My Al Maghrib exam is tomorrow and as I am reading the notes provided by Al Maghrib Institute and Qabeelat Ihsaan (Al-Maghrib's Malaysian chapter), I have stumbled upon some very interesting gems. Among them is this hadith as narrated by 'Abdullah:
"I asked the Prophet p.b.u.h., "Which deed is the dearest to Allah?" He replied, "To offer prayers at their early stated fixed times." I asked, "What is the next (in goodness)?" He replied, "To be good and dutiful to your parents." I asked again, "What is the next (in goodness)?" He replied, "To participate in jihad (struggle) in Allah's cause." 'Abdullah added, "I asked only that much and if I had asked more, the Prophet p.b.u.h. would have told me more." [Bukhari]
What is interesting about this hadith is that:
Praying at the beginning of prayer is more beloved to Allah than being good and dutiful to your parents and jihad. What this tells us is that, discipline and strong will (i.e. making sure that you pray early and the will to leave whatever that you are doing to answer the call of prayers) is a commendable trait in Islam. This hadith also teaches us what our priorities should be; we should always put what Allah has commanded us to do first in our life. Secondly, after we have fulfilled what is required of us, we are to be good to our family i.e. fulfil our obligations to our family. And then, only we participate in jihad.
What is even more interesting is that Allah has made it very easy for us to seek His pleasure. Praying at the beginning of prayer times is not a very difficult thing to do and it is actually quite easy for us to be consistent at. And each prayer take only around 10 minutes of our time, we can go back to our work (what we were doing before the call to prayers) or our familial duties even before they notice we went missing =).
A photo of Alexa imitating me and hubs praying. Although we have not taught her (or even emphasised) much about prayers or dua'a (she currently knows how to recite the basmalah, al Fatihah and the dua'a before eating), our aim is to make her familiar with the five prayers by making it a norm to pray in front of her and invite her to join us. She joins us only when she wants to and she has her own praying top (which is actually an adult scarf which I bought in Banda Aceh last year). Her prayers usually last about 15 seconds; consisting of one or two rakaah per prayer with two rukuks and two sajdah per rakaah, and she whispers nonsensical words to herself. And yes, she also jumps on me and does piggybacks on me when I am in rukuk or sajdah =).
Let's try to be better shall we? Smart Muslims are better Muslims. Let's seek the activities that Allah will reward us with the most, inshaa Allah.
I am currently in the midst of studying for an exam. More specifically, an Al-Maghrib exam for the course entitled Love Notes: Marriage and Family Life by Shaykh Yahya Ibrahim which I had attended at Taylor's University Lakeside Campus earlier this month. While reading my notes, I stumbled upon something that the Shaykh has shared with us, which I think would be nice to share with y'all. It's the 10 keys to happiness and success and here it goes:
1. There's a balance between happiness and success. Success is external i.e. it can be seen and measured while happiness is internal. It cannot be seen, thus it is difficult to measure.
2. Trust your fate and qadr. There are things that are beyond our control. The issue that relates to qadr is how do we react to these things.
3. We have to be a part of our qadr and there may be more than one qadr. The dua'a of a mother increases our life and improves our purity and health. Work for our qadr. Know that our qadr is with Allah but have tawakkul.
4. Learn from our parents' mistakes. One of the best way to learn success is from the hurdles and failures of our parents and those who are close to us.
5. When it is time to change, if everyday you have been hitting the same wall, it's not the wall, but you are too stubborn to change your same ways. There's something that needs to be changed.
6. Remember that the best things in life are always the simplest, especially in connecting with other people. The sunnah of the Prophet p.b.u.h. is the simplest way to life. Always choose the way of the easiest and least cost.
7. Demand the best. Don't settle for anything in life. Always go for the best that you can have. But be willing to work for it. Be willing to give the best in return. Become and seek to be the best and don't settle. Pull them up. You demand for it not by asking but by giving.
8. Overcome your mistakes of the past. Forget the errors you have made. What the Shaykh means here is don't get so hang up upon what you have did in the past but look forward and strive to your future. Repentance is you bury your past and you overturn them with your virtues. Don't let your past and difficulty break you.
