Monthly Archives: April 2015
kinds of love
❝There are four kinds of love, which we must differentiate between, and those who go astray do so because they do not make this distinction.
The first of them is love of Allah, but this alone is not sufficient to save a person from the punishment of Allah and to earn him His reward. The Mushrikeen (idolaters), worshippers of the cross, Jews and others all love Allah.
The second is love of that which Allah loves. This is what brings a person into Islam and out of disbelief. Th…e most beloved of people to Allah is the one who is most correct and most devoted in this kind of love.
The third kind is love for the sake of Allah, which is one of the essentials of loving that which Allah loves. A person’s love of that which Allah loves cannot be complete until he also loves for the sake of Allah.
The fourth is love for something alongside Allah, and this love has to do with shirk (paganism). Everyone who loves things alongside Allah but not for the sake of Allah has taken that thing as a rival to Allah. This is the love of the Mushrikeen (pagan).
There remains a fifth kind of love which has nothing to do with our topic; this is the natural love which is a person’s inclination towards that which suits his nature, such as the love of a thirsty person for water or of a hungry person for food, or the love of sleep, or of one’s wife and children. There is nothing wrong with this unless it distracts a person from remembering Allah and keeps him from loving Him. Allah says, “O you who believe! Let not your properties or your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah” [63:9] & “Men whom neither trade nor sale (business) diverts from the remembrance of Allah” [24:37]❞
— Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751h) [Al-Jawaab al-Kaafi, 1/134]
Family Fun Day to Fight Hunger
Spring is here and it’s time again for our Annual Family Fun Day!
But this year we’re doing things differently – we’re not only coming together as a community to embrace our ties of family and friendship, but we’re also fighting hunger in our community.
Join us at Huset Park or FREE Food and BBQ. There will also be games, bouncy castles, children’s activities and much more! Please see the flier below for details.
At the event, we’ll also be collecting food as part of our food drive to help those in need in our community. Please bring a non-perishable item to donate inshaAllah.
Family, Friends, Food and You – Have Fun while also making a difference!
(And remember you don’t have to wait until the Fun Day to share the blessings. Our Food Drive is ongoing now and we have food bins at various locations. You can also donate funds online at our website www.thebuildingblocks.org).
Kid’s Story Night: Meet Buzz! (Event for kids)
VRIC is happy to host the author of the children’s book, I Love to Be Me, Efdal Elferri, for a special Story Night for kids.
Children age 3 – 10 will enjoy the interactive story time, workshop, and book signing.
Date: Friday, May 1 at 6PM
Cost: FREE
Parking: Additional parking will be available in the overflow lot next to Walgreens.
more @ https://www.facebook.com/events/1434916240136895/
Read it very carefully dear brother/sister with an open heart and don’t make the biggest mistake of your life
I will tell you something that most people do not know about the situation in Syria.
90% of the brothers and sisters who have travelled to ISIS from Europe and… America deeply regret their decision. They have travelled with pure hearts and pure intentions, but have seen the unfortunate reality for themselves.
Those who request to leave are not allowed. If they are caught leaving, they are executed and their wives are married off against their will. In sharia this is rape. If they manage to leave, they still face life in prison in the UK. Because of this dilemma, they suppress their thoughts and keep quiet. This is why you have never heard of this reality.
The middle management are “ex” baathists from Saddam Hussein’s regime. The state operates in a gang system; you prove your loyalty by committing certain acts, and you are promoted, regardless of religiosity. The low ranking people are those who have travelled from the West, after being persuaded on twitter, and are now stuck.
If you express your desire to leave, you are monitored. And if you are caught leaving, you are imprisoned, questioning (read: tortured), and then killed. These are not stories, these are first hand accounts of people who travelled half way across the world for Jihad. What does that tell you? Even people who are willing to risk their lives for the cause, after seeing the reality, are desperate to leave. What kind of state kills their own members for wanting to leave?
The only reason I am writing this is for the brothers and sisters, who due to their lack of knowledge of the situation, have intention to leave, thinking there is an Islamic safe haven. I am saying this with all my heart: people went before you with your intention, and are now really stuck. Please dont make the same mistake. The most oppressed people there are their own members.
