It was March 1st.  I was checking my email and Facebook when I saw a new message.  Nope, this message wasn’t my Hadith [1]of the Day message, but a message I was not expecting.   The message was from Mr. Curtis, a history teacher from my old high school in New Jersey.  Mr. Curtis was now teaching at Connersville High School in Indiana and had just covered the topic of Islam in his history classes.  In his message, he asked if I was available to Skype his class in the coming week so that his students can participate in an actual dialogue with a Muslim.  The vast majority of students he explained had never met a Muslim in their life and mainly saw Islam and Muslims as a religion and group of people condoning violence and terrorism.

I had some time off from work at the time and agreed to Skype Mr. Curtis’ class.  He added in a reply message to me that the students’ concerns were over a few “Muslims” claiming the return of the Rightly Guided Caliphate and endorsing the use of Shariah [2]law in America.  I really didn’t know where to start my research to ease some of these students’ concerns, but I thought I should be ready for any question that could come my way.

8:20 AM came on Friday, March 11th.  Skype, and the internet in general, was not cooperating on CHS’ side, so I spoke to their classroom by phone for about 15 minutes.  I introduced myself and added that by no means was I a scholar of Islam or someone able to give fatwa.[3] It was now the students’ turn to ask me any questions they had about Islam.  Silence was on the other end of the line.  To ease the tension, I told the students to ask me just about anything and I would be more than willing to try an answer their questions.

The first question came in and I was asked whether or not I had any problems being discriminated against.  I answered that I personally did not have any major problems of being discriminated against, but I most likely owed that to my light complexion and reddish colored beard.  The second question however, threw my off; the student asked me to “describe my typical [New] Jersey day.”  “Are they kidding me?” I thought.  Did they really think I did something that was out of the ordinary in my everyday life?  I started explaining to the class that every day, I wake up, perform ablution[4], pray the first of five daily prayers, shower, eat breakfast, go to work, perform ablution again at lunch time, pray, eat my lunch…do we see a pattern here?  Compared to the average American, with the exception of praying five times daily, my day was no different.

 Since my time was so short with the first of two history classes, the remaining questions focused around marrying in and out of Islam, the dress code in Islam and the shariah law movement.  I summarized the class period by explaining that Shariah law was nothing to be scared about and that a vast majority of it (75 %), explains worship and family or economic law in Islam.  I agreed to have one more session the next Friday to make up for the time we lost due to technical difficulties that morning.

The afternoon class, much like the morning class, asked very similar questions.  The class was very interested in the idea of the marriage process in Islam.  Particularly, the class found the example of my sister’s recent engagement and the process of becoming engaged to be wed in Islam, quite intriguing.  The class was even further fascinated by what they continued to learn about Islam and how Muslims practice their religion in America.

Friday, March 18th came and I now talking to CHS via Skype.  They could see me through their camera and I could see them.  If anyone had any doubt, I was real, had a light complexion and a reddish beard.  The students were thrilled we had another chance to further discuss Islam with a live Muslim and I was thrilled to talk about Islam to a group that was eager to listen.  As questions started coming in, I felt a greater sense of comfort with the students given the questions they were asking; “When is your birthday?” “What did you study in college?”  “What is living in New Jersey like?”  Now that the students had seen past the mysteriousness of a different religion, I felt like my purpose was fulfilled; I was able to demonstrate to two groups of students that Muslims are not anti-Americans, all Arabs, or all any of the countless stereotypes that hate-mongers and media outlays portray us to be and all through a phone call and Skype session.

After our Skype session ended, I was invited to the CHS history class Facebook page.  Before the end of the day, I received a half dozen friend requests on Facebook from the students in the class.  I finally understood what a good friend kept telling my study group about dawah; change about the perception of Islam must come from the heart and not from policy or legislation.  Then, and only then, can we all seek to better understand one another in this increasingly diverse nation and global economy.

[1] A Prophetic saying from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him)
[2] Islamic law
[3] A religious opinion in Islam given by a Scholar.
[4] Islamic ritual required prior to performing prayer (salah)

Random thoughts blog:  Sharia Law is a misnomer to begin with, but forget the technicalities for now. Literally translated, sharia means ‘path.’  More generally it can be considered the Islamic code of conduct.  It does not invade, or creep. It does not dominate or condemn. It isn’t alive or sleeping under your bed awaiting the opportunity to enslave your women and stone your men. The personification of sharia is probably the real mistake here.

As the last few months of political drool have dribbled out of the mouths of the boorish and inane, I have sat back and watched with a certain feeling of ‘handcuffedness.’  Thoughts like: “There is no way I can ever get to these people,” or “only if I could just sit down with them over a cup of coffee,” have passed through my mind.  But, sadly, I do not know how to begin the conversation.  I guess that is why I am writing… hoping Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich will read this discrete blog and have catharsis.

