Dua (Invocation)

Bless, O Allah, Muhammad and his people as Thou didst bless Abraham (Ibrahim) and his people. Thou art indeed Praiseworthy, the Exalted. 

Allähumma salli ‘alä muhammadi(n)wwa ‘alä äli muhammadin kamä sallaita ‘alä ibrähïma wa ‘alä äli ibrähïma innaka hamidummajïd 

Prosper, O Allah, Muhammad and his people as Thou didst prosper Abraham (Ibrahim) and his people. Thou art indeed Praiseworthy, the Exalted. 

Allähumma salli ‘alä muhammadi(n)wwa ‘alä äli muhammadin kamä sallaita ‘alä ibrähïma wa ‘alä äli ibrähïma innaka hamidummajïd 

O Lord, increase my wisdom, O Lord, increase my wisdom, O Lord, increase my wisdom.

 Rabbi zidni ilma, rabbi zidni ilma, rabbi zidni ilma 

O Lord, give us the best in this world and the best in the Hereafter, and protect us from the fire of Hell.

 Rabbana attina fi dunia hasanatau wa fil akhirati hasanatau wa qina azhaban nar 

O Allah guide and protect our families and our friends. O Merciful, let us re-unite in the Highest Heaven.

You are the Wise, the Giver of Life, bring quick and complete recovery to all who are sick, whether afflicted by cancer, AIDS, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, or any other disease.

O Allah, You are the Provider, please feed the people and the creatures of the Earth. Shield us from the pain of hunger. Quench our thirst with water that is clean and pure.

O Allah, grant us success in our careers. Help us to be the best in our fields. Guide us to greater knowledge and effectiveness.

O Allah, You are the Powerful. End the oppression and injustice in our world. Help the Muslims who are suffering in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Kashmir, and all over the world.

O Lord, give us the virtues of Your Noble Prophets. Make us humble like Prophet Adam (Adham). Make us patient like Prophet Job (Ayub). Give us purity of faith as you gave Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim). Give us courage as you gave Prophet David (Dawood). Give us wisdom as you gave Prophet Solomon (Suleiman). Make us leaders as you made Prophet Moses (Musa) a leader. Make us compassionate as Prophet Jesus (Isa) was compassionate. Make us beloved to you, as Your Beloved, Prophet Muhammad. Bestow Your Blessings and Your Peace on all of the prophets.

 Bless, O Allah, Muhammad and his people as Thou didst bless Abraham (Ibrahim) and his people. Thou art indeed Praiseworthy, the Exalted. 

Allähumma salli ‘alä muhammadi(n)wwa ‘alä äli muhammadin kamä sallaita ‘alä ibrähïma wa ‘alä äli ibrähïma innaka hamidummajïd 

Prosper, O Allah, Muhammad and his people as Thou didst prosper Abraham (Ibrahim) and his people. Thou art indeed Praiseworthy, the Exalted. 

Allähumma salli ‘alä muhammadi(n)wwa ‘alä äli muhammadin kamä sallaita ‘alä ibrähïma wa ‘alä äli ibrähïma innaka hamidummajïd 

Accept our prayer

 Ameen

How Boys Become Men

My dad didn’t teach me five and five make ten

My dad taught me how boys become men

He woke me up in the morning at five

Teaching me habits that would make me thrive

 

I don’t know anyone who worked harder than him

Never stopping to indulge a whim

Made his own bread, changed his own oil

Was good to his kids but never did spoil

 

Certainly a man who liked to be silent

Controlled his temper and never violent

I am thankful to him more than I can say

He made me the man I am today

Saved by the Buoyancy of Citrus

[This is a transcript of one of the tracks from the comedy album, "Mitch All Together," by Mitch Hedberg.]

Look at all the limes in this g-d- thing! This f-ing thing is tropical. Look at the limes, how they float. That’s good news. Next time I’m on a boat and it capsizes, I will reach for a lime. Like I’ll be waterskiing without a life preserver, people will say “wtf?” and I will put out a lime. I’m saved by the buoyancy of citrus.

Every book is a children’s book if the kid can read.