9. Don't try to control the future. Yes, you may work for the future but what will happen is within the qadr of Allah. You should secure the future by your hard work today.
10. Invest yourself fully in the present to attain the future.
Relationship goals: do things together.
A husband taking a photo of his wife underwater while snorkelling. A photo that I took of a couple at Redang Island, last week.
I hope you have benefitted from these tips as much as I had.
After coming back to Kuala Lumpur from Mulu, last weekend was spent learning the Tafseer of Surah Yusuf with Dr Reda Bedeir at Taylor's University lakeside campus. I have always enjoyed Al Maghrib's seminars and to date, this is my 7th seminar with them.
Here's a short summary of what I learnt in Surah Yusuf:
1. Surah Yusuf was revealed all at once.
The surah contains only one story, i.e. the story of Prophet Yusuf and nothing else. According to some scholars, the surah was revealed when the Jews wanted to test the Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h. and instigated some of the disbelievers to ask the Prophet on why did the family of Prophet Yaakub moved from Palestine to Egypt. This knowledge was contained in their books but the Arabs were unaware of it. Thus the surah was revealed there and then.
2. Surah Yusuf is a surah of 3 dreams and 3 shirts.
The surah started with Prophet Yusuf sharing his dream with his father, Prophet Yaakub where he saw the sun, the moon and 11 stars bowing/ prostrating to him. The middle of the dream revealed the dream of two prisoners whom Yusuf have met in prison and they had asked Yusuf to interpret their dreams to them (the Prophet Yusuf had been gifted with the ability to interpret dreams). And the final dream was the dream of the king, towards the end of the surah.
For the shirts, the first shirt was the shirt of Yusuf whom his stepbrothers had smeared with fake blood as evidence to their father that Yusuf had been killed by a wolf. The second shirt is where Yusuf's shirt was torn by the Azeez's wife (who was running after Yusuf to entice him to engage in illicit relations with her). And the third shirt is the shirt of Yusuf which was pressed over Yaakub's face and it returned the eyesight of Yaakub.
3. Surah Yusuf is a true example of patience.
Despite being of noble lineage, (the Prophet Yusuf is a son, grandson and great-grandson of Prophets) his life is filled with trials and tribulations. From an early age, he lost his mother. And his stepbrothers were jealous of their father's love for him and it compelled them to plot against him. He was thrown into a well when he was just a child (some scholars say perhaps between 6 to 7 years of age). Thus he lost his father and his family although they are still alive.
Then, he was sold as a slave, thus losing his own freedom. As a slave, his master's wife was enthralled with his looks so much so that she plotted for him to have illicit relations with her, and when that didn't happen, she brought her friends to her house and strategised to get them to help her. Because he refused, he was thrown in jail for many years and even after interpreting the dreams of the prisoners, the prisoner who was freed forgot about him for a number of years until the king himself had a dream that had to be interpreted. Even when the king requested for Yusuf to be with him (i.e. to aid him in the administration of Egypt), Yusuf refused to leave prison until his case was heard and his innocence proven. Thus only many years (some scholars say 40 years), did Yusuf finally leave a life of hardship and went on to become the Azeez (i.e. minister who was in charge of treasury) of Egypt.
Even then, it was only much later that he was reunited with his family i.e. during the times of famine and drought.
There are many more things which I've learnt from this weekend's seminar (which I am unable to share in this short blogpost). But among the best of them is Yusuf's beautiful dua'a which is in verse 101 of the surah, "... Creator of the heavens and earth, You are my protector in this world and the Hereafter. Cause me to die a Muslim and join me with the righteous."
Such a beautiful surah and an amazing lesson on patience. May Allah grant us all patience. Ameen.
Oh well, I haven't been active lately, and there are many reasons for that. And there are a lot things that have happened the past year (2014 I mean) for me to share, so I am at lost on which news do I share first...
So just a brief update on what's been happening in 2014:
We cancelled our trip to Japan last April due to my father-in-law's passing just a day before the trip and we weren't able to reschedule our trip to another date due to many other events that happened in the second half of the year.
