتُمْ يَا مُوسَىٰ لَن نَّصْبِرَ عَلَىٰ طَعَامٍ وَاحِدٍ فَادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُخْرِجْ لَنَا مِمَّا تُنبِتُ الْأَرْضُ مِن بَقْلِهَا وَقِثَّائِهَا وَفُومِهَا وَعَدَسِهَا وَبَصَلِهَا قَالَ أَتَسْتَبْدِلُونَ الَّذِي هُوَ أَدْنَىٰ بِالَّذِي هُوَ خَيْرٌ اهْبِطُوا مِصْرًا فَإِنَّ لَكُم مَّا سَأَلْتُمْ وَضُرِبَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الذِّلَّةُ وَالْمَسْكَنَةُ وَبَاءُوا بِغَضَبٍ مِّنَ اللَّهِ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يَكْفُرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَيَقْتُلُونَ النَّبِيِّينَ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ذَٰلِكَ بِمَا عَصَوا وَّكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ

And when you said: O Musa! we cannot bear with one food, therefore pray Lord on our behalf to bring forth for us out of what the earth grows, of its herbs and its cucumbers and its garlic and its lentils and its onions. He said: Will you exchange that which is better for that which is worse? Enter a city, so you will have what you ask for. And abasement and humiliation were brought down upon them, and they became deserving of Allah's wrath; this was so because they disbelieved in the communications of Allah and killed the prophets unjustly; this was so because they disobeyed and exceeded the limits.

These verses shows that eventhough they were saved from Firaun and seen how they were been saved and then were given water gushing out of the earth just for then and food from the Jannah but they still were ungrateful and request for other types of food.

We had to be grateful with the blessings that He had bestowed upon us lest we should fall to the same pit they had fallen.





d) bad manners towards Allah swt and His prophets

قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنَّا لَن نَّدْخُلَهَا أَبَدًا مَّا دَامُوا فِيهَا فَاذْهَبْ أَنتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقَاتِلَا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ

They said: O Musa! we shall never enter it so long as they are in it; go therefore you and your Lord, then fight you both surely we will here sit down.

If we see the dialogues between this group with their prophets such as with musa as, we can see not only they disobey them but also the way they converse with them is without manners.

Although today the prophet saw is not among us, the manners we show towards him and Allah swt can be seen towards our manners to the Quran and the Sunnah/ Hadith. والله أعلم





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ramadhan desserts 8

Ramadhan desserts (part 8)


أبو حنظلة محمد زهري

صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ





The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favors. Not (the path) of those upon whom Thy wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray.





And then Allah swt in this verse explained the straight path is also the path in which He had bestowed favours upon and not the path of those 'magdhub alihim' and 'dhollin'.

Who are these two types of people? Almagdhub alaihim are those who has obtained Allah's anger and wrath due to their actions and. 'dhollin' r those who are astray. Once the prophet saw was asked who was the magdhub, he relplied : yahud (jews) and the dhollun are the nasara.

A very important point to note. These two categories are not confined to these yahud and nasara only, but to those who even proclaimed themselves as Muslims but are following the characteristics in the Quran of these 2 group. Allah swt had explicitly described the sifat of the yahud in many verses throughout the Quran not just as an information only but for all of us not to fall into the same pitfalls.

For example on the yahud,

a) على الله كذب وهم يعلمون

They lied and ascribed the lies to Allah knowingly .

They changed the Scriptures and and amend His words and commandments to their desires or benefits purposely.

This also serves as a warning to us not to change His words and Deen just to serve our own benefits or gain popularity or earn some richness of this world or pleases a king or ruler.

b) سمعنا و عصينا

We hear but we disobey

This is another characteristic of them in which they disobey what they had heard. The truth was bring forward in front of them by their prophets but they refused to obey. They will ask a lot of questions such as can be seen in the story in Baqarah when they were commanded to sacrifice a cow. This also serves us as a lesson to follow what has been clearly the truth such as been shown by the companions of the prophet saw : سمعنا و أطعنا we hear and we obey.





قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنَّا لَن نَّدْخُلَهَا أَبَدًا مَّا دَامُوا فِيهَا فَاذْهَبْ أَنتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقَاتِلَا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ





They said: O Musa! we shall never enter it so long as they are in it; go therefore you and your Lord, then fight you both surely we will here sit down.





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Saturday, July 28, 2012

RAMADHAN DESSERTS (PART7)


Ramadhan dessert (part 7)
أبو حنظلة محمد زهري
اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
Guide us on the right path.

