Christian Visit to Prophet

Here are the factual details about the Delegation of Najraan where the Christians visited the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) in his Mosque and he debated them and invited them to Islam from Christian Delegation to Najraan (it has the hadith etc references).


A summary of narrations about the Najrān delegation as found in books of ĥadīth, biographies and
histories:
1. A delegation of 60 Christians, 14 nobles among them came to Madīnah.

2. According to one narration, it was the time of Ásr prayer when they arrived.

3. They came to the Prophet’s Mosque, and it was time for their prayer as well; so they began to pray facing east. I could not find a narration which says that they asked for permission.

4. The Prophet did not stop them.

5. In some narrations, the companions wanted to stop them, but RasūlAllāh said: ‘Leave them’.

6. They came to RasūlAllāh and saluted him after this and he turned away from them and did not speak to them. This was because, the Najrān Christians were wearing religious and ostentatious clothing, gold rings and silk mantles.

7. Sayyidunā Úthmān told the Christians that RasūlAllāh dislikes their attire.37

8. The Najrān Christians went away and came back wearing clothes of monks.

9. There was a discussion and a debate. RasūlAllāh invited them to Islām.

10. In the course of the debate, RasūlAllāh rejected their claim of being believers and
termed them kāfir.

11. When the Christians asked whether RasūlAllāh expected them to worship him, like they worship Sayyidunā Isā, RasūlAllāh rejected it and refuted it saying that he would not ask anyone to worship anyone else other than Allāh táālā. This clearly refutes the claim that RasūlAllāh ‘permitted them.’

12. When they did not accept Islām, RasūlAllāh challenged them for an imprecation or mubāhalah.

13. Eighty verses of the Qur’ān [Sūrah Aāl Ímrān] were revealed refuting Christian beliefs.

14. The famous event in which RasūlAllāh took his blessed daughter and grandsons for the imprecation occurred at this time.

15. The people of Najrān declined imprecation and made a pact with RasūlAllāh .

16. The terms of the treaty included an annual tribute to Muslims; and in return Muslims would let them
be upon their religion.

17. Two of their chiefs – Sayyid and Áāqib became Muslims thereafter.

18. Praying towards east in Madīnah is not facing opposite side of Qiblah,38 because Makkah is to the
south of Madīnah.


RasūlAllāh did not invite Christians to pray “according to their own tradition.” Rather, he repudiated their beliefs and commanded them to forsake polytheism. When they refused, he challenged them for an imprecation. Some reasons for the Prophet not stopping the Christians in their prayer are obvious:

• They were travellers and had just arrived.
• The Prophet wished to educate them and invite them to Islām. It was because of his
immense wisdom that he did not wish to antagonise them before they had heard his
message.
• The Prophet invited them to Islām thereafter and advised them to abandon their
heretical beliefs.

The Prophet did not hesitate to tell them the plain truth about their beliefs or that they were non-Muslims, as is evident from what happened afterward. It also shows that it was impermissible for disbelievers to pray in our mosque even in that age, because the companions tried to stop them. RasūlAllāh did not stop them, out of discreetness and consideration for those who are unaware – until they were made aware.

There are other such examples in ĥadīth, where the Prophet did not stop a deplorable action immediately, but explained the ruling afterward. For example, a bedouin began urinating in the masjid and the Prophet did not stop him. This ĥadīth is found in many books including Bukhārī, Muslim, Musnad Imām Aĥmed, Sunan Ibn Mājah, Sunan al-Kubrā of Nasāyī, Musnad Abū Yaálā, Sunan al-Kubrā of Bayhaqī and others.

On preaching and how to you should be

And beware not to desire praise from them by preaching, or to let such thought cross your heart, or to believe that you have a status above them, or to intend to [indirectly] praise yourself through showing your innocence of the matters against which you are preaching to them. And be sure that if any such thoughts occurred to you, they would be from your enemy, Satan, who wants to trick you in matters you have been lenient about. And know that preaching to people with good advice and teaching is one of the attributes of the Prophets and Messengers.

So observe carefully how you conduct yourself and how you adopt the etiquette of those whom you are representing among his community. This is why it is said, “The knowers (ʿulamāʾ) are the inheritors of the Prophets.” And it is reported that Sahl ibn ‘Abdullāh al-Tustarī had said: “He who wants to see the sessions of the Prophets should observe the sessions of the ʿulamāʾ; so acknowledge that to them.” And beware not to become arrogant because of that towards those who come to you, for this would be at your peril. And know that there is no difference between yourself and those present before you, except that God has created in you what He manifests through you to them in the form of preaching, after He has created in you the power and will to do so. You are, in your entirety, created for God: your choice, your power, and your deed. The credit in that is to God over you, in creating that for you; you have no credit over others except by the rendering of Godmost-high, not by your own merit.