“Maybe they are not so bad after all!”  Of course that thought is as silly as Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich being leaders of a political party in America in the 21^st century. So… I write for naught … write for an audience whose eyes see me as the enemy. A covert operative sleuthing my way to impose… whatever it is they think I am going to impose. I can come back here with verses from a certain burned book that state there “is no compulsion in religion” but that would do little.  Apparently Google provides better misquoted/taken out of context verses than an actual Muslim.  I could mention that a large percentage of slaves in this country were in fact Muslim and that America is what is it is after having been carried on the backs of African Muslims AND that Islam is as American as… well… slavery (slaves usually didn’t get to eat that much apple pie).  But certain skulls have not been made permeable to intellectual debate and reason.

When that Gainesville priest burned the Quran, I heard things like: We should not take the actions of a nutjob to paint an entire religious community as moronic bigots.  I could not help but snicker. (By “snicker” I mean vomited).  The irony is as in your face as it gets but it still remains to have an impact on a large part of our country.  I’ve thought of taking news clippings and posting them with religious affiliations in front of every criminal’s name so as to prove the inequity with which Muslims are treated when it comes to crime:

From CNN.com TODAY:

a)      Christian Sex offender Phillip Garrido will plead guilty today to some charges in connection with Jaycee Dugard

b)      Alexander Alfaro, a Protestant, was convicted Tuesday on 16 of 17 charges related to the 2007 execution-style killings of three college friends.

c)      Bernie Madoff, a Jewish investor…. Ect…

The thing is… this doesn’t work either. None of these tactics to reveal bias work.  When Muslim advocacy groups are formed, they are smeared as supporting terrorist organizations. When Muslim politicians come into office, they are a threat to our values. I’m over it.  I am going to take another American value and use it as a weapon when it comes to the Peter King’s, Pastor Jones’s, Mark Levin’s, Giuliani’s and the residents of Murfreesboro, Tennessee… in my mind its called the ‘it’s-a-free-country-so-bite-me’ card. I am free to be named Yousaf, to pray 5 times a day, to say God is Greater (Allahu Akbar), to grow a beard, to be brown skinned, to build a mosque and turn to the haters and  say “It’s a free country!”

You would say… Now Yousaf… this is not the best way to go about things.  You can have dialogue. You can reason.  You can change the hearts… I say to this… yes I can, and for those who are willing to talk to me: I WILL BUY YOU DINNER and have a discussion… and for those who are not… my tax dollars, citizenship and voice grant me the permission to say:

As a human being, a Muslim and an American… I do not have to prove anything to anyone. I would love to… but I don’t have to. I am not ashamed of my religion, its demands of me, its expectations of my conduct and I am definitely not ashamed of words like Allah (God), Allahu Akbar (God is Greater), or Sharia (path).  I will not hide my beliefs in the face of those who try to demean me or patronize me behind a veil of arrogant ignorance.  I will not cover up my pride and confidence in knowing that I am a believer in a religion (it counts as a religion silly people) and a way of life that encourages me to fight for justice and principles.  And I am not ashamed of being American who wants to be nice and kind but not submissive and docile. For anyone who cannot understand that: With my identity as an American Muslim and with the rights bestowed on my by the constitution of the United states of America, I take my finger, point it at my tush and say…. Bite me.

Aside: You can probably tell this post swerved off course after the first paragraph. I normally do not write with so much frustration but it happens. If this bothers you, read the last paragraph again just kidding. I am sure years from now I will look back at this piece and see an angry young man with little experience but sometimes a guy just has to write what he is thinking. It is therapeutic.

Given that residency begins in a few months and my life will essentially be on hold, I decided that if I do not start writing now I may never get back into it.  There have been so many topics that have come and gone that would generally be blog-worthy but my heart and mind have been reluctant to write because of the generic/cliché thoughts that come to mind.  So quickly I will recap everything I can remember in a few sentences to get them out of the way:

1) Death is a reality for all of us. May Allah have mercy on our sister Rehab.

2) Yay Tunis! Egypt! Go Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen!!

3) Gaddafi is a crazy man and physically looks like a camel.

4) Hopefully these ‘revolutions’ bring about change that is worthwhile.

5) Pakistan continues to be in a sad state and everyone in the world continues to ignore them… though they did play well in the cricket world cup.

6) Peter King is a jerk.

7) That CNN “Unwelcome” piece was depressing. Racism is making a comeback.

8) 18% field goal percentage will never win a national championship.

9) If that tsunami did not humble you, there is nothing in this world that can.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way… I thought I would talk about the movie the Green Mile. The movie is about a prison of death row inmates (called the Green Mile) awaiting their turn for the electric chair.  The movie has some very interesting twists but leaving that aside, the main character, portrayed by Tom Hanks, makes a beautiful reflection at the end of the movie. “We are all on our own Green Mile.”  We are all on death row.