Our last family photo together during Eid 2013.
We traveled to Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) at the end of August (until early September) and got robbed by a cab driver (a fake cabbie, actually). I will definitely update a blog on that so that all you out there will be able to recognise the signs of a fake cabbie. That is the first time we've been robbed on our trip overseas and it got me spooked because Alexa was also in the cab with us and I was afraid that the cab driver would harm her. However, on the bright side, inshaa Allah I will post a blog on halal food in Vietnam soon =).
I've enrolled as a student again! Weehooo! It's always been my dream to pursue a PhD and I've enrolled at an institution called INCEIF (will do a review on INCEIF soon) and have been approved to pursue my studies full time by my organisation (the institution at which I am employed) and inshaa Allah will be at INCEIF until September 2016. Do wish me luck in my studies ya!
With Prof. Zubair Hasan after our final class for Islamic Economics.
I've bought another apartment (I don't know what is it with me and real estate, but I do love owning properties and the rental in Kuala Lumpur is so high that I guess buying an apartment is a better alternative for me). So this apartment (it's nothing fancy, just a studio apartment that suit my current needs as a student) is for me to stay while I'm doing my PhD and unfortunately for privacy reasons, I won't be able to disclose the location of this apartment until it's ready to be rented out in the future =).
Attended the Divine Speech seminar by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan. His talks are even more impressive live and if given the chance, I would love to attend future sessions with him as the speaker (the only other speaker that I would love to listen live would be Dr Zakir Naik, inshaa Allah).
The venue, PICC, was filled to the max, wow!
I have also enrolled as a student of Al-Maghrib Institute and this is one of my personal development goals and one of the ways I would be able to enhance my knowledge in Islam. Considering Al Maghrib's courses are only conducted once every three to four months, I don't think this course will in any way interfere with my PhD inshaa Allah. Here's a post on the first program of theirs that I attended [click here].
Me, mum and my sis-in-law, Izzah attending our first Al-Maghrib seminar =)
We got our paper published in a journal, a collaboration effort of three academicians, my friend Erimalida aka Ayon, yours truly and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Song Saw Imm. All praise be to Allah for the opportunity =).
So in a nutshell, 2014 have been a very interesting year and am looking forward to an exiting 2015. Here's a sneak peak of what's in store:
So far my plans are only up to January and February so I still don't know what's in store for the other ten (10) months in 2015...
January - a short trip to Penang to visit my Pakistani friend Azima followed by attending Al-Maghrib's Fiqh of Chillin' course the following week. Then a weekend trip to Singapore to attend another of Al-Maghrib's course: Deception, Study of Shaytaan. This month will end with a much-anticipated holiday to Xi'an, China with hubs and lil' bub, Alexa =).
February - we'll be back from Xi'an in early February and I've bought tickets to attend a Marriage Conference on the 14th of February (which I'm excited to attend due to the impressive line up of speakers who are scheduled to speak in the conference).
So here's my plan for 2015. There's not much activities/ events planned out as I plan to focus on my studies and would need time for my coursework and research. But I am hoping (if possible) to present (my papers/ research) at two conferences this year, one in March and another in June, inshaa Allah =).
So here I am post-ILMFest enrolling myself at yet another of Al Maghrib's programs. I registered as a student and this is my first of their weekend seminars, Denial, Tafseer of Surah Ar-Rahman and Yassin taught by Dr Reda Bedeir.
Okay, before you start reading, let me just warn you that this is a very, very long post. Oh okay, now that we've got that cleared, do continue.
So, how does Dr Reda teach? In a good way (which I find to be extremely beneficial) he teaches from the beginning. Now the thing is, where is the beginning? In teaching religion, there is no A B C to indicate the beginning. Even the first verse that was taught, "Iqra' bismirabbi kallazi halaqa" (which means "Read O'Muhammad in the name of your Lord, Who has created) is not the first verse in the Quran (it's actually in Surah no. 96, Al-'Alaq). So, the beginning could simply mean anywhere and everywhere.