Taken from Imam Abdul Ghani an-Nablusi from: http://www.hayrah.net/2011/07/on-preaching/

The Apples and Sheikh Abdur Rahman Shaghouri

This is a nice story on helping people in following the true way of the Prophet. insha'Allah. 

 

“I watched for a moment as Sheikh Abdur Rahman Shaghouri stopped to buy some apples from a cart in front of the mosque. He took the plastic bag from the seller and filled it with the worst apples he could find nicked, bruised, and worm-holed which he chose as carefully as most people choose good ones, then paid for and with a smile shook hands with the man before we went up the hill to the sheikh’s home. Small and lithe, he had a light complexion, penetrating eyes, aquiline features with expressive lips, and a trimmed mustache and full beard. He dressed elegantly, wearing a few turns of white and gold cloth around a red fez on his head, a knee- length suit and vest over a shirt without a tie, and trousers tapering to the ankles. As we climbed higher and higher, I wanted to carry the bag, but he wouldn’t let me, saying that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) had said, The one who needs a thing is the one who should carry it. When I reflected on his strange shopping, I realized that it had been to save the apple man from having to throw any out. The incident summed up the sheikh’s personality and life, which was based on futuwwa or putting others ahead of oneself."

It shows how beautiful Islamic scholars of the Ahlus Sunnah can be, and that they represent the true Islam, as explained by the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). You will not see any other sect have such sincerity 

                                                    May we have such

 insha'Allah :)

The source of the story can be found here:

http://shadhilitariqa.com/site/index.php?id=2&option=com_content&task=view

Don't force Islam on me!

The time has come when people hate to be corrected, and they get offended when someone advises them, even in a nice way, that what they are doing is wrong and that they should follow the Islamic ruling and please Allah swt and His Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). And they make many excuses for not heeding the advice.

One of them say 'you can't enforce your beliefs'. But the question should be asked 'is it really enforcing beliefs?' Since when has advising or persuading someone that they're wrong become 'enforcement'?

Enforcing beliefs on others would be where you threaten a person with death if they don't accept your beliefs. They are "forced" into one choice, they can't carry out any other act. As long as a person has the choice in this world, without having himself killed, its not considered 'forcing a belief'. After all, a person can even be in jail, and still believe in a certain thing, since belief is what you believe in the heart.

However if the case is of stopping a person from doing a certain act, then if the person is prevented by force (like put in jail), then one can claim that beliefs are being enforced in the realm of action. Nevertheless we should remember that every day actions or the prevention of actions are forced upon us. For example a person X wants to break the speed limit repeatedly or tries to murder, so he is arrested and forced to not break it or do murder, when he is in jail. And this is considered as "enforcing belief in the realm of actions" by the legal scholars, lawyers and government.Thus the claim that "no one can enforce beliefs" is blatantly false.

In fact the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) gave the Islamic command to stop people from doing haram (the unlawful in Islam) when he said:

"Whoever amongst you sees anything objectionable, let him change it with his hand, if he is not able, then with his tongue, and if he is not even able to do so, then with his heart, and the latter is the weakest form of faith. (Muslim)

So commanding the good and forbidding the evil are obligatory upon Muslims, although it needs wisdom and can have a different ruling. Please see the fiqh/ruling of it (1).

If people do that, then we would see less evil in the world, and more people dong good, since knowledge would increase amongst people, and the paths of good would be supported, whilst the paths of evil stunted.

In one of the Prophetic Hadiths, there was a person who just worshipped Allah swt, but didn't fulfill the command of encouraging the good and forbidding the evil, and the community disobeyed Allah swt, so he was destroyed with the rest of the community.

Nevertheless, in advising someone, you should wish the best for someone and try to be least offensive to the person. If the person doesn't want to listen, then in many cases we can't do anything about it nor force the person. But in some situations you can take action, such as if the person is committing adultery in your house, or bringing in drugs, then you can kick the person out if he doesn't listen.

Furthermore by commanding, we show people the seriousness of what they're doing and in fact trying to save them from the punishment of hell. It shows that we are concerned and care for the person, that we are real friends. It’s like if our friend was about to stab himself or fall into the fire, we would try to stop that person but if we didn’t we’d be blamed by people for not doing anything right?