Death is not a mystery, at least concerning its certainty. It will happen. To our grandparents, parents, siblings, friends and children. The world has shown us how feeble life really is. A disease, a tidal wave, an explosion, a car accident, a falling branch or a good old fashion heart attack: It is coming.  And we do not wait for it, it waits for us. Like a brick wall that we cannot run through.  We metaphorically walk upon a path that has a finish line.  A cliff that we all will go over. I speak of this not to be morbid but to make a point.  Ignoring death does not make it go away.  In anything in life, when you know that you have limited time, you rush.  A basketball player who can see he has less than ten seconds on the clock  dribbles down the court quickly, makes a move without hesitation and puts up a shot as soon as he can find an opening.  The same player would take his time if he could see that he had a few quarters before the game was up. It is human nature to stretch or squeeze our activities into the time we have allotted. But with death… we just don’t know when the buzzer goes off.  There is no last second shot because the scoreboard does not have a timer that we can see. You would think that with this understanding we would do everything we could, hustle our butts off, and squeeze every last ounce of effort in assuming that the timer is going to go off any second.  For the most part… we don’t.  We waddle. Hold the ball too long. Take too many breaks.  Stand complacent, as if the scoreboard manager was never going to hit the button to signal game over.

I know this is not a unique understanding or a mind blowing reminder but it just is. I challenge you with an exercise that hundreds of people are faced with every day in doctor offices.  Today, you have been diagnosed with cancer.  Not the curable kind or the manageable kind.  Pick one– Pancreatic, Lung, Gall bladder, Colon, Brain or Skin.  6 months to live… if you are lucky.  You have already told your family, and friends.  You have made the appropriate arrangements in terms of your financials and assets.  You ahve gotten past denial and anger and depression.  Now you have just time. 6 months on the game clock.  You have the ball. What would you do?  Some go into hiding. Some fulfill a “bucket list” of activities they wanted to do before they die. Some pray. I challenge you to sit down for 10 minutes and plan the last 6 months of your life now. And then live it.

I am not going to spend time arguing the premise of Terry Jones’s plans to burn copies of the Quran.  Nor am I going to discuss at length the Ground Zero (or not so much ground zero) mosque debate that has left most of us exhausted and nauseated.  Others have parsed and thoroughly run ragged these hot button issues and I can honestly say that I can not add any value to the discourse.

It is too easy to take a position, indoctrinate talking points into the subconscious, spew them out P.R.N. and sit back pretty and content that I have such grasp on culturally relevant issues.  But it feels good.  It feels good to know what position Obama has on issue A and the quick retort of the GOP followed by the wise-aleck responses of punditry from all spectrums of the political sphere.  It mimics education and academia. It is like an addiction. Adrenaline courses through our veins as we watch Sarah Palin play the heel and say something inexplicable, much the way Kurt Angle used to make our blood boil in enjoyment as he repeated the three I’s.  I apologize for the WWF/WWE reference but the jeering/cheering crowds and the insult slinging ‘professionals’ on TV who play to the masses emotions take me back to my childhood memories of sitting on the couch between my brothers watching Hogan “hulk out.”

After an “event” our hearts thump with anger or admiration.  A few more words from a superstar and our faces flush with pride or anger or fury or something in between.  “What!? You heard that?!” or “Hell ya! That’s right!”

YAY  “The Big O” Olberman! BOO Sarah “Grizzly Mama” Palin and Newt ‘the noot” Gingrich!  What! Palin has tag teamed with Uncle Beck (John Candy reference)! Can you believe it! This is the greatest Wrestlemania…. EVER!  The Bible Belt is going crazy…Just listen to them roar! USA! USA! And the angry mob takes over.

They serve it up. We eat it up.  And as we loosen our belts, we are satisfied by the girth of our emotional friability.  The soap opera continues in our dreams as we imagine Obama floating down from the rafters and laying the smack down on some fools from the “FRW” (that’s the cool name for the far right wing).  It encompasses our free time as we check for news updates and tweets and facebook status changes. Our workplace conversations walk the tightrope of stating our opinions while not seeming too opinionated.  It owns us. We hang on to the words of a political figure and instead of taking them for what they say, we try to figure out why they would say such a thing, what impact it would have upon the delicate balance of things, whether the impact was planned or spontaneous, and what it means … well it never really means anything.

But… Like the 8th season of all reality shows, the audience is getting restless.  People are annoyed… or at least I am and if you ask my wife, she will tell you that I often assume all people feel the way I do.  I will resign myself to not reacting anymore. No more gut-wrenching moments waiting for commercial breaks to end to find out the next big thing.  I retire my jersey of roller coaster emotion and hang it high so that all may see what used to be.  I will no longer feel good or bad or disappointed or pleased by the drama from Alaskan mamas or even  the truthiness of John Stewart.  It’s not worth it nor does it bear any fruit.

When it comes to these two issues– the ‘burning’ and the ‘mosque,’ I will avoid the current event buzz and the allure to just rant.

Instead, I would much rather talk about the basics.  Not the mosque but what it symbolizes.  Not the burning of publications but instead what the text carries.  Not the Islamics (as Dr. Jones puts it) but what they may hold in their hearts.

The very first verse revealed in the Quran was:

“Read! In the name of thy Lord Who createth.”

