Many times the word إيمان 'Eman' is casually translated into "faith" without one having a deep understanding of what it implies. This word comes from ء م ن, which literally means "safety, security, and guarantee." Security from our own bad thoughts, from punishment because of our sins, from committing what God has told us to stay away from, from doubt, and from living a purposeless life, etc. Read More »
“Shaykh, today is the first time I am coming to a mosque in 20 years. I have not prayed in twenty years. My wife who is sitting in the front with me is a Christian and it is her first time ever in a mosque. During your lecture, three different men have approached my wife and asked her to move to the women’s side of the room. She does not know a single person here and does not feel comfortable sitting by herself. Hence, we sat in the front row together.” Read More »
After wreaking havoc on the Northeastern seaboard, people from North Carolina up to Boston are cleaning up the mess left behind Hurricane Sandy. Houses, cars, whole towns have been devastated with destruction, damage, and lost lives. The storm did not pour too much water in the area, but the high ... Read More »
Memorizing Qur’an is broken into 3 categories: 1) new lesson, 2) new memorization, 3) old memorization. I’ll give a brief intro to each category and then show you how to properly memorize within each fold. It’s important to understand that memorizing Qur’an for the long-term is a process which takes close to a month. Once you memorize an ayah, it won’t be solid until you repeat it a number of times until it enters the deeper part of your brain. Read More »
Though there were numerous students memorizing with me, not all of them came with the same purpose. Many were there because their parents had forced them to enroll after the students had established a bad track record in public school. They were expected to reform themselves during their stay at the madrasa. But what I noticed was that many – if not most students sent for that reason – would not change. Read More »
While we go about living our daily lives, many times we find ourselves at a loss of hope because of our sins. A lot of times this is because we decide to live our lives in a state of "Carpe Diem," which in Latin means "live in the moment." We find ourselves being halfhearted and insincere when we want to repent. We begin to lose faith in Allāh and His decree because we think “I’m in too deep to get out.” We then gradually start slacking in our good deeds. Finally, we start thinking that we have reached a point of no return and cannot possibly receive guidance from Allah because of our sins. Read More »
Long story short, I had developed a desire to understand the Qur'an a few years ago and since then wanted to take some time off to study Arabic. I heard about the Dream program in 2008 and had intended to go when it was announced. Last year I was blessed by Allah to move to Dallas for a year and attend Bayyinah’s 10 month Dream program. Read More »
Instead of being du'aat, ameers, ameerahs, MSA presidents, and coordinators, learn to be good friends with the middle-men youth. Take them out to eat randomly and buy them a slice of pizza, take them to the mall if they need a ride, etc. Simply, be really chill with them. That's the first thing before anything. As John Maxwell says, "No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care." Read More »
An Update on Dr. Ibrahim Dremali's situation. Read More »
The word "افلح/يفلح/إفلاح" means "attaining success after putting in much hard work and strain." Allah uses the same word in the first verse of Surah Mu'minoon when he refers to attaining khushoo' in the prayer, ie. it entails that you need to work extra hard to attain concentration. Read More »
MuslimMatters.org Discourses in the Intellectual Traditions, Political Situation, and Social Ethics of Muslim Life
