Amar Razali

MashaAllah - fantastic, fantastic, fantastic piece of reminder from Bro. Nouman Ali Khan, alhamdulillah.

As-salaamu'alaikum -

A brother announced his shahadah after Sh. Hussain Yee's class at alKhadeem on Sunday. Subhan Allah. It's been a while since I witnessed this beautiful + wonderful occasion. I still remember my first time when I was at States, where a brother announced his shahadah after Salatul Jummuah and we were very joyful.

Alhamdulillah - Allah gave me another chance to witness this special occasion again.

As-salaamu'alaikum -

As one of our efforts to create more opportunities for the Muslim to learn how to further understand and approach the Quran, we are inviting you to join us this June in our pioneer Back to Quran project - an initiative to help strengthen our personal relationship with the Qur'an and facilitate the building of an "Ulul Albab" (Al-Quran literate) generation, inshaAllah.

For more information, please visit our website at http://masterpies.com/backtoquran. We also encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter to receive news and updates on our project.

We look forward to seeing you inshaAllah.
Jazakumullahu Khairan Katheera.

Saturday, June 12 2010, 29 Jamadil Akhir 1431H.
Ashwaq's House in Kajang.
Congratulations Hubab & Ashwaq on your engagement. Get married soon, inshaAllah.
More pictures can be found here.

As-salaamu'alaikum -

I would like to invite everyone for Solat Course (As the way of Prophet Muhammad - may peace be upon him).

In an authenthic hadith, Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him) said:

"The first thing which will be judged among a person's deeds on the day of resurrection is the prayer. If that is in good order, he will pass the test and prosper, and if that is defective, he will fail the test and be a loser". (Al-Tirmidhi)

"Perform the prayer as you have seen me performed them". (Al-Bukhari, Muslim & Ahmad)

• Date: 12 June 2010/ 29 Jamadilakhir 1431H (Saturday)
• Time: 8:30 a.m - 5:00 p.m (Registration starts at 8.30 a.m)
• Venue: Al-Khaadem Hall (Google Maps link), Lot 1034 Jalan Cempaka, Sungai Kayu Ara, 47400 Petaling Jaya
• Fee: RM40.00 (Adult) RM25.00 (children below 12 years old)

(Fee is inclusive of reference book, writing materials, lunch and two tea breaks)

Closing date for registration and payment: 10 June 2010

For further information, please contact:
Office - Tel   : 03 7726 4146 / Fax: 03 7726 4149
Al-Khaadem Rep.: Dzaki Rusman:014-6690 196 / Zul Ariff: 012-3544 014 / Darsi: 019-2240 153
Email:alkhaadem.my@gmail.com or darshi_md@yahoo.com

Download:

• Registration Form

As-salaamu'alaikum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuh -

We would like to invite you to participate in the AlMaghrib Malaysia Team meeting this weekend.

The meeting will be held on:
Sunday, 6 June 2010, 11am - 1pm
No. 15 Jalan Vista Emas 3, Taman Vista Emas, 43000 Kajang, Selangor (see Google Maps below)

Please note that there is a nearby UKM Komuter Station. Please let us know if you need a ride from the station to the meeting location & we will arrange accordingly.

InshaAllah we will be discussing on following matters:
1. MoM from previous meetings.
2. Post mortem from past event - difficulties, obstacles, opportunity
3. Way forward - next event, registered company, bank account, possible venue, marketing opportunity, etc.
4. Delegating task - know who's doing what for brother & sister sides.

Your attendance, input, and advice are so vital to the success of the team & our future program, inshaAllah. You may invite other individuals to attend who have interest on helping out AlMaghrib establishment in Malaysia.

We request that you inform us in advance of the meeting if you plan to come, inshaAllah.

If you have trouble with the directions, please contact:
Br. Fazrul (012 926 2915 - fazrul.ismail@gmail.com)
Sr. Sudarti (012 435 9949 - sudarti@gmail.com)

We look forward to working cooperatively with you, inshaAllah!