The women are treated especially bad; they have no rights. I’m not talking about random women, I’m talking about the wives of the fighters themselves. They are treated very badly by the guards at checkpoints even though their husbands are fighting.
Please send this to people you know on twitter/kik/ask.fm/surespot and any other social media where young brothers and sisters are being duped. Their love for Islam and their lack of sharia blinds them from the reality. Young people actually think that they will travel and will be received by religious Muslims.
All the religious westerners in Syria are stuck and cannot get out. If they speak out they face death, and if they escape they face prison in the West. Please warn your brothers and especially sisters
Almaghrib Ireland are pleased to announce its next seminar
Almaghrib Ireland are pleased to announce its next seminar, Beautiful Patience: Tafsir Surah Yusuf, taught by Sh Reda Bedeir. From 5 to 7th June at the Hilton Hotel Charlemont.
With only 7 weeks to go be sure register now at www.almaghrib.org/ireland
#BeautifulPatience
The Appropriate Age for Marriage & Age Excuses!!
Q: What is the appropriate age for a woman and man to get married; as some girls do not consent to marriage from those older than them in age. And likewise some men do not marry those older than them in age, we hope that you will answer this question, may Allaah reward you with good.
A: I advise the young girls not to refuse a man because of him being older, for example if he was older than her by ten years or twenty years or thirty years – this is not a valid excuse.
The Prophet sallAllaahu `alaihi wa sallam married Aaishah and he was fifty-three years old, and she was nine years old; so being older does not harm.
So there is no problem if the woman were to be older and similarly there is no problem if the husband was older, as the Prophet sallAllaahu `alaihi wa sallam married Khadeejah radiyallAllaahu anhaa and she was forty while he was twenty five, before he received revelation. Meaning she was older than him by fifteen years, may Allaah be pleased with her.
Then he married Aaishah radiyallaahu `anhaa while she was young; six or seven years, and entered upon her (consummated the marriage) when she was nine years old and he was fifty-three years old.
Many of those who speak on radio-stations or television are averse to the idea of there being a difference between the ages of a husband and wife – all of this is wrong; this speech is not permissible for them.
What is obligatory is that the woman looks at the prospected husband, so if he is righteous and suitable then it is befitting that she consents even if he is older than her in age.
Likewise the man, it is befitting that he concerns himself with a righteous, religious woman even if she is older than him – as long as she is young and fertile.
In all, age should not be used as an excuse and should not be a fault, as long as the man is righteous and the woman is righteous.
May Allaah rectify all our affairs.
[‘Fataawaa al-Mar.ah’, Verdicts Relating to Women, pg. 54, Shaykh Ibn Baz]
Source: http://saadburbank.com/2014/08/19/the-appropriate-age-for-marriage/
upcoming Celebrate Mercy class in @ New Jersey
Alhamdulillah, we just confirmed that Shaykh Yahya Rhodus will also be joining as a guest teacher at this weekend’s “Portrait of a Prophet” class (se…e his biography below). To learn more about the weekend course, see videos about it, and register, visit this link: CelebrateMercy.com/Portrait. We’ll be updating the official program and flyer shortly to reflect this honored new guest.
Pornography Addiction (Zeyad Ramadan)
Alhumdulillah, I am excited to share a video with you today!
This is a talk I gave at the Rad Talks Conference about pornography addiction and what my program Purify Your Gaze is doing to help Muslim sex addicts break free.
The Ummah will change when each individual, one by one..
The Ummah will change when each individual, one by one, is willing to look deep into their own soul, and see who they really are. What do you run from? What do you hide? What are you fears? What double life are you living? What sins are you gripping? What worship are you putting off? What part of the beautiful light you have inside of you are holding back from this world?
To bring real change isn’t to wait for a hero on horseback to arrive and save the day. The strength, the victory, the healing, the support, and the aid comes when you and I can stand in the face of a trial, and be that pillar of strength for everyone around you.
And that pillar of strength cries, grieves, and aches like the rest of us. But he or she also lives by the following words in all of their actions:
“How amazing is the affair of the believer. There is good for him in everything and that is for no one but the believer. If good times come his way, he expresses gratitude to Allah and that is good for him, and if hardship comes his way, he endures it patiently and that is better for him.”[Muslim]
Islam; The Religion of Peace 