The person corrected/advised should thank the person giving advice, like one who thanks another person for saving his life. But if the person corrected, gets angry and says stuff like “you think you’re better than me, don’t enforce your beliefs” etc, then this indicates a disease in the heart of the person corrected, and the disease should be removed. A person should be sincere, humble and ready to accept his/her mistakes. But the disease here is stubbornness, blindness, arrogance, pride, love of dunya and so on.


Imam Shafi'i said when he was asked how he attained such great character and he responded by saying “I listened to my critics and took their criticism seriously”.

1)     1) Fiqh of commanding the right: http://spa.qibla.com/issue_view.asp?HD=1&ID=165&CATE=14

Mathematical tests of the Qur'an

A friend of mine, Marwan, did the following tests on the Qur'anic mathematical/numerical miracle claims, and they can be easily retested. Although some claims made in some sites are false, the ones tested by the brother are true and are shown/proved in the following video:

 Part 1

Part 2

Who are our brothers and sisters?

I was reflecting much recently over the concept of brotherhood/sisterhood (when Islam refers to brotherhood, it also includes women, like the term mankind refers to both male and female) and came across a very powerful Ayat/verse of the Qur'an:


'Surely this is the fraternity/brotherhood of your faith, a single faith, and I am your Lord, so worship Me'. (Anbiya, v 92)

Have we reflected over that ayat, and the verses before that? Lets think about who some of the people in the previous few verses refer to, and some of their qualities:

Maryam who was pure, protected her private parts, Allah used to provide food to her from the heavens and had Isa who gave life to the dead, Suleiman controlled the wind and jinns, Dawud was joined in praising Allah by the praises of the birds and mountains and he was the first to found armour, Zakariyya had a righteous son Yahya as a Prophet to inherit from him through Zakariyya had reached old age and couldn't reproduce, Ibrahim was thrown in the fire and it was cool and he used excellent brains and strategy to oppose pagan idols, Lut stood up against the first people that committed homosexuality, Yunus was stuck in the big fish and was thought impossible to save. Ayyub who was rich but then became poor and felt much pain at losing his family and property and became very ill, Nuh did dawah to his people for over 900 years and was saved in flood, Yaqub lost his son that was most dear to him.

Yet they were rewarded, showed excellent courage, stayed away from the haram (which almost everyone in society engaged in, doesn't that remind us of times now?) and were patient. They stood up for just causes and fought oppression, standing up to leaders and telling them to worship Allah swt alone and to obey him. These special people are our brothers and sisters, we should be honoured Alhamdulillah that Allah Most High included us amongst their group, united in the mission of calling to Allah swt and fighting injustice:)

So think of that when you think of yourself as Muslim. We are never alone, our paths have been walked on by the best of people. Think of the difficulties they faced, and you'll see that they were greater, and thus we can learn so much from them. This is despite the fact that the Prophets and righteous were of various races/nationalities/colours.

They are the ones included in the "path that We have favoured", mentioned in Surah al-Fatiha. And when we say "Your aid do WE seek alone", we remember that amongst the "we" are the Prophets and the righteous, and how honoured we are! Yet we think we are honoured if we dress like our favourite celebrity, or get to do similar stuff as him/her.

(The Prophets and righteous are in our Islamic family tree and are our brothers and sisters )


Furthermore never think "why has Allah swt given such hard problems to me and left me without an example to follow?" The stories of the Prophets in the Qur'an are there because they all have beneficial things we can learn from and follow. An example is that many of the Prophets were rejected by their own families. So when we do dawah to our Muslim families, calling them to practice Islam, and if they don't listen, then we should remember the patience of the Prophets and how they sincerely did du'a to Allah Most High. Through His Mercy and Kindness, we have not been left in the dark as to how best live our lives.


Now we are much luckier since we have much more freedom as Muslims, and are in much larger numbers. So we should do more dawah and put more effort than we currently are.  Imagine what our brothers and sisters (the ones mentioned in the Qur'an as the righteous) would think of us? Many times they stood up against ENTIRE nations/people, so if we have to do that for Islam peacefully, and we face much opposition, we shouldn't lose hope, but we should try our best and persevere and trust in Allah swt, since He has the largest reward.

Dawah to a French Woman- Sheikh Muhammed Ghazali

Call to Allah swt with wisdom 

My dear friend sent me this, on Sheikh Mohamed al-Ghazali's (different to the famous Imam Ghazali!) approach to da'wah. Enjoy:

"I did not like the way she was dressed when she entered my office. However, the look in her eyes revealed sadness and bewilderment that called for compassion and patience. She sat down and started sharing her concerns hoping to find answers with me.