I got an oscillating fan at my house. The fan goes back and forth. It looks like the fan is saying, “No.” So I like to ask it questions that a fan would say no to.
I say, “Do you keep my hair in place?”
“Do you keep my documents in order?”
“Do you have three settings?”
“Liar!”
My fan f-ing lied to me! Now I will pull the pin up. Now you ain’t saying sh-.

I didn’t go to college but if I did I would have taken all my tests at a restaurant. Because the customer is always right.
All right, all right, that joke is better than you acted. Perhaps it’s not. Maybe it’s dumb. It could be. I hear you man. I’m not a f-ing genius for Christ’s sake. You know, I’m, f-ing, just trying to tell some jokes. Sh-. Who the f- are you?

That track is number 14 and it’s called, “Attitude.”

I don’t have any children but if I had a baby I would have to name it. So I would buy a baby-naming book or I would invite somebody over who had a cast on.

Mitch Hedberg (1968 -2005)
Mitch All Together
Mitch, may your soul be at peace.

Globetrotter

Through the lush archipelago of Indonesia

Up miles of verdant flora

Around the Greek agorae

You left clues in a Parisian café

Across the asphalt climes of New York

Down the spicy streets of Calcutta

I figured out what you stole

In the jungle mists of Rwanda

Along the broken Roman cobblestones

You’re mine – Carmen Sandiego

Favorite Sayings and Stories of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him

In honor of the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) [March 20 / 12^th Rabi ul Awwal], I am posting some of my favorite sayings and stories from his noble life. Please feel free to add your own favorites in the comments.

“Verily God is beautiful and loves beauty.”

A bedouin came to the masjid of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in Medina. He urinated in the middle of the masjid. Several of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, angrily came up to him, trying to get him to stop. Prophet Muhammad, (pbuh) told them to let him finish. When the Bedouin was done, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) gently told him that this was the House of Allah, and thus an inappropriate place to urinate. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) cleaned the urine with his own hands.

“If a Muslim plants a tree, or sows a field and men and beasts and birds eat from it, all of it is charity from him.”

“Even a smile is charity.”

On the authority of Abu Malik Al-Harith bin Asim Al-Ashair said that the Messenger of Allah said:

Purity is half of faith. Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah) fills the scales, and Subhana-Allah (How far is Allah from every imperfection) and Alhamdulillah fill that which is between Heaven and Earth. Prayer is light; Charity is a proof; patience is illumination; and the Quran is an argument for or against you.

On the way to the Hajj, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and a Companion were traveling together. A woman passed by them. The Companion began staring at her. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) gently placed his hand on the man’s jaw and turned his face away from her.

“I swear by Allah that you people cannot attain salvation, unless you prevent the oppressors from oppression.”

‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) tells of a time when he went to the Prophet and noticed that there were only pieces of leather and some barley lying in the corner of the room. He looked around and, failing to observe anything else, he started crying. When the Prophet asked him why he was crying, he replied:

“O Prophet of Allah! Why should I not weep? I can see the mat’s pattern imprinted on your body and I am also seeing all that you have in this room. O Prophet of Allah! Pray that Allah may grant ample provisions for us. The Persians and Romans have no faith but their kings live in gardens with streams running in their midst while you live in such dire poverty.”

The Prophet, who was resting, sat up and said: “O Umar! Are you still in doubt about this matter? Ease and comfort in the Hereafter are much better than in this world.”

(Taken from Farid Esack, On Being a Muslim, cited in Mohammad Kandhlawi, Stories of the Sahabah.)

“My poverty is my pride.”

“If the Last Hour strikes and finds you carrying a sapling to the grove for planting, go ahead and plant it.”

How Can There Be Corn in the Quran?