In poetry, plays, conversations with your spouse, speeches from the president and in anything… the first word, action, or event sets the tone for everything that is to follow. The very first verse in the history of this religion that finds its name plastered on the news, on the tongues of pundits, next to the words ‘of the devil” and in the hearts and minds of 1.4 billion inhabitants of this Earth, instructs mankind to “Read.”  A command, not a recommendation or an afterthought.  A primary principle.  Why? The answer is in the fifth verse of the same chapter: (so that God may) teach mankind that which he knew not.

Humility is found here.  You read with the understanding that you just don’t know.  You have to leave your emotions, your preconceived notions, your biases and your prejudices at the door to enter this realm.  Without this, the mosque is nothing and the book that Terry wants to burn is just ink and paper.  I could continue here but I know of someone who did it better and do not want to waste your time:

http://www.quranblogger.com/blog/2010/9/9/pastor-terry-jones-wants-to-burn-these-words.html?lastPage=true#comment9689830.

I pray God grant us the knowledge that remains elusive to us and gives us the understanding that most of the time, we know not.

~Yousaf

If you have been checking back and forth for the past seven weeks for an update on this blog, I apologize for the delay in posts.  But, there is a good reason, and new blog post, with a topic I did not anticipate writing about so soon that came from this long wait.

I am currently in the process of moving to a new town with my parents and siblings.  To be honest, life has not been easy for the past month and a half.  Moving and my family go together like apple pie and ice cream.  I moved around quite a few times in my life, including twice moving from overseas to the United States.  But this move would be different, very different.  For all the times I moved, I was young and do not recall much, except for the first day and night in the new house.  My last move coincidentally enough, was ten years ago this weekend, when oddly enough, my family and I will be settling into our new house.

Again, this move is different than the others.  To start, my parents, sister, brother and I had more time to prepare this new house to our liking prior to moving in.  We were all so excited that we would have an opportunity to fix things up before moving in and thus saving us all some of the headaches of reorganization after all the furniture arrived.  But, to our surprise, things did not work out as we planned. The house, you see, was different.  The new house is made out of brick on the outside with cement filled walls on the inside.  This doesn’t sound so bad, one may think, but to the skilled builder/contractor, concrete walls pose hard and long work.

So for these six weeks, my family and I shuffled back and forth from the two  homes packing, painting, sanding, spackling and overseeing repairs in the new home .  A few weeks ago, I was exchanging thoughts with my uncle online, who also travels frequently on business.  We spoke about life and how moving around and living out of bags and suitcases was not easy.  And then, it hit me.  I reminded myself and my uncle of the following hadith (hadith are transmissions on the authority of the Prophet, his deeds, sayings, tacit approval, or description of his sifaat (features) meaning his physical appearance. However, physical appearance of the Prophet is not included in the definition used by the Islamic jurists).  (Source: http://www.nicheoftruth.org/pages/sunnah.htm)

On the authority of Abdullah ibn Umar (May Allah be pleased with them both), he relates that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) once held my shoulders and said:

“Live in this world as (if you are) a wayfarer (traveler) or a stranger.” And Abdullah ibn Umar (May Allah be pleased with them both) used to say: “If you live ’til night, then do not wait for the next day (i.e. do not have hopes that you will live to the next day), and if you wake up in the morning do not have hope that you will live till the night. And take (advantage) from your health before your sickness and take advantage of your life before your death (i.e. do every possible obedience in your life before death comes to you for then no deeds can be performed.)” [Bukhari and Tirmidhi]

My uncle agreed; we were living this very hadith.  It made perfect sense.  Every Wednesday night, I found myself packing a gym bag with three nights and days’ worth of clothes, alarm clock, sleeping bag…well, you get the picture.  It wasn’t like I knew where I would be every Thursday night either.  Some nights I had to come back to the old house and some nights I would sleep in the house.  This was indeed exciting at times, but also challenging.

Then again, that’s the point;  to truly live as a traveler or stranger in this universe, we can never be too sure where we are going to be when the next minute or hour hand strikes.  For that reason, we need to seriously reconcile our deeds continuously.  We can all start by asking ourselves what we did before going to sleep on any given day, good and bad.  Then, we need to ask ourselves how we can improve upon the bad and maintain and even increase the good.

I am a man of routine, but life is anything but a routine.  Life changes, constantly.  If you don’t believe me, look at the weather; every day, the forecast calls for a different temperature, level of humidity, precipitation level, barometric level, etc.  So the main point of this hadith is that we live as travelers; people who do not know if they will live until night fall and if they do, they do not know if they will awake in the morning.  So have your bag (of deeds- as many good deeds as possible and as few bad deeds as possible) packed and be ready to move, for you and I, need to continually live as travelers.

Importance of Respect

In the religion of Islam, respecting one’s parents is so important that after the command to worship the One God, Allah, a Muslim is commanded to be kind to their parents.  Imagine that, right after you are told to obey your Lord, you are told to obey your parents, that’s how important obeying your parents are.