I listened to her long enough. I learned that she was an Arab girl who received her education in France where she was raised. It was also clear that she barely knew Islam. I started explaining basic facts, dispelling suspicions, answering questions and refuting orientalists’ lies about Islam. I also did not forget to allude to today’s civilization and how it considers women as cheap flesh. At the end of my talk, the girl asked for a future appointment and excused herself.


Soon after, a young man – on whom qualities of Outward Islamism were apparent – came storming into my office and said violently: “How come such wicked person was admitted here?”


“The job of a physician is to accept. He doesn’t typically see healthy people, does he?” I replied.


“Of course, you advised her to wear Hijab!” he added.


I said to him “The issue is much bigger than that. There is the foundation that has to be laid. There is the Belief in Allah and the Hereafter. There is the hearing and the obeying of what was revealed in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, in addition to the pillars of worship and manners; the pillars that Islam cannot exist without …”. He interrupted me saying, “All of this does not mean we don’t order her to wear Hijab”.


“I wouldn’t like it if she came in a nun’s clothes while her heart is void of Allah. I taught her the basis that will help her to choose, on her own free will, to wear more decent clothes,” I calmly replied.


He tried to interrupt me again so I said firmly “I can’t drag Islam by its tail as you do. I lay the foundation and then start building and I usually achieve what I want with wisdom”.


Two weeks later, the girl came back. She was wearing much more decent clothes with a scarf over her head. She resumed her questions and I resumed my teaching. Then I asked “Why don’t you go to the nearest mosque to your home?” I said that but immediately I felt remorse. I remembered that mosques are closed in the face of Muslim women. The girl answered that she hated the People of Religion and that she did not like to listen to them.


“Why?” I asked.


“They are hard-hearted, and they treat us with contempt and scorn”, came her swift reply.


I don’t know why I remembered Hind (Abu-Sufyan’s wife). She was the one who chewed Hamza’s liver and fought Islam vigorously until the 8th year of Hijrah. She did not really know the Prophet. However, when she knew him and saw his lenient manners, she told him “I never wished someone on the face of this earth to be abased more than you and your family. Now, I do not wish to see someone on the face of this earth more honored than you and your family.” The Prophet’s kindness and sympathy changed the hearts of the people around him.


Now, would the da'i (caller to Allah) today learn from their Prophet? Would they learn to draw together instead of driving away, and to bring good tidings rather than to say things that repels people away from them and from Islam?"

Dawah notes- Sheikhy notes

An excellent article on da'wah by Sheikh Arfan Shah of Sheikhy notes:

In the Merchant of Venice the Prince of Morocco says, "Mislike me not for my complexion." (Act 2 Scene 1). He knew that their eyes could clearly see a difference but here we are concerned with the differences that cannot be seen. The Prince of Morocco was speaking to the people of Europe and he addressed the differences in people in terms of skin colour and belief. Have we tried to address these?

Islamic outreach is something that I feel quite strongly about and it is something that we have failed to do in the west. Explaining Islam to its people in a way that can be digested and understand has not happened. This has to be our starting point, realising that we have failed in this matter. Only then can we begin to build for the future. If we do not accept this point then we are likely to continue making the same mistakes over and over again.


Is Islamic outreach something that we should be concerned about?

Well you should be concerned about this if you are a lover of the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) because that is one of the main purposes of Prophethood. To call the people to the message of salvation; the message that will save them from everlasting humiliation. Most of the time there are only a few groups performing this obligatory action in the West. The Sunni “Sufi's” seem to have given up outreach with the exception of the scholars. Calling people to Islam is an obligation on the community.

Anyone who comes from the Indo-Pak background owes their Islam to Sufi's. This is no exaggeration, war did win over the political power but the hearts of the people was won over by Sufism. When we say Sufism or Sufi's we mean those who follow the sacred law correctly and follow a spiritual leader. We do not mean those who are called Sufis and are in many ways worse than those who do not pray!

Sufi's like Sayyid Yusuf Al-Din (could that be Yusr al-Din?) a descendant of Sheikh Abdulqadir Jilani who saw a dream ordering him to leave Baghdad and go to Sind. He eventually won over seven hundred families who converted to Islam at his hands. (Spread of Islam in the World T. Arnold p.274)

In our times the so-called Sufi's come out for the Mawlid and are not interested in speaking about Islam to anyone. This is not the way of the Spiritual masters who have preceded us and of course the one who gave us this religion.


The Preaching of the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him)

He would supplicate for people to become Muslim and he would facilitate their Islam after they came into Islam. His prayer was one of the reasons that Umar ibn Al-Khattab became Muslim and he supported Salman the Persian (may Allah be pleased with them both) after he became Muslim. So this is the way of the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) this is nothing new. Dawah was something that he said he would continue to do until it became manifest or until he died trying.

