Cover my mistakes....

Assalamu alaikum Brothers!

Firstly I apologize Azim for jumping ahead of you in line.. :)

Recently I was reminded of a Hadith that I learned a while ago

 [لا يستر عبدٌ عبدًا في الدنيا إلا ستره الله يوم القيامة) [مسلم)

The prophet (SAS) is narrated to have said:

A slave (of Allah) does not cover (for) another slave (of Allah) except that Allah covers him on the day of Qiyaamah/Intense standing/reckoning. [ Sahih Muslim ]

If we take a look at ourselves we realize that we have innumerable number of faults/deficiencies/and defects (me especially). If we spend our lives looking at others, we come to realize the faults of others. And sometimes, when we get to know someone real well, some of their deep secrets become exposed to us.

The prophet (SAS) teaches us that we should make an effort to cover the faults & defects of other slaves of Allah.  [ No doubt there are exceptions to this, but this is the general rule, and Allah knows best. ]  And if we cover the faults of others, the reward is that Allah will cover our own faults on the Day of Judgement, so that insha Allah when we stand to be judged, we will remember the sins and faults we did in this life, but Allah will not expose them out of his mercy as we did not allow the faults of our brother/sister to be exposed either!

And my further thoughts/explanation of this: 

It is interesting to note that the prophet (SAS) used the word (   ستر  ) (sitr/cover)

which is the same term used in the phrase (    ستر العورة        ) (cover the private parts -- e.g. as a prerequisite to prayer)

So it is almost as if we are given the visualization that we are encourage to cover the deep hidden private mistakes/sins of others  as we make sure our own private parts are not exposed, in the hopes that Allah will not expose our deepest privates sins on the Day of Judgement.

May Allah grant us the ability to follow the advice of the Prophet , peace and blessings be upon him!

Salam,

-Safi

Dealing with trials

Salaams bros,

My turn on the blog again, and luckily Nabil hasn't tracked me down in Detroit to remind me (yet).  Haha, I kid I kid...in all honesty I'm so glad I do get reminded, it's a nice break from work to write these posts.  So I've been out here for a few months now, even though it feels like just yesterday when I left the east coast.  I'm pretty busy with research; they have me working on multiple projects at the same time but alhamdulillah I'm learning a lot.  It also feels nice that I'm actually contributing to knowledge instead of just taking from it.  I am applying to residency as well, so please keep me in your duas.

I'm sure most of you have heard the following hadith before:

Narrated 'Aisha: (the wife of the Prophet) Allah's Apostle said, "No calamity befalls a Muslim but that Allah expiates some of his sins because of it, even though it were the prick he receives from a thorn."

This hadith (in my opinion), is soooo important to the mental well-being of Muslims.  We are constantly challenged and tested in life with various tribulations: academically, financially, emotionally, etc.  Every one of us can think of a time when something "bad" happened to us.  What we need to realize is that ALL that happens in this world, good and "bad", is as a result of Allah's will.  One common question I have heard in relation to this is if we are going through a calamity, how are we supposed to know if it is a test or if we are being punished?  From my viewpoint, it doesn't really matter, because the response should be the same: we need to realize this is Allah's will and pray that he helps us through it.  Each test we are put through is an opportunity to better ourselves and remove sins from our record.  So the next time any of us is in a tough situation, no matter how small, inshallah let's try to think of this hadith and feel comforted that Allah is rewarding us in ways we can't recognize.

--Zain