“And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honor.  And lower unto them the wing of submission and humility through mercy, and say: “My Lord! Bestow on them Your Mercy as they did bring me up when I was young.” (17: 23-24)

And if they grow old (your parents), say not to them a word of disrespect or shout at them, but rather respect them with words of honor.  How many of us follow even that verse and instead put our parents through a living nightmare with our requests, needs and wants?

The Status of the Mother

The mother’s status is so important that a companion once asked the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) “Who deserves my good treatment most?” “Your mother” the Prophet said. And the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) didn’t just say that once. The companion asked then who and received the same reply.  He asked again and received the same reply and upon asking a fourth time, the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) responded “your father.”  So respect towards your mother comes three times before your father and rightfully so.  Your mother means so much to you that she deserves that much respect for caring to carry you 9 months in her womb and after that for caring so much for you as a child and even to this day if she is alive, she cares for you.

The Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) once narrated in a hadith (tradition) that “Paradise lies under the feet of the mother.” So if you are good to your mother, your ticket to paradise should be punched.  That’s how easy it is! Take care of your mother!  But what have we seen in the past decade? We have seen a society that once loved to use jokes that begin with “Your Momma…”  Instead, we should be talking about how great our mothers are and how much they mean to us rather than joking about each other’s mother with insults.

Celebrating Mother’s and Father’s Day

With the spring season now upon us in the northern hemisphere, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are literally around the corner.  But why are we stopping for one day a year to celebrate both of our parents?  When I am asked every year what I am doing for these special days, I say the same thing every year and share it with everyone on the world wide web; “mother’s day and father’s day should be everyday, not a day in May and a day in June.”  That’s what Islam preaches, celebrating our mothers and fathers by caring for them and respecting them.  Let’s help bring that back as the norm and not the status quo.

The next time…

So the next time any of us wants to scream or argue with our parents, let’s bite our tongues and obey our parents.  It is preserved on the Heavenly preserved tablet (the Lauh Al Mahfudh) that Allah s.w.t. said “I am God, and there is no deity except Me. I am pleased with those with whom their parents are pleased, and I am displeased with those with whom their parents are displeased.”  Regardless of our wealth, education or status, isn’t it about time we all treat our parents with respect and dignity?  For however we treat our parents, our children will treat us the same way.

As human beings, we have innate needs and tendencies.  You’ve probably heard of psychologists using “Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs” that states humans have basic needs (food, shelter, water) first and foremost.  In terms of food, there is a saying I like to abide by and Islam as a religion would agree from its beginning; as a society, we should be eating to live and not living to eat.  It is human nature though that we do enjoy food and gather around it.  We take pictures of our meals when we make something creative or dine out, we watch television shows about how to cook and we read recipes and abide by them to the letter.  But outside of the month of Ramadan, where every Muslim (who is eligible to do so) fasts, do we normally go hungry not because we can’t feed ourselves right away, but to build our patience and become better people? 

Fasting in the Qur’an and Islam

Fasting is prescribed for Muslims in the month of Ramadan as it was the most blessed month, the same month that the Qur’an was revealed.  But also, “Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may attain taqwaa (God consciousness).” [2:183]  So going hungry from dawn until sunset has its benefits, spiritually that is.  How though (one may ask)?  It’s simple, really.  If one was to abstain from any worldly pleasure (focus here particularly on food and drink) for roughly 10-12 hours, he (or she) would be observing patience, a virtue which is said to be half of the religion of Islam.  However, if one were to become upset at something and thus lose their temper, their fast would have no value.  “He whose fasting does not prevent him from evil and doing it, Allah does not have any need that he quits having his food and his drink.” [Narrated by all hadith collectors but Imam Muslim]

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) also recorded that “fasting is a protection, so if it happens that it is a day of fasting, then let him not utter profanity, or shout with anger. If someone cursed him or fought him, then let him say: I am fasting. By him whose hand my soul is in.”  As a reminder, if you’re ever voluntarily fasting outside the month of Ramadan and someone comes to you to proverbially “pick a bone” with you, say “I am fasting” and let it go.  You will be taking the high road and rewarded for this by Allah.

Scientific Benefits

Fasting also has its scientific benefits.  Besides not overly ingesting food and drink all day, fasting (the Islamic way) has been shown to increase a body’s metabolic rate, raise blood glucose levels and did not change energy intake.

Now I am no scientist, but I can tell you from a personal account that fasting, when broken at dusk with a moderate and light meal, is more energizing than anything else.  But when the fast is broken with a heavy meal, you only become lethargic.  When the body has to adjust to a change in its routine, it will do so and in my view, perform more efficiently than when it has to conform to a norm.  Simply, our bodies need change in order not to become complacent.

Rewards

The best part of fasting is its reward as we do not know what it is.  The Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) reported “there are two joys for a fasting person; he is joyful when he breaks his fasting, and when he meets his Lord.” In another narration reported by Imam Muslim, “Every deed of son of Adam is his except fasting; it is mine (God’s) and I am the one who gives rewards for it: he abstains from his desires and his food for me.”