He started by explaining the first sentence that we would recite before we start reciting any Quranic verses, the ta'awwudh, "A'udhu billahi min ash-sharitani r-rajimi," meaning I seek refuge with Allah against Shaytan. So, he started by questioning us, why do we seek refuge with Allah against Shaytan? (Note in Surah Sad 38: 82-83 Shaytan said, "I will try to ambush and take them away from the straight path. Except those who are sincere.") As Muslims, we know that Shaytan have made an oath to bring us to Jahannam with him. We say it because Allah is the only resort and there is none more powerful than Allah. So we seek refuge with Allah against the whispers of Shaytan.
Dr Reda then proceeded to explain the meaning of basmala, "b-ismi-llahi r-rahmani r-rahimi," meaning in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. To elaborate, as we are servants of Allah, Allah gives us temporary control in the dunya (this life on earth) and Allah will take it away in the akhirah (hereafter). Thus this statement is indicative that we would do everything to please Allah. So this statement could be elaborated as in the name of The One who gave me all of these things that I could not live without, who gave me ears so I could hear, who gave me eyes so that I could see, who gave me my tongue and mouth so that I could speak.. He also differentiated between Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim (in the basmala that we recite). Ar-Rahman means the all merciful while Ar-Rahim is the act of being merciful or the nature that is merciful all the time.
Our student's kit by Al Maghrib consisted of a barcode (which is to be scanned before the morning lecture for attendance purposes), a student ID with lanyard and a workbook.
Dr Reda then followed by explaining that the Quran is divided into three parts where one-third consists of stories, one-third is on Allah and mono-theism and the remaining one-third on the rules that we should follow. (Note that in Surah Yusuf 12:111 Indeed there were lessons in the stories for those who want to learn and reflect). He also told us that there are actually two books where we can learn and reflect, the closed book (or physical book) which is the Quran and the open book (metaphorically) which is the universe. Indeed there are verses in the Quran that mentions the universe and signs of The Creator if only man would take heed.
The word Quran in itself stems from the word qara'a which means to recite. And the word Quran means recitation. Indeed the Quran was revealed through the Angel Gabriel to our Prophet Muhammad pbuh in oral form and was only compiled into the written form after the death of the Prophet pbuh during the time of the first Caliph, Abu Bakr. (Note: Abu Bakr was persuaded by Umar to compile the Quran into a book and he finally gave in after the Battle of Yamamah where a great number of the Quran memorisers had perished). It was compiled by Zayd ibn Thabit and verified against two companions who heard the verses directly from the Prophet pbuh. All the verses in the Quran were verified against two companions except for one verse in Surah no. 33 Al-Ahzab verse 23 which was only verified by one companion, Khuzaima ibn Thabit. This exception was allowed due to a transaction involving the Prophet pbuh and a Bedouin where Khuzaima had spoken up to bear witness of the transaction between the Prophet pbuh and the Bedouin. Due to this, the Prophet pbuh said, "if Khuzaima is your witness, you don't need a second witness."
So let's go to the first surah that we studied, Surah Yasin. Surah Yasin is the 36th surah in the Quran. It was revealed in Mecca, thus it is also known as a Meccan Surah. (Note that the revelation of the Quran covers a period of 23 years, 13 years in Mecca and 10 years in Medina. Thus surahs that were revealed in Mecca is known as a Meccan surah while surahs that were revealed in Medina is known as a Medina surah. Surahs that were revealed in Mecca are mainly on who is Allah and stories of the people before the people of Quraisy while Medina surahs are themed on rules and regulations to be applied by Muslims). It is among one of the most widely recited surahs in the Quran (it is usually recited to the dead thus during funerals you would normally observe the guests to a Muslim funeral reciting Surah Yasin to the deceased). However despite this, please do not think that other surahs are not as widely recited because in the Quran, there are 114 surahs, some are recited more frequently due to many reasons (like the first surah in the Quran, Surah Al-Fatihah is recited at least 17 times in a day by each individual Muslim as it is included in their daily prayers, and this surah is also frequently recited at the beginning of a du'a and also at the end of a du'a).