Jazakum Allah Khairan -

Khairul Amar
013 399 8837
Banu Malizi rep

p/s: Google Maps link to the meeting venue.

The trademark banner of alMaghrib Institute. Now available in Malaysia =)

As-salaamu'alaikum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuh -

Alhamdulillah - the introduction of alMaghrib Institute to Malaysia; "Rise of the East" was a success. It was held at Masjid al Hasanah, Bandar Baru Bangi on Saturday, May 22 2010. That morning, I picked up Brother As'ad Lath at KLIA to the masjid. MashaAllah, what a coincidence, Br. As'ad is the Operations Manager of alMaghrib UK and he was in Kuala Lumpur for a week to attend a business conference. He was invited (quite a last minute memo, sorry ya akh) to give presentation about the institute.

The event started at 10:15am, and alhamdulillah I was given the chance to welcome everyone & briefly introduce about the event to our audience. There were 60+ people attended the event, mashaAllah. Our beloved 'uncle' Ustadh Riaz Ansary gave a 40-minutes lecture on the importance of gaining the Islamic knowledge according to the Qur'an & the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him).

Among important points from his lecture:
1. Start the early education of your kids with the memorization of the Qur'an, then it will be easy to learn Arabic language.
2. Learn the Arabic language (educate your kids!) so that we can understand the meaning of sentences in the Qur'an, the hadeeth and du'a that we make everyday.

Then we had a 15-minutes of a glimpse of alMaghrib, where we showed some promos & trailers of alMaghrib & its courses. We then played six part video lecture series entitled "Desert Rose" covering glimpses of the life of Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him) by Shaykh Muhammad AlShareef. After that, Br. As'ad gave a presentation about alMaghrib Institute. He shared with the audience the alMaghrib's background, mission & vision, style, curriculum, Qabeelah system, instructors, the milestones, and others.

The session ended around 1:30pm - alhamdulillah.

The Banu Malizi team had a meeting with Br. As'ad Lath after the event. We discussed about the post-mortem of ROTE, what are the way forward and other issues & potential obstacles of bringing alMaghrib to Malaysia.

InshaAllah we are going to have our second team meeting on Sunday, June 6 2010 at alKhadeem, Kayu Ara Damansara. Please let us know If you are interested to help and we are indeed in need for more volunteers, bi idhnillah.

Interested to help?
Email me (amar.razali@gmail.com) or to almaghribmys@gmail.com

For your reference:
1. alMaghrib Institute - www.almaghrib.org
2. Banu Malizi Team - www.banumalizi.com
3. Find us on Facebook - Let's Bring alMaghrib Institute to Malaysia by 2011

As Salaamu 'Alaikum!

Jabir b. Abdillah was the son of a famous warrior, Abdullah b. Haram. Jabir was from the Ansar, and accepted Islam as a young boy. He was blessed to participate in the Treaty of Aqaba, and lived an extremely long life. Because of this, Jabir became one of the most profuse narrators of hadith, earning his name in the top five companions in terms of quantity of hadith narrated.

Jabir married young - he was probably seventeen when he got married. His marriage occurred shortly after his father died a martyr in the Battle of Uhud. His story is mentioned in most books of hadith, including the two Sahihs:

Jabir b. Abdillah reported that once he was on an expedition with the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, and when they were close to the city of Madinah, he sped on his mount. The Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam asked him why he was in such a hurry to return home.

Jabir replied, "I am recently married!"

The Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam asked, "To an older lady or a younger one?" [the Arabic could also read: "To a widow or a virgin?"], to which he replied, "A widow."

The Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam said, "But why didn't you marry a younger girl, so that you could play with her, and she could play with you, and you could make her laugh, and she could make you laugh?"

He said, "O Messenger of Allah! My father died a martyr at Uhud, leaving behind daughters, so I did not wish to marry a young girl like them, but rather an older one who could take care of them and look after them."

The Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa salam replied, "You have made the correct choice.." [hadith to be continued in next post]

This is part of a much larger hadith, known as the 'hadith of Jabir'. It is a hadith full of benefits, and in fact separate treatises have been written by our scholars just on this one hadith. Some of the benefits we can derive from the portion cited above include:

• The frankness of the Prophet's salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam question. He is encouraging Jabir to find a playful wife, and wants the both of them to enjoy each other. This clearly shows that it is one of the primary goals of a marriage that each party find satisfaction in the other.
• The connotation of being sexually playful is clearly implied, without any direct reference. From this, and many other references, we see that the Quran and Sunnah are frank about sexuality, but never vulgar. This should be our attitude and tone as well.
• The Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam clearly mentioned that both parties should be satisfied with each other. In many Muslim cultures, women's sexuality is sidelined or even suppressed (through such barbaric practices as FGM - female genital mutilation). Women's sexuality is no less important than men's, and it is essential that a woman also be given her due right.

We shall continue explaining the hadith of Jabir in the following emails.

Jazakum Allah khayr!

p/s: Please forward this to friends who might be interested. Feel free to send us your comments at: feedback@likeagarment.com. To sign up, or for further information, log on to: www.LikeAGarment.com

When you attack black people, they call it racism.

When you attack Jewish people, they call it anti-semetism.

When you attack women, they call it sexism.

When you attack homosexuality, they call it intolerance.

When you attack your country, they call it treason.

When you attack a religious sect they call it hate speech.

But when you attack the Prophet peace be upon him they want to call it freedom of speech!

See you there, inshaAllah!

By: Sh. Yasir Qadhi

As- Salaam Alaikum!

I welcome you to our series of e-mails from 'Like A Garment', an on-line initiative that seeks to educate Muslims to find conjugal bliss in their marriages.

The name of this project come from one of the most beautiful, poetic and profound metaphors of the Quran. Allah states, "Permitted for you, during the night of the fast, that you approach your wives. They are your garments, and you are their garments" [al-Baqarah; 187].

In this verse, each spouse is described as a 'garment' to the other. The famous exegete Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 311) stated that this description most aptly described the act of intimacy between the spouses, for during that act, each spouse sheds his or her other garments and then wraps around the other, taking the place of clothes. Al-Qurtubi (d. 671) also comments on this metaphor, and adds that just as clothes protect their wearer from the external elements, similarly each spouse protects the other from external passions that would harm a marriage.

Combining between the various explanations of this beautiful metaphor found in the books of tafseer, we can derive many meanings from it:

• The act of procreation is so intimate that it is literally as if one of the spouses covers up the other, just as clothing covers up one's body. Another euphemism that the Quran uses for the sexual act is the verb ghashsha, which means 'to cover up, to envelop'.
• One primary purpose of clothing is to conceal one's nakedness, since this nakedness (or `awrah) is embarrassing to display, and should be hidden from the eyes of others. Similarly, each spouse conceals the other spouse's faults, and does not reveal them to others.
• Clothing protects one from the external elements, such as heat and cold. Similarly, spouses protect one another from external desires that originate from many different sources. By satisfying these desires within the confines of marriage, external passions are removed.
• Clothing is the primary method through which humans beautify themselves. Without clothing, one is incomplete and naked. Similarly, spouses beautify and complete one another; when a person is not married, he or she is not yet complete and has not reached his or her full potential. Marriage is an essential part of being fully human, just like clothes are an essential part of being fully civilized.
• Clothes are only worn in front of others, and are not necessary in front of spouses. It is only in front of one's spouse that the other spouse can discard his or her garments.
• Clothes are the closest thing to one's body. Nothing comes between a person and his or her clothes. So the analogy of spouses being 'like clothes to one another' implies such a closeness - there is nothing, literally and metaphorically, that should come between spouses.

In our future emails, we will examine some more Quranic texts and Prophetic traditions regarding intimacy. Stay with us!

Jazakum Allah khayr!

Yasir Qadhi

Please forward this to friends who might be interested. Feel free to send us your comments at: feedback@likeagarment.com. To sign up, or for further information, log on to: www.LikeAGarment.com