And then on the next verse is the doa for hidayah. We asking Allah swt to constantly guide us and keep us in the straight path, that is Islam- alquran and sunnah. All mankind is in need of guidance from Allah swt day and night. Even if he already a believer there is no guarantee that he will die as a believer. Therefore Allah swt has reminded the believers many times in the Quran on this matter 
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ
O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah with the care which is due to Him, and do not die unless you are Muslims.
In this verse Allah swt address not the non Muslims but specifically to the ones who had already believed not to die unless in the state of iman! Iman is so precious that it has to be constantly guarded and keep in constant watch. The syaithan 24/7 is trying to snatch it and he had trained our evil desires (nafs)to make us go away from iman. 
 
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا آمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ مِن قَبْلُ وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا بَعِيدًا

O you who believe! believe in Allah and His Apostle and the Book which He has revealed to His Apostle and the Book which He revealed before; and whoever disbelieves in Allah and His angels and His apostles and the last day, he indeed strays off into a remote error.

In this verse Allah swt has commanded the mukmin (believer)  to believe.- why command the believers to believe when they are already a believer? This for us to ponder on this verse.

In addition as a side note, when everytime we heard or read the verse with the call to the muslims (يا أيها الذين اامنوا) - 'o you who believe', we  who called ourselves muslims Must stop and ponder and prepare ourselves for the next message as the Lord of the worlds is calling us and informing us on an important message. And
Without doubt the message after it is of great importance.Wa lillahi  Masalil ala- just like a king just called you to inform you for something , do we just take his call for granted or put all our ears ready to hear what he is going to convey. 

 There are people who do good deeds but on the last days of his life, he commits sins and die in it. May Allah set save us. And the last deeds is the utmost importance in a person's life. And nobody knows when his life will ends. 

إِنَّ اللَّهَ عِندَهُ عِلْمُ السَّاعَةِ وَيُنَزِّلُ الْغَيْثَ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْأَرْحَامِ وَمَا تَدْرِي نَفْسٌ مَّاذَا تَكْسِبُ غَدًا وَمَا تَدْرِي نَفْسٌ بِأَيِّ أَرْضٍ تَمُوتُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

Surely Allah is He with Whom is the knowledge of the hour, and He sends down the rain and He knows what is in the wombs; and no one knows what he shall earn on the morrow; and no one knows in what land he shall die; surely Allah is Knowing, Aware.

May Allah swt grant us all husnul khotimah and die with the kalimah syahahdah as our last words. Amin

We can understand that this surah also taught us the correct method of making doa. Firstly we make praise and make syukr to Him, and understanding His greatness and His mercy, with conscience of the hereafter and the day of judgement, with the correct ibadah that has been taught by the Prophet saw and tawakkul sole reliance to Him, then it is the time for us to ask Him swt what we want. And what is better than asking to be in constant guidance by Him so that we can get hayatan toyyibah in this world and Jannah in the hereafter.
والله أعلم


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Friday, July 27, 2012

RAMADHAN DESSERTS (PART 6)


Ramadhan desserts (part6)
أبو حنظلة محمد زهري
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
You do we serve and You do we beseech for help.

In this verse Allah swt had put forward the pronoun (ك) - 'you' in front of the noun (فعل) and this uslub or method / style / manner is to indicate specification and emphasis on the pronoun. For clarity, we can see the difference between (1) we worship you Allah & (2) you Allah (only) we worship. The former only indicate that worship is for Allah swt whereas the latter clearly indicate specification and emphasis, that is to Allah only we worship. Therefore the verse clearly teaches us worship is solely for Him and to seek help only from Him. As we always read
إن صلاتي و نسكي و محياي و مماتي لله رب العالمين

Verily my solat and my sacrifice and my life and death is for Allah Rab of the worlds.
And acceptance of worship when it fulfills 2 conditions- 1) according to the Quran and Sunnah 2) sincerity - ikhlas, solely for His pleasure. So a Muslim after making hamd to Allah, knowing Him for His greatness and His attributes, and constantly in conscience of the judgement day where he will be judge accordingly, now he has to have a proper worship just for Him. And that is the reason He created mankind when he said 'verily I had not created jinn and mankind only for his worship'
and the greatest form of worship is doa. Asking him for His forgiveness, mercy and help. And that is why He commanded us to ask from Him only for help. Why not as He is the Creator, controller and Holder of all things and it is illogical to ask other makhluk as they can't do anything except with His permission. And this is the characteristics of 'tawakkul'- reliance to Him- and 'iman'- faith.
And the Prophet saw has inculcate this belief deep rooted inside his companions' hearts. Once he say to Ibn Abbas who was a small boy at that time: 
 يـا غـلام ! إني اعـلمك كــلمات : احـفـظ الله يـحـفـظـك ، احـفـظ الله تجده تجاهـك ، إذا سـألت فـاسأل الله ، وإذا اسـتعـنت فـاسـتـعـن بالله ، واعـلم أن الأمـة لـو اجـتمـعـت عـلى أن يـنـفـعـوك بشيء لم يـنـفـعـوك إلا بشيء قـد كـتـبـه الله لك ، وإن اجتمعـوا عـلى أن يـضـروك بشيء لـم يـضـروك إلا بشيء قـد كـتـبـه الله عـلـيـك ؛ رفـعـت الأقــلام ، وجـفـت الـصـحـف
O young man, I shall teach you some words [of advice]: Be Mindful of ALLAH and ALLAH will protect you. Be Mindful of ALLAH and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, then ask ALLAH [alone]; and if you seek help, then seek help from ALLAH [alone]. And know that if the Nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, they would not benefit you except with what ALLAH had already prescribed for you. And if they were to gather together to harm you with anything, they would not harm you except with what ALLAH had already prescribed against you. The Pens have been lifted and the Pages have dried.

