Ready for Ramadan?

Are you ready for Ramadan? Can you really make it a blessed month as the prophet said? Did you plan already? Not yet? What are you waiting for? Listen and get ready!.

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Introduction to Islamic Tarbiya PART II

The attached session is 2/3 sessions help in Andalusia School. It has some nice discussion about Islamic Tarbiya and what teachers should be aiming for throughout the year.

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Introduction to Islamic Tarbiya PART III

The attached session is 3/3 sessions help in Andalusia School. It has some nice discussion about Islamic Tarbiya and what teachers should be aiming for throughout the year.

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Introduction to Islamic Tarbiya PART I

The attached session is 1/3 sessions help in Andalusia School. It has some nice discussion about Islamic Tarbiya and what teachers should be aiming for throughout the year.

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"Have Taqwa wherever you are ... " Part IV

This Attached lecture is about how to fight and defeat the sins of the future. Ta'ala

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"Have Taqwah wherever you are ..." PART III

This Attached lecture is about the second part of the prophetic advice, "... and follow the bad deed with a good one, it wipes it out ..." This lecture show the consequences of disobeying Allah Ta'ala

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"Have Taqwa wherever you are ..." PART II

This Attached lecture is about the second part of the prophetic advice, "... and follow the bad deed with a good one, it wipes it out ..." This lecture show the consequences of disobeying Allah Ta'ala

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The Virtues of the Quraan

This Attached lectures is about the virtues of the Quraan and how to consider it

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"Have Taqwa wherever you are ..." PART I

This Attached Khutba is about the very important attribute of the believer, piety

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General Attributes of Islam - PART II

This Attached Khutba describes the general characteristics of Islam.

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Sincere Repentence - PART II

This Attached Khutba describes how one can make a sincere Tawbah.

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Sincere Repentence - PART I

This Attached Khutba describes how one can make a sincere Tawbah

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General Attributes of Islam - PART I

This Attached Khutba describes the general characteristics of Islam.

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Should I Keep Remembering My Sins?

That is a very typical question for those who repent. Should I remember my sins and keep recalling them? Should I just more forward and forget about them? What is the best thing to do?

Scholars of the heart disagreed on that. Some said that remembering the sins is very useful in maintaining repentance while others said that it does not. The nicest opinion I read is the one of Ibm al-Qaiyem's. He said that the answer varies from a person to another and from a situation to another. If remembering the sin is going to produce a feeling of humlity before Allah and a sense of regret, then it is better for you to keep remembering your sins all the time. But sometimes, being in a state of obedience generates a strong set of emotion of loving Allah, relying on him, feeling his company, etc. feelings that will not stay as beautiful if you keep remembering your sins and your history of disobedience.

I personally will keep remembering my mistakes and sins to maintain my repentance and I will completely forget about them only when I develop these beautiful feelings, something I long for. Ya Rabb

An Introduction to MAS - Part I

This is a session I shared with some of my brothers and sisters as an effort of introducing MAS to our community. I ask Allah to make it beneficial to those who hear it. Your comments are, as usual, welcomed.

A sin better than an act of obedience?

I understand very well what Shaikh Ibn Atta2 Allah meant when he said, "A sin that causes humility is perhaps better than an act of obedience that causes arrogance and pride." It might appear that the Shaikh is saying something wrong by preferring a sin over an act of obedience. However, we should understand that this statement should be considered after the action not before. What difference does it make? A huge difference. Before pursuing any action, one should evaluate the action on the basis whether it gets him closer to Allah or otehrwise abstain. The Shaikh's statement is actually something you would think of after the deed. Here is how we should think about it.

• The good thing about doing a good deed is that it increases our Iman. It get us closer to Allah. Allah wants us to obey him and get closer to him. However, we must know that all these good deeds and acts of obedience are 'our best' and by no mean we can satisfy Allah's rights upon us. Therefore, it makes no sense to feel proud or arrogent about what we do. We tend to feel that we are something and/or we did something great that no one else can do when we do an act of obedience to Allah. We might hide this feeling but most of the time it shows in our actions and in our interaction with others. Talking about our good deeds for no reason but to brag, looking down to others who do not do as much as we do, and thinking that we are doing Allah and Islam a favor by doing what we are doing are verily very bad sins. These sins will get us farther from Allah and would outweigh the reward of the original deed. Ibn Ataa2 is not telling you not to do the good deed in the first place. Rather his only objective is to warn us from these bad feelings that come to our hearts after the deed. So, be careful!
• On the other hand, sins take us away from Allah, diminish our Iman, and harden our hearts and cover them with rust. However, following the sin with a sincere tawabah (repentence) with all what it entails from regret and humility reverses the effect. "The one who repents is the beloved of al-Rahman." The prophet said. "Humility is the spirit of Salah." He declared. As a matter of fact, one of the ultimate form of obedience and worship is to create those heart deeds mentioned here. One of the doors to Allah is the door of humility before him. If your sins make you know how insignificant you are compared to His Glory and how disobedient compared to His Favors, then you will hasten to repentence and come back to the straight path with a heart of a better believer. Again, the Shaikh never suggested doing sins for that purpose. He only portrayed the picture of the believer's heart after commiting a mistake. This picture he drew is what makes the sin works to your favor and it would become a step closer to Allah.

