Reaction of a Believer to Situations

Asalamu'alaikum,

Alhumdulilah, every situation is from Allah and good can be derived from it even if on the outside it seems all bad. This of course applies to situations brought upon us not bad situations that we choose to get involved in.

"How amazing is the affair of the believer! Everything which happens is good for him. And that is for no one except the believer. When he encounters good times and ease, he gives thanks and that is good for him and if he encounters hardship he is steadfast and that is good for him."
Muslim


"There is no hardship which afflicts a Muslim but that Allah expiates with it some sin of his - even a thorn which pricks him."
Muslim and Bukhari

{Every soul will taste death. And we test you with bad and with good as a trial. And unto us you will return.}
Al-Anbiyaa: 35

Ibn Abbas said about this verse: "We will test you with hardship and with ease, with good health and with sickness, with wealth and with poverty, with the halaal and with the haraam, with obedience and with disobedience and with right guidance and with misguidance - in order that we may establish how you have shown gratitude (for the "good" tests) and how you have remained steadfast (in the face of the "bad" tests)." And unto us you will return - so that Allah will reward each and every soul according to their actions.

-Usman

Even the little things...

Salaams guys,

First off, welcome Najiib! I'm kinda semi-chillin'; school's not so bad right now. As this is a time when many of us aren't where we want to be financially yet, I especially like to keep the entirety of the following in mind:

Take care,
imad

Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,

“There is no person who does not have the obligation of (doing) charity every day that the sun rises.”

Whereupon he was asked, “O Messenger of Allah, from where would we get something to give in charity (so often)?” To which he (peace and blessings be upon him) replied,

“Indeed the gates to goodness are many: glorifying God, praising Him, magnifying Him, saying ‘There is no god but Allah,’ enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong, removing (any source of) harm from the road, making the deaf hear (and understand), guiding the blind, showing the seeker his need, striving as far as your two legs could carry you and with deep concern to give succor to him who asks, carrying with the strength of your arms (the burdens of) the weak. All these are (acts of) charity.” And he added, “And your smiling in the face of your brother is charity, your removing of stones, thorns, and bones from people’s paths is charity, and your guiding a man gone astray in the world is charity for you.”

Traveling...

Assalamu alaikum!

This whole week I have been Spring Breaking with my whole family in California.

I've definitely noticed that traveling comes with its troubles, indeed as the prophet (SAS) is narrated to have said: "Traveling is a piece of punishment"

And as Najib mentioned, if we are patient during our trials we'll be rewarded, insha Allah.

...
Subhan Allah, the sights in California are Amazing! Some of the best in the world, no doubt.

If any of you plan on traveling anytime soon, here is a great dua ( and video) to do before traveling.
(translation below)

And as it was narrated: The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: "Three supplications will not be rejected (by Allah (SWT)), the supplication of the parent for his child, the supplication of the one who is fasting, and the supplication of the traveler." [al-Bayhaqi, at-Tirmidhi - Sahih]


Translation: 'Allaah is the greatest, Allaah is the greatest,
Allaah is the greatest, How perfect He is,
The One Who has place this (transport) at our service,
and we ourselves would not have been capable of that, and to our Lord if our final destiny.
O Allaah, we ask You for birr and taqwaa in this journey of ours,
and we ask You for deeds which please You.
O Allaah, facilitate our journey and let us cover its distance quickly.
O Allaah, You are The Companion on the journey and The Successor over the family,
O Allaah, I take refuge with You from the difficulties of travel,
from having a change of hearts and being in a bad predicament,
and I take refuge in You from an ill fated outcome with wealth and family.'

…upon returning the same supplication is recited with the following addition:(ii)

'We return, repent, worship and praise our Lord.'



Salam,
-Safi

Wealth and Poverty

It was a usual meeting. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) was in his place and his companions gathered around him to hear the words of wisdom and guidance. Suddenly a poor man in rags appeared, saluted the assembly:

"Salamun Alaikum" (Peace be on you)

And finding a vacant place comfortably sat down.The Prophet (S.A.W.) had taught them that all Muslims were brothers and in an assembly one should sit wherever one finds a place, regardless of any status. Now, it so happened that this poor man was seated next to a very rich man. The rich man felt very disturbed and tried to collect the edges of his dress around himself, so that the poor man didn't touch them. The Prophet (S.A.W.) observed this and addressing the rich man he (S.A.W.) said:

"Perhaps you are afraid that his poverty would affect you?"

"No, O Messenger of Allah," he said.

"Then perhaps you were apprehensive about some of your wealth flying away to him?"

" No, O Messenger of Allah."

"Or you feared that your clothes would become dirty if he touched them?"

" No, O Messenger of Allah."" Then why did you draw yourself and your clothes away from him?"

The rich man said:

"I admit that was the most undesirable thing to do. It was an error and I confess my guilt. Now to make amends for it I will give away half of my wealth to this Muslim brother so that I may be forgiven."

Just as he said this, the poor man rose and said,"O Prophet of Allah, I do not accept this offer."

People present were taken by surprise, they thought that the poor man was a fool, but then he explained: "O Prophet of Allah, I refuse to accept this offer because I fear that I might then become arrogant and ill-treat my Muslim brothers the way he did to me."

Hard work

Salaams all,

Well I'm at the end of my second year already, I'll be done Inshallah
in one week (we end things quick here at UVA). Can't believe two
years of med school are almost over. After my finals I'll be coming
back to Baltimore to study for the boards, and I might actually spend
most of my time at the lower levels of good ol' Milton S. Eisenhower
Library...back where we all started haha. Other than that life goes
on as always...although nothing is really going on in my life other
than school right now. I know alot of us are in grad school or
working right now and I thought I'd find a hadith about working hard
and being self sufficient.

A man of the Ansar came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and begged
from him. He (the Prophet) asked: Have you nothing in your house? He
replied: Yes, a piece of cloth, a part of which we wear and a part of
which we spread (on the ground), and a wooden bowl from which we drink
water. He said: Bring them to me. He then brought these articles to
him, and he (the Prophet) took them in his hands and asked: Who will
buy these? A man said: I shall offer to buy them for one dirham. He
said twice or thrice: Who will offer more than one dirham? Another man
said: I shall buy them for offered and bought them for two dirhams. He
gave the two dirhams to him and took the two dirhams and, giving them
to the owner Ansari, he and said: Buy food with one dirham for your
family, and buy an axe with the second dirham, and bring it to me. The
Ansar brought the axe to the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him), who
fixed a handle on it with his own hands and said: Go, gather firewood
and sell it, and do not let me see you for a fortnight. The man went
away, and gathered firewood and sold it. When he had earned ten
dirhams, he came to the prophet and told him that he had bought a
garment with some of them and food with his earnings the others. (Abu
Dawud, Hadith 1637)

Wasalaams,
Zain

Depending on Obligatory Deeds

Assalamu Alaikum brothers. I hope you are all well. I have Alhumdullilah the last few weeks been taking a streamlined ulema course. One of the imma that went w/us to hajj is teaching. The 3 subjects this semester are Tafseer-ul-Quran (right now we're doing Surah Yaseen), Aqeedah & An-Nawawi's 40 hadith. We are supposed to memorized the Quran & Hadith in their original Arabic along w/their meanings in English. In addition we are learning to read & write in Arabic. In this spirit I want to pass on the latest hadith we covered. Enjoy.

Depending on Obligatory Deeds: A man asked the Messenger of Allah: Do you think that if I perform the obligatory prayers, fast in Ramadan, treat as lawful that which is lawful & treat as forbidden & do nothing further, I shall enter Paradise? He said: Yes. (Muslim)


-Akhi Shamim