As one of the most frequently recited surahs, there are many da'if or weak hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh) on Surah Yasin and some of them are even untrue (false hadith). The thing about hadith is that the types of hadith is divided into which is sahih or authentic, hasan or good and da'if or weak. The hadith in the photo above are weak hadiths related to Surah Yasin (except for the last one, which is in bold, that is a false hadith).
So could da'if or weak hadith be used as a reference? Weak hadith can be accepted on three (3) conditions:
1. The hadith should be slightly weak
2. Use it when it comes to the virtues of deeds, to motivate something good or to stay away from something bad. However, it should not be used for matters relating to Aqidah.
3. If used, it must be mentioned that it is a weak hadith.
Surah Yasin starts with the story about Allah, then it continues forward with the message and ends with the messenger. It is divided into an introduction (verse 1 - 12) and three parts (1) the historic argument (verse 13 - 32), (2) the rational argument (verse 33 - 68) and (3) the moral argument (verse 69 - 83). The introduction describes the status of the believers and non-believers and the nature of Quranic revelation while the following three (3) parts provides a proof of the authenticity of the Quran.
Among the gems that I could share on Surah Yasin (there are so many but I won't be able to share them all so those who are interested to learn tafseer, do sign up for Al Maghrib's seminars or any other similar organisations of your choice):
1. The meaning of Ya Siin (the first verse in the surah, which incidentally is also the name for the surah). Do note that the meaning is unknown, thus these are simply opinions by various scholars. Some scholars say that ya siin is similar to the beginning of Surah no 2, Al-Baqarah or Surah no 20, Taha, letters of the Arabic alphabet. Some scholars are of the opinion that ya siin could be Arabic letters that refers to either a person or something, i.e. due to the third verse in the surah (Truly, you are one of the Messengers) it could be the name of a Prophet. Another scholar mentions that it could be a nickname for Prophet Muhammad pbuh meaning the Master of Humanity while another scholar says that it could refer to man, ya siin - ya insan (oh man!).
2. Usually when the beginning of a surah starts with separate letters like ya siin in this surah (or other surah like alif lam mim in Surah Al-Baqarah) the following verse would be talking about the Quran. The letter waw in the beginning of this verse is used as an oath, "By the Quran."
3. In the third verse, Allah personified the Quran as if it is a man (note: messenger or in this case the Prophet pbuh) that will teach us the Quran.
4. In the fourth verse, the path refers to the sirat (the bridge over Jahannam) that is carrying us to Jannah (heaven).
5. In the fifth verse, it refers to the Quran which was sent down to us from Allah.
6. In the eleventh verse, the reward that is generous refers to the reward which will come to those who act as Muslims even though we cannot see Allah. (Note: as quoted from Ali who said, "How do you define sincerity? It means to act exactly the same whether you are among people or you are alone.")
7. The verses 13 - 32 tells a story about a city who was sent with two messengers whom they rejected. The messengers were reinforced with a third but was also rejected (not only were they rejected but they were also threatened with stoning and torture). The city itself is not important in the story, for what is important is the message it conveys. However, Dr Reda informed us that the city in this tale is the city of Antioch and if you'd like to read more on the tale you may want to click [here]. The story then follows with a man (Habib Al Najjar or Habib the carpenter) running towards to non-believers saying that the messengers are indeed true. Unfortunately, the people of the city stepped on him and killed him. So he died a martyr and the verse continues with the man (Habib Al Najjar) entering Paradise.
8. The verses 33 - 40 starts with signs of the Creator for the disbelievers. Verse 37 talks about the day and the night. In Islam, we believe that the night starts first followed by the day. (Example: during Ramadhan, Tarawih prayers starts the night before, after Maghrib prayers, for the fasting that is to be conducted the next day). Thus in this verse, it indicates that the default is the night, Allah sends the light to cover the darkness, and the way the verse is written is to indicate the changing of the day to night as if Allah peels off the light and then everything goes to darkness. As you may see during sunset, the changing of the day to night is as if the light (the setting of the sun) is peeled off (similar to how the skin of an orange is peeled off from the fruit) from the sky as the day turns into night. Verse 39 refers to an analogy of the moon and the dates, where the dates starts growing until the branch withers and dies when the dates mature. This is similar to the situation of the moon which is also in stages. Verse 40 talks about the sign of the day and night, and the position of the moon and the sun against the earth's hemisphere. Thus it could be seen that the signs of the Creator that is mentioned in Surah Yasin does not only cover signs on earth but also signs in the sky (the universe).