And there are numerous verses in the Quran warning us from calling and beseeching other than Allah swt in doa, whether directly or indirectly....
Wallahualam


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RAMADHAN DESSERTS (PART 5)


Ramadhan desserts (part 5)
أبو حنظلة محمد زهري
The day of judgement is a great day where nothing will be concealed. Imagine when your deed, good or bad, concealed or known, big or small will be presented to us infront of everybody. Nowhere to turn to for help except acknowledging all that has been recorded. Subhannallah. However Allah's mercy is great.
As we can see in the previous verse before this, is mentioning about Allah's attribute of mercy. The significant of mentioning of His mercy before this verse concerning the day of judgement indirectly shows:
1) Allah's mercy precedes the judgement. If he judge us with purely justice only, most of us will be doom due to our own deeds and ingratitude. And He forgives whomever He pleases.
2) Allah loves His servants greatly.
One of the tabiien Sufyan atthauri had said that he prefer that Allah swt to be the one to judge him rather than his own parents as he knows Allah loves him more than his parents! 
Once in a Hadith narrated by bukhari & muslim, the prophet & his companions saw a captive woman who is frantically searching for someone in the crowd. When she found a baby amongst the prisoners, she took it in her arms, cradled it next to her chest and suckled it. So Allah’s Messenger (saw) said: “Do you think that this woman would ever throw her child into the fire?” We said: ‘By Allah, Never!’ So he said: “Allah is more merciful to His believing servants than that mother could ever be to her child.” 

In fact, Allah swt had made mercy compulsory on Himself to those who are searching for it
And making taubah. In one verse, 
وَإِذَا جَاءَكَ الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِآيَاتِنَا فَقُلْ سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ كَتَبَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِ الرَّحْمَةَ أَنَّهُ مَنْ عَمِلَ مِنكُمْ سُوءًا بِجَهَالَةٍ ثُمَّ تَابَ مِن بَعْدِهِ وَأَصْلَحَ فَأَنَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

And when those who believe in Our words/signs/ revelations come to you, say: Peace be on you, your Lord has ordained mercy on Himself, (so) that if any one of you does evil in ignorance, then turns after that and acts aright, then He is Forgiving, Merciful.

Therefore a Muslim should have hope for his mercy and really seek to gain His mercy, by returning to Him after being ignorance or slipped into any wrongdoings or sins.

However, we should not be deluded or take His Mercy for granted or falls into Syaithan's trap till we feels ' o never mind His mercy is so great , later we will
Make taubah' just like the brothers of Yusof a.s had thought when devising a way to separate Yusof from his father. Let's us ask ourselves , how much have we done to seek His mercy ? How much sincerity in any of our deeds that we hope to get His only pleasure? Do we know that Allah swt is please with us?
والله أعلم



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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Ramadhan Desserts


Ramadhan desserts (part 4)
أبو حنظلة محمد زهري
ملك / مالك يوم الدين - king / owner of the day of judgement 
After knowing of His mercy, we are brought to attention on the day of judgement and reckoning, where He will be both the owner and the king. The day where all mankind will be reckoned and accounted for what they had done in this world. Even his own limbs will be made to talk as witnesses for all his actions, big or small, known or unknown to others, nothing will escape His knowledge. Allah swt explained in another verse
ثُمَّ مَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا يَوْمُ الدِّينِ
يَوْمَ لَا تَمْلِكُ نَفْسٌ لِّنَفْسٍ شَيْئًا وَالْأَمْرُ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِّلَّهِ
'then again what make you realize what is the day of judgement is* the day which no soul will control another soul anything, and the command will be entirely Allah's '!