But wait, there’s more.  The Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) said: “The sleep of a fasting person is regarded as an act of ibaadah, his remaining silent is regarded as a tasbeeh, the reward for his good deeds is multiplied, his duas are accepted, and his sins are forgiven.”  Just think, everything you do to wake up and fast the whole day is considered an act of worship and when you break your fast, your du’a (supplication) is accepted!  That’s like having 10 cell phone bars for cell phone reception between you and Allah!

Can you imagine what are the other benefits fasting?  In another hadith, Abu Said al-Khudri reported that the Messenger of Allah, said: “No servant fasts on a day in the path of Allah except that Allah removes the hellfire seventy years further away from his face.”

So the only question left to ask is, will you help revive the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) by fasting on Mondays, Thursdays and the 3 white days of each month?

One late December evening, my Mom handed me a slip of paper that arrived with the day’s mail.  It was the blue slip of paper residents of our county don’t want to see; I had been handed my first summons for (gasp!) jury duty.  My first thought was “oh man, how do I get out of this?!”  I thought this way because of the negative stereotype associated with jury duty.  The majority of the public complains about the long wait in a room full of people you don’t know with nothing to do that can last anywhere from a few hours to weeks.

The day I was summoned for jury duty came and I traveled to my county’s courthouse to serve my time as a petite juror.  As I walked into the courthouse, my pockets had to be emptied and placed into a bucket to be scanned while I was screened for metal objects.  After checking in, all the jurors were taken into a courtroom for a briefing session by the judge.  My row was one of the earliest to be seated, so as the remaining jurors filed into the courtroom, I decided to observe the room and my peers.  The room was elegantly decorated and oil paintings of retired jury selection judges hung around the sides of the courtroom.  The ceiling was very tall and had large chandeliers hanging a few feet apart.  This place looked like a palace! But as I looked around at my fellow colleagues, I noticed that I was sitting in a very diverse crowd.  Almost every race, age group (above 18 years old) and educational level was present.  Some of the jurors worked for themselves, others for a private company and some for government agencies.  But at that point in time, as potential jurors, we were all the same and only differed by the random number we were assigned.  No one was now better, richer, poorer, or smarter than anyone else.

After viewing a DVD about why jury duty is a civic responsibility and being thanked in advance for our time by the assignment judge, we were all taken to the fourth floor jury room.  Once we all took our seats, the jury manager informed the group that we were “confined” to this very juror room.  If we wanted to pick up breakfast, we could only do so from the cafeteria downstairs, but had to return back to the same juror room right away.  About 100 men and women who took time off from work to be responsible citizens sat reading, working on their laptops, watched television or slept until their fate of serving on a jury was determined.  No matter what was going to happen, we had to wear our juror tags that only distinguished ourselves as jurors, but with different numbers.

As I sat in my chair jotting down my “to do list” for the week ahead, I began to think about my prospective job as a juror, until that is, an idea hit me in the face.  On the Day of Judgment, we won’t have a jury of 12 people to decide whether we are guilty or innocent of a crime.  We will have our deeds and the Qur’an to testify either for us or against us.  Once we receive our book of deeds in our right or left hand, our verdict has been made.  If received in the right, to Paradise you will go and if received in the left, to Hell you will go.

Can you imagine that? A verdict that will last forever and that most likely will not change unless you were first sent to Hell (for many, many years) to be cleansed before going to Paradise?  Who would want to go to such a place like Hell where you will eat cacti and drink boiling water?

But Allah (s.w.t.) doesn’t just deal with bound rules and regulations, He deals with mercy.  One of his names is actually Ar-Rahman, or the Most Compassionate!

Allah s.w.t. states in the 23^rd Hadith An-Nawawi “My servants, it is but your deeds that I reckon up for you and then recompense you for, so let him who finds good praise Allah, and let him who finds other than that blame no one but himself.”

In Hadith An-Nawai #37 narrated on the authority of Ibn Abbas that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) related from his Lord: “Allah has written down the good deeds and the bad ones.” Then he explained it [by saying that] :” He who has intended a good deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds to seven hundred times, or many times over. But if he has intended a bad deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down as one bad deed.”

Let us remember that Allah s.w.t. is truly the All Knowing and All Seeing.  We are reminded in the Qur’an about how our deeds will be seen!

Qur’an: 99: 7-8

“So whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it. And whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it.”
Because I was not assigned to a case, I was afforded a 2 hour lunch break and upon my return to the jury room, I was released from jury duty by 2:15 PM.  I was so happy to be released from potentially deciding a person’s fate, but I must remind us all that there is no way our deeds will be sent home from their jury duty assignment on the Day of Judgment.

The most important part of the salah (prayer) in Islam is in its performance. When anyone comes to pray, they must remember why they are doing so and to re-check their intention. Is this for the sole sake of Our Lord, Allah s.w.t., or, is this so that we appear to be a Muslim or because our friends are praying? But along with the intention of our salah comes the focus of salah. Is our salah being performed with a sound mind and focus to Allah s.w.t., or, is our body performing all the right movements, but our minds are elsewhere? Again, this is a reminder to myself and to all of us as about khushoo’ (solemnity). Khushoo’ in salah is of the utmost importance and after each salah, the angels will only accept a percentage of your salah. This percent can vary; 0 % of your salah can be accepted, or 100 % of it can be accepted. And don’t think for a moment that angels aren’t mathematicians and can’t figure out what 3/7ths of a salah is in percent form.