9. The verses 41 - 46 refers to the Prophet Noah who built a ship on top of the mountain (and he was ridiculed by his people for that) and the flood that killed everything except for the pairs that were carried on the ship.
10. The verses 47 - 54 starts with Allah telling us that he is The One that showers us with wealth. And Allah tests us by giving, He would expect us to share our wealth with the unfortunate and poor. (Note: when Allah gives, he is testing us with gratitude and when Allah takes, he is testing us with patience). The following verses then details with the Day of Judgment and how we will be resurrected from our graves with one blow of the trumpet. It is only on the Day of Judgment will the non-believers admit that the messengers were indeed telling the truth but by then it would be too late.
11. The verses 55 - 58 then describes the lives of the people in Jannah (paradise) and in verse 58, Allah swt shall greet us in Jannah.
12. In verse 60, the term worship Shaytan refers to the obedience to Shaytan (or in simple words, following the footsteps of Shaytan). Dr Reda then continued to explain this term by associating it with ibadah, referring to terms such as part-time Muslims, full-time Muslims or all-time Muslims. He then related this to the verse in Surah no. 2, Al Baqarah verse 85, "... would you believe some parts of the book and leave some parts of the book? ..." Definitely the best is an all-time Muslim (you are a Muslim when you are around other people and when you are alone). "... and Allah loves those who are in a constant state of purification," Surah Al Baqarah verse 222. If you notice, in verses 60 and 61 of Surah Yasin, I and Me (singular) is used to describe Allah swt, while in the verses 65 - 68, We and Our (plural) is used. Some might question, why is there a difference? You might want to note that when talking about worship, I or Me (singular) is used to refer to Allah, for example, "... worship Me" while when the Quran describes the attributes (act or creation) of Allah the royal We is used. (Note: an example is when the Queen of England speaks, she does not use I or me to refer to herself, she uses we or us, it refers to her, but since she's the majesty, a plural we is used).
13. In verse 70, it states that Yasin is a book to remind the living (quite dissimilar to certain customs who associates recitation of the Yasin for the dead). Here living refers to those with a living heart and the Quran is the message to bring life to the hearts of the living. Similarly in Surah no 8 Al-Anfal verse 24, "... and know that Allah has the power to change or to hinder anything between a man and his heart..." This verse talks about us answering the call of Allah swt and the call of the messenger.
14. In verse 75, the word they refers to the idols which the non-believers have taken besides Allah swt. The idols will be used as witnesses in the hereafter to testify to the deeds of the non-believers. In Surah no 66 At-Tahrim verse 6, "O believers! Guard yourselves and your families against the Fire (of Hell) whose fuel is human beings and stones..." here the stones refers to the idols which are worshipped by the non-believers, it will be used in the hereafter as fuel to Hellfire.
15. Verse 78 refers to a man who came to the Prophet pbuh with a bone and he crushed it in front of the Prophet pbuh and threw it to the Prophet pbuh. He then asked the Prophet pbuh, "Does your Lord can bring life back to this decayed body?" This is then answered in verse 79 where it shows that Allah swt created man (Adam) out of the earth, how easy it would be for Allah swt to bring life back to the crushed bones held by the man.
Surah Ar-Rahman is the 55th surah in the Quran. Ar-Rahman is one of Allah's names which means the unimaginably merciful. It refers to the nature of Allah swt to be exceedingly merciful. During the time of the Prophet pbuh, the people of Quraisy had a problem with the name Rahman, to the point they even questioned the basmala and denied the word Rahman. In the first four (4) verses of the surah, it goes like this:
Ar-Rahman. He has taught the Quran. He has created man. He has taught him articulate speech. (Al-Quran, 55: 1-4)
In this four verses, it shows the importance of the Quran over man's creation (thus the mention of Quran's creation comes first in the surah). This indicates that the purpose of our creation is more importance the our creation. And it also uses the word 'teach' indicating that Allah swt teaches. Man is the student. To whom did Allah swt teach the Quran? It is left open, indicating that Quran is not only for humans (either believers or non-believers), but also to Jinn.