This is the day where no power , money , status, family members, friends or any other things in this world can help you except His only Mercy and Forgiveness. 
In another verse He said:
حَتَّىٰ إِذَا مَا جَاءُوهَا شَهِدَ عَلَيْهِمْ سَمْعُهُمْ وَأَبْصَارُهُمْ وَجُلُودُهُم بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
'Until when they come to it, their ears and their eyes and their skins shall bear witness against them as to what they did.'
وَقَالُوا لِجُلُودِهِمْ لِمَ شَهِدتُّمْ عَلَيْنَا قَالُوا أَنطَقَنَا اللَّهُ الَّذِي أَنطَقَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ وَهُوَ خَلَقَكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
'And they shall say to their skins: Why have you borne witness against us? They shall say: Allah Who makes everything speak has made us speak, and He created you at first, and to Him you shall be brought back.'

There is no lawyer who can twist and turn the facts of what we did in the court of Allah swt . ...
Wallahualam


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Ramadhan desserts ( part 3)
أبو حنظلة محمد زهري
After knowing His greatness, grandeur and his perfect control on the worlds, let's move on to the next verse, 
الرحمٰن الرحيم : most beneficent , most merciful 
These two words came from the رحم which means mercy. And these 2 words are in the form of 'shigathul mubalaghah' and ' sifatul mushabahah' which means that the abundance of mercy and the everlasting mercy. From here we can realize that Allah swt with all his might, power and greatness controlling all the worlds , yet is the most merciful to His creations. In one hadith The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “Indeed, Allah has one hundred (portions of) mercy; because of one there is compassion between creation, and ninety-nine are reserved for the Day of Resurrection.”  So after giving praise and thanks to Him and realizing His greatness we get to know Him for his great mercy and will not lose hope for His blessings and forgiveness. And this is the characteristic of a muslim, he is grateful, conscience of Allah swt greatness and merciful as He is merciful to those who are merciful to others.
Also in making doa, we are taught to pray by mentioning His Asmaul Husna and arrahman arrahim are one of His beautiful names. So use these names in our doa when we are asking for His help, mercy and compassion......
والله أعلم



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Ramadhan Desserts


Ramadhan desserts ( part 2 )
أبو حنظلة محمد زهري
And as the surah first started with alhamd, so does everything in our life, we should start the day and every of our actions ( whether the actions involves our worldly or hereafter)  with praising & giving thanks to Allah swt. 
رب العالمين - lord of the worlds
The word Rab is always translated as Lord, however in Arabic it means a whole lot more. It also means the sustainer, cherisher, controller , owner and many more. The word aalamin shows that not only He controls this world but all the worlds whether seen or unseen, known to the mankind or unknown, the world that we had experienced such as the Alam arruh in which all souls of mankind testified on His Rububiyah, or the world on which we will experience soon such as barzakh (after death), qiyamah, hashr (gathering), Jannah or Jahannam.
From this we learnt that the One we are praising and giving thanks is not just anybody but the One who is the lord of all worlds, the controller and cherisher. When we read this verse it is incumbent upon ourselves to feel the awe of His greatness and grandeur. And if we understand and feel this everytime we read this verse and this surah, Inshaallah the prayer will be accepted and we know that the only way to lead our life is to gain the favours of the One who controls everything.
والله أعلم



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Ramadhan Desserts


Inshaallah due to the massive rewards for all good deeds in this blessed month of the Quran, I will try to get a share of it by spending a few minutes daily sharing some bits on the Quran so we can all get some benefits from it. Wallahualam bissowab 
أخوكم في الله 
أبو حنظلة محمد زهري
Ramadhan Desserts ( part 1 )
Alfatihah, which is the opening surah for the Quran is  the most important surah in which a normal
Muslim recites at least 17x daily. According to many scholars this surah was revealed not once but twice , once in Makkah and another time in medina. This shows the importance of this surah. This surah has many names such as ummul kitab, as syifa, sabatul mathani and many more. This surah taught us the pillars of this Deen, our motto of life, manners of doa and in fact the guidelines on how a muslim should conduct his daily life. Inshaallah these are just some bits of it for everybody benefit.
الحمد لله رب العالمين.
الحمد' Many translates it as 'the praise.
However due to the inadequacy of English language , it can't capture the whole essence of the Arabic. Alhamd comprises of 2 main components: a)الثناء -praise or compliment & b) الشكر- thanks. So alhamd means that all praise and thanks to Allah. Praising w/o thanks is still not complete. Praising with the sense of gratitude for all He has done  and gives us, in our hearts, tongues and showing it in our actions. So a Muslim must always praise Him as no one is worthy to praise except Him and shows his thanks to Him always. It also shows us the manner of making doa in which we starts the doa with alhamd....





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