Its Importance

In the Glorious Qur’an, Allah s.w.t. revealed the importance of khushoo’ with the verses: “Successful indeed are the believers. Those who offer their Salat (prayers) with all solemnity and full submissiveness.” (23:1-2) Khushoo’ is found in the heart, and as long as the person performing the prayer’s heart is with his Lord, Allah s.w.t., his body will be in tune. However, how can one’s heart be in tune in salah when his/her mind is elsewhere? Just because you are standing in front of Allah s.w.t. during salah does not mean that your mind and heart will be with Him. How so? The shaytan (devil) loves to whisper to you as a means of distracting you from the remembrance of Allah. Sure, he may not pray, but that won’t stop him from trying to mess with your prayer.

(Hadith Muslim 196) “Shaytan running when he hears the adhan, Abu Hurairah (ra) narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “When the Adhan is pronounced, Satan takes to his heels and passes wind to avoid hearing the Adhan. When the Adhan is over, he comes back, and again takes to his heels when the Iqamah is pronounced and after its completion, he returns to whisper into the heart of a person (to distract him from his prayer) and makes him remember things which he does not recall before until man forgets how many Rak’ah he prayed.” This is so true. How many times can we all recall starting our salah and the first thing we think about is “oh man, do I have my keys?” or “oh yeah, that’s what I forgot earlier today.” If you can only remember one thing about this point, remind yourself that Shaytan is out to steal from you. He is a thief and if you let your guard (and heart down), he will steal from your salah until you are done and have no idea what just happened.

The Cure

Just because the Shaytan will do all he can to distract you in salah doesn’t mean there isn’t a sound remedy to rid of his influence. Allah s.w.t. even tells us in the Qur’an how hard khushoo’ is! “And seek help in patience and As-Salat (the prayer) and truly it is extremely heavy and hard except for Al-Khashi’un [i.e. the true believers in Allah – those who obey Allah with full submission, fear much from His Punishment, and believe in His Promise (Paradise,) and in His Warnings (Hell). (2: 45)” Some of the ways to assure our khushoo’ in our salah are as follows:

1) Coming early to your salah, whether at home or masjid.

2) Repeat after the call of the Adhaan

3) Prepare for your salah ahead of time, spiritually, emotionally and physically. This is just like going to an important meeting at work, prepare, prepare and prepare some more.

4) Make a full and thorough Wudhu

5) Select a place where there will be no distractions.

6) Dress nicely for your salah, especially for the Fajr salah

7) Pray the nafl (sunnah salahs)

8.) Read some Qur’an. Preferably the Qur’an you will recite in salah 

9) Make dhikr (remembrance) and du’a (supplication) in your salah . Ask Allah swt for the concentration and its ajr (reward)

10) Don’t talk too much before the salah. Just make dhikr or tasbeeh until time of Iqama

11) Don’t look around in the masjid, just focus on the coming event of the salah

12) Pray in the front row to avoid distraction

13)Straighten your lines before you start your salah, as it is a part of the salah, otherwise you can be distracted

14)Contemplation about greatness of the Lord swt who you will be standing before. It’s part of Ihsaan (worshipping as if you see God)

15) Remember the stories of the righteous people and how they focused on their salah

16) Always remember the excellence and virtue of khushoo in salah

17)If you are hungry or need to go to the washroom, but do that first! It is the sunnah of our prophet (pbuh).

18) Don’t start your salah if you are sleepy or exhausted

19) Do your best to get to the first row, but don’t sprint towards it

20) Try to pray as close as possible to the imam, so you can hear his voice as well as on the speakers so it encourages you more

21) Pray as if this was your last prayer, we never know when we could die, so make this prayer For more on these tips and more, please visit http://forums.almaghrib.org/showpost.php?p=417237&postcount=1.

Finally, don’t pray quickly.

“Because of the speed with which some people pray, they appear as if they are birds, pecking up and down. The Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam forbade that someone should peck (in salah) like a crow.”

Umar (r.a.) once stood on the pulpit and addressed the community with a loud powerful voice saying, “A man may grow old in Islam and never have completed for Allah a single salah!” They said, “How is this?” He said, “He does not perfect his concentration, nor his humbleness, nor his focus on Allah (s.w.t.).”

If you are still having trouble, remember that salah is the first thing you will be judged on the Day when no one but Allah s.w.t. will judge us.  I ask this question to myself first and to all of the readers, what do we want our record (or book) of salah to look like?

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) advised five days before his death “As Salah, as salah”, translated as “I advise you in regards to your salah (prayers).  When people say “pray for me”, they don’t know that Islam has two forms of prayer; salah (the five mandatory prayers and the like) and du’a (supplication).  For this entry, prayer is strictly in reference to salah.