Among the gems that I could share on Surah Ar-Rahman are:
1. The second verse indicates that the Quran is created first before the creation of man.
2. In this surah, similar to Surah Yasin, Allah swt talks about the Quran and this is followed by the universe.
3. The word mizan (balance) is repeated three times (in verses 7, 8 and 9). Mizan literally translated means scale, it is also a symbol of justice and also represents balance in the universe.
4. In verse 13, "Which of the blessings of your Lord will you both deny?" You both refers to both man and Jinn. The blessings refers to all that Allah swt has given us, our health, our family, our wealth, our partner, our offsprings etc. This verse is repeated 31 times in the surah. And each time it is repeated after a verse that talks about the gifts and blessings that Allah swt has bestowed upon us. The Prophet pbuh recited this verse to the Jinn and every time he comes upon this verse, the Jinn would reply, "None of the blessing o' Lord that we deny."
5. In verse 17, it talks about the two easts and two wests. This refers to the daily rising and setting of the sun. The point of the rising of the sun is different every day (due to the earth moving in its own orbit and the sun moving also in its own orbit) and the sun asks for permission from Allah swt everyday whether it should rise. Allah swt would give permission until the day of judgment, where the sun would then be commanded to rise from the west.
6. In verses 19 and 20, Allah swt creates the seas where the seas meet but they do not mix. This refers to the meeting of fresh water seas (and even rivers) and salt water seas and indeed you can see from the video below how the two seas meet but there is a noticeable barrier between them. And in verse 22, from both seas come out pearls (indeed we do have freshwater and saltwater pearls).
Unfortunately we were running out of time, there were too many to share that I guess Dr Reda felt compelled to share as much as he can (and we couldn't fit all in the two days seminar that we had) and I also had to leave the auditorium at 6.45pm to catch my 9.15pm flight back to Kuching. Thus I only learnt up until verse 25 of Surah Ar-Rahman. So I am still waiting for the team from Qabeelat Ihsaan for the notes that they promised to comply and share with us. So in the same spirit, I am sharing my notes (up until verse 25 of Surah Ar-Rahman unfortunately) with everyone. Hope my notes will benefit you as much as the seminar with Dr Reda have benefited me. Subhanallah.
To those who are interested to learn and join seminars organized by Al Maghrib, do visit their website and register as a student [here].
To love of our Allah and our religion, Islam.
xoxo Mrs Fashionista
Ps: In the midst of writing this post, I stumbled upon an interesting page related to the verses in the Quran on the hereafter. If you're interested, you can visit the page [here].
This year has certainly been an adventure, barely six months in the year of 2014, I feel as if there's so many exciting things happening this year and it's as if the best part is yet to come! Anyway, this year we have definitely been very lucky to be able to participate in the ILMFest Malaysia 2014, happening right here in Putrajaya, Malaysia.
The conference is organized by Al Maghrib Institute and iMuslim and is supported by Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia. Held over a period of two days, 17th to the 18th of May 2014, we managed to grab early bird tickets (woot! woot!) for the conference and the best part is, it's baby friendly so Alexa gets to come and join us for her first ever Islamic festival and conference.
We stayed at Prescott Hotel for obvious reasons. It's located about 10 minutes walk from KL Sentral and since we'll be attending the festival for two days and traveling via KLIA Transit to Putrajaya, this seems to be the best option for us. There's also easy access to food (plenty of eateries nearby) and the nearby shopping complex (Nu Sentral) provided us with a bit of retail theraphy. Although truth be told, we never did get to explore Nu Sentral as we spent the whole weekend at Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC), the venue of the conference.