I went through an experience in the past few days and I can tell that my heart aquired a lot of Iman because of a mistake I did, an amount of Iman that was never achieved by any of my good deeds I claimed doing in the past.

May Allah protect us from doing any sins and mistakes. May he allow us to fill our record of good deeds. I also ask him to follow our deeds good or bad with the due humility and repentence. Amin!

History: a Way to See the Future

Allah in the Quraan orders us several times to consider history, learn it, and learn from it. "Say: walk in the land and find out what was the destiny of those before you ...," "Don't they walk in the land and find out what was the destiny of those before them ...," and "in their stories was a lesson for those who have intellect ..." are examples of these orders.


Things in this universe were not created haphazardly. They were created according to a law, Allah's law. They follow certain patterns and they conform to set laws. No one will dare to try to jump from the 50th floor because he knows for sure that he will end up falling dead on the ground. Gravity is a law. No one can ignore it and no one can avoid it. It applies whether we admit it or not. It applies whether we like it or not. It applies whether we experience it or not. It's a complete stupidity to disregard it.


The big mistake we are making is that we think those laws are only the physical laws. And what a mistake it is. It applies to all aspects of life. Here is a few attributes of Allah's law (a.k.a. Allah's Sunnah, way):

• It applies to all aspects of life. Allah says, "Verily, we have created everything with Qadar"


• It is consistent. Allah says, "... you will never find Allah's sunnah altered ..."


• It is something we can learn. Otherwise, the orders of Allah to walk in the land and learn about the experience of others will be invalid.
• Only the wise can see it. Allah says, "in their stories were a lesson for those who have intellect ..."

Let us learn history. Let us learn from history. Let us discuss it among one another and deduce lessons from it. "... tell stories for them to reflect." Ordered Allah in the Quraan.

The Psychology of Failure

I FAILED A LOT. I have come across so many people who have failed. I also sometimes succeed and witnessed so much success. One thing I learned from that is the mentality of someone who fails. I know how we think when we fail. I know how we feel when we fail. I can't claim to be scientific but I will mention some of the observations that I personally felt and witnessed from others.

• THOUGHT1: The first thought that comes to your mind when you fail is, "It is absolutely not my fault."

• THOUGHT2: Immediately after, you start thinking, "Whom should I blame?"

I liked a lot when Jim Collins said while describing level 5 leaders, leaders of the highest quality who can transform the organization from mediocrity to excellence. He said that when people fail they look out of the window while level 5 leaders look in the mirror. Instead of finding out what shortcomings I had that made me fail as level 5 leaders would do by looking in the mirror, I try to find out someone or something to blame. You will be amazed if I tell you that almost every one does that. Well, except the few level 5 I have seen in my life.
Allah in the Quraan mentioned this fact talking about some group that whenever something good happen to them they say it is from Allah, and whenever something bad happens to them they blame the Prophet (pbuh). Allah made it clear, "... whatever good that happens to you is from Allah and whatever bad is from your own self ..." [Surat al-nesa2]
Also, Allah said in Surat al-shura, "And whatever problems happen to you is because of what you hands possessed and He forgives a lot!" Along the same lines, Ibn Khozaimah, the famous scholar of Hadith said, "some people fear the sins of other while being fearless of their own sins."
So a recipe of failure is to keep thinking that way and you will always find someone to blame. However, you will never succeed. Looking in the mirror and blaming yourself for you own problems is THE RECIPE OF SUCCESS.
A very famous adage in my home country says, "Do not ask the doctor. Ask someone who got sick." Well, although that is completely wrong to find out what the cure is, it is absolutely right to know how it feels when you get sick.
This is an advice from someone who experienced failure and that is how it feels. So, leaaaarn!


to be continues

Did I repent? 2/4

Regret is the 1st condition. But it is not enough. You have to quit the sin. You have to stop the mistake. Tawbah (repentance) is linguistically to come back. We must quit what we are doing and come back to Allah, come back to his guidance, and come back to his straight path.

The Prophet once drew a straight line and drew diagonal lines besides it and he said, "that is the straight path and these are the paths, in the beginning of each is a devil calling people to it." He then recited a verse from Surah al-An3am, "Verily that is my path; it is straight thus follow it and follow not the paths for they take you away from His path ..."

Imagine you are traveling from one place to another and you took the wrong exit. You know that you took the wrong exit and you regret taking it. You know how to come back and you know that you must come back. Nevertheless, you continue deviating from your main path until you lose your destination completely. Let us not just regret, let us come back!

Did I repent? 1/4

It is really important to know how to repent. It is even more important to repent. In this post and several others to come I will share with you what I know about this. This is by no means an authentic understanding yet I learned that from my teachers, my books, and the personal experience of someone who sins a lot and repents a lot.

The very first thing that you have to examine is your feeling. Do you feel regretful about what you have done? If given the chance to go back in time and face the same choice, would you do the same sin again? When you remember your mistakes and sins, do you wish you have not done them?
Or, you are proud of what you have done? You share this with others and you no problem with that? The Prophet (PBUH) described repentance with one word: "regret." The first step to repentance and the first condition of an accepted one is this feeling: regret.