Gratitude take two

Asalaamu alaikum

I'm not sure where my text went and I'll never get it back so I'll try and duplicate the raw emotion and eloquence of my previous submission. Alhamdulilah things are going well with me and the family. I've been working with my father to get the Luqman center and the Allima institute going and things are going well. We've had salat al Jumaah for the last three weeks and things are starting to look up a bit. I definitely invite you all to join us for salat or and iftar if you are available.
Aside from that I have to thank you all for the generous gift. Alhamdulilah Zainab has been enjoying her brand new swing and I'm sure Amber will have her in tons of cute clothes. May Allah bless you for your generosity and your duas. I love you all for the sake of Allah and I have gained so much from our association.
I was inspired to remember Allah while I thought about the gift from my brothers and I also had to consider the concept of gratitude to Allah. I like to think of myself as a grateful servant of Allah but in reality when I consider more deeply the many blessings I have I realize that I have barely scratched to surface of thankfulness. We often do not appreciate the comforts and miracles of this life until we are without them. I often find that when I try to formalize my gratitude to Allah I realize what I was expressing thanks for is only a component of a greater set of fortunate consequences which in turn is a component to an even greater set.
I invite you all to take some time this month and really consider your gratitude to Allah. The fact that you are able to read this means you have eyesight(maybe glasses), electricity, a computer, language, intelligence, education, time and you are alive. By virtue of the fact that we realize what we have, and take for granted, is a gift we are able to enjoy a more meaningful existence.
I hope this reaches you all in a good state and insha Allah we will see one another soon.

Narrated Suhaib (ra): The Messenger of Allah (sa) said: “Wondrous is the affair of the believer for there is good in every matter of his and this is not the case with anyone except the believer; for if he is happy, he thanks Allah, thus there is good for him, and if he is harmed, he shows patience, thus there is good for him.” [Sahih Muslim, Book 042, Number 7138] عَنْ صُهَيْبٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏“‏ عَجَبًا لأَمْرِ الْمُؤْمِنِ إِنَّ أَمْرَهُ كُلَّهُ خَيْرٌ وَلَيْسَ ذَاكَ لأَحَدٍ إِلاَّ لِلْمُؤْمِنِ إِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ سَرَّاءُ شَكَرَ فَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُ وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ ضَرَّاءُ صَبَرَ فَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُ ‏”‏

Gratitude

Asalaamu alaikum








Narrated Suhaib (ra): The Messenger of Allah (sa) said: “Wondrous is the affair of the believer for there is good in every matter of his and this is not the case with anyone except the believer; for if he is happy, he thanks Allah, thus there is good for him, and if he is harmed, he shows patience, thus there is good for him.”
[Sahih Muslim, Book 042, Number 7138]
عَنْ صُهَيْبٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏“‏ عَجَبًا لأَمْرِ الْمُؤْمِنِ إِنَّ أَمْرَهُ كُلَّهُ خَيْرٌ وَلَيْسَ ذَاكَ لأَحَدٍ إِلاَّ لِلْمُؤْمِنِ إِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ سَرَّاءُ شَكَرَ فَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُ وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ ضَرَّاءُ صَبَرَ فَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُ ‏”‏

Ramadan Mubarak!

Salaams all,

Sorry I've been a little behind on my posting, but Alhamdulillah I held out until the first day of Ramadan!  I started doing my internship in internal medicine at a hospital outside of Baltimore, and I'm really enjoying being back in the world of clinical medicine.  Research was certainly a great experience last year and it will inshallah help me throughout my career, but it's nice to come back to why I decided to go to medical school to begin with.  Residency is busy, but enjoyable, and luckily there are a ton of muslims at my program (as well as muslim attendings) so we are able to get together for jummah prayers every week in the hospital.  It's also nice to have other muslims around you fasting during Ramadan so that you get the feeling of community even while at work.

We all know the basic tenets of fasting, and what Ramadan is all about, so I'm not going to go into that in any detail.  But one of the things I think is useful during this month is to increase your piety in some way in the hopes that you will continue to do this during the year.  From a practical standpoint, I like to set some form of a goal during the month.  And that goal might be different for each person depending on their level.  Whether it's praying all 5 prayers on time, or attending every taraweeh for all 20 rakahs, or memorizing a surah (or more than one), or reading a certain amount of quran each day, etc.  Or perhaps its not doing something you would normally do.  It's easier to form these sorts of habits during Ramadan because your hunger will give you a bodily reminder of why you are doing what you are doing.

And finally, here is a hadith which really brings home how special fasting is in Allah's eyes:

Abu Huraira related that the Prophet said: Allah the Majestic and Exalted said: "Every deed of man will receive ten to 700 times reward, except Siyam (fasting), for it is for Me and I shall reward it (as I like). There are two occasions of joy for one who fasts: one when he breaks the fast and the other when he will meet his Lord" (Muslim).

May Allah bless all our deeds during this holy month and accept our fasts.  Ramadan Mubarak!

--Zain

The power of the adhan

Asalaamu alaikum

I'm out of turn or extremely late depending on how you view things. At any rate I have spoken to some of you all recently and more of you I have not and since Nabil has shamed me into finally writing in my my traditional fashion... here goes.

I have been remiss in sharing with you all that my daughter (Zainab Aminah) was born on May 17th. She is very healthy and already has a strong personality at this early age and (alhamdulilah) her siblings are adjusting to her getting so much attention. Aside from that, things have been quite hectic but usually in a good way. Please indulge me in one anecdote:

Directly after Zainab was born she begins to scream and she is loud. I begin to say the adhan quietly to her and she immediately quiets herself and opens her eyes to look at me. This was one of the most humbling and exhilarating moments of my life and an illustration of the value of giving the adhan.

It is reported that Abu Rafi` (a Companion) said, "I saw the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and his household and grant them peace) give adhan in the ear of al-Hasan, the son of `Ali, when Fatimah gave birth to him."

Standing out

Salaams all,

Thank you for the reminder...cough cough Bilal cough...at least it wasn't Nabil :P.  Anyways, I'm halfway done my research stint at Henry Ford, and it's been great so far.  It's nice focusing on a few disease conditions and actually expanding the knowledge base of that condition.  I was never really into bench research, so it's nice to do research that actually involves seeing patients.  I'm waiting on the match for residency, so please keep me in your duas.

I heard this hadith mentioned in a lecture a few months ago, so I thought I'd share it:

Abdullah b Mas'ud reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) addressed us and then supported his back (by reclining) against a leather tent and said: Behold, no one but a believing person would enter Paradise. O Allah, (see) have I conveyed (it not)? Allah, be witness (to it that I have conveyed it). (Then addressing the companions) he said: Don't you like that you should constitute one-fourth of the inhabitants of Paradise? We said: Yes, Messenger of Allah. He again said: Don't you like that you should constitute one-third of the inhabitants of Paradise? They said: Yes, Messenger of Allah. He said: I hope that you would constitute one- half of the inhabitants of Paradise and you would be among the peoples of the world, like a black hair on (the body of) a white ox or like a white hair on the body of a black ox.

There are a lot of lessons in this hadith, but the part I want to point out is the last statement, which mentions how we should be "among the peoples of the world".  The stark contrast that is mentioned between a black hair on a white ox (and vice versa) is how we should strive to stand out in this life.  It should be easy to tell who amongst the people is muslim based not only on appearance, but also on behavior.  Even though being pointed out as muslim these days usually means you get an extra pat-down at the airport...we should convince everyone that being muslim in reality means being best in morality, behavior and piety.

--Zain