We took KLIA Transit to Putrajaya. The whole trip to Putrajaya was only about 15 minutes and the tickets were about RM9 each. However, the waiting time (for the train) was almost 30 minutes =(. We then took a cab to PICC which costs us somewhere around RM20.
At the conference. They had Instagram and Twitter captions for moments like these =).
The best part about this conference is that it's baby and wheelchair friendly. There were about 3,000 attendees of this conference and there were so many parents bringing their children of various ages that it made me feel as if I wasn't the only one with a baby (which was good). Of course there are the occasional baby cries here and there but that did not stop us from listening attentively to the course.
This is Dr Reda Bedeir, one of the speakers of the program. All in all there were 14 speakers and let me tell you, they are absolutely amazing! Their lectures were filled with gems and insights on the life of our beloved Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. and not only that, they also managed to convey their lectures with such passion that it certainly is not the same as reading it from a book, you must be there to experience it.
I bought Alexa this pretty little hijab from Pretty Princess Zara for RM30. There were several booths outside the auditorium where we get to buy pretty little things like these =). If you're interested, you can visit/ follow their Instagram account [here].
For mummies with little kids (like me), I know that it must be rather daunting bring a child/ children to a religious conference and let me be truthful, I wasn't sure whether I would be able to handle Alexa during the conference. For this conference, there is a separate Mother's room available for mothers to listen to the conference (there's a live feed of the conference set up in the room) and at the same time your child/ children can run/ hop/ crawl/ walk safely (with your supervision of course) in the room. You can feed/ sleep/ diaper change/ play with your baby all you like in the privacy of the room.
Luckily for me hubs was kind enough to offer his help in minding Alexa that we both had the opportunity to enjoy the conference from the main hall. Syukur Alhamdulillah.
In the afternoon session we'd have an entertainment session after Asr prayers and this is one of them where Shaykh Saad Tasleem teaches Shaykh AbdulBary Yahya how to use a skateboard. This is definitely my first time seeing someone in a robe use the skateboard =P.
This is the first female instructor at Al Maghrib Institute, Yasmin Mogahed. Here she recites a moving poem written by herself, I Prayed for Peace Today. It almost moved me into tears.
Among the things that I remember from the conference:
In terms of the physical appearance of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., he has 17 strands of white hair and all of them are located at the beard, near his lower lips.
In terms of the character of the the Prophet s.a.w., he never yawns. He is also very fond of children. At one point, he was leading a congregation of prayer and he took a long time in prostration and when asked why, he said it was due to his grandchild who was sitting at his back. He did not want to rise from prostration to avoid from injuring his grandchild. He would also excuse himself so that he could go home and make time for his family. There were times he would excuse himself and say that he has promised to spend time with his wife. When facing difficult times (like during da'wah where the Prophet s.a.w. was facing difficulties and rejection from the people of Taif), the Prophet s.a.w. would pray to Allah and ask whether he has displeased Allah. Subhanallah!
There were many other things that were shared during the conference like how the Prophet s.a.w. has also been known to give gifts to his wife and on the challenges of Muslim youths like zina etc and I can't possibly share all of them here.
So, as a first timer, what can I say about ILMFest? I would have to say that it totally exceeded my expectations. I came to listed to these speakers talk about our beloved Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. and I learnt so much more that I could have expected. The speakers were not only able to educate and convey their knowledge, but they were also able to inspire, they inspired me to do better, be better and to emulate the best, which is our Prophet s.a.w. So for those of you who are thinking about joining the program, well, what are you waiting for? Al Maghrib Institute offers various programs, talks, seminars and courses and of course they also organize conferences like the ILMFest. I would have to say an investment in education and knowledge is one of the best investments you could ever make for yourself.
To future attendees of ILMFest, let it be known that bringing an 11-month old baby (like me) or being in a wheelchair should not stop you from attending events like these. It's definitely a not-to-be-missed event, you'll be glad that you attended (I definitely was!) and you'll gain so much from the wisdom, knowledge and experience shared by these wonderful and amazing speakers.
For those who'd like to attend programs like these, you can visit Al Maghrib Institute's website [here] or iMuslim's website [here].
To learning, life, religion and becoming a better believer, inshaa Allah.