I was reading something in the Quran yesterday that bothered me. It’s in Surah 12, Yusuf. I’ve read it before but I’ve never thought about it deeply before. Read this ayah carefully,

 

“One day the king of Egypt said: ‘I saw seven fat cows in my dream which were eaten up by seven lean cows, likewise, I saw seven green ears of corn and seven others that were dried up. O chiefs! Tell me the meaning of my dream if you can interpret the dreams.” (12:43 trans. by Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik)

 

So what’s wrong with this? The technical term is anachronism. The story of Prophet Yusuf, alaihis salaam (peace be upon him), takes place in Ancient Egypt, roughly 1000 B.C. But corn, as you might remember from American History, is a New World crop. Pilgrims in the 1600’s were unfamiliar with corn until the Native Americans showed them how to grow it. How could a king in Ancient Egypt been dreaming of a crop that would not be discovered for nearly three thousand years?

I was thinking if this might simply be a translation error and I believe it is a strong possibility. I was in Borders today, looking through different English translations of the Quran. Every one I saw had the word “corn.” I’m no Arabic scholar, but as near as I can figure from Malik’s translation, the Arabic word used for corn is “ijafun.” If anyone out there knows the Arabic etymology, I would love to read it.

The problem may not be in the Quran, but in the English word, “corn.” In the U.S., when we say “corn,” we mean a yellow plant with kernels. But in England, “corn” can refer to just about any cereal grain, including wheat and oats. I think what may have happened was that an early English translation of the Quran used the British term, referring to either wheat or oats (both Ancient Old World plants). Subsequent translators probably kept the word “corn” without realizing the ambiguity.

Also, you might wonder, as I did, about the word “ear.” In English, we commonly talk about “ears of corn” but are there such things as “ears of wheat?” Indeed there are ears of wheat. According to www.dictionary.com, “ear” is defined as

1.	the part of a cereal plant, as corn, wheat, etc., that contains the flowers and hence the fruit, grains, or kernels.

 

            Has anyone else seen something strange in the Quran or Bible that you would like to discuss?

One Way to Be a Muslim?

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is this question – Is there only one way to be a Muslim?

It seems sometimes like a Muslim has to look a certain way, talk a certain way, and act a certain way. There’s what I call the MSA look. You know what I’m talking about. Beard, kufi, and Islam-themed T-shirt.

Is there one way to be a Muslim? Of course, brother, the Prophet’s way! Anything other than the Sunnah is unacceptable.

Sure, that’s one way of thinking. But isn’t it too simplistic? Remember the history of diversity in our Ummah. We have four equally valid schools of thought or madhahib. Despite what some desis might claim, the Hanafi way is no more authentic than the Shafi’i way.

There are regional differences in Islam too. The way they practice Islam in Egypt is different from the way they practice in Pakistan. The manner of dress is different. The mosques look different.

Okay, but maybe you think these differences are bid’ah, i.e. corrupt innovation. If you go back to the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), you will not see so many differences.

What about the Hadith, “My Sahabah are like stars, you will be rightly guided by following any one of them?” (Razeen, Jam’ul Fawaa’id) The Sahabah were quite a diverse group of people. There were wealthy merchants like Uthman bin Affan (May Allah be pleased with him, Radiallahu anhu) and poor ascetics like Abu Dhar al-Ghiffari (R). There were Ethiopians like Bilal (R) and Byzantines like Suhaib (R).  Both Ali bin Abi Talib (R) and Mu’ awiya (R) were Sahabah.

Finally, by the Grace of Allah, there are over one billion Muslims living today. It is absurd to think all of them should act exactly the same way. What kind of world would that be?

Bismillah (In the name of God)

Bismillah hir Rahman nir Raheem
In the name of God, the Infinitely Good, the Merciful

This is my first entry as a member of the Word Press community. Like many Muslims, I am a refugee. I am a refugee from Xanga, an online blogging community that seems to be dominated by teenage Asian girls.

What I want to do here his express the objectives of my blog. I want to bring myself and others closer to Allah. I want to comment on the news of the day with intelligence, compassion, and wit. Sometimes I might write a line or two of poetry to express my creative side. Occasionally I like to comment on music though my only qualifications to do so are that I enjoy music and I have some training in literary analysis. I don’t take myself too seriously. In my line of work, teaching, I think to do so is rather stupid.

Let’s learn from each other, respect each other, and have some fun.

Currently Listening:
“Fell In Love with a Boy”
Joss Stone
The Soul Sessions

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