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

Talk More About Islam

Asalamu'alaikum JHUMA brothers,

Hope all is well with each of you and your families. Alhumdulilah, I had a nice break last week and visited family in both northern and southern California...

Some of you may know about my new project: Muslimhood.net. Muslimhood.net is a networking site for Muslims to come together, talk about Islamic topics and focus on striving to do more good deeds. Alhumdulilah the site is less than a month old and there are over 130 members who have contributed valuable content and intiated good discussions.

You can say Muslimhood.net is a facebook for Muslims, but it doesn't have the distractions of facebook. I saw that on facebook, most of the things that Muslims shared and talked about were worldly and vain day to day matters. So, alhumdulilah, I created Muslimhood.net with many of the same netorking features as facebook and even some extra (blogs, walls, events, groups, etc.), but Muslimhood.net fully focused on Islamic topics.

The first step is to just bring more Muslims together at Muslimhood.net. We can all start by talking more about Islam as the first step. Once more people gather to talk about Islam together, then we can strive to colloborate on projects that meet the needs of the Muslim community. There are many distractions in our day to day lives, so my intention in creating Muslimhood.net is to give the Muslim community an easy way to gather on-line and remind each other to strive to do good.

Inshallah, I hope to interact with each of you more deeply on Muslimhood.net. Please also share this with your contacts, friends and family.

Membership is free so log on to http://www.Muslimhood.net

I am open to and would appreciate any feedback as well.

May Allah guide us all and keep us all on the straight path.

Your brother in Islam,
Usman

Muslimhood.net
Doing Good

I get to post about fasting

Asalamu alaikum

Sorry about the lateness of this post but alhamdulilah it's here. Musa is a year old know and he's running around and playing like he's a big kid. Everyone else is doing well, the school year is in effect and keeping us busy. I've been thinking about some of the mistakes I've made in the past and the ones I'm sure to make in the future. I reccomend that we all seek insurance against the unforseen to come. On that note, I humbly submit this haddith.

Abû Hafsah, may Allâh be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet, upon whom be peace, said: "Fasting on the day of 'Arafah absolves the sins for two years: the previous year and the coming year, and fasting on 'ashûra, (the tenth day of Muharram) atones for the sins of previous years."

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

Difficulty

Asalaamu Alaikum

Sorry for the lateness of this post. I'm happy to be able to write to you all and very excited about getting to see Nabil et. al. at the end of the month. We have all been out of touch for too long. Anyways, Things are going well for me I don't have a lot to report just enjoying my family and trying to be a better me. I'm sure we have all heard "after difficulty comes ease" I've had the opportunity to really reflect upon that recently. In my experience, a setback or "personal tragedy" doesn't become truly painful until we begin to feel sorry for ourselves. When we process an even or chain of events or we endure them until they are irrelevant our logical mind demonstrates that we were placing ing undue burdon upon ourselves and we imagine that power has been transfered from the true source of power (Allah swt) to the event or outcome that did not go in our favor. I emplore you all keep remembrerance of Allah in the times of difficulty and in times of ease. Also remember that power will always be in the hands of Allah and that power cannot be resisted. I love you brothers for the sake of Allah

Narrated Ibn Abbas
Allah's Apostle used to say at the time of difficulty, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, the Majestic, the Most Forbearing. None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, the Lord of the Tremendous Throne. None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, the Lord of the Heavens and the Lord of the Honourable Throne.

When feeling down

Salaams brothers. The other day at work there was a special seminar on depression in the workplace. The seminar discussed how workplace depression is on the rise and things that employees can do if they start to feel depressed or notice colleagues displaying signs of depression. Remedies range from talking to counselors to taking anti-depressants. this got me thinking about what Islam has prescribed for us when we start to feel depressed, or low on imaan.

Everyone suffers from weak imaan once in a while, it's completely normal. The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Imaan wears out in one’s heart, just as the dress wears out (becomes thin). Therefore, ask Allah to renew Imaan in your hearts.” [Mustadrak Al Hakim]

When we are suffering from weak imaan and sorrow, and one of the best cures is repeating duaa. One such duaa was narrated by the Prophet (pbuh) in Saheeh Bukhari:

Allahumma inni a’udhu bika minal-hammi wal-Ḥuzni wal-’ajazi wal-kasli wal-bukhli wal-jubni wa ḍala’id-dayni wa ghalabatir-rijal.

O Allah, I take refuge in You from anxiety and sorrow, weakness and laziness, miserliness and cowardice, the burden of debts and from being overpowered by men.

Anpther duaa is narrated by the Prophet as one of the supplications of the distressed:

Allahumma rahmataka arju fala takilni ila nafsi tarfata ‘aynin wa aslih li sha’ni kullahu la ilaha ila anta

O Allah, it is Your mercy that I hope for, so do not leave me in charge of my affairs even for a blink of an eye, and rectify for me all of my affairs. None has the right to be worshiped except You.

So if you or every feeling down, or low on your imaan, remember that it is part of being human. Seeking refuge in Allah swt and making duaa is something we should remember during these times.