If someone mentions something before they die, chances are it’s something from their heart and it is meant to be important.  But if this was the case with our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), then why are so many Muslims not heeding his message to pray?  Does it take too long to prepare for the 5 daily prayers through ablution and then to pray for 5-7 minutes per prayer?  Are they embarrassed to pray? There are so many excuses and I can’t honestly say that I know them all, but these are what I have heard.  Regardless of the excuse, we really have no excuse not to pray.  This will be the first post in a short series about one of the most important pillars in Islam and for this week will discuss the prayer and its importance.

The Divine Link

Have you heard of people saying they talk to God? You must think they are crazy right? Well, for Muslims, we actually do speak to God and God does speak to us.  When we offer our prayer (salah), we speak to Allah and when we read the Qur’an, He is speaking to us.  Being that salah is the vehicle that allows us to talk to Allah, it is literally the divine link we have to Him.  When we are in prostration during our salah, we are the closest to Allah.  There is a saying posted in my house that he who bows to Allah can stand up to anything.  Yes, anything. Whenever our Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) would become afflicted with a sickness, sadness or calamity, it was narrated by Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) would rush to the salah.  Why? He wanted the divine link with his Lord. And don’t think that salah is just for Muslims either.  Salah was around during the time of even the Prophet Eesa’s (Jesus) time as well and it was in the Bible!

“And he (Jesus) went a little farther, and fell on his face and prayed, saying…” [Matthew, 26:39]

“And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were so afraid.” [Matthew, 17:6]

Importance

Given the background of the salah and five daily prayers, why is it so important?

Firstly, salah is what establishes the difference between Islam and its followers (Muslims) from other religions.  Find another religion that prays as much as Muslims do on daily basis.  I’ll help you right now by saying you won’t, so save your time for other research.  In fact, when the Prophet Mousa (the Prophet with the stick that Allah turned to a serpent momentarily, yeah, him) spoke to Allah (yes, the Prophet who got to speak to Allah directly), the first commandment Allah gave him was to pray. When the Prophet Musa (a.s) was lost in the valley of Madyan, wandering him and his wife in the middle of the night, cold and dark, he saw a light in the mountain, he thought it was a fire so he told his wife, “Let me go to this fire and perhaps get a brand with which we can see the way and warm ourselves”. He climbed the mountain and lo and behold, it was not a fire of men but it is the light of Allah speaking with him directly and said to Mousa:

“I Am Allah, there is not deity worthy of worship except me so worship me and establish the salah to remember me. (20:14)”

So the first meeting with Allah, the rules are laid out as Sheikh Yasir Qadhi explained.  The transliteration of the end of the verse is “Fa’budni” or “worship ME and establish the prayer.” 

So I ask us all, who are we to deny our Lord his right to be worshipped in salah? The same salah that is so important that scholars have disagreed about the status of a Muslim who neglects it.  Some scholars say neglecting the salah takes you out of the fold of Islam and others say you are still Muslim, but are a fasiq (disobedient).

Evidences of both opinions:

Opinions of Imams Abu Hanifah, Malik and Shafi’ee:

Ubadah ibn -us-Samit narrated, the Messenger of Allah said: “Allah has obligated five prayers. Whoever excellently performs their ablutions, prays them in their proper times, completes their bows, prostrations and khushu [attuning the heart to the prayer] has a promise from Allah that He will forgive him. And whoever does not do that has no promise from Allah. He may either forgive him or punish him.” [Malik and Ahmad]

Opinions of Imam Ahmad

Buraydah ibn al-Husayb (r.a.) said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say: ‘The covenant that distinguishes between us and them is the Prayer, and whoever neglects it has disbelieved.’” [Musnad Imam Ahmad, Sunan Abi Dawood, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Nisaa’i and Sunan Ibn Majah]

But to close, there is something to Muslims praying five times a day that benefits them.

Ubadah ibn -us-Samit narrated, the Messenger of Allah said: “Allah has obligated five prayers. Whoever excellently performs their ablutions, prays them in their proper times, completes their bows, prostrations and khushu [attuning the heart to the prayer] has a promise from Allah that He will forgive him. And whoever does not do that has no promise from Allah. He may either forgive him or punish him.” [Malik and Ahmad]

Finally, I would like to end by reminding us all what happens when we pray.  When we pray, we stand in front of Allah, the Lord of the Universe.  Yes, we stand right in front of Him and this is our divine link, our divine connection to Him.  The more focus you have, the more reward for you because only a percent of your salah when you finish is recorded for you by the angels.  The percent can be anything from 1 to 100.  In the future, there will be more posts on this topic and how to achieve this tranquility (kushoo’) in your salah and more in general about the topic of salah.  For now, establish your salah regularly if you do not and keep working on it because the shaytan is out to rob you of your salah as much as he can.

Sources: http://muslimmatters.org/2009/02/27/transcript-of-khutbah-on-salah-by-yasir-qadhi/