According to the book Foreign policy of Muhammad by M. S. Qureshi he states that the Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) sent thirty letters to kings and sent over eighty delegations to tribes explaining Islam.

“Thou wouldst only, perchance, fret thyself to death, following after them, in grief, if they believe not in this.” (The Cave 18:6)

The Prophet (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) was anxious that people enter into Islam.

Ponder the following narration:
The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) said, “The garden is the obligatory reward of anyone at whose hands someone becomes Muslim.” (Tabarani kabir 786, Awsat 3456 and Saghir 439)

Now we have established that we have to call people to Islam; we have to establish how:
“Invite (people) to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good counsel. And argue with them in the best of manners. Surely, your Lord knows best the one who deviates from His way, and He knows best the ones who are on the right path.” (The Bee 16:125)

Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (May Allah bestow peace and blessings upon him) said, “The Prophets were ordered to converse with people according to their intellects.”

We need to speak to people in the west using information in the way that they can understand. This does not mean we demean Islam, we should explain Islam, honestly.


Dawah

Come from a root Arabic word دعا which means to call or summon. دعوة which can mean to invite or to appeal. When we call to Islam we are calling people to endless bliss by becoming Muslim.

We are only responsible to deliver the message, once this is done our responsibilitly is over. It is up to them to become Muslim or not. In the Tibetan language Dawa means the moon. We want people to see the beauty of the man who is more beautiful than the full moon.


What should be our next step?

Our next step is to engage local Masjids into giving out the correct outreach to non-Muslims. If they are not willing to do anything for outreach then we have to engage groups outside the Masjids. This is something that is becoming increasing apparent. Many Masjids do not understand the environment that they are in and thus other centres have to be opened by like minded individuals who are ready to do this work.

Here are some points that we think are important:

1) We need to have English speakers who are open to speak about Islam to non-Muslims. Be that having open days for the public or for select groups of people like school groups.

2) We need to have soup kitchens that feed the poor.

3) We need either events where people can come and ask questions.

These are some things that we feel are important and need to be addressed. Of course there could be more.


The individual

Most of all we should be extremely careful of how we interact with other people because that can also have a bearing on whether people become attracted to Islam or not. If they see an enlighten human being who is a Muslim then Islam becomes attractive however this is not the case when they meet a rude and obnoxious Muslim.

Acts of kindness should not be seen as anything small they should be seen as ways of attracting people to enter Islam. We do have a collective and an individual responsibility concerning the outreach of Islam and this needs to be taken seriously. Muslims have to note that they can play a large role in making a new Muslim feel welcome. Even if they do not know much themselves as long as they know where to take them to learn and gain knowledge. Any small action is something that could be massive on a personal level.

We need to accept new Muslims into the fold and make them feel welcome. I have lost count the number of English Muslims who are seen as outcasts because they do not come from 'back home.' This is rubbish Islam is not about a racist or tribal religion. Anyone can be a Muslim and they can be from any race of people. Also if you see a Muslim in the Masjid who has finished the prayer, don't go up to him and ask him if he is Muslim! This is most stupid thing you can do! Invite them for some food and don't kill them with spices!

If you know or find a new Muslim in your area then support them as much as you can by encouragement. Do not sufficate them and if they have questions then pass them onto someone else knowledgable. They need support and avoid informing them that so and so group is the wrong group to follow, unless they are clearly wrong. As this may confuse them in the early stages of their development. Let them grow and let them learn at their own pace.

All that glitters is not gold but the gold we have can be shared without deminishing. 

Source:

http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/06/islamic-outreachdawa.html

Dawah to the ill

Many people neglect dawah (or in Malay it is called dakwah), and some even think it is bad to do dawah to those one knows and are dying or ill. But we should do dawah to all types of people because we want them to be saved and have a better life in the afterlife. We don't want to be in the future and have regrets about not trying to save the ill/dying The dawah should be done with wisdom of course (and can be done by anyone as long as one knows one's limits. The Prophet commanded conveying Islam, even if it is ONE verse, and he would send people who recently converted, to go and do dawah to their people)
The below Hadith illustrates this, and note that the boy was with the Prophet through serving him, and so knew of the Prophet and should know of his truthfulness as a Messenger.
Anas said, "A Jewish boy used to serve the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and then became ill. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went to visit him and sat at his head and said to him, 'Become Muslim.' He looked at his father who was with him. He said to him, 'Obey Abu'l-Qasim.' So he became Muslim. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, left saying, 'Praise be to Allah who has saved him from the Fire.'" [al-Bukhari]