Take care bros,
Azim

A new start

Salaams,

So I graduated from UVA a little more than a week ago, and inshallah
this summer I will be headed to Detroit for a research fellowship at
Henry Ford Hospital. It should be interesting since I've never been
to Detroit before, and I've heard great things about the Muslim
community there. Last week I happened to be in Baltimore during
Hopkins' graduation, and met up with some of the Jhuma alumni and
current members at the post-grad dinner at Oh's Place. It was really
awesome seeing everyone, and I'm looking forward to our next
Jhuma-brothers hangout!

I was at a talk the other day and the speaker was talking about
shariah, and I heard this hadith, which I'm sure most of you have
heard before:

"It is necessary upon a Muslim to listen to and obey the ruler, as
long as one is not ordered to carry out a sin. If he is commanded to
commit a sin, then there is no adherence and obedience." (Sahih
al-Bukhari)

I just thought it was a nice reminder during a time when many Muslims
around the world don't understand such a simple concept. By agreeing
to live within a land and taking what that land offers to you
(security, food, wealth, etc.), you agree to abide by it's rules and
laws, provided they do not go against the Quran and Sunnah. The
Prophet (SAW) did not mention that it had to be an Islamic state.
True believers keep their promises and do not break agreements, no
matter who they are made with.

--Zain

Charity

Asalaamu Alaikum,

Insha Allah this reaches you all in good health and iman. Alhamdulilah things are going very well for my family. My wife got the job she really wanted and is happily teaching at a small islamic school in Baltimore. My daughter Amira also attends that school and is doing well, she's learning arabic very fast and is starting to learn a few suras. Musa is getting big and he's eating foods now. He loves to play and smiles a lot he has an uncanny awareness and seems eager to particpate in the mobile world.

I've been reading a lot about charity lately and general thankfulness. I'm striving to be more thankful in my everyday success and more humble as i grow.
One day some one asked me for money and I didn't have any cash to give at the time and then another and then another. by the end of the day several people had asked me for charity and i refused them all not because I didn't want to give but because I didn't have the cash at the time and I chose not to get any althogh i could have easily gone to an ATM. By the end of the day my conscience had gotten to me and I decided to take some money out in the even that someone would ask me for help, and noone did. I acctually drove around for a while looking for someone who may need some money (which is pretty dumb, I'm aware) and I didn't really see anyone. The whole experience forced mwe to think about the way I show my appreciation for all the good things that I have. I don't know if we should always carry money for situations like that but I've resolved to be better in giving charity. All that said, here are a few hadith think about


The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "If anyone gives in charity something equal to a date from his honestly earned money--for nothing ascends to God except good--then God will take it in His Right (Hand) and bring it up for its owner as anyone of you brings up a baby horse, until it becomes like a mountain...Nothing ascends to God except good." - Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 9, Number 525B
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Blessed is the wealth of a Muslim from which he gives to the poor, to orphans and to needy travelers." - Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 2, Hadith 544
The Prophet also said: "Charity given to a relative it serves a double purpose, being both charity and a connecting link." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 606
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Give charity without delay, for it stands in the way of calamity." - Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 589

Seeking Guidance from Allah in Decision Making

Assalamualaikum brothers. Apologies for the delayed posting. Inshallah, those of you on the East Coast dealing with the numerous blizzards have been safe. Things have been going very well for me recently, alhamdulillah. I was just offered a position at a lawfirm in DC that specializes in food, drug and pharmaceutical law (the area I want to focus on). I will be accepting the offer and starting in March, inshallah.

While I was applying and interviewing for the position, and trying to figure out if I was making the right decision to leave my current firm, I found it very helpful to pray salah tul istikhara, as a way to seek help from Allah in my decision making process.

The Prophet Muhammad said, "If one of you is concerned about some practical undertaking, or about making plans for a journey, he should perform two raka nafl prayer." Then he/she should say the following du'a:

Allahumma inni astakheeroka bi ilmik. Wa'astaq-diroka biqodratik. Wa'as'aloka min fadlikal-azeem. Fa'innaka taqdiru wala aqdir. Wata lamo wala-a lam. Wa'anta-allamul ghuyoob. Allahumma in kunta ta lamu anna (hathal-amra*) khayul-lee fi deenee wama ashi wa ajila amri wa'ajilah, faqdorho lee, wayassirho lee, thomma-barik lee fih. Wa'in konta ta lamo anna (*mention the matter*) sharrul-lee fi deenee. Wama ashi. Wa ajila amri. Wa'ajilaho. Fasrifho annee. Wasrifnee anh. Waqdur leyal-khayr haytho kan. Thomma ardini bih.

Translation:
Oh Allah! I seek Your guidance by virtue of Your knowledge, and I seek ability by virtue of Your power, and I ask You of Your great bounty. You have power; I have none. And You know; I know not. You are the Knower of hidden things.
Oh Allah! If in Your knowledge, (this matter*) is good for my religion, my livelihood and my affairs, immediate and in the future, then ordain it for me, make it easy for me, and bless it for me. And if in Your knowledge, (this matter*) is bad for my religion, my livelihood and my affairs, immediate and in the future, then turn it away from me, and turn me away from it. And ordain for me the good wherever it may be, and make me content with it.

See: http://www.islamicacademy.org/html/Dua/How_to_do_Istakhara.htm

jazakallah khair,
Azim